I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 424: Matou "Black-Hearted Capitalist · Lamppost Decoration" Shinji
Having Sakura play Mash might not be a perfect match, but it was definitely not a bad idea—at the very least, far more reliable than the other candidates.
After all, audiences in this world hadn't been exposed to the FGO game yet, so they had no preconceived impression of Mash as a character. With Sakura's looks alone, she could absolutely carry the entire FGO series.
In terms of pure beauty, Sakura was actually a step behind Arturia and Rin—though she completely outclassed them in figure.
But on one hand, Mash's design wasn't meant to be the kind that stunned people at first glance. Instead, she was more of the "the longer you look, the better she gets" type—just like Sakura. Add in the shared "kouhai" aura, and the two naturally gave off a strangely fitting vibe.
Of course, Mash's apparent age was quite a bit younger than Sakura, who was already close to graduating from university.
But that wasn't a problem at all.
In most film and television productions, actors playing high school students were usually over twenty anyway. The industry had long since developed ways to handle this.
Even without using magecraft, simple makeup techniques could make Sakura look just as youthful and fresh as a real sixteen-year-old on camera.
If there was one major difference between Mash and Sakura, it was their personalities.
Mash was the classic "soft on the outside, strong on the inside" type—gentle and considerate in everyday life, but capable of showing an iron will that rivaled Ritsuka's when it truly mattered.
Sakura, on the other hand, was completely different.
In the Fate storyline, she was the quintessential yandere—once she broke down and fell into darkness, she would unleash terrifying destructive power.
Compared to the Black Grail version from the original story, the Sakura in Shinji's household no longer had those extreme yandere tendencies.
But her scheming, subtly manipulative side?
That was absolutely still there.
Shinji would swear on all the allowance money Sakura had tricked out of him since childhood that his little sister was definitely not as harmless as she appeared.
Fortunately, there were already several "strongly individualistic" actresses among his circle, and Sakura wasn't even the most extreme one.
The problem was…
Sakura's "dark side" was almost entirely directed at one person—her brother, Shinji.
Which meant that if Sakura joined the cast, Shinji himself would be on the receiving end of 1000% of her scheming firepower.
"…This must've been Merlin's plan all along."
Inside the Type-Moon office in Fuyuki City, Shinji muttered to himself as he adjusted a piece of magecraft equipment.
"Get Sakura into the crew long-term, then have her keep me on a tight leash. Hah~ try me. One day I'll pull your internet cable while you're online."
"Offend Merlin and still expect to live comfortably? I gave up on that idea when I was twelve."
Sitting across from him, Arturia spoke her mind while biting into a meat pie.
"So really, Master, you should've let me be the heroine. I'm much easier to deal with than Sakura."
After another bite, Arturia made her twenty-fourth attempt to promote herself.
"Not happening. I can't even imagine you shyly acting cute toward a guy… unless you use a loli voice."
Shinji shook his head.
He'd have to be insane to let Arturia play Mash.
Setting aside the fact that multiple Arturia-faces would appear in the FGO series—making the heroine yet another Arturia-face would just confuse the audience.
More importantly, her personality simply didn't match Mash at all.
"…Hmph."
Expressionless, Arturia tore off another piece of her pastry with her teeth, chewing slowly. There was a clear hint of dissatisfaction in her gaze.
"You say I'm an important character, but in reality, you're just making me a mascot… When I act cute like a rabbit or a cat, suddenly 'image' doesn't matter anymore… you're really quite the hypocrite…"
"Hm? What was that?"
Shinji tossed aside the tool in his hand and looked up.
"Nothing."
Arturia smoothly changed the subject, pointing at the magecraft gear on the table.
"This is the temporary summoning outfit you mentioned?"
During the earlier meeting, Shinji had already explained part of the FGO filming plan.
Because of the sheer number of Heroic Spirits involved, aside from those with major roles, the rest would be handled through temporary summons—
In other words, they would be called into the present world for a few days, finish filming their scenes, and then be sent back to the Throne of Heroes.
It couldn't be helped.
Maintaining a large number of Heroic Spirits simultaneously was an enormous burden on modern leylines—
Frankly speaking, it was a complete waste.
To ensure efficient use of magical energy, Shinji divided the Heroic Spirits in FGO into three tiers.
Those with the least screen time would simply be "reskinned" using two all-purpose stand-ins—Yang Qing and Enkidu.
Those with a moderate amount of screen time would be temporarily summoned, filmed, and then sent back immediately.
Only the Heroic Spirits who were central to a story arc—and would continue to appear frequently—would be properly summoned.
Naturally, Arturia was extremely curious about the temporary summoning device, which played a crucial role in this system.
Because in her eyes—
"Master… are you sure this isn't a blender?"
Staring at the funnel-shaped magecraft device—wide at the top and narrow at the bottom—the King of Knights could only voice her blunt suspicion.
"Well, since it needs to break down and reconstruct Saint Graphs as required~ After referencing some Chinese magecraft formulas, this is roughly what I ended up with… assuming we don't care about aesthetics."
"…So you're saying the Heroic Spirits are going to get squeezed out from the bottom like minced meat?"
"Exactly. Though what comes out is just the Saint Graph. You still need to supply magical energy for it to take on a proper Heroic Spirit form."
Arturia: "…"
For once, the ever-practical King of Knights felt that maybe… aesthetics should matter after all.
Because this thing in front of her looked way too much like a kitchen appliance.
A small, traitorous line of drool formed at the corner of her mouth.
This "blender" was making her crave Japanese hamburger steak.
"…Couldn't you summon them like in the script? Using my dining table—I mean, the Round Table?"
Hearing her question, Shinji scratched his head.
"Since we need to reuse Saint Graphs, it has to handle both summoning and modification. But the base formula is adapted from the Master summoning system in the script."
In FGO's game setting, the player (Ritsuka) fought not only by using Command Seals, but also by temporarily summoning Heroic Spirits—in other words, deploying the party they had assembled.
However, that mechanic was far too loose, and in a serious narrative it could easily break immersion.
That's why FGO's manga and anime adaptations either downplayed or outright ignored it by either having only Mash as the consistent Servant while others were story-specific, or pre-selecting the Servants participating in each singularity from the start.
But this was a genuine Type-Moon reality.
Even if mystery had greatly declined, magecraft systems described in theory didn't just disappear.
By combining his memory of summoning formulas with reverse-engineering done by a certain Clock Tower lecturer in London, Shinji had ultimately created this… blender-like device.
"Master, does this thing actually work?"
Arturia poked the outer casing of the "blender," voicing her doubts.
"I'll show you."
Shinji pulled out a glowing "lightbulb" and a stack of parchment filled with writing from his drawer.
"This is a blank Saint Graph, and these are the specifications for the temporary Servant," he explained. "Now then—"
He dropped the "lightbulb" into the upper chamber, stuffed the parchment into a slot below, and infused the device with magical energy.
Ding—ding—ding—
Accompanied by a summoning sound effect that Shinji found oddly familiar, the "blender" burst into white light. The office dimmed for a moment before returning to normal.
"Phew…"
Letting out a breath, Shinji retrieved the glowing orb from the bottom and tossed it onto the floor.
"Alright, I choose you—Stella!"
In the next instant, the orb released a puff of white smoke, gradually forming into the figure of a well-built, short-haired archer.
"Master… is that incantation necessary?"
"No. Just a personal habit."
Ignoring the King of Knights' look of "Is this guy an idiot?", Shinji continued his explanation.
"This is the temporary Heroic Spirit summoning system. As long as you have a blank Saint Graph, you can summon these highly convincing 'pseudo-Servants' based on preset parameters. No need to worry about catalysts or anything like that."
"…It looks decent. A bit stiff, though."
After carefully observing the "Great Hero" standing in the office, Arturia gave her assessment.
"That's because it's summoned based on 'settings,'" Shinji replied. "But it can handle basic dialogue scenes and most action sequences just fine. Overall, it's pretty cost-effective."
These temporary Heroic Spirits were somewhat similar to the Shadow Servants in FGO—essentially "puppets" with a degree of intelligence. They were far inferior to their true selves, but more than sufficient to bluff their way through a film production.
"However, Master," Arturia said, still unconvinced, "no matter what, these temporary Servants can't behave exactly like real people, can they? If the normal staff on set see them, won't that cause problems?"
"They won't have direct contact with them."
Shinji answered with absolute certainty.
"I have enough permanently summoned Servants and hired magi. The ordinary staff will only observe from a distance—they won't even get the chance to talk to these 'actors.' When the time comes, I'll just tell them these Servants are outsourced from another agency. I have a contract with that agency, so they need to be managed separately."
"…Outsourced?"
"Exactly."
Shinji snapped his fingers.
"Think of it as hiring Heroic Spirit labor through the Counter Force~"
"…I see…"
Arturia sighed, looking slightly drained.
"So Merlin wasn't exaggerating when he called you a black-hearted capitalist. But what about the production accounts? These Servants appear and disappear out of nowhere, how are you going to balance the books?"
After living in Fuyuki City for so long, Arturia was no longer the naïve girl who only cared about eating. She understood at least this much:
A project like FGO, which could generate profits in the hundreds of millions, would absolutely be under scrutiny.
"No need to worry. The accountants at the Clock Tower are quite skilled at this sort of thing."
Shinji smiled faintly.
"At the very least, nothing suspicious will show up on the books. After all, I am incurring real costs for these temporary Servants."
"Costs?"
Arturia blinked in confusion. Wasn't this basically conjuring something out of nothing?
Shinji chuckled and explained:
"These Servants still need to be designed, right? That part costs money. Writing all these parchments is a huge hassle—I nearly wore my hand out."
"…Your hand… wait a second!"
Arturia suddenly caught the flaw.
"So you're saying… you're pocketing the 'outsourced actor fees' yourself?"
The corner of Shinji's lips curled upward.
"No. It's just a simple case of transferring money from my left hand to my right."
…This man really should be hung on a lamppost.
Arturia silently came to a firm conclusion about her Master.