Early in the morning, the fog had not completely dispersed in Takeshita town and the sounds of babbling came from the river in the distance. A bullock cart was parked in front of the Genji Dojo and there was an attendant saluting behind the ox cart. Lily, Shiu, and Sakiko were ready to go to Kamakura city.
“Master Sakiko, Lily wants to go to a place before leaving Takeshita town.”
“Well, go ahead but don’t take too long. Our bullock cart will be waiting for you at the town entrance.” In the early morning, Sakiko wore an elegant purple kimono.1 This kimono had some finer points but other than that, it was pretty ordinary. Such types of kimonos were often worn by women of high social standing when they go out.
The bullock cart slowly traveled out of the town. The speed was even slower than that of a walking man but it was faster than the average walking speed of a woman.
Today, Lily wore a completely new dress. It was a very formal women’s dress with continuous elegant white patterns on a high-end red fabric. From the main entrance of the dojo, she crossed the wooden bridge and went to worship in front of the Shinto shrine.
For some reason, Lily was extremely respectful of Minamoto no Yoshitsune. When she came here for the first time, she ran into Sakiko which was also the starting point of her life as a samurai. Perhaps, Minamoto no Yoshitsune showered her with blessings in ways that she could not see.
Lily knelt before the statue of Minamoto no Yoshitsune in that shrine and prayed silently. “Lord Yoshitsune, please bless Lily so that she can wake up senior sister as soon as possible.”
At this moment, only the sound of wind blowing could be heard in the surrounding quiet mountain woods but then a voice sounded as if directly into the mind of Lily.
It was the icy voice of a young man, it sounded courteous and elegant, yet contained the unique characteristic of a war-torn warrior with extraordinary courage.
“I haven’t seen such a pure and sincere woman come to worship me for many years.”
Lily was shocked. This voice was directly transmitted into her mind. It was extraordinary. Could it be… Lord Yoshitsune? Was the spirit of Lord Yoshitsune talking to her?
“Dare I ask who you are…” Lily asked in her mind. “I, Minamoto no Yoshitsune, am honored to be worshipped by a girl like you.” “You, are you Lord Yoshitsune? Ah, please excuse my rudeness! However, can Master Yoshitsune please give some pointers to this little girl?! Teach me how I can wake up senior sister! ”
Although Lily hadn’t informed Lord Yoshitsune about the senior sister’s matter, in Lily’s mind, Lord Yoshitsune was the shrine’s spirit so shouldn’t he naturally know it?
The tree was rustled by the wind.
After a moment of silence in the shrine, the voice rang out again in her mind: “I still have an inextricable relationship with you. It’s just that I died early and I couldn’t meet you as a living man. It’s a pity, girl. It’s not a coincidence nor is it unusual for you to arrive in this world. As a living man, rather than a deceased person, I had hoped that you would never return…”
“Eh?” Lily stared blankly for a moment and immediately asked, “Lord Yoshitsune, what do you mean by this? You said that you don’t want me to come back here? Do I belong to this world?”2
In the deepest recesses of her mind, it wasn’t as though Lily had never felt this way. Otherwise, the opportunities and the incredible things that happened to her would be too miraculous.
“… I’ll wait for you there. If you can get there and meet my dead soul, all of your questions will be answered. All the answers are there.” “Where? Lord Yoshitsune, where is it? Lord Yoshitsune, please make it clear to me!” Lily asked eagerly. “Just tread the path that lies right in front of you…” “Lord Yoshitsune?”
“Don’t ask me more. When the time comes that you need to know, you will naturally know. Oh, by the way, since the young lady had defeated me three times, I can’t just let you go like this. There is a gift for you on the road behind the shrine, under the third bluestone from the shrine. Although it may not help you a lot on the long and bumpy path ahead of you, it also represents my regards.”
“Huh? Lord Yoshitsune? How can Lily accept something from Lord Yoshitsune for no reason? Shouldn’t that be passed to the descendants of the Genji?” “My lord?” “Lord Yoshitsune?”
A gust of wind blew and cold rain suddenly poured down from the sky, drenching Lily. As soon as it happened, everything returned to the way it was, back to the cloudy morning as if nothing happened prior. At this moment, the drenched Lily seemed to have understood that no matter how much she shouted, Lord Yoshitsune would not answer her again.
She paid homage again, then got up and went around to the stone road behind the shrine. Shrubs and weeds covered the road. It seemed that no one had come here for a long time.
Lily counted the slabs from the middle of the shrine and found the third bluestone. It was slightly different from other slabs. It seemed to depict a vague image of the moon but it also looked like a natural vestige of any ordinary stone that wouldn’t attract people’s attention.
Lily found a tree stick and wrapped it with her spirit power to make it tougher. Then she gently levered the slab with it. After the bluestone slab was levered open, a box could be seen buried in the soil below.
Lily dug out the wooden box which was old but not rotten. When she opened it, there was an old book with a yellow and blue cover placed inside. A beautifully sewn amulet3 was placed on top of it.
Lily picked up the amulet bag on which the letters “御守” or omamorihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omamori”>4 were embroidered in beautiful ancient writing. It’s back was embroidered with two small lines, “I pay respect to the Hachiman5 to protect Lord Yoshitsune.”
This seemed to be a talisman embroidered by a certain woman who worshipped Lord Yoshitsune. Why did Lord Yoshitsune say that she should take it away? But since it was mentioned by Lord Yoshitsune, it should have some deeper meaning to it. Even if Lily didn’t understand it, it was better to obediently accept it before speaking against it.6
Then Lily took out the book and read it. It was also written casually with altered annotations: Ninth Book of Genji Swordstyle — Complete Version.
Although it was written somewhat casually, the writing style was vigorous and forceful. Although things change with the passage of time, it still showed a strong Samurai style. Lily suddenly felt moved: “This is a genuine work!” “It’s a top-secret authentic work written by Lord Yoshitsune after the ninth book of Genji Swordstyle which may never be revealed to the world! Even the current Genji clan may not know that the Genji Swordstyle had a higher level!”
Lily hurriedly looked around to make sure that no one was there. Then she shoved the book into her bosom and her breathing became fast. If someone happened to read it and was an untrustworthy person who might divulge this secret, Lily would not hesitate to kill the other party.
This matter was too great and Genji clan’s protector God had entrusted it to her. How could it be revealed? At the critical moment, Lily’s eyes were ice-cold and fierce which was uncommon for her personality!
Fortunately, no one saw it. Lily put back the third book of Genji Swordstyle she brought with her into the box and then buried it again. She covered the slab and removed the traces of digging. She made it look as if it had been covered by weeds for many years and had never been dug. Then she returned to the front of the shrine.
So even if someone discovered this box in the future, opened it and found this book, they wouldn’t think much of it. After all, this was just an unremarkable part of the Genji’s shrine.
Lily returned to the front of the shrine and kowtowed to the Yoshitsune’s statue again.
“Lord Yoshitsune, although I don’t know why you have passed on your final work to me, Lily must properly preserve it until the day when she can understand your intentions.”
