"You seem to know me rather well, to use those titles. However, I am neither of those yet, given my present state. Also, to claim yourself to be a fan of Shu… From where I stand, you know little of benevolence."
The man laughed slightly as he raised his head to face me.
"A slight correction would be needed there, Saber. I know all about your ideal; your land of benevolence. As well as how to live by it. However, in the modern day, it is a dead ideal. There is no reason to act on it, or with such an ideal in mind. Though… I suppose that's why you're here."
He returned his attention back to the computer.
"That is your wish, no: to create your land of benevolence?"
"It is."
"Just in China, or across the globe?"
"I would alleviate the suffering of all people, if I can. My homeland comes first and foremost though, should the grail be unable to grant the full extent of my wish."
"Oh, you don't need to worry yourself about that. From my understanding of the grail… well, so long as you know how to implement your wish, nothing is beyond its capability. That said, how do you plan on implementing such a grand ideal upon the world? There are no emperors or kings now; at least not in the vast majority of the world."
"Rule with the needs and desires of the people, first and foremost, does not require a lone man to guide the system."
"…So, you accept democracy?"
"It is… an intriguing system to me. However, from the little I have come to understand of it, it is a fine system. Flawed, yes, but no system is ever perfect; beyond corruption. Emperors had eunuchs, and knowing you, you are well aware what harm they can bring about…"
"Indeed, I am" the man sounded amused. "Still, to hear someone like you, from your time, essentially give up the Mandate of Heaven just like that…"
"People have changed; they desire this system. I will not tear it down and force the ways of old on them if they do not wish it."
"Truly a man of the people" he giggled. "In many ways… well, you are exactly how I always envisioned you to be, Saber. It is amazing to see. And your wish… effectively, it would be a reformation of democratic mentality unlike any other. A grand shift towards the ideals of the system, over the perversion we of the modern day have come to accept as the best we can achieve. Yes… I can support such a beautiful wish…"
"…It… surprises me to hear you say that; you always seem to revel in chaos."
"So, hearing I support your wish should tell you something."
The man said this pointedly.
"And what, is it, that this should tell me" I growled slightly.
"Your wish… it does not end chaos."
Silence hung in the air once his finished. Taking a few moments to calm and collect myself, I eventually spoke.
"Then it is clear to me you spoke, and speak, nonsense. You know nothing about either benevolence, or my wish."
"No, Saber" he shook his head. "It is you who does not understand your wish. A land of benevolence; rule with the desires of the people in mind… it does not end chaos. It merely changes it forms."
"I would have you explain such an accusation."
"Of course" he nodded. "I fail to see how you could not reach the conclusion on your own, if you gave it some serious thought, but simply put… When has humanity ever held complete consensus on anything?"
"…Never."
"Exactly" more laughter filled the air. "Democracy, as an ideal, is the will of the majority enforced without the rights of the minority being impeded. However, the reality is that a move made in the democratic process can only ever result in the rights of the minority being impeded, for what they desire to do becomes unacceptable, barred, outlawed… While your wish would absolutely shift democracy towards the ideal, in a massive way, it would not reach the ideal. You will expand the majority greatly, but not eliminate the minority. Thus, there will always be a minority; a group of dissenters. Peace may hold for a time; a time far greater than ever before, even. But the end result is always the same: dissenters rise, cause chaos. Attempt to enact and enforce change by their own means; by their own wills."
He finally turned back around to face me; a grin plastered over his face.
"The cycle of creation and destruction will change. It will change massively. But it will not be eliminated; the beauty of humanity will not be eliminated. So yes, I support your wish. I would not mind living in the world you would create. I would not mind if you won this war. Humanity in your world would still be… beautiful…"
…I was tempted. To draw my swords, end this here. It would have been quick; effortless. That grin… His delusions of beauty… The mind may have shared aspects loosely with Cao Cao, on the surface, but underneath it all…
A man equal to Dong Zhou at his core!
"Anyways" the man continued before I could bring myself to act. "I'm curious: of all the searches you could have done, the first is on your son? Curious as to how he did; how he was remembered?"
"…I was" the attempts to stay calm becoming harder and harder.
"Well, history appears to have judged him a bumbling fool. What say you about that?"
"The kingdom fell under his rule, and with it the dreams of a benevolent land. I can not disagree with what has been spoken about my son."
"…I see…" he frowned, before turning back to the computer. "You consider him a failure as well then?"
"…I do."
"You believe Zhuge Liang should have taken over?"
"I believe that would have been best."
He muttered something to himself, then; words too quiet to make out.
"I suppose in that sense, I can relate to Liu Shan then."
"…I find that thought disturbing to no end. Explain, quickly!"
"You consider him a failure, just like the vast majority of the world. Yet… while I can't deny he made errors in judgement during his rule, I believe that, in the end, he truly understood what was best for the people."
"By surrendering to Wei?! How was that in the best interest of the people?!"
I was shouting now, but I didn't care. Just hearing this man speak was infuriating me like no other had in a long, long time.
"Because, Saber" the man spoke softly now, "what is the point in fighting for an ideal… if no one is around to live it afterwards."
…I went to speak, but no words came out. The silence grew, as did the desire to end this man right then and there; tip of my blade already right at his neck, just needing a final motion. But for all the things I could do, I couldn't do the one thing I wanted to: answer this man; put him in his place with his own weapon.
"Yes, Liu Shan could have fought till the very end" he continued eventually. "He could have done any number of things different, and perhaps, had he done so, Shu could have eventually won. It is something we will never truly know. Yet a benevolent ruler does not seek to win a war, first and foremost; he puts his people first and foremost. Liu Shan may have given up the throne, but in doing so he saved a great many people. If knowing when it is time to step aside, for the good of the people, is not the mark of a benevolent ruler, then tell me what is."
Before I could even begin to try answering, he stood up. The tip of my blade had been too close to his neck for him to do so safely, however, and in standing up, a faint cut was made in a line down his neck. It was hardly a flesh wound, but it had been enough to break skin; draw blood.
"Ow" he laughed slightly, rubbing the back of his neck as he grabbed his bag and made his way towards the door. "Didn't think you had put it that close… It may not be my place to say this, Saber-"
"But you will do so anyways" my blade disappearing as I stared at him.
"Well, you should know me a bit by now" he laughed. "I'm not all that great at keeping my mouth shut. Now, where was I… Oh, right. Let me just say… I believe, at least, that Liu Shan, in his own way, only ever did his best to live up to your ideal of benevolence. Sure, it may not have been perfect, or at all how you would have liked him to go about it, but in the end, I believe he managed to live up to your ideal, in his own way."
He was halfway out of the room, still gripping the handle of the door, before he spoke the remainder of his mind on the matter.
"My father gave up on me a long time ago, Saber. That is all I meant when I said I feel like I could relate. I only hope, for Liu Shan's sake, that you haven't truly given up on him."
With that, he was gone, the door closed behind him. I stood there alone, in the silence. Unsure of what to do. Unsure of what to say.
…Unsure of what to truly think, anymore, of the master I had, until just this very moment, considered to be the most evil of them all.
IMPORTANT Author's Notes
With these two bits, we now have Saber's identity revealed! I hope this doesn't come as too much of a surprise (green armor, twin swords and the line of 'feeling like my body always needs to move forward' (reference to a line of his in Dynasty Warriors)). Honestly, I had feared I had made this a bit too obvious, even. If I had, please let me know; the only one I really ever wanted to be sorta 'obvious' was... well, I'll let that speak for itself xD
As for how I characterize Liu Bei... Not going to lie, I'm sweating bullets every time I type for him. It's also why I kept delaying a Fragment for him. FATE deals with a lot of ideals and philosophic thought in it's... 'better' works (such as FATE Zero, IMO) and one wouldn't think that the idea of a 'land of benevolence' would be controversial, but... Well, I'm from Canada, and I'm not of any Asian background or ethnicity (especially not Chinese).
Modern day speaking, Shu and Liu Bei are often depicted as the 'good guys' in representations of the time period (historically, perhaps not really the case... but it is what it is), and the notion of what would be 'benevolent' or 'good' rule is... I'd imagine different, in terms of Eastern and Western modern day politics. This is not to say everyone in China agrees with China's politics and political structure or that everyone in a western country agrees with their country's politics or political structure.
Mainly, I don't want to come off as though I'm trying to say one system is better than the other (although I have my own opinions on the matter, naturally, and it's probably fairly obvious where they lie) and I ESPECIALLY don't want to take a person from another culture's history and use them (potentially) as a weapon against said very same cultural group.
Hence, I feel like this is a good way for me to go about depicting Liu Bei: a man of people, who wishes to spread the notion of 'governance with the people first and foremost', without switching any political structure of the modern world, regardless of what system it is (Democracy, Emperor or Kingship, etc). It took a long while for me to get this to this point, behind the scenes of all the other chapters and fragments I'd released thus far, but I feel like this one is finally ready to go.
I'm not going to really bring up politics with Liu Bei involved much from here (if at all). Really, no character other than Nathan would really even engage in political thought or debate to begin with (at least, political thought not about the Mage's Association or the Clock Tower). But for those of you who think I should use Liu Bei to 'champion' the 'benevolence' in democracy: pull yo heads out yo asses; it ain't happening! To those who wish for me to have Liu Bei 'champion' how modern day (or even ancient) China handles governance: pull yo heads out yo asses; it ain't happening!
I hope everyone is ok with me going with this depiction. I, for one, see it as being fairly faithful to how he is depicted in other works in the modern day, without weaponizing him one way or another.