BXBX NOVEL Volume 3, Chapter 111 – Smithing the Blade in a Month
Volume 3, Chapter 111 - Smithing the Blade in a Month
“Grade 9 Tamahagane of the highest quality from Sugawara no Michizane’s Iron Seal.”
“Grade 9 wood from Azure Dragon Tree.”
“Mt. Fuji’s flames… where should I place this?”
Ehiro brought Lily in front of a simple stone forge nearby and Lily tossed the Azure Dragon Wood lit by Mt. Fuji’s flames into this stone forge.
The temperature of the whole smithy rose by a few degrees the moment the flames manifested outside.
Ehiro’s bountiful bosom heaved up and down intensely as well, “You’re really an incredible woman, Lily. You said you would collect all the materials required to smith Evil Slayer Yasutsuna and you’ve truly accomplished it… it’s quite an amazing feat indeed.”
Lily and Ehiro arrived in front of the table again and Ehiro hugged the tamahagane as she stated with a blush, “I’ve never seen tamahagane of such quality before. It’s so aged, tough and heavy and is as firm as a man yet as flexible as a woman at the same time… It’s as if I can even hear the countless rustling noises of Lord Michizane stamping papers whose content can shock all of Heian…”
It was as if Ehiro was enchanted by the materials Lily prepared.
Lily took out Amanojaku’s golden horn as well and enquired, “Master Ehiro. Can you take a look at this and tell me if it’s of any use?”
“A golden horn! The golden horn of a Golden-Horned Demon is a pretty rare metal, and its powdered form can be used as a catalyst for the Azure Dragon Charcoal and thus enhance the quality of tamahagane smelted over it. The powdered golden horn is also an excellent ornamental dye, too. However, this dye isn’t something you should look down on, Lily. Even though it’s unrelated to the blade’s strength, it actually contributes to the blade’s intent.”
“It’s just perfect,” Ehiro couldn’t help herself from giving Lily’s cheek a kiss again, “Just give these materials to me and I will forge a peerless sword for you!”
“Can I help you with it, Master Ehiro?”
“No, not this time, Lily. Although you’re pretty strong, the materials are too rare this time, so it’s best if I handle them. Although it would take time, it’s the best choice to have no imperfections. I’ll summon you when I need you to draw the soul runes on it,” Ehiro answered.
“I’ll leave it to you then, Master Ehiro.”
“There’s no need for such politeness between us!”
Ehiro continued after pondering for a moment, “Do you have a powerful anima with you, Lily?”
“I have Spirit Jade Stage anima with me.”
Unfortunate as it was, Kagura’s blade attack had utterly annihilated Amanojaku’s anima. The attack was really too powerful.
“Ugh. Spirit Jade Stage, huh? It should be fine…” Ehiro replied hesitantly.
“Is Spirit Jade Stage anima not enough, Master?”
“Oh, that’s not it. It’s more than enough, don’t worry,” Ehiro chuckled.
“Alright, then. Off you go, now. I’m going to work on the sword now and need to make further preparations for it. I’ll get distracted if you’re here,” Ehiro pulled on the neck slit of Lily’s kimono to widen the cleavage and looked inside.
“I-I’ll leave it to you then!” Lily took a step back in haste while hiding her bosom and left the smithy after giving her a bow.
Lily leaned back against the wooden door after closing it and finally sighed in relief. Although Master Ehiro was a genius bladesmith, her weakness was also pretty obvious to the point, which was that she liked teasing Lily too much. Lily also needed her, so it was really hard to guard against her.
Lily returned to the wooden cottage and found that Haihime, Yumi and the rest had all settled down by now.
Haihime was naturally given a single room, while Kotoka and Nanako were assigned the same room. Yumi, Yukiko and Shiu were also assigned the same room while Lily had a room to herself. After all, there were only two cottages, so rooms were pretty scarce for now and Yuki-Onna, who was unwilling to remain within the mirror, had demanded a room as well.
Lily arrived in the study that Madam Kotoka was using for handling official work and asked, “What’s the current situation of the mine, Madam Kotoka? Have any magatama been produced yet?”
“Yes. I was just about to bring them over to you. Give me a moment,” Kotoka fetched two small and exquisite wooden boxes from the study’s storeroom, “We’ve extracted a total of 4 magatama and 3.5kgs of magatama fragments over the past two months. I’ll give all of it to you. I’ve been collecting them personally each time since these items are quite precious.”
“You’ve done really well, Madam Kotoka. How about the defense?” Lily took the magatama and stored them in the mirror space immediately.
“I’ve arranged 3 lines of defense. The mine has cavalrywomen guarding it and the tunnel within the mountain deity’s temple is also the same. The mouth of Blossom Valley is also guarded, so it’s practically impossible for the miners to embezzle magatama outside. These people are naturally the most reliable members of the Saionji family, so you can rest assured about it, Lily,” Kotoka answered.
Lily nodded, “I’m going to train for the next few days, Madam. Although I’m back, I’ll be relying on your help a lot with regards to the works in the valley.”
“You just need to focus on the outside work and exploration, Lily. This is the path that a generation’s powerhouse should be traversing. How could I let these minor political matters impede you, just leave it all to me,” Kotoka smiled.
Lily felt relieved after hearing this as she wasn’t free enough to stay behind in the valley all the time.
Lily went to see Haihime after meeting with Kotoka and found Yoriko inside after reaching the door.
“Please rest assured, Lady Haihime. The clansmen are living a lot better than they did outside in comparison to the life in the underground space and also have more than enough food to eat. All this is because of Lyn-hime and Lady Haihime.”
“That’s not true. I’m just relieved that everyone is able to live peacefully. The most important thing is that mother can finally rest in peace. Our clan has been subjected to torment, genocide and pursuit from my mother’s, grandmother’s and even our ancestor’s times, but we’ve finally obtained a place that we can call home…” Haihime’s cheeks were marred with tears as well.
Lily pondered for a moment and walked back to her room instead of going inside since she didn’t want to disturb them and just allowed Haihime and Yoriko to reminiscence nicely.
After returning to the room, she naturally began assimilating the magatama in order to advance.
However, she finished assimilating the magatama that had been extracted painstakingly over the past two months in just two days.
Lily had obtained a total of 7 magatama from her battle with Amanojaku, which included a Yellow Magatama that could replenish spirit power rapidly, but Lily didn’t assimilate them since she wanted to save them for emergencies and use them to activate the ‘Record of One Hundred Demons.’
Lily had made the calculations and knew that she still needed about 4 to 5 magatama to attain the Spirit Jade Stage, but she wasn’t in that much of a hurry since she was still waiting for Master Ehiro to finish forging Evil Slayer Yasutsuna.
After a nice session of sleep, Lily and Haihime went to visit one of the caves of Cherry Valley’s walls the next morning, which was the dwelling of the 30-odd Itsura that followed them to the valley.
There was nothing that could be done about it since there were too few houses inside the valley. Although the valley was quite huge, time was needed to build houses.
“Sis Haihime, I believe we can let the Itsura handle the defense of Cherry Valley,” Lily suggested.
“Feel free to use them if you trust them, Lil’ Master.”
“I’ll trust them since you trust them, Sis Haihime.”
“Master…” Haihime felt quite moved and blushed as a result.
“By the way,” Lily continued, “Although those villagers are from our Mirror Girl clan, they need to earn their own living. The men can learn how to build houses as long as they aren’t too old or young while the women can follow Kotoka’s arrangements to work in the outer valley or do chores. What do you think?”
“Mhm. That sounds good. You just need to provide them with a safe haven, Lil’ Master. They will have to rely on their own hands if they wish to live here for a long time,” Haihime nodded.
A month passed by just like that…