I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 399: Cinderella Premiere
With Fate/Apocrypha now in theaters, part of Shinji's attention inevitably began drifting toward the upcoming Garden of Sinners, the already-approved The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II, and the massive future project—FGO.
That said, this was still the critical promotion period for the Fate/Apocrypha film. Shinji dutifully followed Type-Moon and Times Group across various cities, attending events and interviews to keep the publicity schedule running at full power.
Only at night did he finally return to his real battlefield.
Every evening, he held long calls with Udagawa Nao, Cloris, and the others, hammering out the details for the projects about to begin.
The Case Files project was essentially locked in.
A long-running series—one that, for a very long time to come, might continue like Doctor Who or Friends.
Shinji's vision for it was extremely clear: maintain high production quality while using the show to explain the parts of the Nasuverse's magecraft system that weren't crucial to the main storyline.
In other words, a detective mystery drama—with half of it serving as a magecraft primer.
The plan was to release a new season every one to two years and keep it running in an orderly, long-term format.
Of course, if it was going to be a long-term operation, the original novel material alone wouldn't be enough.
So to ensure a steady supply of content, Shinji supplemented The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II with stand-alone mystery arcs that carried the same kind of occult atmosphere as The Mystic Archives of Dantalian.
Naturally, what he provided were only stripped-down outlines, with the original settings removed. The drama's screenwriters would then reconstruct the stories based on those outlines and Type-Moon's lore.
As the producer, Shinji would personally direct a few episodes, but most of the time his role was overall supervision and quality control. He delegated the fine details to the actual execution team.
Even though he held final cut authority, he had no intention of abusing it.
As long as the result didn't completely contradict his core requirements, he would respect his staff's creative decisions.
He had too many projects on his plate to micromanage everything.
Besides, if he insisted on controlling every single detail, his team would quickly grow sick of him. That kind of management only drove talent away and shattered group cohesion.
As for the cast… the ever-busy Waver obviously had no time to appear in person.
So Shinji chose a Heroic Spirit actor instead.
Sherlock Holmes.
That's right. After several attempts, Shinji had summoned two new Heroic Spirits: the greatest detective in the world—Holmes, and the prototype of the "old man mentor cheat" from Western legends—Merlin.
Case Files was a mystery series steeped in the occult. Having the world's greatest detective play the story's detective was honestly overkill.
But Holmes's gentlemanly British demeanor matched Waver's "serious mode" surprisingly well.
Among all the male Heroic Spirits Shinji could think of, he was the perfect substitute for Waver himself.
As for Merlin… for now, that scam-artist magus mainly served as technical support.
Once the FGO project officially began, he would make his proper debut in Shinji's Fate storyline.
Until then—
"Go scam some pure-hearted boys on the internet, you useless freeloader."
"Shinji Matou! I have eccentric tastes, not a perverted personality, thank you very much!"
"You're saying that like you're proud of it…"
Shinji's face darkened as he listened to Merlin's retort.
Then, calmly accepting the accusation, he handed Merlin over to a certain king of the Round Table.
According to an ordinary Fuyuki City resident known as Mr. Uryu, the fireworks in the residential district that night never stopped.
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Perhaps because they had already resigned themself to the fate of their own work, while Shinji was going all out promoting Fate/Apocrypha through television, radio, the internet, and print media—the publicity for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles felt noticeably subdued in comparison.
Although there was certainly the intention to make way for Cinderella, the sheer thoroughness with which Paramount abandoned Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles still caught Shinji off guard.
He even had the absurd feeling of: "I haven't even started trying yet, why are you already down?"
No matter how you looked at it, Paramount's "free-range policy" toward Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles showed its effects most directly at the box office.
Starting from the weekdays, the gap in market performance between Fate/Apocrypha and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles widened far beyond what it had been during the opening weekend—so much so that describing it as the difference in bust size between Mordred and Jeanne wouldn't be an exaggeration.
In terms of screen allocation, since Paramount had already lain flat, the theater chains naturally had no reason to struggle on their behalf.
The screening ratio for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles plunged below 20%, and some cinemas even canceled it outright.
For a big-budget commercial film, this basically meant the theaters had given up on it—only fulfilling the minimum number of screenings required by the floating clause in the contract.
In contrast, Fate/Apocrypha's screening share shot past 50%.
Its explosive opening weekend had completely erased the theaters' doubts.
…
"As expected of Director Matou!"
"This young man truly is the emperor of the summer season!"
"His films are always worth looking forward to!"
"He's not even a director anymore, he's the god of cinema!"
"Exactly! Shinji Matou descended to earth to lead our theaters to fortune!"
…
These embarrassingly over-the-top praises had basically become the daily routine in the offices of major theater chains over the past few days—and they had even developed a standard workflow.
Before work each morning, the first thing they did was pull up yesterday's box office data.
Then everyone would begin a round of shamelessly praising Shinji, using the most nauseating lines they could think of to express how much this director had contributed to the company's performance—turning it into a contest to see who could be the most over-the-top.
After that, the department head would issue the order:
"Fate/Apocrypha's box office is just too good, cut more screens from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."
Only after completing this sacred ritual would the actual workday begin.
However, not all the screens taken from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were handed over to Fate/Apocrypha.
A portion was reserved for this week's upcoming release—Cinderella.
This kind of adjustment was perfectly normal.
Times Group's distribution network was powerful, but Disney was no pushover either.
For blockbusters from companies of this scale, theaters would always give them a basic performance window before the final results were decided.
Thus, as the summer box office war gradually shifted from Fate/Apocrypha vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Fate/Apocrypha vs. Cinderella.
Shinji was already leading the main cast—Amakusa, Jeanne, Mordred, and Astolfo—on a whirlwind global promotional tour, rapidly moving between the world's major cities.
This wasn't just to capitalize on the film's momentum.
There was also the issue of the Heroic Spirits.
Maintaining their existence outside Fuyuki City consumed an enormous amount of mana, and renting leyline energy in those major metropolitan areas was anything but cheap.
With time literally burning money, Shinji—stingy by long-standing habit—did everything he could to shorten the number of days the Heroic Spirits had to stay outside.
And so, just before the second weekend arrived, Shinji Matou and his crew landed in New York, North America.
As one of the largest and most modern cities in the world, it was naturally a key promotional stop for nearly every commercial film.
The format and content of the publicity events followed a fixed routine—especially for overseas promotion, where pulling off anything too outrageous was practically impossible.
Even so, the overwhelming number of fans still left Shinji feeling utterly exhausted.
The Heroic Spirit stage tour in Times Square drew tens of thousands of spectators and nearly turned the entire island of Manhattan into the largest parking lot on Earth.
While the spectacle pushed the film's popularity to another peak, it also placed a tremendous amount of pressure on Shinji.
Unfortunately, once the New York stop was over, there was no time for him to rest.
But unlike the Heroic Spirit cast, who would continue promoting the film across major North American cities, Shinji himself had to cross the entire continent in one go.
The weekend was right around the corner.
He had to be in San Francisco for the Cinderella premiere.
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"I can understand why you would attend this premiere, but—why did you drag me along?"
In the VIP lounge, after finishing a round of polite greetings with several visitors, Jeanne turned to glare at Shinji, visibly annoyed.
"Hey, Master—have you noticed how so many people are looking at us like those Englishmen at the execution ground?"
"…Doesn't that comparison hurt you more than it hurts me?"
Shinji twitched at the corner of his mouth.
He personally couldn't care less about the strange looks, but Jeanne's way of putting it…
After all, those "Englishmen at the execution ground" she mentioned had gone on to set her on fire.
"So what you're saying is that they want to burn us at the stake, right?"
Shinji shrugged in deliberate nonchalance.
"Didn't you say last night that all these promotional events were getting boring? I figured I'd bring you along to watch a movie and relax."
"Just to relax?"
Jeanne smiled faintly.
"Master, don't tell me you don't have other ideas."
"I do, but I'm not that desperate."
He flicked her forehead.
"I brought you because you can relax and, at the same time, help promote our film through this one."
"Promote Fate/Apocrypha?"
Jeanne rolled her eyes in a way so subtle it was almost elegant.
"Isn't Miss Ryougi the one who needs the publicity right now? Her movie is about to premiere."
"That's why I have her running promotions with the Fate/Apocrypha crew," Shinji replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"What she needs right now is public exposure, not this kind of high-end industry gathering."
'Walking the red carpet would also count as exposure, you know.'
'If you want a two-person date, just say so.'
Jeanne toyed with her braid, looking at her Master with undisguised disdain.
It wasn't until they entered the screening hall that her suspicion eased slightly—because Cloris walked up to greet them.
"Shinji, did you miss me lately?"
"What do you think, Lissy?"
Since it was a public setting, Shinji only gave her hand a light shake.
Watching their interaction, Jeanne finally began to believe that Shinji hadn't brought her here to make a move on her.
What kind of man would deliberately walk into a battlefield of romantic tension for no reason?
Unless he wanted to completely fall out with one side.
Cloris, for her part, didn't think much of Jeanne either.
A director bringing an actor along for public exposure was perfectly normal. Jeanne wasn't clinging to Shinji or acting intimate, so there was no reason for jealousy.
After politely greeting Jeanne, Cloris turned back to Shinji.
"I didn't expect to see you here. I thought you wouldn't come."
"I accepted the invitation. And Disney showed up in Fuyuki City last week to support us, so of course I had to return the favor."
Shinji answered casually, then asked in return:
"What about you? Why are you here?"
"The complicated web of interests between Hollywood companies," Cloris replied with a faintly irritated tone.
"These social obligations are unavoidable."
Then she changed the subject on her own.
"Apocrypha has already passed 100 million at the North American box office. The company is planning a celebration party soon, will you come?"
Shinji shook his head.
"No. After today I'm going straight back to Fuyuki City. When Type-Moon holds its own celebration, you should come instead."
Cloris narrowed her eyes.
Clearly, she wasn't very satisfied with that answer.
Before Cloris could press him further, Shinji cut in first.
"Oh right, Lissy. I need to find several locations with natural scenery for some exterior shots. Could you arrange for someone to help me look into it? I've got too much on my plate right now."
The unspoken meaning behind those words was clear—
I'm skipping the celebration party because I'm genuinely swamped with work.
And, in an extremely sly move, he asked Cloris for help with it.
That alone subtly conveyed how much he valued her.
Sure enough, her expression improved noticeably the moment she heard the request.
"Got it. Send me the requirements when the time comes."
"I'll email you later tonight."
Shinji wasn't making up an excuse to brush her off.
The locations he needed were precisely for the FGO project.
Fuyuki City was, at the end of the day, just a small city.
A French forest, the great plains of Rome, vast deserts—sceneries like those were completely out of the question.
Indoor sets and close-up outdoor shots could be built locally, but for wide exterior scenes, nothing could replace real natural landscapes.
"Lissy, I'm counting on you. Those locations will be very important in the future."
Cloris smiled sweetly.
"Don't worry. The places I find will definitely satisfy you."
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"You two seem to be having a great time…"
Jeanne, who had witnessed the entire exchange, admired Shinji's smooth-talking ability to coax girls into a good mood—while further confirming in her heart that he was a hopeless womanizer and a complete jerk.
'I wonder if braised pork trotters with radish tastes good…'
'You'd probably need soy sauce, right?'
With nothing better to do, Jeanne let her imagination wander to pass the time.
It wasn't until the Cinderella crew entered the theater that Shinji finally stopped talking with Cloris and turned his attention toward the film's production team.
To his eyes, there were practically no familiar faces.
Although Disney advertised the cast as "luxurious," they were all stars from this parallel world.
Not a single person he had known before transmigrating was among them.
Fortunately, the film's visual effects were impressive enough that he didn't find it boring.
As the head of the world's top VFX company, Shinji could easily tell just how much Disney had spent on Cinderella's effects.
To put it bluntly, with a single glance at the VFX quality of a film, he could determine exactly which effects package they had purchased from his company… and then reverse-calculate the cost.
'I just hope the story can give me something new.'
With expectations set at zero—yet still carrying a trace of anticipation—Shinji leaned back in his seat and began watching the live-action Cinderella.
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