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

Heine smirked, "I don't think they can do much to me. I came to London this time to publish 'Travel Pictures,' a travelogue of my journeys across the European Continent, and I hardly mentioned Prussia at all. The articles criticizing Prussia, I've mostly left them in my apartment in Paris. 'Travel Pictures' mostly takes jabs at Britain and France, of course, I did touch on Prussia a bit."


Arthur, seeing that the groundwork had been sufficiently laid, then spoke up, "Mr. Heine, while I believe that creation is a rather personal matter, and outsiders have no right to nitpick how you write your articles. However, speaking out of a sense of justice from a friend's perspective, if you need manuscript fees to live on, perhaps you could be a bit more flexible in your creative techniques. You can't curse Prussia while in Prussia, curse France while in France, and come to Britain and start pointing fingers at Britain."


Chapter 253: Not Ordinary but Exceptionally Confident (5K8)_3