Lord Kamakura bestowed land to the samurai families that had sent the most soldiers for the expedition first and then proceeded to reward the individuals who had distinguished themselves on the battlefront.
“Uesugi Rei,” Lord Kamakura enunciated.
“Milord,” Uesugi Rei was different from Lily and the others. She had inherited the acting family head’s position after her grandfather had left the family, so she was also seated amongst the first row of officials on the Genji’s side.
“You are rewarded with eight hundred grade-2 horses, twenty grade-3 horses and five hundred kan of grade-3 tamahagane.” “Thank you, Lord Kamakura.”
“Sister Uesugi wasn’t given land?” Lily held some doubts about this decision. However, as she wasn’t that well-versed in politics, she could only wonder if these things were more valuable than land.1
Lord Kamakura’s brows locked up slightly once he finished speaking and he gave a brittle smile to Uesugi Rei, “I’ve heard all about your exemplary performance in the battle in Suruga and the duel in Kamakura, Lady Uesugi. You’re indeed worthy of being a leading militant figure among the younger generation of Genji in the Land of East.”
These words held a lot of weight so all the samurai were surprised and sighed in admiration.
At the same moment, Lily, who was kneeling beside Shimizu, felt the blood drain from Shimizu’s face as Lord Kamakura’s statement insinuated that Uesugi Rei will lead the samurai families in the Land of East in the future!
“Kamakura Maruzaki, bestow the katana to Uesugi Rei in my place.”
The handsome youth placed the huge katana to the side. He then took out an intricate, otherworldly, normal-sized wakizashi and handed it over to Uesugi Rei.
“Uesugi Rei, this katana belonged to my younger brother, Kurou2. I’ve worn this katana in place of him ever since he met an unfortunate demise and it makes me recall my younger brother who even the Heavens envied whenever I lay my eyes upon it. I bestow it to you now.”
Uesugi Rei received the katana with both hands with a wooden expression on her face.
“Uesugi Rei, why haven’t you thanked Lord Kamakura yet?!” Kamakura Maruzaki questioned. “Thank you… Lord Kamakura,” Uesugi Rei bowed deeply with utmost grace.
After Uesugi Rei retired, Lord Kamakura looked towards the entrance of the courtroom and commented, “I never expected dazzling flowers of the East to visit this grim palace of mine today.”
“Minamoto no Shimizu,” Lord Kamakura called out Shimizu’s name.
Summoning Shimizu at such a time was practically the same as humiliating her in front of the top 100 samurai of the East. Even Lily felt a little dissatisfied with this as she couldn’t comprehend why Lord Kamakura had failed to realize this with his intellect.
Shimizu stepped forward and kneeled.
“Shimizu, your health is getting better, right?”
Shimizu trembled all over and her face almost touched the floor as she replied emotionally, “Thank you… for the concern, Lord Kamakura. Shimizu’s health absolutely won’t influence Shimizu’s will to battle!”
Lord Kamakura nodded in satisfaction and continued in a slightly affectionate tone, “Minamoto no Shimizu, as the general who led the troops of Genji into battle in the expedition, you are awarded with fifty grade-2 horses and a monetary reward of 2000 kan. Shimizu, you shall distribute these horses and money to the troops of Genji who participated in this expedition on my behalf. Furthermore, I’m personally rewarding you with a few grade 6 spirit herbs. Shimizu, you need to take better care of your health. I have high hopes for you.”
Shimizu’s shoulders quivered momentarily as this was no reward and just pure humiliation!
Lily also had an incredulous expression on her face as she faced the floor. Even though the reward sounded like a lot, it was to be distributed to hundreds of Genji samurai who had participated in the expedition and this also involved the compensation due to the family members of the deceased. The amount from the reward was far from enough, so this clearly meant that Shimizu would have to compensate for it out of her pocket. Furthermore, Lily couldn’t understand the intention behind giving those medicinal herbs and could only hope these spirit herbs can help Shimizu get better. If so, it would have much more value than any material rewards.
Lord Kamakura, I hope you’ve done this for the betterment of Shimizu’s health, Lily prayed in silence.
“Thank you… Lord Kamakura,” Shimizu almost broke into tears, but she held back from doing so and retired.
She walked back to the entrance and knelt down, trembling all over, unable to hide her anguish.
Lily’s hand reached out to Shimizu’s and held it firmly in silence.
“Lil’ Sister Lily…” Even though Shimizu had experienced such a humiliating situation, Lily was the only one who could make her cry for solace. Lily was the only person Shimizu could trust and was her sole true sister!
“Kagami Lily.”
“Eh?” Lily found it a bit unexpected to hear Lord Kamakura call out her name.
However, she calmed down pretty quickly and stood up gracefully. Her crimson long-sleeves unfurled themselves elegantly just like a blooming amaryllis and painted a pure and holy picturesque scene in the grim hall of Hachiman Palace.
She arrived at the center of the hall and kneeled solemnly towards Lord Kamakura in a neither obsequious nor supercilious manner while still possessing the nobility of a lady.
“Hmm…” Lord Kamakura still had an affectionate expression on his face and nodded with a brittle smile, “They say Miss Kagami was born into poverty yet possesses an extraordinary demeanor. I’ve seen you now today and as expected, even the liege vassaless of Heian-kyo lacks in comparison to you.”
“You flatter Lily. Lily is just an ordinary samurai woman and doesn’t dare to accept such praise,” Lily kowtowed and rejected the praise courteously.
As for whether she was born into poverty, even she didn’t know her history, so it was impossible for the public to know about it. Hence, she assumed the public must have made it up to praise her.
“Miss Kagami. Although this was your first time participating in a battle, you broke through the gates of Odawara castle alone and beheaded the castle lord. Furthermore, you even rescued the second son of Ashikaga Makoto and took the head of the chief of the Fūma clan. You’re indeed quite greedy, Miss Kagami. You have seized all the first-class merits over the course of the entire battle.”
“Hahahaha…” The attending samurai all chuckled in admiration. “You flatter Lily. Lily is just a nameless soldier who executed the orders of Sister Shimizu.” “Lily…” Shimizu gazed at Lily emotionally from behind, “Among all the samurai of the Land of East, only you would be willing to speak up for your elder sister in such a situation…”3 “Mhm. Miss Kagami, you’ve achieved a great merit, yet you haven’t forgotten your commanding general. Even I didn’t possess such an attitude during my youth… Hehe. Compared to you, some of our young Genji samurai should really learn to stop acting pretentiously and work for the public good a bit instead of scrambling for fame and wealth through battles.”
These words were praising Lily again, yet she could only keep her bowing down as she didn’t know how to respond.
On the other hand, Shimizu’s eyes dimmed when she heard this, “Lil’ Sister Lily. Although your words will only cause everyone to admire you more and demean me, I don’t care about that! This elder sister understands your intentions. The gazes of the public are nothing compared to that. Isn’t that so, Lil’ Sister Lily?”
Shimizu directed a bit of an infatuated gaze at her little sister’s back.
Lord Kamakura continued, “Kagami Lily, since you aren’t a member of the imperial family, I cannot bestow you with too much land as a reward. Hence, I shall first grant you a ladyship. The land southwest of Kamakura, from the territory that belonged to the Matsuda clan under the rule of Hojo to Takeshita Town, to the southernmost land of Port Izu, including Port Izu itself, shall belong to you. Henceforth, you are one of the feudal lords4 of my Genji clan.”
Although Lily had no understanding of land, even she felt that this was a considerable sum of land. Furthermore, she could protect her cherished Takeshita Town and the territory of her Uncle Matsuda personally, so she felt utmost gratitude for this reward.
“Thank you, Lord Kamakura,” Lily bowed deeply to offer her gratitude.
Uesugi Rei, Sakiko, Ashikaga Makoto and Shimizu, all of them gazed at Lily and felt happy for her.
A fameless little girl who had ventured out into the world had obtained such success; she could be considered a legendary figure among the samurai in the Land of East over the past few years.
“Furthermore,” Lord Kamakura gazed at Lily’s long black hair and said, “Miss Kagami, it’s difficult for the imperial family to investigate your family name temporarily. Naturally, this doesn’t matter much as your contributions to the Genji is obvious to all. Hence, I wish to bestow the family name of ‘Minamoto’ from the Genji to you. How about it?”
This caused a slight disturbance in the crowd and even Shimizu was quite shocked Lily was being bestowed with the most prestigious family name in the entire Heian Empire! This was much more precious and glorious than obtaining land.
Minamoto no Lily?
Lily felt grateful for this. Lord Kamakura, you are really too kind to Lily, but… Lily cannot forget her roots.
She hadn’t taken the name of Kagami casually, but instead because she possessed the otherworldly ancient mirror on her person after arriving in Kamakura and the mirror represented the connection between her and her senior sister’s soul that was asleep inside it. It represented her resolution to strive forward towards her original objective!
So it wasn’t something that she could just forget and change for position and wealth. Lily straightened her back solemnly and bowed deeply again.
“Lord Kamakura, you have Lily’s utmost gratitude for the favor you’ve shown Lily, but Lily cannot accept this family name.”
A commotion rose up in the crowd again.
Goodness! The Minamoto family name that Lord Kamakura wishes to bestow is the same as the family name of the Emperor and equivalent to gaining the identity of an imperial kin among the samurai families. Moreover, you don’t lose anything and only gain benefits by accepting it. Has this Lily gone crazy to reject it??
Even Ashikaga Makoto and Sakiko directed astonished yet worried gazes at Lily as she would suffer from unimaginable consequences if her words were to anger Lord Kamakura.
“Lily, just what are you thinking?” Uesugi Rei and Shimizu were also very worried.
Lily continued, “Lily is aware of the majesty and splendor of the Genji and absolutely has no intentions of slighting it. It’s just that Lily has a responsibility that Lily cannot abandon and an unforgettable reason, so I hope that you can comprehend Lily and forgive Lily for rejecting such a gratuitous reward, Lord Kamakura.”
The crowd turned silent as no one knew how Lord Kamakura would react and it was difficult from them to tell anything from the still unchanged expression on his face.
After a long while–
“Hmm…” Lord Kamakura nodded at Lily slowly and his gaze turned imperceptibly sharp. His eyebrows creased up into a slope as he stated his sincerity with a slightly bitter smile on his face, “I understand, Miss Kagami. You aren’t willing to accept this family name because you are the mirror girl, right?”
“Huh?!”5 Lily trembled all over and her heart shook in fear!
The crowd didn’t dare to let out a squeak yet also found it difficult to hide their astonishment!
“What?! Lily is the mirror girl?” “She’s actually the mirror girl?” “She’s from that clan plagued by suffering and misfortune?”
The 100 samurai directed their gazes at Lily one after the other and discussed it spiritedly while whispering to each other with myriad expressions on their faces.
Lily was the mirror girl.
Since Lord Kamakura had declared it, it was undoubtedly an irrefutable fact.
Uesugi Rei also directed an incredibly shocked gaze at Lily, “Lil’ Lily, so you were actually bearing such a heavy fate. Is this the reason you refused me? Why didn’t you tell me earlier…?”
At this moment when everyone was discussing the matter, an unimaginable darkness had shrouded the region outside the entrance of the hall behind Lily.
The blood had drained from Minamoto no Shimizu’s face and her slender body trembled constantly. Her palms had clutched onto the thick, ancient floor so hard that they almost crushed it and she hadn’t even realized that her fingernails were bleeding.
Shimizu raised her head slowly and looked at the back of her most beloved little sister Lily with a soulless gaze that had almost fallen into despair and only had a gloomy darkness left inside.
Her heart almost bled out as she accused the innocent and beautiful Lily before her internally!
“The mirror girl… Lil’ Sister Lily… So you were the mirror girl…” “WHY?! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?!?!”6
Huh? I could hear something snapping…
