Book 3: Chapter 94: Banquet of Demons

Haihime’s heart thumped critically for a short while after seeing these Itsura kunoichis.

Her eyes narrowed as they bore into the duo, sensing how unreliable they were.

However, it didn’t matter in the end. She was the queen of the Land of Hundred Demons who was preceded only by Amanojaku. Even if she had lied, it meant nothing at all as the interactions between monsters were filled with deceit and traps unlike the samurai clans of humanity that valued honor greatly.

Haihime raised the front of her kimono and fanned it promiscuously, “It’s still a bit hot here even though it’s winter now.”

Haihime continued before Genga could question the Itsura, “Fine, then. I wasn’t planning to hide this matter as well. It’s practically impossible to hide it anyways since I mobilized a lot of Great Demons to catch that Kagami Lily. So, yes. I did manage to catch that mirror girl.”

“Oh?” Amanojaku looked at Haihime, “Why did you hide this, then? And where is that mirror girl right now?”

“She escaped,” Haihime didn’t really tell a lie, “Although I caught that mirror girl, I fear she had some other means to escape. I tied her up back then and proceeded to thrash and interrogate her in order to make her confess, but Lord Amanojaku arrived at the moment she was about to. I rushed over to receive you and allowed her to escape because of inadequate vigilance.”

Amanojaku’s crimson eyes looked at Haihime with wrath, questioning her openly in front of the monsters, “But I recall you telling me that you haven’t found the mirror girl.”

Haihime answered, “I hadn’t obtained a satisfiable outcome from the interrogation back then and just wanted to surprise Lord Amanojaku after obtaining a thorough outcome.”

The black-scaled snake woman chimed in, “This Mirror Girl Lily is praised as the prettiest woman of the East. The reason Lady Haihime didn’t present her to Lord Amanojaku might be because she was afraid that she would fight for the lord’s favor with her once the lord conquers this woman.”

Haihime revealed a faint, heartfelt smile as she soliloquized internally, “Heh! I knew this snake woman would say something like this. Thank you for that, or else I would’ve had no explanation to give.”

Amanojaku furrowed his brows slightly and directed his attention towards Haihime, who just caressed her beautiful hair to the back of her head somewhat stiffly.

Although she feigned promiscuousness at all times, she failed to act like that only in front of Amanojaku.

Amanojaku turned his head aside after staring at her for a while and glared at the Itsura kneeling on the ground, “So, you two are the ones who allowed the mirror girl to escape?”

The two cat-masked kunoichis shuddered in place.

“You’re obviously to blame, yet you shifted the blame to your master?” A powerful, invisible eldritch aura shrouded Amanojaku’s body and the whole hall began to shake.

The two Itsura went weak at their knees facing the ire of Amanojaku and failed to utter even a single word out.

“Come. Take these two kunoichis who are unsuitable for guard work and present them with one hundred strikes before sending them to the Hundred Demons to feast!” Amanojaku ordered while keeping an eye on Haihime.

“N-No!” “Forgive us, Lord Amanojaku!” “Forgive us!” “Help us, Lady Haihime!” “Save us, Lady Haihime!”

A bunch of two-meter or so tall, ma.s.sive demons entered the hall and pressed the Itsura clad in tight-fitting clothes against the floor without saying a single word and flogged them with thick, wooden slabs after stripping their pants.

Their screams resounded both inside and outside the hall and even Haihime felt frightened from this.

Amanojaku didn’t punish Haihime in public as she was, after all, his wife, but he made an example out of these kunoichis to warn Haihime.

Amanojaku, the One-Horned Demon, the Cauldron Demon, and the other monsters continued to drink sake and dine on the food while watching this severe punishment with keen interest and pleasure.

Haihime alone wore a stiff expression. Although the Itsura sold her out, they were, after all, also human women who had practiced the Art of Demon Ninjas, so seeing them undergo such humiliation by the monsters filled her with terror.

The two kunoichis were flogged so badly that they weren’t even able to stand up. Fortunately, they possessed a certain amount of strength, or else they would’ve been flogged to death by those demons long ago.

The demons dragged them outside after that and an even worse fate awaited them now.

The monsters continued to dine and drink, but the mood had turned a little heavier now.

Haihime could sense that Amanojaku was really angry at her, but she couldn’t afford to show fear because of this and scoured her mind for a topic to shift the conversation away from her blunder.

“Lord Amanojaku!” the black-scaled snake woman spoke up somewhat unusually at this moment, “I wish to speak my mind.”

Amanojaku sat cross-legged on the couch and looked at the snake woman who was over 3m tall when she stood up on her serpentine body and had a tail that trailed until the back of the pillar, “What do you have to say?”

“Lord Amanojaku, according to my knowledge, we were only able to catch the mirror girl because of the numerous casualties among the demons, yet we allowed her to escape so easily. Although the Itsura keeping watch are to blame, Haihime is also to blame as their leader. However, you just delivered a severe punishment to the two demon kunoichi and made no mention of Haihime’s blunder. Aren’t you being a bit too partial in this respect?”

Haihime’s gaze turned cold. As a female monster, this snake woman always envied her looks, so she seized this chance to retaliate against Haihime.

“What do you mean by that, Kokurin? Could it be that you want the lord to have me dragged to the center of the hall and receive punishment in front of everyone after getting stripped naked?” Haihime stroked her hair gently and questioned in a deliberate soft tone while licking her smoked lips.

“Hahahahahaha! Of course not!” Although the obese one-eyed cauldron demon, Kama-Oni, salivated while looking at Haihime, he still waved his ma.s.sive hand away, “How could we allow that to happen? Although Haihime made a blunder, she is, after all, Lord Amanojaku’s wife, so there’s no way she can be punished in front of everyone. Wouldn’t that be too scandalous? Hahahaha!”

The chief of the one-horned demons, Ookado, also nodded in agreement.

Amanojaku looked at Kama-Oni, “Kama-Oni. I ordered you to attack the Sagami province with your men, but you haven’t shown any results even after all this time. Do you think you have a right to comment on Haihime’s blunder?”

“Well, that’s…”

Kokurin interjected with a loud voice at this moment, “Lord Amanojaku, we’re discussing Haihime’s blunder right now, but aren’t you a bit too protective of your woman by diverging the topic like this?”

Haihime was taken aback by this and failed to understand why this snake woman dared to say such words.

Amanojaku, however, replied casually, “We’ll talk about other matters as well since we’re talking about Haihime’s matter. A major event is scheduled today in this Land of Hundred Demons, so let’s lay out all the matters clearly. Your words do make sense, Kokurin, and I won’t show any partiality to Haihime just because she’s my woman. I will give all of you a proper explanation for this later on, but Kama-Oni, you better answer what I asked you just now.”

“Let me answer it in Lord Kama-Oni’s stead,” Genga interjected, “According to the information collected by my spiders, Lord Kama-Oni feigned compliance in executing the orders of attacking the Sagami province. He just hara.s.sed a few villages on the outskirts and s.n.a.t.c.hed some food, items and women, not daring to provoke any of the powerful samurai families.”

“Bam!” The cup in Amanojaku’s hand shattered into pieces, “Kama-Oni, are you trying to hold back on executing my orders intentionally?”

Perhaps because he had drunk too much sake, Kama-Oni became nervous after hearing Amanojaku blame him and answered while looking at Haihime, “Lord Amanojaku. Even if I have such thoughts, I don’t have the brains to cook up such a strategy. It was Haihime. She taught me this method and told me that Sagami province is the backyard of Lord Kamakura, that I would incur his wrath if I attacked it. However, she told me that since it must be done, it would be enough to just attack the hamlets on the outskirts and that would be enough to satisfy Lord Amanojaku!”

Haihime felt a shudder pa.s.s through her spine and cursed internally, “Kama-Oni, you fool!”

Amanojaku’s chest heaved up and down clearly and the hall began to shake again. He glared at Haihime with his crimson pair of eyes for a good while and turned back to chide Kama-Oni, “Kama-Oni, do you think I am a child? Haihime is my wife. Why would she instigate you to rebel against me for no reason?”

Kama-Oni blinked his sole eye and stated innocently, “H-How would I know that… Oh, yes. Haihime tried to seduce me often whenever you weren’t present and even suggested that I should conserve my strength, saying that she liked powerhouses who possessed strength!”

“Wham!” Amanojaku struck his fist out in midair and the resulting wind struck the extremely tall and heavy Kama-Oni’s face, knocking him to the floor immediately.

The audience’s mood also turned grim shortly.

“Lord Amanojaku! Haihime is clearly the one who bewitched Kama-Oni, so why did you punish Kama-Oni instead? This is unfair!” Kokurin called his judgment into question.

Ookado also began criticizing, “Yes, Lord Amanojaku. All of us followed you out of the depths of Mt. Fuji while Haihime is someone who joined us later. The fact that you’ve hit a brother for the sake of a woman is quite distasteful!”

Amanojaku took a deep breath and looked at Haihime, “Is what he said true, Haihime?”

Haihime’s b.r.e.a.s.t.s moved up and down intensely and she was just about to answer when Ookado spoke up suddenly, “It’s undoubtedly true! Haihime said the same words to me once and also tried to seduce me as well! She engages in powerplay with the Great Demons of the Land of Hundred Demons and schemes secretly by making use of her charms constantly to achieve her purpose. Who knows just what in the world this woman wants to do in the end?!”

Amanojaku turned his head slowly and stared at Haihime, his expression turning Haihime tenser.

Yumi arrived outside the main hall at this moment.

But the two tall blue demons blocked her way, “Halt!”

“I have an important matter to report to Lady Haihime.”

“Lady Haihime is in the middle of a banquet with all the monster chiefs along with Lord Amanojaku. You aren’t qualified to enter inside.”

“I am demon kunoichi under Lady Haihime and one of the leaders of the demon kunoichi. Why don’t I have the qualifications to enter?”

“This is Lord Amanojaku’s banquet! He hasn’t invited you!”

“It’s a real emergency, so it’s better to go report to her! Lady Haihime will punish you if you delay the report!”

The blue demons looked at each other and grinned, “We’re Lord Amanojaku’s subordinates. What can Haihime even do to us?”

Yumi glared at them and decided that getting entangled with these two demons who were slow on the uptake would give rise to needless trouble, so she retreated to the side and waited at a corner outside the temple for Haihime to come out.

However, a spider had crawled to Genga’s side via the shadows of the main hall and quietly gave him the report from the snake women and the demon ninja who were in the underground s.p.a.ce.

Genga’s four eyes shone eerily and he got up to exit the hall wordlessly.

As for Yumi, she had become quite anxious by now and sweat had formed on her forehead and neck. All she could do right now was wait for the banquet to end in the shadows of the rear side of the temple or find some other means to inform Haihime about the truth.

However, a ma.s.sive, grey hand clad in the powerful aura of a middle-stage Spirit Jade powerhouse landed on Yumi’s shoulder at this moment.

Around the same time, the dilapidated village in the underground s.p.a.ce a thousand meters underneath the temple where the situation between Haihime and Amanojaku had reached a critical point during the banquet, was as desolate as ever with its occupants utterly oblivious to the upheaval within the temple aboveground.

The pretty-faced Lily was still seated quietly inside the storehouse at the village chief’s backyard with her eyes closed and hair cascaded down while her soul consciousness was in the middle of arduous practice within the mirror s.p.a.ce.

“Tsukuyomi Swordstyle, 1st segment, 9th stage, attained!”