The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1502: Chapter 248: Dear Friends and Brothers-in-Arms (Part 2)

Right now, he naturally didn’t dare to confront the Third Bureau’s secret police officer, who could be promoted to Constitutional Soldier Commander at any time.

Arthur noticed that the seventeen clerks who were just bustling around suddenly turned into motionless terra-cotta statues, with only their eyeballs moving left and right following Shubinsky’s boots.

A young clerk hiding behind the ”Exile Register” was secretly using sealing wax to stick a dried rat tail to the back cover of the ”Record of Seizure of Dangerous Publications Abroad.” It was clear that the office work was indeed very boring.

Compared to this little trick of the clerk, Bichulin Priest sneaking a read of the ”Analects” in the Foreign Office could be considered an extremely elegant hobby.

”Since the bigwig from the interrogation committee is here...” The duty officer’s boot got stuck in the floor crack: ”I shall...”

”Is this the moment we get some National Guest Special Supply mixed with birch mushroom?” Shubinsky was already sunk into the leather chair of the duty officer, his boot resting on a briefcase with a slogan ”Increase case handling efficiency.”

He magically pulled out a gilded snuffbox from his coat and handed it to Arthur in a familiar manner.

Arthur took it and glanced at it; the double-headed eagle on the box lid was pecking at a laurel tree with its beak. He joked, ”Nice taste. Perhaps you should share the snuff with that Master who draws wanted suspect portraits, to wake him up so he stops adding wings to the suspects.”

”You don’t understand art!” Shubinsky joked, spraying a cloud of indigo smoke toward the ceiling, startling the spiders nesting on the chandelier: ”Last week they added a burning crown of thorns to the arsonist’s portrait, and the Kremlin thought it was a new draft of a Holy Image, ordering two hundred copies to be distributed to churches.”

Arthur heard this ridiculous anecdote: ”The Tsar probably doesn’t know about this, right?”

”Who dares let him know?” Shubinsky took a sip of tea: ”You know, the Emperor is in a foul mood right now, causing a minor joke like this might result in many unlucky souls. Moscow Police Headquarters, the Kremlin Management Office, along with the Governor’s Office won’t have a good outcome.”

Arthur half-jokingly replied, ”Who knows? Maybe someone hopes so. Out with the old, in with the new. You mentioned these departments, all good positions, surely plenty of people want to try sitting on them.”

They’re all old turtles in the pond; surely Shubinsky knows what Arthur means, but he prefers not to see too clearly.

This matter doesn’t concern him, so he naturally can’t be bothered.

He neither intended to report nor cover up, purely watching the spectacle.

For Shubinsky as the Moscow Constabulary Director, who he wants to get rid of most is Volkov, the head of Moscow Constitutional Soldiers.

”Speaking of the arson case...” Shubinsky suddenly pressed the spinning pile of documents with the bottom of his teacup: ”I might have some bad news to inform you.”

Arthur frowned, pondering subconsciously: ”You’re not going to tell me that while I was out, my residence was burned down, are you?”

”Not quite, but your publishing business in Russia might suffer some impact.” Shubinsky shrugged helplessly: ”Due to current alarming circumstances, under the Tsar’s directive, the Council of State and State Council are discussing a new agenda—all books must be bound in Russian in the future, and popular foreign original books must be re-examined before republishing, including cookbooks from Paris, fashion magazines from London, and The Analects of Saints from Berlin.”

Arthur joked upon hearing this: ”Fortunately it’s not cookbooks from London, fashion magazines from Berlin, and The Analects of Saints from Paris; otherwise, your efforts would have been pointless, like interrogating those young folks who know nothing.”

Shubinsky heard Arthur talk about his work, and the Constitutional Soldier Colonel who depended on this business for promotion and wealth immediately retorted: ”How can you say that? Those young people’s thoughts are extremely dangerous.”

Arthur didn’t deliberately expose Shubinsky’s weaknesses, but he distinctly remembered this guy complaining last month about the Constitutional Soldier Commander Volkov randomly arresting people in Moscow to boost performance, even proactively leaving Arthur the card of the Deputy Chief Justice.

But now, as the Tsar kicked the incompetent Volkov out of the interrogation committee and appointed Shubinsky instead, the guy immediately occupied the high ground of loyalty to the monarch.

How could one describe this? It’s just like ”The Times” claiming to be ’objective and impartial’ before and after parliamentary reform.

Of course, Arthur could understand such actions; anyone well-versed in government operations knows that if a previously reticent government official suddenly starts talking about moral issues, it’s never because of a sudden conscience awakening, but because he realized he wouldn’t gain anything regardless. So to not leave empty-handed, at least he must try to save face.

And Shubinsky’s behavior perfectly illustrates such a situation.

However, the face of Colonel Shubinsky is apparently not thick enough to completely ignore moral risks, and he exerted himself to prove to Arthur—his earlier sympathy for those young people was not due to his animosity with Volkov, but because before joining the interrogation committee, he simply didn’t know how serious the crimes those young people committed were.