demon sword maiden
“Hah?” Kiyoshi’s sudden, emotional outburst took Lily aback.
“Defending Honganji Temple to cover for the army’s retreat is the same as throwing your life away! Hirohikari and Takamune’s factions incited the other clans to pass down this decision. They just don’t care about your life! Please don’t go, Ms. Kagami! I’ll beg my mother to revoke the order if needed!”
Kiyoshi’s heroic eyes brimmed with unchanging sincerity.
Lily also felt moved that Kiyoshi was willing to speak up for her in spite of his position at this moment. However, even though Hirohikari and Takamune had schemed against her, as well as others, they were no significant threat to her in reality. Lily intended to break into Mt. Ooe and find Rei’s whereabouts even if they had not made her cover for the army’s retreat.
Lily had nothing to fear.
Although Kiyoshi’s intentions were sincere, Lily was still unwilling to let a man touch her. She stepped back politely and bowed to him slightly before saying, “It’s a military order, Lord Kiyoshi. Besides, I would’ve also chosen me if the decision were up to me.”
“Your kindness makes me feel ashamed, Ms. Kagami. No one other than you would be willing to forgive this entire world.”
“Heh. You’re overpraising me, Lord Kiyoshi.”
“All right. I shall defend the riverbank camp with my life as well. I won’t leave this riverbank as long as you’re here!”
“That’s…”
“I’ve already made up my mind!” Kiyoshi said imposingly and left towards the anchored warship.
Airi, who had not even gotten the opportunity to say a single word, looked at Lily from aside with a slightly gloomy expression.
“Why are you so popular…?”
“Huh? Did you say something, Airi?”
“It’s nothing… I was just wondering that no one cares about my life.” Even someone as intellectual as Airi could not help but say such depressing words at this moment when the matter involved her life and death.
“I care about it, Airi.” Lily said instinctively.
“Hah?” Airi shuddered, but then turned around to leave and convene the Uesugi clan’s cavalrywomen.
The Uesugi clan’s cavalrywomen were willing to go through fire and water for Uesugi Rei and would show no hesitation to jump into a pit of fire if needed. Such discipline naturally resulted in the formation of an elite troop filled with soldiers who were the best in their power level.
Even this elite troop was useless in front of a true powerhouse, though.
It was nigh impossible for ordinary samurai to bare their fangs against a powerhouse unless they trained in an extremely powerful, esoteric battle formation. However, the powerhouse would still have the upper hand in battle even if the samurai trained in such a battle formation.
The Uesugi clan’s cavalrywomen convened in front of the riverbank by night to embark on a journey that might as well be their very last.
The Tsunaga sisters led by Ijuin were also present beside the Uesugi cavalrywomen troop.
“Why are you and the Tsunaga sisters here, Ijuin? The commander didn’t order you to accompany us, right?” Airi asked.
Ijuin walked up to Lily and said, “We Tsunaga sisters would’ve long perished in Jokoji Temple if it weren’t for you saving us, Kagami Lily! We owe you our lives for that, so now is the time we repay that favor! We’ve decided to defend the Honganji Temple along with you!”
“Ms. Ijuin…” Lily felt deeply moved. The generals of the court’s army were busy scheming against their own allies even though the demons were right in front of them, so it was no wonder that the army had lost the previous battle. The Tsunaga sisters, however, were as righteous and sincere as ever even in this moment of crisis.
Although the Tsunaga sisters had committed a foolish mistake before and overestimated their abilities, Lily still found them cuter.
The two troops stood side by side, bringing their numbers to 800.
“Give a speech, Lily.” Ijuin said.
“Hah? Me?” Lily showed a dumbfounded expression.
Ijuin continued, “I just felt that it’s better for you to give the speech than me for some reason.”
Airi added, “The generals have appointed you the leader of the forces defending Honganji Temple, Ms. Kagami. We will be under your command from now on, so how about you give everyone a speech1?”
Lily looked at the Uesugi clan’s cavalrywomen with confusion. As they were heading to defend a temple, very few of them had brought their horses along. The Tsunaga sisters looked even more uneasy than Lily did, as they knew what following the order to defend Honganji meant.
Lily curled her hair behind her ear and walked up to the boulder in front of the battle formation made of women. However, she suddenly realized that she had never actually given a speech in front of so many before.
She looked at everyone and said, “Ahem. Well, I-I’m not that good at speeches, and am also inexperienced with commanding an army, so you should just follow Ms. Airi’s and Ms. Ijuin’s orders. However, I swear that I’ll do my best to protect each one of you.”
The girls looked at Lily with the same uneasy expressions as before.
“Tch. What is this big-boobed woman saying? I can’t believe she’s so bad at boosting morale2. Couldn’t she have said something about saving the people from the chaos in this world…” Ijuin facepalmed.
She could tell that the expressions of many samurai women eased down a bit after hearing Lily’s speech, though.
Having a strict discipline did not mean that the samurai were not afraid of death. Although Lily’s words were soft, they carried a different weight than others because her strength was on the level of a peak-stage Throned Sovereign!
The rain continued to pour down, bringing an icy wind with it under the cover of night.
Lily traversed the mountain road along with the practically abandoned 800 strong women’s troop and headed for Honganji Temple.
The road to Honganji Temple was relatively flatter from the back of the mountain, so it just took the group an hour to arrive underneath it, where 200 hundred Taira soldiers had been stationed.
“We’ve already received the order to mobilize, Ms. Kagami, so the rest is up to you all.” A Taira clan general said.
Lily nodded silently as there was not much they could do about military orders.
The general left with his 200 men after that, leaving not a single man behind.
Lily and the girls garrisoned themselves in Honganji Temple and began laying out a line of defense.
“How do you suppose we should defend against the enemies, ma’am?” Airi asked.
“Can you… just call me Lily or Ms. Kagami? I’m not used to getting called ma’am. It makes me feel embarrassed.” Lily forced out a smile.
“All right. Can I call you Lily, then? We’ll be together in life and death from now on, anyway.”
“Mhm.” Lily nodded.
She then climbed onto the steps and looked at the small pathway in the steep valley underneath the temple. It was indeed possible to blockade the mountain pass through this path.
Although Lily was not versed in the art of war, she was still wise enough to understand the logic behind defending this route.
“How should we defend against the enemies, huh? We just need to protect this temple and not engage in battles.” Lily said nonchalantly.
“Hah?!” Ijuin and Airi voiced their astonishment.
“What do we do if monsters pass through the route?”
“We can just keep them in check by shooting arrows and spells at them. There’s no need to go out and fight it out with them.” Lily insisted on not fighting till the end.
“I’m afraid long-distance attacks won’t be enough to stop the advance of the monsters.” Airi said.
“We were just ordered to defend Honganji Temple with our lives, not stop the demon army’s advance.” It looked like Lily intended to carry out the order in a literal sense, not that there was anything wrong with that.
“Wouldn’t the monsters pass through here and attack the riverbank, then?” Ijuin asked.
“The riverbank has over ten thousand troops left, and the leveled land of the bank should be more than enough for the army to form a battle formation and display its prowess under Lord Yoshitada’s command, unlike what happened in Kameyama Castle. The army has nothing to fear as long as it has enough time to form a battle formation.”
“What’s our role, then?”
“Our role is to attack the demon army from behind.” Lily said.
“I see!” Ijuin looked at Lily with astonishment. “I never knew you were so well-versed in the art of war, Lily!”
“Well…” Lily’s words got stuck in her throat as she did not have a single damn clue about the art of war and just wanted to protect these girls by using the order given to her as an excuse3.
Barricading up within the stronghold was the only way Lily knew to minimize their losses.
It was impossible for the demon army to attack the court’s army with a peace of mind as long as Honganji Temple remained standing behind them. There was simply no need for the forces under Lily to battle it out with the demons when they could just wait for them to attack the temple instead.
“All right.” Airi said, “We shall direct our resources to defending the temple then and set aside a cavalry squad for ambushing the enemy.”
Airi and Ijuin ordered their subordinates to occupy the key locations of the temple, and prepared bows, arrows, charms, and puppets for defending the place.
Lily encompassed the entire temple under her domain after the pair left and summoned Kagura.
“Master.”
“In addition to defending the temple, remember to cast spells on the samurai women to boost their strength when the fight begins, Kagura.”
“Understood, Master.”
Whoosh!
Lily summoned six racoon dogs after that and told them, “Lay down an illusion formation to confuse the enemy.”
“Understood!” The racoon dog avatars answered cheerfully.
Mita’s avatar had also recovered by now, so Lily could summon it at any moment. However, Lily intended to play it by ear because summoning it would consume a lot of magatama.
Lily looked at the vast woods in front of her. Although she knew that it was unrealistic to impede the demon army’s advance with just these 800 people, she was still going to try her best to cover for the human army’s retreat. However, since she valued the lives of these girls more than the lives of the soldiers, protecting them was the higher priority in her books.
She was just unwilling to protect the fellows who had tried to scheme against her.
Although Lily had taken her decision under the assumption that the demon army would attack this location, there was still a chance that they would not attack it.
Lily turned around and looked at the Honganji Temple. Although it was quite old, it still exuded a holy aura even now. It was quite unfortunate that the monks here had strayed from the righteous path and joined hands with demons, instead.
Lily entered Honganji Temple and brewed a cup of tea after sitting down. She sipped the tea silently with a composed look on her face while waiting for the advent of the next battle4.
“Risking my life to cover for the army’s retreat should be more than enough to fulfill my duty, Mother Makoto. This is the last time I’ll be following your order. I’ll keep seeking Sister Uesugi’s whereabouts even if the army withdraws from here. Nothing can stop me from doing it.”
“I’m even willing to charge into Mt. Ooe to look for her if I fail to find her!”
Lily’s eyes brimmed with a determined gleam as the moonlight shone into the old temple leaving behind an icy reflection on the dark, wooden floor.