CHAPTER 98 – SPOILS OF WAR
‘Why have I always been surrounded by blood and souls ever since I came to this otherworld?’
‘If Senior Sister wasn’t in a deep slumber, even as embarrassing as it was, I wouldn’t mind living as a girl and lose my male personality. So long as we can depend on each other and live in a secluded little village in some corner of the Heian Empire, that would be enough.’
When her bloodthirst finally cooled down and the wicked souls already dispersed, Lily felt fearful of her bloody footage of slaughtering from earlier.
She could choose to be a weak and kindhearted girl, but how would that leave Senior Sister, who was sleeping in that cold stone room?
Lily touched the ancient mirror she had kept safely in her sash. What if Senior Sister’s soul fell into someone’s hand and they would casually ⓡⓐⓟⓔ her or use her soul?1 That’s blasphemy!
Absolutely not!
‘I have more people I need to protect now! Such as Nanako and Shiu. Although I only love Senior Sister, they are like a family to me. In this dark age, if I don’t kill, I will be killed or humiliated instead. I have no other options!’
Lily took several deep breaths. If Nanako weren’t here, she would burst out crying!
However, she knew that she couldn’t be flustered at this moment. She must be tough and brave. That was how she could ease Nanako and make the girl feel safe.
The trembling Nanako was still burying her face in Lily’s big and soft bosom. Lily’s thick body scent became more distinct as Nanako slowly calmed down. When she finally got a hold of herself, she blushed and shoved Lily away. As she separated herself from the slender goddess, she stooped her head to one side and saw a pile of corpses lying on the ground.
Nanako looked around and sobbed. ‘This big sister is very strong indeed. To rescue me, she’d killed so many powerful samurais. As expected, I can’t… be compared to her… Actually, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about to be the slave of a big sister like this?’
Of course, she would never let Lily know that’s what she thought.
“You killed Lord Motoshige of the Hojo Clan and his vassal, Daidouji Akira. The Hojo Clan wouldn’t let you go…” Nanako was a little perplexed, “You shouldn’t let any of those samurais escape. They will report you to the Hojo Clan!”
“Even so, I couldn’t just kill people who turned their backs to me or those who never attacked me. They were only listening to Hojo’s order. They are also victims of this dark and chaotic era.”
“Benevolence is something only the true experts could possess! If I were you, I would kill them all!” Then, Nanako ran toward Hojo Motoshige’s body. She confiscated his money, Grade 3 katana, and all his valuables.
“Take them!” Nanako collected and handed all the items to Lily.
In this Heian period, all the precious items and money of the losers would become the winners’ spoils of war. What’s Nanako doing was a common practice among the samurais. However, Nanako was afraid that Lily, with excessive feminine charm, wouldn’t want to take these things due to her pride.
Lily was a little hesitant, but she still received them. If the Hojo Clan really came to trouble her, she would need all the money, weapons, and secret manuals she could get.
She could keep herself noble and virtuous, but that wouldn’t be able to stop Akira’s attack. Who would protect Senior Sister’s soul then? For Senior Sister, she could do anything!
She must get stronger! And to accomplish that goal, she would need more money!
Lily began to collect the spoils of war with Nanako. They took everything that was valuable.
However, it was a pity that Akira’s Grade 3 Golden Club was broken and wasn’t worth a dime.
There were two golden ingots and thirty-odd kwans in Hojo Motoshige’s pockets. A golden ingot was ten ounces, which was equal to one hundred kwans. So, two golden ingots meant two hundred kwans. Hojo Motoshige was rich indeed.
Although Akira was also rich, he didn’t have much money on his person. It only totaled up to one hundred and eighty kwans. The money collected from other samurais only added up to approximately fifty kwans. The Arakawa Brothers were penniless, and their swords were merely common Grade 2 katanas. The senile onmyoji had one golden ingot, several silver ingots, which was around one hundred and thirty kwans in total. He also had many talisman arcane tools.
This time, she had collected more than five hundred and sixty kwans, it was truly an extravagant amount. This was equivalent to three years of income for the entire Matsuda Clan!
Of course, all of this money now belonged to Lily.
However, they didn’t carry the capital to buy the firearms. Evidently, they weren’t planning to pay the money immediately. The Hojo Clan had a history of taking advantage of others.
After Nanako calmed down, she analyzed the situation, “Right now, you definitely can’t return to Takeshita Town. Although the Dojo are spread all over the Kanagawa prefecture, most of the territories belong to the Hojo clan except for Kamakura city. The Hojo Clan is one of the most famous and powerful clans in the eight nations in Kanto…”
“Then where I can go now?”
“Come with me to Suruga Province. For the time being, just stay in my house to hide for a while. The Suruga Province is Imagawa’s territory. The Hojos don’t dare to mess around there. Then… we will discuss the rest later,” suggested Nanako.2
It seemed like the only logical choice for her now, so Lily nodded.
Right before they departed, Lily turned around and put her palms together to pray for the dead samurais, except for Akira and Motoshige, “I knew you guys were just following orders, but there’s no other option than to kill. I pray that your souls would ascend to heaven and for your next life to reincarnate in a peaceful world…”
Looking at Lily’s beautiful face from the side, Nanako felt a twitch in her heart, ‘From any angle, Lily looks more of a noble Young Lady than me. Did she really come from a common house? That’s clearly not possible. Then, just where did she come from?’
The two then walked toward Suruga Province with their spoils of war like a pair of sisters. As they were afraid of any pursuers from the Hojo Clan, they increased their pace and didn’t dare to linger along the way.
“Oh, hey!” Although Nanako had been calling Lily as sister previously, she wasn’t able to do it anymore after calming down, “Aren’t you tired? You are carrying a lot of money. How about I help you carry those katanas and arcane tools?”
“No need,” Lily smiled tenderly. “I can still carry on. Nanako, you are hurt. You shouldn’t toil yourself too much.”
Though she said that, Lily was already damp with sweat all over.
“What?” Nanako blushed when she heard the words Lily had just blurted out without thinking. They had a master-slave relationship, so it was only natural for Lily to give her orders. However, she didn’t expect that Lily was actually that concerned about her. She was… so much better than a certain someone!
“Cut it off, even if you care about me that much, I— I still won’t become your vassal,” Nanako pouted in response and walked behind Lily.
The two of them braved through the Chaotic Night, making swift towards Suruga Province.
According to the geography lessons Lily had taken about Heian, the Suruga Province was a beautiful and fertile plain.
However, after spending almost an entire night and a half walking through Mount Tama, Lily and Nanako only found a desolate and quiet plain beyond the mountainous area!
Within her sight, there were barren fields, dry rivers, cracked ground, and bony dead trees. In the distance, she could see the remaining ember on the burnt houses, with smokes rising in spirals.
“This is…” It was completely different from the rich fields Lily imagined.
“Surprised? The hometown of the great Young Lady of the Saikanji House is like this,” Nanako stood by Lily and spoke calmly, “The world to the West of Kanagawa prefecture all looks like this.”3
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