Chapter 366

Rider found it indeed incomparable to the fine wines he had tasted before; it could only be considered one of the better industrial products.

"Only this is worthy of the delicacies my Goddess has prepared for you!" Golden Flash was unusually generous for once. He took out fine wine in a golden bottle and golden goblets for serving from his treasure vault.

But...

"Gilgamesh ..." Li Pu frowned as he looked at the wine cup and flask in his arms.

"Let my queen pour you a glass of truly fine wine!" Golden Flash said with apparent delight. "This is the wine that truly deserves heroes, kings, and Goddess!"

Li Pu was instantly furious; she really wanted to pour the wine directly onto Golden Flash's head.

However, after counting, it seems there are four cups. Shouldn't there have only been three cups in the original story? Why is there an extra cup?

As if to confirm Li Pu's idea, Golden Flash generously said, "This is a gift from me... this is a gift from me to you. The wine, the wine jar, and the wine cups, you may keep them if you like."

'Hmm? Golden Flash is really this generous?' Li Pu felt a little strange. She remembered that after the previous battle, Golden Flash gave her a Dawn of Ruin. And now he's giving her these things again.

I don't know what the wine jar is, but the wine glass looks like Lesser Holy Grail. This guy just gave it to me like that?

"Don't think so much." Golden Flash said as if he could see through what Li Pu was thinking. "I am not a stingy person. Crickets, fine wine and wine cups are nothing. My treasure trove is not lacking in these things."

"Is that so?" Since Golden Flash said so, Li Pu casually waved his hand, and the wine pot and wine cups floated up. The wine pot automatically filled each wine cup with wine. The wine cups then flew to the table of the three of them.

"But let me be frank from the start," Li Pu said, holding his wine glass. "It's like throwing a meat bun to a dog—it's gone forever. If you're willing to make such a doomed investment..."

"Don't cry when you lose everything, Gilgamesh."

"I am not a petty person," Golden Flash said. "I will definitely make you willingly become my queen."

Faced with the confident Golden Flash, Li Pu had other thoughts. He was destined to leave this world. And this guy wouldn't know he was leaving. Since that was the case, could he get as much as possible from Golden Flash?

Whether it's useful or not, getting it yourself is a win!

"Oh, this is truly a fine wine." Rider seemed to have nothing to say about it, as he swirled his glass and said, "Now that we have a feast prepared by the Goddess, and fine wine worthy of a hero."

"Then let's begin the theme of this King's Feast," Rider declared loudly. "It is said that only those who are qualified can obtain the Holy Grail, and the Holy Grail War is to choose those who are qualified. So, there's really no need for bloodshed, is there? Heroic Spirit understand each other and know each other's stature. Only by firmly determining who is superior and who is qualified to obtain the Holy Grail can we truly determine who is right."

"Thus, the Holy Grail War has turned into a Holy Grail Questioning." Rider raised his wine glass and said, "I learned from modern books about an event that once took place in the East, called 'Discussing Heroes over Green Plum Wine.' Since you all call yourselves 'Kings' and refuse to back down, how about we discuss the Lord of the Holy Grail at 'The King's Feast'?"

"Oh?" Golden Flash seemed to finally show some interest and said, "It sounds somewhat interesting, you mongrel."

"Then Rider," Saber said, seemingly eager to try, "Are you planning to use this to compete with me?"

"Indeed." Rider downed the wine in his glass in one gulp and said, "The problem is more than just a problem. Since everyone wants to use the Holy Grail to fulfill their wishes, then those wishes must be some kind of grand aspiration, representing the ambition and great achievements of a king."

"Ordinary wishes don't qualify one to participate in the Holy Grail War."

Golden Flash smiled without saying a word, while Saber remained expressionless, seemingly acknowledging Rider's words but not quite agreeing with them.

"But speaking of wishes," Golden Flash suddenly said, "There seems to be someone here who has the ability to grant other people's wishes."

"Can you really grant other people's wishes?"

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Goddess of Justice

Li Pu, who was debating whether or not to try it, suddenly realized that the focus of the party had shifted to him.

Li Pu was initially hesitant after receiving the bottle of wine, because Goddess always seem to have some strange weaknesses. Like Belldandy, who could drink a thousand cups without getting drunk, yet was knocked out by a bottle of cola. Since he wasn't certain that the drink could kill him with just one cup, Li Pu remained wary of any beverage he wasn't sure wouldn't cause him harm.

Seeing that Golden Flash had suddenly turned the question to her, Li Pu swirled her wine glass, took a very small sip to make sure she wouldn't be killed by the wine, and then took a big gulp before saying, "Of course, theoretically speaking, I can grant one wish to the person who summoned me. Of course, I can also grant other people's wishes, whether the wish is good, evil, or even a wish that you think is absolutely impossible to fulfill."

"If that's the case," Golden Flash countered, "Then why doesn't your Master make a wish to you but instead continues to participate in the Holy Grail War?"

"I'm just a backup plan," Li Pu said, spreading his hands. "Just like I said in theory, although I have the ability to grant other people's wishes—any kind of wish is possible—I'm not the Holy Grail. I can't just passively accept wishes and then grant them! I have my own will and thoughts, so I will refuse some particularly outrageous or even excessively costly wishes."

"Given the uncertainty of whether I'm willing to grant my Master's wish and the unknown costs, finding a more stable machine that seems to grant wishes without incurring any costs appears to be more worthwhile," Li Pu said, propping his head up with one hand. "In short, if we can obtain the Holy Grail, it will be a double insurance policy; if we can't, it will be a fallback plan."

Li Pu was well aware of Kiritsugu's backup plan: if the Holy Grail didn't work, he would turn to Lipman to fulfill his wish.

"And granting wishes..." Li Pu said, swinging her beautiful legs, "That's not considered a special ability in the divine realm; many gods can do that. But why is it my Noble Phantasm..."

"Perhaps it's because I can grant wishes that other gods cannot, and the price I need to pay is also the smallest."

Li Pu looked at the three people at the banquet and said, "To be honest, this was originally supposed to be a Holy Grail War. Why does it feel like the target of the struggle has become me? I'm quite curious about that. Is it because I can grant your wishes like the Holy Grail?"

"So you're planning to fight me to fulfill your own wishes?" Li Pu asked with a smile. "Even if you really fight over me, I might not be able to grant your wishes."

So if it's a wish, you should focus on fighting for the Holy Grail.

"Because you are Goddess." Golden Flash said, swirling his wine glass. "If it were just the Holy Grail, I wouldn't really care. Just like the cups in your hands, they are also the Holy Grail, and I would be happy to bestow them upon others."

Golden Flash glanced at Li Pu sitting on the archway and suddenly changed the subject, saying, "Any treasure belongs to me, and it should lie in my treasury. If I were in a good mood, I might bestow it upon you miscellaneous cultivators. But without my permission, you dared to covet my treasures. You thieves are truly audacious!"

"Anything that's a treasure is mine..." Saber said mockingly, taking a sip of her drink. "It seems that Caster isn't the only one who's gone mad in this Holy Grail War."

"So, Rider, what is your wish?" Saber then asked.

"Ah... this..." Upon hearing the question, Rider blushed slightly and said, "Um... this... ahahaha~ I wonder if my queen, the Goddess who can grant other people's wishes, knows my wish."

'Ah... we've brought this up again.' Li Pu filled his glass and then Rider's, saying, 'Your wish is very simple for me.'

"To give you a physical body and the chance to come back to life," Li Pu said. "This is the simplest wish I could have, even a hundred times simpler than Saber's."

"Hmm?" Saber said, slightly surprised. "Foreigner, do you know everyone's wishes?"

"You can think of it that way," Li Pu said, not denying it. "I can hear the wishes of everyone in this world, but 99% of those wishes are rejected at the beginning. I will only listen to the 1% of wishes that remain, and even then, I may not fulfill all of them or may even reject them all."

"Since my wish is so simple for you," Rider asked, "Then why don't you grant it for me? I can present the Holy Grail to you as a dowry."

"This has nothing to do with the cost." Li Pu shook his head and said, "Rider, your era has ended. Your destiny was written the moment you left this world. Iskandar, your era has come to a close, and I, as the Goddess of Fate, will not weave a destiny for you. The future ultimately belongs to other people in the future, and as the past you, I naturally will not fulfill your wishes."

Upon hearing Li Pu's words, Rider lowered his hand and stared at the delicious food in front of him in silence for a long time.

"Hmph~ How boring." Golden Flash said while drinking, "You want to steal my treasure just for such a trivial wish?"

"Hahahaha!" Rider suddenly burst into laughter and said, "If the era that belonged to me in the past has come to an end, then now I will raise the curtain on the era that belongs to me again. Since the Goddess is unwilling to help me fulfill this simple wish, then I will use the Holy Grail to achieve it! I want a physical body to come back to life in this era and take root, to challenge heaven and earth with my own real body, and to challenge the fate that the Goddess has arranged for me."

"From this moment forward, implement and enforce this law. This is my..." Rider downed his drink in one gulp and declared loudly, "This is my domineering power!"

"So, Golden Flash," Rider said with an air of dominance yet casualness, "Keep a close eye on your treasury. If the Holy Grail is a treasure in your treasury, I will definitely plunder it, not just the Holy Grail, but I will even wipe your treasury clean."

Faced with Rider's seemingly provocative words, Golden Flash was not angry. He even smiled and said, "Then it's decided. I will definitely kill you."

"Oh, you've said all that," Li Pu interjected, "You haven't answered my question yet."

"If it's not a wish, then what is it?" Li Pu asked curiously. "Do you want to marry a Goddess like in some legends? But it seems that men who pursue Goddess in mythology don't always end up well, right?"

"Because of the law." Golden Flash said directly, "I am the king! The law is promulgated by the king, recognized by the king, and implemented by the king! The king is the law, the king is the embodiment of the law, and the king's every word and deed represents the law."

"Your name is Belldandy, right?" Golden Flash said. "Although you are one of the Goddess of Fate, you also wield the law and are the Goddess of justice. Therefore, you can only belong to the king! Because the king's anger is the anger of the law, the king's words are the voice of the law, and the king's judgment is the judgment of the law! The king does not need someone higher than the king to wield the law! Neither do the gods."

"Because the king is the only law in this world." Golden Flash looked at Li Pu and said, "The same goes for destiny. Only the king can control destiny! The king will not allow others to control his destiny, much less allow others to control the law."

"But I am a god," Li Pu mocked. "I am not a human being, much less one of your subjects."

"Your theory doesn't apply to me."

"You really don't understand," Rider suddenly interjected. "Since you represent the law, since you weave destiny, then for the king, there is only one choice: to make you his concubine."

"Because only the king is the law, only the king can control destiny. If a king does not pursue these things, how can he be called a king?"

"Exactly," Golden Flash nodded. "A king will not allow anyone else to write his destiny, nor will he allow anyone else to wield his laws. If you hadn't appeared, I would have at most lamented the cruel twists of fate. But since you've delivered yourself to my doorstep, no king would refuse you!"

"You should be grateful," Golden Flash said, clutching his wine glass. "You're Goddess, so at least you have the option of becoming a member of my harem."

"What if I'm not a female god?" Li Pu finally understood. In truth, Golden Flash and the King of Conquerors weren't much different from Kevin and Siegfried. Kevin and Siegfried transferred their love to themselves because they deeply loved the ones they loved.

For Golden Flash and the King of Conquerors, love had nothing to do with it; what they represented as Goddess was something they had to control.

Therefore, they must obtain themselves, even above the Holy Grail, no matter what.

Because he represents royal power.

The law is the embodiment of the ruler's will, therefore the law is the true monarchy, and they will not relinquish their monarchy.

"The sword," said the King of Conquerors.

"Blood," said the King of Heroes.

"Very well then." Li Pu flew up and said, "Since the Holy Grail has given me the opportunity to meet you mortal kings."

"Then let me see if you really have the ability to conquer me!"

Chapter Twenty-Eight Army of the King

Both Rider and Golden Flash have already made their stance clear.

For these former kings, even those who were described as tyrants, what they valued was not the bloodline of 'god,' but the significance that Li Pu represented.

Kings are ordained by Heaven, or are themselves incarnations of gods on earth. They speak the will of Heaven, and their will is the will of the state, and their actions are the actions of the state.

They were well aware that the law was the ultimate expression of the ruler's will, and that undermining the rule of law was tantamount to undermining royal power. Therefore, the appearance of Li Pu, the Goddess who held the reins of justice, left them with no other choice.

If it were any other king, perhaps some compromise could be reached with Li Pu, since he himself was originally 'ordained by Heaven'.

But for kings like Iskandar and Gilgamesh, the choice was much smaller. They were incapable of submission or bowing down; their powerful pride and kingly ideals left them with only one option: 'You become mine, and I will rule the law. You can rule the law because you are my woman.' In any case, this was, at least in their own eyes, the best way.

Otherwise, the only way is through conquest with iron and blood!

"And what about my wish?" Saber asked as Li Pu's conversation with Gilgamesh and Iskandar came to an end. "Goddess of Fate, I remember you said you could grant my wish."

"Hmm..." Li Pu didn't rush to refute anything. She said, "If in exchange you give me the Holy Grail, I will grant your wish, because it is a transaction. As a transaction, I will naturally keep my promise."

"But if it's not as a transaction and you just make a wish to me directly," Li Pu waved his hand and said, "I won't grant it."

"Why?" Saber countered, "Is it because of the price? If it is, I am willing to pay any price to achieve it."

"No, no, no, no~" Li Pu shook his head and said, "This shouldn't be just your problem. Rider and others all feel the same way. As long as it's worth the price, we're willing to pay. It's like giving you a body; you can pay any price if you want."

"Of course," Rider said. "As for the era, my past is the past, and what I want to do is not to restore the past, but to create a new future, a new era. If there is a price to pay, I can afford it!"

"But the problem is that the price isn't like a business transaction," Li Pu explained. "You pay, I take, and then I grant your wish."

"The cost is unknown, and a price needs to be paid. The one who bears this price may not be you, but the world," Li Pu said. "Of course I can give you a physical body; it's that simple. I can just ask Death for a shell, put your soul inside, and connect the causal chain. But I don't know what will happen in the future, because I don't know how much uncertainty your existence will bring to the future."

"Perhaps because of you, the future of this world may be bright, or it may lead to the end of human civilization." Li Pu explained, "As Goddess, I would not gamble with that."

"The same goes for Saber," Li Pu said. "You want to go back in time, you want to change history. I don't know what your actions will bring to the world, or what changing history will bring."

"Of course, I could try it as a trade," Li Pu added. "As the Goddess of Fate, I cannot gamble with this world, but as a trade..."

"The nature of this has changed again. If I, as Goddess, were to fulfill this wish, then I, and perhaps this world, would be the ones paying and bearing the price. But if it becomes a transaction, then the world will use this price as a bargaining chip and pass it on to the person who wants to fulfill their wish. As for what additional price you yourself will bear or pay, that has nothing to do with me."

"You can do that?" Golden Flash said. "That sounds interesting."

"Of course," Li Pu said matter-of-factly, shrugging his shoulders. "That's how the Demon Race do it. They grant those bizarre wishes without disturbing the world. They then use the law of exchange to transfer all the huge risks associated with those wishes to the other party. So, for the Demon Race, the wish has been fulfilled, and they take what they want. As for what additional costs you have to bear, that's your own business."

"Hahaha~ No wonder the legends say that no one who makes a deal with a demon ever ends up well." Rider laughed and said, "But Saber, it sounds like your wish is to go back in time and change history?"

"Yes," Saber answered without hesitation, "I want to go back to the past to save my homeland, and use this wish to save Britain's fate."

'It's begun...' Li Pu watched the farce unfolding below, a spectacle for Golden Flash and the King of Conquerors all because of Saber. She had no intention of interrupting with some profound pronouncements in support of Saber or kicking her while she was down and belittling her wishes to nothing.

Her only concern was whether Golden Flash would try to turn Saber into his own treasure, just like in the original story.

However, to Li Pu's disappointment, nothing happened. When Saber loudly proclaimed her belief that the King should be right and should do the right thing, Golden Flash could only laugh.

He didn't even try to use the kind of wonderful metaphors found in the original work.

He simply turned to look at Li Pu and said, "Hey, hey, hey~ My concubine, is this your ally? Is this the king you acknowledge? She's just a little girl bound by 'correctness.' It's a tragedy for you to be on her side. Why don't you throw yourself into my arms now? I'll show you what a true king is."

"Whether you agree with her ideas or not," Li Pu began, "She is the queen who is celebrated in history."

"Oh~ then it's decided." Golden Flash pointed at Saber and said, "Saber, let me, the king, judge your fate."

Golden Flash's words didn't seem to cause Saber to react with the same explosive reaction as in the original story, quickly escalating the tension at the party. It seemed that because of his presence, Golden Flash was focusing all his attention on him, not Saber.

"Hey, Gilgamesh," Li Pu suddenly said, "I don't know if you heard what I said earlier."

"Whoever brought in the cockroaches is responsible for cleaning them up."

"It seems..." she said, looking at Golden Flash with great interest, "That some uninvited guests have intruded into this banquet."

An uninvited guest appeared at the banquet, and although the banquet and Golden Flash's attitude were not like those in the story, Assassin's appearance was like an unchangeable historical inertia.

"Cockroaches?" Golden Flash rarely showed a hint of embarrassment and displeasure as he said, "This was not arranged by me."

"I am not the kind of person without taste."

Faced with the sudden appearance of Assassins in the venue, Saber donned her armor to protect her. Waver, standing nearby, quickly scrambled to Rider's side. He looked utterly panicked, exclaiming, "What's going on? Why are Assassins appearing one after another?"

"Hassan Sabah," Li Pu said, looking at the Assassins with interest, "Is one of Hassan Old Man of the Mountain, the nineteenth leader of the Assassin Order to inherit the name 'Hassan Sabah.' He is known by the awe-inspiring title 'The Hundred Faces' due to his diverse skills, vast knowledge, and the unpredictable, mysterious spirituality of his actions."

"What's interesting is that the reason for its 'Hundred Faces' is, in modern terms, multiple personality disorder."