In the bleak, lofty mountains to the south rested Gifu Castle, a complex construct built upon a mountain shelter, which was quite a strategic location.
A short, stout, and white-haired old man with a bald top and monochrome beard consisting of 3 black lines and 2 white lines surveyed the distant lands with a profound expression on his timeworn face from the platform at the top of the castle.
This old man was none other than Ouchi Koreyoshi, the protector of Mino’s vast mountain expanses and fertile fields, who was also known by the name of Monochrome Viper.
A tall, slim and pretty woman donned in a red ceremonial kimono patterned with dark gold runes and a white cardigan approached the old man from behind.
The woman possessed a glamorous and mature face with a beauty mark at the corner of her lips. Her hair was split at the center and fastened back to the sides of her pretty cheeks like crescent moons to form a bun and a tail to the side with a little, red, fan-shaped hairpin inserted in the bun.
The woman had deep eyeshadow and the tip of her luscious pink lower lip was brushed slightly in red, just like the falling autumn leaves.
“It seems like that Shiba incurred a loss in battle,” a flock of crows flew out of the bleak castle tower and disappeared into the vast night skies as the woman made the statement.
The woman looked at those messenger crows and continued speaking, “It looks like this Kagami Lily isn’t as weak as the usual mirror girls who resign themselves to adversity and get hunted while whimpering.”
The old man’s withered but still firm lips quivered slightly because of his age, but the aged and rasping voice they produced contained a viper-like reverberance.
“Heh. If she were just a weak and ordinary woman with the mirror girl bloodline, that person wouldn’t have attached this much importance to her. It looks like she’ll be entering Mino soon at this rate. Isn’t that so, Momiji?”
“Why are you so certain that she’ll continue journeying west, milord? Isn’t it possible that she might flee back to the East after sensing the danger?” The woman who Shiba had called out to, Momiji, was none other than the witch who hailed from the Hundred Demons.
“Oh, Momiji. I’ve heard of this Kagami Lily a little before. She’s one of the few women who possess the means to change the East’s power structure in these recent times, you know. She caused the Hojo clan’s fall when she was so weak that a sword saint could’ve taken her captive,” Ouchi Koreyoshi nodded his massive head.
“I also heard some details about this matter from Haihime. However, wasn’t it Dijon who walked into a dead end by committing patricide?”
“Hmph! That’s the fearsome aspect of that woman. Although she looks innocent, her meek and silent appearance is just a ploy to ensnare her foes! She garners fame by clashing with her foes frontally like a man when she has strength and uses her feminine charms as weapons to manipulate the people around her quietly and makes them eliminate her foes when she’s powerless against them,1” Ouchi’s heavy eyes bags formed a narrow crease as his eyes narrowed into slits, still possessing an icy glow inside them.
“Is it really that easy to accomplish this or are the samurai of the East all fools, allowing this woman to have them in the palm of her hand. It also seems like this woman hasn’t even experienced a man yet and is probably still a virgin. Was she really able to make the powers in the East help her wipe out the Hojo clan without paying any kind of price? Just what kind of collaborative ploy did she make use of to remain hidden?”
“No. Although I don’t know much about the event, I believe that she didn’t actually use any ploys. It’s even possible that she used her feminine charms as a weapon and brought about changes to the situation unknowingly2. Kagami Lily; this woman is blessed with the power to influence those around her unconsciously3! This is what makes her a dreadful woman. Those who look down on her because of her innocent looks and kind behavior have all become ruined. Just see how that person has ordered the Kanto-Kansai borderlands to interfere in the mirror girl’s journey to the west. If we look at it from another perspective, doesn’t this explain that this woman’s bringing about changes to the world’s structure once again?” Viper stated coldly.
“If so, would we also get drawn into her destiny unknowingly?” Momiji asked coyly.
“It can be said that we are the final segment of her destiny since we were able to see through this power of hers. This allows us to hold back from clashing against her in her playing field and use her noble aspects to make her walk into a quagmire on her own,” Viper’s eyes almost narrowed into slits, but it was most likely just an illusion.
“Will you really succeed though, milord?” The tall and slim Momiji leaned down on Viper’s stout back coyly and wiggled her hips as she pressed her breasts against his shoulder.
However, Viper seemed unaffected by the enticement, “It’s precisely because of her strength and model character that she’ll be unable to escape from my hands. I’ve set the perfect trap for her. Hahahahaha!4”
…
Lily didn’t know how many days had passed by until now because the extended night had continued consecutively for the past several days, making her lose her sense of time.
She checked the nearby mountain range against the map and concluded that she had probably entered Mino already.
A winding river that passed in between the plain and the woods alternatively rested in front of her right now.
The river possessed a fast flow and had withered wood flowing from the upper reaches of the river that rested within the woods.
“This should be Sunomata River,” Lily checked the map, “Mino’s border lies across this river.”
Lily’s journey had been fairly smooth after she traveled northwest from Kiyosu. She had come across a few monsters, but they weren’t a threat to her at all. Even though she had run into 7th-stage Awakened monsters thrice and into a Spirit Jade Great Demon, Lily had become used to it by now, She also became certain that some power had set their eyes on her because of the interference she ran into by the frequent appearances of powerful monsters that didn’t habitat the Endless Wastelands usually.
However, the more this happened, the stronger her resolve became to arrive at Heian-kyo and meet the stunning Fujiwara no Ayaka who was hailed as the world’s best onmyōji. Lily believed that some kind of secret lied behind this.
Lily arrived at the riverbank and walked alongside it for a while before taking a seat on a riverside boulder. She then took off her sandals and dipped her bare feet into the river water.
Lily had taken off the grade 9 sandals at the bottom floor of the castle tower, so she had skirted back to collect them after jumping down the castle tower.
Lily enjoyed the cool sensation of the river water and pulled out a hand towel before bowing down to wash her calves and thighs.
She then used the wet towel to cleanse her breasts and armpits.
It was quite dangerous to find a spot to bathe in this region rife with rampaging monsters, so even though Lily wasn’t scared and possessed the means to deal with the monsters if discovered, it would’ve been too late to put the clothes back on by then. Even though she would kill the monsters in the end, she didn’t want to get seen in the nude by them.
Lily huddled down to wash her hair once she finished cleansing her body and allowed her long hair to cascade to one side, droplets of water sliding down it constantly.
Once she was done with the cleansing, Lily traveled along the riverside for a while longer intending to seek a ferry across it.
However, she then recalled that this land was plagued by powerful monsters, so the chances of a ferry existing here were close to nil. She thus began considering how to cross the river and wondered whether it was possible to make the demon hound cross it at a shallow spot.
Although she knew how to swim, she didn’t want to get her clothes wet.
However, she then realized that it was impossible to avoid getting wet even if she were to ride the demon hound across the fast-flowing river. She was also afraid that she would garner attention if she used her sakura domain to cross it, let alone the fact that her stamina limited her from crossing such a wide distance in the air.
“Alright. Let’s just swim over.”
Lily released a spirit probe and checked for monsters within a perimeter of a thousand meters.
However, the spirit probe was unable to inspect the river depths mostly as its effects were diminished inside water.
“There shouldn’t be any powerful monsters within the water, hopefully.”
Lily checked the surroundings a little shyly and undressed her red kimono. As this kimono was stored within the mirror space originally, she was able to simply store it back inside.
Lily’s bare body just had a white cloth binding her voluptuous breasts right now with her underbody clad in white underclothing, depicting quite a shameful picture. However, it didn’t matter much as these lands were deserted. It also wasn’t an issue for her to see her own body since it wasn’t her first time seeing it.
Although Lily had set down the rule to keep her eyes closed when bathing and peeing in the past soon after she had come to this alternate Heian, it simply became impossible for her to never see her own body over the past half-year and just ended up resigning herself to fate.
However, she still felt excited whenever she saw it.
There was no need for her to worry about getting her kimono wet now that she had undressed, and she had also stored the sandals inside the mirror since she was going to swim across the river.
Her quaint little feet stepped past the wet pebbles at the bottom of the riverside and if it weren’t for her reinforcing her body with spirit power, Lily would’ve been washed away easily by the fast-flowing river.
Lily began swimming across once she walked deep into the river and relished in the pleasure brought by the chilling river water surging against her fiery skin.
A woman as wholesome as Lily possessed the power to benefit from the fusion between her senses and the world’s nature, and the vista shown via this fusion allowed her to obtain a greater understanding of the world.
Her feminine charms and nature’s charms fused at this moment and Lily’s soothing mind seemed to enrich the vista as well.
Lily reflected on her occasional sensitiveness as a girl as there was no need for her to cleanse her body so guardedly moments ago if she realized earlier that she would have to undress and swim across the river.
However, she allowed the thought to just pass by since the swim was quite soothing.
Lily felt the river water surge past with momentum and brush various spots over her body. This stimulated her to relish in the delight brought by the fusion between her feminine charms and nature’s charms thanks to her sensitiveness as a woman.
Lily swam across the river gleefully for a few minutes and her endurance reached its limit against the torrential flow of the river when she reached halfway across it.
A rough and powerful hand grabbed Lily’s slender foot suddenly at this moment and grabbed her into the river!
The reach of Lily’s spirit power was limited within water, so she was unable to detect the danger and got dragged into the river water, gulping a huge mouthful of it after getting caught off guard.
An ordinary woman might’ve struggled in panic and choked to death because of gulping down excessive water, but not Lily since she was able to persevere underwater even without breathing for a long time as a Spirit Jade powerhouse. She flailed her arms to maintain her posture, but the opponent’s strength was too mighty. There was no doubt that the attacker wasn’t Lily’s match upon the surface, but Lily’s prowess was diminished underwater. Although her power was boosted by an esoteric power enhancement art, Lily was unable to even exert a tenth of it underwater. The Tsukuyomi Swordstyle was also unsuitable for underwater use and she also lacked practice with regards to this.
Lily thus found herself getting dragged into the depths of the river by the hand…5
