Book 2: Chapter 24: Magatama Fragment

At night, the last remnant of the autumn fireflies flickered atop the calm surface of the lake.

Minamoto no Shimizu was dressed in white, sitting on the waterside pavilion. She was looking at the light spots. A half-cooled medicine was placed beside her.

Somehow, she was a little restless today.

“Miss, it’s time for you to drink the medicine,” said the maid who was sitting beside Shimizu.

“Forget it, I don’t want to drink it.”

“Miss… Let me heat it up for you.” The maid looked at Shimizu anxiously and left with the medicine.

At this time, a figure suddenly jumped down from the roof of Minamoto no Shimizu’s water pavilion. It was a masked female ninja.

“Your Highness Shimizu, I have heard all kinds of rumors about the battle of Suruga.” The ninja knelt down and reported.1

“Tell me what rumours you have heard.” Minamoto no Shimizu leaned against the waterside pavilion and her eyes noticed the small wooden house opposite the pond. At this time, its lights were on. Through the curtain, she could see a tall and beautiful figure walking into the room.2

“This …” The female ninja seemed to be a little bit sceptic.

“Your duty is to inquire about the information and tell me the truth. If I just want to listen to something good, why should I hire you?” Shimizu’s voice was sweet but cold.

“Understood… The samurai of Suruga, Mikawa Province, Kamakura, and even Kai Province are all talking about the battle of Suruga. It is said that Uesugi Rei alone was able to fight against three high-tier Sword Saint3 including Taira Hachiro and Hojo Dijon, two members of Eastern Nation’s Six Swords. Everyone marveled at Uesugi Rei’s strength. Moreover, according to the intelligence from the soldiers who witnessed the battle of Suruga, Uesugi Rei already achieved and established her own Domain.”

“Domain?” Originally, Minamoto no Shimizu was looking at a certain curtain behind which there was a silhouette of a beautiful woman changing clothes, she felt as if she had overdid it. Hearing the report, Minamoto no Shimizu turned around showing a somewhat surprised and even displeased tone. One should know that she had yet to realize her own Domain.

“Yes… It’s said that Uesugi is the first of the Eastern Nation’s Six Swords and even the first of all the young generations to have attained and established a Domain. Even… even… ”

“Even what?”

“Some even say that Uesugi is the first-rank of the Six Swords.”

“Hum,” Shimizu said with an indifferent smile, “The Six Swords of the Eastern Nation is a meaningless t.i.tle that the world has given us. It’s nonsensical to rank who is the first and the who is the second. Uesugi and I will walk on different roads in the future. Neither I nor she will take this ranking seriously. It’s just the gossiping material of the lower level warriors.”

“What Your Highness Shimizu said is true. At the level of Your Highness, why would Your Highness be concerned about the development of the Genji’s young generation and inheriting the false t.i.tle? Besides, the confrontation date agreed by Your Highness and Uesugi Rei last year is approaching. At that time, with Your Highness’s strength, you will be able to defeat Uesugi Rei and the rumors will go away.”

“……” Shimizu noticed that the woman behind the curtain on the opposite side seemed to have taken off her clothes. Her figure was really young, healthy, and hot.4

“Your Highness?”

“Ah… You’re right. You can go back. Here take this.” Shimizu threw a small piece of Magatama Fragment at will.

“Your Highness!” The female ninja held the Magatama Fragment in her hand and felt moved to tears. She wanted to kneel down and lick her little feet.

As the female Ninja retreated, Shimizu’s delicate fingers reached into her clothes and touched her mirror. “What about the Domain? As long as I can fully practice the sword technique in that mirror, let alone Uesugi Rei, I’m not afraid of the four seniors of Furinkazan. Haha… Uesugi Rei is a woman who is so popular and likes to show off. Let her show off for a while. At this time, it’s no use saying more.”

At this time, it seemed that the woman who was changing clothes on the opposite side had changed and opened the curtain. Only then did she notice Shimizu, suddenly moving as if she seemed to be a little cramped, and bowed to her slightly.5

At first glance, she wanted to laugh.

“Oh, that new big-breasted girl actually lived opposite me? What did she eat to grow up like that? She is so tall yet so strong… What a healthy girl…”

Shimizu got up and gave a little salute to Lily, and then walked back to the room.

Lily didn’t realize that she was seen changing clothes by that beautiful silhouette because of the bright light in the room. She just looked at the opposite house.

“I feel like I’ve seen that sister somewhere before. Regardless, it’s great that there really is a beautiful girl living opposite of me, this would be convenient.” Lily thought with a smile.

After changing to a yukata, she closed the sliding door to stop the blowing night breeze. Then she took out the small bag of Magatama Fragments.

Lily planned to use these Magatama Fragments immediately.

She had also asked Kondo how to use them before.

Lily took out the translucent Magatama Fragments and placed them on the small table. Then she gently operated her spirit power to release a weak spiritual energy to guide the catalyst. Those Magatama Fragments were originally spirit essence, so they were instantly catalyzed and emitted soft light.

The soft light released by the Magatama Fragments gathered together to form a completely intact shining Magatama after another. Those Magatama rotated in front of Lily, releasing cloud-like patterns that flowed freely like those of freehand drawings. These cloud-like patterns flew around and finally entered into Lily’s body through several “entry points”. Somehow, Lily’s absorption rate was faster than many of the male pract.i.tioners.

When it entered her body, she immediately felt an extremely comfortable and cheerful feeling. These cloud patterns quickly turned into a stream of essence and released into all parts of her body. It quickly nourished her body, making her skin more smooth and soft. However, her strength was also increasing at the same time…

“This Magatama’s essence seems very similar to the mysterious s.p.a.ce6 in my body. However, the amount is much larger.” Lily gently rubbed her lower abdomen with sentiment.

The entire absorption process lasted about half an hour and all those Magatama Fragments were completely absorbed. According to Lily’s rough estimation, her strength increased by about 500 kan.

“If I’m right, my talent for absorbing Magatama Fragment is not that different from the average level. I don’t have any special talent in this aspect. I belong to the category of a normal samurai with slightly higher apt.i.tude.”

However… This increment of 500 kan was directly related to base strength. What was equal to 500 kan would be doubled in Lily’s case due to her const.i.tution after exiting the Mirror s.p.a.ce.

Lily’s base strength with the normal Spirit Power was originally 1000 kan, so adding 500 kan on top of it meant that her base strength was now equal to 1500 kan. With her const.i.tution that doubled the base strength, in theory, she should be able to strike with 3000 kan of penetration force.

Blade Maiden Spirit Power would double her strength further and then the Genji Swordstyle would increase her strength by another 2.5 times.

Overall, the actual strength of Lily was 10 times that of her basic spirit power’s strength!

That was 15,000 kan!

It seemed that just by absorbing 25 grams of Magatama Fragments, her strength had increased by 5,000 kan!

Lily’s strength had unexpectedly improved very quickly, but in fact, her Spirit Power didn’t really improve that quickly, there was no shortcut in this aspect so one could only practice and improve slowly.

But now, with the Magatama Fragments, Lily’s strength would undoubtedly improve by leaps and bounds!

The premise was to get and absorb more Magatama Fragments.

Lily had now ranked the 60th place and could only get 2.5 grams every month, which was too little and too slow.

She must find a way to get more Magatama Fragments.

For those who wanted to challenge someone higher rank than themselves, there were three opportunities to challenge each month. She needed to improve her ranking to get more resources at the end of the month. Furthermore, there were additional rewards for breaking through every ten ranks.

Other than that… she wondered if she could simply buy it.

Lily was now wealthy. If any disciple needed money, Lily may buy it from them.

For Lily, every gram of Magatama Fragment was equivalent to an increment of strength by 1,000 kan. It was too important for her.

In theory, if Lily had enough Magatama Fragments, she could even become strong enough to compete with Hojo Dijon! Then she didn’t have to worry about the Hojos again.

She could leave for Haien-kyo in advance.

“It turns out that the Genji Main Dojo has such incredible benefits! No wonder sister Uesugi who was just a few years older than me had become so powerful. I’m afraid that all these top geniuses have Magatama Fragments and even other things I can’t imagine to a.s.sist in training! “7

Lily suddenly thought of something. When she encountered the Night Parade of the Hundred Demons on the road leading to Kamakura, she narrowly escaped after stealing the Blood Spirit Magatama from the Shuten Doji.

Shuten Doji was one of the strongest three monsters in the legend of the Heian Empire pa.s.sed down from ancient times to the present. How could the things he wore on his waist be ordinary?

However, no matter how Lily explored, her spiritual power could not affect the Blood Spirit Magatama at all. It seemed like she needed to enter the mirror s.p.a.ce again to see if there was any connection between the strange patterns on the mirror and Blood Spirit Magatama. However, Lily didn’t know how to enter the mirror s.p.a.ce again.

It seemed that either her strength was too weak or this thing had some magical effect that she has yet to discover. However, it was just stolen from Shuten Doji so Lily didn’t dare to take it out to ask other people. Shuten Doji and Michizane walked around the Kamakura city with their Night Parade like they owned the place. Even the Duke of Kamakura city didn’t dare to come out to stop them. It could be seen that their strength was anything but ordinary!

It would be too dangerous if the news that she stole their stuff were to leak out.

Lily hid the Blood Spirit Magatama with her. The secret of this treasure could only be investigated secretly.

As for the metal seal, it was relatively simple. If she had the opportunity, she would show it to Master Ehiro who could be absolutely trusted for examining and identifying it. It may be a.s.sumed that it was an extraordinary type of tamahagane.

Tomorrow, she would attend the cla.s.s first and learn about the specific situation of the disciples who were ranked higher than herself. Then, she would also need to learn about the details of the challenges and rules.

Judging from the strength gap between her and Hachiya, there should still be some gap between the lower-ranked disciples and her own strength so there was still room to improve her ranking!

Today, Lily’s strength had been improved by nearly 50% so naturally, she slept with satisfaction.

But late at night on this day, Odawara Castle was filled with the stench of blood, the scorched smell of will-o’-wisps, and the whirring cries of mourning.

Hojo Dijon killed his father and other old officials and became the leader himself. At this time, his face became more gloomy and fierce.

“Humph! You let Ujizane run away. I’m afraid that he will go to Kamakura city to ask for help and expose my crimes!” Dijon sat angrily on the gloomy Castle Tower.8

“Don’t worry, Your Highness Dijon. The Land of Hundred Demons is supporting you. Why are you afraid of the Kamakura city’s samurai?” In the dim place beside Dijon, Yuki Mayumi replied with her hands crossed over her huge b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

“Hum, it’s me who will have to suffer the anger of Duke Kamakura. Now the entire Eastern Nation is against me. Of course, it’s none of your concern! When will you hand me the secret method of Onimusha Spirit Power?”

“Hehe… Since Your Highness didn’t mention it, I almost forgot. However, would you like to cooperate with us?”

“Since I killed my father, I have no path to return to. Even if I have to reincarnate as a Vengeful Spirit, I will continue to pursue power, then look for Kagami Lily and Uesugi Rei to repay this disgrace!”

“Then, Your Highness, I will teach you the way of the Onimusha tonight.”

“Really!?” Dijon’s eyes brightened.

“It’s just that… I have recently heard that the mirror girl reappeared in the Kanto region and once in Kamakura. It’s difficult for our forces to investigate there so I hope Your Highness can help us.” Yuki Mayumi said.9

Dijon nodded: “Naturally, if you teach me the way of the Onimusha, it’s only reasonable for me to use the forces of the Hojo family to trace the whereabouts of the mirror girl for you.”

“Hehe, it’s a deal. In the future, Your Highness and us will be on the same boat.” Yuki Mayumi said with a charming but cold smile.

1. Robinxen: A competent Shiu?!
2. Silva: Yep, I knew it. Typical author just had to make Shimizu the “neighbor” of our Lily~
3. Robinxen: Remember from last chapter that we’re renaming Kengo and Kensei.
4. Silva: Shimizu has hots for women.
5. Robinxen: The translation for this paragraph was whack so I tried my best.
6. Referring to the dark red magatama inside her energy core (located in the lower abdomen). Refer to Chapter 51.
7. Robinxen: Lily learns about the Pay To Win mechanics.
8. Robinxen: Oh I forgot this dirtbag was still around.
9. Robinxen: So how is this going to play out. They target Shimizu but Lily gets exposed instead? They target Lily but Shimizu gets exposed instead? They target both and neither get exposed? Well we shall see!