Chapter 1: Arthur Hastings.

Chapter 1 Arthur Hastings
As the first rays of the morning sun shone through the blinds into the bedroom, the bed with its white sheets had long been empty, and the owner of the bedroom had long been cleaned up, and by now he had put on his own line of clothes and gone to the mirror to tidy up his appearance.

In front of the floor-to-ceiling mirror of equal height, Arthur Hastings was fastening each button of his tuxedo in an unhurried and meticulous manner.

A black bowler hat, a dark blue tuxedo with a high collar, dark gray riding boots, slim white pants with shiny silver buttons and a cowhide belt, a thick and slender wooden baton on the right side of the belt, and a police officer’s knife with a distinctive Victorian style in a scabbard hanging on the left side.

He looked at himself in the mirror and waved his hand to dust off the blue and white armband on his left arm before nodding slightly.

“You look pretty decent in that uniform. Tsk, tsk, tsk, who would have thought that such a noble, distinguished young man would actually be a villain who has made a pact with the devil?”

An evil and grim greeting rang in Arthur’s ears.

Strangely enough, there was no one else in the mirror except Arthur.

But it was obvious to Arthur that this was not the case.

A pale reddish shimmer flickered in his deep black eyes.

“If it hadn’t been for you, I’d be sitting on the Stock Exchange or in a bank in London right now, enjoying the view of the banks of the Thames while enjoying good food and coffee, passing hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds of stock business, and letting out a couple of words that would make people who’ve fallen into the money go crazy and mad. Instead of taking a weekly allowance of twelve shillings, and traveling all day through the most squalid and chaotic East End of London, risking his life to deal with thieves and murderers.”

A disembodied figure solidified in front of Arthur.

It was a young man in a colorful acrobatic costume with a clown hat and clown nose, wearing exaggerated red and white makeup, with bulging eyes and horns.

He was lying horizontally on the frame of the floor-to-ceiling mirror, and was staring daggers at Arthur with those crimson bloodshot eyes.

Arthur froze for a while before frowning slightly, “Agareth, what’s your outfit today?”

As soon as the words fell, maniacal laughter resounded in Arthur’s ears, the ear-piercing laughter seemed to penetrate his eardrums, incidentally lifting his canopy and the roof of the room together.

“Happy April Fool’s Day! Arthur!”

Agareth laughed his head off, he was amused by the confused and bewildered look on Arthur’s face just now.

Arthur looked indifferently at the eccentric devil, then calmly bent down and picked up the red-headed nose that had fallen to the ground.

“Here, you dropped your nose.”

Agareth raised three fingers and gently twisted the red-headed nose while correcting it with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, my dear Arthur. That’s not my nose, it’s my breakfast today!”

“Your breakfast?”

Arthur fixed his eyes on it, and realized that the red-headed nose actually had a pained human face on it, and a face that looked somewhat familiar to him.

“Whoops? If it isn’t Professor Dempsey. More than half a year has passed since I graduated, how have you been doing these days?”

The human face on the red nose let out a wail, “Arthur, please don’t let this demon torment me anymore! I admit that it was my fault for deliberately making things difficult for you academically, but haven’t I already arranged for you to graduate successfully afterwards? Why, why are you still doing this to me?”

Arthur was oblivious to Professor Dempsey’s bitter pleas, he just gently shook his finger.

“Mr. Dempsey, it’s unfair for you to say that, it’s better for me to restore the facts for you.

The reason why you let me graduate successfully was not because you had a clear conscience, but because I crashed into you when you were about to force yourself on Eliza. And the reason why I happened to be there was because I had arranged it all in the first place.

At that time, you had promised me that you would do anything as long as I didn’t spill the beans about it. Since that’s the case, it’s only natural to offer your soul, right?”

“But… Aaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!”

Before Dempsey could finish his words, Agareth threw him into his mouth.

With a burst of violent chewing, scarlet blood dripped down the corners of his mouth in drips.

Only to see Agares’ features clenched into a ball, and with a shrug of his throat, accompanied by Dempsey’s wail of pain, the devil contentedly rubbed his stomach and let out a loud belch.

“For breakfast, this meal was a little too rich.”

Arthur was obviously used to such a bloody scene, and he even had the leisure to ask, “How did it taste?”

Agareth’s half-meter-long tongue scraped across the corners of his mouth like a windshield wiper, rolling the last bit of blood and residue into his mouth as well.

“Smells good, just a little stinky. Well, let’s see what we should have for lunch next, shall we?”

Agares snapped his fingers, and as flames leapt at his fingertips, a recipe wrapped in a cowhide cover appeared out of thin air in his palm.

He casually flipped through the pages and suddenly his eyes lit up as he pointed to one of the pages of portraits and shouted at Arthur, “Hey Arthur, what do you think of this?”

Arthur was arranging his hair at his temples and he took the time to glance at the menu, which depicted a pretty young girl with long light blonde hair and a lace-edged white umbrella.

He asked casually, “You want to eat Eliza?”

Agares closed his eyes and fantasized, his mouth already drooling uncontrollably at the corners.

“If I remember correctly, this young lady seems to have a bit of a thing for you, doesn’t she? Young girls in love are the easiest to fool.

With just a little bit of your charm that goes nowhere, you can easily send her into my mouth. A wonderful young girl who has been betrayed by her lover and is devastated, just think of it, it’s a delicacy on earth.

Hmmm ……

Perhaps with a little more seasoning. Arthur, do you think you’d add some flavor by splitting your legs a dozen times in front of her after you’ve tricked her?”

“Aren’t you afraid of a bitter astringent mouthful?”

Agareth folded his hands with a smile on his face, “Oh, my dear Arthur, you misunderstand me. When I said for you to cleave, I didn’t mean to go and cleave with a woman, that would be too conventional. You must remember that I am the devil.”

Arthur didn’t get angry when he sniffed, he just picked up the cup of black tea in front of the table and took a gentle sip.

“Do all devils like to split with men?”

Agareth’s head rose violently, and his features that were deformed due to anger were almost on the verge of toppling over Arthur’s head.

“Arthur! It’s not all devils who like to cleave to men, it’s you I’m talking about, it’s you! Don’t you misinterpret me!”

But Arthur obviously wasn’t having any of it, and had long since seen nothing wrong with Agareth’s scary tricks. “So you’re the only one who likes it? Agareth, you’re too out of touch.”

“I’m telling you to go and cleave to a man!”

Agareth growled, his voice blowing Arthur’s hair in the wind.

Without changing his face, Arthur returned, “I refuse.”

“Why?”

“Because the burden is too great.”

“For Eliza?”

“To me.”

Agareth was like a deflated ball, his entire being deflated in an instant, leaving only a skin laying on the carpet.

“Fine, fine. No matter what, you trick Alyssa first, and we can talk about the splitting.”

“I refuse.”

“What is it this time?”

“It’s for two main reasons. The first is that Eliza and I don’t have any interests entangled, and she also helped me in the matter of Professor Dempsey. Since I’m a person with a conscience, I don’t intend to return the favor.”

“Oh! what do I hear? Conscience! Arthur, to think that a poor boy like you possesses such luxuries!”

Agareth’s hide swelled instantly, and his illusory body thrust its head out into Arthur’s chest, craning its neck around unimpeded.

“It’s dark and empty here, I can’t see anything. Conscience? Where is that heart of gold?”

Agareth, seeing that Arthur did not answer him, went on shouting there again, “Arthur, do you hear me? Speak? Words? Word?”

Arthur just faintly replied back, “I may not have a conscience. But at the same time, I’m extraordinarily certain that I don’t have a heart wide enough to produce an echo.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Arthur picked up his teacup and drank it.

Not a moment later, Agareth returned with his wet head covered.

He conjured a handkerchief out of thin air and wiped his head, speaking with dissatisfaction, “Then go on to the second point.”

“The second point is because you have no credibility with me. You said you would help me, but you didn’t do it.”

“How did I not do it?”

Agareth’s hair flared in anger, flames burning in his head and boiling oil tumbling through his hair.

“You said you wanted to go to college, so that’s why I went to the trouble of setting you up with an old country squire who wasn’t in his right mind to be your cheap uncle, and incidentally used his connections to shoehorn you into the fledgling University of London.

In exchange, you will provide me with a steady stream of souls. This is all what we agreed upon!
Now that you have become an outstanding university graduate as expected, my promise has been honored, and now it’s your turn to cash in your chips!”

Arthur was oblivious to Agares’ anger as he coldly said.

“I’m honored to be called a fine college graduate by you, if only the bankers and politicians thought so as well.”

“Oh ……”

Agares couldn’t help but bite his teeth and stifle a laugh at this, but the smirk in the corner of his eye still betrayed him.

“Arthur, don’t be so pessimistic. I’m sure that one day the University of London will be able to obtain a teaching charter from the Crown and Parliament. When that time comes, your degree will be recognized by society. But until then, you still need to endure.”

“A devil and yet you tell me to endure?”

Arthur loosened his collar, trying to make his neck more comfortable.

“Agareth, I’ll see that you go and be the Calvinist reverend Christ and forget it; the devil’s profession doesn’t suit you. Or did you already know that the University of London couldn’t get a charter, so you deliberately went and made me study at a university that wasn’t qualified to grant degrees as a way of developing my sociopathic personality so that I could better do your work for you?”

Agareth’s mouth almost grinned up to his earlobes as he crossed his fingers and whispered gently, “Arthur, you’re such a little worm in my stomach, you’re reading my little mind. But how did you know what I was thinking?”

Arthur glanced at him and lifted his calfskin bag to pull open the door to the room, “Naturally, it’s because it’s not the first time I’ve experienced it. Gaining knowledge and not being able to find the appropriate job is a sure way to turn someone into a rebel.”

A bloody mouth snapped into existence in front of Arthur, white teeth stuffed with the flesh and bones of all types of creatures, large tonsils hanging in midair like a swinging pendulum clock.

“But what can you do if you see through it? Praying to the devil for happiness is a foolish enough thing in itself. Be a good boy and work for me, and perhaps you have a chance to change your fate.”

Arthur frowned slightly and raised his hand to cover his nose in disgust, “Agareth, you should see a doctor. This level of bad breath can’t be explained by a minor cold.”

“It is clearly written in our contract, Arthur Hastings, that your soul has long been mine. If I can’t fill my stomach, I’ll have to use you to accompany my meal.”

“What did you just call me?”

“Arthur Hastings.” Agareth laughed arrogantly and maniacally, “You’re not so scared out of your wits that you’ve even forgotten your own name, are you?”

Arthur bristled and asked helplessly, “Who on earth told you that my name is that?”

“Huh?”

A trace of dismay surfaced in Agareth’s heart, “Don’t you, don’t you have that name? Impossible.”

Arthur first rolled his eyes and then gave Agares a middle finger.

“I’ve told you many times, my name is Yang Fan. As for Arthur Hastings, as you call him, I’d like to know where he’s been.

If you are able to find his soul, then by all means summon him here for me to ask before you eat him.

Also, if you don’t have the power to make me rich and famous, then please move away from me at once, the little roundworm in your stomach is going to roll off to work.”

(End of chapter)