Chapter 48
A small, separate room lay behind the back door of the Greysham College lecture hall.
Arthur, escorted by a servant, arrived at the door. Before he could enter, the door swung open by itself, revealing a silver-haired old man with a strong build, a handlebar moustache, and a black eyepatch over his left eye.
Despite his age, the old man stood tall and straight, like a rugged cliff face. He leaned on a cane, his immaculate and serious black suit not a speck of dust. Even from a distance of several yards, one could feel the immense pressure emanating from him.
Bang!
The old man, with a gloomy face and a fierce demeanor, slammed open the door in front of him. The door crashed against the wall, as if the very earth were trembling.
He saw Arthur, dressed in his police uniform, standing in front of the door. He was startled for a moment, then swept his sharp, hawk-like right eye across every corner of Arthur’s body.
After a while, before Arthur could even ask, the old man stepped forward and clapped Arthur heavily on the shoulder.
The old man spoke, “Peel mentioned you to me. Talented, ambitious, and so young. But if you could uphold tradition and convert to the national religion, you could have a much brighter future.
Young man, your path is still long. Don’t get involved with those liberals, or one day they’ll eat you alive.”
After saying this, the old man in his fine clothes, leaning on his cane, strode away swiftly.
A group of attendants, each with a sword at their side, followed him. They shouted after him, “Your Grace, Duke of Sussex, slow down, wait for us!”
Arthur, seeing this, couldn’t help but frown and ask the servant who had led him there, “Was that the Duke of Sussex?”
Before the servant could answer, another figure emerged from the small room. This was a middle-aged gentleman, dressed in a white shirt and a pale purple suit, with a head full of brown wavy hair.
This gentleman looked somewhat like the one who had just left, even his ashen complexion had a similar quality.
He spoke, “Mr. Hastings, don’t pay any attention to that rude fellow.
I shouldn’t have invited my brother to witness Mr. Faraday’s latest invention! Napoleon’s army could blind him, but they couldn’t pierce his steel-like, unchanging mind!”
Seeing the situation, the servant cautiously asked, “Your Grace, did you have another disagreement with the Duke of Cumberland?”
The middle-aged gentleman was furious, “I shouldn’t have invited my brother to witness Mr. Faraday’s latest invention! Napoleon’s army could blind him, but they couldn’t pierce his steel-like, unchanging mind!”
The servant, seeing the situation was not good, quickly changed the subject and introduced Arthur, “Mr. Hastings, this is His Grace, the Duke of Sussex.”
Arthur had already heard of the Duke of Sussex’s name.
He was the sixth son of the current King George IV, so he could also be called Prince Augustus.
As for the one who had stormed out, he was his elder brother, the fifth son of King George IV, Prince Ernst, the Duke of Cumberland.
Rumors had long circulated that the two princes were at odds. Prince Ernst, the Duke of Cumberland, was a die-hard Tory extremist. He came from a military background and had participated in several anti-French wars as a mid-level officer and commander of the Hanoverian army.
Years of military service had also cultivated his hot-tempered and stubborn nature. He believed in the use of force in everything, strongly opposed domestic reforms, advocated for the supremacy of the monarchy, and insisted on the purity of the national religion.
Recently, because of the Duke of Wellington’s pressure on the King and the House of Lords to forcibly pass the “Catholic Emancipation Act,” the Duke of Cumberland had launched a fierce attack on the Wellington Cabinet in the House of Lords.
As for the Duke of Sussex, Prince Augustus, he was the perfect mirror image of his brother.
From his youth, he had shown little interest in military matters, so he did not join the navy or army like his brothers, but instead spent his time studying science and art and traveling around Europe.
During his travels on the Continent, he fell in love with a commoner, a Scottish noblewoman, and married her without the King’s permission.
For this, his father, George III, was furious and even resorted to using the “Royal Marriage Act” to declare the marriage invalid and refused to recognize the Duchess’s status, in an attempt to force his son to divorce.
But Sussex clearly didn’t care about this. Not only that, but he also constantly contradicted his father and later his brother, George IV, in the House of Lords.
Over the years, his proposals included, but were not limited to, reforming Parliament, reforming the Church, abolishing the slave trade, and eliminating discrimination against Jews and dissidents of different beliefs.
In short, in the Duke of Sussex’s eyes, everything in the country was wrong, and everything needed to be changed.
Even the recent movement to revise the “Bloody Code,” the Duke of Sussex had played a major role in it.
Almost at the same time as reports about Arthur were flying across London, the Duke of Sussex, taking advantage of this favorable wind, submitted eight hundred signatures of jury members he had collected earlier to the House of Commons, urging them to move forward with the bill revision work.
The Duke of Sussex gritted his teeth and glared fiercely at the direction his brother had left, finally calming down. He then put on a friendly face and spoke to Arthur.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hastings. To be honest, I’ve been wanting to meet you for a long time.”
Arthur placed his right hand on his chest, his left hand behind his back, and bowed slightly, performing a royal audience courtesy.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Your Grace.”
The Duke of Sussex extended his hand in a friendly gesture, “I thought you were just an honest and courageous police officer, but I didn’t expect you to be interested in science.”
Arthur grasped the other man’s hand, “Science is also part of police work. You may not know this, but the security situation in London is not good.
According to Scotland Yard and the Home Office records, London’s population has increased by almost fifty percent in the past thirty years, and the crime rate has soared by three hundred percent. All kinds of serious crimes are rampant.
In order to solve those mysterious murder cases, we must introduce new scientific technology to assist in investigations. Continuous learning and progress can inject new vitality into Scotland Yard’s security forces.”
The Duke of Sussex’s eyes lit up at this. He smiled and said, “I knew it! Even if everyone in Scotland Yard is untrustworthy, I can trust you!
You’re truly the best policeman in Great Britain. If I entrust the investigation in St. Giles parish to you, it will surely be successful.”
“The investigation in St. Giles parish?”
A sense of unease arose in Arthur’s heart. Just from the name of this area, he could already sense danger.
The Duke of Sussex nodded, “Yes. Although I was just elected President of the Royal Society this year, I haven’t abandoned my previous work.
You may not know this, but I’ve been working for years to investigate the criminal groups in St. Giles parish and the living conditions of the local street children.
I’ve been working on this for five or six years, but recently I’ve noticed something strange.”
“What’s strange?”
The Duke of Sussex spoke, “My private detectives told me that some of the street children they’ve been in contact with for a long time have mysteriously disappeared after being imprisoned.
And some of the beggars who have been begging in St. Giles parish for years have also disappeared at the same time.
My private detectives haven’t found their bodies, nor have they found any trace of their departure.
After we inquired and visited their temporary residences, we found that they hadn’t even taken their meager possessions with them.
This is not normal. I suspect there might be something fishy going on.”
Arthur frowned, realizing the seriousness of the matter, “Have you counted how many homeless people have disappeared?”
The Duke of Sussex replied without hesitation, “About twenty people have disappeared from prison, and about the same number of beggars have disappeared from the streets.”
“Have you reported it to Scotland Yard?”
The Duke of Sussex was furious when he mentioned this, “Of course I did! But the Scotland Yard police, after investigating, gave me the conclusion that this was just a normal flow of homeless people. They are homeless, they can go wherever they want, so there’s nothing to be concerned about.
When I asked them to intervene further, they told me that Scotland Yard is severely short-staffed and may not be able to spare enough manpower to conduct a large-scale investigation into this case in the short term.”
Arthur pondered this, feeling something was off.
After a moment, he replied, “Actually, they’re not wrong. Scotland Yard is indeed severely short-staffed. If you want to investigate this kind of case, you’d need to set up a dedicated investigation team to conduct a long-term investigation, and you’d need professionals to conduct long-term surveillance and gather evidence. Given the current situation, Scotland Yard probably doesn’t have the time to spare.”
The Duke of Sussex’s disappointment was evident.
“So, even you’re not willing to take on this case?”
Arthur wanted to refuse, but then he remembered the letter Sir Peel had sent him.
At this point, it was probably impossible to track down Fred.
If he could solve the Duke of Sussex’s case, it wouldn’t be a bad accomplishment.
He hesitated for a long time before finally speaking, “I can take on this case. But you have to agree to one condition.”
The Duke of Sussex was overjoyed. He immediately asked, “Please tell me.”
“First, St. Giles parish is not under my jurisdiction. Therefore, before investigating the case, I can’t accept your report under the name of the Greenwich Police District.
I’ll conduct a private investigation in my personal capacity.
If I find out the truth, I’ll submit the relevant evidence to the Metropolitan Police, and then you can ask Scotland Yard to handle it directly.”
The Duke of Sussex nodded, “That’s no problem.”
Arthur continued, “To be honest, our Greenwich Police District is also short-staffed.
Therefore, if the Greenwich Police District encounters any difficult cases during this period, I need the Royal Society to send relevant professionals to assist us in solving them.
This way, we can free up some manpower to focus on investigating St. Giles parish.”
The Duke of Sussex heard this and nodded again, “Although I may not be able to convince those top scientists, we do have many scientific apprentices here.
They may not be as knowledgeable as the scientists, but they have learned a lot of basic practical knowledge from working in laboratories.
I can try to persuade them and offer them some remuneration. Let’s see if they’re willing to assist the Greenwich Police in solving cases.”
Arthur saw that the Duke of Sussex readily agreed to his two requests, and for a moment he was at a loss.
At this moment, the Red Devil suddenly appeared. He stood behind Arthur and murmured.
“Arthur, why do you think Scotland Yard isn’t investigating this case? Take my advice, don’t touch it. If you’re not careful, you’ll be crushed to pieces.
Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. You’re doing pretty well now, no need to stir up trouble.”
Arthur glanced at the Red Devil and murmured, “Agareus, are you trying to pull this trick on me again? Deliberately provoking me? Ha…”
“You’re not falling for it?”
Arthur narrowed his eyes, “No, I am falling for it. From your tone, it seems like you’re going to reap a lot of souls this time, right?”
The Red Devil heard this and grinned, revealing his iron saw-like teeth, “Oh! My dear Arthur, now you understand why I chose you as my contractor?
I… I just love that about you!
Clean and efficient. If you don’t strike, you don’t strike, but once you do, you give me a hell! Hehehe hahahaha!!!”
The Red Devil’s crimson saliva dripped onto Arthur’s riding boot. On the shiny surface of the boot, one could faintly see countless dim souls wailing and crying, as if they wanted to drag everyone in sight into the endless abyss of blood and hell.
Arthur took off his hat and without hesitation clasped the Duke of Sussex’s hand, “Your Grace, I, Arthur Hastings, on behalf of the Metropolitan Police, East London District, Greenwich Police District, hereby formally enter into a secret investigation agreement with you.”
(End of Chapter)
TL Note: Hey Everyone, The novel is not exiciting. However, I have translated around 100 chapters already. I can release them weekly by editing or release all of them without any editing. Don’t worry about unedited, except for names of few characters, the translation is consistent and good. Let me know what you want.