Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 206: Boy in the Thorns (9)

Dragon Raja 3

“And what good would it do if we did? Anjou wants to bring us back under the control of the Secret Party and force us to reveal all our secrets, but we can’t allow that. I asked Inuyama to deal with him, hoping to buy us some time. Once we’ve dealt with the Oni Clan, then we can handle the college.”

“Father, you don’t really trust Inuyama, do you?” Chisei suddenly asked.

“Why do you say that?”

“I’m not very familiar with the old family history, but I’ve heard that Inuyama was the first head of the Japan Division after it was established. He was a puppet propped up by Anjou and part of the faction in our family that is close to the Secret Party.”

Tachibana nodded. “That’s true. Back then, the family wasn’t united at all, and the heads of the Eight Families would even kill each other over their interests. The Inuyama family was the smallest of the Eight, and their influence came from their control of the adult entertainment industry, which basically meant they made money through the flesh trade. Because of this, the other families looked down on them. After Japan’s defeat in 1945, the Inuyama family was nearly wiped out. Inuyama was the last man left in his line. At that time, Anjou arrived in Japan aboard a U.S. Navy cruiser, acting as a lieutenant commander, and from a position of power, negotiated with our family, demanding we submit to the Secret Party. Inuyama saw the changing tides and realized this was his opportunity to revive the Inuyama family. So, he threw in his lot with Anjou, accepting him as a mentor. With the support of the Secret Party, he suppressed the other families and ultimately became the head of the Japan Division. At that time, the most powerful person in the family wasn’t the patriarch but the Japan Division head appointed by the Secret Party.”

“So, he was truly one of Anjou’s inner circle?”

“It’s not that simple. Inuyama may have once aligned himself with Anjou, but being part of his inner circle is a different matter. Chisei, you studied at Cassell College and took Anjou’s classes, right? How much do you really know about him?”

Chisei thought for a moment. “He’s a gentleman, sees himself as an educator, but he likes to play around and sometimes neglects his duties.”

“That’s just the persona he projects, a mask to hide his true self. He’s very good at using a flashy exterior to conceal his inner workings. Very few people truly understand his past. It took me nearly a decade of investigation to uncover a few clues.” Tachibana clapped his hands. “Yasha, fetch me the file on Hilbert Ron Anjou from the archives.”

A plain-colored file folder was quickly placed before Tachibana. He poured out its contents onto the table in front of Chisei. Gen glanced at the first page and felt a slight shock.

“Name: Hilbert Ron Anjou

Birthday: 10/28/1878

City of Birth: Harrogate, Yorkshire, UK

Education: Ph.D., Trinity College, Cambridge”

This was a dossier on Hilbert Ron Anjou, the Principal of Cassell College, spanning hundreds of pages. The densely written text chronicled every detail of his life, from his birth to the present. As one of the rare long-lived hybrids, Anjou had lived for nearly 130 years, and much of what had transpired in his early life was likely long forgotten by him but quietly recorded in this file. Chisei had no idea that such top-secret information existed in the family archives. Even within Cassell College, very few people knew about Anjou’s past. His old companions were all dead, and his history had been buried in their graves.

“This file is pieced together from several sources, including our own investigations. It may not be entirely accurate, but it gives a rough outline of Anjou’s life. The information is quite dense, so I’ll focus on the key points.” Tachibana began slowly. “Contrary to what many might imagine, Hilbert Ron Anjou is actually an orphan. His surname ‘Anjou’ is French, but he was born in Harrogate, a small town in Yorkshire, England. He wasn’t born into nobility; in fact, he grew up in poverty, enduring great hardship. His foster parents adopted many children and trained them to beg, but Anjou was different from the others. He was a hybrid and displayed remarkable talent from a young age. By the time he was twelve, he had already taught himself Latin and Greek, which earned him the favor of the local bishop. The bishop provided him with a scholarship to study in London, giving him the opportunity to attend Cambridge. There, he met someone who would change his life forever—Manecke Cassell, the eldest son of the Cassell family, founder of the Secret Party’s Lionheart Society, and one of the greatest dragon slayers in history.”

“Manecke was 21 at the time, and Anjou was 16. After a lonely childhood and adolescence, Anjou finally encountered someone else with dragon blood. Manecke recommended him to join the Secret Party, making him one of the first members of the Lionheart Society. Even Manecke didn’t foresee that this boy from a small town in Harrogate would one day rise to become a leader of the Secret Party and the bane of dragons. To Anjou, Manecke was like an elder brother, and every member of the Lionheart Society became his family. With these people, he was able to pull himself out of his isolation. That period was the happiest time of his life. He studied at Cambridge, while secretly participating in the activities of the Secret Party. His charm was at its peak; women adored him, and men considered it an honor to befriend him. He was a top student and a fashionable young man. The playboy persona he projects today comes from that period of his life.”

“Today, the Lionheart Society is merely a student club at Cassell College, but back then, it was the youth wing of the Secret Party, one of the finest dragon-slaying squads in the world. For Anjou, the Lionheart Society provided not only friendship but also glory and purpose. Everyone believed the Lionheart Society was the beacon of hope for the Secret Party, and that Manecke Cassell would undoubtedly become the next leader of the Secret Party. But then, everything changed suddenly. During the event known as ‘The Summer of Sorrow,’ the Secret Party’s headquarters, Cassell Manor, was attacked by the dragons. A Dragon King infiltrated the manor, while Death Servitors surrounded them from the outside, trapping the Lionheart Society in a desperate battle.”

“This sounds strange,” Chisei interrupted Tachibana’s story. “In that event, the dragons displayed behavior similar to humans. They used strategy and launched a night raid, which resembles a military strike. That doesn’t match the typical behavior of dragons. Dragons are proud and noble; they awaken to roar across the world and destroy everything with unparalleled violence. They disdain using schemes.”

Tachibana nodded. “Yes, it is very strange, but we have no way of uncovering more of the truth. ‘The Summer of Sorrow’ is one of the Secret Party’s highest-level secrets, and over a hundred years have passed without the investigation results being revealed to anyone outside the Board of Trustees. But various pieces of evidence confirm that the dragons did indeed launch a night raid. They attacked the heart of the Secret Party, intending to completely destroy it. However, one man turned the tide: the unrivaled genius Manecke Cassell unleashed a power equal to that of a Dragon King, and he perished together with the dragon. The most prestigious dragon-slaying family in history, the Cassell family, fell into decline after that, with no one left to carry on its legacy. The Lionheart Society was annihilated, and Hilbert Ron Anjou was the only survivor.”

“Wasn’t Anjou at the Cassell Manor at the time?” Chisei asked.

“No, he was there. He had close contact with the Dragon King, and after being injured, he fell into the cellar in a state of near-death. He revived the next morning, witnessing the most tragic scene of his life: corpses piled high, humans and Death Servitors locked in each other’s embrace in their final moments—not in reconciliation, but in mutual destruction. The only one still standing was Manecke Cassell, though even he was dead, propped up by a shattered sword. Until that moment, Anjou had likely never realized the absolute brutality of the war between humans and dragons, how merciless and blood-soaked it truly was. In this war, only one side could survive. Even if you had nothing left but your teeth, you had to crawl forward and tear out your enemy’s throat.

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