The sunlight was obscured by the clouds, the sky was gloomy, and the autumn wind blew the fallen leaves unto the street.1
Lily stood there without turning back. She remained motionless.
Why did Hojo Dijon appear here? Was he so bold to arrest her in broad daylight right by the gates of the Saionji household in the Suruga town?
“You … recognized the wrong person.” Lily uttered in a low voice and continued to walk silently towards the gate of Saionji Household. As long as she moved a little further, she could suddenly speed up to enter the gate of Saionji Household!
All of a sudden, the sound of hurried footsteps came from both sides of the street. Two groups of soldiers in white and dark brown vests rushed out, directly surrounding the gate of Saionji Household and blocking the way of Lily.
Leading these soldiers was a samurai with brown skin. At the intersection, a nobleman with bandages on one side of his face and supported by several gangster-like samurai pointed at Lily and said, “It’s her! She’s the samurai who hurt me, Lily! Uncle Fukushima, catch her quickly! ”
Lily’s heart tightened, This is terrible! It was the Imagawa who was beaten when she helped Moronobu!
There were soldiers from the Imagawa family ahead and then there was Hojo Dijon behind. This time, Lily really had nowhere left to escape! No wonder Dijon dared to enter Suruga town and ambush her. It turned out that he had colluded with the Imagawas!
Lily remembered that Sakiko once said to her that her kindness would bring danger to her, but she just wanted to help her teacher who was bullied and humiliated. Was it really wrong for her to do that?
There was no time to think about it. This time, Lily was surrounded by so many people on the road in broad daylight. It was difficult to flee!
“Hmhmhm, hahahahaha…!” Hojo Dijon also knew that Lily had nowhere to run so he was not in a hurry. Instead, he laughed proudly and said, “Ⓢⓛⓤⓣ, you haven’t imagined it, right? Do you think I will not dare to come inside Suruga town to catch you if you hide here? You are the murderer who killed my brother and important officials of my Hojo family! Now you have nowhere to go. Your actions are so disgusting and despicable. Taking advantage of my fierce fight with the Demon Hound, you suddenly stole the treasure. As a woman, you are really ruthless and decisive. I must admire you for that but you encountered the wrong opponent this time! When you committed those crimes, did you ever think that such a day would come to pass?”
Lily did not respond to such crazy words but calmly observed the situation at the time. At the T-intersection in front of the Saionji Household, there were soldiers of the Imagawa family on both sides of the street. The gate of Saionji Household was also blocked by the samurai named Fukushima. Lily also utilized Spirit Perception without hiding. Fukushima had at least the strength of a Mid-Tier Sword Master. The most horrifying ones were standing behind her. Dijon and Yagyuu Munesaki were there. Either of them could easily defeat her! How could she break through the encirclement? Was there really no chance?
At this time, Lily noticed that there was still a tall man with strange clothes and a long spear on his shoulder. Although she could not gauge his strength specifically with her current ability, she felt that he was not inferior to Hojo Dijon.
Where did that powerful weirdo come from? She didn’t know if he was an enemy or a friend. If this powerful weirdo had a conflict with the Hojo family, he may be of use…
Lily knew that in this situation, everyone was staring at her. It was impossible for her to suddenly kill and open a bloody path to escape. Instead of listening to the wild words of Dijon, she turned to face the strange looking man and asked, “Mr. Samurai, do you want to catch Lily too?”
The strange man seemed to be surprised by Lily’s beauty when he saw her. However, he wasn’t enchanted by her. Instead, he looked disgusted and said, “What an enchanting woman, are you asking if I’m here to catch you. No, no, I’m just here to see the bustle. I’m waiting for brother Dijon to catch you, torture you and force you to surrender the anima and other treasures. I’m also waiting for brother Dijon to share money with me. Haha…!”
“What?” After hearing this, Lily’s heart turned cold. Although he said that he was watching the bustle, it seemed that he was also a member of the Hojo family. Moreover, his strength was as strong as that of Dijon.
“Hehe…” The strange man stared at Lily with a gloating look and said with a smile: “Woman, although you are better looking than the young ladies of Heian Capital, this Taira Hachiro is not as lecherous as Dijon! But you are really a cunning woman. Just a quick look and you want to take advantage of me to help you escape. No wonder Dijon was deceived by you and suffered heavy losses. Hehe…”
“What!?” Lily jolted in surprise and was almost in despair. “This, this strange man is Taira Hachiro? The most powerful man in the younger generation of Mikawa province? The gifted samurai of the Taira clan?”
Taira Hachiro, rank number four of the Six Swords of East Nation, was probably stronger than Hojo Dijon. Such a guy was standing on the side of her enemies.
This… how could she escape!?
“Humph, Kagami Lily!” Yagyuu Munesaki, the third High-Tier Sword Saint on the scene, also shouted: “Don’t play your cunning tricks anymore. Now there is no Demon Hound to stir up the situation. In front of his highness Dijon and his highness Hachiro, you don’t even have a chance to escape! You’d better put down your sword immediately and surrender after sitting down on your knees. So that we men don’t have to fight against you, a woman!”
“Compared with the other people, Yagyuu Munesaki seems to have a heart of samurai so it’s unlikely that I will be able to take advantage of him.” Lily’s heart throbbed. She could not find any flaw at all. Was she really going to die here?
It was better to die than to be caught by Dijon.
If the three Sword Saints were not here, then these people were only a huge group of warriors and soldiers. Lily would probably have been able to break out of the encirclement, but these three people were simply… too strong!
Can’t fight! I have no chance of winning at all!
Seeing that Lily wasn’t speaking, Dijon thought that she was shocked. He said to Imagawa Ujichika, “Your Majesty Imagawa, this Kagami Lily killed my brother and other important officials of the Hojo family. She also stole my treasure. Can you give her to me?”
Imagawa Ujichika looked at Lily with a proud expression and said, “Of course!”
Hojo Dijon immediately waved his hand: “Kagami Lily, you should surrender. Any resistance in front of me is a joke! Nagasaki, go and tie her up!”
“Yes sir! Ⓑⓘⓣⓒⓗ, looks like we’ve finally caught you! You despicable person!” Sakata, who was in charge of the transportation of the treasure during the siege, took out a rope and bound it around his waist. He pulled out his sword and rushed at Lily along with Nagasaki and the other samurai.
Lily knew that if she attacked, Dijon would also launch an attack. However, even if she knew that, she could not just stand still and be arrested by these guys! Lily put her hand on the Crescent Blade. Maybe she would only have a single opportunity to attack, then she might as well kill as many enemies as possible with that single strike!
A trace of fierceness appeared in the heart of the always gentle and kind-hearted Lily in this desperate situation!2 Suddenly, the gate of Saionji Household opened!
“Boom! Boom! Boom!” A few iron cannons sounded and several craters formed under the feet of Nagasaki and others. A large number of soldiers in yellow clothes and Dutch armor rushed out from the Saionji Household and lined up on both sides. Saionji Kotoka carrying the fire Blunderbuss, Nanako in martial attire, Taihara father and son duo, along with several other family retainers, walked out of the house.3
“Who dares to attack my distinguished guest in front of my Saionji Household?” Saionji Kotoka toted a large caliber gun wearing a mink fur collar cloak. Her eyes seemed sharper without glasses on.
