| Author: Carrot Sauce | Original Source: SFACG | Word Count: 3155 characters |
| Translator: LazyButAmbitious | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 2098 words |
| Editor(s): Robinxen | ||
More than 10,000 kilometers away from Heian-kyō, deep in the cold mountains of the northern part of Kanto, the snow in Sakura Blossom Valley had mostly melted and many tender grasses were poking out of the wet soil, indicating the coming of spring in Eastern land.
On the ancient divine moon formation, rays of light that had never been seen for many years lit up, forming a cylindrical shape. The edges twisted and shifted from time to time, and a thin pillar of light rippling with spatial fluctuations appeared.
The pillar of light gradually dissipated, revealing a small paper figurine in the center of the stone circle. The small paper figurine lacked facial features, but seemed to be looking around innocently.
At this moment, thousands of kilometers away in the backyard of the Heian-kyō chief advisor’s residence, a treasure orb about half-a-foot in diameter was hovering above Ayaka’s hand. The treasure orb reflected the scene that the small paper figurine saw, but the scene in the orb was distrurbed by some strange fluctuations from time to time.
“So Lily, is that your Sakura Blossom Valley?” Ayaka asked.
Looking at the images displayed by the orb, Lily was a little excited. It had only been a few months, but it felt like she hadn’t returned to Eastern land and seen her sisters for a long time.
“Yes, yes1.” Lily replied, somewhat unable to hold back her inner emotions.
At this time, in Sakura Blossom Valley, five or six wooden houses had been built in the elegant courtyard where Lily’s sisters lived, which were connected by wooden corridors. When combined with the natural water stream and beautiful scenery, the nascent design of the elegant courtyard began to take shape.
However, the current atmosphere in the courtyard was not optimistic.
Yagyuu Shiu hurriedly ran into the courtyard from outside and headed to the big house in the front yard.
Inside the big house, Saionji Kotoka, Sakiko, and Yukiko were all gathered around with serious expressions.
Seeing Shiu running in, Kotoka immediately asked, “Shiu, how is the situation outside?”
Shiu panted, shook her head, and said with a sad face, “Bad, very bad. The entire Eastern land can be said to be in chaos. Madam Ashikaga has left for Kansai, and even her eldest son, Ashikaga Kiyoshi, is nowhere to be found. The Ashikaga family of Kanto has now split into the main family headed by the second son, Ashikaga Naoto, and the side family headed by the steward, Takashi, which is even stronger.”
“No wonder…” Kotoka nodded, “The Ashikaga family is the foundation of Kanto. If they are in chaos, Kanto must be in chaos as well.”
“Now that the countries of Kanto are constantly fighting each other, the demon forces have begun to invade Kanto on a large scale. Sagami Province, Musashi Province, and some other territories, in particular, have almost fallen2.” Shiu said.
“Then what happened to the territories outside of us?”
“We…” Shiu shook her head helplessly, “How can we still have territories? They are all occupied! Except for Sakura Blossom Valley, all our territories in Takeshita Town and the Port Izu area have been divided and snatched up by various samurai families, among which, the Tokugawa family, the Takashi Ashikaga family, and the Imagawa family stole most of them! Deputy Kimura is also missing. Our soldiers and horses outside, except for those who fled back, have all been scattered!”
Sakiko also looked sorrowful, “How could this happen…? Allow me to break out of the siege and go beg to see Lord Kamakura. These territories were all personally granted to Lily by him. Lily has only been absent for a few months, but all of them were taken away. How will we explain this to Lily? I want to ask Lord Kamakura for justice.”
“Lady Sakiko, don’t go.” Shiu said urgently.
“Eh? Why?”
“Lady Sakiko, according to the information I secretly obtained this time, you have been listed as a traitor by the Genji Clan, making you a wanted person. If you go, you will definitely be arrested, whipped, humiliated, and paraded in the streets by them!”
“Why??! Although I left the official position of the Genji Clan to come here, I haven’t done anything wrong to the Genji!”
“Shiu shook her head. It is said that several of the old Genji Clan elders have found some incriminating evidence in your books. Furthermore, it is said that the wanted order was signed by Lord Kamakura himself.”
“Then all the more I have to go to make things clear, otherwise, wouldn’t I have a guilty conscience? Lord Kamakura will surely believe me!” Sakiko said agitatedly.
“No!” Kotoka took Sakiko’s hand, “Since the nearly month-long extended night, the situation outside is extremely chaotic and unclear. We must not act rashly, especially when Lily is not here. Now, we only have to defend this Sakura Blossom Valley to the death. We absolutely cannot let Lily start from scratch and allow all our hard work and foundation to be taken away by those evil forces!”
“What’s the immediate situation outside of Sakura Blossom Valley?” Yukiko wasn’t proficient in military or political affairs, so she could only remain anxious on the side.
Shiu replied, “In addition to the Genji Army and the Murai Army besieging our valley entrance, even the Takeda Army and the Takashi Ashikaga Army are heading here.”
“How can this be?” Kotoka asked, “Isn’t Takeda our friendly army?”
“It is said that Lord Takeda Tsunenobu has already left, and his son, Takeda Hiroyuki, is now in power. They threatened to take back this territory and overturn the gift of back then. They also said we are hiding treasures in the territory.” Shiu said.
“Eh!” Sakiko patted her knees and shook her head, “The most important thing is why are the secrets of Sakura Blossom Valley known by them?!”
“At present, they are probably unaware that there is such a large magatama vein in Sakura Blossom Valley. It’s just that we have a lot of merchant caravans traveling to and from this place to sell tamahagane ore, so it is inevitable that news would leak. Most of them are probably here for the tamahagane ore vein, otherwise, if the news of the magatama vein had leaked, I’m afraid that Minamoto no Yoritomo would have personally come to kill us himself!” Kotoka said.
“Lady Kotoka, Lord Kamakura is highly respected. He would not do such a thing!” Sakiko said anxiously.
“In the current situation, no one can be trusted except our own sisters! The Genji Army is at our door, and they even dare to come without Lord Kamakura’s authorization?”
“Let’s go out and see! Maybe there will be a turnaround.” Yukiko said.
“Hm.” The sisters nodded their heads.
Kotoka, Sakiko, and the others walked out of Sakura Blossom Valley and came to Blossom Valley, which at this time, had built a lot of houses in the clearing in front of the mountain temple. But now, there were indeed various goods, weapons, and other items pulled up here. There were also a large number of wounded, and many soldiers and samurai were shuttling back and forth, creating a tense scene at the front of the battlefield.
The girls crossed the clearing to the entrance of the valley. At this time, on the inner side of the valley, Haihime and Yuki Mayumi were leading the group of Itzla and female cavalry to guard here. Fortunately, this place was easy to defend and hard to attack so no one had invaded for the time being.
“Haihime.” Kotoka saluted.
“Lady Kotoka.” Haihime returned the greeting.
“How is the situation?”
“They attacked again an hour ago, but we beat them back,” Haihime said, “However, the outside of the valley is now surrounded by an army and we can’t get out. After some time, there won’t be enough food in the valley.”
“We can’t go on like this for a long time. There are many people in the valley, and because we lack preparation, the remaining food can only support us for another week at most,” Kotoka pondered, “I want to go out and negotiate with them. In any case, I have to deal with it until Lily returns.”
Haihime was a little disheartened, “However, since Lily went to Kansai, there has been no news, and I don’t know when she will come back… We will defend this place until our deaths. Unless Minamoto no Yoritomo or the Furinkazan join forces to attack, it is only wishful thinking to enter this valley, but we don’t have enough food. We adepts are not afraid, but the ordinary workers and soldiers in the valley are likely to starve to death, which may cause major turmoil3.”
“Anyway, I’ll go out and take a look.” Kotoka said.
“I will follow along to protect you.” Haihime suggested.
“You can’t. Haihime, you are the foundation of this valley’s defense. If you go out and fall into an ambush, Sakura Blossom Valley will really fall.”
“Let me go to protect Lady Kotoka.” Yuki Mayumi said
At this time, the bodies of more than a dozen Genji soldiers lay dead in the narrow valley. Katoka, Sakiko, and Yuki Mayumi walked out of the valley with several female cavalry.
When they reached the entrance of the valley, Kotoka was shocked to see that they were already surrounded by a large Genji Army in a half circle.
As soon as they came out, a large number of soldiers raised their bows and spears, pointing the weapons at them.
Before Kotoka could speak, the archers in the front row who were under the command of a samurai released their arrows. The arrows whistled through the air and flew towards Kotoka.
Yuki Mayumi’s gaze was cold. She drew her straight sword and blocked in front of Kotoka. The straight sword sent out streams of sword light, cutting all the arrows and flicking them away.
“Please don’t attack first!” Kotoka raised her hand and said, “I want to meet your chief general!”
Not far away, behind the soldiers, there was a warrior in large armor riding a white horse, “Hmph, you can’t just see the chief general! If you don’t want to die, then surrender the valley!”
“This valley was given to my Lyn-hime by Takeda Tsunenobu’s handwritten agreement. It is Lyn-hime’s territory. Who are you to seize it?” Kotoka asked.
“I don’t know about that, I’m just following orders,” The white horse warrior said, “If you don’t surrender, I can only release another wave of arrows.”
“Hmph! Shoot the arrows and watch me kill you!” Yuki Mayumi threw three shurikens glittering with purple spiritual energy towards the warrior.
“Don’t! Yuki Mayumi!” Kotoka shouted. They came here to negotiate, but it was already too late.
Suddenly, a black shadow flew out of the enemy group and a yellow cyclone of spiritual energy appeared in the black shadow’s hand.
Boom—! All three of Yuki Mayumi’s shurikens got shattered.
“What?!” Yuki Mayumi was startled.
This person was tall, but not very burly, with a round face, scruffy hair and beard, and a suit of yellow and black armor.
“Who are you?” Kotoka asked.
“Aren’t you looking for the chief general? I am the chief general of the Genji Rebellion Army, Minamoto no Hiroshige!” The warrior in yellow and black armor said.
“What’s going on?” Sakiko looked at Minamoto no Hiroshige. The strength of this person was unfathomable to her. However, she had never seen such a strong Genji in Eastern land, nor did she recognize any of the several generals behind him.
“I’ve been in the Eastern land’s Genji Clan for many years, but I have never heard of you. Could it be that you are impersonating the Genji Army?” Sakiko shouted.
“Hahahahaha! What a joke! Of course you wouldn’t know that my Kōzuke Province’s Genji Clan is the elite Genji Clan that belongs directly to Lord Kamakura! I was ordered to lead the armies of the Kōzuke and Shimotsuke Genji Clans to crush you rebels!”
“What?! The Kōzuke Genji Clan?” Sakiko, Kotoka, and the others were also surprised. They had never heard of such a powerful Genji Army in the east of Eastern land.
At this time, in Sakura Blossom Valley, melting snow dripped from the elegant eaves and a girl dressed in red came to the courtyard. She also felt the change in this place.
But when she entered the house, she found no one, except for a few cups of tea that were still faintly steaming.
“What’s going on? Where is everyone?” Lily asked, standing at the door.
