Don't Call Me Master, Call Me Director

Shinji gave the other party a bright smile.

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In fact, besides the film critics, another group was even more anxious about FSN's soaring box office: the Japanese Mage community.

As a film shot by a Mage, and one that contained various profound and mysterious analyses, the Mage world's attention to FSN had never wavered.

But as time went by, apart from a small number of old fuddy-duddies who were too focused on mystery, more and more Mages turned their attention to FSN's box office.

There was no choice. Master Shinji had the Bandai include the film's box office data on all promotional materials for publicity. It was hard for the Mages not to notice.

At first, everyone didn't think much of it, believing it was good that their own people could make money by filming. But the more they thought about it, the more something felt off.

In reality, as early as the second week when FSN topped the charts with 630 million yen, some Mages had already started having ideas.

And by the third week, when the film's box office reached 1.37 billion yen, accumulating over 2 billion yen, the Mages became extremely unsettled.

"Damn it! This is robbing people! No, robbing people isn't this fast!"

"So much money? Can filming a movie really earn this much?"

"2 billion yen! What would happen if this was invested into researching mystery!!"

Well, to put it simply, these Mages were jealous.

Chapter 32: The New Idol of Japanese Housewives

It wasn't incomprehensible that the Mages were coveting FSN's extremely high box office. After all, nowadays, researching mystery was a project where investment and return were completely disproportionate.

With the decline of mystery, Mages spent more and more on researching it, yet their results grew lower and lower.

But out of their fascination with mystery, their pursuit of the Root, and the countless efforts of previous generations, they were unwilling to abandon the path of researching mystery. They could only grit their teeth and persevere.

Many Mage Families had exhausted their fortunes in this process, becoming paupers.

Although there were politicians, businessmen, and even land-rich families like the Matou Family among the Mages, the vast majority of Mage Families, like the Tohsaka family, were becoming more and more impoverished.

FSN's appearance was like the first ray of dawn. The Mages finally realized that mystery could be used to make money, and a lot of it.

Even though the Japanese yen wasn't worth much, 2 billion yen was still a significant sum. Many Clock Tower research departments didn't even have 2 billion yen in funding for a year.

Although everyone knew that this 2 billion yen definitely didn't all belong to the producers, they also knew that 2 billion yen was definitely not the end for FSN.

Because in the fourth week, FSN's box office climbed further, reaching 1.56 billion yen. This directly pushed FSN's Japanese box office past the 3 billion yen mark, reaching 3.56 billion yen.

The reason for this was that Master Shinji found a way to mobilize another huge movie-watching demographic in Japan – Japanese housewives.

Don't underestimate these wives who spent most of their day at home. According to Japanese entertainment statistics, they were the largest consumer group for entertainment in Japan, even surpassing children and otaku.

The reason was simple: housewives controlled the household finances and had plenty of free time.

With money and leisure, and nothing else to do besides housework, this kind of life created excellent conditions for Japanese wives to follow idols and watch dramas.

It was the housewives who propelled the Johnny & Associates agency to the top spot in Japan.

Master Shinji's method of mobilizing these wives was also very simple. He specifically edited a commercial featuring the handsome men of FSN and had Bandai air it during the daytime dramas that housewives loved the most.

This was a tip he received from a fangirl who was completely smitten with Gilgamesh during that preview screening. It made him realize that this King of Heroes possessed the charm to conquer the vast majority of women in the world with his looks.

Originally, Master Shinji had planned to keep Gilgamesh as a backup plan. If the box office really couldn't be boosted, he would release Gilgamesh to attract housewives to watch the movie.

As it turned out, FSN's box office had already taken off before Master Shinji even made his move. This turned Gilgamesh from a trump card into a scoring card.

But even if he couldn't provide help in times of need, adding to existing success was also good.

At least Gilgamesh's appearance had a significant impact on those wives. The wives who were captivated by the handsome Gilgamesh in the trailer flocked to the cinema with their families to watch FSN.

After watching the movie, they complained that Gilgamesh's screen time was too short while carefully treasuring their Mr. Gold's photo cards.

This was because Shinji had proposed an event at the end of the trailer: anyone who watched FSN would receive a character photo card.

This move made housewives all over Japan who wanted Gilgamesh's photo card flock to the cinemas.

Who knew how many mothers would secretly hide Gilgamesh's photo card while giving the gifted ones to their children.

Anyway, Illya told Shinji that Gilgamesh photo cards had become the rarest item at her school, even though the number of Gilgamesh photo cards distributed was the same as Saber's and Shirou's.

"Why do so many women like that golden-haired monkey's face?"

Sakura, who had heard from Shinji that Gilgamesh photo cards were sold out, complained to Artoria and Medusa beside her while shopping.

In Sakura's eyes, Gilgamesh, who had caused a lot of trouble during filming, was simply a burden to the crew. Why did he receive such high attention?

"Sakura, you need to understand one thing," Medusa adjusted her glasses. "When you don't know the specific situation of the other party, visual appeal is a very good supplement. Besides, that twisted guy isn't bad-looking either."

"But Rider, you admit his personality is terrible, right? Artoria, what do you think?"

Sakura was still unconvinced. She turned to Artoria, hoping for more agreement.

Artoria, who was gnawing on a meat bun, tilted her head. "Hmm... it's quite normal for the Master to be popular, right? He's a bit like Sir Lancelot."

"What does that have to do with my brother?"

Artoria asked confusedly, "Someone who's good-looking but has a bad personality, isn't that the Master?"

"Achoo!"

Shinji, who was inexplicably targeted, sneezed loudly.

With Master Shinji's various promotions and embellishments for FSN, the movie's box office soared like a runaway horse. It even created a viewing craze in April, which is not a peak season for movies.

Many media outlets predicted that FSN might become the first Japanese movie of the year to break the 10 billion yen mark, and even the highest-grossing film of the year.

Although the media wrote their predictions in an exaggerated way to be sensational, the articles predicting FSN's final box office, while infuriating the film critics who called the movie trash, also made the Mage Families develop some other ideas.

Back then, when the Matou Family was preparing to make the movie, they had also sent invitations to the Japanese Mage Families.

All the Mages unanimously used the excuse, "Shut up, you're disturbing my research on Mystery!" to decline.

Now that they're making money, everyone's getting greedy.

After all, that's 10 billion yen!

Even a small portion of it would be enough for the Mages to start several new research projects.

As a result, many heads of Mage Families contacted Matou Zouken.

Whether through indirect inquiries or direct questions, they all wanted to get a piece of the Matou Family's plan.

Some thick-skinned individuals directly set their sights on Shinji, the core of the project, and shamelessly proposed marriage to Matou Zouken.

It was something like, "I have a daughter (granddaughter) who is both charming and petite. She and your Shinji would be a perfect match, a match made in heaven. How about it, shall we become in-laws?"

Of course, there were Mages who looked down on worldly matters and valued Magecraft more.

Some of them chose to visit and seek guidance, hoping Shinji would explain the Magecraft formulas in the movie. Others intended to deconstruct the Holy Grail's Magecraft in the most direct way, aiming for the Root.

These people were more troublesome. There weren't many normal people among Mages to begin with, and these were the most extreme of the extremists.

To ensure the safety of Ryuudou Temple, Matou Zouken had to arrange for Heroic Spirits to take turns guarding the temple.

Even though the Heroic Spirits' strength might not compare to those in other parallel worlds, they were more than capable of crushing these trash Mages.

It was just a pity for Artoria and the other Heroic Spirits, who had to endure the treatment of a certain gatekeeper whose name could not be mentioned.

Little Yi Ge, Yan Qing, however, enjoyed the game of COSplaying that gatekeeper to scare off intruders during his guard duty, adding a lot of fun to his boring shifts.

Unfortunately, no Mage who came to Fuyuki City for whatever reason achieved their goals.

The invaders were directly dealt with by the Heroic Spirits, and those who proposed marriage or sought cooperation also returned empty-handed.

It wasn't that Matou Zouken was stingy; his reasons were quite valid.

"My dear grandson Shinji is not here, so I, his grandfather, cannot make decisions for him."

This was not just an excuse Zouken made up. Shinji was indeed not in Fuyuki City.

Because after entering May, Shinji had taken Kariya to France to attend the Cannes Film Festival.

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France, Nice Airport.

Master Shinji, pulling a slightly large suitcase, walked out of the arrival hall with a devilishly confident smile and a whistle.

Behind him followed Kariya, like a subordinate.

"Ah, the flight attendants of French airlines are so enthusiastic," Master Shinji chuckled slyly. "Although French men are really not that great, the women are all wonderful~ Hmm, Uncle, what are you looking at?"

Seeing Kariya craning his neck and looking around, Shinji asked curiously.

"Nothing, I'm just looking for the person picking us up."

Kariya rolled his eyes and answered evasively.

Shinji pouted. "The person picking us up is Waver. He should be easy to find, right? With that look of kidney deficiency and stomach pain, you can spot him from hundreds of meters away. Or did you not coordinate properly with Waver?"

"Of course, we coordinated," Kariya retorted. "I only spoke to Mr. Velvet on the phone, I haven't met him in person."

"Yeah, well, whoever you see in the crowd looking like he's about to die from overwork is him."

"Matou Shinji! You're talking bad about me again!"

A voice that sounded like it belonged to someone overworked chimed in.

Waver glared angrily at Shinji, clearly very displeased with his words.

Master Shinji, however, showed no sign of embarrassment. Instead, he walked forward beaming and hugged Waver.

"Isn't this my good brother Waver from the Clock Tower? Long time no see, your dark circles are even heavier."

"Tsk."

Waver clicked his tongue impatiently, his brow furrowed so deeply that his forehead wrinkles deepened.

"This won't do, Waver, you need to take care of your health."

After releasing the hug, Shinji tidied Waver's black suit and said with a smile.

"Stop pretending. If you hadn't suddenly returned to the country, where would I have gotten so much extra work?" Waver said through gritted teeth.

"Really? That was so long ago, I've completely forgotten," Shinji replied nonchalantly.

"It wasn't that long ago, just a few months ago!!" Waver rubbed his temples, complaining helplessly. "You've always been like this since before, it's really annoying!"

Kariya nodded repeatedly, "I understand. Shinji always dumps troublesome work on others and makes outrageous demands! He's truly awful!"

"We're kindred spirits!" Waver excitedly grabbed Kariya's hand. "Although we confirmed it over the phone, meeting you in person solidifies it: Mr. Matou Kariya, you are indeed my comrade-in-arms!"

"That's right, Mr. Velvet!"

Kariya responded enthusiastically to Waver.

Feeling left out, Shinji quickly interjected, "Hey, are you two forming a class-based friendship here?"

Seeing Kariya and Waver getting carried away, Shinji quickly interrupted their "mutual admiration" with work matters.

"Waver, I asked you to contact the European and American distributors first. How's that going?"

"Regarding that, I've already contacted several in advance, and they've all expressed interest in the film. However..."

Waver gave Shinji a deep look and said with feigned profundity, "One distributor has made a special request."

"A special request?"

For some reason, Shinji's heart skipped a beat.

"That's right," Kariya picked up the conversation, a smile similar to Waver's appearing on his face. "Mr. Velvet asked for my opinion, and I agreed. After all~ you entrusted all matters concerning European and American contacts to me~"

"Hmm..."

Sensing something was wrong, Shinji shivered. Immediately, he felt his shoulders being pressed down by Waver and Kariya, one on each side.

"What are you two doing?"

Shinji's lips twitched, and a rare hint of panic entered his voice.

"Nothing much, just introducing you to the distributor," Waver felt a sense of schadenfreude. He said happily, "Here, Shinji. Let me introduce you to this..."

Before Waver could finish speaking, a girl with silver hair and red eyes appeared before Master Shinji.

"Ma-tou! Shin-ji!"