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At the hillside street in front of Lily’s house.

Taira no Hachiro had been waiting a long time amidst the morning sea breeze with his trident resting on his shoulder.

A lot of thugs, as well as villagers and merchants, were also present on the scene and were watching the show from the sidelines. A few of them had even climbed up on the trees to watch the spectacle.

A few moments later, dressed in red, Lily exited the premises.

Kotoka, Nanako and the others, however, just stood in front of the entrance and looked at Lily with worry. Although the current Lily had supposedly become strong, her opponent was the Third Sword of the Six Swords, and also a scion of the Taira clan with a powerful background. Thus, it was important to tread cautiously.

Taira no Hachiro was also shocked when he saw Lily exit with Crescent Moon hung at her waist.

“Huh? Hohoh! Isn’t this woman the despicable girl who stole Brother Hojo’s tamahagane, Kagami Lily?! So, you were Lyn-hime! That’s perfect, not only can I obtain justice for Sir Daisuke Emon and his brothers, but also offer your treasured katana to Brother Hojo,” Taira no Hachiro stated while skipping over and pointing his trident at Lily.

“So, you were the sword saint powerhouse,” Lily stated.
“Hohoh! What do you mean? I do not understand.”
“I never thought you were the leader of these thugs, Taira no Hachiro. However, I’m afraid it’s impossible for you to offer my Crescent Moon over to Hojo Dijon¹.”
“Oh? Why is that? Tell me!”
“There’s no reason for it,” Lily answered, “Taira no Hachiro. I have a lot of things to do. If you want justice for your underlings, come resolve it quickly then,” Lily unsheathed her katana with a ring.

The expressions of the thugs standing behind Taira no Hachiro filled with pride and malevolence, as if they were waiting to see Lily get defeated. A vicious smile cropped up on Daisuke Emon’s face, whose forehead was covered in bandages as well.

Heh! Kagami Lily, you’re gravely mistaken if you think my teacher is just a thug leader. He’s the Third Sword of the Six Swords! You’re overestimating yourself if you think a mere liege lord like you can match up to someone like him! Hmph! Although my teacher is young, the gap between our strengths far exceeds your imagination! You’re done now, Kagami Lily!

“Hohoh! A quick resolution, you say! How bold you are, Lyn-hime! You weren’t even able to meet a single attack from Brother Hojo a few months ago and could only run for your life, so where does your confidence come from? I admire you greatly, truly!”

“There’s no need for any more words. Come!” Lily flung her hair back and one of her fair legs stretched out of the kimono as she took a bold and powerful stance brimming with beauty.

“Fine! What a frank woman you are, Lyn-hime! I shall begin then!”

Taira no Hachiro raised his trident and began hopping left and right as he sang a poem while assuming various weird and bold postures, “Perish in obscurity amidst the frost faster than the sorrowful frost, oh indigo-dyed olden sleeve!”

Taira no Hachiro flung his red hair back and began dancing while continuing to sing, “Even as the thread of life wishes to snap…”

“Enough!” Lily quivered all over after hearing him sing and her tolerance had hit the limit. She leaned forward while activating her crimson spirit power and turned into a shadow as she charged towards Hachiro.

Although it looked like Hachiro was performing a weird dance, he was actually paying attention to the dashing Lily already, “Don’t think you shall succeed with the sudden attack! Look at my Taira clan’s secret skill!”

Hachiro took a big mouthful from the oil pot at his waist while leaping backward and then paused in his footsteps before summoning a few sparks between his fingernails and puffing out the contents of his puffed cheeks towards Lily, turning the mist of oil he spewed out into a mist of fire.

This wasn’t ordinary oil and was actually a special oil made by the Taira that had high flammability, so the resulting flames were strong enough to burn down a huge tree.

Faced with flames and mist that shadowed almost her entire line of sight, Lily just responded with a slight whisper, “Sakura Blizzard.”

A blizzard of sakura manifested immediately in the surroundings and blew Hachiro’s flames back towards him. The thugs standing behind him were frightened out of their wits when they saw the flames come towards them and fled for their life while screaming.

“Argh! It’s so hot, so hot! Ugh!” Hachiro was lit by his own flames and jumped about wildly to extinguish them, his robes, hair and face getting scorched black in the process.

After extinguishing the flames with great difficulty, Hachiro spun his trident and pointed it at Lily, “How dare you burn me by manipulating the wind, you vixen! It seems like these normal methods aren’t enough to defeat you! I shall begin for real then!”

Hachiro poured the spirit oil on his trident and muttered a few words before holding the bottom of the trident with one hand and pulling at the top with his other. In the next moment, the trident’s head began to spin at a rapid speed.

“Whoosh!” A revolving flame serpent manifested on the trident and Hachiro dashed towards Lily with the serpent-clad trident in hand.

Lily also sped her movements as she dashed towards Hachiro.

Hachiro’s pair of eyes lined with crimson eye shadows glared at the incoming Lily with ferocity while harping with his mouth to manifest his intent further, “Alas! What a pity it is, a pity indeed.” The spirit power shrouding Hachiro’s body increased in intensity along with his theatrical singing and the flame serpent on his trident became hotter and wilder!

On the other hand, Lily’s gaze was still as cold as ever. However, it wasn’t because she feared that powerful flame. She strengthened her grip on Crimson Moon and manifested beautiful sakura-shaped crimson blades formed from spirit power in her surroundings.

The more Hachiro sang, the more valiant he became, and his loudening voice nearly influenced the mind of the nearby spectators. The temperature of the surroundings also rose up and steaming vapors filled the air! The imposing aura had fully revealed the confidence of this Taira clan samurai, which was an elegant and tyrannical ancient martial art that allowed him to manifest a flaming spear intent!

The thugs were full of excitement when they witnessed the magical prowess of their teacher!

“Teacher! Your victory is certain!”

“Hahahaha! Kagami Lily! You’re done!” Daisuke Emon also shed his subservient attitude from yesterday and laughed wildly.

At the moment Hachiro and Lily were about to meet each other, Hachiro stabbed the flaming trident in his hand towards Lily and sung loudly with an immense conviction of victory in his eyes, “My Taira clan guards the downtrodden ivy-clad paths of Mt. Utsu, with the loving whispers of the relaxing wind and the moon as the witness…”

“Boom!”

When Hachiro and Lily’s weapons clashed against each other, Lily’s attack unleashed a storming power that was 18 times stronger than a 6th-stage Awakened²!

“Arrrggghhhh!” Even though Lily didn’t use any skills and just struck with her katana using brute force, the screaming Hachiro was sent flying into the distance while spinning in the sky because of the momentum.

The flames of the trident were extinguished by Lily’s overwhelming spirit power and its head snapped off from the shaft after ramming into the ground because of Lily’s heavy hit!

Hachiro’s screams weakened gradually, and he fell about 100 m away on the beach.

“Pfft!” After falling on the muddy beach, he fainted with a frothing mouth and remained motionless thereafter.

The spectators were all dumbstruck by the development and didn’t regain their senses for a good while.

The Six Swords of the East were existences that were just a single step away from becoming legends and were the six strongest geniuses among the younger generation of samurai³! They were all from illustrious households and were in possession of supreme skills!

Taira no Hachiro was ranked 3rd among them and belonged to the superior ranks! Furthermore, he hailed from the Taira clan and was thus someone who all samurai of the East looked up to!

Yet, he had been sent flying and incapacitated with just a single strike from Lily!

“W-What… just… happened…” Daisuke Emon was also dumbstruck. Although his teacher was a bit weird, he possessed unfathomable strength, and was the best samurai youth of the East’s Taira clan.

H-How could Teacher lose just like that? And this woman just used brute force to do it. That sword strike didn’t contain any skills or even an iota of killing intent, so how could it defeat Teacher so easily?!

Daisuke Emon kneeled down subconsciously and gazed at the nearby Lily who looked like a crimson queen under the sunshine.

Lily looked around and smiled faintly, “It’s finally quiet.”

None of the spectators dared to say anything when she said this.

Lily walked towards Daisuke Emon, who didn’t even have the courage to run now. At the same time, the thugs behind him also kneeled down in succession.

Although his forehead was wounded from yesterday, Daisuke Emon still kowtowed towards Lily repeatedly, “Lyn-hime. I know it’s hard for me to make it out alive, but I beg you to spare my brothers! They are all poor people! Please spare their lives!”

“Boss!” The thugs cried out one after the other, “Please spare our lives, Lyn-hime!⁴”

Lily arrived in front of Daisuke Emon, “Silence.”

The thugs closed their mouths with their hands immediately and didn’t dare to wail anymore.

“Daisuke Emon. Someone like you isn’t qualified to meet my blade. Since you are reasonable, I shall give you two choices.”

“The first one is to turn over a new leaf from this day onwards and vow loyalty to Madam Kotoka and help her in protecting and developing Izu Port. As for the second one, I used a storm of sakura blades to exterminate all demons in a radius of 100 meters in one go back when I was in Mt. Yoshino…”

Lily leaned forward and curled her beautiful hair behind her ear, “Do you wish to enjoy it?”

The complexions of the thugs turned deathly pale after hearing the pretty-faced Lily say this with a soothing voice.

Daisuke Emon took the lead to kneel on both legs and announced his pledge, “We are willing to pledge our loyalty to you, Lady Lyn-hime! We shall heed the Madam’s orders!”

“We are willing to follow you, Lady Lyn-hime!” the thugs joined in one after the other.

Lily nodded faintly but then seemed to recall something suddenly, “What about the other tigers?”

Before Black Tiger Daisuke Emon could respond, a few fiendish-looking thugs ran out from the spectators, “Big Sis!”

“Your insolent morons! Call her Lady Lyn-hime!” Black Tiger berated them.

“But I think calling her Big Sis is the most respectful in our trade!”

“All right,” Lily stated, “I shall make the four of you leaders of foot soldiers. Henceforth, you are to aid Madam Kotoka in governing the land. Do your best in protecting and developing Izu Port well, got it?”

“Understood, Lady Lyn-hime!”
“Yes, Big Sis!”

Lily didn’t respond and turned around while flinging her long, elegant hair, swaying her slender hips and round buttocks unconsciously as she returned inside the premises, leaving behind just a waft of warm fragrant wind.

The official residence of the Izu Port’s female liege lord had finally been established firmly from this moment onwards⁵.

1. Robinxen: Hard to give an offering to a corpse rotting in a canyon.
2. Silva: In other words, “Late-Stage Sword Saint”
3. Robinxen: I like how Lily has the affection of two of them, the power of one of them and now she’s kicking the butt of another. I wonder if Nanako will take his place on the ranking eventually and Lily will turn all six into her own personal harem.
4. Robinxen: Oooooof they don’t even plead for his life?
5. Robinxen: Done and dusted.