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Inside a crude house on the outskirts of the village within the underground space.

Lily laid face-down on a blanket with her face resting above her arms and her fair breasts squeezed outwards to the sides as they pressed against the ground.

As for her rounded buttocks, they were covered just by a single piece of thin and soft women’s underwear.

Yoriko was straddling her and massaging her back at this moment.

“Ngh…” Lily’s breathing turned a little irregular, “Tell me, is this massage skill really a part of the mirror girl branch clan’s legacy?”

“Yes, it really is. According to the legacy passed down since ancient times, it’s said that getting massaged often relieves fatigue and also boosts femininity…”

“Y-Yeah? … Oi! Hold on! Not the butt, don’t knead there…”

“Why? Is it a spot that only Miss Lynne’s lover is allowed to touch?”

“N-No one is allowed to touch it… urgh…” Lily stated with a blush.

Lily shook her butt and said, “Alright, then. Enough talk about this. Continue talking about Haihime now.”

“After she came to insult the people of our clan while calling herself Haihime, she showed up occasionally in intervals, but only to insult us and leave self-righteous statements behind. Just talking about it fills me with hate!” Saying so, Yoriko kneaded Lily’s slender waist unrestrainedly.

“Argh!” With Yoriko straddling Lily to massage her, she was in a relaxed state and hadn’t employed a spirit defense, so she naturally ended up feeling pain.

“Do it a bit gentler! It’s not like I am Haihime.”

“Ah! Forgive me… the reason our clan is in such a dismal state is all because of that woman. The clansmen hate her more than they do the monsters right now!”

“…is that really the case though?” Lily wondered internally, “If so, why did Haihime let these clansmen live? The monsters aboveground are much stronger than the one I ran into within this space and demons hibernating underground are even stronger than those monsters, so I wonder why they haven’t annihilated this human village that’s present in the core region of the Land of Hundred Demons for so many years.”

Haihime had humiliated and even gone physical with her, so Lily hated her as well, but she also wondered why Haihime’s intense grudge was filled with sorrow…

“Yoriko, you mentioned just now that Haihime’s mother, Lady Kimiko, who the monster slew, had a white tiger tattoo on her shoulder, right?”

“Yes. It was the tattoo of a very valiant and brutal white tiger. I was really scared of it a little when I was a kid, but Lady Kimiko was pretty kind to us and possessed a gentle personality, unlike that woman who acted gentle back then yet was so s̲l̲u̲t̲t̲y and heartless in reality! She actually submitted to the monster who killed her mother and pandered to him!”

“…”

Lily thought deeply and speculated whether the grudge manifestation that attacked her was this white tiger.

The cursed katana, Muramasa, belonged to Kimiko originally, but the blade didn’t have a white tiger on it according to what Yoriko had mentioned, and neither was it named ‘White Tiger.’

Lily wondered why the cursed katana which this white tiger had assimilated with contained such a grave grudge if Haihime really didn’t care about the enemy who killed her mother and why her intent, the ‘Mountain of Broken Dreams,’ packed such sorrow.

The extreme pain and grudge Haihime harbored towards her mother’s death had assimilated with the Muramasa blade and turned it into White Tiger Muramasa with an even stronger grudge, there was no other plausible explanation than this.

Perhaps it was possible for someone to feign this kind of grudge, hatred and sorrow, but it was impossible to feign their assimilation with the cursed katana.

After obtaining the trust of the villagers, Lily spent the past few days learning the ancient martial arts and practiced the Tsukuyomi Swordstyle simultaneously.

The villagers presented her with rice and fine sake, but Lily declined the sake tactfully. As a 7th-stage Awakened powerhouse, although she felt hunger, she was actually fine even if she didn’t eat anything for a long time.

Lily was also a bit particular about food, and the villagers really treasured the old rice, so she didn’t feel like eating it and gave it to the children in the village.

Lily spent the day meditating today as well.

“Lady Lynne! Lady Lynne!” A middle-aged villager ran over, “Monsters have come to attack again!”

Lily opened her eyes and followed behind the man with her katana after getting up.

The monsters consisted of three 2m tall ghouls who tried to plunder the food inside the village.

Lily killed two of them with ease.

The third one had been injured grievously by Lily, yet it snickered back with a cough on its dying breath, “Hehehe. Although I’m going to die, you also don’t have much time left to live. Hehehehe!”

Lily advanced forward and stepped on the ghoul’s chest to ask with a cold gaze, “Don’t you find it pretty lamentable that you’re leaving behind such fierce words while lying on the ground?”

“The ban will be lifted in the next few days and the Great Demons living in and out of the Endless Demon Mountains will come to decimate this lamentable village when that day arrives. They’ll tear all the people into pieces and devour them…”

“Ban? What ban are you talking about?”

The monster twitched continuously and died with its eyes wide open in unwillingness and scorn.

Lily looked at the walls of this underground space and a shiver went through her spine when she sensed the countless eldritch auras and grudges from its surroundings and summit, having a vague premonition about the incoming storm.

“Perhaps I really shouldn’t leave this place immediately or maybe I should’ve left it as soon as possible?”

Around the same time, inside the temple a thousand meters above the underground space.

Amanojaku drank a big mouthful of sake after waking up while Haihime served him at his side.

“Ah, Keiko. I’ll become an adult once 3 days pass. Are you looking forward to it, huh? I’ve made you wait for this night for over a decade! You’re still a virgin, right? Although you look so mature and gorgeous, I really want to admire the look on your face when that moment arrives. Hehehehe,” Although Amanojaku looked like a teenage monster, his words were actually pretty degrading whenever he spoke.

Haihime forced herself to pour sake for Amanojaku appealingly, “Please don’t forget what you promised me, Lord Amanojaku.”

“Hahaha. I don’t need you to remind me that again. I will keep my promise and free all the villagers on the night of that day.”

“You have my gratitude, my lord,” Haihime sighed in relief as that day was finally about to arrive. It didn’t matter how she would end up as, at least, her clansmen would be saved this way¹!

…

Yumi walked through the dark, winding corridor of the temple aimlessly, yet she failed to find Lily’s tracks no matter where she looked and the Itsura weren’t giving her any leads as well.

She spotted Haihime walking past the corridor with an emotionless look, so she followed after her and arrived outside the door of Haihime’s room after seeing her return inside alone, “Lady Haihime…”

“Come in.”

“Lady Haihime, I…”

“You’re here to ask about that mirror girl, right? She escaped. You’re feeling relieved now, right?” Haihime combed her hair with the help of the mirror like always.

“Escaped…”

“Perhaps some unseen thing is really watching over her. That woman is pretty remarkable. I clearly drained all of her spirit power, yet she still managed to escape via some unknown means. That woman… She’s weak to that kind of approach even though she possesses decent strength. I would’ve made her submit earlier and found the way to use the mirror from her if it weren’t for Amanojaku’s abrupt return.

Haihime might’ve had a chance to resist Amanojaku after taking Lily’s mirror and she knew that there was little hope. However, she still wanted to give it a try, but she never thought that she’d actually let Lily escape.

“Yumi, why don’t you leave as well?”

“W-What?” Yumi was taken aback.

“I don’t have time to look for the mirror girl with Amanojaku at my side and I also have nothing to gain if she falls into Amanojaku’s hands.”

Haihime fetched the pipe languidly and smoked some unknown thing through it even though it wasn’t lit, “The reason I allowed you to return to my side was only to catch the mirror girl after finding her whereabouts. I have no use for you since she’s escaped now, so leave.”

“Lady Haihime, I…”

“Why haven’t you left yet? Are you really that infatuated with my punishments, huh?” Haihime questioned enticingly.

“N-Not at all…” Yumi blushed faintly.

Haihime fetched a little vial from her waist and tossed it to Yumi’s feet.

“The antidote is in it. Take a pill whenever the medicine’s effects flare up. The effects will be completely gone after taking them for 3 months, so don’t return to my side again so servilely after leaving this time. I also won’t see you again since you have no value left for me now.”

Yumi picked up the vial and stated in agony, “Are you really fine with this, Lady Haihime? Are you really fine with becoming the woman of the abominable monster who killed your mother for the sake of those insignificant villagers?”

“Shut up! Who do you think you are? Who allowed you to make reckless remarks about my intentions and what right do you have to question me?!” Haihime went berserk suddenly, “Get lost now! That mirror girl fell into a trap and plunged into the underground space! However, if it’s her, she would’ve probably made it down safely. Why don’t you go look for your new master now?”

“Lady Haihime…”

“Uh-huh. Are you still unwilling to go? It seems like you’re resisting me intentionally. Is it so that I can punish you well once again? Someone bring the rope, whip and candle for me. There’s a woman here who’s gone unpunished for the past few days. Let me make this m̲a̲s̲o̲c̲h̲i̲s̲t̲ unable to leave even if she wants to,” Haihime chuckled calmly.

Yumi blushed as she really found it hard to endure such humiliation. She then bowed towards Haihime deeply and arrived at the doorway, giving Haihime one final reluctant look before turning around to leave helplessly.

Yumi’s face was marred with tears as she walked through the temple’s courtyard and although Haihime had scolded her so crudely, she had also given her the antidote and told her where Lily was.

Haihime had already resolved her mind, so Yumi feared that the day of union would still come in the end.

Yumi was helpless towards this as well.

Yumi was passing through the backyard of the temple at this moment and saw a large number of monsters moving about unusually.

The monsters were scattered all across the temple regularly, so she wondered why all of them were assembling in the backyard today.

Feeling doubtful, Yumi followed behind them.

These numerous monsters consisted of snake women, blue demons, Hannya demon ninjas and so on with an exceptionally tall and sinister silhouette standing amongst them.

It was a lion mist demon that had a stone lion-like head and bronze bell-like eyes.

All of them were walking towards a cave in the backyard.

Yumi knew that the tunnel in this cave was the only aboveground passage leading to the underground space where Haihime’s clansmen resided.

Are they really planning to abide by the agreement and free those villagers a few days later? But why are so many monsters going just to set them free? Also, why are all the monsters carrying in such dense killing intent? Just what are they trying to do?

Yumi blended into the night with her ninja arts and followed behind them stealthily.

1. Silva: Big sad for Haihime to still hold onto that promise, he would “free” the villagers by killing them