Book 4: Chapter 33: The Day of Opening

There was no one using the women’s bath when Lily arrived inside it. It had an outdoor hot spring, a basin to wash up and a vat.

Lily thus decided to visit the hot spring and dip in it for a while. The vista in this spot was elegant and neat, but it didn’t have any special features to it, so she came to the edge of the hot spring and applied lotion on her body. She then cleaned up with a towel and washed up using the basin before wrapping her hair up with a white towel on her head.

There was a 2 m or so tall wooden wall across Lily, which was the part.i.tion between the women’s bath and the men’s bath on the other side, but Lily had no interest in that side.

However, a man’s voice sounded out from the other side at this moment.

“According to the information my father sent me through the artifact, the dojo’s onmyōji has predicted that the Biwa Palace will most probably open three days later.1”

The deep voice seemed to come from a candid man, and Lily managed to catch it with her extraordinary hearing ability.

The fact that they were discussing such a topic proved that they weren’t ordinary humans. Lily suppressed her aura with caution but still pretended to pour water over her bountiful bosom since the other party might notice it if the water sounds stopped.

The conversation continued on the other side, “Lord Tamurakonoe, please enter Biwa Palace with Sir Tesshin and Sister Ui first when it opens. We’ll stop the others outside!

“That’s fine but remember to play it by ear. It’s possible that a lot of people might come this time and there’s no lack of experts in the West. It might not be possible for you to stop such a huge mob even if you want to do it. It’s fine to just delay them a little. There’s no need to fight to the death.”

“Understood, milord. Oh, yes. According to the report from the ninja, the mirror girl has fled Mino after killing Viper. Momiji also failed to stop her.”

“I see… wouldn’t that mean she has come to Omi already?”

“That sounds plausible, but there are other routes to reach Heian-kyo as well.”

“No, the other routes are harder to travel through and there’s no need to go through Mino if she planned to take the Iga route. We must act with caution since she might pa.s.s through this village. Lay an ambush in this village and the nearby roads once we enter the palace2 and kill the mirror girl on the spot if you run into her.”

“Yes, milord.”

“Splash!” Lily washed up her cheeks, neck, cleavage, underbelly, and her underbody between her thighs…

As listening to their conversation for too long might draw the other side’s attention, she dried her body like a woman bathing normally and exited the women’s bath while bound in a towel.

However, her heart was pulsating pretty hard the whole time, “Just who is this Tamurakonoe? He sounds like quite a powerful man from his voice, but unfortunate as it is, he has actually brought a bunch of unknown powerhouses to hunt me. It seems like they’re planning to take the treasure first, but doesn’t that make our destination the same?”

However, based on their conversation, it was evident to Lily that they weren’t aware of her arrival in Omi or that she was lodged in the same inn as them.

This suggested that the other party didn’t know what she looked like.

There were a lot of women with stunning looks and bodies in this world, so she wondered how they were pinpointing it to her.

“Hold on… how did they find my whereabouts, then? There’s probably some way to identify me, but it seems like not all enemies possess this ability.”

…

Three days later.

The sky and the oceanic lake were both dyed in ashen grey this morning and the lake was welcomed by chilly winds from the northwest.

By noon, Lily noted that more and more samurai and powerhouses had shown up at the sh.o.r.e near the village and there were also onmyōji and oddly-dressed dandies present.

Lily felt something was amiss after seeing this from the windowsill. It seemed like the information that she had overheard in the women’s bath had spread among the samurai already. Even if there were some who didn’t know it, it was certain that they would also catch up with the rest after seeing this abnormal situation.

“How do you feel now, Sister Shimizu?” Lily asked.

Shimizu answered while combing her hair, “I’m fine now. My period has also pa.s.sed. The Biwa Palace might open today, right? I think it must’ve turned quite lively below by now. I’ll go along with you.”

“Alright,” Lily nodded.

Lily and Shimizu had dressed up properly. Lily had worn a medium-sleeved red kimono minidress on this day because a minidress was much more suitable for moving underwater. She also wore no stockings and wore the wooden sandals with her bare feet.

Shimizu had also worn a dark-blue minidress with a sleeveless top for the first time ever and wore black stockings that made her legs look slimmer.

About 100 samurai had a.s.sembled at the open s.p.a.ce in front of the lakesh.o.r.e and all of them had their eyes on the lake’s surface as none of them knew when or how the Biwa Palace would open.

Unless someone were strong enough to evade the other party’s senses, employing a spirit probe rashly with so many samurai present was the same as taking a hostile action.

Even if a companion were probed instead of a stranger, it was still equivalent to standing out and provoking all the other samurai.

Lily and Shimizu didn’t like squeezing into a crowd, so they walked to an empty spot on the lakesh.o.r.e while holding hands and stood on the dirt road beside which weeds had sh.o.r.ed up from the lake.

Lily noticed that the samurai who had a.s.sembled at the sh.o.r.e were mostly in groups of threes or fives and were all dressed in different garments. There was a large-bearded man dressed in a vest, a tall monk who held a turban in his arms, a rōnin with sharp eyes and a hooknose, as well as a samurai woman donned in skintight minidress and s.e.xy fishnet stockings.

“Hahahahahaha!” There was also a tall and handsome lavishly dressed samurai with wild golden hair who really stood out from the crowd. It seemed like he was. .h.i.tting on the two samurai women in front of him while laughing loudly.

One of the two samurai women was 167 cm tall with soft, curly hair and looked like a married woman.

The golden-haired dandy called out to that woman, “Do you have an emblem, samurai sister? I see that there are only two of you. How about adding me to the team? I’m called Yajiro and I was born in Omi. I’m quite familiar with these times, so it’ll be quite easy to obtain the treasure if you take me along.”

Lily was left speechless by the man’s actions and wondered if something was wrong with his head to actually hit on girls in such a place.

Shimizu also shook her head and refrained from pa.s.sing any comments.

“The woman who’s being hara.s.sed looks like she’s in her thirties, doesn’t she, Sister Shimizu? It’s quite rare for a samurai woman of such age to venture out for training.”

“Everyone has their own troubles. If you’re lucky enough to have some harvests from a treasure hunt, its value might go as high as the annual tax from a whole territory. Therefore, it’s not strange for a woman who’s married and has given birth to children to take such risks for the betterment of her homeland,” Shimizu a.n.a.lyzed indifferently.

There was also a group of uniformly dressed samurai with dozens of men standing together imposingly and they looked quite determined to come out victorious in this treasure hunt.

There was also a heavily armored samurai on horseback.

Lily noticed there was also a group that had a.s.sembled below the multideck ship and the one leading them was a tall and handsome man who looked like a model pretty man with heterochromatic eyeshadows under his sharp eyes that had a terrifying sword on his back.

This man’s very strong!

Although Lily didn’t probe him, she could tell with a single glance that this man and the samurai dressed in red-lined white coats really stood out from the crowd. The other side hadn’t noticed Lily since she had looked at them through the cover of the other samurai, but she still moved her gaze away because this man’s voice was the same as that of the ‘Lord Tamurakonoe’ that she had overheard from the women’s bath yesterday.

There was no doubt that Lily would’ve heard of this man if he were from the East, so she believed that he was most likely a powerhouse from Kansai who had come to kill her.

However, it was clear that the other side had yet to discover her. There was a lot of samurai a.s.sembled on this sh.o.r.e and they consisted of many powerhouses. There were also some beautiful samurai women and kunoichi among them, so she believed that the other side wouldn’t a.s.sociate her with the mirror girl and a.s.sume that she was just a woman who had been forced to seek the treasure for some reason.

Lily speculated that all those present would vie with each other to enter the palace when it opens first and there was a chance that it would turn into a battle. If she were to follow the crowd and rush inside by taking advantage of the chaos, she believed that the thought of her hiding among the treasure seekers would never come across the minds of those who were trying to hunt her.

The skies were still as ashen as ever and the winds still chilly. The blond samurai continued to pester the two samurai women and kept trying to persuade them nonstop.

Although a bit unexpected, Lily saw the curly-haired samurai woman nod and accept the dandy blond samurai’s addition to the team. The samurai turned sn.o.bbier because of this, and his language also turned cra.s.ser.

Lily shook her head after seeing this. I wonder who that woman’s husband is. How could he let his wife go out on a treasure hunt and test her luck. Is he not worried about her having an accident in all kinds of senses?

In any case, this matter had nothing to do with Lily in the end. If it were any other day, she might’ve cautioned that samurai woman, but she didn’t wish to cause trouble and attract attention today.

A dark-skinned child dressed in relatively clean garments arrived in front of Lily at this moment.

“D-Do you know a wandering samurai uncle known as Tenba Goro, Big Sister?” the child asked Lily.

“Brother Tenba? I know him… what’s the matter?”

The child took out a letter and handed it to Lily, “That uncle told me to give this letter to a tall, long-haired, big-bosomed, pretty sister.”

“Eh?” Lily accepted the letter with a blushing face.

You didn’t need to describe me like that if you wished to pa.s.s a letter onto me, did you, Brother Tenba? Although, I have to admit that it might’ve been the best method to do so.

“Tsk, and you say he’s an upright man!” Shimizu declared coldly.

“Sister Shimizu!” Lily blushed nervously yet found it hard to retort her statement.

The child sprinted away after that since the letter had been delivered.

Lily opened the letter and felt admiration internally after seeing the bold and firm stroked characters written on it. It seemed that Tenba Goro also had some skill in calligraphy which was in line with his bold and manly personality.

The letter had the following message: I have a matter to deal with elsewhere today, so you can go inside the Biwa Palace without me if it opens today so as to not miss the chance, my sworn sister. I won’t break the promise I made to you and will catch up with you soon. You must remain vigilant since the Biwa Palace has existed for about ages —From your brother, Tenba Kotetsumaru Masanari3.

The signed name made it clear that Tenba Goro was the alias he was using to roam about the world.

“Brother said that he’ll be unable to make it in time and told me to go in first if the palace opens today.”

“I told you men are unreliable, Lily. Just forget about him. I’ll go along with you to hunt for the treasure,” Shimizu pulled Lily’s sleeve.

“Thank you, Sister, but Brother isn’t someone who would break his promise. He’ll definitely come and must have some unavoidable reason even if he doesn’t make it,” Lily believed Tenba Goro.

However, this held no effect on Lily’s mind as she was determined to obtain the treasure regardless of whether he showed up or not.

1. Robinxen: This is what an idiot looks like.
2. Robinxen: It’s already too late and you plan to wait even longer.
3. Robinxen: Oooooh mystery.