Crossover Anime: Picking up Medea at the Start

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Meili's assessment of this was—it's not as good as her own way of having fun!

Having understood these points, Mary's question naturally hit the nail on the head.

Even now, Artoria was somewhat dazed after hearing Mel's question.

However, she also gave her own answer.

"Perhaps when they realize they are fundamentally incapable of fulfilling that responsibility..."

Artoria let out a sigh of relief, but her gaze toward Melie remained very serious.

"...Merlin showed me this scene countless times when he was teaching me: I was standing in front of the sword in the stone, reaching out my hand towards the hilt."

"And every time this happens, Merlin reminds me that once you draw this sword, you will no longer be human."

"Until I actually pulled the sword out of the stone."

“Merry, for a long time, I couldn’t understand Merlin’s words, because I didn’t really think drawing a sword was that powerful. But after my identity changed, I experienced my friends breaking the law, my relatives betraying me, and even the execution of not-so-bad criminals…”

"I think I already sensed it at that time."

"The being named Artoria is not a chosen one at all, and is not even suitable to be a king."

"She would be heartbroken to the point of being unable to execute a friend, resentful of losing a duel, lonely because of a relative's betrayal, and even feel pity for a hateful person because of their pitiful side..."

"So when I realized this, I understood what Merlin meant."

"After I pulled out that sword, I was no longer human."

"The human named Artoria died at that moment, and in her place should be the King of Britain, the Chosen King."

"The king will not feel pain, the king will not fail, the king will not be lonely, the king will not feel pity..."

"Before being a human being, I must first be a king."

At this point, Artoria gave a somewhat bitter smile.

"But I still failed, I still couldn't save Britain's fate. I still feel heartbroken, I can't sleep because of the knights who died in the war. I still feel lonely. Even though I knew about my sister's situation, I still didn't execute her. I still feel sympathy. After Lord Lancelot and Guinevere got together, I still couldn't bear to execute my comrades."

"So you shouldn't ask me when I relinquished my responsibilities as king. You should ask me how I relinquished them, since I was never suited to be king in the first place."

As Artoria got to this point, she thought of the Britain she had seen after making a wish upon the Holy Grail, but she continued speaking anyway.

"But at that time, no one was more suitable than me, so it seems that a fraudster like me played the role of the chosen king on the throne for so many years."

"Similarly, if a truly suitable king, a true chosen king, appears, then I should make way for him, shouldn't I?"

Upon hearing Artoria's words, Melie fell silent.

She wasn't rendered speechless by Artoria's words, but rather speechless because she didn't know how to scold Merlin.

At once......

She actually felt that she had gone too far enough in teaching Arthur.

Because she mostly enjoys watching others have fun, she often deceives Arthur, and even the fact that Arthur is now being used as a tool is only because he was tricked by her.

But...she felt that compared to Merlin, she was practically a saint!

After all, even if Arthur, who had been deceived by her for years, was a bit naive and rigid, at least he was mentally sound...

He never agonized over whether he was a qualified king; he only did what he believed was right and what he was capable of doing.

And this Artoria before me...

what! ?

The phrase "You will no longer be human once you pull out this sword" made Mary's blood pressure rise!

She didn't believe that Merlin, as her counterpart, would be unaware of Artoria's thoughts.

Then why say such things in the first place...?

Is this some kind of performance art?

Or is Merlin a psychopath who can find amusement in such a twisted and cruel life?

For a moment, Merlin was at a loss for words.

Seeing Melie's silence, Artoria decided to end the conversation.

"I can roughly sense that you seem worried about my current state, but there's nothing to worry about. I've simply been freed from the identity of the Chosen King I was playing and have returned to being Alto 550 Lydia."

"If this version of me disappoints you, I can apologize, but I will never change."

"Because what stands before you now is the real Artoria, imperfect, but this is the true me."

After leaving those words behind, Artoria turned and left, clearly not intending to listen to anything more from Melie.

As Mel watched Artoria leave, she didn't try to stop her, but just scratched her hair in frustration.

"This situation is really tricky..."

"Yes."

As Mary complained, Roland's voice rang out; somehow, he had already walked up to Mary's side.

Mary wasn't surprised by this; she simply went along with what Roland had said.

"So, do you have any good ideas about this?"

Roland smiled when he heard what Mary said.

Artoria is indeed troublesome right now.

Because she formed a divine personality after developing a mental block, she felt that everything she was doing now was right, and she became completely absorbed in her own mental block.

However, as the first among the gods to condense a divine spark, while Tiamat's divine spark has almost reached its complete form, Artoria's remains in the state it was when her divine spark first awakened...

However, Roland discovered this very early on.

so...

"Have."

....

166. He never took the Holy Grail War to heart.

“I have my own plan. It’s not that simple to talk about her like this, so I plan to warm things up here first, and then after everything is over here, I’ll go and take drastic measures on the other side so that she can get out of this on her own.”

"So if you're not sure, don't worry about all that other nonsense, so as not to cause any unforeseen consequences for my plans."

"Oh, right—after all, you're an assistant that Alaya called for, so let me say welcome, Melly."

Roland left after saying these words, and then departed from Merry's side.

After Roland left, Mary slowly smiled.

She likes fun things.

Now she finds the relationship between Roland and Artoria very interesting.

So suddenly, Meili felt that the task Gaia and Alaya had given her suddenly became interesting, and she was no longer as resistant as when she first received the task.

However, since Roland had said so, Mary was no longer in a hurry.

after all

Alaya and Gaia have given her more than just the matter of Sieg here; there are also a series of follow-up issues. So, barring any unforeseen circumstances, she will be staying by Roland's side for a long time to come.

So she has plenty of time to enjoy herself.

After the Heroic Spirit Summoning Ritual concludes, it's time to begin planning.

Roland had already told Joan of Arc what needed to be said, and Joan of Arc had told the others as well, so Roland didn't explain much this time, but directly assigned the task.

Cú Chulainn, Hercules, and Iskandar were assigned by Roland to deploy on the front lines.

The remaining people were divided into three groups by Roland.

One group was led by Roland himself, another group was led by Artoria, and the last group consisted of Illya, Yuuka, and Rin Tohsaka. The three of them stayed behind in Einzbern to make arrangements and cooperate with Cú Chulainn and the other two in rear defense and logistics.

Of the two groups responsible for the operation, Artoria's group had more members.

Artoria, Meli, and Bazette—the three of them together—are heading towards the Yggdrasil's headquarters in Romania, with the ultimate goal of obtaining the Greater Grail and then using Artoria's power to ride the Light Horse back.

Roland and Joan of Arc, while pursuing their goal of obtaining the Greater Grail, will also make a trip to the Hanging Gardens where Amakusa Shiro Tokisada resides.

"Going to find Amakusa Shiro Tokisada at this time? Are you planning to test him or eliminate him first?"

After Joan of Arc and Roland joined forces, she raised this question.

Roland, however, turned his attention to her.

"If you feel more at ease this way, then that's fine."

“As I said before, the rules of the game are always made by the strong. So although I don’t think so, if you want to do it that way, we can add killing him directly to the objectives of this operation.”

"After all, whether you kill one or two, it's still killing people, so it doesn't matter."

Upon hearing Roland's reply, Joan of Arc fell into deep thought.

During this time, she also gained some understanding of Roland.

She knew very well that although Roland seemed arrogant, he was actually a very cautious person, so if he said that, it meant that these things were trivial matters.