Don't Call Me Master, Call Me Director

Finally, as if mustering her courage, she suddenly declared loudly, "Thank you so much! Mr. Shinji!"

"Then I'll take that as a yes."

Shinji chuckled and walked toward the data room door, waving his hand.

"I'll be at the Clock Tower for a while. Come find me once you're done packing."

"Of course!"

Ophelia stared blankly at Shinji's retreating back, and it took a long time for her to snap out of it.

Is this what it feels like to be recognized... It's nice.

Ophelia touched her slightly flushed cheeks, her previously lost gaze gradually becoming resolute.

"Heh heh, Group A member acquired √."

Meanwhile, Shinji, in a great mood, started humming a tune in the hallway.

Suddenly, a cold voice interrupted him.

"Having fun, Shinji? How does it feel to lure innocent girls?"

"Lizzie! What are you doing here!"

Seeing Chloe standing before him, Shinji was so startled he almost climbed the wall like a cat.

Chloe sneered, "I came to the Clock Tower to discuss upcoming collaborations with Waver. He mentioned you were here too, so I came to find you."

"How much did you hear?" Shinji asked fearfully.

"Starting from 'You're really amazing.'"

"I think I can explain."

"No need to rush, we have plenty of time to explain."

Chloe smiled and slung an arm around Shinji's shoulder. She opened the door to an empty classroom by the hallway.

"Wait..."

Chloe didn't give Shinji a chance to explain. She directly threw him inside and then slammed the door shut with a "bang."

Chapter 47: My Word, Sister Chloe Has Great Insight

What exactly happened in that empty classroom that day, neither Shinji nor Chloe, the two involved parties, ever told anyone.

However, since that day, although Shinji still wandered around the Clock Tower, he was never seen together with Chloe again.

The person most affected by this incident was not Shinji himself, but Director Kirei and Waver.

Since Chloe was here to discuss collaborations with them, she spent most of her time in the Modern Magecraft Department, which greatly reduced the number of times Shinji bothered them.

Even though, to outsiders, Matou Shinji's return to the Clock Tower this time was just him wandering around various departments, even hitting on people from time to time.

And it was worse than last time when he confessed to all the girls in the Clock Tower; this time he didn't even spare the men!

Fortunately, Shinji himself was unaware of what these people thought of him, otherwise, he would definitely make them carve the title "Kind-Eyed Shinji-kun" into their DNA!

The reason Shinji was hitting on people everywhere was, naturally, to lure, no, to recruit mages who were about to graduate to Fuyuki City for prestigious positions.

Besides Ophelia, who had already been designated as his secretary by Shinji, quite a few young mages were also tricked into going to Fuyuki City.

The only thing Shinji regretted was that even though he later found the Fat Director, the latter declined Shinji's invitation due to family matters, only stating that there might be opportunities for cooperation in the future.

As the release of FSN in Europe and America drew closer, Shinji stopped wandering around aimlessly and patiently waited for the results of the film's first round of screenings.

During this period, Shinji only attended one of Ophelia's Thesis Report Meetings, essentially showing support for his new secretary.

Although the thesis report meeting, attended only by internal staff of the Spirit Evocation Department, had few audience members, and Ophelia, who had just arrived from Germany to the UK, appeared somewhat shy.

However, the content Ophelia presented was brilliant. Her hypothesis on the possibility of Heroic Spirit Spirit Foundations greatly inspired Shinji.

"I regret it a little."

After the report, Lord of the Spirit Evocation Department, Luphreus Nazeley Bulgulis, approached Shinji.

"Farnese is more outstanding than I imagined. I should have kept her here."

"She willingly came with me, old man," Shinji said flatly. "Don't blame me for picking up what you overlooked."

Compared to Touko's teacher, Shinji held only the respect Lu Bu had for Dong Zhuo towards the current patriarch of the Three Families.

This was not only because he was the staunch supporter of old-fashioned aristocratic principles and bloodline supremacy, a notoriously stubborn figure, and the quintessential representative of the "old man" Shinji spoke of.

It was also because he had once mocked Shinji's ancestor, Zolgen Makiri, publicly holding up Zolgen's thesis on Heroic Spirits and calling him a dreamer mage.

How could this Second Master tolerate that? That old man had exposed the Matou Family's greatest secret to the public!

"Young man of the Matou Family, do you intend to cooperate with our Spirit Evocation Department in the long term?" Luphreus continued, seemingly oblivious to Shinji's indifferent attitude. "As your influence expands, the magecraft for summoning Heroic Spirits will inevitably be deciphered. You will certainly need helpers to perfect your magecraft, won't you?"

Shinji reminded him, "I've already partnered with the El-Melloi Family."

"Heh heh, don't say that."

Luphreus said with a forced smile, "I know you're unhappy with me. But you must understand that the Great Mysteries are supreme to us mages. Under this premise, shouldn't personal grudges give way to the Mysteries?"

Are you Emperor Xuanzong of Tang?

Shinji's eyelids twitched twice. He wondered if he should give this immortal, who was likely older than his grandfather, a swift kick.

Fortunately, Ophelia, who had finished her speech, came to find Shinji at that moment. Shinji quickly ended his conversation with the other person.

"I'll consider your suggestion. I have other matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave now."

With that, Shinji gave a slight bow and walked towards Ophelia.

Seeing Shinji come to greet her, Ophelia relaxed her shoulders and let out a relieved smile.

"Senior Matou!"

"You're still calling me senior?" Shinji asked with a smile.

Ophelia tilted her head and, with a slightly dazed expression, asked, "Then... Lord Shinji?"

"Hiss..."

Shinji gasped.

"Never mind, just call me Boss."

Despite a flicker of secret delight, Shinji maintained his image and suggested a more normal title.

"Okay, Boss."

Ophelia quickly changed her address, no longer insisting on her previous one.

"Alright, let's go then."

Shinji nodded and turned to walk towards the Modern Magecraft Department.

"Boss, where are we going?"

Ophelia hurried after him, holding her documents.

"To sit on the server and play games."

"Huh?"

Shinji's answer left Ophelia bewildered.

Fortunately, a few minutes later, Ophelia understood what Shinji meant.

In the conference room of the Modern Magecraft Department, Shinji, Kenseth, Waver, Touko, Chloe, and other representatives from Mage Families gathered, seated around a large conference table.

As a secretary, Ophelia naturally had no seat. She stood obediently behind Shinji, holding a notepad and pen, ready to record the meeting's content.

Everyone present had serious expressions and looked expectantly at Chloe, while Touko leaned back in her chair, casually smoking and waving leisurely at Ophelia.

Most of the meeting's content was related to FSN, which had little relevance to her.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Chloe cut to the chase and stood up. "The opening weekend box office results for Fate/Stay Night have been released. For ease of calculation, I've converted everything to US dollars..."

As she spoke, Chloe glanced at the British magi present, as if gauging their reactions.

Kenseth said calmly, "Miss Flora, please continue. US dollars are quite straightforward."

If he were to be honest, Kenseth was somewhat displeased about using US dollars instead of pounds.

However, since there were other Mage Families present besides the British ones, using US dollars for settlement was a way to standardize things, so Kenseth couldn't say much.

What could he do when Britain itself wasn't living up to expectations?

Chloe, unfazed by Kenseth's expression, cleared her throat and read the data from her report.

"North American opening weekend box office: $50.63 million. UK: $6.89 million. France: $5.87 million. Germany: $7.52 million. Spain: $3.21 million. Australia: $3.11 million... The first round of screenings exceeded $72 million."

This data caused a stir among everyone present, who marveled at FSN's excellent box office performance.

Only Shinji remained calm, even appearing slightly disappointed.

Given FSN's popularity at the film festival, Shinji had already anticipated that the movie's box office would be good.

However, a first-week box office of only $50 million in North America, while not bad compared to Hollywood blockbusters of the same period in his memory, was still a far cry from the top-tier films.

Looks like I still need to cultivate the market slowly.

As he was thinking this, Shinji overheard the hushed discussions around him.

"It's actually this much!"

"I wonder what the final box office will be?"

"We don't have to worry about this year's research budget anymore."

Although everyone's ultimate goal was mystery, the path to mystery required vast sums of money.

For the past two years, they had worked hard, investing funds, leveraging connections, and gathering at this Modern Magecraft Department, which had been overlooked by everyone at the Clock Tower. Wasn't it all for the "lush pastures" that Matou Shinji had promised?

"Uncultured bumpkins."

Hearing these people rejoice over a mere $70 million, Shinji shook his head helplessly.

"Sigh, their horizons are just that limited."

Ophelia, standing behind Shinji, heard his words. She didn't find his use of coarse language problematic; instead, she greatly admired Shinji's calm demeanor.

[To achieve such brilliant results with no change in his heart, he truly is the Boss!]

After sharing the joy of the movie's high box office, it was time to assign the "homework" to each of the families.

"Everyone should know that I'm preparing to film the second movie," Shinji announced, resting his chin on his hands as he addressed the crowd. "The new movie will continue with the Holy Grail War theme, so we'll need everyone's help to collect the Noble Phantasms for summoning Heroic Spirits. I've already written out the list of who to summon this time."

While Shinji was speaking, Ophelia efficiently distributed the materials to everyone present.

"On this paper, besides the Noble Phantasms, there's also the Magecraft technology I might use in my next film."

Compared to FSN, FZ had a grander scale, and the filming involved more advanced technology.

To ensure the quality of the movie's special effects, Shinji naturally needed more sophisticated methods.

"I've already recruited some Mages at the Clock Tower, but to overcome these challenges within three months, we still don't have enough people. So, I hope everyone can send a few individuals from their families to form a specialized technical team with the Mages I've recruited."

This so-called team was naturally the prototype of the special effects company in Shinji's mind. In his future vision, this company would be a top-tier existence in the industry, excelling in both magical and computer-generated special effects.

Shinji continued speaking.

"This team will be led by Miss Aozaki Touko, specifically to tackle the difficult problems in movie special effects technology. As for the developed technology, the credit will go to the individual, but the profits generated by the technology will go to the Modern Magecraft Department to aid in the faculty's development."

Although Magecraft was a very personal matter, some people would still share their techniques, especially for technologies developed by a team, which would almost always be made public at the Clock Tower.

Of course, these technologies weren't shared for free; others would have to pay to use them.

Upon hearing that the technology would go to the faculty, a few representatives wanted to object, but after glancing at the imposing Kirei Kotomine, they silently closed their mouths.

They were all beings protected by the El-Melloi Family, so they wouldn't argue with the boss over such a small benefit.

"Finally, we cannot let up on the movie's promotional front either."

As the meeting concluded, Chloe suddenly reminded them, "Although FSN's poor professional reviews didn't prevent our movie from achieving high box office numbers, it's hard to say if they won't succeed next time. After all, the influence of those professionals in movie promotion cannot be ignored."

"Therefore, to counter those annoying guys, we need to establish our own platform! Since the film critics don't like us, let the audience who likes us review our movies!"

"Our Jidai Group has already created a website specifically for movie reviews. I hope everyone will contact the media as much as possible to support this new website and enhance its credibility in the eyes of ordinary people!"