The Moment to Choose a King

"Hey, Assassin, haven't you gotten something wrong?" Mordred rose to her feet and questioned Shirou. "There's something seriously wrong with what you said, isn't there?"

Shirou ignored her and continued his analysis. "Saber, Mordred, the rebellious Knight of the Round Table, perished together with her father, Artoria, at the end of her life. What was it that you desired, Mordred? Did you kill Artoria in anger because you were deemed unfit to be king? Or had you received no love from her at all, and so killed her under Morgan's instigation?"

The Moment of Choosing a King

After Shirou finished speaking, Mordred fell silent.

She realized that what he had said seemed entirely correct. The words of denial that had been ready to leave her lips would not come out.

She wanted to deny it, yet had no way to do so.

Shirou's words had cut deeper than even her own understanding of herself.

"How did you know?" Mordred asked with difficulty. She realized that her Master, Shishigou Kairi, had likely had his innermost thoughts exposed just now as well.

"Well, just assume I can read minds."

Shirou smiled.

Mordred seemed to take him seriously. She nodded and sat back down.

Brats really were easy to fool.

But in truth, Shirou had conducted a certain amount of intelligence analysis on both Master and Servant.

Ever since deciding to persuade the two of them last night, Shirou had begun looking into Mordred and Shishigou Kairi, especially Mordred.

Shirou did not have a particularly clear picture of Shishigou Kairi's past. The intelligence contained only scattered fragments of information. But as for Mordred's experiences, Shirou had heard of them both from books and occasionally from Artoria herself.

Moreover, this Mordred appeared to be only nine years old and had scarcely ever received anyone's