Crazy Britain:They’re All Raising Me

When Guinevere and Karna returned, they heard Edison's furious roar at the door:

"Damn peasants! You vile peasants! How dare you lay hands on the king of this free nation—the President King, me!"

"I just regret that my direct current failed in this battle! Does even the goddess of fate not stand with America?!"

"Pathetic! So pathetic! Why won't you believe I am right?! Have you been fooled by some conspiracy theory?!"

"Like thinking Edison is the embodiment of capitalism? Or that real geniuses shouldn't be involved in business?!"

"Despicable! Despicable! All those slanders! How could you fools fall for such a simple conspiracy theory?!"

Listening to the continuous rants from the hall, Guinevere stayed silent for two seconds before turning to Karna:

"Karna, honestly, do you think what Edison just said can really be called conspiracy theories?"

Karna clearly took a deep breath before replying:

"...On this matter, please allow me to remain silent. From a loyal perspective, I must refrain from making any remarks that could be unfavorable to my lord."

"Okay, I get what you mean."

Guinevere gave Karna a sympathetic look and turned to continue walking into the hall. But after just two steps, he heard Edison continue his rant:

"But! Don't get too proud just yet! When Karna returns, you will all reflect on your sins under the fire of the sun!"

"Can you feel the suddenly rising temperature? Can you feel the powerful aura getting closer? Haha! That's Karna approaching! Clearly, this battle will still end in the victory of America! The victory of the beacon of humanity!"

"Sinners! Have you thought about how to defend yourselves? Even the best lawyers can't save you! I'll throw you all into the dungeon!"

Not sure if it was just a feeling, but Guinevere noticed Karna's eyes twitching slightly when he heard those words.

"So... why did you choose this guy as your lord?" Guinevere couldn't help but ask.

"...After all, the man called the King of Inventions begged me for help. He knelt before a useless man like me."

"He begged me first. Just this reason is enough for me to stand against you all," Karna said slowly.

...A goddamn kneeling plea.

Guinevere couldn't keep his composure. Some people, on the surface, are glamorous and command power as Presidents—but when recruiting subordinates, they kneel and beg them to join?

"But... honestly, if just kneeling and begging can get a great hero like you to help, don't you think you're a bit too kind-hearted?" Guinevere couldn't resist making a jab.

"Really?"

While wondering aloud, Karna pushed open the door to the hall and walked inside.

As soon as Edison saw Karna enter, bound with ropes, he jumped up in excitement:

"Karna! You're just in time! Quick, punish these peasants! Teach them the power of the righteous iron fist!"

However, before he could finish, he saw Guinevere swaggering in behind Karna, and his expression froze:

"Wait, Karna, why is this person with you?"

"This..." Karna began to speak, but Edison suddenly slapped his forehead in realization:

"Oh, wait, I understand! It must be your overly compassionate nature, right? Even though you defeated your enemy, you don't want to kill him, so you brought him back with you, right?"

Saying this, he turned to shout at Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others:

"See! My warriors are so merciful and compassionate! My kingdom is so full of virtue! Even though you couldn't even stop the king of this free nation, we still spared your comrades out of humanitarianism. Do you feel a bit of shame?"

"No, buddy, hold on a second," Guinevere couldn't help but retort, "How do you manage to say 'freedom' and 'king' in the same sentence? Don't you think that sounds a little awkward?"

"Shut up! You're not in a position to speak!" Edison roared, immediately reprimanding him.

"Hold on, Edison," Karna couldn't take it anymore and spoke up quickly, "Although your assumption seems reasonable, in fact, it's the opposite. I lost. It was Mr. Guinevere who spared me. The result of the battle outside the city was my defeat."

"...Huh?"

For a brief moment, the air in the room became eerily still, and Edison's expression was priceless.

"Karna... you lost?"

Edison immediately howled to the sky:

"How is that possible? How could this be?! It's illogical! It's not reasonable!"

"What's illogical about it? Every battle has a winner and a loser, right?" At this point, Nightingale coldly interjected, "What's even more unreasonable is your body."

"My body?" Edison was stunned. "What's wrong with my body? Isn't it a symbol of rationality?"

"There are no records saying Edison has a lion's head!" Nightingale said firmly. "Also, as a pure merchant spirit, you shouldn't possess the strength of a battle-type servant!"

"Since that's the case, it means there's something besides Edison that shaped him into this form," Guinevere casually said, knowing the details of this plot.

"Right!" Nightingale nodded. "And that power isn't from the Holy Grail, but from something that 'grants wishes'... From what I know, as a capitalist, Edison shouldn't have such strong loyalty to or love for the country of America—Edison, what's this foreign power inside you?"

"This... Alright," Edison sighed, knowing he couldn't hide it anymore. "I... I was granted power by the past, present, and future presidents of America."

"Hmm?" Upon hearing this, Guinevere furrowed his brow before quickly relaxing.

So, it wasn't just those famous presidents inhabiting Edison's body—it was the spirits of all U.S. presidents, past and future.

So, did this mean Biden and Trump's souls were also within him?

Guinevere suddenly found Edison's incessant rants starting to make sense.

After all, no one understood America better than him.

"And the reason the presidents did this was for rationalization..." Edison continued talking, "Because all the past presidents concluded that even if they were all summoned as servants, they wouldn't be able to defeat the Celts, so it's better to gather all their power into one person... Not a president, but a famous spirit known worldwide."

"Yes!" Edison suddenly broke free from the special ropes tying him and stood up. "They entrusted the future of America to me! How could I just submit to your tyrannical influence here?!"

"Come! Let me burn to the end! Just take my secret medicine, and I'll have far more power than before! For America, I won't fall here—"

Before he could finish, a blur appeared in front of him. By the time he realized what was happening, Guinevere had snatched the secret medicine from his hands, and a massive fist was rapidly enlarging in his vision.

With a muffled "thump," Edison—tall and mighty—collapsed into a child-like sleep as Guinevere retracted his fist.

"Phew, finally quiet."

Sighing softly, Guinevere turned to the others:

"Sorry, his voice was just too loud. I couldn't take it anymore... Now, please do the work of changing his mindset."

With that, Guinevere confidently walked out of the hall.

After all, according to his memory of this part of the plot, once Edison was completely defeated and the will of the past presidents residing in him was revealed, he would soon realize his mistake under Nightingale's persuasion and decide to join Chaldea in saving humanity. But Guinevere didn't need to get involved in that.

Instead, he was more concerned about Nocnare's situation.

However, just as he opened up communications with Nocnare, he found a stack of unread messages from her:

[Nocnare: Guinevere, how's the integration of the Western army going on your side? My efforts to seize the combat power of Maeve's subordinates are going quite smoothly.]

[Nocnare: I've been probing Finn and the others for a while, and I found out that they didn't really want to join Maeve in aiding the destruction of humanity. If possible, they didn't want to stand with Maeve.]

[Nocnare: I directly confronted Finn and Diarmuid. Anyway, I have control over them now, but to my surprise, they're both happier than ever now that they've unknowingly switched sides.]

[Nocnare: Sigh... I guess I'm the failure of the pan-human history, I can't even ensure the loyalty of my subordinates. I haven't even seen her yet, but I already feel like she's a foolish failure.]

[...]

[Nocnare: Wait, Finn and the others are saying that all the soldiers were created by Maeve. Did she summon them through some spirit-summoning magic or something?]

[Nocnare: Wait? Why is everyone saying Maeve is a very promiscuous person? Does she force every man she's interested in to become her captive?]

[Nocnare: Please! This is too tasteless!]

[Nocnare: Guinevere! Don't get me wrong! Even though I look the same as Maeve, I'm completely different from her. Don't think I'm like that... Uh, anyway, I'm not her, you understand, right?!]

[...]

[Nocnare: Forget it, let's get back to business. There's someone named Beowulf and another named Fergus in Maeve's army. They were both forced to obey Maeve, but I've contacted them and overwritten Maeve's contract with my own. Now they're my warriors.]

[Nocnare: Queen Maeve of Ireland? Honestly, compared to me, the eternal queen of Britain, she's nothing.]

[...]

[Nocnare: Guinevere, it's almost time. I've taken back all the heroic spirits under Maeve. How's it going on your side?]

[Nocnare: Let's join forces and defeat Maeve together.]

"...Just like her."

After reading all of Nocnare's messages, Guinevere muttered to himself:

"This time, I really didn't get to do anything before I was swept along."