Don't Call Me Master, Call Me Director

In truth, most of the professional reviews from Cannes were not particularly favorable. French local media in particular had almost unanimously given it low scores, describing the film with the same tired clichés as Japanese critics.

Judging solely by the French media, FSN was undoubtedly a worthless trash film.

Unfortunately, the Cannes Film Festival was an international film festival. Besides French media outlets, countless entertainment media from around the world were present.

British media, driven by their habitual contrarianism toward the French and Type-Moon Company's public relations efforts, lavished praise on FSN.

What was more, ordinary viewers who had seen FSN had begun voluntarily recommending it to those around them, drawing even more people in to appreciate this outstanding work that stood so distinctly apart from every other film at the festival.

Under normal circumstances, word-of-mouth reviews would not have translated into motivation for audiences to see a film so quickly.

But this was the Cannes Film Festival. Everyone gathered here had come for films, and conversations between people rarely went three sentences without mentioning cinema.

For a time, the entire town of Cannes seemed deserted, with everyone flocking to the theaters. Whether they liked films like FSN or not, people wanted to see what it was all about.

This caused major trouble for Type-Moon Company's employees in Cannes, because the staff assigned to the festival was nowhere near enough.

As a result, Shinji had no choice but to put every available person in Cannes to work. Even he himself was no exception.

That was why he had sounded so exhausted when speaking with Artoria on the phone.

Even so, the theaters screening FSN remained a complete mess.

The festival's security guards and police officers had no choice but to assign some of their personnel to help maintain order, because there were simply too many people coming to see FSN.

In just two days, Cannes police had arrested five people for causing disturbances while trying to maintain order.

Logically speaking, with the film being so popular, they should have expanded the number of screenings to spread out the crowds.

In fact, the festival organizers had proposed that suggestion to Shinji more than once, but Master Shinji had rejected it every time.

In Master Shinji's view, crowds like those during morning rush hour in a major Chinese city were the best possible publicity for FSN in Europe and America.

If they added more theaters, the audience would be scattered, and people would no longer have to stand in long lines. What material would Master Shinji have left for promotion?

Besides, there was another reason Master Shinji did not want to open more screening halls—the box office revenue.

All films screened during the festival had nothing to do with the production team's own box office earnings.

Since ordinary viewers bought tickets for the screenings, there would naturally be box office revenue. However, all of it went to the organizers, and Master Shinji's group would not get a single cent.

On the contrary, the additional expenses from added screenings had to be covered by the production team.

More screenings would not earn them more money. Instead, they would cost more money. How could Shinji possibly agree to that?

Although the organizers claimed that the ticket revenue would contribute to the art of cinema, everyone understood what was really going on.

"Those money-grubbing French bastards! They're seriously driving me insane!"

After seeing off another festival staff member, Shinji complained loudly.

"I've told them so many times already. I have no intention of expanding the screenings. Why can't they understand that?!"

Derek Ford said leisurely, "Can't be helped. These twelve days are their only chance to make money all year. Of course they're going to squeeze every last drop out of it."

Shinji folded his arms and clicked his tongue. "Tch. If I'd known, I would have brought Irisviel and her family along too."

"What good would that do?" Rin asked, thoroughly confused. "This isn't the Berlin Film Festival. The Einsbern family doesn't have much influence in France, right?"

"How would it not help?" Shinji retorted. "The only language French people understand is German, isn't it?"

A Rich Woman Wants to Keep You, Little Shinji. What More Could You Possibly Complain About?

Early in the morning, Tohsaka Rin climbed out of bed with a yawn.

The Cannes morning in May was bright and sunny. The sea, blue sky, and white clouds formed a beautiful oil painting.

Unfortunately, Tohsaka Rin had no mind to appreciate the view. Her mind had been battered half to death by the battle between waking and sleep, leaving her to wash up on muscle memory alone.

Because her parents were still alive in this world, Rin's daily routine was much more regular than in other parallel worlds. At the very least, she had not developed low blood pressure in the mornings from skipping breakfast for years.

Even so, Rin's difficulty getting out of bed had not improved by much. This time every morning was the hardest part of the day for the Young Lady of the Tohsaka family.

By the time Rin finally finished washing up and slowly made her way to the hotel restaurant, the FSN staff had long since finished breakfast and left.

Only Derek Ford remained, sitting leisurely at a small dining table with one leg crossed over the other as he read the newspaper.

"Sit wherever you like."

The old man warmly invited Rin to sit across from him, then casually called over a waiter and ordered breakfast for her.

"Thank you."

Having emerged from her dazed state, Tohsaka Rin regained the elegance of the Tohsaka family. Sitting at the table, she took small bites of French bread and fried eggs.

"Tsk, tsk. These Spaniards really are something... They actually said that you and Miss Artoria not taking your clothes off meant FSN had lost its only highlight."

Derek Ford tossed a Spanish newspaper aside with a look of disgust.

Rin, who was drinking soup, shrugged indifferently. "They probably want to challenge a dungeon invaded by the Knights of the Round Table."

During the festival, entertainment outlets from around the world had printed special editions specifically for Cannes, so Rin was not surprised that Derek Ford had a Spanish newspaper.

As for the Spanish paper's criticism of FSN, Tohsaka Rin cared even less.

Just as Shinji had said, FSN had been made for the box office from the very beginning. No matter how harshly the people in newspapers criticized it, they could not compare to the long lines of viewers outside the theaters.

Though she was not the film's protagonist, seeing those expectant audiences still filled Rin with pride.

And not all newspaper coverage of FSN was criticism. Some outlets gave this big-budget special-effects production a thumbs-up.

For instance, Britain's The Times lavished praise on FSN.

"FSN's exhilarating plot leaves audiences thoroughly satisfied. The film's director, Matou Shinji, seems to have let his imagination soar into the heavens.

"This monumental masterpiece achieves a feat never before seen in Film history, using combat elements that had previously gone unnoticed to keep audiences firmly glued to their seats.

"Most outstanding of all is Matou Shinji's construction of atmosphere and characters. With a narrative pace utterly free of drag, he tells the legendary life of Her Majesty King Arthur! Everyone who has seen the film will remember this character forever!"

Having finished breakfast, Rin was sipping coffee and reading the paper when she saw The Times' unbearably gushy review of FSN. She could not help setting down her cup and rubbing the goosebumps on her arms.

"This is the first time I've seen a newspaper praise our movie this much."

Rin's words drew an adorable laugh from the old man. His shoulders shaking, he handed her another newspaper.

"If you think that's gushy, take a look at The Daily Telegraph."

Rin picked up the paper. With a quick glance, she spotted a whole series of exaggerated compliments that made her cringe with embarrassment—"an unparalleled masterpiece," "the finest film of the past fifty years," "an achievement without equal," and so on.

"Isn't this gap way too huge compared to newspapers in other European countries?" Rin asked in surprise. "Do British media outlets really dislike art films that much?"

Rin had learned that term from Shinji. Because of this world's distorted development of the film market, classifications such as commercial films and art films had never emerged.

Film was inherently an art form. That was the industry's political correctness.

"Well~ it is British media, after all."

Derek Ford winked at Rin, a playful curl forming at the corner of his lips.

"Who do you think controls Britain's media?"

As a country that still retained its aristocracy to this day, Britain's nobles held influence over every aspect of the nation.

And the vast majority of Britain's old Mage Families were aristocrats.

After all, in feudal times, the people most likely to rise to prominence were mages whose individual abilities far exceeded those of ordinary people.

Although the two Industrial Revolutions and the overall decline of Mystery had greatly diminished the mages' influence, getting newspapers to say a few nice things about their own film was no problem at all.

This was vastly different from the Mage world in Japan. Although Japan's high-ranking mages likewise held themselves above others, they had looked down on the media industry from the very beginning, leaving Japanese mages with virtually no influence in that area.

"Whatever. Newspaper reviews are just clouds in the sky. As long as the audience can keep up this enthusiasm, our film's performance definitely won't be bad."

Rin looked out the window. The once-peaceful town was beginning to bustle once more.

"The negotiation results should come out today, right?"

"I don't know, but there'll definitely be a result before the film festival ends," Derek Ford replied. "The moviegoing craze sparked by the festival is the best time for a large-scale release. Once the buzz dies down, the public's attention will shift elsewhere."

Rin looked up at Cannes's dazzling sun and softly said, "I wonder how things are going between Shinji and Miss Flora. Do you think they'll end up arguing?"

At the thought of the two of them slamming the table during negotiations, Rin found it rather amusing.

Inside a commercial building in Cannes, Type-Moon Company was negotiating with international distributors.

The most important negotiations concerned distribution rights for Europe, North America, and Australia, as these were the film markets most heavily influenced by the Cannes Film Festival. They needed to be finalized quickly while Cannes's momentum still held.

As the undisputed core of the film's creative team, Shinji naturally took part in the negotiations from start to finish.

Yet the process did not satisfy Shinji at all. As for the reason...

"Shinji, your demands are a little excessive."

In the conference room, Chloe sat at the far end of the long table. Resting her chin in both hands, she smiled at Shinji across from her.

In this business negotiation, both sides knew they had to strike while the iron was hot and get the film onto the market as quickly as possible.

Since time was money, and the two sides were old acquaintances, they exchanged only a few simple pleasantries before moving into formal negotiations.

But the talks did not go particularly smoothly.

Although Chloe personally admired Shinji's talent and loved the films he made, she was also fascinated, as a mage herself, by the various magecraft formulas that appeared in the movie.

But once negotiations began, the Jidai Group representative acted as if none of that existed. She refused to yield an inch in every discussion, fighting for every possible benefit for her company.

Appreciating a film was a personal matter; business negotiations were a corporate matter. The two could not be mixed together.

Shinji would have been delighted to have an employee like that on his own side, but having one on the other side was simply frustrating.

Especially when that person was Chloe, someone Master Shinji was inherently three points weaker against, his feelings became even more complicated.

In short, the negotiations were not going very smoothly.

Shinji only wanted Jidai Group to distribute FSN normally. This was meant to be a standard film distribution partnership between the two sides.

To that end, Shinji had even made a slight concession in the revenue-sharing agreement.

But don't think Master Shinji was doing charity work. His sights had long been set on the future.

As long as FSN performed well at the box office, films produced by Type-Moon would naturally become highly sought-after prizes in the eyes of major distribution companies.

At that point, it would no longer be Master Shinji asking those companies to distribute his films. The distributors would be begging him to hand them the distribution rights.

Of course, Chloe was no pushover either. She directly demanded all of FSN's film and television rights in Europe and North America.

She even went a step further, proposing that Jidai Group become Type-Moon Company's sole global distributor in the future, putting on the air of wanting to swallow up Type-Moon Company entirely.

There was no way Shinji would agree to such a demand—Waver wouldn't either. His teacher, Kenseth, had poured so much money and time into this project, not to make a wedding dress for North American magi.

But business was business. One side asked for the moon, and the other bargained them back down to earth.

Both Waver and Shinji knew that Chloe's outrageous demand was merely meant to leave room for the negotiations to come.

"Lizzie, I can't sell all the rights to Jidai. You know me. That's simply impossible."

Shinji tapped his fingers against the table, his face full of displeasure.

This was killing him. Whether in life or in business, this woman was always trying to devour him whole.

"Oh my, you call me Lizzie when you need something from me, but once the negotiations are over, I'll be Chloe again, won't I?"

Chloe covered her mouth as she laughed softly, her face brimming with mockery.

"Don't talk about meaningless things." Master Shinji deliberately raised his voice. "I've already made concessions on the profit split and shown your company sufficient sincerity. If Jidai Group still insists..."

"Heh heh."

Chloe gave a cold laugh. "Your so-called sincerity, Shinji, is nothing more than bait meant to lure the fish onto the hook. I haven't forgotten Little Shinji's grand declaration that he would bring a thousand films to this world."

"Who are you calling Little Shinji?!"

Master Shinji's expression was on the verge of breaking.

"Lizzie, if you truly want to continue these negotiations, then please show an equal measure of sincerity."

"Of course I'm sincere."

Chloe said lightly, "I think highly of you and your team, so I want to invest in your company. Isn't that perfectly normal?"

"This rich woman wants to keep you, Little Shinji. What could you possibly be dissatisfied with?"

Chloe's smile bloomed as brilliantly as a flower.