The Calm Before the Storm (Please Subscribe!)

[Tch—]

Medea, whose unpleasant memories had been stirred up, seemed able to do nothing but vent her dissatisfaction on the wineglass before her.

And she wasn't the only one who was displeased.

Saber was furious. Archer had mercilessly mocked the wish she cherished above all else, and to her, this was the greatest insult imaginable.

"...Archer, what's so funny?"

"—Calling yourself a king—praised by all your people—and you still feel 'regret'? Ha! How could anyone not laugh at that? Magnificent! Saber, I've discovered that you're the greatest entertainment at this banquet!"

Archer laughed so hard that his words came out in broken fragments.

"King of Knights... Do you mean to deny the history you created?" Even Rider frowned, regarding Saber with displeasure.

"Indeed... Are you surprised? Do you find it funny? As a king, the country I devoted myself to was destroyed. What's wrong with mourning it?" Saber answered Rider's challenge without hesitation, her expression resolute as she spoke of her ideals.

"Hey, Rider, did you hear that? This little girl calling herself the King of Knights actually said she 'devoted herself to her country'!" Hearing Saber's answer, Archer burst into laughter once more, as if he'd just heard the funniest joke in the world.

Rider answered Archer with a deepening silence. But to Saber, that was just as insulting as being mocked. So she angrily challenged the two kings:

"I don't see what's so funny. A king should naturally step forward and strive for the prosperity of their country!"

"You're wrong."

Rider firmly and sternly rejected her words:

"It isn't the king who devotes himself to the country. The country and its people devote everything they have to the king. A king is someone whom the entire 'country' looks up to and reveres, following his will! That is what a king is!"

Saber's anger could no longer be contained. Her voice grew slightly hoarse with rage:

"Isn't that just tyranny? Rider, Archer, ruling as you do is the greatest mistake of all!"

"Indeed. But we're not only tyrants—we're heroes, too."

Rider answered calmly, without even moving an eyebrow. There was no need for doubt; he firmly believed that the path he had walked as a king was the truth.

"So, Saber, if a king is dissatisfied with the results of his rule, that only proves he's a fool of a king—worse than a tyrant."

"Tch—"

An ill-timed snort suddenly sounded amid the increasingly heated banquet. It was faint compared with the kings' debate, but that somewhat impolite laugh still didn't escape anyone's notice.

Everyone turned their eyes toward its source: the conspicuous figure in purple at the banquet.

Caster's cheeks were faintly flushed, the color reaching her earlobes and trailing down her pale neck...

[Is she drunk?]

Looking at the unusual Medea beside him, Wang Xiaoming felt a little puzzled. She hadn't even drunk that much. But then, this was the first time he'd seen Medea drink; perhaps she couldn't hold her liquor.

Though his mind was wandering, Wang Xiaoming still instinctively straightened his back and leaned away a little.

Medea didn't refuse his kindness. She leaned slightly to the right, resting her right arm against his side.

The intimate yet not-quite-suggestive pose left Wang Xiaoming a little distracted.

Whether modern wine could really get a witch from the Age of the Gods drunk was something only Medea herself knew.

"Hey, Caster, I can't just pretend I didn't hear that snort!"

Rider wasn't the only one. The other two kings also glared at Medea over her undisguised mockery. If Rider hadn't spoken first, that glittering golden king would probably have already hurled an insult at her.

Wang Xiaoming felt his body stiffen. He could sense the battle smoke that had been aimed at Saber now turning this way—and with three times the intensity.

But the person leaning against him clearly had no awareness that she'd made everyone furious. As if completely ignoring the atmosphere, Medea snorted again.

"Rider, who's both a tyrant and a hero, are you sure you want me to say it?"

"As a king, I should naturally listen to the people's opinions. If you have any suggestions, you're welcome to voice them."

Rider's hearty response made Medea open her half-lidded, tipsy eyes. Her lips parted:

"..."

This is probably the last chapter before the story goes behind a paywall.

Emmmm.

Allow me to stop here.

I'll save the rest for the author's note, 233.

(Runs!)

Author's Note

I've read novels for many years

and written quite a lot myself,

but this is my first time going behind a paywall, so I'm a little excited, 23333.

I've written so many words already. I'm truly grateful you've stayed with me this far,

thank you so much.

As for bonus chapters after the paywall:

I'll post them on the weekend,

because I have to go to my thesis defense during the day. QAQ

As for how many bonus chapters:

Let's base it on the initial subscriptions.

One thousand initial subscribers gets two bonus chapters (I feel like that's out of reach).

The more initial subscribers, the more bonus chapters (that's even less realistic).

If the average subscription count gets high enough, I'll consider posting two chapters a day (the full-attendance bonus is a distant dream).

Anyway,

the story goes behind a paywall tomorrow at exactly ten in the morning~

Please, please subscribe!

Chapter 57: The Calm Before the Storm (Please Subscribe!)

"I thought this banquet might offer some interesting stories, but now it seems..."

Medea's half-lidded, pale blue eyes, dulled by drink, swept over the three kings in turn:

"...it's nothing more than two self-important people engaging in laughable, pointless tests of each other."

The hearty smile that still lingered at the corner of Rider's mouth suddenly froze. Even Archer's crimson eyes flashed with surprise.

Neither king could have imagined that anyone would make such an arrogant, unrestrained remark at a banquet.

Even Saber looked perplexed and confused. She couldn't understand why Caster had stepped in to defuse the situation for her.

Silence—

The atmosphere was even heavier than it had been when Saber spoke.

"Caster—"

It was Rider again, but beneath his low voice was anger on the verge of erupting:

"Although this is a banquet for heroes, if you have no explanation for what you just said, then..."

Rider left his words unfinished, but everyone present understood. If Caster couldn't provide a reasonable explanation, the banquet would come to an end. After all, the wrath of three kings was not something one could easily withstand.

The person who had brought this situation about showed no sign of realizing it. Medea glanced at Rider and spoke in her half-drunk voice, though her words still carried clearly to everyone present: "Iskandar, King of Conquerors, the renowned Alexander the Great. Your footsteps reached three continents, and your fame has endured for a thousand years. You are an undying legend—your goal was to see the ends of the world."

Medea's voice was utterly calm, with no trace of mockery:

"You consider yourself a tyrant, yet you take pride in it, because you passed your wishes and your will on to your people and guided them along their way. Even though your country was destroyed, the path you walked was glorious. You have no regrets."

Praise was always pleasant to hear, but Medea clearly wasn't saying this to extol Rider's achievements.

"But..."

Medea's tone shifted:

"King of Conquerors, you spent your life at war, leaving rivers of blood wherever you went. How many people lost their homelands and were forced into exile because of you? Whatever your original wish may have been, it cannot erase the slaughter you caused. Your soldiers had parents and wives of their own, too. But because of your ideal, they campaigned far from home. Their parents may have grown old and died without seeing them again; their wives may have wept and worried every day; their children may have grown up without ever meeting their fathers. Or perhaps your soldiers had long grown weary of war and yearned to return home, only to die in a foreign land."

"Even so, your soldiers trusted and loved you, and were willing to follow you as you conquered one city-state after another. As a king, you should be proud to have such an army."

"Indeed." Rider replied solemnly.

"They have always been my peerless army, my treasure, and the path of my kingship."

Medea paid no mind to Rider's proud words and continued:

"Then, as a king, have you ever considered that after your death, your decision would split your country into four parts? The fruits of your and your army's labor would come to nothing. Your once peaceful homeland would be consumed by war, and your soldiers would even have to take up arms against the comrades-in-arms they once fought beside, just to survive."

"Iskandar, perhaps you were an unparalleled general when it came to leading troops. But as the king of the Macedonian Empire... your shortsightedness was the chief culprit behind your country's destruction."

"...That's why I've never denied that I was a tyrant."

After a long silence, Rider gave a wry smile, then straightened his chest, his gaze unwavering:

"I'll mourn the fall of Macedon, and I'll shed tears for it, because it was my decision. So I ought to bear that stain. But I have no regrets."

Rider's words darkened Saber's expression.

"Viper, it seems your venom had no effect on Rider."

After Rider finished speaking, Archer, who had been watching from the side, suddenly laughed.

Viper was his new name for Medea.

"Heh—"

Medea wasn't angered by the insulting name. Instead, she gave a laugh that was almost mocking.

"Then what do you call yourself, after the serpent devoured your hope of immortality?"

Medea spoke meaningfully, leaving everyone present unable to react to her words for a moment.

"Bastard, you..."

Archer's expression changed abruptly.

Clatter—

Tohsaka Tokiomi was using Magecraft to spy on the banquet. The teacup slipped from his hand and smashed on the floor, but he didn't even notice.

"Kirei, Caster must have recognized Archer's identity, right?"

Tohsaka Tokiomi murmured to himself.

"Judging from what Caster just said, she seems to have learned Archer's true name, though I don't know how."

Kirei Kotomine's calm, steady voice came through the communicator.

"Gather Assassin at once. Use a Command Spell if necessary! Caster absolutely must not reveal anything else."

"As you command, Master."

After ending the call, Kirei Kotomine stared expressionlessly at the Heroic Spirits in the distance. A faint red light glowed around the Command Spell on the back of his right hand, but for some reason, it soon dimmed again. He turned and left.

Whatever Tohsaka Tokiomi and Kirei Kotomine were thinking, the debate at the banquet continued.

"Bastard, you!"

Medea's unexpected words made Archer's expression change abruptly.

"Bastard? Then what should someone of mixed human and divine blood like you be called, Archer?"

Another question successfully ignited the fury in Archer's heart:

"Woman, you're asking to die!"

Archer's crimson eyes burned with the wrath of a red lotus.

Watching the golden Archer before her flare up after she'd provoked him, Medea, already somewhat tipsy, felt a strange sense of satisfaction. She stopped holding back: