Chapter Ninety-Seven: Artoria's Uncertainty

While all of Huaxia was mobilizing, in the Eagle Nation, Heimerdinger found himself in a temporary research facility.

“Jayce! Viktor! Stop pretending and get over here!” As soon as Heimerdinger entered the hall, he shouted loudly.

Jayce and Viktor, who had been feigning the act of copying books, shuddered slightly and walked over to Heimerdinger, exchanging nervous glances.

Have you caused any trouble lately?
No, I haven’t. Are you about to accuse me to cover up your own mischief?

“You’ve been copying for so long and still haven’t finished five hundred times. Are you treating yourselves like ordinary people?” Heimerdinger scolded.

Jayce and Viktor hung their heads, silent.

“All right, leave the book copying for now. The Ancient One mage has been assassinated. The enemies are the Lord of Hell, Mephisto, and his tempter, Kaecilius. Meanwhile, Master Kieran’s parallel space explorations have reached their final phase. Reinforcements will arrive a day late. So, tell me, what should we do next?”

Heimerdinger, a researcher by nature, was not well-suited for such matters. Yet, he was currently the strongest member of the Clock Tower on Earth, and the responsibility had to fall on him.

“Mentor, we don’t have enough people. The institute’s adaptive mechanical units number only about six or seven hundred. If we deploy them all, we won’t even be able to cover the Eagle Nation, let alone the Americas and Europe.” Viktor calculated mentally.

He had made these mechanical units during his recent idle periods. Honestly, building them was far more interesting than copying books.

Heimerdinger looked toward Jayce.

“Mentor, don’t look at me. You know me well. I can fight and do research, but I’m not good at these kinds of things.” Jayce scratched his head, then suddenly remembered someone. “Mentor, should we ask Tony Stark? He understands the surface world better than we do, and while his intellect is a bit below ours, it’s still decent enough that I won’t feel my brain is being pummeled.”

“Tony Stark…” Heimerdinger recalled the man. He had met him before; his suit was immature but rather interesting.

Fine, he’ll do!

However, Heimerdinger didn’t intend to summon Tony over. Extraordinary times called for extraordinary measures. He directly locked onto Tony Stark’s location through the network, then teleported himself, Jayce, and Viktor there.

Tony was at home, standing by the window, gazing at the sky.

The heavy clouds above severely disrupted signal transmission and weighed heavily on him. Ever since the clouds appeared, he had felt a sense of impending doom.

When Heimerdinger appeared in the hall with his two companions, Jarvis immediately locked onto them, and a series of machine guns extended from the ceiling.

A flash from Heimerdinger’s device instantly caused all the guns to retract.

“Detected intruders… Alarm deactivated… Command conflict… System self-check…” Jarvis fell into a loop of self-conflict, repeatedly rebooting.

“Jarvis, shut down,” Tony ordered. Any more of this and Jarvis would surely break down.

“So this is the Clock Tower’s way of doing things?” After resolving Jarvis, Tony turned, frowning at the unexpected guests.

“Sorry, the matter is urgent,” Heimerdinger apologized.

Jayce quickly summarized the situation.

“Mentor, the Celestial Court has sent us a message. They’ve already contacted Huaxia’s official forces, and now the entire nation is under mobilization. Should we contact this government here?” Viktor asked.

“Also, the leader of Mount Shu, Li Xiaoyao, is coming, and brought news that Kaecilius may have headed toward the Middle East.”

“It’s useless,” Tony Stark spoke up. “The Huaxia system is suited for concentrating power to accomplish big tasks. Here, it won’t work. For example, if you ask everyone to stay home tonight, the President would never agree.”

“If such an order were given, his approval ratings would plunge to an unacceptable level, and those who see freedom as everything wouldn’t obey.”

“So you mean to approach SHIELD?” Heimerdinger retorted. He had investigated SHIELD after arriving on Earth; if the ban hadn’t been in place, he would have destroyed it already. What a rotten organization—nine out of ten members are undercover agents.

“SHIELD is even worse. Their information defense is practically useless, who knows how many problems are inside.” Tony was troubled too. “I do have partnerships with many military units. I’ll send a message to them, the President, and SHIELD. But it won’t be as effective as Huaxia. Do you have any other ideas?”

“Didn’t you just say it was pointless to notify the President and SHIELD?” Viktor asked.

“I meant they’re unreliable, but they still serve some function. After all, they’re formal organizations—not pig farms.” Tony Stark understood their conduct well.

“In that case, Mentor, do you have enough connections? I think we should bring in some Ouroboros members. Their agents must be more dependable than these people,” Jayce whispered.

“That’s all we can do. If the main target is the Middle East, deploying all mechanical units should help stabilize the situation.” Heimerdinger was deeply troubled—no matter how skilled, one couldn’t cook without ingredients. With limited resources, even he was short of options.

While Heimerdinger wrestled with difficulties, Artoria was even more distressed, facing an even more absurd situation.

If Huaxia was united in resolve, the Eagle Nation was muddling through, then John Bull’s side was outright dragging its feet.

The John Bull leader’s covert actions had already taken effect, and the public’s antagonism had been thoroughly stirred. A large crowd began attacking anything related to King Arthur; as long as Arthur was depicted positively, they opposed it, regardless of whether their opposition made any sense.

Artoria stood at her window, watching the people marching beneath the ominous clouds, her heart growing colder and colder.

Look at their slogans.

Protest against glorifying the enemy as a hero!
King Arthur is nothing but a clown unfit to govern!
Arthur does not deserve the title of king!
Anyone who praises Arthur should leave John Bull!

Seeing these, Artoria recalled the words her subordinates spoke when she stubbornly tried to save the Empire on which the sun never set, and they objected.

She hadn’t understood it at the time; it was one thing for the Celtic knights to oppose her, but even the Saxons didn’t support her. Looking back, they truly understood some aspects of the John Bull nation.

Was I really too idealistic?

Artoria removed the crown from her head, rubbing it gently. The brilliant gems still sparkled, but they no longer captivated her as they once had.