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

As Bertrand was engrossed in his own psychological strategizing, the edge of the stage suddenly burst forth with peals of lightning.


Nine iron pillars surrounding the dueling platform boomed with thunder, resembling nine coiled and quickly striking venomous snakes.


The blue-purple lightning roared past, illuminating the dim dueling platform once more. Bertrand suddenly turned around, and in the thick fog, a silhouette holding a sword appeared, the figure having approached the limit of proximity.


"Mr. Bertrand, what are you looking for?"


Arthur pushed off with the tip of his foot, his Guy Fawkes mask breaking through the fog. What followed was not the Devil's Trident Bertrand had anticipated, but a blade gleaming coldly — a British military saber, or more precisely, a Scotland Yard officer's command knife with an ornate pattern on the hilt and a Wilkinson-style blade.


It wasn't some special weapon; on the contrary, it was the most commonly used conventional weapon by Arthur.


Chapter 260: The Song of Life (7k2)_3