Book 3: Chapter 18: Leader of the Thugs—Black Tiger Daisuke Emon

Kotoka was accustomed to dealing with people from unorthodox trades. Thus, she responded with a smile and said, “So, it’s Sir Daisuke Emon, the Black Tiger of Izu. Pardon me for the offense. My liege, Lyn-hime, is the new liege lord of Izu Port appointed by Lord Kamakura. It’s our first time here, so there’s probably a lot of things that we need to consult with you, Sir Emon.”

Daisuke Emon squinted at Kotoka and gulped his spittle when his eyes traveled down her neckline and landed on the fair-skinned magnificent cleavage below. He then gazed at Lily who was seated at a distance and thanked his luck after noticing she was a charming young beauty as well1.

Thereafter, Emon broke into a burst of rambunctious laughter and said, “As samurai from Kamakura who has been appointed the liege lord by Lord Kamakura, why have you occupied my house forcefully?”

“Your house?” Kotoka was taken aback momentarily, but she chuckled back and said, “You must be kidding, Sir Emon. I purchased this house from an Izu merchant called Oozake Yasushi for 500 kan.”

“You purchased it? How could you purchase my house without my agreement?”

“Heh. This house belonged to Sir Yasushi originally and I possess the house deed as proof. Do you need me to show it to you, Sir Emon?”

“There’s no need for that! I don’t care whether you have the deed or not. That Oozake owes me money and offered up this house as collateral long ago, Here’s the IOU and mortgage doc.u.ment!” Daisuke Emon fished out a few doc.u.ments from his vest and waved them in front of Kotoka.

“It’s quite strange, then,” Kotoka didn’t even look at the IOU and said, “If it was really mortgaged, why is the deed with me and not with you, Sir Emon?”

“How would an uneducated man like me know that?! Everyone in town knows that Oozake mortgaged the house to me, so you can only blame your ignorance on bad luck! Alright now. This is my house, so you all need to vacate it immediately!”

Sugiyama stepped forward intending to argue, but Kotoka stopped him and said, “Sir Emon. According to the laws of the Heian Empire, deeds are mandatory to prove the ownership of land and houses. So, no matter how many people you bring as witnesses, they are all invalid. As for the debt between you and Sir Oozake, we have nothing to do with it…2”

“Laws, you say?” Oozake lowered his head in fear and peeked at Kotoka, “Brothers. Tell her the laws of Izu!”

“Hahahahahaha!” The thugs laughed mockingly, and the ugly hunchbacked man declared, “Let me tell you, outlander. In Izu Port, our boss, Black Tiger Daisuke Emon, is the law!”

“Yeah! I am the law! Bring that guy forward!” Daisuke Emon yelled.

The badly battered middle-aged merchant, Oozake, was dragged forward by the thugs.

“Tell them. Did you not mortgage your house to me?”

“I… did…”

“Why did you sell it to them, then?”

“B-Because I wanted to swindle them! It has nothing to do with you, Lord Emon. This house and land belong to you!” Oozake had clearly been beaten badly and was scared for his life. Thus, he readily played the tune of his beaters.

“You…” Kotoka’s bosom heaved up and down heavily as she never expected she’d encounter such a sc.u.m.

“What now? Even the original owner of the house has admitted it, so why haven’t you scrammed from here yet?!”

“Lord Emon,” Kotoka’s att.i.tude cooled down by a few degrees, “Our side consists of the liege lord personally appointed by Lord Kamakura. It’s best if you talk things over and resolve this matter peacefully.”

Daisuke Emon revealed a licentious expression on his face, “Talk things over, huh? That’s possible, too. If you don’t wish to vacate the house, how about I move in instead to cohabit with you pretty ladies. I can even consider exempting you from rent.”

“Yeah!” the thug to the side chimed in as well, “You also need to sleep with our boss every night!3”

Kotoka furrowed her brows, “Daisuke Emon. Do you realize who you are profaning? Lyn-hime is a core member of the Genji personally conferred by Lord Kamakura! Do you think you…”

“Hahahahahaha! I don’t care whether it’s the Genji or the Hojo. In Izu Port, I am the law, got it?! You needn’t scare me by using Lord Kamakura’s name. If you have the ability to do it, go request Lord Kamakura to dispatch troops to capture me! Women who can’t even administer their territories should just latch onto Lord Kamakura’s thighs and weep, okay?! Lord Kamakura might even comfort you all! Hahahahahaha!”

“Hahahahahaha! Hahahahahaha!” The thugs guffawed as well.

“Daisuke Emon!” Kotoka stated sternly.

“Enough,” Lily, who was seated silently on the steps until now, got up.

The thugs gazed at her simultaneously.

“Hey, Boss. Seems like this little la.s.s is about to flit out.”

“She’s wild enough for sure and the perfect item to sample for our boss! Lady Lyn-hime! Hahahahahaha!”

Lily ignored the jeers of the clowns and descended down the steps without even wearing her footwear, stepping on the dried land directly with her white stockings.

“You said you are the law in Izu Port, right?” Lily questioned in a soft tone as she walked forward.

“Hmm? Yeah! I am the law here!”

“Uh-huh,” Lily arrived in front of Daisuke Emon and said, “This law ought to be changed from this day onwards, then.”

“Huh? What?”

“Daisuke Emon. I’ll have to trouble you to tell all your brothers in Izu that from this day onwards, this Kagami Lily is the law here.”

“Eh?!” Daisuke Emon was taken aback while the others were all stunned as well.

“Hahahahahaha!”

They broke into loud laughter in the next moment.

After calming down, Daisuke Emon looked down at Lily who was half-a-head shorter than him and was looking at him silently while tilting her head sideways from time to time.

All of a sudden, Daisuke Emon delivered a hard punch to Lily’s face!

“Bam!” The impact even gave rise to a shocking tremor of wind.

Lily’s body trembled back because of the hit and her turned aside, resulting in her long black hair hiding her face.

“My liege!” “Lady Lyn-hime!”

The thug went as far as to punch Lily!

Sugiyama gnashed his teeth in anger when he saw the thug punch Lily heavily, and the men of Saionji unsheathed their blades with the intent to kill at once.

“Stand down!” Lily instructed in a low voice; her expression still hidden under her beautiful hair.

Although Daisuke Emon looked like a thug, when he pushed Sugiyama down, Lily had immediately made out his strength to be at the level of a late-stage sword master.

The reason the Hojo clan had failed in administering the Izu Port properly was the presence of local thug leaders who were on the same level as Black Tiger and were known as the Four Tigers of Izu. As Izu Port wasn’t the core territory of the Hojo, they never bothered to send an army led by an apex powerhouse to subjugate the thugs. Furthermore, these local thugs would hide within the mountains whenever an expedition to subjugate them arrived in Izu and would come out to create chaos after it leaves. Thus, even the Hojo didn’t have any means to deal with them.

Lily had an inkling of the situation after arriving here and already had a clear picture of the entire scenario after employing her spirit probe.

It wasn’t possible for Lily to hold the fort in Izu Port forever. In order to govern this port properly, defeating these thugs was an easy task for Lily, but it was nigh impossible to win them over!

1. Robinxen: Oh boy…here we go again…
2. Robinxen: Ah yes the law. What all thugs fear.
3. Robinxen: Oh dear oh dear…