I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 444: Breaks the Easiest
Like every adventure story ever told, once the protagonist party finally assembled, it was naturally time to go defeat the boss.
Honestly speaking, the four-person squad wasn't nearly as terrible as Olga Marie believed.
From a party composition standpoint, they actually had one tank, one ranged caster, and two support units.
If they really had to start a fight, it wasn't impossible.
Still, the team possessed two major flaws.
First, they lacked a proper frontline warrior, meaning their close-range offensive power was insufficient. Against certain enemies, they simply couldn't establish suppression.
Second, both Cú Chulainn and Mashu had relatively mediocre combat stats overall. The moment they encountered an opponent who relied on overwhelming raw numbers, they'd immediately get steamrolled.
If Prologue had been an actual RPG game, most players probably would've replaced Caster Cú with regular Lancer Cú the moment the option became available.
Caster Cú simply sat in an awkward middle ground.
Many of Cú Chulainn's strongest abilities couldn't be fully utilized under the Caster class, and unlike Lancer Cú, Caster Cú's Noble Phantasm lacked an instant-kill effect.
In a real battle, the strategy of "Mashu taunts and tanks while Lancer Cú finishes the enemy with Gáe Bolg" would absolutely become a tried-and-true meta tactic.
Unfortunately, if the story actually played out that way, Prologue would become painfully boring.
And since the goal was to keep the audience tense and excited, a certain mage director naturally pushed Chaldea's dungeon raid toward hard mode.
Besides, even after class-swapping the characters, the cast were still familiar FSN faces.
The nostalgia points had already been secured.
So naturally, the next step was showing viewers something fresh—like how to clear an entire Holy Grail War using a Caster Cú whose stats weren't even that high.
As the group traveled toward Mount Enzou, Cú Chulainn briefly explained the disaster that had befallen Fuyuki City.
The Holy Grail War had originally proceeded normally, until one night, everything suddenly changed.
The city streets became engulfed in flames, humanity vanished entirely, leaving only the Servants behind.
And the first person to notice something was wrong was Saber.
Afterward, she defeated every Servant besides Cú Chulainn and corrupted them using her blackened sword.
Retaining his pride as a hero, Cú immediately decided to defeat Saber and end the now-twisted Holy Grail War.
Unfortunately, as only a half-functional Caster, he simply wasn't Saber's match.
Unable to fully display his prowess as a warrior, the moment Saber closed the distance, all he could do was instantly surrender his HP bar to fate.
His magecraft and Noble Phantasm could defeat Saber, but Saber would never give him the opportunity to activate them.
From that perspective, Mashu—the incomplete Demi-Servant—was actually more suitable as Cú Chulainn's partner than many true Heroic Spirits.
Because she was a tank, and that alone was her greatest advantage.
The problem, however, was that the current Mashu looked utterly dejected.
She looked completely absent-minded.
To put it bluntly, her fight against Medusa had mentally crushed her confidence.
The once-spirited Mashu had been beaten so badly that she now doubted her own abilities entirely.
Especially after hearing Medusa's merciless mockery when she failed to use her Noble Phantasm at the end of the battle—those words had pierced directly into Mashu's heart like blades.
From a storytelling perspective, this represented one of the most important low points in a character arc—the crucial stage before the protagonist becomes complete.
In most hero stories, when an ordinary protagonist suddenly gains power, their mentality fails to keep pace with their newfound abilities.
As a result, they behave immaturely, arrogantly, and recklessly waste their power.
And usually, the story then delivers a crushing defeat shortly afterward, forcing the protagonist to recognize their immaturity before finally growing into a true hero both mentally and physically.
At this moment, Mashu stood precisely at that critical point.
She had gained power, but her mentality had completely collapsed.
No, actually, Mashu's situation was actually even worse than that.
Because her powers were incomplete and far from truly powerful, she simply wasn't qualified to stand on the same stage as the genuine monsters roaming this battlefield.
Take the King Arthur they were about to face, for example.
According to Cú Chulainn, a single swing of Saber's sword could blow away an entire street, while the torrent of magical energy unleashed by her Noble Phantasm would swallow everything like a raging tidal wave.
And herself? Aside from carrying around a giant shield, Mashu had no particular strengths at all.
She didn't even know the true name or abilities of her own Noble Phantasm.
As a result, she couldn't draw out the true power of the Heroic Spirit dwelling inside her.
"So… I'm scared."
When the perceptive Ritsuka noticed something was wrong and gently questioned her, Mashu answered honestly.
"From the very beginning, I was different from Mr. Cú Chulainn and King Arthur…"
"Even after becoming a Servant… I'm still not a hero."
Mashu hugged her shoulders tightly as she trembled faintly.
"I can't even use my Noble Phantasm properly…"
"I can't imagine myself being able to fight someone like King Arthur…"
"Mashu…"
Looking at the girl before him, Ritsuka suddenly recalled the confident smile she had shown while protecting him from Hassan.
Seeing Mashu so uncertain now left his heart aching.
Meanwhile, Cú Chulainn—who had been crouching casually on the stone steps—spoke in a relaxed tone.
"When that time comes, I'll handle it."
"You're a Servant who fights to protect your Master, missy. So there's no need for you to shoulder responsibilities beyond your role."
"Eh?"
Cú flashed a confident grin toward the surprised Mashu and Ritsuka before thumping his chest proudly like the dependable older brother of the team.
"Relax. Even if you only count as half a Heroic Spirit, I, Cú Chulainn, count as at least one and a half! So there's no way we'll lose!"
"Really? Thank you very much!"
Mashu and Ritsuka nodded enthusiastically in unison, expressing heartfelt gratitude.
Honestly speaking, the heroic confidence radiating from Cú Chulainn was incredibly infectious, especially for inexperienced rookies like Ritsuka and Mashu, simply having him standing in the group gave them immense reassurance.
"Alright, break time's over."
Seeing that Mashu had regained some fighting spirit, Cú slapped the dust off his pants and stood up.
"Let's get moving, boys and girls!"
"Yes!" ×2
"W-wait! Let's rest a little longer!"
Trailing half a staircase behind the others and practically collapsing onto the steps, Director Olga Marie desperately voiced her request.
"What a disgrace to modern magi."
Seeing the director already panting heavily onscreen, Rin Tohsaka shot a glance at the person sitting beside her.
"You really should train your stamina more."
Rin's words caused Olga Marie's eyebrow to twitch violently.
"That's just exaggerated movie acting. My stamina isn't actually that terrible."
Her reply dripped with provocation, but Rin could easily tell she was bluffing.
The logic was simple.
In Shinji's movies, whenever someone portrayed themselves personally, their real-life personality and abilities were usually extremely close to what appeared onscreen.
Perhaps the real Olga Marie wasn't quite this pathetic, but she was definitely still hopeless.
Part of the reason Rin's attitude toward Olga Marie remained so sharp stemmed precisely from this impression.
A useless second-generation heir who climbed into power purely through connections despite lacking ability—that was currently how Rin viewed Olga Marie.
Although the Department of Modern Magecraft and the Department of Astromancy rarely interacted during Rin's years studying at the Clock Tower, she had still heard plenty of rumors regarding the Astromancy Lord's terrible temper.
Rin wasn't someone obsessed with magical bloodlines.
She hated evaluating magi solely based on pedigree.
The only thing she respected was personal capability.
So in Rin's eyes, Olga Marie—someone who inherited her position through bloodline, possessed mediocre magecraft skills, terrible stamina, and a tendency toward useless angry outbursts—represented exactly the type of magus she disliked most.
In truth, however, Olga Marie wasn't nearly as incompetent as Rin imagined.
Most of the negative rumors spread around the Clock Tower existed because she had been elevated into power by Shinji.
The Aristocratic Faction deliberately spread slander simply because they opposed him.
Of course, Olga Marie's temper really is bad.
But she only exploded when her subordinates genuinely screwed something up.
After all, in Olga Marie's own heart, a proper Lord was someone who dealt with reality honestly and seriously.
Unfortunately, there was no way Olga Marie would ever bother explaining any of this to Rin because she herself had long since become irritated with Rin too.
The reason for all this traced back to something Shinji had casually said on Olga's very first day in Japan:
"I'll introduce you to my childhood friend, Rin Tohsaka. Once you meet her, you'll realize how overlapping your character settings are."
To Olga Marie, that single sentence carried only one meaning:
In Shinji's eyes, she was merely a substitute for his childhood friend, Rin Tohsaka.
She—the great Lord of the Department of Astromancy, Olga Marie Animusphere—was supposedly a replacement for the daughter of some tiny Far Eastern magus family?
Could anyone tolerate that?!
So the moment Rin's tone became even slightly aggressive, the tsundere side of the young Lord immediately exploded like a turtle finally unable to hold its breath underwater.
"I'd like to ask exactly when magi ever needed physical stamina? We're magi, not martial artists. What exactly do you think familiars are for?"
Hearing Olga Marie fire back, Rin Tohsaka also started getting heated.
"Being exhausted from climbing a mountain means your stamina's literally below average human standards! You helpless rich-girl princess. A spoiled second-generation heir like you who's never experienced real hardship is definitely going to bankrupt your family someday."
"Heh."
Olga Marie crossed her arms and sneered.
"Rin, you really are still immature. I honestly thought you'd be as mature as I am."
"Shinji's taste really isn't very good after all."
Rin completely ignored the part involving Shinji.
Her attention focused entirely on the first half of the sentence.
"Mature? Hah! Where exactly does that confidence come from, you most incompetent Lord in the entire Clock Tower?!"
"…What did you say?"
Olga Marie's expression instantly darkened.
"The incompetent Lord?!"
"Just you wait, you flat-chested country girl from the Far East!"
"F-flat-chested?!"
Now it was Rin's turn to grit her teeth furiously.
"My my~ This is getting pretty entertaining~"
At some point, Merlin had quietly appeared behind the two girls.
While happily cracking some popcorn, he watched the "discussion" unfold with immense satisfaction.
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Tn: I updated the story once every 2 days, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 476: Shirou: I'll Take Both[1]!
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[1] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/im-not-master-im-165055398?collection=31097
[2] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/im-not-master-im-165055398?collection=31097