| Author: Carrot Sauce | Original Source: SFACG | Word Count: 3093 characters |
| Translator: Yuki | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 1727 words |
| Editor(s): Robinxen | ||
Against Shuten Doji, a supreme arch-demon, Lily dared not be careless. She moved as silently as possible without any spirit energy use. If there were any spirit fluctuations, then even if she had the sakura parasol, she would be discovered. Plus…this was under the sun, her sakura parasol would immediately be revealed.
Thankfully this Mount Ooe was shrouded in clouds and mist, and this place had very gloomy weather, no sunlight at all.
Shuten Doji was furious and his rage shook the mountains. He didn’t believe that Lily had a method that could trick him and disappear, but because of his disbelief, he fell completely into her trap. He couldn’t understand what was going on.
“Kagami Lily, you have made me blunder again and again!” Shuten’s anger was a towering rage.
Lily gripped her parasol and ran as silently and quickly towards Mount Ooe.
“Sister Uesugi!”
Lily ran several thousand meters to the foot of Mount Ooe. Thankfully, Shuten did not return to Mount Ooe, he was still searching further out, he didn’t believe that Lily could get around him without his notice so he judged that she had fled and was hiding further out…
Though Lily was holding her parasol, she habitually hid behind a large rock near the entrance, at that entrance stood two blue demon guards. Those guards were not a problem, but she didn’t know what formations and traps were set here.
That was what Lily was worried about, though Sakura Parasol could shield her from monsters, it did nothing against traps.
“I’ve already reached here, I just have to be careful. If I trip a trap or formation, I just have to rush in and rescue sister Uesugi1!”
Whoosh! A fragrant breeze rushed into the cave depths.
A blue demon looked around, “Hm? A woman’s fragrance?”
“What woman, I think you’ve been thinking about women so much you’ve gone crazy! We’re nothing but low-level blue demons, what right do we have to get a woman!”
“Ahh! Today’s Tanba no longer has many living humans, and even less beautiful women! Even eating humans to practice is getting harder! We can no longer capture many humans a year!”
“Don’t worry, it is said that our Mount Ooe shall make a big move soon!”
“I haven’t eaten human meat in so long…”
……
When Lily heard this, her heart sank.
To protect the rest of her race, Lily wanted to kill these two. Almost all demons would eat humans, to them eating humans was not only for sustenance, but also strength improvement, but she couldn’t. She could not be discovered here.
Lily could only ignore the two blue demons and sneak into the cave. The main cave entrance to Mount Ooe was very big, it was wide enough for ten horses to run side by side and over a hundred meters tall for large type demons.
The concentration of eldritch energy within was high, and from time to time she could see a forest of white bones. Those were probably the bones of the poor people captured and eaten, most of which were women and children. Lily felt her mood drop, what a dreadful demon cave!
“Sister Uesugi, where are you?”
There would only be trouble when Shuten Doji returned to Mount Ooe, but this place was filled with all sorts of caverns and tunnels, Lily had no idea where sister Uesugi would be.
Lily thought back to the scene in the voice transmission orb, sister Uesugi had been hung up in a gigantic demonic cavern and surrounded by howling of demons. It was most likely Shuten’s residence, in that case she had to be fast, Shuten could return at any time!
Since it was Shuten’s residence, then it must be in the deepest areas of Mount Ooe. Lily followed her instincts and traveled deeper, when encountering stationary or traveling demons, she would detour around silently, never putting down the Sakura Parasol. As she continued, the passageways began to turn and split in multiple passageways.
“What to do? There’s not enough time to explore them all! If I take the wrong path, I might even get lost. Just which path should I take?” Lily was uncertain.
“Should I capture and interrogate a demon? No… this is Shuten’s main base, he’ll detect any irregularities.”
Just as she was getting more uncertain, from a passage, she heard a female cries.
“That’s right! There should be many unfortunate women here! They should all hate Shuten, perhaps I can get some information from them.”
She had no time for hesitation, she hurried down the passage towards the cries.
This tunnel was very dark and had no guards. She reached the end of the tunnel and discovered a cave dug into the mountain wall and locked with iron bars. The cave looked to be quite large, at least ten meters square.
Within the cave was a natural mountain spring, and high platforms, elegant screens and stone lamps.
A thirty something woman dressed in an elegant kimono sat there crying.
“A captured woman, and she can still live in such a spacious and elegant place. She must have an unusual identity, she should know something.”
The woman wiped her eyes with a handkerchief, before looking up and startling at seeing Lily.
“Miss, you are…”
This woman was indeed a human, she could see her through Sakura Parasol’s ability.
Lily deployed her domain in a small area around the lock, unlocking the door. The lock wasn’t too complicated, it was probably enough to imprison the woman.
This woman might have the powers of a spirit jade adept, but she didn’t have the heroic and brave spirit of one. She was weak, though she had a mature charm2.
Seeing the door open, the woman startled.
“You, who are you? A female demon?”
“Shh, don’t be afraid, I’m Kagami Lily, I’m a female samurai from Heian-kyo.”
“Heian-kyo’s female samurai?” The woman’s eyes seemed to regain a long-lost hope, “Are you, did father send you to rescue me?”
“Ah? This…um, who are you? Why are you imprisoned here?”
Hearing that Lily wasn’t here to rescue her, her head dropped in frustration, “As expected, you aren’t here to rescue me. What do I have to speak with you about? Hurry and leave, this place is very dangerous. If Shuten discovers that I met you but didn’t report it, he will torture me…don’t cause trouble for me.”
“……” Lily felt that this woman had already been devastated, her temperament had already become dark and depressed, Lily didn’t blame her, she only felt that she was pitiful.
“To tell the truth, I”m here to rescue my sister, Uesugi Rei. If you can take me to where she’s being held, I can bring you along when escaping. Of course, there’ll be great danger when escaping, I think you’re clearer than I am on this issue.”
The woman’s eyes lit up, “It’s better to die than live here, I’ve always wanted to escape from this place and return to my father! I’m willing to take the risk, only, do you have the ability to take me away from here?”
“This I cannot guarantee, as for my abilities, I’m capable enough to sneak into Mount Ooe without any alerts, do you think a regular samurai can accomplish this?”
“Nn…I believe you, this risk is worth it! I really can’t endure this anymore! Sobs…that pervert Shuten forced me to absorb magatamas just to be able to torment me longer and crueler. Just how many years have I been stuck here…sobs, Shuten Doji, that man is too terrifying. He’s the nightmare of all women, sobs…”
Helplessly, Lily patted her on the shoulder, “Don’t cry, if you want to escape, then you must be brave. Now, can you take me to where sister Uesugi is?”
“The miss Uesugi you speak of, should be the female general recently captured, long silver hair and a very tenacious woman…”
“That’s right!”
“There are too many captured women here and I don’t know where most of them are, but her…she should have been tied up in Shuten’s Doji’s underground great hall.”
“Do you know the road?”
The woman nodded, “If we go like this, we’ll be questioned by the demon on the way.”
Lily waved a hand and summoned two small raccoons, afterall, she had only used four to deal with Shuten.
The two little raccoons each placed a leaf on their foreheads before somersaulting and turning into two tall blue demons.
“With my parasol, demons won’t be able to see me, just let these two blue demons escort you, as for the excuse, just say you were summoned to serve Shuten.”
The woman looked at Lily’s method in surprise as the hope in her eyes burned brighter. “This miss really has some methods, can I really escape from here? Father…uncle Michizane3…”
The two raccoon turned blue demons escorted the woman out, while Lily followed behind them. Though the woman looked to be escorted, in truth she was leading the way. In Mount Ooe, there were tens of thousands of demons, two blue demons no one recognized was not a strange thing. On the contrary, the attention of the demons all fell upon the woman’s figure.
“Hei!” A two meter tall demon with sallow skin, a big belly and relatively thin hands and feet blocked the way.
“Beauty, where do you think you’re going…”
Lily’s expression darkened, but there were several demons watching from a bonfire not far away.
Sweat beaded the forehead of the blue demon transformed raccoon, but in accordance to Lily’s will, his expression morphed into a fierce look, “How dare you! This is Lord Shuten’s woman!”
“Lord Shuten? Shuten, Lord Shuten has so many women, can he play with that many? How about you give this one to me?” This demon was holding a wine jug, he was clearly drunk.
“Come come come, beauty, accompany me first.” The demon grabbed her arm and pulled her over his shoulder, turning to take her away.
“Put her down!” The two raccoons turned blue demons strode up to stop the demon, but were easily pushed aside.
“You, you two are trash, so weak!”
The two blue demons hit the floor, almost revealing their original forms.
This demon was a mid-staged permanence demon, if Lily attacked, she would be discovered, but if she didn’t…
“What should I do?”
