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

Arthur merely laughed and denied it when he heard this, "On the contrary, Mr. Faraday, if you had not chosen science but had decided to stage plays when you were young, then all the major theaters in London would surely be showing your new plays now. But in that scenario, my friends Mr. Dumas, Mr. Dickens, and Mr. Disraeli would be quite pitiable."


"They've toiled for several years, and yet one is wanted by the French Government, another has to work two or three jobs to sustain himself. As for the last one, his debut work incurred the wrath of the entire British literary community and almost drove him to madness under its burden. If you had chosen the path of a playwright, your plays would undoubtedly have been the last straw that broke the camel's back. I can assert confidently that Bethlem Royal Hospital would have three more mental patients because of it."


Chapter 273 It's not the best of times, it's not the worst of times_2