Demon Sword Maiden
chapter-94

CHAPTER 94 – CHASE AND FEAR

Walking in the dark night without the moonlight, Lily felt worried.

The demon fury grew thicker during the Chaotic Night. She wasn’t really fearful for herself, since her Demon Maiden spirit power also powered-up slightly. However, it had become more dangerous for Nanako.

She had a really bad premonition.

In such a pitch-black night, her eyes couldn’t distinguish the directions so she could depend only on her spirit power.

Lily spread out her Spirit Waves. Currently, her spirit power could cover an area of around three hundred meters. However, she couldn’t see through the mountain walls. Thus, her actual perception range was much smaller.

Lily closed her eyes. Through Spirit Perception, she could feel the surrounding world clearly. She could see trees, flowers, grass, and all kinds of animals hiding in the darkness.

The area with dense greenery should be the South. In such a dark night, it was impossible to discern the surrounding areas with naked eyes. The Spirit Power, however, was especially sensitive to the constant change in the vitality of all living things.

After she finally determined her direction, Lily accelerated, heading toward Suruga Province. In a night like this, Nanako would surely take the main road. She wouldn’t wander around aimlessly in the deep mountains. If Lily walked along the main road, she should catch up to her eventually.

It was fortunate that there was no fork in the road. Since it was a straight path, it was impossible to get lost as long as one didn’t deviate from the main road.

“Hm?” After pacing for dozens of minutes, Lily released her Spirit Waves and sensed a feeble wisp of demon fury.

It was a Demon Boar that died by the roadside. It seemed the boar died not long ago and its anima was still around. That was why the demon fury still lingered in the air.

Two bony stray dogs were trying to tear the boar’s flesh and feast upon it, but they couldn’t even leave a bite mark. The monster’s skin was much tougher than that of ordinary animals after all. When the stray dogs saw Lily, they lifted their heads cautiously. Their red eyes glinted in the night.

“No demon fury. They’re just normal stray dogs.”

The stray dogs saw Lily holding a long katana. Although they couldn’t sense Spirit Power, they could instinctively feel Lily wasn’t fearful of them. If the opponent wasn’t afraid of them, they would be afraid of their opponent. That was the nature of wild animals.

Thus, they barked at her and disappeared into the woods.

This Demon Boar was considered one of the strongest monsters among the Low-Rank monsters. It wasn’t something ordinary stray dogs could kill. Lily had a suspicion, so she walked closer to check.

“Oh?”

There were several fist marks on the body of the Demon Boar, which as big as a small buffalo. The small fist marks were buried deeply in the Demon Boar’s body, and they were still bits of spirit power lingering on the wounds. Moreover, there was a deep stab at one side of the monster’s neck. That was a fatal wound. It must be a sword wound. From the angle, a tanto could easily do this.

Tanto? Fist marks?

There’s only one person on this desolate road that led to Suruga Province was capable of this, who else could it be?

Apparently, Nanako had killed this Demon Boar!

But why didn’t Nanako retrieve the anima? Was she not interested in this little bit of money? The anima of the Demon Boar was more valuable than the Mountain Imp. They were at least priced at two kwans.

Thus, Lily began to investigate the surroundings.

“Footprints!”

Lily found so many footprints near the Demon Boar.

There were some small footprints and lots of bigger footprints. The footprints in this area were very messy. There were traces of fighting everywhere. It seemed Nanako’s footprints ended here, but so many male footprints continued down the road!

“What happened here?”

Lily continued to scout out with her Spirit Perception. She found the footprints of a big group that came down from the mountain. They moved westward along the main road for a while before changing direction and head back up the mountain.

However, she couldn’t find Nanako’s footprints from that point on.

‘This is so abnormal!’

‘Did those men take Nanako away? Who are they? Are they from the Saikanji House? If so, why didn’t they head back to Suruga Province but go deeper into the mountain?’

So those traces weren’t caused by the battle between Nanako and that Demon Boar?

“Nanako!” Lily shouted anxiously.

She followed the traces left by those people and went up the mountain. Since their group had so many people and items, they left clear marks on the thick bushes. Using the Spirit Perception to track them, their tracks became obvious at a glance. It was very easy to track them.

“Argh —— ”

A young girl’s cry came from a far distance ahead of her.

“Nanako!” Lily had acute senses, she instantly recognized Nanako’s voice.

‘Could she really have run into trouble?’ Lily began to channel Spirit Power throughout her body. By using Genji Swordstyle’s channeling methods on her long legs, her speed instantly increased as she rushed toward the direction that voice came from.

Meanwhile, at the cave where Nanako was held hostage.

“Slap!” Hojo Motoshige slapped Nanako, which caused her face to become inflamed. A trickle of blood ran down the corner of her mouth. A High-Tier samurai actually hit a defenseless little girl with all his power.

“You little ⓑⓘⓣⓒⓗ! How dare you bite me!” Hojo Motoshige scolded fiercely.

“D- don’t touch me!” Nanako had a tearful face. She was both angry and scared. She was shivering but stared at Motoshige with her unbending eyes, “My mother… will give you money and the things you want! Why would you want to touch me!”

“Hahaha!” Motoshige glanced at Nanako with disdainful eyes, then he said with a laughter, “Well, well, well, Lady Saikanji sure is naïve! Of course, I know your mother will bring money and firearms to pay for your ransom. But, do you really think that I will let you guys go that easily?”

“What?!” Nanako was startled.

Akira walked to stand next to Motoshige. With a low voice, he began to lash out, “Your Saikanji House has gone against me repeatedly. How can we simply let you get away with it!”

With the bonfire behind them, Hojo Motoshige and Akira’s long shadows covered Nanako’s petite body. Her eyes were filled with regret and fear.

With the light of the bonfire in the background, Hojo Motoshige’s skinny face looked even more malicious and cunning. “Saikanji Yomika, heh-heh, she’s not only a successful businesswoman but also a charming, sexy woman! If she really dares to come here, we will make sure she never returns to Suruga Province!”

“Y- yo- you scoundrels! Hojo Motoshige, you’re not worth of being a samurai. Not only are you scummy ⓑⓐⓢⓣⓐⓡⓓ, you don’t keep your words either! You, you’re shameless and despicable!” Nanako verbally abused Motoshige.

“That’s right, we’re shameless and despicable. What can you do to us?” Motoshige approached Nanako and took a deep breath. “Yeah, this is the smell of a virgin.”

“W- what do you want?” Nanako’s voice shivered.

“Hmph,” Hojo stood upright. “Don’t worry, Saikanji, I’m not interested in the little girls without big breasts and buttocks like you. However, my two vassals over there had took a liking you. We only need you alive to bait your mother anyway, why should I care if you lose your virginity or not?”

“Arakawa Brothers, you can play with this little girl. Just don’t kill her. But remember that your salary for a month will be cut,” Hojo said coldly then backed off. With a face of his hand, the two beefy figures wearing wide bamboo hats walked toward Nanako.

Their faces were hidden under the hat. However, their entire bodies were emitting a cold and sinister aura.

“No, don’t…” Nanako’s petite body shivered continuously. She could summon up the courage to quarrel with Hojo, but Nanako didn’t even dare to fight against these two.

“Don’t come here…” Nanako started thrashing in a panic, “Don’t come here. Don’t come here! Hojo Motoshige, tell them to leave. Hurry, tell them to leave. They’re too scary… Boohoohoo…”

Eventually, Nanako burst out crying.

However, to the dozens of samurais around, her cry only indicated that she had lost her will to resist and didn’t help at all.

Several samurais from the Hojo Clan couldn’t stand watching this, they frowned and turned around. As they were samurais, they had to follow their master’s orders unconditionally. They would never question their master.

The two tall shadows didn’t say a word. Their silence caused Nanako to feel terrified. They stretched their hands and yanked Nanako’s collar.

“Kyaaaaa— Save me! —- Help me! Mom— Mom—!” Nanako’s will had completely collapsed. She wailed just just like a little girl being bullied without any means to resist.

In the darkness, a female samurai wearing white clothes was walking toward them with a red parasol.1

That woman was even more beautiful than a fairy. Her long hair flowed like the milky way descending from the sky. The katana in her hand emitted a strange and mesmerizing scarlet glow. She was walking toward Hojo and Akira’s team with graceful yet easygoing steps.