The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1116: Chapter 105: The First to Be Captured

Sir Arthur Hastings was the first to be arrested. He had just disembarked in Göttingen, and his companion, Sir Auguste Schneider, suggested they have a beer. Enthusiastic, they walked into a tavern, only to find Göttingen University students holding a liberal gathering.

Arthur felt something was amiss, but dismissed it. After he ordered sausage and beer, Göttingen police officers dedicated to monitoring student activities streamed in.

When the Göttingen police force caught him outside the pub, Sir Arthur Hastings was startled. He shouted, ”I came for beer, what are you up to?” while fighting back with punches and kicks.

He yelled, broke free from the police’s hold, and lunged towards the Police Chief several steps away.

Arthur was formerly a policeman, trained in martial arts, and was a master of the Fiore Style of swordsmanship. He once single-handedly defeated over a dozen Barbary Pirates at sea. Comparable to Foil Napoleon Francois Bertrand, if he injured the Police Chief, what would happen then?

At that critical moment, five or six police officers quickly reacted, rushing in to tackle him, pinning him down, and handcuffing him. During the chaotic student arrest in the pub, Arthur was the only one handcuffed. After being arrested, he was the most strictly supervised.

— Eld Carter ”Arthur Hastings and the Constitutional Reform of the Kingdom of Hanover”

In the interrogation room of the police station, the Police Chief, sporting panda eyes, sat sternly on one side of the interrogation table, glaring annoyingly at Arthur seated opposite him.

During the pub operation, the Göttingen Police Station suffered heavy losses. Quite a few officers were injured, and the majority of the damage was thanks to the man in front of him.

Even more infuriating was the fact that, while stubbornly resisting, this guy was shouting things like, ”Let me go, are you defying His Majesty the King’s Imperial Seal Decree?” ”This is outrageous, I believe police reform in the Kingdom of Hanover is imperative!”

The more the Police Chief looked at the kid, the more furious he got. Student disturbances usually meant a few days in jail and expulsion, but given this guy’s stubbornness, they had to intensify. If not charged with plotting rebellion, where would the Göttingen Police Station’s dignity go in the future?

The King had already been dissatisfied with how police work was handled in the Kingdom of Hanover, so he specifically sent Sir Arthur Hastings as a police advisor to Hanover for police reform.

If the news of the Göttingen police’s incompetence reached Sir Arthur Hastings’s ears, following the principle that new officials burn three fires, his Pickelhaube helmet wouldn’t be safe.

Thinking of this, the Police Chief immediately intensified Arthur’s interrogation.

He slammed the table, attempting to intimidate the young man opposite.

”Speak! Which traitor’s ally are you, who instructed you, causing disturbances in Göttingen with students!”

Arthur was also furious by this time; he hadn’t expected his first day in Göttingen to be so embarrassing.

He was merely having a meal in the pub when he got caught up in the chaos, and was wrongfully handcuffed and brought to the station. Perhaps because of his imperfect German, no matter how he explained, the Hanover police wouldn’t listen, insisting he was the student leader of the uprising.

Arthur looked at the Police Chief, feeling nauseous.

Back in London, he used to be the one on the other side of the interrogation table.

Arthur took a deep breath and replied as calmly as possible, ”Chief, I believe there’s a misunderstanding between us?”

”Misunderstanding?” The Police Chief, hearing Arthur soften, became even more aggressive, tapping the table with his knuckles: ”How could there be a misunderstanding with the pub riot? If you confess everything, I might consider a lighter sentence. But if you remain as obstinate as before and don’t reveal your allies and instigators, I guarantee you’ll be facing a firing squad by tomorrow!”

Arthur couldn’t help but kick the interrogation table, cursing loudly.

”I am neither a hero nor an ally! I am a knight of the third year of King William IV, a disciple of Mr. Bentham, Lord Brougham, and Earl of Dalmo. My mentors are Britain’s legal authority, the Royal High Chancellor, and the Ambassador to Russia! Four years ago, I was a patrolman and detective at the Royal Greater London Police Department, then promoted to Superintendent in Greenwich, then to Police Chief in London’s Metropolitan Two Districts, then to Assistant Commissioner in charge of Criminal Investigations and the Police Intelligence Department. Just half a month ago, I was appointed Göttingen University Supervisor by His Majesty the King. Every step was His Majesty’s promotion. If you’re talking about backing, His Majesty the King is my backing. If you’re talking about allies, I am simply His Majesty’s ally!”

But the Police Chief clearly took Arthur’s words as a bluff.

Anyone who has been a policeman knows that many prisoners become angry during interrogation due to the collapse of their psychological defenses. But this anger is merely masking their fear, and as long as the interrogator remains calm, the anger will quickly dissipate, and they will spill their secrets like beans from a bamboo tube.