"Master… you… already… knew… all along…?" Lancelot immediately responded when he heard Tia's words. Though speaking was still hard for him, he tried to speak as quickly as he could.
"Well said, 'different times and different backgrounds can't be compared.' Tia, brat, don't tell me you've been studying the legends of King Arthur all this time!" Alexander the Great raised his voice in praise when he heard Tia's words.
"Hmph! Blacksmith! If you don't give me an answer that satisfies me, I will never forgive the thief who dared to steal my treasures!" Unfortunately, Gilgamesh had never planned to let Tia off. He had always treated the theft of his treasures very seriously.
"Lancelot's Master—no, Tia… have you been studying my past all along?" King Arthur turned back almost instinctively to look at Tia after hearing his words.
"Uh~" Tia felt embarrassed. After all, in his own world, King Arthur's history had already been thoroughly studied. He gave an awkward laugh, "Hahaha~~"
"I see~~ so that's it. In today's words, it's like idol worship, right?" Alexander the Great seemed to understand when he saw Tia's reaction. "Hahaha! Good! The Knight King truly deserves the title of a great ruler. But although it was a mistake for me to judge the Knight King's era through the eyes of my own, the path of conquest I, Iskandar, walked was never mistaken! Never once did I feel lost or regret! Knight King! Just now, when you spoke, can I take it to mean that you regret leading your country to ruin, and that you want to change history?" Alexander's voice shifted back toward King Arthur as he spoke.
"So what if I do! It was because of my wrong decision that my country was destroyed! I must go back to change that decision! Is that wrong? Haven't you ever wondered why your empire crumbled so quickly after you died? Haven't you ever thought of changing that result?" King Arthur shot back instantly, his desire to change the past now even stronger after hearing Tia's words.
But in Tia's eyes, it was no different from Archer wanting to kill Emiya Shirou—selfish and foolish. Just like Lancelot said earlier, King Arthur was far too stubborn, stuck in his own rigid thinking.
It seemed that unless she lived through the Fifth War ten years later and saw with her own eyes the fate of the so-called Hero of Justice Emiya Shirou, King Arthur would never be able to free herself from that knot in her heart. But I am Emiya Shirou… Ten years from now, when the Fifth War comes, will I really have the chance to summon King Arthur again? Even now, with my interference, the outcome of this Fourth War is already uncertain.
Tia let out a helpless sigh in his heart, his expression turning a little heavy.
"I don't want to!" While Tia was lost in thought, Alexander the Great was answering King Arthur. "Because those are the memories I created with my soldiers! They are the proof of our shared existence! To change the past is to destroy those memories, to erase that proof! That would be the greatest insult to my soldiers! Knight King, just because of one wrong decision that led to your country's fall, you want to change the past? Don't you think that idea is the most selfish of all? By doing this, aren't you insulting your Knights of the Round Table, betraying the future generations who have always admired you? Knight King, look! Look at the expression on that kid Tia's face right now!" Alexander the Great looked at King Arthur seriously, then turned his gaze toward Tia.
King Arthur, hearing this, turned to look at Tia.
Tia hadn't realized what kind of expression he was making, but to King Arthur, it looked like disappointment. That sight made hesitation flicker across King Arthur's face.
Lancelot didn't know what to say anymore and turned to look at Tia, while Gilgamesh simply dismissed his treasures and sat aside to watch.
Tia furrowed his brow.
The King gets shaken this easily?
"Sorry, Tia. I let you see a bad side of me and made you disappointed. But my wish won't change. I hope the Sword in the Stone can be pulled out by someone more fitting than me. Maybe Sir Lancelot is more suited for it, after all… you've always been the most perfect Knight of the Lake." King Arthur spoke to Tia first, then turned his head to look at Lancelot.
"Your Majesty… what are you saying…? How could I possibly… pull out the Sword in the Stone…" Lancelot quickly shook his head and waved his hands.
Hearing King Arthur actually apologizing to her, Tia suddenly felt uneasy. Still, she noticed that King Arthur hadn't wavered in his wish, which gave her some relief, but she still felt uncomfortable and had to say something.
"The Sword in the Stone can't be pulled out by anyone but the King. There's no such thing as someone more fitting. The King was raised in Sir Kay's house since childhood, and Merlin filled your head every day with the knowledge of being a Saber and of becoming king. That was all on purpose. Merlin even already knew about the Round Table's split and Britain's fall but ran away without saying a word. If you want to blame someone, blame him."
"Merlin? Merlin… that guy? I really feel like I should give him a good beating," King Arthur frowned.
"Exactly! The King isn't wrong. If there's someone to blame, it's Merlin!" Tia kept going.
"Lord Merlin… is he really… hated that much…?" Lancelot seemed confused, as if he never really knew much about Merlin.
"Of course!" Tia said as if it were obvious.
"Merlin… that's the famous court Magus, right?" Alexander the Great said. "From the sound of it, he really seems hated. Do you know him well?" he asked Tia.
"Of course! That guy is trash, always lying to people," Tia said seriously.
"To dump the fate of a whole country on a court Magus—blacksmith, your way of comforting people is laughable," Gilgamesh spoke up at this moment. "Hmph! I've had enough of this boring play. Tonight ends here. I still need to find out what that Holy Grail really is!"
Tia froze. Gilgamesh wasn't going to hold her accountable for "stealing"? No way! What stealing! If he didn't want it and I picked it up, how is that stealing?
"But don't think I won't hold you accountable for your theft. I'll give you a few days to prepare your answer. I hope your answer doesn't let me down!" Gilgamesh said, standing up to leave.
(End of The Chapter)
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