Brooklyn, New York, on a bright morning.
There were no congregants today, leaving the inside of the church feeling rather quiet and cold.
Lancelot, who had already returned from Afghanistan, was reporting the details of his mission to Amakusa.
“Master, the mission has been successfully completed.
Mr.
Stark has safely returned.”
“Yes, I just saw it on the news.
He should be holding a press conference soon, right?”
Since Lancelot could not fly and obviously could not hijack a plane to get home, he disguised himself as a soldier and hitched a ride on Tony’s aircraft to return.
Therefore, before Lancelot could cross America on his way back to the church in New York, news of Tony’s return had already been broadcast.
According to the timeline, it would not be long before Tony held a press conference and announced the closure of the weapons division.
Once that happened, Stark Industries’ stock would plummet, only to surge back up after his identity as Iron Man was exposed.
“Lancelot, go get some rest.
The mission isn’t completely over yet; there are still several complicated matters afterward that will need your help.”
“Yes, Master.
I’ll excuse myself and get some rest.”
Lancelot lowered his head respectfully toward Amakusa before turning around and preparing to leave.
“Sir Lancelot!”
Just as Lancelot was about to step through the door, Mash suddenly entered.
The moment she saw Lancelot, a massive shield materialized in her hands and immediately blocked his path, making Lancelot tense up.
“W-What do you want?”
“Sir Lancelot!
Do you still remember what you did on the street when you left the church that time?”
“Um…
I…”
“Sir Lancelot!
You don’t dare say anything, do you?
That’s because you were flirting with women in public right in the middle of the street!
You even ended up calling the police!”
“Um…
I…
They were…”
“Sir Lancelot!
Do you want me to hit you with my shield, or should I hit you with Lord Chaldeas?!”
“Um…..
This…..”
Seeing Mash standing before him with her shield raised high, cold sweat poured down Lancelot’s forehead, to the point that he even considered taking a step backward.
However, Mash did not swing her shield or bring down the fortress wall. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
Instead, she lowered her shield again.
“But you did an excellent job completing Senpai’s mission.
Since you helped Senpai accomplish his mission, I’ll forgive you this time.
But if you dare do it again next time, I won’t let you off so easily.
Understood?!”
After saying that, Mash walked past Lancelot and headed toward Amakusa, who was standing on the podium.
“Why do I have to be threatened by her like this?”
Looking at Mash’s back, Lancelot could not help but mutter under his breath.
But the moment he whispered those words, Mash suddenly turned around and looked at him, instantly making Lancelot tense up for fear that she had heard his quiet complaint.
However, Mash had apparently not heard Lancelot’s muttering.
Instead, her face was adorned with an exceptionally bright smile.
“Oh, I almost forgot to say this.
You did an amazing job completing the mission…
Father!”
After saying that, she turned around again, leaving Lancelot standing there with a bright-red, flushed face.
“F-Father…
she called me that again…”
Clutching his chest…
Lancelot immediately collapsed unconscious on the spot.
Amakusa paid no attention to the interaction between Lancelot and Mash.
Seeing Lancelot collapse, he was actually pleased and did not think there was anything wrong with it.
He simply could not believe Lancelot could die from a heart attack; after all, he was not a Saiyan.
“Senpai, the account has been set up.”
“Hmm, thank you for your help, Mash.”
“No, it was no trouble at all.
Senpai’s business is Mash’s business too.
It wasn’t troublesome in the slightest.”
Amakusa was waiting for the news, waiting for Stark to hold his press conference.
The Mash who had just left had been sent by him to help open an investment account.
Once Tony Stark held his press conference and announced the closure of the weapons division, Stark Industries’ stock would plummet dramatically—falling by as much as forty points.
Knowing the storyline, Amakusa planned to take advantage of this opportunity to buy Stark Industries stock, then wait until Tony became Iron Man and its price rose again so he could make a profit.
After all, although Amakusa owned a church and had a small amount of income, his earnings were not particularly high.
If money could be earned, then of course it was better to have more of it.
A business guaranteed to make money without losing anything—why not put a little effort into it?
The only somewhat unfortunate part was that even though Amakusa had opened an account, he did not have much money to begin with.
The church’s savings were not much to begin with, only a few tens of thousands of dollars.
Even if he wanted to invest, the amount of stock he could purchase would not be very large, so this could only be regarded as a little side bonus.
Because of this, Amakusa had even begun wondering whether he should apply for a bank loan to buy Stark Industries stock.
While waiting, Amakusa did not simply sit around, because Mash still had something else she wanted to tell him.
“Oh, right, Senpai.
When I was coming back just now, I felt like someone was following me.”
“Following you?
Street thugs?”
Amakusa asked in surprise.
There were quite a few street thugs in New York; if an incident involving someone following her had occurred, Amakusa could still understand it.
Besides, Mash looked incredibly cute, didn’t she?
Although her pink hair looked somewhat eccentric by the standards of this world, she was still very adorable.
“Not thugs, because there wasn’t just one person following me.
More accurately, they were watching me near the entrance to the church.
About a block away from here, I started noticing several gazes.
Each one would only watch me for a moment before disappearing, but the moment one gaze vanished, someone else would immediately start watching me.
It continued like that all the way to the church door.”
“That doesn’t sound like following you.
It sounds more like surveillance.”
“Right, I think so too.”
With Mash’s confirmation, Amakusa could basically conclude that someone was watching her—or perhaps even watching this church.
The surveillance had begun around this block, which made Amakusa somewhat puzzled; as far as he knew, he had not done anything strange.
The last time he had acted as a street hero, he had not called the police.
Instead, he had used the warm, soul-enlightening words of a spiritual uploader to guide the robber back onto the right path—by becoming a medicine seller.
Besides, he had an official identity in this world, so who could possibly be watching him?
Amakusa could not figure out who it was.
This was Brooklyn, not Hell’s Kitchen.
As someone who rarely left the house, he had never provoked any criminal gangs either, so this was truly a mysterious incident.
While he was deep in thought, Lancelot, who had previously collapsed on the floor, had already crawled back to his feet and slipped out of the church.
He was afraid that if he stayed there any longer, his heart would give out and he would collapse again.
Although the feeling was pleasant, his heart truly could not take it; it was better to escape first.
However, not long after Lancelot left, the church door was knocked on from outside again.
It seemed that a visitor had arrived.
Amakusa brought Mash to the door and opened it.
Outside stood a group of men dressed in neat suits.
The man leading them smiled amiably.
“Hello, we’re from the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.
My name is Phil Coulson.
There are a few things I’d like to ask the two of you.”