Book 1: Chapter 120: Ashikaga Mansion

At the same time Lily entered the foot of the main peak with Dijon’s group, Yagyuu Shiu finally arrived at Kamakura City that’s located several hundred miles away. She, who was originally a little absent-minded1, was now especially calm and collected. She safely arrived at her destination and was currently at the north block of Kamakura City.

After searching for a bit, Shiu finally found a secluded mansion that occupied a large swath of land.

“A circle with two horizontal lines, this is the place,” said Shiu as she looked at the family emblem painted in front of the door.

For the safety of her master, Shiu would do anything in her power to complete her mission.

It was already night time so the mansion’s doors were obviously closed, but that was meaningless in the face of a ninja.

Shiu leaped up onto the wall and ran along it before jumping towards the roof to the side.

Currently, in the main house of this mansion, Ashikaga Kiyoshi was having a chat over tea with a female friend.

Ashikaga Kiyoshi was handsome yet manly. He was the typical case of a pretty boy with the lofty quality of medieval men. However, he wasn’t actually that tall.

The silver-haired girl2 who was casually drinking tea across him was, in fact, a little taller than him.

A scarily big tachi was placed at one side, leaning against the wooden pillar.

“Ashikaga,” Uesugi Rei drained the cup in one gulp and said, “As the largest branch of the Seiwa Genji, are you just going to sit here and watch the Hojo expand their territories?”

“Hehe, Miss Uesugi, the foundation of our Ashikaga clan lies in the Mikawa province for many generations. We don’t have much say in Kanagawa, and since their expansion has no effect whatsoever on our fief, we can’t really do much of anything about it. The Hojo clan has indeed been gaining more impetus these days, but as the Snow Nation’s G.o.ddess of War, you are fond of taking solo actions, why would you care about how much territories have the Hojo seized?” said Ashikaga with a shrewdly calm expression, it was hard to tell what he was actually thinking.

“The female knight3 of my Uesugi clan is invincible, but they are only proficient in frontal a.s.saults, we don’t have enough personnel to protect more territories… hm?” Uesugi Rei’s light purple eyes glanced toward the roof and said with a slight smile, “Ashikaga, it seems like you have a guest.”

“Right… now that Miss Uesugi mentioned it, I’ve also noticed.”

Ashikaga raised his head to look at the ceiling and yelled, “The friend on top of the roof, if you have some business with me, why don’t you come down and show yourself.”

A panicked noise came from the roof. And soon after, one of the ceiling blocks was silently removed.

“Poof!” A smoke bomb was dropped from the ceiling before a masked female ninja with purple hair jumped down from the hole. However, to those without dynamic vision, it’d look as though the girl just appeared out of thin air.

Uesugi Rei only took a short glance at the female ninja before resuming to drink tea.

“Who sent you here? What’s your business?” Kiyoshi asked

“I, uh… may I ask where is this?” When Shiu noticed the beautiful silver-haired girl who was even more splendid than her mistress, she blushed and lost herself for a moment.4

“Hm? You’ve come here without knowing? This is the Ashikaga mansion.” Kiyoshi thought the girl’s honesty was cute, and since she didn’t have any malice, he explained patiently.

“Ashikaga Mansion? Then is your family emblem a circle with two horizontal lines?” Shiu asked with glittering eyes.

“Uh… t- that’s right…” Kiyoshi also had no idea how to deal with this type of girl.

Uesugi Rei only smiled by herself at the side.

Shiu took out the letter and said, “M- my mistress is in danger! Lady Sakiko of the Genji Dojo asked me to deliver this letter to the master of this house!”

“Lady Sakiko’s letter?” Hearing the name, Kiyoshi stood up with a stern face and received the letter personally. Then he returned to the seat to open up the letter while asking at the same time, “Your mistress is…”

“My mistress is very pure, very beautiful, very n.o.ble, and very kind… but, y- you might not have heard of her, she only recently became a samurai and the disciple of the Genji Dojo. Miss Kagami Lily is the mistress that I serve,” Shiu’s face reddened as she recollected Lily’s figure.5

“What?! Little Kagami?” Uesugi Rei, who was originally sipping tea gracefully, suddenly became interested and s.n.a.t.c.hed the letter from Kiyoshi’s hand.

“That’s… Miss Uesugi, t- the letter was written by Lady Sakiko to myself…” Kiyoshi evasively reminded in a low voice.

Rei had finished reading the letter in less than ten seconds, she threw it away and jumped up to her feet. A rare expression of seriousness spread out on her face as she picked up the tachi leaning against the pillar, “Ashikaga, you don’t need to get involved, I will deal with this matter.”6

“Huh?” Kiyoshi still appeared to be confused as he picked up the letter.

However, Rei didn’t even wait for Kiyoshi to finish reading the letter, she immediately walked out of the building with her creamy legs that were even plumper and longer than Lily’s. The silver-hair at her back swayed left and right as though it could hook you in.

“Nioh!” Rei raised a cry.

Along with a lively neigh and the thunderous galloping sound, that black horse that was even taller than the roof ran over. Rei didn’t even need to horse to come to a stop, she just spread out her two legs and jumped up onto the horseback. She tightened her grip on the reins and shouted, “Nioh—! Go to Suruga!”

“Rumble!” Nioh’s thick hoof dug up the ground on Ashikaga’s front yard as it dashed forth, dust particles followed behind its trail. With a leap, it directly jumped across the front gate of Ashikaga Mansion.

With the full moon as the background, the figure of a girl riding atop a majestic warhorse as it flew through the air made for a picturesque sight.

“Well… Miss Ninja, how about your rest at my humble home for a while. I’ll have my wife prepare a room for you,” Ashikaga Kiyoshi said with an awkward smile.

“Huh? Ah… that, uh… who was that sister just now? And the matter regarding my mistress?” Shiu was perplexed.

“That’s… to be honest, I’m quite lost myself…”7

1. Robinxen: “a little”
2. Silva: Silver-hair? Anesama?
3. It says 骑军, so… it should be a knight huh…
4. Silva: Shiu, you traitorous ninja! Robinxen: It’s not betrayal, she’s behaving as a proper member of Lily’s harem to the other harem members.
5. Robinxen: Shiu why are you getting hot and bothered just DESCRIBING Lily?!
6. Silva: Princess Knight to the rescue! Robinxen: Fun fact, Princess Knight is one of my favourite tropes. A large number of the web novel concepts I create use one as the main heroine, and the majority of my female game characters are in the same style.
7. Robinxen: Poor guy.