When Lily returned to Takeshita town, she was careful all the way but she did not encounter any trouble from the Hojo family. However, Lily did not know that the Hojo family was undergoing earth-shattering changes and had no time to deal with her.
Lily returned to Genji Dojo smoothly and went to the small island in the pool where numerous shops were lined up. She entered the shop where the anima and anima container were sold.
“Oh my, isn’t this the samurai sister who has been here before? Do you want to sell anima or buy something today?” The shop owner wearing onmyoji clothes asked Lily.
Lily answered blandly: “I want to sell anima.” “Well, tell me how much animas do you wish to sell and what their tiers are?” “Two animas of normal mid ranked monsters.”
“Ah!?” The shop owner covered his mouth and exclaimed. It was hard for him to imagine that a female samurai who had come to borrow an anima container a few months ago to possess mid ranked animas, “Really? I can’t imagine that Miss Samurai has such capabilities. Please let me have a look at these mid ranked animas.”
Lily revealed two animas which exude extraordinary aura. One of them was yellow while the other one was blue.
“Indeed, it’s really normal mid ranked animas! These are very rare. Many people are clamoring for it!” The shop owner exclaimed in admiration. “Well, I have some more to spare.” “You say that you have more of these?” “Well, just some low ranked animas.”
Hearing about low ranked anima, the attitude of the shop owner became cold. While putting on an expression as if saying ‘is this the only item you can produce’, he said, “Oh, low ranked animas are not very valuable. How many do you have?”
“Um… about ten thousand,” Lily said with her fingers on her lips. “What?!” Surprised, the shop owner flailed his arms and fell on his bum to the closet. His eyes widened with incredible expression.
More than 10,000 animas couldn’t be processed in this small store in Takeshita. The shop owner panted while explaining to Lily that he needed to inform the anima dealer over in Kamakura to send somebody with a bullock cart to pick them up. After all, an ordinary anima container could only hold one hundred low ranked animas.
Of course, the anima traders of Genji dojo were still very trustworthy. How did Lily get these animas? Did she store them in a rare anima container? They will not even enquire about it. Even if they knew about the matter, they would never divulge it. In the Heian Empire, people abided by faith and pride!
Therefore, Lily had to temporarily return to the courtyard where she lived under the Millennium Cherry Blossom tree. Back in her courtyard, Lily walked along the familiar corridor. She felt even more homy as she looked at the cherry blossom tree in the courtyard.
“Master…”
Shiu was suited in a dark blue ninja uniform and stood at the rear end of the corridor.
Lily turned around and called out to the name of the girl, “Shiu.”1 She could feel her eyes turning moist.
When she was in danger, Shiu ran around to request help to rescue her without paying any heed to any danger. Although Shiu didn’t have the strength to fight against Lily’s enemies, if there was no Shiu, Lily would have already fallen into the hands of the Hojo family.
“Shiu.” “Master!”
Shiu ran to Lily and threw herself into her embrace.2
“After more than a month, master, you have finally returned!” “Yes, I’m back.” “Welcome back!”
Lily and Shiu went back to the room hand-in-hand and sat down.
“Master, was it dangerous for you to train in the mountains this time? What are the results?” Lily said with a smile: “Don’t worry, Mt. Izu is not dangerous for me. As for the results, I have barely stepped into the threshold of the Sword Saint. The Crescent Moon has also been tempered to grade six.”
“Sword Saint, grade six sword…” Shiu’s eyes sparkled with astonishment and she remained speechless for a while. “By the way, Shiu, please keep word of my strength and the state of my weapon a secret for the time being.” “Shiu understands!” “How have you been lately, Shiu?”
“After the master entered the mountain to train, Shiu naturally wanted to take care of the house but Shiu also worked hard at the dojo! Now, Shiu has also reached low-tier chunin rank!” “Really? That’s really good. Shiu is also very talented and hard-working!” Lily said with a smile. “Oh, no, I am far worse than the master.”
Shiu blushed and touched the back of her head, as if remembering something, she said: “By the way, it seems that these days Lady Sakiko is looking for you. She also said that you should go to see her as soon as possible after you come back.”
“Is it?” Since it was Sakiko urgently needed to find her, Lily should go immediately.
This time, she was rescued by Uesugi Rei all thanks to the letter Sakiko had written to Ashikaga, which Uesugi Rei happened to see. Her original intention was to have Ashikaga Kiyoshi go to the Suruga town to harmonize things rather than to cause a big fight.
However, for Lady Sakiko to personally request for help, it showed just how deep a sense of affection she had for her.
Then Lily got up and opened the door but out of the blue she suddenly thought of something. She half-turned her face towards Shiu and asked, “Did you once mention that you are proficient in the restraint technique of the Fuma Clan, the 《Vishvarupa’s Binding Hands》 or something?”
“Yes, master.” Shiu replied with bright eyes, “As a ninja, my main job is infiltrating, gathering intelligence, tracking, assassinating, kidnaping, and so on. Naturally, I should be familiar with the restraint technique to be able to quickly apprehend the target and the people around the target to make them unable to make a sound, resist, or ask for help. Shiu is very skilled in the skills of the Fuma clan.”
“Huh, I see.” “Why does the master ask this?”
“… Let’s go, meet me again later at night. We will talk more about it at that time.” Lily said calmly without any nervousness or emotion. “Yes, master.” Although Shiu did not understand Lily’s intentions, she responded loyally and frankly.
Lily’s idea was also very simple. In the battle of Suruga, although Uesugi Rei appeared in time and she was luckily saved, the circumstances were constantly changing. Who could guarantee such good luck every single time? In the event that she fell into the enemy’s hand, the escape technique was the last life-saving skill. It may seem irrelevant but it was indeed very necessary!
She might be able to untie the Saionji family’s binding skills with ‘Restraint Release’, Lily still felt very uneasy about it. Was the ‘Restraint Release’ skill effective on other restraint techniques? Lily had to test it out. Otherwise how could she be reassured?
These kinds of things were not simplistic in nature. After all, one couldn’t just find a random person on the road and say, “Tie me up.”
It was best to find someone who was trustworthy, loyal, and obedient so as to keep your secrets a secret. Shiu was naturally suitable as she was a ninja and Lily’s servant. If Lily was bound by a little girl like Shiu, she would not harbor any strange ideas. However, if Lily asked Sister Uesugi to help her “practice”, she was afraid that it was probably difficult to guarantee that Sister Uesugi would not take this chance to do some indecent or deviant things. It was too unsafe!
At least, Lily thought that Shiu should be the safest candidate.3
After making an appointment, Lily didn’t explain the matter. After that, Lily went to Sakiko’s residence. Everyone lived in the inner courtyard so they lived quite close to each other. She had arrived before Sakiko’s room only after taking a few steps along the corridor.
