webnovelvip Chapter 53 King of Heroes
Chapter 53 King of Heroes
After returning from Aika's mansion, Ayaka was still sitting in the living room with her notebook open on her lap.
She looked at the doorway and saw Arthur push it open and come in. Her shoulders relaxed slightly, an instinctive reaction after holding her breath for too long.
Then she lowered her head and continued looking at her notebook, as if that moment of relaxation had never happened.
"What did my sister say?"
"I'll go again tomorrow."
Ayaka's fingers paused for a moment on the edge of the notebook.
"Um."
She didn't ask if her sister had mentioned her; she simply closed her notebook, stood up, and said, "There are rice balls in the kitchen; I saved some for you."
Arthur looked at her. "Aren't you going to ask her why she only sees me?"
Ayaka lowered her head. "She never explains. I'm used to it."
She turned and walked toward the stairs, stopping after a few steps without looking back. "But this was the first time she had ever written a letter to someone." Her footsteps faded at the end of the corridor.
That night, Arthur sent the message of "peace" for the day through the anchor point. After a long time, the anchor point responded, and he understood what it meant.
Meryl asked, "Who did you meet?"
Arthur did not answer; he did not know how to answer.
No Servants attacked the next day.
Ayaka organized her father's notes, categorizing all the scattered annotations by rank and copying them into a new notebook.
She drew a tiny asterisk next to the "Archer" column.
"Gilgamesh." Her pen touched the paper.
"My father mentioned on page 44 that he is a possible candidate for the Archer class, and he is extremely dangerous. If you encounter him, you must not provoke him, show weakness, or turn your back on him."
As Arthur looked at the words, he recalled the golden spot of light that Dragon Eyes had observed when he first landed—the heaviest, the oldest, and not belonging to this era.
King of Heroes.
"Do you know him?" Ayaka asked, noticing Arthur's expression.
"I know him, the King of Uruk, the holder of the Gate of Babylon, the only one of his kind in heaven and earth, and he is in this Holy Grail War."
Ayaka was silent for a moment, then asked, "What kind of person is he?"
"So proud that he doesn't need anyone's approval, so powerful that he doesn't need anything to prove it; he possesses the prototypes of all the treasures in the world."
Arthur's voice was calm. "The only thing he would give a second glance to is 'something that doesn't exist yet'."
Ayaka turned to a new page in her notebook and wrote a line next to Archer's entry: "Interested in 'things that don't yet exist'."
After she finished writing, she looked up and said, "Then we are also 'things that don't exist yet'."
Arthur looked at her; her hair fell down, obscuring half her face, and her fingers gripped the pen steadily.
"You are not my Servant, I am not your Master, we are partners, something that has never happened in this world before."
Ayaka lowered her head and continued writing, the pen tip scratching on the paper.
afternoon.
Arthur's Dragon Force River trembled as an extremely powerful being released its aura.
He was "announcing" to everyone—I, the King, am here!
Arthur walked to the window, his dragon eyes opening, and the heaviest golden point of light was moving from the high-rise buildings in the city center to the southeast.
"He's here," Arthur said.
Ayaka closed her notebook. "Are we going to see him?"
Arthur turned to look at her. Ayaka stuffed the notebook into her pocket, walked to the entrance, put on her shoes, and tied them all in one go.
"You said you couldn't turn your back on him, so face him head-on."
The setting sun bathed the entire city in orange-red hues, and the school was deserted in the twilight. Ayaka said that this place had the best view of the ley lines.
In the very center of the playground, with open spaces on all sides, the flow of the earth's veins converges at your feet, making it suitable for both observation and being observed.
Arthur stood in the center of the playground, and Ayaka stood beside him, holding a notebook in her hands.
Golden light surged from the direction of the school gate, creating an unparalleled sense of presence.
Gilgamesh walked into the playground, dressed in casual clothes—a white shirt and black trousers—without carrying anything in his hands.
His short, golden hair gleamed heavily in the setting sun, and his serpentine, vertical pupils swept across the playground before settling on Arthur.
"I am taking a walk, and you are standing in the middle of my walking route." His voice was not loud, but every word clearly reached their ears.
Arthur looked at him calmly. "You knew we would come."
Gilgamesh's lips curled slightly. "Every inch of this city is my courtyard. I need no reason to stroll in my own courtyard."
His gaze passed over Arthur and landed behind him, where Ayaka stood with her notebook in her hands, her eyes not flinching at his stare.
"That little girl has the aura of a Command Seal on her."
"She did not summon any Servants."
Gilgamesh's vertical pupils narrowed slightly. "No summoned Servant, interesting." He took a step forward.
"I have seen countless people who are crazy for the Holy Grail, obsessed with Command Seals, and will stop at nothing for the power of Servants, but this is the first time I have seen someone who could summon but did not."
Ayaka's fingers tightened slightly at the edge of the notebook, but she didn't back down.
"I don't want strangers to die because of me."
Gilgamesh looked at her, the setting sun slowly moving across his golden hair.
"I don't want strangers to die because of you, so the Command Seal is in your hand, and its function is just three red stripes."
There was no sarcasm in his voice. "Stupid, but stupid in a way that's kind of interesting."
His gaze returned to Arthur, this time focusing on the sword in the lake.
"That sword... I see."
The setting sun was reflected in Gilgamesh's vertical pupils.
The sword in the lake felt slightly warm at Arthur's waist.
"Holy Sword Wielder, I am very interested in your sword."
"That sword." His voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear. "I have never seen it."
Gilgamesh's vertical pupils locked onto every pattern on the hilt, guard, and scabbard of the sword in the lake.
He watched for a long time, so long that the setting sun moved an inch across his golden hair.
"My treasury contains the original texts of all human wisdom, and the 'prototypes' of all things in the world are in my hands."
"Any Noble Phantasm, I only need to glance at it to throw its 'ancestor' out of the treasury."
His voice deepened, "But this sword, I do not possess."
His vertical pupils shifted from the sword in the lake to meet Arthur's gaze.
"It is not a product of 'human intelligence'."
The wind on the playground stopped, and the setting sun cast long shadows of the three people.
Gilgamesh's lips curled slightly, the expression of a collector who had finally found the only missing piece.
His gaze returned to the sword in the lake, but there was no anger or murderous intent in his eyes; it was possessiveness, pure and undisguised possessiveness.
"Give it to me."
Ayaka's breath caught in her throat. Arthur's hand rested on the hilt of his sword. "This is my sword."
Gilgamesh's vertical pupils narrowed slightly. "I know, that's why I'm asking you for it. If it's not yours, I'll just take it."
"I never plunder; I only 'collect.' The prerequisite for collecting is acknowledging who the item originally belonged to."
Arthur looked at him. "You admit it's mine."
"It has acknowledged you as its master," Gilgamesh said.
"It has chosen you, and I will acknowledge that choice, but that is not the same as what I want it to be."
He stretched out his hand and pointed to the hilt of the sword in the lake.
"In all my years of life, this is the first time I've encountered something I 'want but can't conceptually crush' with a prototype."
His vertical pupils reflected the setting sun and the lake-blue light of the sword in the lake. "This is interesting, but also very unpleasant for me."
Arthur looked at him. "What do you want?"
Gilgamesh withdrew his hand. "I will not take it. I want you to give it to me personally."
"impossible."
"It's impossible now," Gilgamesh said.
"But I can wait, until you understand the true value of this sword, until you encounter something that even it cannot cut."
"You'll find that some enemies are beyond your ability to fight." His voice deepened.
"When that time comes, come back to me, and I will exchange this sword for the most precious treasures in my treasury."
The wind picked up again on the playground, and the setting sun lifted a corner of Gilgamesh's golden hair.
"Before that." He turned around and walked towards the school gate.
"You must keep it safe for me, and never let it get dusty or fall into the hands of anyone."
It is a missing piece from my treasury; until you give it to me, it belongs to me.
"The Holy Sword Wielder".
Gilgamesh turned his head to look at Arthur, his vertical pupils gleaming golden in the sunset, his figure gradually disappearing into the twilight.