Chapter 345

【Your will is forged of fire and iron; no matter what suffering and despair you face, you will definitely not give up your faith... but, I just feel sad.】

"So—don't go; you already know the ending, right?"

【Clearly knowing that this is a fake, Jeanne has a feeling that this is indeed the feeling of her mother, Isabelle.】

【Without falling into confusion, Jeanne gripped her mother's hand and said firmly, "Mother, even so, in order to save this village and this country, I must go. I must step forward."】

【Her mother was not comforted by these words and simply continued to weep.】

Rin Tohsaka: "Leaving your family behind, never to return—is it really worth it?"

Jeanne: "I believe it is. Looking at the results, I succeeded in protecting my homeland."

Qin Shi Huang: "That is war. A country is a country; the nation comes before the family. If everyone only wanted to preserve themselves and refused to protect the nation, then once the country fell, who would protect them? Do you really expect the enemy to show mercy and spare you?"

Iskandar: "Exactly. You can never entrust your safety to the enemy. That would be no different from a pig or sheep waiting to be slaughtered."

【"As expected of Saint Jeanne. Such powerful resolve—no wonder you don't consider ordinary heroes to be your opponents!"】

【A voice resembling a narrator echoed from nowhere; it was the voice of Shakespeare.】

【Jeanne: "Caster, even if you borrow my mother's appearance, don't think you can shake my heart. If you're satisfied, hurry up and finish this."】

【"No, no, your story has only just begun! Now, let us proceed—Act Two, curtain up!"】

【Accompanied by the sound of a finger snap, the scenery around Jeanne immediately began to shift.】

【The scent of blood, the scent of gunpowder—this is—】

【The battlefield!】

【Unable to refuse, unable to resist, Jeanne began to relive the wars of her life.】

【It is fine. Even though she is on the verge of breaking, even though she is about to fall, even though she is reaching her limit, she can still endure.】

【"No matter how many times this repeats—"】

【No matter how many times it repeats, what she must do will not change, and the path she must walk will not change. Her past will not change, and she will not feel regret because of the past.】

【Even when facing the final moment, her heart cannot be broken by it.】

【"I see, it is truly as your mother said. No matter the situation, as long as you find what must be done, you will focus only on the end and move forward. How wonderful!"】

【Jeanne suppressed the urge to curse and could only continue to act along with the story.】

Illya: "What an extremely vile old man."

Rin Tohsaka: "Is all you know how to poke at people's pain? Is there not a single shred of positive energy in your brain?"

Shakespeare: "Positive energy? Are you talking about those 'happily ever after' endings? Those are the most hypocritical and boring things of all. Only tragedy is reality!"

Feng Xi: "If I could summon Cao Cao Xueqin, you two would definitely have a common language."

Shakespeare: "Who is Cao Cao Xueqin? Is he a writer too?"

Feng Xi: "That's right, a writer just like you who doesn't act like a human and writes tragedies."

Shakespeare: "Oh, then I must meet him if I have the chance."

【Despite being a saint, she still fought on the battlefield; despite being a saint, she still accepted the killing of her comrades.】

【The enemy soldiers who should have been dead kept accusing her.】

【"Since you are a saint, why did you kill us?"】

【"You hold the holy flag, yet you still wish to harm us?"】

【"We are not sinners; we are just ordinary people with a different stance than yours."】

【Jeanne silently accepted these insults. Everything was as they said. Despite being a saint, she still waved the holy flag and believed there was nothing wrong with harming others. This truly should not be the behavior of a saint.】

【In the past, the saint was someone who could force back an evil dragon with her own strength.】

【What she did was merely act as a commander who fought alongside others to strike down their enemies.】

【"That is exactly right. I myself believe that I am absolutely not a saint."】

【No matter how firm her faith, she prayed to the Lord every day—even after receiving revelations, she still thought this way.】

【An enemy soldier with a shot-out head asked: "Then why did you step forward?"】

【Jeanne: "But even so, I still believe this path will lead to the correct one."】

【As soon as the words fell, all the soldiers turned to dust and vanished along with the battlefield.】

Qin Shi Huang: "Hmm, very good."

Qin Shi Huang: "Do not care about the opinions of others. Once you are on the battlefield, there is no longer a distinction between right and wrong, only the difference between life and death."

Iskandar: "Indeed. If you don't kill others, others will kill you."

Mordred: "I say, Shabby, is this all the tricks you have?"

Shakespeare: "Hehe."

【Jeanne: "Caster! There is a third act, right? Don't you want to hurry up?"】

【"Yes, yes, of course. This is a story to explore whether your life had errors, and if there were errors, whether they should be corrected. Now, let us enter the third act!"】

【The scene shifted again. This time, Jeanne arrived at Reims Cathedral, at the time she received her coronation.】

【It was not until Charles VII poured the holy oil onto Jeanne's forehead that the coronation ceremony was considered complete.】

【However, immediately afterward, Charles VII stared straight at Jeanne and said, "Saint Jeanne, why didn't you just stop here?"】

【The cheers stopped, and everyone in the cathedral looked at her with questioning eyes.】

【Jeanne: "... hat do you mean?"】

【Charles VII: "I walked a different path from you here. At this point in time, even if I am not the Lord—I should be able to understand that you are about to fall. As clever as you are, don't tell me you didn't know."】

【Jeanne: "..."】

【Charles VII: "Jeanne, answer me. Are you going to say the path you walked was the correct one?"】

【Jeanne: "... es."】

【Charles VII: "There is no basis for it. The revelation you received was conveyed by the Lord only to you, and the results were only added on later. How do you expect others to believe in a path that only you think is correct?"】

【Jeanne: "—To put it bluntly, the path I walked is just like that. Unlike Your Majesty, who held suspicions but still trusted others."】

【Charles VII hoped for peaceful coexistence with the hostile Burgundian faction, which became the decisive reason for his parting ways with Jeanne.】

【"If we look back at history, it can indeed prove you were right. But those are all boring, retrospective additions by later historians. At that time, in that situation, did I make the wrong choice? Can anyone say it was wrong? And Jeanne, why—why couldn't you make me believe! If you had the power, I would have believed you! It wasn't that I didn't believe you! It was that you didn't believe in me!"】

【Jeanne shook her head, gripped Charles VII's hand tightly, and said, "No, Your Majesty. That you and I parted ways here was fate... And even if Your Majesty had believed, nothing would have changed. We are merely bricks forming the grand staircase of history, which is why we must walk forward on the path we believe in. Your Majesty may have been wrong, but you were also right; I may have been right, but I was also wrong. Both Your Majesty and I were simply fighting with our lives on the line. Just that—is that not enough?"】

【As soon as the words fell, everything vanished.】

Laeticia: "... iss Jeanne, do you really not hate the King?"】

Jeanne: "I do not. Because I was captured in war; it had nothing to do with him."

Laeticia: "But, he didn't save you..."

Jeanne: "He couldn't save me. At that time, both England and Burgundy wanted me dead. The astronomical ransom was just an excuse."

Gilles de Rais: "No! Jeanne, he betrayed you! You should hate him!"】

Jeanne: "Gilles, I will never hate."

Gilles de Rais: "Ugh..."

【"—I just wanted to know that answer. Very well, let us enter the next act."】

【The scene shifted again. This time, a fat cardinal appeared.】

【"Pitiful bitch, we meet again."】

【"Pierre Cauchon..."】

【Facing the person before her, Jeanne's emotions were complex.】

【Because this guy was the bishop who conducted her heresy trial, a member of the Burgundian faction.】

Laeticia: "This is the person who caused Miss Jeanne's death."】

Rin Tohsaka: "To be able to eat like that in that era, this guy lived quite well."

Illya: "I heard that this guy wasn't even qualified to judge Jeanne at all."】

Waver: "It was all disgusting political maneuvering."】

【"Caster, it's useless. Even if you recreate him through your script, it's just repeating what I experienced in my life. Your Noble Phantasm shouldn't be able to inflict physical pain, right?"】

【'Pierre' shrugged and said, "That's right, Saint Jeanne. With my power, I can't even make you shed a drop of blood. The only ones who can oppose you are heroes like Karna or Achilles, or my Lord."】

【Jeanne: "Then, what is the purpose of this Noble Phantasm of yours?"】

【"I will tell you that when we reach the final climax."】

【Shakespeare, disguised as Pierre, stepped forward, and the surrounding scene changed again.】

【This time, it was the execution platform where Jeanne was executed.】

【Everything around seemed as if time had stopped. She could clearly see those who mocked her, those who looked at her with sympathy, and those who cried as they watched her go—】