Book 3: Chapter 16: On the Carriage

The land between Takes.h.i.ta and Izu Port spanned over a hundred kilometers, but in actuality, not all of it belonged to Lily. A majority of it was under the direct administration of Lord Kamakura and consisted of top-grade fertile farms.

With the strength, fame and status possessed by Lord Kamakura, it was a matter of course for him to lay hold of this land.

Lily hired a carriage in Takes.h.i.ta to leave for Izu Port, but she did it secretly.

There was no special reason for hiring a carriage except for the fact that it was too tedious to walk all the way there.

The carriage traversed slowly under the control of a female attendant from the Genji Dojo. Lily couldn’t find the ponytailed girl when she pa.s.sed through Takes.h.i.ta on this occasion, but she had confirmed her return. It seemed that she had been summoned to Kamakura by the upper echelon to gain an understanding of the circ.u.mstances, which was within reason.

Lily had decided upon a female attendant for driving the carriage in consideration of the journey ahead of her. As she would have to spend the night in the wilderness and even have to relieve herself out there, it would’ve been pretty awkward to have a man drive the carriage.

Right now, Lily was seated within the rocking carriage while dressed in a pale yellow kimono and felt content by experiencing the feel of autumn exuded by the yellow leaves of the trees in the hills.

Furthermore, Kagura was in possession of Nanako’s body at this moment and was sitting within the carriage with a deadpan expression.

“Master. There’s something that still eludes me.” “What is it?” “You’re obviously a woman, but why does your soul have the appearance of a boy? It looks pretty feminine and had close to no hint of manliness. If we consider the notions of the Heian Empire, a girl with a normal orientation would never harbor any feelings for that kind of pet.i.te and fragile figure…”

“Ahem!” Lily interrupted her in a displeased tone, “What do you mean to say, Kagura? Are you questioning why I have a boy’s soul or stressing that my appearance as a boy won’t be popular with girls?”

Lily felt pretty peeved after hearing Kagura’s words.

“Heh. You’re really quite unfathomable, Master. It seems like I’ve said too much. Could you tell me why you possess a boy’s soul, then?”

Lily didn’t know how to answer her and wondered whether to tell her that she was actually a boy from another world.

She feared that she wouldn’t be able to explain it clearly and that even if she did, the other party would just treat it as baloney.

“Kagura. I don’t wish to answer this question.”

“Hmph… As my master, if you don’t wish to answer it, I won’t inquire about it again,” Kagura felt like her trustworthiness had taken a hit and continued while caressing her long ponytail, “However, while my fragmented consciousness was within the mirror, I recall warning you that your training may be influenced if your mind and body aren’t in harmony. It’s impossible to change the fact that you possess a woman’s body, but as your soul is the reflection of the mind, it may perhaps experience a transformation along with the change in thoughts. Have you never wondered about this issue, Master?”

Lily had always pondered about it. After arriving in this Heian world, Lily had presented herself in front of Uesugi Rei, Shimizu, Nanako and Shiu as a girl. Thus, no matter how reluctant or embarra.s.sed she felt, she would have preferred to have her soul fully transform into that of a girl.

However…

Lily still had her senior sister and couldn’t forget the final evening she had spent with her, the moment they had fallen into the ends of the world, hand-in-hand with her ident.i.ty as a boy!

Lily’s believed that her senior sister wasn’t like the women around her and most likely a straight woman, that her senior sister liked her masculine self. Thus, to allow her senior sister to experience the happiness of a girl and to maintain the final dignity of a boy in front of her senior sister, even if she had been forced to wear risqué and s.e.xy garments to practice the Tsukuyomi Swordstyle, she had to retain a masculine soul form as a final testament!

Women liked to beautify themselves for their adorers. Although using such an a.n.a.logy wasn’t appropriate, the reason Lily insisted on retaining the self-consciousness of a boy’s soul was all for her senior sister!

However, she felt perplexed about how to confront Uesugi Rei and the others if their consciousnesses were to enter the mirror s.p.a.ce someday in the future and felt confounded about hiding the matter temporarily like in Nanako’s case.

“I don’t know. Forgive me, Kagura, but I really don’t know the answer to the issue you have raised,” Lily’s beautiful hair cascaded down as she leaned back on the body of the carriage weakly.

Kagura gazed at her master indifferently, but her lithe body crawled over towards her fluidly, “Master, you look a bit lonely. Do you want me to comfort you?”

“Huh?” By the time Lily noticed what’s happening, the distance between her and Kagura had shortened by a lot. Thus, she questioned in a nervous tone, “W-What are you doing, Kagura?”

“Master. Why are you feeling so nervous? Isn’t it pretty normal for the master and their shikigami to engage in intimate acts?” Kagura stated unashamedly with a solemn look on her face, as if she were conversing about an attempt at practicing.

“What?!” Lily’s body quivered all over, and her bountiful yet slim and frail body tensed up even further because of Kagura’s calmness. This was how she was. Her womanly body was too easily influenced by her partner’s mood and approach, so it wasn’t an exaggeration to say she possessed a tad bit of inherently pa.s.sive nature.

“Why are you so surprised, Master? As a shikigami, the affection between humans eludes me. Thus, I don’t really understand the love between women or a woman and a man. However, my former master, Suzuhiko-hime, often requested me to do some weird things to her during our travels. Also, it seemed like she enjoyed it pretty much1. Although I don’t understand it, you must also like being treated like that, right, Master?2 I’ve often found you emanating a scent similar to Suzuhiko-hime, Master,” Saying so, Kagura approached Lily and then sniffed her shoulder and armpit before proceeding down further to sniff her underbody3.

“There’s no way I would like things like that… Kagura, I’m not the same as your former master,” Lily turned her head aside, her beautiful hair cascaded down her shoulders while the deep cleavage of her bosom heaved up and down heavily. One of her hands supported her body by pressing against the base of the carriage while the other hand pushed Kagura back weakly.

“This evasiveness of yours, Suzuhiko-hime also used it when we had fun, Master. This is called yielding with a show of reluctance, right? In fact, you want me to take a more active role and reach the next stage with you forcefully even if you show a light resistance, right, Master?” Saying so, Kagura pushed Lily towards the body of the carriage and reached for Lily’s bountiful bosom.

“Enough with the jokes!” Albeit weakly, Lily managed to push Kagura away and then crawled towards a corner of the carriage while swaying her shapely b.u.t.tocks unconsciously and then turned over to lean back on the carriage’s body, “Kagura, do you understand that whether it’s between women or a woman and a man, it’s not proper to engage in those weird acts unless there’s affection involved?”

Kagura gazed at Lily dazedly, “I naturally understand that pretty clearly as I’m full of yearning, devotion and adoration for Suzuhiko-hime… As for the affection you’ve mentioned, I’m also aware of it, Master. However, I just cannot feel it, that’s all…”

Kagura leaned back on the wooden body of the carriage with a pair of hollow golden eyes and hugged her bosom, appearing even more hollow.

“Kagura…”

Although Kagura possessed the exquisite appearance of a maiden and had borrowed Nanako’s body, Lily felt pity for Kagura who couldn’t feel a maiden’s true affection.

Lily smiled gently and crawled towards Kagura daintily, allowing her long black hair to trail on the base of the carriage before hugging the dazed Kagura from behind, sandwiching Kagura’s nape in between her pair of bountiful mounds. She rested her chin on Kagura’s head then closed her eyes and just continued hugging like that without saying anything.

“Master… Suzuhiko-hime liked letting Kagura hug her. However, it seems that you like hugging me?” Kagura pondered sincerely, blinking her eyes in puzzlement.

Lily spent the night within the carriage while her consciousness entered the mirror s.p.a.ce. As the wilderness wasn’t safe, Kagura remained on guard outside using Nanako’s body.

The current Nanako had succeeded in stimulating the potential of her celestial maiden’s physique and was able to exhibit the combat power of a late-stage sword master under the control of Kagura’s battle-experienced consciousness. However, even such a combat power only amounted to serve as a sentinel for Lily and still far from aiding Lily in battle.

“Phew…” Even though he had donned the translucent divine raiment of a celestial maiden that was too embarra.s.sing to show to others, Lily had already begun to grasp the forms of the 1st segment’s 7th stage while practicing the Tsukuyomi Swordstyle. However, as it was a truly enigmatic swordstyle, it was pretty difficult to take the final step to attain the 1st segment’s 7th stage even for Lily.

Lily wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked at his disheveled ethereal reflection on the crystal, “There’s no resemblance of a boy at all. However, this is all for my heart’s obsession! I cannot afford to hesitate or else it will affect my training.”

Lily immersed himself in single-minded practice again.

…

The carriage finally arrived in Izu, a seaport southwest to Kamakura, early in the morning on the next day.

It slowly traversed along the road which had rugged, rocky hills to one side and the vast aquamarine sea to the other. The skies were cloudy, and the sea wind imbued with saltiness caressed Lily’s skin, bringing along the grandeur of the sea with it.

Lily heard that sea wind was bad for the skin and would lead to darkening of the skin because of overexposure. Naturally, it likely had no effect on the skin of a spirit power user like her.

However, Lily and Nanako still applied some fragrant cosmetic cream on each other. It was a cosmetic cream made from rare ingredients and plants that were available for purchase to only the n.o.blewomen in Kamakura.

While Nanako applied the cream to Lily’s face nonchalantly, Lily couldn’t help but recall Kagura and wondered whether she would become even more sensitive and nervous if it were Kagura applying the cream to her face solemnly.

The thing called emotion was a true wonder in this aspect.

Izu Port was located in a gulf of water surrounded by an arching mountain range. A quaint little port built halfway down a mountain and close to the sea was situated in this location and it had a few sailboats and mini-sized fishing boats moored all around over the sea. However, there were no ships pa.s.sing through right now because of the stormy weather across the sea.

Although it was late autumn, as the trees in this region consisted mostly of pine and cypress trees, the verdant mountains only had a slight note of brown among them while the cliffs of the mountains perpendicular to the coastal waters reflected an ashen sheen because of the erosion of the vast and boundless blue sea’s relentless waves.

The a.s.sorted wooden houses scattered in all directions as well as the mountains, the sea and the overcast skies seemed to fuse into a picturesque seaport distinctive to the rich characteristics of the Heian Empire.

“So, this quaint little port br.i.m.m.i.n.g with rustic charm is actually my administration,” Lily, who had arrived in this Heian world empty-handed, felt a bit comforted after realizing this.

1. Silva: * peeks
2. Silva: * peeks peeks
3. Silva: Lewdness overload