It was the fifth day since Lily entered Mt. Aoame, more than a week since the start of the Extended Night which still showed no signs of ending. During this week, even without any accurate numbers, she could roughly surmise that her base power’s penetration force had already surpassed 500 kan! In essence, she was already at the same level as a High-tire Samurai with her base, and if she used the near doubling effect of her Blade Maiden Spirit Power, her penetration force would be more than 1000 kan! On top of that, with the second level of the Genji Sword-style in use, it would jump all the way to 2000 kan, the doorstep of a Mid-tier Sword Master! That power was what enabled her to kill the Mid ranked Blue Demon with a single slash.
The Blade Maiden attribute was every bit as abnormal as could be. It didn’t have any attribute weakness, nor was it strong against other attributes, and yet it bestowed two times Spirit Power amplification to the users. On that point alone, it was already stronger than the other attributes. However, Lily’s intent was still at a low level, and she didn’t have an ultimate move to call her own. Even more importantly, she also didn’t have a real Cursed Katana in the truest sense. Otherwise, she could grow much stronger still.
At this moment, Lily had just finished bathing in the mountain spring and was washing her clothes beside it. After all, it was necessary to personally wash one’s clothes and underwear if one stayed for a long time in the mountains. The weather wasn’t too cold anyway. If winter had come, then she might need to find a hot spring to bathe in instead.
Once she finished washing the clothes, Lily hung them to dry in the air near the entrance of the secret cave she had found, she had already been staying there for three days.
If the sun still didn’t rise by tomorrow, Lily planned to go deeper into the mountain. The reason being that aside from the Blue Demon she encountered on the first day, she hadn’t encountered another Mid Ranked monster. To date, she had collected a total of 12 Inferior Low Ranked Animas and 3 Superior Low Ranked Animas. If converted to money, those would be more or less 100 kan. Although it was an extremely generous income by any measurement, it was still far from her goal. Moreover, after taking the stock of the tamahagane, other high-grade materials, and the service fees for the foreman into consideration, earning just 1000 kan wouldn’t be enough. She needed at least 1500 kan as a guarantee.
These past few days, Lily had been sleeping with her sword clamped between her legs. The main reason was to prevent her sword from being taken away by monsters or people while she was asleep and being assaulted afterwards. Although she did set up a Spirit Sensor to stay on alert even while sleeping, it was still better to be careful. Besides, she was alone and the sword was her only means of protection: It gave her a sense of security.
This night, however, only after taking a short nap, the Spirit Sensor she set up in the surroundings was broken through repeatedly.
“Hm?” Lily suddenly woke up, “Who or what has entered my detection range?”
The sound of footsteps could be heard coming from outside. Along with it, the sound of men talking.
“We have been tasked to find a place for the troops to spend the night. This place doesn’t look half bad, you, go call the others.”
“Yes! This cave looks more solid than the one we stayed in before.”
Then, from further away, the sound of someone shouting loudly could be heard, “Oooooi! Over here! There’s a cave here—!”
“Eh? Look over there, my lord. Why are there woman’s clothing here?”
“And it seems like there’s some light coming from the cave? Is someone here?”
And they spoke, the two walked into the cave. The flickering light of the torch came from the cave entrance. Lily -wearing a red kimono- got up immediately and placed her hand on the sword hilt.
“How terrible, this cave only has one entrance, I can’t avoid them!”
The two samurai —one with a torch, another with an unsheathed katana— had finally entered the cave.
“Who is it?” Lily was surprised when she saw the two people in question. One was illuminating the area with a torch, the other pointing at her with the sword. Lily also had a small oil lamp on her side, though dim, it was just enough for her to see. Also, by borrowing the light from the other side, she was able to make out the familiar figure of the two samurai.
“M- Master Matsuda?!” Lily had never been so surprised before. That’s right, these two were Matsuda Nagahide and his vassal, Kimura, the ones who taught her swordsmanship and archery respectively.
“M- Miss Kagami?! Is it Miss Kagami?” Old man Matsuda hadn’t spoken a word, yet Kimura already let out a shout. Joy was apparently from his expression.
Even Matsuda Nagahide was greatly surprised, “Miss Kagami? Is that really you? Why are you here?”
Lily was stunned for a moment, she never thought she’d run into old friends in this wild area. Matsuda Nagahide was her first teacher in this world. When she was having difficulties, he provided shelter for her, taught her swordsmanship, and even shielded her to a certain extent from Hojo Motoshige and the Daidoujis. He was a good and sincere man! Kimura and Kanzaki were also honest and considerate men. They were one of the very few virtuous samurai in this dark time.
“Ah… that’s um… Master Matsuda, after I received the title of samurai, I came here to train,” Lily stuttered a little. She couldn’t tell her the real reason she came to Suruga was because she killed Hojo Motoshige and Akira in order to save Nanako.
“Speaking of which, why are you here, Master Matsuda?” Lily was just as puzzled.
“We are conscripted and are acting under orders…” Nagahide’s firm expression wavered as he looked at Lily. As though he just thought of something, he stopped momentarily before continuing, “Miss Kagami, this place is extremely dangerous. It really is not a place for a Low-Tier Samurai like yourself, Miss Kagami. You should leave quickly, this isn’t a good place to talk. If you still want to have a chat, please come and visit my Matsuda clan someday in the future. Please, leave quickly!”
The last few words were clearly harsher than usual. Nagahide looked hasty, it was as though he was deliberately urging Lily to leave as quickly as possible.
“Mr. Matsuda……?” At first, Lily was happy to have encountered an old friend, but looking at the grim expression on Nagahide’s face, she guessed it must be something he couldn’t talk about. In this otherworld, at least she knew Matsuda didn’t harbor any evil intention towards her. If he did, he would have done something to her already. Although Lily was still completely puzzled, she suppressed her curiosity and took Nagahide’s advice to heart. Just when she picked up the Sakura Parasol and about to take her leave…
The voice of another samurai she knew well came from the cave entrance, “Lord Dijon, look, that’s the cave.”
Lily’s entire body shook.i𝗻𝚗re𝗮𝐝. 𝙘𝑜m