The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1014: Chapter 63: Civil Ethnicity_2

The prison guards were quite polite to Arthur, perhaps because the police had instructed them. They told Arthur that he could walk in the yard before dark, but he must return to his cell before sleep.

The ordinary freedom of taking a walk had become an extraordinary privilege here.

Arthur glanced back at the filthy bed, thinking about how many fleas might be nesting in the mattress; sitting idle here was akin to hosting a zoo on himself.

Arthur preferred sitting on the pile of straw on the ground rather than lying on that bed even for a moment.

He sat down on the dry straw, using the excuse that he wanted to write an appeal, and had the guards bring him paper and pen.

With the sound of guards’ footsteps and the moans of half-dead prisoners, he started writing a novel using his thighs and knees as a desk.

Arthur initially thought he must endure a lonely night here, without a single person to talk to.

But God, in his benevolence, showed compassion to the unfaithful Catholic, even though his resurrection miracle was orchestrated by the Devil.

The cell door creaked open again, and a few more convicts were brought into the prison.

Among them was Victor wearing a wide-brimmed hat, covered in mud splashes and alcohol.

The fifty-something Parisian Sleuth appeared to be familiar with the Warden; he merely winked at him, instantly conveying what the matter was.

Victor initially moved along with the crowd, but he eventually hesitated, unwilling to leave his British little brother engaged in his first fishing operation, so he lingered before the cell.

The Warden understood his hint and casually said: ”Old thing, you’re lucky. We’re out of rooms tonight. You’ll stay here and when someone is released tomorrow, you’ll move to another one.”

Victor entered Arthur’s cell, sat on the straw pile, took off his hat to fan himself, and quietly asked: ”I saw you and that Clara girl chatting well; did you make any progress there?”

Arthur replied without stopping his pen, multitasking: ”She seems to like scholarly types, so we talked pleasantly. But she didn’t introduce me to do work under Gervais, instead, she advised me to stay away from those people.”

”That girl’s got a good heart, much better than those brutes at the Great Paris Police Hall.”

Arthur glanced at Victor: ”What? Did they trip you up again in this short time?”

Victor snorted: ”Just earlier, I was asking for them to send police squads to raid the pub, and they didn’t even bother to look me in the eye. Previously, when I was at the Security Department, they feared my title as head of the department, but now that I’ve resigned, I’m nothing. Earlier at the court, the clerk was still clinging to my old criminal record. But he ought to remember, Paris’s entire crime record system was built by me. How dare he question his master!”

Arthur chuckled and asked: ”So how did you finally get them to obey your orders?”

”Very simple.”

Victor didn’t hold back: ”I told them the case was personally overseen by Police Chief Jusco. If they didn’t follow my lead and messed up, they’d face the consequences.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow, jokingly said: ”Mr. Victor, you certainly have guts. If this were London and I dared to threaten court staff like that, unless I could hire London’s top-notch lawyers, I’d be out the next day.”

Victor replied: ”Brother, you’re from Britain, so I understand. Over there, judges can even declare the King unconstitutional multiple times, but this is Paris; our situation is different. You might not know, Paris has a group living on public funds, ranked in the first through third levels of the government budget list.

This group can earn from as little as twelve hundred to as much as six thousand annually. Moreover, this parasitic group has many despicable, cowardly, and vile characteristics. Most notable is their instinctive, mechanical, and involuntary fear of their department heads, though to them, these heads are usually just a signature on an unclear document.

However, for those docile and submissive people, the words like Director, Minister, Chief, and Your Excellency represent a sacred authority with no room for appeal. The leaders in the small clerks’ minds are akin to the Pope for Catholics, and are infallible. The minister’s actions, words, and all spoken in his name contain an irrefutable light.

No matter how ludicrous the document or assertion; once it’s signed with the embroidered signature, it legalizes everything. Any absurd ideas voiced by Your Excellency become untouchable. These miserable souls, for their own benefit, refuse to act until they hear the word Your Excellency and immediately comply.

The government is like an army; everyone blindly obeys. This system doesn’t allow your conscience to rise; it obliterates your humanity, turning you into a cog in the government machinery over the years. To deal with these public-funded parasites, you merely need to invoke these titles to intimidate them, even the cleverest one will lose the courage to confront you.

Arthur shrugged with a smile, refocusing on his novel: ”Looks like twenty years in the Great Paris Police Hall has accumulated quite a bit of resentment for you. But I think, with many parasites in government, your talent should let you climb higher.”

Victor sighed: ”That’s because you don’t understand them. Let me tell you something so you’ll know: just the other day, the guy you fought at the detective office entrance, you know how he views convicts?

He privately told me once: ’When dealing with those steel-like Brits, if they dare resist even a little during arrest, we can kill them immediately. I most wish these convicts would resort to violence, so we can dispatch them on the spot. This way, lawsuits, guard expenses, prison meals are all saved, and we remove threats from society. The costs of legal procedures, summoning witnesses, travel subsidies, executing judgments, the money spent in legal steps for these scoundrels far exceeds our stipend, saving time in the process. A stab into the scum’s belly can eliminate hundreds of crimes, teaching many rogues not to breach minor crimes. This is called good policing work. By a true philanthropist’s theory, this method is crime prevention.’

These people, though turbid as Yorkshire pigs when facing the Excellencies, are as clever and ruthless as vampires and witches dealing with the less prestigious ones.

Arthur, hearing this, simply put down his pen and shook his head: ”Mr. Victor, I can’t agree with your view.”

”Oh? Do you have any insights?”

”I’ve raised Yorkshire pigs, more than one, and they’re not as stupid as that.”

Victor, hearing this, laughed heartily and patted Arthur on the shoulder: ”Brother, you seem in good spirits. If that’s the case, you handle that Clara girl. I’ll later go talk to those guys under Gervais. Let’s secure the forged evidence quickly and trace the assassin’s whereabouts.”

Victor spoke thus, but alas, Arthur and he were not of one mind.

After all, whether considering life experience or historical backgrounds, Brits and the Juans, pig farmers and peasants, were closer to the Royalist than the July Monarchy Government of Louis Philippe.

However, if he could pull Victor along, Arthur wouldn’t mind, as besides the peasants handling the action in the Royalist party, there were also the Orthodox Party nobility and sponsors from undisclosed countries behind them.

For a newly-minted agent of the Foreign Office, these were good opportunities to enhance his thin resume.

Not to mention, the girl named Clara seemed to be a former mistress of Paris’s Little Giant and Senate President Thiers.