"So, Saber, your wish is not a king's wish; it's just the unreasonable demand of a Little Girl who made a mistake and cannot accept the facts, wanting to start over."
Rin finally concluded with a shrug, but even so, Saber could not accept Rin's definition and retorted loudly:
"Glorifying destruction is merely based on the glory of a warrior. Even if this wish to go back in time and change history is my personal whim, no matter how ethereal or dreamlike it may be, as long as the Holy Grail can fulfill it, change the tragedy of the country's demise, and save the suffering people, what is wrong with that?"
"Completely wrong!"
Rin roared at Saber, furious. She truly felt her patience running out with this obstinate and willful king of knights.
"Don't you understand the consequences of going back in time and changing history? You will destroy everything in the world up to this point!"
Rin looked at the stunned Saber with a look of disappointment.
"You simply don't understand the rigor of history. Let alone the decisions of an ancient king and the course of history, even if just one person, one blade of grass, undergoes a change that did not originally exist in history, it is highly likely to cause a deviation in the historical trajectory, 047 destroying the world of the future at this time."
Rin's eyes even held hatred as she looked at Saber.
"Saber, I will not allow your wish to be fulfilled, because you are going to strangle the world in which I live!"
Saber wanted to save her country, but she would destroy the entire human history constituted at this moment. The world she had descended upon would completely cease to exist with her wish. How could she accept such a thing? "Moreover, Saber, I can assert that even if you disregard everything in this future, and go back to that past era at the cost of destroying everything, even if you prevent Mordred's rebellion from happening because you know everything about the future, your country will still be destroyed in a few years, or a few decades."
Even knowing the cause of Britain's destruction could not save her country. This was no longer about whether the wish was right or wrong.
"Impossible! Why would Britain still be destroyed after changing that accidental tragedy?! The people yearn for salvation from the suffering of war, and protecting Britain's peace is my Way of the King. How could I allow such a thing to happen!"
"You mean your people want the King's salvation?" Rin suddenly chuckled, as if disdaining the salvation Saber spoke of.
"Because this is the duty of a King!" Saber replied with unwavering conviction, not yielding an inch.
"Correct rule, correct order – this is what all subjects expect."
"In other words, you, as King, are actually a correct slave?"
"It's not wrong to say so. Only those who sacrifice themselves for an ideal should be King." At this moment, the female king of knights showed no hesitation or doubt, articulating her Path of Kingship.
"People understand laws and order through the King. What the King embodies should not be something that perishes with the King's death, but something more noble that is passed down."
Looking at the still resolute Saber, Rin, who had long known she would say this, calmly said without emotion:
"If that's the case, you've divided yourself and your people into two kinds of beings, because your life cannot be called a human life."
"Of course, before being human, I am first a King."
On this point, Saber did not object again; instead, she nodded as if it were a matter of course.
To become a perfect monarch, to become the embodiment of an ideal, Saber was willing to abandon her body and discard personal feelings. The life of the Little Girl named Artoria changed completely the moment she pulled that sword from the stone.
From then on, she became synonymous with an undefeated legend, hymns, and dreams. There was pain, there was worry, but within it was the glory of victory. Unchanging faith still supported her sword-wielding arm.
Therefore, Saber sternly shouted at the person in front of her, "Rin, those who don't understand what a King is will not understand my belief!"
Regarding Saber, who had suddenly regained her confidence, Rin once again stopped the King of Conquerors, who was already at his limit and about to speak, and calmly retorted, unflinching at Saber's displayed aura:
"Then, where is the hope?"
"What?..."
Saber seemed unable to understand what Rin meant, so Rin spoke again:
"Saber, you just said you sacrificed yourself for an ideal. So back then, you must have been pure-hearted, incorruptible, honest, and selfless, like a saint."
"Of course, a King should empathize with the people's suffering. Building extravagant and useless palaces that waste resources and lead to excessive, decadent living are what a King should least do."
Saber proudly affirmed Rin's words, answering.
"Then, does that mean even you, as King, lived a life of hardship and endurance, no different from your people?"
"And your knights and the nobles of the country must have been the same."
"Precisely. As King, one should share the joys and sorrows of the people. The duty of nobles and knights is to diligently protect the peace of their territories and resist foreign enemies. Only then can human nobility be displayed, not through extravagant enjoyment."
"That's why I said your country has no hope."
"What?..."
Saber was completely unable to comprehend Rin's words. What was wrong with being upright, incorruptible, self-disciplined, and devoted to public service?
Rin sighed, looking at Saber with pity.
"If even you, as King, merely gnawed on black bread like the common folk every day, living a life of hardship, even becoming a knight would only be a difference in responsibility and division of labor. If the King is nothing more than this, then whom should your people and subjects envy? And for what should they strive? Your country is like a pool of stagnant, dead water. How can you develop and build your nation towards a more prosperous era?"
"You, a King based on your own ideals and chivalry, are simply an idol standing before the world. People will look up to you, praise you, and pray to you, which is why your wisdom is extolled to this day. But who yearns for the thorny path of a so-called ideal martyr? Who longs for it day and night? You and your knights can only guard peace, but you cannot guide the people."
"How can a country so devoid of hope and struggle have a future? Prolonged peace inevitably leads to internal corruption. A country protected by such a King is like a stagnant pool without a source, eventually decaying from within, and then being eliminated in the tide of human history becomes inevitable. Saber, even without Mordred's rebellion, there is only one outcome you could have faced: being overthrown by your own subjects. Because all humans have ambition, all desire a better life, but under your rule, this hope is nowhere to be seen. The King's duty is not to guard peace, but to lead the way towards prosperity."
Rin's tone was plain, without any fluctuation in her voice, pressing Saber with an aura she had never displayed before. Saber seemed to see that stagnant Britain, peaceful for decades under her protection… "Just as a pack of wolves would not let a Lion be their leader, humans do not need an idol to be their King. You drew a clear line between yourself and your people; you fundamentally don't know what they truly want. You merely kept saving your people, but you weren't leading them. You didn't show the desires and lofty aspirations of a King. You abandoned your lost subjects, merely being aloof and self-righteous, immersed in your own narrow, beautiful ideals. Therefore, you are not a true King, but merely a Little Girl, absorbed in a belief of self-sacrifice, dreaming a so-called King's dream…"
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