Lily’s appearance had created a buzz amid the onlookers. There was a reason for this. She had become quite popular among the people and samurai class of Heian-kyo because of the Yoshitsune Memorial Tournament. Her influence had long surpassed that of a mere junior ranked official now.
Lily’s return made things difficult for the Fujiwaras, as she knew that they had conspired to murder Ayaka and had even colluded with the monsters to achieve this.
Although Lily was so beautiful and sexy that many of the high-ranked officials wanted to make her theirs, they were still willing to become ruthless in case she touched their bottom lines, which was profit and survival.
However, she appeared so suddenly that they found themselves confused for a moment.
“Kagami Lily… How did you…” A layer of cold sweat formed on Arima’s forehead. Although Lily knew a lot of information and had killed the samurai who the Fujiwaras had dispatched, she did not actually know who dispatched them.
Lily just ignored Arima’s question and stepped on the court trial’s platform with a furious look in her eyes.
“How dare you do this, Kagami Lily!” The Chancellor of the Realm pointed his thick finger at Lily and said imposingly despite feeling unconfident about the matter, “This is a public trial conducted under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice. Just what do you think you are doing by injuring the court officials instead of reporting to the Shogun now that you have returned?”
Lily just brushed his question aside and unsheathed her Yasutsuna to execute a slash once she stood on top of the punishment platform.
Whoosh!
The punishment device’s screen got sliced into pieces and fell apart.
This caused the messy-haired Haihime to be exposed outside. Her skirt had been flipped up, and she had been forced to kneel on the platform on all fours right now. As for Igarashi, she had her foot on Haihime’s back and was planning to punish her further with the object in her hand. There were also two zashiki-warashi with hard, huge paddles standing on Haihime’s either side, and based on her condition, it was pretty obvious that they had served her a severe punishment.
Lily’s eyes filled with fury, and she jumped into the punishment device without saying anything further.
“How dare you bully one of my sisters!” The spirit power that overflowed out of Lily blew the damaged punishment device into pieces1 as she charged towards Igarashi with Yasutsuna in hand.
Igarashi was also pretty surprised by Lily’s appearance. She released Haihime, jumped back swiftly to dodge Lily’s blade, and landed in the corner of the punishment platform.
“Ms. Igarashi!” The giant monk, the gloomy samurai, and the firearm-bearing young man got up immediately when they witnessed this scene.
Igarashi, however, hinted them to remain in position with a hand sign.
Lily saw tears marks on Haihime’s blindfolded, gagged face, and saw that her spotless butt had been spanked red by these ruthless rogues.
She glared at the zashiki-warashi who held the beating paddles in their hands woodenly on Haihime’s either side and kicked them with force all of a sudden.
“F̲u̲c̲k̲ off!”
The kick sent the zashiki-warashi flying towards the priestess sculpture at the corner of the punishment device. Lily had kicked them so hard that it had exhausted the spirit energy keeping the familiars in form and made them transform into tattered paper dolls along with a puff of smoke.
Lily felt a sting of pain in her heart when she saw Haihime and returned her torn, uplifted skirt back into place before taking off the blindfold and gag ball off her face.
“Aah…” Haihime gasped for air with a flushed face and shame-filled eyes.
“Lily…” She felt a little conflicted as she did not want Lily to see her in such a state and wanted to retain her original image in front of Lily.
Lily swung her blade and severed the straps binding Haihime before she employed her domain to break the shackles on her neck and limbs. She then helped Haihime stand up and fixed up the front of her kimono.
Lily then glowered at the Fujiwaras and thundered at them in an icy tone, “Just what on earth is going on here?”
Arima, who had been stupefied by Lily’s appearance, and was about to question her, asked back in an infuriated voice instead when he heard her question. “What’s going on here, you say? Are you blind or what? It’s fine and all that you’ve managed to return alive from the disaster, but how could you interfere with a judgment trial the moment you’re back and release this demoness who is an accomplice to evil. Are you that tired of living, huh?!”
The chancellor of the realm also thundered at Lily, “Don’t you know it’s a serious crime to interfere with a judgment trial and release the criminal, Kagami Lily?! I’m willing to forgive you for this offense in light of you not being in a sound mind after surviving the disaster, though. Leave the woman here and fall back at once!”
Lily scoffed when she heard his words and said, “What if I say no?”
“What?!” The Fujiwaras looked at each other.
Arima chided her as well, “How could you act so arrogant after interfering with a judgment trial so openly, Kagami Lily?! Does the law not exist in your eyes? Or are you planning to rebel?”
“Haihime is one of my sisters and not some demoness. You’re the lawless crooks here and are nothing more than perverts who engage in shady business while dressed in court outfits! Just be thankful that I haven’t killed you openly.”
“Kagami Lily!” Kujou thundered, “Do you know who you are talking to? It’s the chancellor of the realm, the junior first ranked official who leads all officials in the court! It’s a capital crime to threaten the life of the chancellor!”
“You needn’t scare me now. I still haven’t settled the debt of Izumo Shrine’s events with you shameless scourges yet!” Lily said icily.
The Fujiwaras lost confidence when Izumo Shrine got mentioned, and even the chancellor had been forced to back down because of her threat.
“I-I’ll pardon your words just now since you just returned from surviving through a perilous disaster, Kagami Lily. This Haihime is the queen of the Land of Hundred Demons. Lord Tokugawa has testified about it, so you better not deny it now!” The chancellor pointed at Lily as he said this.
“Lord Tokugawa!” Arima looked at Tokugawa.
The showily dressed Tokugawa was seated in the corner at the moment. His thick, short neck almost made it seem as if it didn’t exist when compared to his bulky figure.
“Well…” Sweat formed on Tokugawa’s forehead when faced with Lily’s icy gaze. “Although this woman looks a bit similar to the queen of the Land of Hundred Demons, my memory has faded a bit because of my age. I’m not so sure if this woman’s really her now that I’ve taken a closer look…2”
“What?!” Arima glared at Tokugawa and stomped his foot in anger.
‘Crafty scoundrel!’ The chancellor cursed him internally when he saw him change his tune after seeing Lily come back alive. This was not that much of a surprise, though, as Lily had Ayaka’s backing. Tokugawa did not dare to offend someone like her.
Lily pointed her blade at the viewing platform and asked, “Do you all have anything else to say?”
Arima said, “Even if Lord Tokugawa is not sure if Haihime’s the queen of the Land of the Hundred Demons, it still doesn’t clear off her suspicions. Moreover, Haihime admitted that she’s the queen of the Land of the Hundred Demons just now.”
Haihime had caught her breath by now and snuggled within Lily’s embrace as she said, “I was the queen once, but I didn’t do it willingly. Amanojaku had forced me back then!”
Lily hugged Haihime’s waist and said, “The East will deal with the matters of the East. You guys don’t have a say in it! Haihime has already surrendered and pledged allegiance to me. She is my retainer, and my sister. Feel free to question me directly if you have any further questions! I’m willing to accompany you anytime!”
“Let’s go, Sister Haihime.”
Lily tried to leave while supporting Haihime after she said her piece.
“Hey! You don’t think you can just take her away now, do you, Kagami Lily?! You don’t have the jurisdiction to do that!” Arima bellowed at her.
“Since when did you gain such jurisdiction, then?” Lily asked back.
“The court appointed me to the position!”
“Hmph3.” Lily did not say anything else and just left with Haihime.
Both the guards and the samurai did not dare to stop her.
“Are you really going to act so unlawfully, Kagami Lily?!” The chancellor thundered at her.
“Do you think this matter will end just because you’re taking her away by force, Kagami Lily?” Arima threatened her.
“Come to the chief advisor’s if you want her, you scoundrels!” Lily said nonchalantly.
“W-What did you say?!”
“How dare you insult the chancellor and minister!”
Lily just ignored them, though.
The old fellows from the Fujiwara clan were helpless against Lily and could only watch as she left after raining curses at them.
None of the Fujiwara officials dared to block her way.
The chancellor, however, turned to Igarashi for help by sending her a signal.
Igarashi smiled faintly and nodded towards the chancellor before saying, “Hold on there, girl. How could you leave just like that after breaking my punishment treasure and destroying my familiars? I’m one of Yamato’s Eight Legions, you know?”
Lily stopped and turned towards Igarashi, “Another one, huh?4”
“Another one?”
Lily continued, “Since you’re one of the famous Eight Legions, why have you become the b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲ of the Fujiwaras?”
“W-What?!” Igarashi had retained her beautiful looks even though she was in her early thirties now, but that did not mean she was a dissolute woman. Her face flushed in anger when Lily called her a b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲ in public.
“Just where did this vulgar woman come from? How dare she insult the madam like that?!” The young man on the viewing platform took the firearm on his back into his hands and aimed it at Lily. His firearm was not an ordinary one and possessed the best characteristics of outlander firearms. It had also been modified by a famous magic weaponsmith and was one of the top three firearms in Western Yamato.
The monk also got up, making the whole platform rattle in the process, and said, “Please calm down, madam. I don’t believe she meant to call you a b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲. She is questioning why you’ve become the Fujiwaras’ minion…”
“Shut up, you dunce!” The young man chided the giant.
The Fujiwaras were also left speechless by this exchange, but this was no surprise either, as it was hard for common people to understand the thought processes of geniuses and experts.
Igarashi pulled out the red-handled naginata into her hands and brandished it before saying, “It doesn’t matter what you meant. You better forget about leaving this place alive now. I’ll make you pay the price for looking down on one of Yamato’s Eight Legions!”
“There’s no need for you to deal with her personally, madam! Let me do it instead!” The young man rolled forward and jumped towards the punishment platform. He then loaded the firearm in his arm with a spin and activated his spirit power while in mid-air and fired at Lily with his firearm.
Bang! A dazzling, magical light emitted from the firearm as a 9th-grade bullet engraved with ancient runes shot towards Lily5.
