Note: This Chapter is Re-Translated on 8 / 10 / 2025
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Chapter 61: Arturia: "What, you think I can't talk big?"
Arturia was the type of girl who took everything seriously.
Truthfully speaking, she didn't like Shinji.
But because of their contract, she would still do her best to accomplish whatever he asked of her.
Likewise, while she never had the slightest ambition of becoming a celebrity, now that she had stepped into the industry, she was determined to do it well.
The problem was… with her current acting skills, the best she could hope for was being a face—a pretty ornament in front of the camera.
But her face… was so stunningly beautiful that even without the voluptuous curves most "ornamental actresses" relied on, she could still win the hearts of countless viewers.
And make no mistake—being a qualified "flower vase" in showbiz wasn't as easy as it sounded.
People thought you just had to look good and stand there. Wrong.
A true beauty had to maintain her appearance and allure for decades, no matter how much hardship and wind-and-rain she'd endured.
That alone was enough to knock out the majority of so-called "pretty-face" actors.
Why did so many of them try to "transition" into serious acting after a certain point?
Simple—because those who failed to transition would be ruthlessly kicked out of the spotlight the moment their looks faded.
This was where Heroic Spirits had an unfair advantage—they never age.
Still, beauty alone wasn't enough. You had to know how to project that beauty on camera.
And here… Diarmuid simply couldn't match Arturia.
Maybe it was because of his tragic luck with romance in life—whenever he acted, he carried this faint, involuntary restraint, as if terrified of accidentally seducing another innocent maiden.
Shinji's opinion?
"Dammit, man! I want you to seduce them—what are you hesitating for?!"
Arturia, on the other hand, was far more reliable.
No matter how nitpicky one got, her looks were top-tier, and she instinctively knew how to show her charm to the lens.
The only regret was that she couldn't just drop the sword and pick up a spear—switching her class entirely to Lancer.
If she could… her mature form would be an instant, one-hit kill.
Sadly, that wasn't an option.
Once the chase scenes were wrapped up, Shinji led the crew to film the rest of the location shots.
At last, nearly all the Fate/Zero scenes were complete—only the "Three Kings' Banquet" remained.
If you asked fans to name the most iconic scene in Fate/Zero, you'd get wildly different answers.
Some would vote for the King of Conquest clash with the King of King.
Others would pick Saber unleashing her Noble Phantasm.
Some might prefer the tragedy of Diarmuid's end.
And then there were the truly malicious ones… who'd gleefully choose the scene where Kotomine Kirei stabbed Tokiomi in the back.
But if you added one condition—
"Pick the best dialogue scene."
—then most people would choose the mid-series "Three Kings' Banquet."
Three kings, sitting together, drinking and debating the nature of the Holy Grail—even if many criticized Saber for getting rhetorically manhandled by the other two, no one could deny it was one of the defining moments of the story.
As the most important "pure dialogue" scene of the entire film, Shinji had deliberately saved it for last—wanting his actors at their absolute peak when they filmed it.
During the final preparations, he called Arturia, Gilgamesh, and Iskandar over.
"Same as I told you before—no fixed lines for this one. You three have the outline, so say whatever you want as long as it fits."
Shinji raised a finger.
"I've only got one demand—make this debate good. I want to see sparks fly when your ideals clash."
Then his gaze drifted toward Arturia.
What he really hoped… was that when the cameras rolled, she'd do just a little better than she had in the original story.
This was going to be tricky.
Compared to Gilgamesh's overwhelming arrogance and Iskandar's boundless ambition for conquest, Arturia—who kept her gaze fixed solely on protecting Britain—was playing on a much smaller board. She was fated to lose on scope alone.
And if she stepped outside that framework, abandoning her role as Britain's king entirely, it would mean rewriting her character from the ground up… and that would shatter the immersion completely.
In the end, with her predetermined wish to "choose a new king for Britain," Arturia was walking into this debate at a natural disadvantage.
"Master, I'll do my best."
Arturia nodded firmly, clenching her fist with quiet determination.
"Hmph."
Gilgamesh gave a heavy, dismissive snort—his way of saying everything Shinji just said was utterly pointless.
Only Iskandar kept flipping the outline back and forth in his hands, reading it with exaggerated interest.
"Oi, kid."
Once the other two had left, the King of Conquerors gave Shinji's shoulder a hearty slap.
"Quite an interesting outline you've written here," Iskandar said, narrowing his eyes. "Tell me—why is it that even before summoning me, you managed to write something that fits my personality so perfectly?"
It wasn't an idle question.
If this were a real Holy Grail War—before learning about the Grail's corruption—Iskandar would likely have wished for the very same thing as in the script: to gain a real, physical body.
Normally, people in the modern era could only speculate about heroes based on scraps of literature and myth, inevitably coloring their guesses with subjective bias.
But Shinji's prediction was dead-on. So accurate, in fact, it felt as if he had seen it happen with his own eyes.
"I must say, Master, you've got me curious," Iskandar said with a knowing smile.
"Then turn that curiosity into acting motivation," Shinji replied, patting him on the lower back. "Go get ready. We're about to start filming."
"Fine, fine. I get it."
Iskandar rubbed his temple with a knuckle, humming a strange little tune as he strode away.
"…That guy."
Shinji shook his head with a helpless smile as he watched the Conqueror King's back fade from sight.
For someone who seemed so rough and careless, Iskandar's instincts were frighteningly sharp—sharp enough to sniff out something just from a script.
And yet for all that perceptiveness, he was blunt enough to confront Shinji directly about it.
Didn't he realize that Archer and Gilgamesh—who both knew the truth—had gone out of their way to avoid the subject entirely?
Once everything was in place, the final scene began shooting.
To capture the debate in all its raw glory, Shinji had decided on a single unbroken long take from start to finish—only one camera, no cuts.
Out of sight of the lens, an electronic countdown board ticked away the remaining time for the three actors, reminding them exactly how long they had to wrap things up.
This was a high-wire act for everyone—one slip, and the whole thing would have to be reshot from scratch.
In front of the camera, the three kings sat in a circle, each with an ornate goblet before them.
The moment Shinji called "Action!", Iskandar couldn't restrain himself—he seized his goblet and took a hearty sip of the crystal-clear, colorless divine wine inside.
"Magnificent!"
Iskandar's eyes went wide as he voiced his praise.
That wasn't acting. That was pure, honest appreciation.
The big man had been eyeing Gilgamesh's wine for a long time, but the King of Heroes had been stingy—outside of actual filming, he hadn't let a single drop escape his grasp.
"This is glorious," Iskandar murmured, lost in the taste.
"There's no way this is human-made. This has to be the drink of the gods, right?"
Gilgamesh allowed himself a leisurely smile, swirling the wine in his own goblet with obvious pride.
"Of course. Whether it's wine or sword, only the finest belong in my possession. That is the taste of a true king."
"Enough with the jokes."
Arturia set her cup down, a sharp edge in her voice.
Seeing her take the initiative, Shinji quickly zoomed in, capturing a close-up of her expression.
"Flaunting one's collection to others… that's the behavior of a nouveau riche, not a ruler."
Gilgamesh let out a mocking laugh, his golden eyes narrowing as he looked at her.
"Someone who doesn't even understand wine has no right to call themselves king. When you ruled over Britain, peasant girl, did you drink nothing but river water?"
Shinji winced.
Gilgamesh's disdain for Arturia wasn't new. Ever since Fate/Stay Night, when she "stole" what he believed to be his rightful protagonist role, he'd never been fond of her.
Now that a perfect opportunity presented itself, there was no way the King of Heroes would hold back.
Shinji had expected Gil to be even sharper-tongued than the script, but he hadn't imagined he'd go this far.
'This isn't a debate anymore—it's turning into a street brawl.'
Fortunately, Iskandar, sensing the danger, cut in before Arturia could fire back.
"Alright, that's enough from the two of you. We're here to drink, not quarrel."
He put extra emphasis on the words drink, subtly reminding them that they were still filming.
Then, sticking to the outline, the King of Conquerors turned to Gilgamesh with the first question of the Holy Grail Debate.
"Archer, your wine is without doubt a treasure… but the Holy Grail is not a wine cup. We're here to judge whether we are worthy to claim it. So, as a king, tell us—why should you be the one to have it?"
Gilgamesh remained every bit the embodiment of I am the world, answering with unshakable arrogance.
"This question is meaningless. I have no need to obtain the Grail. It was mine to begin with."
He sighed, almost as if explaining to children.
"Every treasure in the world originated from my vault. The Grail is nothing more than an item that strayed from my collection. Its rightful owner has always been me."
Arturia's mind instantly recalled a term Shinji had once mentioned—Versailles literature.
It sounded like he was answering the question about the Grail, but in reality… wasn't he just boasting about his status?
"Archer, your thinking is as muddled as Caster's," she said coldly. "He mistook me for someone else. You seem to be mistaking the Grail for your wine cup."
"That's simply because you're too ignorant to know better, Saber," Gil countered with a smirk. "Unable to grasp my greatness, yet yapping away regardless."
'I have absolutely zero interest in understanding you!'
Arturia scrunched her nose, trying to swallow her irritation.
"I think I've guessed your true name, Archer."
Iskandar spoke while secretly sneaking another sip—or three—of the divine wine.
This was too good to pass up; who knew when he'd get another chance?
"To think… a king even more arrogant than myself. There can only be one such man."
'Great. Versailles literature No. 2.'
Arturia resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
Iskandar's words sounded like praise for Gilgamesh, but in truth, he had placed himself above all other kings in history.
'So the Holy Grail Debate is just… bragging? Master, why didn't you say that from the start?'