Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 328: Crimson Soil (1)

Dragon Raja 3

At this moment, in the back streets of Tokyo University, Anjou sat down beside a food cart, placing his umbrella and heavy briefcase to the side. “Soy sauce ramen, with two braised eggs.”

“Why are you here again? I thought we agreed never to meet again! What’s the deal with you coming here for a late-night snack every night?” Koeru said angrily. “Starting tonight, the ramen will cost you! It’s 800 yen a bowl, plus 100 yen extra for the eggs!”

Anjou calmly poured himself some sake, listening to the rain pattering on the roof of the cart. “Didn’t you refuse to let me attend your funeral last time? I promised I wouldn’t show up. But since it doesn’t look like you’re dying anytime soon, coming here for a bowl of ramen won’t send you to hell.”

“Cut the crap! Pay up first!”

Anjou placed a stack of 10,000 yen bills on the counter. “One million yen, no need for change. From now on, just deduct my meals from this.”

“Are you treating my stall like your cafeteria?”

“To be fair, your ramen stall wouldn’t make it onto my list of cafeterias. My usual spots are mostly in Paris, like L’Arpege, L’Ambroisie, and Le Pre Catelan. In Japan, only places like Ishikawa in Tokyo or Koan in Kanagawa would qualify.”

With a scowl, Koeru threw the noodles into the pot. “Even if I’m serving pig slop, you, a high-class guy who only eats at Michelin-starred restaurants, still come here in the rain. Doesn’t it make you want to oink while eating pig food?”

“No problem. Oink oink,” Anjou said, fiddling with a folding knife and casually pulling out some pickled yellow radish from a jar.

“Can’t you just leave me alone? How can you be sure no one’s following you? You’re going to cause me trouble like this.” Koeru was exasperated.

“Relax, will you? As someone whose Yanling is ‘Time Zero,’ there are very few people in this world capable of tracking me. And as for anyone who could do it without me noticing, I’d say there are none. I don’t have many friends left in Tokyo; all my old friends have long since passed away, and their children too. You’re the only old monster with royal blood still alive. Don’t you think old monsters like us should have something in common?”

“Don’t you have some important mission to save the world? Didn’t you say the gods are about to awaken? I beg you to take your job seriously and find out where the gods are incubating, alright? If Tokyo gets destroyed, my ramen stand will be out of business. I’m begging you here!”

“It’s not my move right now. It’s that person hiding in the shadows who has to make a move. Someone wants to profit from the awakening of the gods. To do that, they need to find the incubation grounds. Takamagahara was the first site, so where’s the second? That person is more anxious than I am because they’re determined to get the gods. I’m just waiting for them to act—the bigger their move, the easier it’ll be for me to catch on.”

“Sounds like you’ve already set up an intelligence network in Japan.” Koeru placed the bowl of ramen in front of Anjou.

“Even though I’m old, when it’s time for me to act, the situation will be under my control.” Anjou lowered his head and started eating.

“A guy who sneaks out for 800-yen ramen in the middle of the night, claiming to have control of Tokyo? It doesn’t inspire much confidence. Gods aren’t like the Dragon Kings you’ve slaughtered in the past. A completed god is on par with the Black Emperor, and I don’t know if there’s a way to kill it.” Koeru gazed at the torrential rain outside. “To be honest, I’ve already booked a flight to Paris. I’m planning to shut down for a few days and wait out the storm. I’ll be cheering you on from faraway France, watching you on TV!”

“Watching me on TV?” Anjou was taken aback.

“If I see a news report that Tokyo has suddenly sunk into the sea due to some inexplicable natural disaster, or that a giant monster has invaded, I’ll ask the bartender for a whiskey on the rocks, down it in one gulp, and say, ‘Anjou-kun! You’ve got this!’”

“If we’re talking about the most useless Emperor in Yamata no Orochi’s history, I think you’d win the title hands down…”

“The most useless Retired Emperor, thank you!”

“Since you’re already planning to run, why not share a little more information before you go?” Anjou opened his briefcase and put on his glasses. “I found some interesting documents in the University of Tokyo’s library today…”

“I knew you didn’t just come here to eat ramen, you old bastard,” Koeru sighed. “I’ve already told you everything I know. I even gossiped about my unfortunate family with you. What else could I possibly be hiding?”

“You didn’t tell me that for nearly a century, Yamata no Orochi has been funding various geological institutions.”

“Does that really matter to you? Yamata no Orochi funds many scientific research institutions, and yes, geological ones are part of that. Initially, we were hoping to use geological surveys to locate relics from the age of gods, but it didn’t go anywhere.”

“It didn’t go anywhere because your drilling wasn’t deep enough. The relics from the age of gods in Japan could be buried more than 300 meters below the surface.”

Koeru was stunned. “You’re not a geologist. How can you be so sure? Yamata no Orochi has funded geological institutions for a hundred years and hasn’t even found a natural gas well, let alone ancient relics.”

“I’m not a geologist, but one of our school board members holds a PhD in geophysics. Before I boarded the plane, he sent me an email outlining his hypothesis about the relics of the age of gods. He said that no civilization could be confined to a single isolated city. If the White Empress’ descendants once built an ancient city like Takamagahara in Japan, there should be roads, cemeteries, canals, and even other cities. But all of this was wiped out by a great flood that nearly submerged Japan ten thousand years ago. The sea washed Japan clean, erasing all traces of the Dragon Clan,” Anjou said. “But those relics from the age of gods should still be buried deep in the earth.”

“That sounds plausible—anyone could guess that ancient relics are buried in the layers of the earth, like Pompeii being buried under volcanic ash,” Koeru replied. “But not that deep. I’ve heard reports from geological experts who say that under natural circumstances, ancient cities would sink a few millimeters each year. By that calculation, the relics of the age of gods should be buried 50 to 100 meters below the surface. We can explore those relics through hydrogeological surveys.”

“Hydrogeological surveys?” Anjou asked.

Series Navigation

<< Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 327: Withered Oni in the Well (4)Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 329: Crimson Soil (2) >>