And so, Artoria and Lancelot met.
"Sir Lancelot... it's good to see you. Seeing you with your Madness Enhancement lifted... I feel relieved."
"My King."
As Lancelot shed tears, Artoria smiled and tripped him.
"What is the meaning of this!?"
"Sir Lancelot. Let me ask you one thing. Wouldn't it be better for you to get neutered while we're at it?"
"My King, please calm yourself."
He had prepared himself for punishment, but he showed an atmosphere of "this isn't what I expected."
"Come to think of it, Sir Lancelot is also a problem. In the process of fleeing, you killed three of my knights and escaped in the end."
Lancelot realized that the situation was taking a strange turn.
"Master, please help me!"
"Ah, I planned that. I told her the truth at the King's Feast. It seems she's quite angry."
"Aha?"
As Lancelot understood who the cause was, Artoria smiled and said:
"Sir Lancelot, if you have any excuses, please speak."
"I have none... I am a sinner. King Arthur."
I don't know if Artoria intended to crush his jewels, but she let out a deep sigh and said:
"I desired the Grail. In the end, to save Britain, which was destined for destruction, and to see the people smile, I intended to return to the time when I pulled the sword."
Lancelot smiled sadly and said:
"...You are still a troublesome person. Even now, do you still wield the sword for such a reason? You couldn't let go of the throne even in death... My King. Even if Britain falls, the people do not disappear. They would have remembered the King of Knights in their hearts and resisted even if they became slaves. My King, can you not lay down everything now and trust the people who have moved on to the next era? Humans do not have eternal happiness; they laugh, cry, grieve, rejoice, and live with regrets together. Isn't that what it means to be human?"
At those words, Artoria finally realized.
"I see."
"My beloved King."
Then, Artoria's mood darkened.
"Is Guinevere not enough for you, that you now intend to make a move on me as well?"
"Ah, no. It was just a slip of the tongue!"
At that, Artoria stomped on Lancelot's jewels with all her might.
Crunch!
"Keuk!? Gurgle..."
This is a happy ending, right? No, the story ended with a slip of the tongue leading to a confession, followed by becoming a eunuch.
'She should have gone easy on him... He was speaking so well, only to mess up with a confession at the end. As expected of a Berserker of the lower body.'
Even with the Madness Enhancement removed, it seems he couldn't erase the trait of being an adulterer.
Just then, Tiamat hugged me.
"Mama is here~"
"It's a nice sight, isn't it?"
"Yes, they both look satisfied. Though the ending seems to be a problem..."
It seems Tiamat also thought the ending was a problem.
Artoria was laughing as if she felt relieved, and Lancelot had fainted, foaming at the mouth.
"Is this really a happy ending?"
Well, since he's alive and not dead, it was definitely a happy ending.
In any case, Medea clicked her tongue when she treated Lancelot and saw that his jewels were intact.
It seems she learned about Lancelot's story through the Grail, and as a result, he became an object of disgust.
Still, it seems she became friends with Diarmuid before long.
Does NTR recognize NTR?
Anyway, I wondered if I could trust those two.
Lancer's curse was solved by Caster, and I had to prepare for the final battle.
Now it's Rider and Gilgamesh...
Assassin evaporated from Artoria's repeated Excalibur blasts.
It was a way of venting her anger, but Rider just watched, and Gilgamesh just laughed as if it were cute.
Watching Lancelot and Diarmuid sharing their stories, hugging each other and crying, looked somewhat like a BL scene, so I turned away thinking, "Now that married women aren't enough, NTRs are playing amongst themselves."
After this situation ended, I could feel Artoria's gaze turning cold towards Lancelot and Diarmuid's friendship.
"Anyway, thank you for freeing Sir Lancelot from his Madness Enhancement. If I hadn't been able to converse with Sir Lancelot, I would have repeated my mistakes. However, I am seriously considering whether I should have Sir Lancelot neutered over there."
"..."
I just remained silent.
"This isn't something I should say to a Master, but anyway, thank you for guiding me like this. From now on, you are my true Master."
And Saber knelt on one knee to show her respect.
She realized that she had been walking the wrong path, but after hearing the truth from one who was her knight, she understood that her wish had been wrong from the start.
"I definitely loved my people. But I loved them without knowing what love was, and I just wanted to be a place where they could smile. That's why I sailed to the Western Roman Empire to achieve peace for Britain, and we were able to sign a treaty by inflicting massive damage on Rome. As a result, the people were already rebelling. The cause was likely that I took the food necessary for the war to secure the treaty, which angered the people with hunger, and with Mordred joining the rebellion, only a result that was neither victory nor defeat remained. I just wanted the happiness of the people, but that result did not come. The outcome of where I went was a hill made of the corpses of knights and soldiers who had fought for Britain. That was the last scenery of Britain I saw. Master... I want to ask you one last thing. Did I walk the wrong path?"
She was not wrong.
Because she was too idealistic, because she imagined an ideal too beautiful, that path was not wrong.
"Being a king isn't easy. No matter how much you lead... sometimes it's difficult. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, but in that era, they had the pride of chivalry. If you had persuaded them to understand and walked with them, this wouldn't have happened. No, maybe Britons wouldn't have fought amongst themselves, but the last remaining era desired change, and in that process, Britain was destined to fall. But Artoria, you did nothing wrong. You became king because adults forced you to, but you tried your best, didn't you? I believe there are people who understand that."
"Is that so. By the way... strengths and weaknesses, you say."
"If you had been humanly honest with your knights, there would have been no reason for Britons to fight amongst themselves. But you worried and agonized alone, showing the appearance of an unwavering king, and people might have feared you because they believed you were someone who would sacrifice the few to save the many for the sake of efficiency. I'm not from that era, so I don't know what happened, but there must have been heroes who admired the story of King Arthur and tried to follow in the footsteps of the Knights of the Round Table. So, please don't blame yourself, and please don't shoulder it alone anymore. Please cherish yourself."
I spoke three sentences sincerely.
Artoria blushed slightly and said:
"Ah, ah... I see. I made a mistake at the end, but was the path I walked correct?"
"You dedicated your life to protect the people of Britain, didn't you? Even if only a few understood that ideal in the process, you were right. That's my personal opinion."
Artoria smiled as if she had shed all her burdens.
"The things I've done were not wrong. Only, if Britons hadn't fought amongst themselves, I think I would have regretted less."
I gave Artoria a light chop on the head.
"Ah! Master, what is the meaning of this!"
"If we survive the Holy Grail War, let's go to England later."
At my words, Artoria's eyes seemed to shout, "What nonsense are you spouting?"
"Britain became a country called England over time, right? Even though it's a country that has perished, shouldn't you see the people rebuilt under a new name?"
"New people, you say. There, I am no longer a king. I am just a girl without people, a knight of the past."
"Don't you want to see it anyway?"
Artoria swallowed and remained silent for a moment.
Smirking as if she had met a fool, Artoria said:
"Very well. If the Holy Grail War ends and we survive, let's go to England."
"Let's."
And so, Artoria and I shook hands, deepening our trust.
Meanwhile, while I was talking to Artoria, Lancelot and Diarmuid...
"Our King is truly lovely."
"I understand. Considering that the sword shining in her hand was the hope and light of the people, she must have been loved by them."
Although their interpretation of "love" was wrong, they continued their conversation.
"However, the King must have been saddened by the tragedy at the very end. She loved the people more than anyone, but the King did not know love. And the reason I participated in the Holy Grail War was actually because I wanted to be judged by the King. My sin is committing adultery with the King's wife."
"Surely, you don't mean her?"
"Ah, actually, if Guinevere hadn't told me, I wouldn't have even known my King was a woman. I happened to counsel Guinevere, and I heard about the agony, pain, and suffering the King had felt all this time, and the fact that the King was actually a woman. For me, thinking that the King had given Guinevere a heavy burden, I lost my reason without realizing it. As a result, I had an affair with Guinevere, and later, when my relationship with Guinevere was exposed and I should have been punished, she forgave me, saying, 'Sir Lancelot is the perfect knight. If you did so, there must be a reason.' And I came to have complex feelings towards the King. Later, although she forgave me, upon hearing that Guinevere was to be executed, I killed countless knights to save her. I too lost my reason to save Guinevere back then, and I don't even remember who I killed in the process. And because of the incident I caused, the state of Britain began to worsen, and I went to the King on the battlefield to atone, but then, Sir Gawain stopped me. By the time I fought Sir Gawain and won as the sun set, I had killed more knights, and thinking that going to the King would be a nuisance, I retreated without even being able to atone."
"Such a complicated story... Unlike you, I ended up living on the run because the King's wife fell for me. Then, hearing the news that I was forgiven by the King, I returned to my hometown. One day, while spending happy days, the King asked me to go hunting with him. I went to the hunting grounds, and I received a fatal wound from a boar. Even though the King could have healed me, he did not save me. I thought I was forgiven, but in the end, I was not forgiven by my lord, and as a result, I met a miserable and dishonorable death unworthy of a hero."
"Sir Diarmuid, if you had been forgiven, what would you have done?"
"I... would have followed my lord's orders and sworn loyalty, even if it meant losing my life. I betrayed him once, but as a knight, it was a disgrace, so such a thing could not happen."
"I regret it too. Whether forgiven or not, I wanted to fight by the King's side. But even when the King met her end, I couldn't do anything but watch. That is my regret."
"It seems we have something in common."
"Indeed."
And so, the two became close friends.