Demon Sword Maiden

Now that she had obtained the flames, Lily had finally collected all the items required to smith Evil Slayer Yasutsuna. A sigh escaped her mouth as she knew it would be pretty difficult to obtain the flames of Mt. Fuji, but she never imagined that she would actually experience so many challenges on this trip.

However, Lily’s gains were also pretty impressive as the ‘Record of One Hundred Demons’ was a really rare treasure.

Also, Lily felt that it was worth the trouble no matter how dangerous or tiresome it was since she was able to rescue a woman like Haihime from the fetters of the monsters.

This was a new sister of hers2!

And any price was worth it for a sister34.

Setting aside things like sacrificing herself for the sake of friendship, even if there was a risk of getting chained and tortured after falling into the Demon Realm, Lily still wouldn’t have cowered at all!

Lily and Haihime descended the mountain and decided to return to the temple temporarily now that they had obtained the flames of Mt. Fuji5.

The descent was much faster.

Lily’s legs felt sore by the time they returned to the temple as she hadn’t sat down even for a single moment on their trip to the crater. After all, she couldn’t just sit down on the scathing rocks with nothing but underwear protecting her butt, let alone sleep. Although it was possible to recover spirit power, physical and mental fatigue was just unavoidable.

Lily and Haihime lied side by side inside the room and allowed Yumi to massage their bodies to relieve the fatigue. They were too tired to even change out of their dresses right now and simply made Yumi massage them over their dresses.

They then took a bath and went to sleep.

Lily possessed a pretty healthy and energetic body, so she recovered completely after a wonderful session of sleep.

The cloudy skies were dyed in an ash-blue color and the temple didn’t have much snow inside it right now.

Lily dressed up in a white kimono patterned with a landscape dotted with blue flowers that had white plums embroidered at the center of the sleeves and wore the wooden sandals made from grade 9 wood like usual before going out of the temple and observed the villagers pack their luggage inside the temple quarters as all of them were living in the temple temporarily.

They treated Lily with even higher respect after learning that she was a genuine mirror girl as well. After all, Haihime’s mirror had long shattered and Lily was the only known holder of an intact ancient mirror in the Land of East, so they naturally regarded her as their leader.

Haihime, who was dressed in a blue kimono made of brocaded fabric and wore a white-furred light blue shawl around her neck, just happened to run across Lily at this moment.

“It’s time to leave this land now, Sister Haihime. Do you have any more yearnings left in your heart?”

Haihime looked at the scenery inside the temple, “It would be a lie if I were to say that I feel nothing for this view, but those emotions aren’t that deep. This view has accompanied me all this time and is the witness to my days of sorrow and humiliation. It might be better to leave this place.”

“I can rest assured then. The courtyard in Cherry Blossom Valley is still under construction though, so I’m afraid that conditions might not be that better than this place,” Lily continued.

Haihime held Lily’s hand, “I prefer living a life of outdoor camping with you as my master than living a life of luxury elsewhere.”

“Sister Haihime…” Lily felt moved as she sensed the softness of Haihime’s palm.

The villagers left the temple along with Lily, Haihime and Yumi once they were done packing and traversed along the trails of the Endless Demon Mountains, aiming for the valley hidden in the woods between Kai and Shinano provinces—Cherry Blossom Valley.

A few of the cat-masked Itsura ninja were unwilling to leave, so they remained behind with the other monsters. It was quite likely that this abandoned temple would now become the haunting grounds of wild monsters, so all one could hope was that no passing pitiful scholar decides to spend the night in this temple.

The Itsura who decided to follow Lily numbered just 30, excluding Haihime’s clansmen.