| Author: Carrot Sauce | Original Source: SFACG | Word Count: 3098 characters |
| Translator: LazyButAmbitious | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 1993 words |
| Editor(s): Robinxen | ||
At this time, in the public preparation area, most of the contestants had arrived but some might be resting in their own areas.
Apart from Honda, Taira no Hachiro, Minamoto no Takuo, and the others, a majority of the present samurai were from the Taira and Genji clans, all of whom were quite powerful.
Listening to the sound of the drums and music outside, it seemed that some big shots were coming. Lily guessed that the prelude to the competition was still some time away, so she found a small foldable wooden stool and sat down on the spot. But, after all, she was wearing a kimono and it was quite strange for a woman with long sleeves to sit on a small stool like this. Lily sat as ladylike as possible with her legs slanted sideways and her hands on top of her slender thighs, which were faintly exposed under the kimono.
“Ho-ho?! I didn’t expect there to be women among the remaining line-up of contestants in the final stages of the competition. How weak are those losers who participated in the preliminary round?”
Just as Lily sat down, a young man wearing a fancy and elaborate light pink hunting suit and a tall black hat came over.
This young man had an oily head and pink face, and his hair was dyed in a weird pinkish white color. He wore pink clothes but his face was not at all pretty, especially his small slender eyes and eyebrows which gave a spiteful, mean feeling.
At first glance, he looked like a pampered son who indulged in extravagance.
Lily’s expression was calm. These contestants were originally hostile to each other, so this should be a provocation before the competition.
She turned her head away, ignoring him.
The noble youth looked Lily up and down carefully, his eyes lighting up as he thought, This woman from the preliminary round is really f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g beautiful!
He found it hard to imagine that there was such a beautiful woman among the common people.
The noble youth planned to tease her, so he took out his closed paper fan and waved it in front of Lily’s face, “What’s the matter? How can this young lady ignore me? Are you a little nervous because it’s your turn to compete soon?”
Lily was too lazy to deal with this kind of person and got up to walk away. When she stood up, her height was nearly half-a-head taller than the playboy.
“Woah!” The noble youth saw more of Lily’s tall and graceful figure when she stood up and suddenly went around to block her way, “Miss, don’t leave. Your name is Lynne, right? You are so beautiful and sexy, why do you have to participate in such a brutal and dangerous competition? Why don’t you quit the contest and become my, Fujiwara no Koji’s, woman? Where are you from, Miss? The Fujiwara Clan, have you heard of it1? Do you know who I am? I am the son of the Chancellor, who is the most powerful minister in the world today! Wouldn’t it be better for you to follow me than to fight and kill thousands of times? Huh?”
After saying that, Fujiwara no Koji used the paper fan in his hand to lift Lily’s chin.
“This gentleman, please show some respect!” Before Lily could act, Honda Yahatarou grabbed Fujiwara no Koji’s hand.
“Ah-ow-ow-ow!” Fujiwara no Koji howled, “You savage samurai, let go, hurry up and let go! It hurts! Do something, someone!”
At this time, two warriors from the Taira Clan rushed in, ready to draw their swords as they scolded, “The contestants are forbidden to fight in the back of the competition, otherwise they will be disqualified! Stop it now!”
“Hmph!” The giant-like Honda shoved Koji away, causing him to stagger back.
When has Koji ever been treated like this? He was so furious that he rushed up to Honda, “What, you want to fight? You savage from the East, come on! You can hit me, you can draw your f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g sword and kill me! Go ahead! Kill me! What’s wrong— you don’t dare to do it? Punk!”
Honda clenched his large fist, but he shouldered the trust of Lord Tokugawa and his father to come here. How can he get himself disqualified because of this? He could only endure it.
“Lord Honda, forget it. Why bother with such a wild dog?” Lily’s hand gently rested on Honda’s fist, instantly quelling his anger.
“What did you say? Who are you calling a wild dog?! You b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲, you must have advanced through the ranks by selling your body, right? You savage and lowly trash, let me tell you, those in all the previous competitions who came from the preliminary round have never reached the top four. You are nothing but cannon fodder, a side character! You are a b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲ calling me a dog! The one next to you is a big black male dog! Two dogs!”
A burst of strong spiritual energy accompanied Honda’s fist and slammed towards Koji’s face with a thousand pounds of force.
Boom! A violent shockwave impacted Koji’s face, blowing off his hat and messing up his hair!
“What?!” For a moment, Koji thought his nose was going to be broken, but the huge fist was only a hair’s breadth away from his stilted nose.
At the last moment, Lily’s beautiful and slender little hand grabbed Honda’s wrist with incredible strength, just managing to stop his heavy punch.
Thud! Koji was so frightened that he sat on the ground involuntarily and hobbled back a few steps before getting up, “You, you poor dogs! Wait for me! Fighting is prohibited in the back, I…can’t be bothered with you. If you guys have the guts2, see you in the competition arena!”
Koji walked away, trembling as he spoke.
Honda was a little surprised by Lily’s strength. Although Lily’s strength was comparable to his own back then, he was far stronger than this woman in terms of sheer strength. Furthermore, his strength had greatly improved during his half year of training. Just now, he was fueled by rage and exerted 8 or 9/10 of his strength, but it was so easily blocked by Lily’s little hand. It was simply unbelievable!
“Lord Honda, don’t bother with this kind of person. It’s not worth it to ruin your plans over this small matter, but Lily is still thankful for your help. In the future, Lily can handle this kind of thing by herself. I please ask Lord Honda not to get involved again.” Lily said.
“Lynne…” Honda’s expression was a bit complicated, not because of Koji, but because of how far Lily’s strength had reached. His idea of marrying Lily in a dignified manner was a bit shaken. As a man, if he was not as strong as Lily, what qualifications did he have to marry her?
At this time, the drums outside got louder and a judge suddenly shouted, “The first match, Mikawa’s Honda Yahatarou versus Kawachi’s Kusonoki Yuki!”
“Lord Honda, it’s your turn to fight.” Lily said.
“Ah…Miss Lynne, I will definitely win!” Honda’s fighting spirit was high.
Honda’s pick was number 18 and he was in the first group of the lower half.
Honda had the Buddhist Attendant Physique. Recently, his strength had soared, his energy was strong and robust, and he was extremely violent. He had set a goal and trained really hard, managing to reach the mid Permanence Stage. In this battle, Honda only used three moves to win the match and the Kusonoki Family descendant who got recommended a spot in the quota simply couldn’t fight back.
Seeing that Honda came down so quickly, Lily congratulated, “Congratulations on your victory, Lord Honda.”
Honda seemed to have received some harmless encouragement, “Lynne! I will definitely win the championship! I’ll definitely become the number one samurai in the world and marry you in a dignified manner!”
“Uhm, this…” Lily smiled helplessly.
“Second battle, Seiwa’s Minamoto no Tsukawa versus Ise’s Oshima Ken.”
“…what? Please wait a moment, everyone.”
“Ise’s Oshima Ken forfeits, Minamoto no Tsukawa wins!”
Lily, who was sitting in the back of the resting area, was also stunned, “Forfeit? There is such a thing?”
After that, there was another round of drumming outside and the shouting continued. Some battles were extremely tense and violent, and some had a huge disparity in strength where the winners and losers were instantly determined.
It was dusk in the afternoon.
“The seventh match, Maro Dojo’s Sakanoue no Murakada versus Cherry Blossom Valley’s Lynne!”
Finally, it was Lily’s turn to battle.
“Lynne, go for it!” Honda stood up and shouted from the sidelines.
Lily smiled and nodded, calmly entering the ring.
At this time, the Taira Clan’s ancient setting was already covered with the golden red rays of the sunset, but the enthusiasm of the audience hadn’t diminished and they were still cheering.
After all, most of those cheering weren’t real samurai, but rather rich people who came to see the fighting and venting.
Lily came to the front of the field and opposite her stood a tall, resolute swordsman who looked to be in his early forties, but in fact, he was less than twenty years old.
The contestants’ back area was divided into two, east and west. The people who entered were only led by the guiding attendant causally, but in general, the two duelists would be separated.
The person in front of Lily seemed to have mediocre strength, but for some unknown reason, she felt an overwhelming sense of pressure as soon as she stepped into the ring, but the sense of pressure did not originate from the tall swordsman in front of her.
At this time, on the viewing platform, some vagrant swordsmen were discussing:
“Is that it? That’s the samurai sent by the Maro Dojo this year? That Murakada is just a mediocre person who is neither weak nor outstanding in the Sinless Domain!”
“Isn’t it a waste of space to send him on the field?”
“Alas, this can’t be blamed on the Maro Dojo. The number one genius of the Maro Dojo, Sakanoue no Tamurakonoe, who was known as the world’s fastest swordsman, was killed by the Eastern Goddess of Martial Arts, Kagami Lily, on Ryu Island3. The Maro Dojo has no one to send, hahaha!”
“Wait, that, that woman in red looks familiar.” Someone from a group of blue and white dojo swordsmen in the stands said.
“Ah! I remembered as soon as you said it. That long hair, that figure— isn’t she Kagami Lily, the number one female samurai of Eastern land who killed Tamurakonoe?!”
“What? She came to the competition under the name of Lynne?”
“And her first battle is against the representative of the Maro Dojo?”
“Haha! This is a terrible time for the Maro Dojo. Tamurakonoe was not Kagami Lily’s opponent. Isn’t Murakada coming to seek death as well?”
“Hahahahaha! I wonder how the martial saints who came to watch the battle today feel.”
Lily didn’t listen to the chatter of these people. Since she was on the field, she was fully concentrating on facing the opponent. Lily also felt that Murakada’s strength was not very good, but she would not underestimate the enemy.
“The match begins!”
“Huh?” Lily suddenly felt a terrifying gaze that made her shiver all over. She ignored Murakada and turned towards the VIP grandstand in front of her. There, she saw a tall, long-faced, and resolute-looking man with torch-like eyes and an unpleasant appearance.
“This man…his eyes are surprisingly sharp. Just his glare makes me shiver and leaves my soul in awe… Who is he?” Lily’s heart trembled.
At this moment, Murakada shouted, “Kagami Lily4, I didn’t expect my first opponent to actually be you. We are really enemies on a narrow road. I want to avenge Senior Brother Tamurakonoe! Haah—”
With a majestic aura, Murakada raised his uchigatana and struck towards Lily!
