Book 3: Chapter 118: Essential Training

The Saionji family’s Art of Escaping Rope Bindings that Lily had become much proficient in had played a key role in her clash against Amanojaku.

As such, an esoteric art like this had become really quite essential to a woman like Lily.

“Let’s begin the training right away then,” Haihime pulled Lily closer with a smile, “Go stand in the middle of the room.”

Even though it was really quite essential for her to train in the art in a certain sense, Lily was still perplexed about why she had made such a training proposition willingly.

Although it was a little embarra.s.sing, it also benefited her a lot and was tantamount to giving her an extra opportunity to turn defeat into victory at the frontline. Furthermore, she was fully willing to do it if it was enough to cheer Haihime up.

Lily didn’t know when she would return after setting out towards Kansai and believed that Haihime would really return to the Endless Demon Mountains if she remained so despondent. Just the possibility of Haihime falling into the clutches of the avengers from the Golden-Horned Tribe left Lily restless.

Lily valued her sisters a lot and was willing to pay any price for them1.

Thus, she walked to the center of the room obediently and stood perfectly straight in an elegant fashion even though she felt embarra.s.sed to show her att.i.tude.

Haihime then fetched a loop of rope from the closet, which made Lily wonder why she had such an item with her in the room.

“Uhm, Sister Haihime, can you close the door and window first?” Lily requested with her head down.

Haihime smiled sweetly in response, “No one will come here as this room is at the end of the corridor, so let’s just leave them open.”

“Eh?”

Haihime arrived in front of Lily with the rough hemp rope and straightened it in front of her eyes, “As Haihime, I racked up years of experience with rope bondage since I had to discipline a lot of the kunoichi. All of them were quite remarkably haughty at the beginning, but they still became obedient once they got disciplined by me. I wonder how you will end up, my Lil’ Master?”

“Sister Haihime, t-this is training, not discipline…” Lily whispered.

“Isn’t it all the same? Let’s begin with the first position then, the Full Bloom Moon Chaser. I’ll give you an incense stick amount of time to escape from it, and you’ll get punished if you fail to do so,” Haihime whispered into Lily’s ear while lifting up Lily’s hair gently.

“Eh? A-A punishment… We’re just training, so there’s no need to take it that seriously.”

“How could you say that? Doing it seriously is more efficient, Master. I’m doing it all for you.”

Haihime had come from the temple, so she had naturally brought some incense sticks and candles along with her. She lighted up one of the incense sticks inside the room, but its strange scent left Lily a bit dazed and turned her breathing rough.

“Alright, then. Lift your arms and bring them together now.”

“H-Hold on,” Lily turned around suddenly.

“What is it, Master?” Haihime asked while lifting Lily’s chin gently.

“How about we help each other train in it? Don’t you want to learn this Art of Escaping Rope Bindings as well, Sister Haihime?” Lily minded her prestige as the master, so even if it was just training, Haihime’s att.i.tude seemed to leave her restless and she was afraid that Haihime would misunderstand her because of that.

Haihime’s bosom also heaved up and down visibly and her eyes drooped down a little.

“How about we exchange our roles if you manage to escape from the bondage within half-an-incense’s amount of time? I won’t comply unless you show that you’re skilled enough to accomplish it,” Haihime suggested.

“F-Fine. Do it.”

Lily raised her arms up and brought them together.

Haihime was quite tall, so she tied the rope around Lily’s wrist tightly before pulling it downwards and pa.s.sed it through her underarms, producing a rustling sound as it ground against the red fabric…

She then pulled the rope from the other side and tied it around Lily’s well-developed b.r.e.a.s.t.s before pulling it tightly and pulled it down again after that…

“Ngh…” Lily’s brows locked up as she issued a soft moan2.

After tying up Lily’s feet, a meter-length piece of rope was left in between the bindings of Lily’s legs for some reason…

It wasn’t until Lily was suspended face-up via the roof beam that she learned the purpose of leaving behind this distance between the legs.

“How’s this bondage position? It’s highly likely that you will run across it in case you fall into the hands of the demons in the future as it’s one of the bondage positions that they like to use when torturing women. It has a nice name, doesn’t it? I named it personally. If you don’t train enough and fall into the hands of the demons, the portrayed scene wouldn’t be this pretty for sure.”

“Sister Haihime, c-close the door now, would you?”

“Would the demons listen to your request? You can do it, hehe. Oh my, half-an-incense is burnt out already.”

“Eh?”

The incense still burned out wholly in the end, yet Lily failed to escape from the binding.

“You couldn’t be at such a shallow level now, could you, little sister? This has really left me quite disappointed. I was hoping for you to bind me and teach me the art, but it seems like you’re destined to get punished by me if you’re at such a level.”

“G-Get punished how?”

“How about we continue what we stopped back then?”

“Eh?” Lily’s body quivered.

Haihime’s slender finger stretched into Lily’s cleavage and she was powerless to resist as she was suspended via the rope right now. If she were to use spirit power to escape, it was bound to hurt Haihime’s feelings and that went against Lily’s other reason to engage in such training, which was to cheer Haihime up.

“Sister Haihime, if doing so can cheer you up, get you out from the haze of defeat, let you have success, feel the taste of victory and help you regain your confidence…” Although Lily looked unwilling, her mind was actually filled with such thoughts.

Lily bit her lips firmly and raised her head forcefully, bringing the hand stretching into the shadow of her red dress’ cleavage and her sweat-drenched heaving bosom into view.

The second position, Late Night Moon Fall, left Lily suspended upside down with her hands and feet tied behind her back. Although this position was quite embarra.s.sing, it was somewhat similar to the position that she had trained with Uesugi Rei previously.

“How is it? It’s hard to guess who’s the real master with you like this now. If you fail to escape this time, I will have to touch you in other spots then,” Haihime stated from behind Lily.

However, Lily actually managed to undo the bondage in just one-third incense’s amount of time. Her slender thighs stretched down and almost made a perfect split as she made a smooth escape by landing on the floor.

“Eh? What… H-How could this be possible?! This bondage position is tougher to escape than the first position!” Haihime felt baffled.

“This is the result of training, Sister Haihime,” Lily’s breathing was still a bit rough, and her face wholly red, but her eyes contained a devilish glint as she straightened the long rope.

“It’s your turn now, Sister Haihime,” Lily chuckled.

“Eh? B-But…”

“What? Don’t you think that you need to get punished for binding and belittling your master?” Lily whispered into Haihime’s ear, “Kneel down.3”

Haihime kneeled down with a shudder, but Lily actually pressed down on Haihime’s shoulder and turned her face sideways before caressing her hair gently, “I’ll make the first lesson quite simple for you, Sis. I believe it would be difficult for you to escape from suspended bondages, so I’ll bind you with a basic bondage instead.”

Lily then brought Haihime’s hands behind her back and tied them together with the rope.

She then picked up the katana sheath placed aside and pressed it against her bare calves before fixing it in position with the rope.

“Uhm, the door…”

“Huh? The door, you say, Sister Haihime?” Lily walked to the door and opened it as much as possible.

Haihime’s skin flushed up and a shiver pa.s.sed through her spine at this moment.

“Alright. I’ll give you 3 incense stick’s worth of time after teaching the esoteric art to you. Try to escape by then.”

Lily imparted the esoteric art into Haihime’s ear and opened Haihime’s closet after that, “Train alone while I check if you have any good books to read, Sister Haihime.”

“Don’t mess around with my things…” Haihime pleaded with a blushing face.

Lily found it strange sometimes that she had begun to like training other girls more instead of having others train her along with the rise in her strength. Although she didn’t know why she felt like this, as the training was for everyone’s betterment, she stopped minding it.

Haihime still hadn’t managed to escape from the bondage even after the 3 incense sticks had burnt out wholly and had instead ended up drenched in perfumed sweat with a roughed breath and disheveled hair.

“Sister Haihime, how could you fail to escape from such a simple bondage? It’s no wonder your name means ‘defeated maiden.’”

“T-This requires arduous training…”

“Oh? So you want me to train you often from now on, right, Sister Haihime? You’re obviously much older than me, yet you still want this little master of yours to train you like this. Don’t you feel ashamed about it?”

“I’m sorry… I never experienced this before…”

“You’re no good at this yet you treated your master similarly moments ago. Don’t you think that you need to get punished? Tell me, Sister Haihime, you need to get punished now, don’t you?”

Perhaps it was because Haihime was accustomed to the feeling of defeat or perhaps because she felt truly at ease in such a situation, her breathing calmed down and her hazy eyes began showing hints of charm once again as she wiggled her waist and bootylicious rear, “Isn’t it up to the master to decide whether to punish or not and how much punishment is required?”

“I’ll order you to say it then, is that fine with you?” Lily pressed her.

“No…” Haihime replied timidly.

“Don’t you find it pretty embarra.s.sing to get disciplined like this by a girl younger than you?”

“That’s the very reason I can’t say it with my own mouth,” Haihime continued wiggling her b.u.t.t.

Lily sighed faintly, “You’re a really rebellious woman. Although you look mature, you act just like a brat, so I might as well punish you like the little brat you are!”

Lily lifted the end of Haihime’s kimono and revealed the piece of white underneath. She then sat in seiza beside Haihime and lifted her hand up, her bosom heaving up and down intensely.

“Sigh. What a naïve sister you are,” Lily stated sweetly.

“Slap!” Lily’s palm smacked Haihime’s jiggling b.u.t.t and perhaps it was because she had gotten smacked by Haihime in the past, she began to take revenge on her4.

…

After training from afternoon until midnight of the next day, Lily had made great improvements in the Art of Escaping Rope Bindings, especially so in the bindings which were prevalent among the monsters. Haihime, on the other hand, made little progress.

However, even Lily felt a little exhausted after repeating the training over and over again for more than half a day as this training was harder than an actual battle.

Furthermore, the aroma also made her feel quite giddy.

“We’ll end it with this today, Sister Haihime,” Lily untied Haihime, “I’m going to spend the next few days training and leave for Kansai after that.”

“Mhm. I’ll be awaiting your return at this place, Master,” Haihime sat in seiza in front of Lily with a flushed face and her breath was filled with a distinctive joy unlike before.

“You don’t want to return to the Endless Demon Mountains, Sister Haihime?”

Haihime shook her head calmly, “Aren’t I still training? I’ve yet to learn the art yet, so I’m going to train well with you in the future, Master.”

Lily also sat down in seiza in front of Haihime and held her hands, “I’m the happiest as long as you’re able to live peacefully in this Sakura Blossom Valley, Sis.”

“Lily…”

Haihime and Lily rested their heads on each other’s shoulder and revealed a warm and comfy expression.

Kotoka delivered the newest batch of magatama to Lily on the next day, and she then began preparing to break through to the Spirit Jade Stage.

As for Haihime, she dried the garments and the bedding in the backyard of the cottage with a happy smile on her blushing face under the clear snow in high spirits5.

1. Robinxen: Spoken like a true siscon.
2. Robinxen: Eros!
3. Robinxen: The turns have tabled.
4. Robinxen: The redemption arc is complete.
5. Robinxen: She was surprisingly easy but I approve.