A man among dragons, building a mysterious ancient church.

Chapter 343: Being young is good, just fall asleep
At the former Grand Temple in Tokyo, the stained glass windows on the exterior of the bronze shrine filter the sunlight into jewel-like fragments, which fall on the shoulders of worshippers.

Caesar strolled through the square, where he saw families praying together, chatting and laughing, carefree children playing and running around, and elderly people chatting under the ginkgo trees.

Crossing the square and arriving at the temple, you can smell a faint scent of candlelight in the air.

Looking around, there were church keepers leading believers in and out, believers standing and praying with their eyes closed and smiles on their faces, and a father holding his daughter and letting her light the candles on the silver lampstand herself.

As the candles were lit, a joyful and expectant smile appeared on the daughter's face, earning praise from her father and another temple keeper.

No investigation was needed; based solely on the few scenes he witnessed upon entering, Caesar was certain that the Tokyo Diocese wielded immense influence over the people of Tokyo.

And the pure faith of the people of Tokyo in the old church.

It is not surprising that the Peninsula Hotel receptionist was preaching; Caesar was trying to use this as an excuse to ease his conscience and find a way to forget the embarrassment of the previous night.

But Lu Mingfei's goose-like laughter in the elevator echoed repeatedly in Caesar's memory, impossible to forget.

Caesar shook his head. Business was important. He suppressed Lu Mingfei's memory of the goose honking and pretended to be a tourist visiting a famous scenic spot, swaying his head and admiring the sights as he walked into the temple.

This place was unlike any religion Caesar had ever seen. There were no sacred idols, no clergy selling holy water, and no standard confessionals or penitential rooms.

Only a single, meaningless symbol hangs high above.

Before him stood a temple keeper, who was vividly explaining the doctrines, proclaiming that the things left behind by the ancient gods had coalesced into the Black King, who would unleash the end times, and that devout believers could safely pass through the end times under the protection of the ancients.

Caesar has always kept his distance from these myths. His deeply ingrained mixed-race beliefs prevent him from believing that there is any being in the world older and more powerful than the Black King.

The so-called ancient gods are nothing more than the ancient church embellishing its own image. They probably obtained their magical abilities from some dragon ruins.

Despite his many past experiences, Caesar understood that the methods of the Old Church were mysterious, powerful, and even incredible, but he felt that they were still somewhat lacking in divine power.

At least in Caesar's current education, the bronze history pillar of the dragon race records that Nidhogg, the Black King, can freely manipulate all ocean currents around the world; that is god-like power.

However, the old church does not currently demonstrate this divine power.

Caesar gathered his scattered thoughts, pretending to be interested in the interior of the temple. He wandered around, stopping occasionally, and when he came to a spot near a side hall, he secretly released the Word of Power: Kamaitachi, intending to eavesdrop on relevant information.

Caesar knew very little about Ince, the apostate. He only had some information sent by Norma. He knew nothing about Ince's abilities, personality, or anything else.

The surveillance footage shows Ince devouring the king, gaining the allegiance of the demons. With the help of local demons to hide, how could we possibly catch up with him if we rashly pursued him in an unfamiliar place?
Caesar inwardly mocked Chu Zihang's reckless actions.

He was different. Caesar believed he could use his wisdom to find out Ince's whereabouts. In Caesar's view, Ince had defected from the old church and fled to Tokyo. As the local power, the Tokyo diocese would definitely be anxious to track him down.

Perhaps the Tokyo parish has already uncovered a great deal of information about Ince.

Instead of aimlessly searching the streets and alleys, why not come to the Tokyo diocese? You never know, the clergy might reveal some information about Ince during their internal exchanges.

Caesar planned to turn on the Kamaitachi every few minutes to eavesdrop, and turn it off when he found nothing, then turn it on again after a few minutes.

"(Heartbeat, brewing tea, sipping tea)."

"Thank you for your hard work, Sanada-kun. I still need to preach the doctrine to the next group of believers. The supplies transported from the Sumitomo Foundation need you to go to the cold storage to inspect them."

"How boring. I even went out to investigate with them. Erii, open the door, shall we go out and play?"

"!" Caesar slowly opened his eyes. The sounds coming from the side hall earlier were numerous and chaotic. Suddenly receiving so much information made Caesar's head throb with pain.

It would require Caesar to expend a great deal of effort to carefully discern each detail in order to hear them clearly and to discover any oversights he might have made.

He couldn't understand Japanese, and the second voice he heard mumbled a bunch of gibberish that he couldn't understand a word of. But the third voice after that was speaking Chinese.

I didn't hear Ince's name mentioned, but I did hear Erii's name.

The name wasn't unfamiliar. Last time on Bello Island, Genjiro took his younger sister Erii and joined forces with various factions to slay the dragon. Erii even mingled with members of the Old Church to fight against Lu Mingfei.

In addition, Erii has a head of bright red hair that is almost identical to that of Caesar's beloved, so Caesar is very impressed with Erii.

Erii has close ties with the old church, so it's normal for her to be here. This is a good opportunity. If they continue to eavesdrop on Erii, they are very likely to get information about Ince... Before Caesar could think any further, he opened his eyes wide and suddenly saw a clergyman standing right in front of him!
His clothing and appearance were extremely similar to those of Ince, the apostate he was looking for!
The newcomer's attire startled Caesar, causing him to jump back and create distance. In response, Caesar activated his golden eyes, revealing just how unsettled he was.

Taro Inuyama looked at Caesar, this uninvited guest, and felt displeased.

Inside the usually peaceful old temple, numerous tiny wind elements suddenly began to flow, and Inuyama Taro, a Sequence 6 Soul Reaper, could see the elemental changes with the naked eye.

It was obvious that there was a hybrid being using some kind of wind elemental incantation inside the temple. While it did not cause any material impact, it could be considered an offense from a mystical perspective.

Do they really think these temple keepers are all just sitting around doing nothing?

Taro Inuyama quickly followed the trail of the wind element (Kamaitachi) and found the culprit: "So it was you, Caesar Gattuso."

"The Old Church does not welcome hybrids who unleash their power of words in the temple. Please leave."

The Tokyo Diocese and the Snake-Headed Eight Families have a long-standing cooperative relationship, and they exchange information on people and matters that they care about.

Sending vanguard agents to Kassel isn't a big deal, but Genjiro will still provide the necessary intelligence to the Old Church.

Therefore, having read the relevant information, Taro Inuyama was able to recognize this nobleman at a glance.

Caesar, his golden eyes still shining, recognized the attire of the former high priest of the church diocese, but not Ince. He then reverted to his aristocratic demeanor: "Oh? The high priest of the Tokyo diocese knows me?"

"Has my reputation unknowingly spread to the Tokyo parish?"

Taro Inuyama was not polite at all and did not tolerate the arrogant young master: "I will repeat myself, please leave. Remember, this is the third time."

Caesar was amused. He had never seen such a powerful clergyman before. He hadn't even caused any damage to the old temple; he had merely activated the Kamaitachi and heard some noise, and yet he was about to be expelled.
The young nobleman would never leave in disgrace: "What if I refuse? I think I haven't caused any loss to your church. In principle, I am also a potential believer who has come here because of your reputation."

"The Tokyo diocese is driving away potential believers like this; aren't they worried about harming the other devout believers...?"

“Enough.” Taro Inuyama’s voice was slightly ethereal, like birdsong in an empty mountain or the sound of a zither in a small building: “Caesar Gattuso, you may not think much of it, but in our eyes, releasing the power of words is already an offense.”

The gentle, peaceful night enveloped Caesar on a spiritual level, and the thought of continuing to argue vanished.

Caesar felt as if he were lying on his favorite Hestia bed, gazing up at the peaceful and deep night sky, finding tranquility in both body and mind.

Perhaps the high priest was right. There's a Chinese saying, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." Since the Tokyo diocese has such taboos, he really shouldn't have used his magic... Ah, how peaceful...

Huh? In a moment of confusion, Caesar realized that he had unknowingly left the old temple and was wandering aimlessly down the street. What should he do now?
By the way, we've already made plans with everyone to go to the host club tonight and book the whole place for them to have a good time. As dusk fell, the host club was illuminated with colorful lights, creating a lively atmosphere.

Completely ignoring the strangeness of the sudden change in weather and the shortened journey, Caesar entered the long-awaited shop and saw a handsome young man inverting a champagne tower, a melancholic youth holding a Black Forest cake, and a red-haired, effeminate boy handing him a box of cigars.

The red-haired, effeminate boy awkwardly cut open the cigar and tried to put it in Caesar's mouth, but Caesar suddenly felt a chill.

A strange aversion to everything around me began to creep in, and the brightly lit host club crumbled into pieces, as if a dream had suddenly shattered and I had been jolted awake.

He opened his tightly closed eyelids, and the shade of the ginkgo trees came into view. There was no male escort shop, no old temple. Where was he now?

Caesar sat up abruptly, looking around, his head still a little fuzzy. He quickly realized that he was in the square outside the old temple, and that he had just been lying under a tree... asleep?
Did she even dream about a host club?

Youth is wonderful; you can fall asleep instantly. No, wait—the fragmented memories abruptly returned, and Caesar realized that the unfamiliar high priest had only said a few words before he was subjected to some kind of hypnotic interference and fell asleep immediately.

As for what happened after he fell asleep, and why he ended up here, Caesar had no idea.

But given Inuyama Taro's cold attitude just now, Caesar didn't think the people of the Tokyo diocese would give him a good welcome; he'd probably end up being thrown out.

"!" Caesar clenched his fist in anger, grabbed a handful of weeds from under the tree, and his golden eyes blazed once more: "What is this? All they can do is resort to these underhanded tricks?!"

"Wait, something like hypnosis? A mental ability? Could it be... that the so-called mysterious methods of the Old Church are the power of the White King's lineage?"

Looking again at the solemn exterior of the old temple, Caesar's face flashed with apprehension. The old church was indeed mysterious; he needed to think about it carefully.

(End of this chapter)