Dál Riata was not something I needed to worry about too much.
For one thing, it had been a country that had functioned well enough to begin with, and since it was not all that old, its only real problem was supplies.
Of course, since we were invaders, public sentiment toward us was not exactly favorable.
The Dál Riata soldiers we had defeated were, without question, someone's family. They were warriors who had fought to protect their homeland.
That was why I intended to bear the people's resentment. Even if it was for the sake of peace, the truth was that I had spilled an enormous amount of blood.
I had no intention of dressing this up with nonsense about romance or noble ideals.
I chose this because it was the surest method, because there was no other way. I am not some great conquering king.
I am merely a monster who killed countless people for the sake of peace.
Yes.
That is why I call myself a selfish tyrant. For a better future, for our peace, I kill countless people.
Even if they were enemies, they were still human beings like us.
The reason chivalry came into being was also to mentally avert one's eyes from this kind of ethical problem. At some point, it became glorified, swollen with vanity, treated as something honorable.
Kiritsugu was right about this.
There is no such thing as honor in war. There is only painful bloodshed.
Well, both Kiritsugu and Artoria were right.
There is no single correct answer in human history.
If there were, war would not have continued to exist all the way into the era I lived in. Even knowing that war is painful and wrong, people choose it because spilling blood is the easiest option.
And yet, absurdly enough, this too is nature.
Animals fighting among their own kind is common enough, and they kill other groups for the sake of their own.
There are even creatures like parasitic wasps that take over the bodies of other living things and live by devouring them from within.
Humans are merely the same thing on a vastly larger scale.
An expanded version of the wild.
If there is any difference at all, it is that humans at least try to find mercy and compromise.
Yes.
Mercy.
I wanted, as much as possible, to show mercy to those who surrendered.
"Please, please spare us! Please, at least spare my family!!!"
I had yielded a great deal.
I had intended to instill only a suitable amount of fear, if possible. But human foolishness has no end.
Even after seeing their king killed by his heir, and that heir flee. Even after seeing that they had surrendered because they had no chance of winning the war, there were still those who resisted.
It was treason. An attempted assassination.
Among the remaining ministers, there was one who tried to assassinate me, and he intended to kill me using some of the surrendered soldiers who were still available.
It was not Hydra's poison, but there was a toxin nearly on that level. They aimed for that and attacked me, but of course they failed.
This is the result.
The ringleaders and all who took part had been captured.
The Sword of Selection was stained with blood, dripping red.
The one I killed was neither the ringleader nor one of the accomplices.
It was the ringleader's wife.
"I warned you, did I not? That treason would mean the extermination of your entire clan. I do not make empty threats, and I do not bluff. This is the worst future you chose for yourselves. If you made your choice, then bear the responsibility for it."
I would not kill them yet. I would exterminate their entire clans before their eyes, then publicly execute them before the masses.
If they had simply accepted things without resisting, so long as I was not doing something unreasonable, none of this would have happened.
I had accepted them as my people as well, and promised them a better life.
Honor, food, peace. I had promised them all of it.
Until now, the destruction of an entire clan I had warned of had never come to pass. No one had ever done anything so foolish.
But there were fools like that after all, and this was me making an example of them.
Women, old people, children.
I had them all dragged out without distinction and beheaded. Then I threw the severed heads before the ringleaders and accomplices.
"I gave warning, and I gave you chances and choices. This is your choice, and this is the end of the chance you threw away."
Hadn't Jeanne d'Arc killed prisoners she had captured in the war against England?
I understood why she, a saint, had made such a choice.
Because there are people who simply cannot coexist.
"Scream and curse me all you like. It is useless. This is the ending you chose for yourselves. Resent me. Hate me. That much, at least, is your freedom."
After executing their entire clans, I had the remaining ringleaders and accomplices burned to death.
I had heard that was the most painful way to die.
"Do you think this is cruel?"
I looked over the people, the ministers, and Gauran, who was watching me with terrified eyes.
To be honest, I had not wanted to show this to a child like Gauran, but still.
Because he was a king, that child had to see it too.
"This is Britain's way. In the past, Queen Boudica also killed the wicked Romans without sparing women, old men, or children. She impaled them through the body and planted them on stakes, burned them, killed them, and displayed their heads. And Queen Boudica, even if she may not share my bloodline, was still a queen of Britain. Therefore, she is my distant forebear. I have inherited that will and delivered the same punishment to wicked criminals. She killed because they were Romans. I killed because they were the blood relatives of traitors. Anyone who denies me, I will regard as denying Britain itself."
There is no such thing as chivalry.
I affirm Boudica. She had ample justification, and that Queen Boudica is praised even by England of the Anglo-Saxons, who were not even of the same people, as a queen of victory.
Among those she killed, there must have been many innocent children and civilians. But she showed her fury by killing tens of thousands.
Yes, that is Britain's way.
I do not deny it either. Efficiency, overwhelming fear, that is what burns away even the seeds of rebellion.
Artoria had been too soft. Too merciful, too human, and so she could not do this.
Even with overwhelming power, she upheld chivalry and did not act this way.
That became the problem, and rebellion festered everywhere.
Some would ask:
Wouldn't actions like this only provoke rebellion instead?
But I know. Britain is full of people who will rebel no matter what you do. That is why you break their will to rebel with overwhelming fear.
To show them that if they fail, the price will not end with their own lives alone.
There must have been countless kings and leaders who made the same choice I did.
What had they felt in that moment?
I saw children weeping and wailing in tears. I saw their necks cut, their heads rolling across the ground.
Suddenly, I found myself wondering what those who took part in the Revolution in France felt when they watched the heads of the people they executed fall away.
Ridiculous.
Killing enemies in war stirs nothing in me, but execution is a different sensation altogether.
"I hope that from now on, you will make wiser choices. If you do not oppose me, I will always show mercy. Unlike those who fled, I had no intention of placing a geas on those who remained in Dál Riata. But after this incident, it seems I will have no choice but to place one on you. Of course, there will still be fools who act while accepting their own deaths, but it will serve as more of a safeguard."
Would it have been better if I had used a geas from the start?
Had I grown softer after having children?
At the very least, I had thought the ones who stayed behind instead of running would be all right, and even if I used one, I had only intended to place it on a few high-ranking officials.
In the end, I should not have acted so leniently.
In a chaotic age, you cannot afford soft thoughts.
I had Gauran, still only a child, bound by a geas first, then placed geasa on the ministers, generals, and soldiers.
I think it was a mistake not to use geasa from the beginning, but I do not regret it.
In the end, those bastards would have found some way around it, either before the geas was placed or after.
Still, I cannot help thinking that if I had done it, perhaps I could have reduced the number of accomplices.
"Brother..."
"...I don't think I can face Mordred today. You take care of her for me."
The only ones who carried out the executions directly were me and the Picts who followed me. I would not make Artoria do it.
I alone was enough for that.
"I respect that you make choices like this, Brother. But I think you try too hard to bear everything alone. You don't have to carry it all by yourself. You know why I tried so hard, don't you?"
"I know. It's just that I don't feel at ease about it."
"And seeing you like this does not put me at ease either."
Artoria came over to me and quietly embraced me.
I was fine. Truly fine. Something like this would not break me mentally.
Nor was I falling into ruin. I was under a little stress, perhaps. It was troublesome, after all.
But I really was all right. From the beginning, this was something I had prepared myself for since childhood.
Artoria, if I can give you a happy future, then I...
I will wipe out your enemies for you as many times as it takes.
"Uh... my lord? I've brought the rebels' severed heads, but should I come back later?"
"...Did you behead them yourself?"
"Yes! There were quite a lot of them, but I cut down as many as I could! Ah, should I leave the child's head behind?"
"..."
Well, honestly, with a genuine psychopath like that at my side, it really does dull my senses about this kind of thing.
"Wait, I'll take this head. It has a fine shape. Once I clean it up and leave only the skull, it'll make a nice piece!"
Meanwhile, Nobu was leisurely picking out heads for decoration.
I had hesitated to leave it to the others, but they would probably do it smiling.
Yes, just as Artoria said, I did not need to bear it alone.
Still, I did not want Artoria to bear it.
The Knight King who loved Britain more than anyone, and strove for Britain more than anyone.
And the woman who was hated and betrayed by everyone.
Because I do not want to see her like that.
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