The Infinite Dragon God Cannot Find Silence

The aroma of wine that filled the air instantly caught the Conqueror's eye, and he immediately poured himself a drink.

"Hmm... indeed, this is a rare and exquisite wine."

After taking a sip, the King of Conquerors couldn't help but exclaim in praise, and even Saber, who was standing next to him, showed a slight expression of surprise and amazement.

"Ophelia, the hero-king of Babylonia... As expected of one of the kings who dares to call himself so boldly, this wine is indeed worthy of your kingly aura and should be served in the finest goblet. But unfortunately, the Holy Grail is not a goblet, and we cannot generalize."

After taking another sip, the Conqueror's spirits seemed to have been raised to their peak by the fine wine.

"So, little girl, what is the wish you have entrusted to the Holy Grail? This is a question we must find out first."

"This question is meaningless to me."

Orpheus held a wine glass in his hand, his eyes slightly closed.

"Oh?"

"If we trace back to the origin of concepts, most of the world's treasures were originally my possessions... But that doesn't matter. Since they've been scattered abroad, let you fight over them as you please. The so-called Holy Grail is nothing but a meaningless existence to me."

"Well……"

Upon hearing Orpheus's words, the Conqueror King swirled the wine in his cup.

"So, you consider it your property, yet you don't intend to stop others from taking it? Because the Holy Grail has no meaning for you?"

"Yes."

Orpheus nodded slightly.

"Since it is not a meaningful object, there is no point in searching for it, so there is no need for me to actively search for it."

"So, are you a king who seeks meaning in everything you do?"

At this point, the Conqueror King frowned slightly.

"No, it's not about seeking meaning before doing something, but about doing it only when you know it's meaningful... At least, that's how I used to be."

"In that case, I cannot approve of your qualifications as a king, young lady."

Setting down his wine glass, the Conqueror King spoke solemnly.

“A king is one who follows his own desires. If he has to consider the consequences before acting, that is definitely not the style of a king.”

"It doesn't matter. Even if you don't regard me as a king, it still doesn't change the fact that I am the King of Uruk. Besides, I hardly have any desires of my own."

Orpheus remained remarkably calm in the face of Iskandar's denial.

Although she was not truly devoid of desires, her wish was indeed unrelated to the human community and could not be achieved in a short time, so Orpheus did not pursue it with great urgency.

As for the disapproval of others, it meant nothing to her.

"Oh, if you have no desires, then why do you rule Uruk as a king? Don't you have any reason to be a king?"

Seemingly quite puzzled, the Conqueror King asked this question.

Meanwhile, Artoria was also listening intently.

In reality, she did not identify with Iskandar, after all, she was also a king without desires.

However, she was not truly without desires; she had simply suppressed them all. Therefore, she was also eager to know what the kingly path of this hero-king, who was also 'without desires,' truly was.

"This question is also meaningless. I should be king, just as the sun should rise from the east. There is no reason why I should be king."

Orpheus answered calmly, "Whether it's Gilgamesh or her who inherited Gilgamesh's fate, they are all destined to be kings, and this fact cannot be changed whether they accept it or not."

"So that's how it is, 'a king chosen by the gods'? From my perspective, this king's reign is truly pathetic. But even so, you ultimately betrayed the gods. Is the only reason you did such a thing 'meaningful'? In the end, what is the basis for your belief that it is meaningful?"

Orpheus watched the ripples in the liquid in the glass and calmly closed his eyes.

"In order to guide mankind and bring peace to the world, the gods created this device based on the concept of the 'Omniscient and Omnipotent Serpent,' the primordial god. It is the observer and judge of the principles of heaven and earth. This is the mission I, as the Omniscient and Omnipotent King, have been given. From the very beginning, my perspective on mankind must be to observe from a higher level. This is also a duty that comes with destiny."

After a moment, Orpheus spoke slowly.

"I love humanity. In the beginning, it was just a promise, and it could only remain on the surface. But humanity has ultimately shown its brilliance. So, I love humanity, not for any particular individual, nor for human creations or patterns, but for humanity as a whole."

Orpheus paused, while Iskandar and Artoria listened quietly.

"But even so, I am ultimately only the one who initially guided humanity. Once humanity no longer needs guidance, I, as the king, will hand over the stage to humanity to perform on its own. But I am also humanity's observer and arbitrator. Only when humanity makes mistakes that it cannot correct on its own will I step in to straighten things out. And if it comes to that point... I will destroy everything that has made the mistake, even if it may include most or almost all of humanity."

Chapter 141 The Meeting of the Three Kings (Part Two)

After Orpheus finished speaking, there was silence all around. Apart from Waver and Irisviel, who were completely dumbfounded, Iskandar and Artoria were deep in thought.

They could tell that although Orpheus's words sounded terrifying, there was nothing inherently unreasonable about them... Her desire to directly eliminate errors that included humanity itself was not due to her extreme personality, but simply because if she really had to take action... then this was probably the only method left.

Or rather, Orpheus would not have taken any action unless things had reached that point.

Because he loved humanity, he did not interfere and gave them the greatest possible freedom, even allowing them to give up their own status and power as kings.

That's why she could only lament and wipe away all her mistakes when she was watching until the very last moment.

but……

"I do not agree with your approach."

Before the Conqueror King could speak, Artoria raised her head, looked firmly at Orpheus, and spoke.

“If there are mistakes, they should be nipped in the bud. At the very least, the people should stop them before they affect us. Letting mistakes grow freely until they lead to utter ruin is no different from destroying humanity.”

"If I had acted in the Age of Gods, then humanity in this era would have been merely ruled by the gods, not led by humanity itself. We would have been forever stuck in a false peace, letting time flow by meaninglessly."

"Even so, is it necessary to wait until such an extreme situation?"

Artoria still seemed to disagree and spoke up in rebuttal.

"From the very beginning, the king was obligated to stand up for the country and the people, and to remove all obstacles to prosperity and development. Allowing errors to grow to an uncontrollable degree is not the way of a king!"

"Indeed, the king should guide the people on the right path, but this is a duty I completed long ago. Humanity no longer needs to be guided by others."

Orpheus kept his eyes closed, and although his tone was indifferent, he still insisted on his own opinion.

"No, no, neither of you young ladies can do it! One after another, you keep saying 'correct, correct,' are you suggesting that you, as kings, are also slaves to 'correctness'?"

At this moment, Iskandar, who had been silent all along, also spoke.

Hearing Iskandar's words, Artoria's anger flared up, and she immediately turned her fire on the enemy.

"Since you exist as a king, it doesn't matter to me if that's the case. But since you've uttered such nonsense, what is the wish you entrusted to the Holy Grail?"

However, to everyone's surprise, the usually bold Iskandar blushed upon hearing the question and stammered for a long time before finally giving his answer.

"I want physical intimacy."

"what?"

Everyone was stunned, and the Conqueror King's Master rushed forward.

"You bastard, didn't you say your dream was to conquer the world?!"

Then he was casually flicked away by the Conqueror King.

"Although I can manifest here with magic, this is ultimately just the form of a servant. I want to be reborn into this world, to take root here as a life... to have a body to express myself, to face the world, to use this as a starting point to keep moving forward, and finally to achieve success. This is the complete conquest! This is my domineering way."

After the Conqueror King finished speaking, there was silence again.

"This is not the attitude a king should have."

After a long silence, Artoria broke the silence.

"Then let me hear what your wish is, and what your path to kingship is?"

The Conqueror King did not get angry, but instead asked Artoria a question.

"..."

When she was asked the same question as the previous two, Artoria closed her eyes and thought for a few seconds before slowly speaking.

"Strictly speaking, I don't have my own wishes."

"Oh?"

“When I became king, my teacher said that the destruction of Britain was inevitable. I became king with this knowledge in mind... not to change the outcome, but only the manner. I hope that Britain can disappear peacefully, as if asleep.”

Recalling her past, Artoria's lips curled into a nostalgic smile.

"However... it's been too long, so long that I've even forgotten my original intentions. In the end, Britain was destroyed just as my teacher predicted, but I can't accept this fact as calmly as I did when I became king... Why? Did I do something wrong? Could I have done better somewhere? What if I had made a different choice at some point? What if... I wasn't the one who pulled the sword out of the stone?"

Such an idea is perfectly reasonable.

Once a person experiences a major failure, they will reflect on themselves. In fact, if someone doesn't even have the ability to reflect on themselves, then their failure is entirely inevitable.

But the problem lies here...

"At that moment, a miracle appeared before my eyes, a miracle called the Holy Grail that could start all over again and overturn everything. How wonderful it would be if I could go back to the beginning through such a miracle? I was so shaken that I even had such thoughts."

"Lily, you didn't choose that option?"

Surprisingly, it was Orpheus, who had always remained silent whenever no one spoke to him, who asked this question.

Artoria nodded and opened her eyes, revealing a determined look.

"That's right. No matter how many times I fail, I can't deny the history I created with my knights. So... I have no wish that I must entrust to the Holy Grail!"

Ultimately, Artoria made this declaration.

In fact, she didn't tell the whole story.

Of the summoned heroic spirits, very few, except for Ruler, truly lack any desires.

Saber's wish was simply to experience the ordinary life she would have lived if she hadn't pulled the sword from the stone. It was a wish she wouldn't have made even after obtaining the Holy Grail, given her responsibility as the Queen. It was a wish buried deep in her heart.

"A king who sacrifices himself for his ideals? In the end, he doesn't even have his own desires left. This is not how a human being should live."

After Artoria finished speaking, Iskandar sighed, finally expressing his feelings.

"After pulling the sword out of the stone, I was no longer human."

Artoria responded indifferently to the Conqueror King's assessment.

Her teacher had warned her long ago, 'Once you pick up that sword, you will no longer be human. Not only that, but once you take it, you will be hated by all of humanity, and ultimately meet a tragic end.'

She was prepared for this from the very beginning.

Chapter 142 The Meeting of the Three Kings (Part 3)