Don't Call Me Master, Call Me Director

"Ah, I hope the film critics aren't too harsh," the head of the publicity department sighed, touching his increasingly receding hairline.

This was why they said Japanese people were so stubborn. If this were a Western country, upon seeing the film critics' influence wane, their first reaction would be to pressure them into backing down, not to try and mend fences like this manager.

In contrast to the internally conflicted Toho Company, Bandai was united as one.

As FSN conquered Japanese theaters, Bandai wasn't just raking in the box office profits; their related toys were selling non-stop.

Especially the toy Excalibur sold at the cinema concession stands, which became the fans' favorite merchandise. Nearly a third of the Audience who saw the movie chose to buy one to play with.

Much like the lightsabers in another world's Star Wars, Excalibur had not only become the symbol of FSN but also its representative commercial trademark.

What made Bandai even happier was that Matou Shinji hadn't lied. He had indeed reached an agreement with the Jidai Group, allowing their products to enter Europe and America.

Perhaps Chloe genuinely didn't care about the profits from merchandise, or perhaps she wanted to prove her sincerity through this action. Chloe agreed to use the Jidai Group's channels to sell Bandai's merchandise and didn't haggle much over the profit sharing, only asking for the cost.

This was undoubtedly a good start for Bandai. Even if the products sold were limited to FSN, it gave Bandai hope for the future.

It could be said that all factions related to FSN were happy throughout May, except for Master Shinji.

While everyone else was busy making a fortune from this movie, Shinji was short on cash.

Logically, Shinji shouldn't be short on money. The distributors who bought out the domestic distribution rights for FSN at Cannes had already wired the money to Type-Moon's account, and Bandai had just paid Type-Moon the first installment of profit sharing for the movie.

This should have been a time when Type-Moon's company was flush with cash, and everyone was enjoying the fruits of their victory. Yet, Master Shinji was currently dirt poor.

The reason was simple: when the company was internally "dividing the spoils," Shinji had categorized the cost of summoning Heroic Spirits separately under his own name instead of including it in the movie's production costs.

Don't underestimate this amount. Setting aside the cost of renting Ley Lines from the Tohsaka family, the Holy Relics for the Heroic Spirits alone were a considerable expense.

Holy Relics were basically artifacts. Whether buying them or renting them was extremely costly.

So, after calculating everything, Shinji not only didn't receive any of FSN's first profit share but actually owed the company a little money.

Shinji chose to shoulder the cost of summoning Heroic Spirits for a reason.

For a typical film company, this cost would usually be included in the movie's budget. But if this money were included, the cost of the Heroic Spirit Actors would be similar to that of ordinary celebrity actors, thus negating their advantage of being cost-effective.

Therefore, to promote the Heroic Spirit Actors, Shinji had to bear this cost himself, minimizing the movie's expenses on actors as much as possible.

Compared to the ever-increasing value of celebrities, summoning Heroic Spirits was a one-time expense, which was clearly much more cost-effective.

Although Shinji's decision was made for the future, it couldn't change the fact that his pockets were emptier than his face right now.

Actually, that wasn't entirely accurate. After all, Zouken, who doted on his grandson, still gave Second Master some Pocket Money.

However, 50,000 yen in Pocket Money wasn't a small amount for a regular High School Student, but for Shinji, it was really not enough. He couldn't even afford to have some fun in Tokyo's red-light district.

Not to mention, Shinji's sister, Sakura, was constantly tempting him to buy Artoria's photo albums and private videos.

Master Shinji found it quite strange. The day he returned, Artoria had gone berserk and swept through the Matou residence, nearly demolishing the entire house.

Under such circumstances, it was truly incredible that Sakura managed to keep these items and prevent Artoria from discovering them.

It also made Shinji realize that he was completely wrapped around his sister's finger.

"Damn it, to think she'd let Artoria wear that kind of outfit... I really want to see it."

To escape his financial predicament, Shinji made a significant decision.

"Everyone!"

In the office, Shinji slammed the conference table, announcing to everyone, "We're going to start filming a new movie."

"Master, really?!"

Cú Chulainn stood up, propping his hands on the table, excited like a puppy in heat.

"Master, am I the protagonist of the new movie?"

The Great Dog asked this question with great confidence, believing that none of the current Heroic Spirit members could surpass him in Acting Skills.

However, Shinji's merciless words shattered his fantasy.

"Unfortunately, Cú Chulainn, you won't be playing a major role in this movie."

As he spoke, Shinji's eyes swept over the other Heroic Spirits.

"Archer, Medusa, Uncle Hai, the three of you won't be playing important roles either."

The Heroic Spirits who were named nodded, accepting Shinji's statement.

Red A and Rider weren't particularly interested in making movies, so they didn't object. Uncle Hai was a well-behaved obedient child; since Master said he wasn't needed, he accepted it.

Only Cú Chulainn was displeased, slamming the table with a "bang."

"Master, why aren't you letting me play a role! This isn't fair!" Cú Chulainn complained loudly. "That Golden Gil, who acts like he's all that and a bag of chips, gets to be in it, but I, a hardworking, honest, and dedicated model worker, get to do nothing!"

"Because..."

Shinji sighed, rubbing his forehead. He placed a proposal document on the table. The white cover was emblazoned with [Fate/Zero].

"The new movie's concept is a prequel to FSN."

Chapter 42: New Project: Fate/Zero

Shinji's choice of FZ as his second movie was, in fact, a reluctant one.

With FSN having broken ground, selecting a Fate series story for the second movie to capitalize on the hype, consolidate popularity, and expand influence was the safest approach.

Even though the Type-Moon Fate series has so many stories, there really isn't one that can be made into a movie at this point in time.

The first to be abandoned were the other two story routes of FSN. Shinji saw it clearly; the new work definitely needed to piggyback on FSN's popularity, but not entirely. It wasn't time to rehash FSN itself yet.

As for the remaining Fate stories, setting aside FGO as a bottomless pit, the vast majority of works bearing the Fate name were either piggybacking on FSN's popularity or piggybacking on the popularity of works that piggybacked on FSN's popularity.

Regardless of their storytelling quality, those works were basically high-barrier entries for fans and not suitable for the general public.

This situation arose because the nature of Type-Moon's doujin circles meant that the Fate IP lacked cohesive commercial planning, ultimately descending into chaos.

After Master Shinji's careful consideration, only three Fate stories were currently usable: "The Melancholy Fairytale of Love," "Sister's Groundhog Day," and "The Love Legend of the Biased Referee Arthur."

Ptooey.

They were Fate/Zero, Fate/hollow ataraxia, and Fate/Apocrypha.

Shinji's first exclusion was "Magical Higashide's" debut work, FA. With too many characters, a flawed script, or a parallel world setting that easily confused people, this work was not suitable for release at this stage.

The second exclusion was Fha, for an even simpler reason: the story itself was not suitable for adaptation into a movie.

Fha's story was too fragmented. Its mode of triggering small events was structurally designed to fit a game.

You couldn't say Fha lacked a main plot, but its flimsy main plot was like Cú Chulainn in Carnival Phantasm.

Except for his personal final chapter, he only made fleeting appearances, showing his tragic death.

Stories structured like Fha couldn't be adapted into film or television, but Shinji believed that a TV drama format would be more suitable for this story.

Looking at it this way, FZ, as a prequel, became the only viable option among countless choices.

Of course, Shinji didn't need to tell anyone else in the office about his choice of theme. He just needed to present the final result to everyone.

"I've written down my concept for the new movie in the proposal. Please take a look, and feel free to raise any questions."

As he handed out the proposal to everyone present, Shinji also reminded the Heroic Spirits who didn't have performance tasks: "Even though you won't be playing major roles, you'll still be participating in the filming. You might be acting as stand-ins and film crew staff."

"Matou Shinji, you could be more direct," Red A said irritably. "Just call us Tool People."

"Because that term doesn't sound very good," Shinji said, rubbing his nose with slight embarrassment.

Red A just let out a cold laugh at Shinji's two-faced behavior.

Shinji pretended not to see Red A's expression and guiltily turned his head away.

"Mhm, mhm... Is Saber the protagonist again this time?" Sakura asked, glancing at the proposal with her eyes narrowed. "Older Brother, you really do love her."

Shinji shrugged helplessly. "Who else has the highest popularity right now? This is a commercial film, so I have to consider commercial matters."

Artoria frowned and raised her hand. "But... Master. Is this script of yours really a commercial film?"

After being tricked by Sakura with [May Sickness], Artoria's reading scope was no longer limited to the shoujo manga Rin gave her.

Having caught up on modern cultural knowledge, Artoria knew something about the current state of film culture in the world.

Shinji's dark, deep, and cynical script was completely different from the simple, straightforward commercial films he had been talking about. Instead, it was more like those noir films that showcased the darkness of human nature.

In fact, even without comparing it to other films on the market, one could see the significant difference between the two stories just by comparing it to FSN.

If FSN's story was the growth journey of a girl, King Arthur, then this FZ was a deathmatch in Fuyuki City with no survivors.

There was no darkness, only more darkness. Among the nearly 20 main characters in the entire film, apart from Waver, no one had a normal personality.

Rather, in this script full of lunatics, the normal Waver seemed somewhat abnormal.

"Indeed..." Cú Chulainn commented on the script after reading it. "Master, isn't the 'Zero' on your cover clearly implying that the survivors will be zero?"

Shinji glared. "Who said that? Aren't there still three Masters and one Servant who survived?"

Rider, who had been silent, offered her thoughts. "If I remember correctly, Kiritsugu Emiya was already dead in your FSN script setting, right?"

"..."

"And Kirei Kotomine and Gilgamesh also met their end in FSN."

Sakura delivered a backstab to her Older Brother.

"Looking at it that way, Waver, who returned to Britain, wouldn't have a good outcome either?"

"No way, isn't that person named Waver still alive now?"

"Are there few people who are alive in reality but die in Master's script? Kiritsugu Emiya is also alive, yet he just died, wasn't it?"

"Maybe that person named Waver, on his flight back to Britain, due to a plane crash..."

"That's enough!"

Seeing his Heroic Spirits getting more and more carried away, Master Shinji had to raise his voice to drown them out.

"I'm filming Fate, not Final Destination! How could Waver die from something like that?! I was planning for him to continue participating in side stories to make money... Ptooey, to gain popularity with side stories."

Sensing that he had spoken his true thoughts, Shinji quickly corrected himself.

Sakura tapped her chin, as if thinking of something. "Waver is that person who handles errands for you in Britain, right? You're making him work and also have him appear in movies. Be careful, he might just die from overwork one day."

Shinji smiled and waved his hand. "How could that be? With Waver's iron-clad liver, he wouldn't have any problems even if you gave him twice the work."

◇◆◇◆

"Achoo!"

Waver, all the way at the Clock Tower in London, let out a loud sneeze.

"Caught a cold?"

Kenseth looked up upon hearing the sneeze.

"Possibly," Waver said, pinching his brow. "The workload's been too much lately."

Kenseth spoke gently, "You need to be careful. Don't overwork yourself. If you can push off the work Matou Shinji's given you, do it."

"Teacher..."

Seeing his mentor's concern, Waver felt a little touched.

"You're the pillar of our Modern Magecraft department. If you fall ill, our faculty will be in trouble." Kenseth handed Waver a large stack of documents. "Here, take care of these for me."

"...Alright, Teacher."

Waver sighed, accepting his fate.

"Well, talented people have more work to do. Someone as excellent as Waver Velvet naturally has to shoulder a heavier burden than others."

After saying this, Shinji nodded repeatedly, as if he himself were moved.

Sakura, however, noticed a problem. "Wait a minute, Older Brother. Isn't Mr. Velvet still a boy in your script's setting? Why are you having the actual person play the role?"

"That's easy. I've already thought of a good solution." Master Shinji pointed at Gilgamesh. "I'll have Gilgamesh give Waver a Rejuvenation Potion."

"A Rejuvenation Potion..."

Gilgamesh curled his lips in a sneer. He leaned back in his chair in a tactical recline.

"Hey, Shinji."

Gilgamesh smacked the table with the proposal, his face grim. "Didn't you say you were going to summon Enkidu to film a movie with me? Then what is this?"