shadow of britain

Chapter 15 In the Distant Past and Future

On the embankment of the Thames, Arthur was wearing a messy white shirt, holding a wine bottle in his hand, staring at the Thames full of garbage and the sinking sun in a daze.

The figure of Agares floated beside him, and the Red Devil pinched his nose in disgust, complaining to Arthur.

"Damn! How long are you going to sit here? The smell here is almost as good as the dung field where Baal eats!"

Arthur raised his head and took a sip of wine, and asked, "Who is Barr?"

"You don't know Baal? Then you may understand if I change my name. You should know Beelzebub, right? That's Baal's alias."

"You mean the guy with the flies?"

"Oh, Arthur, your answer is too much for my taste."

Agares laughed loudly and said, "That's right, it's the Lord of the Flies! But it's such an unseemly devil who can actually rule hell. And I, who is educated, knowledgeable, understands music, and is proficient in multiple foreign languages Gentlemen and devils are going to be exiled, don't you think it's ridiculous?"

Arthur stroked his messy hair: "No wonder you appeared here, it turned out that it was because you were against Barr."

Agares put a hand on Arthur's shoulder: "That's right. Just as Scotland Yard can't accommodate an outstanding talent like you, hell can't accommodate an outstanding ghost like me. Pity each other, my little brother."

After finishing speaking, he pointed to the wine bottle in Arthur's hand: "Give me a sip too."

Arthur looked around for a while, and pushed the wine bottle in front of Agares until he confirmed that no one was paying attention to him.

"Be careful, don't let other people see it."

Agares lifted the bottle and took a sip, then burped loudly.

"This wine is not good! I think back when I followed King Solomon into Jerusalem..."

"Don't mention King Solomon, my ears can hear cocoons."

Arthur asked: "You have lived for so long, don't you have any other stories to tell me? You can't have no serious work after King Solomon, can you?"

Agares said angrily, "What's wrong with not doing any work? When I followed King Solomon into Jerusalem, I did all the work in my life."

He was afraid that Arthur would not believe it, so he deliberately reached into his trouser pocket and took out a handful of small colored balls.

He pointed to the colored balls and said: "Arthur, do you see what these are? These are all souls, which I have accumulated since then. Otherwise, with your work efficiency of this passive sabotage, I will not be able to do it for a few years. Already starved to death."

Arthur glanced at the expressionless faces on the surface of the colored ball, and sighed helplessly: "So you have so much food reserves. Then why do you still force me to find your soul every day?"

"Arthur, I'm a devil! My pleasure is to torture, not to eat.

These souls have been tortured by me for thousands of years, and they have long been fearless, so much so that I don't even have the interest to play with them now.

Unless I'm starving, I don't even bother to take them out and have a look.

And even if I eat, I hope to eat fresh ones. Will you eat rotten food? "

"A devil, still so picky, no wonder you haven't been able to find a suitable contractor."

"Arthur, you can't disrespect my profession. It's a very old profession. What's more, those in our profession pay attention to not opening for a thousand years, and waiting for a thousand years after opening. Even if you don't find a contractor, you can't randomly find a contractor. .”

"Then you may have found the wrong person this time. I have no interest in attacking Jerusalem."

"Then what do you want to do?"

Arthur leaned on the railing, looked at the sunset in the sky, and sighed: "I want to go home."

"Then we can go now! Yorkshire is not far from London."

"No, Agares, you don't understand, I'm from the future."

Agares frowned and thought for a long time, then asked, "Is this a cold joke for today?"

Arthur shook his head: "No, the joke will come later."

"Then you continue to talk, and I will listen."

Arthur looked at the barges on the Thames and said, "In the future, all the ships of the Royal Navy will be combined, and there will only be 97 ships left."

"Oh, that would be too bad."

"But that's not the worst."

"And what's the worst thing?"

"Worst of all the French had 98."

Agares laughed out loud when he heard this, he was out of breath from laughing.

"Arthur, you must be crazy. Didn't the Royal Navy destroy all the French naval power in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805? How long did it take them to have that many ships? 100 years?"

Arthur shook the wine bottle and put the last bit of wine into his mouth: "100 years? 200 years!"

Seeing that Arthur was still in the mood to joke, Agares finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Arthur, you are really moody. I thought you were going to jump into a river to commit suicide just now, but you have been fine for a long time."

"Who said I have nothing to do, I have something to do, I am eager to go to the future now. I really have enough of staying in this cesspool."

"Is the future good?"

"The future will never be worse than the present!"

Arthur took the wine bottle and smashed it into the Thames from a distance.

Puff!
There were black waves on the river surface, and a foul smell rushed to the face along with the waves on the water surface.

Agares quickly pinched his nose, and he cursed: "Arthur! I have to give you a piece of advice! If you fucking know that the cesspool smells bad, then don't disturb it with a bottle!"

Arthur patted his dusty hands, got up from the railing and said, "I am willing."

"You really don't listen to persuasion." Agares followed him and floated around: "You have already resigned, so what should we do tomorrow? Do you have a plan?"

Arthur responded casually: "Smoke, drink, and go to the market to buy a rabbit to keep at home."

"Then do you still want to find a random woman on the street to marry?"

"Let's think about it depending on the situation."

Agares pinched his waist and stopped in front of Arthur: "Arthur, this is not a plan. You are just going against Scotland Yard's internal regulations."

Arthur was stunned when he heard this.

He touched his chin and thought for a while, then asked, "Agares."

"what happened?"

"Teach me to do something bad."

"Oh, my dear Arthur." Agares let out a hey hey laugh. He rubbed his hands and said, "You must have misunderstood me. I never teach people to do bad things."

"But aren't you a devil?"

"The devil is just a nickname given to me by people of different beliefs, and they call me Satan.

do you know?In ancient Hebrew, the meaning of Satan is just 'hostile', but later people made it concrete.

In the earliest times, as long as it was a pagan god, it could be called Satan.

In the very distant past, I was also the supreme god worshiped by some people.Do you think I teach my followers to do bad things?They are good to me, and of course I can't harm them. "

Arthur was a little curious when he heard this, and he always had a strong interest in these unknown fields.

"So what do you teach them?" he asked.

Agares smiled and said, "I don't teach them anything, I think they are good people, so I just tell them to follow their heart and give them what they want.

Whether it is wealth or power, I will give them whatever they want.

I've always trusted them and thought they'd do good things with these things.

But you know, it turned out to be disappointing for me.

That's why I take their souls as punishment for their misdeeds.

I never thought I was doing bad things, I was always doing good things.

I let the beggar get rich overnight and let him live a decent life.

And let the homeless be kings, have tons of kids, and feel at home.

Is there something I'm doing wrong?
Arthur, it was never me who was bad, but those who were blinded by power and wealth.

You can look at yourself, you have also received help from me, but have you committed any evil deeds?

You punished a college professor who raped a female student, you saved a child's life, and you did a lot of good with the help I gave you.

The same thing, in good hands, is good.In the wrong hands, it is bad.

Think about the way those people in the court today look at you. In their hearts, you are simply the savior, and you are their god.

Arthur, for social groups, they must have a god, otherwise there is nothing to talk about.

And you already have the necessary conditions to become this god. "

Arthur stared at Agares's smiling face, and he said after a long time, "Agares, you want to give me ecstasy soup again."

"How could it be, Arthur." Agares smiled, seemingly innocent: "I'm really helping you!"

Arthur stretched out his hand and patted him on the shoulder: "However, thank you very much for today. I owe you a soul for Mrs. Peel. I will strike when I find a suitable target."

"Oh, my dear Arthur."

Agares stretched out his half-meter-long tongue to lick his dry lips, and his saliva almost soaked Arthur's shoe: "Didn't you already find your target?"

(End of this chapter)