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Lily and Rei rode through the desolate autumn-dyed hillside on the Nioh and surveyed the distant and hazy castle city that had been constructed entirely atop a hill.
A majestic castle tower rested at the crown of the hill and sparsely illuminated olden castle walls surrounded the hillside below, the entire city almost occupying a range of three kilometers across the hill.
The Takeda clan of the Kai Province was famous for their horsemanship and metalwork. Although it was only dawn right now, Lily could see the crimson glows of the forges constructed within the castle city. Their glows were brighter than the lamps used by commoners and dyed the skies above them in a crimson shade.
“That’s Tsutsujigasaki Castle, the castle of the Tiger of Kai, Takeda Tsunenobu!” Even a willful girl like Uesugi Rei showed some respect when mentioning Takeda Tsunenobu’s name as he was the lifelong adversary of her grandfather, Uesugi Aokage!
Even though she’s only looking from a distance, Lily felt an inexplicable unease and pressure for some reason.
Uesugi Rei and Lily proceeded to dismount from the Nioh.
“Shiu, we shall wait for our masters at the crossing ahead of us,” Airi stated after looking at her master and Lily.
“Eh?” Shiu revealed a perplexed expression, but Airi didn’t give an explanation and urged the horse to walk towards the distant crossing ahead with Shiu sitting behind her.
As Uesugi Rei’s vice-general, she knew that her master wanted to spend time alone with Miss Kagami, and even though she wasn’t willing to act according to the situation, Shiina Airi knew that she would always be just an attentive and faithful vice-general in Uesugi Rei’s eyes.
Rei and Lily stood face-to-face with the endless mountains and desolate wilderness behind them.
The two gazed into each other’s eyes, but they remained speechless even as time passed.
Lily felt very reluctant at this moment and even the guilt that plagued her usually was nowhere to be seen.
She didn’t want to part from the woman in front of her.
Yet she had to bid farewell.
Just like her, Uesugi Rei had her own path to walk and although Lily didn’t know where that path would lead to, she could understand her sister’s feelings.
However, even though she understood it, she still felt a bit sad and melancholic.
Uesugi Rei lifted Lily’s long hair gently, “Your hair is very pretty.”
Lily smiled charmingly in response and caressed Uesugi Rei’s silver hair gently, “Your hair is also very beautiful, Sis.”
The duo seemed to have come to a mutual decision and caught a strand of each other’s hair before twining them together, beautifully intertwining the black and silver with each other.
Lily lifted her head and kissed Uesugi Rei.
The duo then unsheathed their cursed swords and their sharp edges shimmered with silver light before touching each other gently, producing a mellow jingling sound akin to poignant vocals, and the crimson and purple eldritch sword runes resembled two singers performing a concerto of a melodious love song.
The duo sliced that intertwined strand of hair from both ends tacitly.
Uesugi Rei then divided it into two halves and handed one half of the beautiful intertwined black and silver hair strand to Lily.
Even if they couldn’t embrace each other at all times, this intertwined strand of hair would never separate.
“I’ll be journeying pretty far this time, so don’t you forget about me,” Uesugi Rei brought that strand of hair near her nose and breathed deeply, relishing in its scent of womanly frustration that was the amalgamation of their eternal affection.
Lily brought the strand of hair close to her bosom and almost buried it in between her cleavage.
And then, she said, “It tickles a bit.”
“Pfft!” The two girls leaned forward slightly and broke into laughter.
They then gazed into each other’s eyes again, and the cheerful atmosphere cooled down gradually.
“Even if I want to forget, it’s impossible for me to do so
 Return quickly, Sis.”
“
”
Even someone as powerful and carefree as Uesugi Rei felt like crying at this moment.
However, she couldn’t do that as she wanted her little sister to feel relieved with the belief that Uesugi Rei was someone who remained carefree and unimpeded at all times.
That she wasn’t an overcautious little girl who waded through murky waters.
But no matter how powerful and carefree she was, she was ultimately a woman.
“Lily, I’ll show you a secret of mine when I return. Do you want to see my secret?”
Lily replied with a flushed face, “I’ll never take my eyes off even if it’s that kind of secret.”
“Tsk,” Uesugi Rei pulled Lily to her side gently and turned her around before slapping her lovely butt tenderly, “When did you learn to talk so indecently?”
“Aren’t you the one who corrupted me, Sis?” Lily retorted shyly.
The two girls’ bosoms heaved up and down violently and their breathing turned ragged.
And just like that, Lily turned around again and engaged in a deep kiss with Rei1.
Rei’s hand stretched inside Lily’s cleavage eagerly, causing her breath to quicken, but she didn’t resist.
However, Rei paused abruptly.
“Ngh?” Lily opened her eyes once her breathing calmed down.
“Lil’ Sis Lily. We are most suitable for each other in this world, right?”
Lily’s eyes flickered evasively at this moment and although Rei’s heart ached, she revealed a pained yet relieved wry smile as everyone had their own secrets.
Rei withdrew her hand and Lily experienced a sense a loss, a trace of guilt remaining under the longing within her heart.
“I should be leaving.”
“I’ll be waiting for you to return.”
“Will you become my woman when I return?”
“
”
Lily felt joyous and moved, but she just turned her head aside as she couldn’t answer that question.
Uesugi Rei revealed a dashing and carefree smile. That’s my Lil’ Lyn, my unpredictable and unfathomable Lil’ Lyn.
Rei breathed out gently into Lily’s ear and whispered, “I’ll treat that as a silent approval then,2”
“
”
“Goodbye.”
As she turned around, a translucent tear dropped from Uesugi Rei’s eyes under the moonlight.
Never say ‘Goodbye’ when parting as it sounds too sad

The gigantic Nioh galloped forward with a thunderous momentum!
Uesugi Rei rode into the distance on her steed, leaving behind Lily who stood there and looked at the disappearing back of Rei’s heroic visage in a daze.
“You have to come back safely, Sister Uesugi.”
Lily cried, but not because of this parting, but because of her fate which was an entangled mess of contradictions that she couldn’t escape from, as well as her weak-willed body and the vortex of perplexing emotions engulfing her.
She couldn’t see the person in her heart and also had to part with the person in front of her.
Lily roused her spirit while flinging her hair back and steeled her heart to walk her own path as that was the best hope for both of them!
Lily’s heart filled with perplexment and reluctance while she held the bundle of their hair strands, but she kept it safely and descended the hillside.
Shiu was already waiting at the bottom of the hillside while Airi followed after the deafening Nioh on horseback.
Shiu held Lily’s hand firmly.
She knew she could never replace Uesugi Rei’s position in Lily’s heart, but she didn’t feel jealous at all. Although she couldn’t obtain her master’s love, she could always stay beside her master whenever she felt lonely.
The two walked hand-in-hand towards the dimly lit Tsutsujigasaki Castle that lied in the mountains ahead of them.


At the same time, in Okazaki Castle of Mikawa that was about 240 kilometers away from Kai.
Tokugawa Shigemori summoned Mayumi.
The short-heighted yet awe-inspiring old man who resembled a tough piece of iron was currently within the low-key yet sumptuous dimly lit hall of the castle tower, and beside him sat the forlorn black-kimonoed Yukiko, his latest abducted trophy wife who acted attentively, submissively and charmingly in front of him.
Although this behavior filled Mayumi’s heart with pain, she didn’t let her emotions show and acted in accordance with her identity, “Lord Tokugawa. For what reason have you summoned me so late into the night?”
“I’m going to visit an old friend, Lord Takeda of the Tsutsujigasaki Castle3, along with my wife. You shall accompany us as well,” Tokugawa Shigemori stated while holding his wife in his callused arm.
“Heh. Is that an order I hear, Lord Tokugawa? If you wish to request my help, I shall do so in consideration of the friendship between the Hundred Demons and Mikawa, but aren’t you mistaken about something? I’m not your servant,” Mayumi stated.
The expression on Shigemori’s hardened face remained constant, but popping sounds emerged from his thick knuckles in the next moment, which made Mayumi a bit puzzled.
Shigemori continued speaking, “The Kai Province is situated in the depths of the mountains and though I’m fearless, the journey is pretty long. If I leave my wife behind and if she were to be attacked by a monster while I take care of my business, wouldn’t that ruin everything? You also don’t wish for that to happen, right, Midƍ Yumi?”
“Ugh
” Yukiko yelped in pain after hitting her limit and her face paled, a layer of cold sweat forming on her forehead. Shigemori was actually using his hand to pinch Yukiko’s frail shoulder!
Yukiko hadn’t trained in a long time, so it wasn’t possible for her body that wasn’t much different from that of an ordinary woman’s frail body to withstand Shigemori’s powerful grip.
Mayumi’s expression also darkened suddenly.
“
 Fine. I shall accompany you to Kai and protect Madam Yukiko well so that no harm befalls her!” Mayumi stated apprehensively with her fists clenched tightly.
Only then did Shigemori relax his grip and reply in a deep voice, “I really appreciate it, Miss Yumi. Haha.”


The dim light of the night still dyed the skies.
A long-haired kimono-clad girl holding a black parasol gazed at the Tsutsujigasaki Castle shrouded in black smoke produced by the forges of the castle city from the hillside with a distant look in her eyes.
“Lil’ Sis Lily. I can feel the dark eldritch energy filling this Tsutsujigasaki Castle even from so far away, especially so from the castle tower
”
“Did Lord Kamakura set this up? He actually sent Lil’ Sis Lily alone to investigate such a dangerous place
 it’s really worrying.”
“But
” Shimizu’s lovely lips curled up into a smile, “That’s fine, too. If you never encounter any danger, Lil’ Sis Lily, how would I, the dashing and beautiful Sister Shimizu of yours, get a chance to make an appearance?”
“Hehe. I wonder if my little sister will turn emotional when I save her from danger and fall in love with me as a result. Hehehehehehehe.”
“You’ll definitely forgive me at that moment, right? You’ll definitely feel that I’m the woman who you can truly depend on at all times, unlike that Uesugi Rei who walks her own path.”
Shimizu resembled a vibrant obsidian flower blooming within the overgrown vegetation of the steep mountains as she followed the only woman of her heart without any regrets from a distance.
Although it was a mystery whether it was pure coincidence, Lily, Shimizu, Mayumi, and Tokugawa Shigemori, each made for Tsutsujigasaki Castle that lurked within the darkness of the mountains to accomplish their own purposes.
They were by no means someone that Lily could handle easily.