Since Altria was a girl and could not directly inherit the throne, King Uther and Merlin sent her to the home of the old knight Sir Ector when she was about 5 years old in order to keep her out of the public eye during her growth.
From then on, Altria lived a poor life in her adoptive father's house, training in swordsmanship and etiquette as an apprentice knight, and participating in farming with her father and brothers.
Even during the only three hours of sleep she had each day, Merlin continued to instill the king's teachings in her.
In this way, Altria gradually grew up through endless learning.
When she was 15, her father, Uther Pendragon, died.
According to Merlin's prophecy, the knights will choose a new king by extracting the sword from the stone.
However, the selection of the Sword in the Stone was too difficult. Countless knights tried but failed. Even the knights began to doubt the authenticity of Merlin's prophecy.
It was in this situation that Artoria came to the Sword in the Stone.
Facing the sword that would decide her fate, Merlin's voice echoed in her mind.
"Before you pick up that thing, you'd better think carefully. Once you pick up that sword, you will no longer be a human being until the end. You will be hated by all humans and will eventually meet a tragic death."
Artoria fell silent in response to Merlin's prophecy.
She knew very well that once she pulled out the sword from the stone, she would no longer be the little girl who studied and trained hard to become a king, but a true king.
In order to protect the people, her sword will be stained with blood. Even if she is abandoned, betrayed, and reviled, there is no turning back. But even so, she did not hesitate at all and drew out the "golden sword of victory" as if it was a matter of course.
Immediately, the girl named Altria disappeared, and the only one left was the Knight King Arthur, who gave his all to defend Britain.
…
"So that's how it is..."
"I really didn't expect that... What Altria is carrying is too shocking. It is completely beyond the upper limit of what a person can bear."
"To become a king just for the sake of becoming a king, to save the country just for the sake of saving the country, such a life is too empty..."
"… "
All of a sudden, after reading the first half of Altria's story, readers all expressed their feelings.
Everyone was surprised at the heavy pressure Saber was carrying.
It can be said that Altria was built as a machine called the king almost from the moment she was born, and everything she did was a preparation for becoming the king in the future.
This is far beyond the burden that ordinary people can bear, and it is something that only people with extremely strong will can barely accomplish.
But even so, according to the setting in "FateZero", Altria still failed to protect her country, and even after spending half her life, she still couldn't save the situation.
Seeing this, people gradually understood why Altria, as a king, still pursued the so-called Holy Grail after her death and gave up everything for an illusory wish.
After all, if one is born for only one purpose, and gives everything for it, risking one's life, but still fails to achieve it in the end, no one would be able to accept such a result.
After failing, Altria did not collapse completely. Instead, she chose to pursue the Holy Grail, trying to use the power of the Holy Grail to reverse her fate and change the past, which proved that she was determined enough.
Of course, this also makes people more curious about her story, wanting to know what she went through to end up like that.
…
After inheriting the throne, Altria concealed her true gender and even married Queen Guinevere as a king, holding a grand wedding and announcing it to the world.
On the wedding night, Artoria confessed everything to the queen. Although Guinevere, who had always admired the king, was sad, she still expressed understanding.
After that, Artoria led Lancelot, Gawain and other knights and established countless feats.
Unlike other kings, she always stood at the forefront, and no enemy dared to block her way forward. In this way, she won 12 major battles in a row in 10 years, making the originally weak kingdom unprecedentedly powerful and making the king's reputation like a god.
She was seen as a symbol of fairness and selflessness by both her enemies and the people of her own country. Even though both enemies and people died in the war, the king's decisions were always considered correct.
Under the leadership of Artoria, the army was able to easily regroup and was almost unscathed when defeating the invading barbarian forces. As they swept through the battlefield, the fortress built specifically to defend King Arthur was easily defeated and collapsed. The enemies all fell apart with the joining of the king.
During the war, the Sword in the Stone that Altria had been holding in her hand was broken.
In order to regain the weapon, Merlin took her to a holy lake and let her get the holy sword Excailbur given by the lake elves. Merlin also told her to keep the scabbard of the holy sword at least at all times. However, the scabbard was accidentally lost in the end.
In short, after regaining the whole of Britain, Altria governed the entire country like a mechanical balance.
She calculates every gain and loss precisely and handles every event with absolute correctness.
Thanks to Altria's amazing ability, Britain's crisis was gradually reversed, and everything seemed hopeful.
But readers who already know the ending know very well that all this seemingly beautiful thing is just a glimmer of hope before the final destruction.
Before the storm comes, there is always a brief calm.
Chapter 365: "Fate Zero" Complete Setting Collection Released! (VI)
Chapter 365
The story of Altria has officially entered the second half.
In the first half, she seemed to have successfully protected the country and defeated powerful enemies, but all victories in war must be achieved at a corresponding price.
In order to protect the people of Britain from being slaughtered, Altria needed to squeeze the supplies of a village to reorganize her military.
Even though they fought against foreign invaders under the pretext of defending their country, a large number of people still died of famine.
However, even so, Artoria still firmly believed that all this was correct. She firmly believed that a king could not rule the country while being full of kindness and indecisiveness.
So when she sat on the throne, she never showed any sadness and judged everything coldly.
But precisely because of her coldness and lack of emotion, the knights under her gradually began to doubt the king's decisions, began to fear the king's cold and ruthless decisions, and even believed that this was a stain on chivalry.
Because of this, even after she won many battles and led the people in an orderly manner, her Knight Tristan murmured, "King Arthur does not understand the hearts of the people," and then left the Knights of the Round Table.
Tristan's words caused the other knights to become disloyal, and they began to doubt that Altria was no longer able to lead them.
Lords and nobles from all over the country gradually came up with more ideas, eager to see the king's fall so as to profit from it.
Thus, when Altria reached the tenth year of her reign as king, the relationship between Lancelot and Queen Guinevere came to light.
It turned out that due to the fact that Altria was a woman, Guinevere secretly fell in love with Lancelot, who often came to visit her, and their relationship lasted for almost ten years.
Although Altria knew that it was not Lancelot's fault, she could not tell the truth, so she had to exile Lancelot and Guinevere.
After this, Altria suddenly discovered that she had a 'son', who was actually a man-made human created by her sister Morgan le Fay, Mordred, who was also a woman like her.
Mordred is very powerful. He has been aiming to be his father, Altria, since he was a child, hoping to inherit the throne.
After becoming a Knight of the Round Table, Mordred immediately took off his helmet, revealing a face that was extremely similar to Artoria, told his life story, and claimed his inheritance rights.
Altria was not without confusion about this fact, but she was well aware of Britain's rough fate. Mordred's ability was not enough to save Britain, so she decisively rejected him.
Of course, for the sake of the overall situation, before going on the expedition, Artoria still entrusted the responsibility of protecting the kingdom to Mordred, hoping to influence this stubborn Knight of the Round Table through this action.
With the other two Knights of the Round Table, Gawain and Kai, in charge, Artoria was reassured about the safety of the kingdom.
However, Kai went out secretly for some reasons, leaving Gawain alone.
Moreover, Mordred also betrayed the king's trust. The more passionate her love for the king was, the stronger her hatred became. She believed that her "father" did not recognize her as his "son" and was taking his dissatisfaction with Morgan out on her.
In this way, under the instigation of Morgan, Mordred took the opportunity to lead his troops in rebellion, and those princes and lords who had always had evil intentions also joined Mordred's army.
Upon returning from the expedition, Artoria was already exhausted, and her strength was far less than that of her peak period.
In the end, the two sides fought the Battle of Camlan, and both she and Mordred were injured.
Artoria killed the rebellious knight with the holy spear Rongomyniad, and before dying, Mordred smashed his father's skull and blinded one of Artoria's eyes.
Lancelot, the former chief knight, led his troops to rescue the king, but it was too late, and the Knight of the Round Table regretted it for the rest of his life.
In the end, Artoria, who fell on Camlan Hill, was heartbroken as she watched her kingdom impending destruction.
She gave up her female identity and became a male king, froze her heart and lost her human emotions, and for the survival of the kingdom, she killed countless innocent people with her sword.
And all of this is to ensure that his kingdom can continue as long as possible.
When all her efforts and hard work went down the drain, she simply couldn't accept such an outcome.
When she was about to die, she made a contract with the "world" Alaya, hoping to obtain the Holy Grail and make a wish to "return to the day of choosing the king" even at the cost of eternal reincarnation.
In this way, Altria began her journey to the Holy Grail.
…
The story of Altria's life is very long and cannot be summarized in a few simple sentences, so even if it is just a simple setting collection, it took a thick chapter to write it.
It took readers a long time to read all these stories and savor them.
But even so, at the moment when they came to their senses, a feeling of heaviness and depression still shrouded their hearts, and they were unable to utter a word.
"This is really..."
"According to what the book says, Altria is too miserable. She was created to save the country, but the situation in the kingdom was too bad. Relying on the power of one person, she could only completely sacrifice her humanity to consider the overall situation. Later, she was even betrayed by her own 'child' and died because of her sister's conspiracy. Even so, after her death, she still pursued the Holy Grail to save the country, and she was not afraid of eternal reincarnation. This is really miserable!!"
"Yes, to be honest, as a king, Altria did everything well enough, but in the end she still failed to truly save Britain. However, her feelings are understandable, and her obsession with the Holy Grail is quite nonchalant."
"For a king, Altria has done very well. Now thinking back to the meeting between the three kings, she should have been able to give a reasonable rebuttal to the King of Conquerors, but perhaps the King of Conquerors' pressure was too great, which caused Altria to be unable to fight back at the time."
"The King of Conquerors lived in a prosperous era. If the situation was reversed and he was born in Britain where Altria is, who knows what would happen."
"From this perspective, Gilgamesh seems to be the most powerful king. Under his rule, Uruk remained prosperous even in the face of the conflict between humans and gods. He is actually the one who did the best."
“So sometimes, whether something is done well or not is not determined by how it is said, but by how it is done…”
"But even so, Gilgamesh is still a tyrant. I still can't like this guy."
"… "
The people's words rang out, and after reading the story of Altria's life, their emotions were indeed heartfelt.
Chapter 366: "Fate Zero" Complete Setting Collection Released! (Part 7)
Chapter 366
After finishing the topic of Artoria, the people couldn't help but focus their attention on another participant in the Holy Grail War, the berserker Lancelot.
Since Lancelot is a heroic spirit from the same era as Artoria, the "Fate Zero" setting collection puts his story and Artoria's story together and tells them in a concentrated manner.
Lancelot was originally the chief knight of the Knights of the Round Table, but was exiled by Altria because he had an affair with Queen Guinevere.
He knew very well that he was able to take Guinevere away entirely because of Altria's kindness, but precisely because he knew the king's mercy, when he learned that Altria had met a devastating end in the Battle of Camlan, he rushed to rescue her immediately, but failed and eventually collapsed.
Lancelot believed that it was his fault that led to the destruction of Britain. If it weren't for his betrayal, Artoria would never have faced such a result.
Therefore, Lancelot spent the rest of his life in depression and collapse, and even fell into the path of evil. After his death, he became a servant of Berserker.
"this… "
After seeing this scene, readers suddenly didn’t know what to feel.
After all, the Lancelot described here is almost completely different from the Lancelot in "Fate Zero". The Lancelot in the movie has an unspeakable obsession with Altria, and he attacks Altria in madness in almost every battle.
He even forced Artoria into desperate situations several times and killed his former master with his own hands.
Therefore, it is impossible for people to connect the berserker in the movie with Lancelot, who feels guilty and depressed about Altria.
But soon someone saw the problem and said:
"I think Lancelot keeps attacking Artoria because he wants to atone for his sins. He hopes that he can be killed by Artoria herself and redeem himself, so he behaves like a madman towards her."
"That's true. Lancelot's expression before his death was obviously not expressing resentment towards Altria. Instead, it seemed like he was relieved."
"Because of endless guilt, he fell into the abyss, and participated in the Holy Grail War in order to die at the hands of the King. This is also an absolute tragedy."
"Why is the entire Fate series full of tragedies? Can't there be a happy ending?"
"Will the next "Fatestay Night" also be a tragedy? This is too hard to accept."
"Director, please be a human being."
"… "
All of a sudden, all kinds of sounds rang out at the scene.
The audience who finished reading the setting collection not only felt satisfied, but also gained a deeper understanding of the entire "Fate Zero" and thoroughly understood the reasons why the characters in the story acted.
It can be said that after seeing the past of the heroes, the story of the entire "Fate Zero" has become more full, and the audience has more admiration for the movie.
Of course, in addition to this, the audience is also looking forward to the next sequel of the Fate series "Fate Stay Night".
Although I feel like I might be fed a mouthful of glass shards again, I still hope that the next movie will be released soon.
…
At the same time, at the Imperial Academy of Magic.