Chapter 161: Agares’ True Purpose

Chapter 160 – Agareth’s True Purpose

The sky over London was foggy and misty, but by the changing light and dark rays of the sun peeking out from behind the clouds, it was still possible to see that the sun had long since passed the center line, and that as the day wore on it would gradually slope westward until it submerged itself in the blackened level of the Thames.

In the avenue of Baker Street, traveling in all directions, was an open carriage with black gilt trim, and on the seat of the carriage was seated an English gentleman with a stern and serious look and an oiled back hair.

On the stiff, wide collar dyed white with starch, there was tied a standard but original bow, and between the bow and the gap of the dark black waistcoat there was still visible the lace pleated bodice that decorated the chest of the white shirt.

And in their outermost layer was a streamlined black slim-fitting tuxedo, with an open collar like the petals of a lily, matched with an elaborate design like a glazed vase that cinched in at the waist to emphasize the wearer’s figure, plus tapered pants that were also as black as ink, as well as silver-white brocade gloves with a shiny luster on his left hand and a brand-new walking stick that he gripped in his long, naked right hand.

At a glance, it seemed that this gentleman’s body revealed an inexpressible aristocratic atmosphere.

The cold wind at the end of October blew, and the vapor in the air clouded Arthur’s face, making him feel a heavy chill, and he couldn’t help but pick up the black bowler hat resting on his knees and put it back on, taking a deep breath in, and then letting it out slowly.

The Red Devil was slumped on his side in the seat across from him, and Agareth nodded in considerable satisfaction as he scrutinized him in this getup.

“Arthur, a very good set of lines, you dress like this for all future banquets, and I’ll keep you in custody that you can charm the uninitiated noble ladies into crying out for you.”

Usually at times like this, Arthur would have mocked Agares’ boasting for a couple of minutes, but right now, he really wasn’t in the mood for that.

He only felt that this outfit was even harder on him than the uniform of Scotland Yard, perhaps because when he ordered this gown before, he deliberately emphasized the importance of this outfit to the tailor, so the tailor tightened the shoulders, abdomen and other parts of the body in order to pursue the absolute fit and aesthetics.

At this moment, Arthur was a bit skeptical if it was possible that as soon as his biceps kicked in, they would tear the entire outfit apart, causing him to have to be unclothed on the crowded Baker Street.

If it was just hard to wear, then so be it, but it was also a lot of work to put the suit on, especially the bow part of the stand-up collar, or the fact that he’d asked Dumas, the dinner party expert, to tie it for him, and that he couldn’t get that sort of thing to work at all on his own.

For Arthur, instead of asking him to tie a delicate bow and make a pleated edge, it might be easier to use a fine sword to carve a dragon and phoenix on the criminal’s body.

More seriously, the price of the outfit far exceeded Arthur’s mental expectations, and all these garments up and down cost him a total of 15 pounds and 6 shillings.

Even though he was now a Scotland Yard Superintendent with a weekly salary of up to 2 pounds 12 shillings, to make him spend more than a month’s salary on a costume at once still made him feel that the extravagance had gone too far.

Agareth saw the twitching corners of his mouth and understood exactly what kind of things he was thinking about.

The Red Devil relieved, ”Arthur, if you are so distressed about money, why do you need to develop the bad habit of visiting bookstores? The book you bought yesterday, The Social Guide to London, sells for 23 shillings a copy. A casual novel in two or three volumes would dare to charge you two or three pounds, forty or fifty shillings.

And you, actually, have the luxury of owning a large chest of book collections. While I admire your little scoundrel’s insatiable appetite for knowledge, sometimes you have to control your insatiable appetite a little.

Don’t you get it? Liking to read is also one of the reasons why you were once poor.”

Arthur held back again and again, but when he heard this, he finally relented.

He calmly shot back, “Agareth, you yourself can solve all the riddles of the world, so won’t you allow me, a humble human, to properly explore the areas you already know? Or do you want me to remain ignorant in order to continually enhance your own value?”

Hearing this, the Red Devil couldn’t help but cover his mouth and snicker, “Wow, Arthur, aren’t you overestimating the knowledge that you humans possess? You have read so many books, then you should understand one thing.

The more a human knows, the less he knows. The less a human knows, the more he thinks he knows a lot instead.

This is why I don’t like to make contracts with ignorant humans, because even if you impart him with the truth, he will think that you are farting.”

When Arthur heard this, he couldn’t help but say back, “Wouldn’t that be just what you want? Against that kind of person, all you need to do is to go along with what they say, and you will be able to gain their trust, and cheating their souls is simply easy.”

Agareth pulled his ears out with his pinky as he spoke, “That would be no fun. Arthur, in a way, I’m the same personality as you, we both like challenging work. Not only is there no point in living as a human being, even the devil actually has no point in living, so we both have to find some fun for ourselves, and simply living just for the sake of living, what’s the difference between a human being and a monkey anyway?”

Hearing this, Arthur couldn’t help but spit out, “Don’t bring up the monkey thing again, this word is just too high frequency these days, so much so that I’m starting to wonder if Charles’ research results are that meaningful or not. Alexander, Elder, Charles, and I have been attacking each other with monkeys every day, only to find out in the end that the monkey was actually myself when I sat up in shock from my dying sickness. Also, Agareth, I must remind you that I am not at all of the same character as you, and I do not enjoy any challenging work. My greatest desire in life was, is, and will be sustainable lying flat. The only reason I’ve gotten this far is because of you.

If you had let me go to the American colonies, I could have made my first buck selling water or sewing jeans. With this money, I can go to California to buy some family properties, such as buying a large piece of land in the Santa Clara Valley, so that in the future, no matter what Apple, Google, or Facebook will have to look at the face of our Hastings family.”

Agares frowned, he stared at Arthur, a face like looking at a fool: “Wake up, Arthur, I think you are just reading crazy, Face book is out, I think you might as well learn more from Elder and read more Erotology Book.

And you’re not doing too badly now, as a young superintendent of Scotland Yard, getting five or six hundred pounds a year isn’t simple if you pull your punches?”

Arthur sniffed, and was just about to loosen his tightening collar, but he put his hand on it before realizing that it was not a good idea to do so.

He said helplessly, “That’s easy for you to say.”

Agares sniffed and couldn’t help but reveal a smile, “Look, you say you want to lie down flat on your mouth, but in your heart, you feel overwhelmed. You’ve gotten yourself into this situation, don’t you understand what’s going on?

You’re just like me, you want to earn your money standing up. It’s precisely for this reason that I was driven out of hell. And you, if you don’t correct yourself in time, it won’t be long before you repeat my mistakes just like me. You’re still resisting entering the zone you should have entered long ago, but Arthur, I have to tell you, you belonged there in the first place.

You have to understand that civilization is the work of an elite few, and they are the ones at the top of the pyramid. And the bricks that fall at the bottom exist only to cushion them higher so they can get closer to the sun.

You can reason with one or two bricks, but you can never reason with a group of bricks because they grow oddly and unevenly.

So, in order to get them all to listen, you can’t tell them ‘we’re square bricks or round bricks’, and you can’t even tell them ‘we’re bricks’ because some of them don’t think they’re bricks.

You can only yell at them ‘we’re all going to the top’, and you can only be accepted with this simple, absurd logic.

You should never talk to them about the complexity of the world, even if you want to drive them, or explain and justify it; at times like these, intellect tends to shake them up, which in turn weakens their ability to fight.

For all the universal beliefs of this world are again a fiction, and they have never been able to stand up to scrutiny, and when they do, they get you killed.

After all, as you know, there’s only so much room at the top of a pyramid, and if every brick was piled there, it wouldn’t be called a pyramid, but a foundation that everyone could step on.”

When Arthur heard this, he stared at Agares and couldn’t help but open his mouth to ask, “Agares, I have to say, I can’t understand you more and more. You devil, what exactly do you want from me?”

The red devil sniffed and didn’t answer, he just gently sniffed the parchment scroll in his hand before passing away with the wind.

When his figure condensed again, Agares had already appeared not far away, at the spire of the gothic bell tower of the Royal Conservatory of Music, which was made of red bricks.

He watched as Arthur’s carriage disappeared at the end of the street, then spared a moment to lift the quill that was clipped to the roll of parchment, and fished another dried ink bottle out of his pocket.

He glanced wide-eyed toward the ink bottle, the ink inside of which had long since been used up.

Seeing this, Agareth fished another small, fresh colored ball out of his pocket and tossed it in.

Only a wail of pain loud enough to tear the soul was heard, and then a single drop of crimson ink finally congealed from the dried up ink bottle.

Agares dipped his quill gently into the ink bottle, then stared at the pathetic drop of ink at the bright red tip and observed it for half a day, then rushed to the blank parchment scroll in his hand, and finally couldn’t help but curse.

“Fuck, still can’t …… If we let him go on like this, sooner or later we have to make it a losing business …… No, by taking advantage of this banquet, I have to give him a whole new thing… …”

(End of chapter)