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It was fortunate that only Lily could hear the sound of her own heartbeat. It would be tantamount to declaring herself as the murderer if it was audible to someone else!

‘No! That was merely self-defense! That was in order to save Nanako! I did nothing wrong!’ However, regardless of her reason, no doubt she would be in trouble if Dijon ever learned the truth!

If that happened, then her vow to protect senior sister’s soul and wake her up would come to nothing.
She definitely couldn’t let that happen!

Even so, Lily began to panic as soon as Dijon brought up this question. She came to Suruga from Takeshita, that was a fact she couldn’t conceal since they would find out right away. Moreover, she was also a woman with a katana…

On the other hand, she was a newbie samurai in the eyes of Dijon’s group, it was impossible for her to kill that many powerful samurai.

‘Calm down, I must calm down.’

“I went to Suruga along with Miss Saionji Nanako,” Lily said calmly as she forcefully swallowed her anxiety, not a trace of sentimentality could be felt from her words.

“Saionji?” Hojo Dijon puckered his brows even more. He was the one who sent Motoshige’s group to purchase firearms from the Saionji, but who would’ve thought he’d never come back and ultimately ended up dead on this trip! Yet this girl took the same route to Suruga along with the eldest daughter of Saionji house.

Dijon began to think to himself. ‘However, Lily is only Low-Tier Samurai, at best close to Mid-Tier. There’s no way she’s the murderer. But wait… as a Low-Tier Samurai, how can she train alone in Mount Aoame without harm? Is she really lost as she said she was?’

“Kagami Lily, just how strong are you now?” Dijon asked.

Since he asked, it proved that Dijon was not able to use Spirit Perception. After all, that was an ancient secret technique recorded in the Lunar Blossom. It wasn’t necessarily that all Spirit Power Manuals would contain the same secret arts.

“My strength is it…” Lily thought back to the last time she publicly revealed her strength and pretended to be pleased with herself, “When I tested for penetration force at Genji Dojo last month, it was 271 kan. I have improved a bit since that time, I estimate it to be around 290 kan at best. This result should be the best among the newcomers. That’s why I was able to receive the favor of Lady Sakiko. But why is Your Highness asking this now?”

On your way to Suruga, did you run into anyone?” Dijon continued his questioning.

“None.”

“When did you leave Takeshita, when did you arrive at Suruga?”

“That’s…” Lily raised her head to look at the sky. She contemplated for a while before answering, “I think it was the day when the Chaotic Night began, but since the long dark night has continued for a while, I am unclear of the actual days.”

Lily exposed everything she could reveal, but all of them was the truth. The most persuasive lie was a lie with a half-truth.

“Fuma Clan, can you estimate the date Motoshige and Akira died?”

“That’s… that will require a medical master or maybe a Miko¹ capable of summoning souls… with our abilities, we can only estimate it to be around one week or so.”²

Dijon glared at Lily like a hawk, “And that’s well within the period you crossed Mount Tama.”

“Your Highness!” At this time, Nagahide was unable to remain quiet anymore, “I might be a useless old fellow, but I have followed the lord since young and helped to lay the foundation for this fief! Just what is the purpose of His Highness consecutive questions for Miss Kagami? Are you suspecting Lord Motoshige and Master Akira’s death have something to do with Miss Kagami? Ignoring all else, I would like to ask, how is Miss Kagami, a new samurai that just barely met the requirement for Mid-Tier, capable of killing a group consisting of numerous High-Tier Samurai and an Onmyoji? Miss Kagami only started to learn swordplay from my place one and a half month ago. I witnessed the day when she held the wooden sword for the first time. Or is Your Highness perhaps doubting me?”

Indeed, everything Matsuda said was precisely what Dijon was concerned about. With his insight and judgment, he was unable to believe Lily had the capability to kill such a powerful group.³

Dijon was extremely conceited, and discriminative against women. That’s why he was even more unwilling to accept the fact that there was such a genius among the female samurai.⁴ However, it wasn’t as though Lily didn’t feel any animosity towards the opposing party either.

“Oh… hehehe, just relax, Uncle Matsuda. I am only asking if Miss Kagami had seen anyone or if she has any clues,” Dijon answered.

“If Lily had seen or encountered anything, I will definitely disclose it. However, that night was too dark and it felt like we were chased by monsters, so we hastened our pace while feeling fearful all the way. We really didn’t notice anything special en route,” Lily replied.

Hojo Dijon sized up Lily from top to bottom, then his eyes ended up fixing on her katana. As if he just thought of something and was about to question her further, he was distracted by a long, grudging howl that was filled with intense eldritch energy.

His eyes suddenly lit up like a torch, “It’s him! He’s here!”

“What?! What is coming?” Lily acted to be afraid on purpose and cried out like a frightened woman. Her goal was to make a mess of the scene.

“It’s the Demon Hound!” Nagasaki’s expression also became grave, “I didn’t expect our goal to be exposed by his pawns! They are trying to take advantage of our unpreparedness to take the initiative to attack!”

“Did you take care of Master Akira’s and Motoshige’s corpse?” asked Dijon.

“The Fuma Ninja answered, “We have already dispatched some people to watch over them and sent one to notify the master.”

“Even if we go back now, that murderer is already long gone, “Dijon made a decision on the spot, “It’s more probable for us to get a surprise attack from the Demon Hound if we turn back now. We take care of it first! After we killed that monster, we can slowly look for the culprit!”

Dijon cast a cold glance at Lily as he announced his verdict. And Lily acted as though she didn’t know anything and only grabbed onto her collar in fear while hiding behind Nagahide. Rather than having a guilty conscience from being doubted, it looked more like she was scared by the howl of the Demon Hound.⁵

This lessened Dijon’s doubt on Lily. If they were really attacked by the Demon Hound now, they would be confronted with danger as well, he didn’t have time to deal with Lily for the time being. Dijon ordered, “Everyone, come with me! We will go all-out and stop the Demon Hound in its track! Let it be gone forever!”

1. Robinxen: THEY HAVE MIKOS?! GUYS THEY HAVE MIKOS! THERE ARE SHRINE MAIDENS! YOROKOBE SHOUNEN!
2. Silva: Oh my gawd… what? Miko can summon souls? Nonononono… that’s bad news, Lily should’ve eaten their souls, despite their souls being filthy…
3. Silva: You had yet to experience the growth rate of a Blade Maiden, not that you are a Maiden in the first place, hah-hah.
4. Robinxen: At least we know it’s a personal thing now. Dude must hate Rei.
5. Silva: Someone give Lily the best actress award for 2019!
   Robinxen: It’s 2020 now.