Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 405: Road of Demons (4)

Dragon Raja 3

“Given Junior Brother’s shamelessness, he’s the genuine article!” Fingel nodded repeatedly.

Caesar pondered for a moment. “Initially, we thought God was our enemy. Now it seems that Osho’s terror is no less than that of God. This situation is tricky for both us and the Eight Families of Sheqi. It appears we should join forces with your brother. As for the conflicts between the Academy and the Eight families, they can be resolved later.”

“You must first gain my brother’s trust. He doesn’t trust you, nor does he trust me. Even if he once saw me attempt to assassinate Osho with his own eyes, he would think it’s internal strife within the Oni Clan. Tachibana is dead. Given his status in my brother’s heart, my brother will inevitably carry out his plan. Tachibana’s plan was to eliminate God and make the Sheqi Eight Families independent again, controlling Japan’s destiny. In this situation, my brother won’t cooperate with you,” Chime said. “He’ll find a way to kill Osho himself.”

“It’s not that I doubt your brother’s abilities, but it seems the intelligence between you brothers is inversely proportional. With that turtle-like IQ going up against Osho, I really don’t see a good outcome,” Caesar said.

“My brother still holds the last trump card—he has Uesugi Erii.”

“Erii is even stronger than you?” Lu Mingfei asked.

Chime slowly shook his head. “I don’t know what Uesugi Erii is, but I truly have no confidence that Ruri can defeat her. She seems extremely deficient in some aspects, but her catastrophic destructive power is at the level of a Dragon King.”

“Japan is really a place full of monsters,” Caesar said. “Have a good rest; we still have to go have breakfast. Do you want us to bring you anything?”

“After hearing about the things I’ve done, do you still consider me a friend?” Chime raised his head and looked into Caesar’s eyes.

“If you committed those evil acts in front of me, I’d stab you in the heart just like your brother did. But before that, even if we can’t be considered friends, we should be considered allies.” Without turning back, Caesar walked out of the room. “If Osho really finds his way here, we’ll protect your safety.”

The door closed. Chime was silent for a long, long time and then sighed softly. “Before you truly understand Osho, it’s foolish to rashly say you’ll protect anyone… But… thank you.”

Crow stopped in front of the meditation room, bowing deeply. “Miss Erii has returned.”

“Really? She’s back?” In the sunlight, Chisei sat cross-legged, looking out the window, with Totsuka-no-Tsurugi leaning on his shoulder.

This meditation room was in the rear garden of the Sheqi Eight Families’ shrine. Outside the room was the family cemetery. Not long ago, Inuyama Katsu’s funeral was held here. This morning, two new graves were added: Tachibana’s and Sakura’s. The tombstones hadn’t yet been engraved; wooden boards with ink-written inscriptions were placed before the graves.

Chisei suddenly recalled a poem by Su Shi that said, “The old monk has died and become a new pagoda.” New and old, life and death changed so rapidly that there was no time to grieve.

He could no longer feel sadness; he only felt numbness in his heart, and what beat in his chest seemed like a stubborn stone.

This morning, Erii had run away from home again. She had become accustomed to it; in the past few days, she had run away twice but always returned after half a day or a day. Now that she had learned the technique of running away, the vault could no longer confine her. She calmly changed into those new clothes that Lu Mingfei had bought her, which meant she was ready to go out for a walk. Chisei did not stop her. Although letting this girl with an unstable bloodline wander in the densely populated city of Tokyo was irresponsible for public safety, wouldn’t it be cruel to lock her up in a place without sunlight for her entire life?

Therefore, Chisei ordered her to be injected with larger doses of serum to stabilize her condition, then taught her to recognize the nearby roads and tacitly allowed her to go out.

Great changes were about to happen; he didn’t know who could survive this catastrophe. So let her take a little risk, breathe some fresh air, and experience freedom.

At this moment, Erii was standing in front of Tachibana’s grave, placing a bouquet of purple spider lilies under his name. She was wearing high-heeled shoes, and her white skirt fluttered in the wind, suddenly looking like a grown woman.

She even knew to bring back a bouquet of spider lilies for both Tachibana and Sakura when she went out for a stroll, showing that she understood a bit of human feelings and social norms. Chisei silently thought, if she had been taught the ways of the world from a young age, what would she be like now? Probably a very well-behaved and considerate girl?

But the care he gave her was limited to playing video games with her.

So, Erii was ultimately still a girl lacking empathy. Her father died, yet she didn’t seem to feel sad; bringing flowers was just a ceremonial gesture. If one day Chisei died, he might also receive a bouquet of spider lilies like this, wouldn’t he? Perhaps the only person Erii truly cared about in her life was Lu Mingfei. Chisei smiled silently, recalling the old saying, “A grown daughter can’t be kept at home.”

Maybe this was for the best. Only he would be affected by Tachibana’s death; he didn’t want the whole family to grieve as if they had lost their parents. The current Sheqi Eight Families didn’t have time for sorrow.

He poured himself a full glass of whiskey. The bottle was almost empty. After finishing this bottle, he would continue to fulfill his duties as the family head. Before finishing this drink, he still had a little time to reminisce about his first meeting with Tachibana.

From as far back as he could remember, he and his younger brother had lived in the small town of Katari as adopted sons of a local family. Their foster father was an ordinary mountain villager.

Their foster father didn’t like the brothers; whenever he got drunk, he complained that the allowance wasn’t enough. Chisei was precocious; from these drunken words, he surmised that his biological father or mother was still alive and that they had been entrusted to this family. Every year, a sum of money was paid to their foster father for their upbringing. So he paid close attention to the comings and goings at home, especially those from outside the mountains. He thought that perhaps his biological parents might secretly come to visit them. But the people their alcoholic foster father associated with were also drunks, and Chisei had no good feelings toward them—except for one person. That was a middle-aged man who often came to the mountains on weekends. He called himself Tachibana, enjoyed the mountain air, and came here to practice yoga. He dressed like a salaryman and was polite to everyone.

Tachibana taught Chisei yoga and some swordsmanship and told him stories of the world beyond the mountains. Tachibana liked to go to the highest peak to watch the sunrise. Each time, he hired Chisei as a guide. The journey was a sixteen-kilometer mountain trail, starting at midnight and climbing until dawn. By the end, both were parched and gasping for breath. Tachibana would pull a chilled cola from his backpack and hand it to Chisei, while he himself drank from the mountain stream.

The townspeople all drank stream water—cleaner than tap water in big cities and free of charge. But the children loved chilled cola, an expensive drink transported from outside. Kids who drank cola during school breaks felt superior. But Chisei was different; after playing ball, he was always the first to rush to the mountain stream, lying down to drink large gulps. To those classmates who drank cola, Chisei seemed tougher and more manly, so they didn’t dare show off their sugary drinks to him. But in fact, Chisei also liked cola; he just never showed it because his foster father didn’t give him enough pocket money to buy such sugary drinks.