Chasing Time

“Next, we have the most noble recipient of the Order of the Garter, the Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint George, the Grand Cross of the Bath, the Victoria Cross and the lower grades of Knighthood, the leader of the anti-colonial movement, the bell-ringer of the East India Company, the hero of the Crimean War, a Fellow of the Royal Society, a lifelong dear friend of literary giants such as Dickens and Great Dumas, a steadfast supporter of scientific luminaries like Faraday and Darwin, having served as assistant under-secretary, deputy under-secretary, and permanent under-secretary in departments of the Home Office and the Navy Department of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the inaugural Cabinet Secretary and head of the civil service, the first graduate and most distinguished alumnus of our school. Please welcome Sir Arthur Hastings to deliver a speech on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the University of London.”
Arthur's gaze swept across the crowd before him, looking at the young faces and murmured, “Agares, what do you think I should say?”
The Red Devil's wraith hovered behind him, saliva almost dribbling from the corner of his mouth, “Look at these ignorant souls; they still worship you as a hero. Why not say something they'd like to hear?”
Arthur took a deep breath and let out a deafening roar, “Oxford is a bunch of whores' bastards!”
“Oh!!!!”
The audience erupted into thunderous applause.
“Cambridge is the same!” he added immediately.
The applause grew even more fervent...
(The protagonist, possessed by a devil, travels through 19th-century Britain in a world without magic)

The Shadow of Great Britain

In the office at Scotland Yard, Arthur leaned back in his chair, twirling a dark brown strand of hair between his fingers, stretching it out inch by inch to examine it in the sunlight.


While the hair might appear unremarkable, to Scotland Yard, it represented a piece of critical evidence.


On Arthur's desk lay an academic paper that he had ordered the head of the Analysis Division of the Criminal Investigation Department at the Greater London Police Department, Chief Superintendent Charles Field, to draft.


The lengthy paper was filled with various case studies, but its conclusion could be summarized simply—it asserted that human hair grows approximately one centimeter per month, so by analyzing different segments of a hair strand, one could conduct a chemical analysis to determine when the victim had ingested a large amount of toxins.


Chapter 216: Founding Forensic Toxicology (4K8)