That protagonist is trash; I could do better!

Rider frowned and asked in a low voice, "Saber, you said you want to change your own and your country's destiny. Do you mean you want to overturn the history you created?"

"Of course, if the Holy Grail is an omnipotent wish-granting machine, it will surely grant my wish."

"Let me confirm, that country called Britain is the one that happened in your time and was ruled by you."

"Exactly."

Rider stared at Saber and asked in a deep voice, "Do you regret it?"

Saber shook his head: "Regret? Calling it regret is not appropriate. From the moment I touched the Sword of the Chosen King, I saw my tragic end. Nevertheless, I did not hesitate for a moment when I pulled out the Sword of the Chosen King."

"If that's the case, why do you still hold onto such an obsession?"

"If I had to say anything, it would be that I'm unwilling to accept it. No matter how tragic my own fate may be, I cannot accept the fact that Britain has been destroyed. It's all my responsibility."

"Are you trying to deny the history you created?"

Saber responded decisively: "That kind of history has no reason to exist. Why are you surprised? You are also kings. As kings, you should step forward and dedicate yourselves to the prosperity of the country."

Rider shook his head and solemnly retorted: "Saber, it is not the king who sacrifices himself for the country, but the country and its subjects who sacrifice themselves for the king."

Rider's answer was within Saber's expectations; the debate between Iskandar, the Conqueror, and Gilgamesh, the Hero, had already demonstrated their beliefs.

Saber closed his eyes, his thoughts sinking into distant memories, and whispered, "Rider, have you ever seen children with emaciated bodies, who ate grass roots but still didn't survive? Have you ever seen lonely old people die in the deserted wilderness? Have you ever heard the cries of a wife who has lost her husband? Since you are the King of Conquerors, having launched countless wars, you must understand these principles."

Saber slightly opened his eyes, his blue pupils filled with deep sorrow: "In my time, war was frequent, and the people lived in constant turmoil, suffering endlessly. The suffering endured by every person and every soldier, the blood they shed, forged the crown."

"If you want to wear the crown, you must bear its weight; if you want to draw the sword, you must bear its consequences."

A new week has begun!

Seeking recommendations!

Chapter Fifty-Six: The King of Ideals

After Saber's words, the atmosphere at the banquet became heavy. Archer swirled his wine glass, waiting for Rider to speak, a faint smile playing on his lips. This banquet was worth bringing out all the fine wines he had treasured.

Iskandar, the Conqueror, spent his entire life in war and his understanding of warfare was no less profound than Saber's.

“Saber, I cannot agree with what you said.”

Rider shook his head: "Of course I understand what you're saying, but your actions certainly don't qualify you as a king. You're just a pitiful person bound by reason and responsibility. The principles you insist on will only lead you to the end of your ideals!"

"You must have been a virtuous and wise saint in your lifetime, possessing an inviolable and sacred demeanor. But who would expect such a thorny path? A true king should have stronger desires, louder laughter, and greater anger than anyone else, and should strive to be the best in both purity and corruption. It is precisely because of this that his subjects would yearn for him."

"The ideals and justice you uphold may have saved the country and its people."

"But if you only focus on saving people without ever guiding them, what will become of them? Your fate is yet to come. You will be left alone, wounded and isolated, unable to hear the voices of your subjects. In other words, it will all be a delusion of your own." Rider's voice was powerful and resonant, striking the hearts of everyone present like a profound truth.

Irisviel clasped Saber's hands together, her eyes brimming with concern.

Saber's blue eyes were like a calm lake, unmoved by Rider's words. He spoke in a nostalgic tone, "Once, a knight said something to me: 'The king does not understand people's hearts.' After that, he left me."

“That’s a fair assessment,” Rider agreed, taking a sip of his drink.

"Where there is war, there will be sacrifice. Before the war, I will extract resources from one of our own villages to prepare for the army, and then conquer the enemy before our territory is invaded, thus protecting more villages. This has always been my practice and my conclusion."

“War involves winners and losers. When I lead knights into battle, I always win. For a knight, only foreigners deserve to die. If you want to fight, just fight the enemy. There is no need to sacrifice your own country’s people. War should be won without any sacrifices.”

"Conqueror King, why do you think it is?"

Rider hesitated and said, "This... I am not you, so I cannot think from your perspective."

"The conclusion is very simple: the reason I keep winning is because I can't afford to lose. And to win, you have to make sacrifices. Unconditional victory only exists in fairy tales. Just like this banquet, Rider, you won't agree with my approach, and the enemy won't bow down to me."

"I save them because it's the only thing I can do. Ideals can't save reality, and dreams can't feed my people and give them a peaceful life. I'm not a god. I've already done my best just to maintain the stability of the country. I often feel my own inadequacy."

"Saber, could it be that you...?"

Saber's cold and resolute voice echoed through the Rose Garden: "Precisely because he is the king, he should be more rational than anyone else, more just than anyone else, and more aware than anyone else of the heavy responsibilities that the king bears."

Even if I am covered in wounds, bleeding to the point of exhaustion, and my soul is worn away, and I am misunderstood, I have never regretted it. The path I have chosen and the things I have persisted in have never changed for a moment.

"I will not guide my subjects. All I can do is defeat all enemies who stand in my way and pave the way for the country and my subjects. Walking this path will not be envied or understood, but it is this path that will bring me the glory of a knight."

Archer, who had been listening in, looked at Saber with great interest and exclaimed, "Rider, can't you see it yet?"

"what?"

"The Knight King sitting before you is not a heroic spirit, but a living human being."

"what!"

Rider and Webber both cried out in surprise.

Weber shook his head repeatedly: "Impossible! How could a human be alive now and be summoned by the Holy Grail?"

Archer laughed heartily: "I never thought anyone would be so foolish as to sign a contract with that guy! No, it's precisely because Saber insists on such ideals that that guy came to her. Rider, even if you're unwilling, this guy is undoubtedly a queen, more deserving of the title than any of us. If you ask why, she has already been recognized."

“Archer, your praise won’t make me happy.”

"Humph!"

"King of Knights, that's hardly a compliment. You are the ideal king, the most suitable but not the most powerful. I am the oldest and most powerful King of Heroes. You are only slightly better than an ordinary bastard."

"What?! Explain yourself! What is that guy?" Weber shouted anxiously from the side.

Rider's expression was grim, his eyes closed as if his expression was complicated, and he clenched his fists and sighed, "So that's how it is to make a contract with the Counter Force."

Inhibition, the inhibitory force of the Alaya consciousness, the self-protective mechanism of the entire human subconscious.

Self-satisfaction?

No, Saber's level of awareness is definitely not that low.

It was too heavy, too tragic. This fate, which was unacceptable to ordinary people, weighed down on such a little girl. The end that Saber insisted on was inevitably dominated by the restraint force, falling into an endless cycle of reincarnation until her soul was completely worn away and she disappeared from this world.

Humanity is a mixture of purity and impurity, and the path Saber insists on is not one that humans can walk. What makes Rider even more saddened is that Saber accepted this fate without hesitation.

An ideal king who is not admired by anyone and is destined for a tragic end.

He asked again, "Saber, you just asked me how I felt standing in front of the boundless sea. Aren't you the same? Even if you overturn the history you created, what can you do? Times will change, nations cannot last forever, and everything will return to its origin."

Saber gazed at the wine in her hand reflected in her blue eyes and calmly replied, "Yes, even so, I do not want to see the people of Britain suffer from the ravages of war. At the very least, I want to see with my own eyes the nation that is called Britain perish peacefully, and that will be enough for me."

If this is Saber's true wish, it seems so insignificant compared to Saber's sacrifice.

Rider couldn't imagine what Saber and her country went through in that era.

At the Feast of the Three Kings, each of them had already expressed their desire for the Holy Grail.

Rider took a sip of the fine wine, only to find that the wine that he used to enjoy had lost its flavor, and his drunkenness vanished, leaving him only with distress.

The banquet lost its original meaning. Rider could not distinguish the difference in the level of heroes from this banquet. Even Saber, whom he did not approve of, touched his heart from the bottom of his heart with her awe-inspiring and unapproachable demeanor.

Chapter 57 The Troublemaker, Shinji Matou

"Is the King's Banquet over?"

On the outskirts of a forest, Shinji Matou sat on a rock, eavesdropping on the entire banquet of the three kings. The somber atmosphere of the banquet almost overflowed from the eavesdropping magic.

"As expected, she is the King of Ideals, not the one from the original work." Shinji Matou said thoughtfully. Saber's answer was completely different from the original work. The vision and determination she expressed were the most profound of the King's Banquet.

To be honest, Shinji Matou doesn't envy a king like Saber, but he admires her the most, and she aligns most with modern people's values.

As for the original work's claim that the three kings were evenly matched, Shinji Matou disagrees.

As the ideal ruler, Saber's methods and concepts of governing the country are similar to those of law. Law does not require emotion. If it weren't for the special era she lived in and the presence of a group of traitors, establishing an ideal country would not have been difficult.

Iskandar the Conqueror, in simple terms, was a tyrant. His fate was no better than Saber's. After his death, the empire he established was divided up by his subordinates, and his family was also killed by them.

Gilgamesh, the last hero king and the oldest child king in the world, needs no further comment.

"From the fact that Saber made a contract with Alaya-vijnana, we can roughly deduce the conditions of the contract. Kiritsugu Emiya, Shirou Emiya, and Nameless are all Servants of Alaya-vijnana, manifestations of the Counter Force. Their common characteristic is that they are 'partners of justice,' and they genuinely care about the continuation of humanity." Shinji Matou stroked his chin, lost in thought.

The two suppressive forces manifest in completely different ways. The suppressive force of Alaya consciousness manifests as contracted servants, while the suppressive force of Gaia is much more complex and rarely activated. Even when the Demon King Goetia burned human reason, it was almost entirely the suppressive force of Alaya consciousness that was exerting its power. In terms of specific manifestations, most of the gods in the Age of Gods were Gaia's tentacles.

Furthermore, the Throne of Heroes is independent of the two Counter Forces. It is a device that records world events and is located outside the world, at the very end of time. The most important condition for the two Counter Forces to summon Heroic Spirits is the same as that of the Holy Grail War: whether the summoned Heroic Spirits are willing to respond.

In her final moments before death, Saber makes a pact with the Alaya Consciousness, gaining the opportunity to travel through time and participate in the Holy Grail War. If her wish is fulfilled, she will die a natural death and become a servant of the Alaya Consciousness's restraining power, endlessly performing the work of a scavenger.

Ironically, although Kiritsugu Emiya disliked Saber, the two were very similar in their methods and philosophies, making them the perfect match for the job of a cleaner.

"The time is almost right, Lancer. I'll leave it to you when Archer draws that sword; that will be the perfect moment." Shinji Matou glanced into the depths of the forest but received no reply.

The surging hurricane lifted Shinji Matou's body into the air, flying towards the castle.

Almost simultaneously, the Rose Garden sensed the presence of a Servant. Rider removed the large bowl of wine from his lips and exclaimed in surprise, "This presence should belong to Caster. What is he doing here at this time?"

Saber drank alone and did not respond.

Archer sneered, "Since he didn't respond to your invitation in the first place, he can only be considered an uninvited guest. How dare a mere bastard interfere with a king's banquet!"

"Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes, is two-thirds a god and one-third a human. He keeps calling others bastards. Aren't you the king of bastards yourself?" A childish voice rang out from the courtyard. Shinji Matou slowly landed on the roof of the building and looked down at the three kings.

Golden ripples spread rapidly around Arhcer, the Gate of Babylon opened one after another, and five or six Noble Phantasms were launched simultaneously towards Matou Shinji's location.

boom! boom! boom!

The violent explosion ripped off the castle roof, but the spot where Shinji Matou stood remained unscathed, with the elemental spirits of the void faintly visible behind him.

"That's a familiar! It can actually block a Noble Phantasm!" Waver exclaimed in surprise.

Archer stood up, suppressing his anger, and said in a cold voice, "How dare you, a mere bastard, stand above me! You have ruined my mood tonight. You will pay with your blood!"

Rider reached out to stop him: "Wait, Archer!"

"Rider, if you want to stop us, that's fine, I'll kill you too."

“No, the wine is still there. Since he is an uninvited guest, let’s give him a chance to explain and let him finish what he has to say.” Rider looked up at Matou Shinji on the roof and said in a deep voice, “Caster, this is a king’s banquet. From your words, I have fully understood your intentions. Tell me, are you prepared to be an enemy of all of us? I don’t think you are such a fool. So, what are you thinking?”

Shinji Matou chuckled: "King of Knights, King of Conquerors, King of Heroes, I heard your conversation and I understand the significance of this banquet. But don't you find it too boring? The Holy Grail War only has meaning when it involves fighting for it. It's laughable that you're talking about the big picture here and trying to determine the winner based on the big picture."

He paused, then added sarcastically, "In this world, humanity no longer needs kings. Every human being is an independent individual, and no one wants anyone to be more noble than themselves. The Knight King is one thing, but the kingship you two insist on is truly laughable."

"Are you provoking us?" Rider's expression gradually turned serious.

"Indeed, isn't the kingly way you insist on proven with blood? If you want to dominate and conquer others, you must at least prove your strength. So let me measure whether your strength matches your ambition."

The Gates of Babylon opened one after another, and the Golden Servant laughed in fury: "Questioning this King?! Such disrespect deserves death!"

Rider also drew his longsword from his waist.

"Rider, sheath your sword. Those who violate my laws should be punished by me. This is my authority, and no one can question it!"