I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 441: The Little Beast Inside Mashu
For the Olga Marie in the Prologue movie, the day the story began was undoubtedly the single unluckiest day of her entire life.
Getting suddenly transferred to Fuyuki City was one thing—after all, before the accident, this place had originally been the destination for the Rayshift experiment.
But what Olga absolutely could not tolerate was the fact that not a single one of her subordinates had come with her.
Worse still, she was being targeted by a giant black-skinned brute who didn't even have a single hair on his body.
Normally, according to the common sense of the Mage's Association, someone with the qualifications of a Lord should at least be capable of retreating gracefully even if they couldn't defeat a Servant.
And yet Olga was currently being chased around by Darius like a stray dog.
Utterly humiliating.
Still, if one thought about it carefully, it really wasn't that strange.
Olga Marie was a sheltered second-generation magus who had inherited her position thanks to her father. Her actual abilities as a mage were noticeably inferior to his.
Among the twelve Lords of the Clock Tower, Olga Marie could probably compete with a certain Lord El-Melloi II for the title of "weakest Lord."
Of course, much of that was simply due to her age and lack of experience. If given enough time to grow, she would have had no trouble becoming a proper Lord in her own right.
But regardless of how bright her future might have been—right now, she was merely a powerless noble girl trapped in a life-threatening situation.
"Why… why do I have to go through this?!" Olga Marie cried as she ran for her life. "Lev! Save me already!"
But the man who had always stayed by her side, shielding her from trouble and helping her selflessly—Lev—did not appear before her like she expected.
So she could only face the massive, rough-looking giant alone.
"N-next time, I'm never going to the front lines again! Never again!"
There was already a trace of sobbing in Olga Marie's voice.
In the director's original fantasy, she was supposed to lead forty-eight Masters into the Singularity, investigate the cause of humanity's destruction, command everyone from the safety of the rear, solve the crisis with flawless strategy, save human civilization, gain immense prestige, and finally become a true Lord acknowledged by all.
To put it simply, the Singularity operation she had imagined involved herself elegantly giving orders while everyone else protected her.
The gap between fantasy and reality was no longer the difference between heaven and hell.
It was the difference between the Land of Light and Planet L77.
What Olga Marie didn't know, however, was that the event that would truly break her mentally had yet to arrive.
Being chased around by a giant berserker barely counted as an appetizer, and yet even that was already more than she could handle.
Not every modern magus trained like Rin Tohsaka, studying magecraft while also learning martial arts.
Most magi were the definition of "high attack, low defense." Once their magecraft failed them, even a child with a knife could end their lives.
Kiritsugu Emiya, in particular, would have had plenty to say about that.
Fortunately, the director's death would not be so abrupt and absurd.
Thus, just as Darius leapt forward to pounce on her, a certain shield-bearing girl descended from the sky and resolved the crisis.
BOOM!
With a thunderous crash, Mashu made her dazzling entrance!
"So becoming a Heroic Spirit changes someone's personality that much?"
Since movies wouldn't bother explaining every little detail of the setting, Aoko didn't really understand how much a Demi-Servant's personality could change after being fused with a Heroic Spirit.
But Mashu's transformation was something she could clearly feel firsthand.
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she never would've imagined that such a soft-looking girl could literally use herself as a human cannonball.
Still—
"I like this personality. This girl has the potential to become an outstanding woman like me. Could this actually be Mashu's real personality? Was the sweet girl act just a disguise?"
Aoko didn't realize her words were surprisingly close to the truth.
Mashu really was a gentle, adorable, caring girl—but hidden deep inside her was a streak of rebellious madness and surprisingly dark mischief.
Even though Mashu usually concealed it well, every now and then it would accidentally leak out.
For example, using alcohol as an excuse (despite the fact that Heroic Spirits can't actually get drunk after becoming Servants) to give Ritsuka "meticulous" care.
Delivering brutally sharp comments whenever someone embarrassed themselves.
And her unusually obsessive attitude toward Lancelot.
Honestly, it was probably for the best that Lancelot himself had never read the later script.
Otherwise, he would've realized that even his own daughter had absolutely no intention of treating him kindly.
Of course, considering Lancelot's hopeless daughter-loving personality—where he'd even willingly wear women's clothing just to make Mashu happy—there was also a very real possibility that he would actually enjoy being treated that way.
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When a living person suddenly falls from the sky, stories from different cultures tend to take the scene in completely different directions.
In ancient Chinese tales, it would probably become a tragic opera featuring a frail beauty like Lin Daiyu.
In Western media, it would likely be a superhero making an iconic landing pose that looked cool but absolutely destroyed the knees.
And in Japanese anime and manga?
It would definitely be a girl powerful enough to beat the childhood friend heroine into submission.
As for Shinji—a Japanese director who's pre-transmigration lived in China and whose filmmaking style carried a strong Hollywood flavor—naturally, his movie combined the strengths of every genre.
Thus, Mashu, a heroine possessing both the "frail girl" and "girl-falling-from-the-sky" attributes, achieved her very first "superhero landing" on the silver screen and casually crushed a certain Darius who just so happened to be passing by.
Of course, while Mashu did flatten Darius, she wasn't simply smashing down blindly.
Knowing that her beloved Senpai was still in her arms, Mashu performed two actions before colliding with him.
First, she twisted her body midair so that her back faced Darius, protecting Ritsuka from the impact.
Second, she resummoned her shield so that the thing hitting Darius point-blank would be her weapon, using it to cushion the collision.
In the end, everyone got what they wanted.
Mashu successfully rescued the director, Ritsuka gained a tutorial NPC, Olga Marie finally found someone to rely on.
The world where only Darius suffered was successfully achieved.
Still, Shinji firmly believed no audience member would care about the feelings of some bald brute.
After all, Darius was nothing more than a disposable extra thrown in to fill space.
The audience neither knew his backstory nor his experiences after being summoned. If viewers didn't go digging through behind-the-scenes material or official setting books after the movie, they probably wouldn't even learn the true name of the Servant Mashu launched like a firework.
The reason Shinji replaced Berserker Heracles from the original game script with Darius was to reduce the awkwardness of the plot using an unfamiliar Servant.
Because he was an unknown side character, nobody would mind however he died.
Of course, there was another reason for removing Herc.
Shinji felt that if Heracles only existed in dialogue and never actually appeared, it would be a complete waste of such a popular character.
One of FGO: Prologue's selling points was nostalgia and references to the franchise's history.
If you mentioned Heracles but never let him appear onscreen, audiences would very easily become dissatisfied.
But if Heracles truly appeared, handling the character properly would become difficult. On top of that, the Berserker segment had basically nothing to do with the movie's main storyline.
So Shinji simply cut Herc from the script entirely.
Naturally, the Ritsuka inside the story had no way of knowing that the mastermind writing his life had suddenly grown a conscience and removed an outrageously troublesome enemy for his sake.
At this moment, he was currently receiving Director Olga Marie's beginner's lesson on the Holy Grail War.
The explanation itself was necessary for new fans.
It was basically the same as Marvel movies repeatedly introducing the Infinity Stones every few films. This kind of exposition helped newcomers quickly understand the important settings and ensured they could follow the later plot developments.
Sure, these explanations were cumbersome, but unless Shinji wanted to completely shut new viewers out of the franchise, scenes like this had to be included in every movie.
However, for veteran fans like Aoko, hearing these terms explained for the hundredth time carried absolutely no novelty.
As a result, all of her attention was focused entirely on Olga Marie as she lectured Ritsuka.
"This girl gets more excited the longer she talks," Aoko commented. "She seems to really enjoy being looked at with admiration."
Alice thought for a moment before replying.
"I heard that the real-life version of this young lady became a Lord at a very young age. Because of that, the Department of Astromancy was always full of rumors saying she didn't deserve her position."
"So that's why her temper is so terrible—she explodes at the slightest thing."
At last, Aoko finally understood Olga Marie as a character.
"Using that kind of attitude to disguise herself… that's basically just her inferiority complex showing through."
"And because of that…"
"What is it?"
"Alice, do you think Shinji Matou deliberately added this character into the movie so the people in the Department of Astromancy could better understand what kind of person their leader really is? Like… to make them acknowledge this young Lord?"
Alice lightly pinched her chin in thought.
"That's possible… I heard Sir Matou supported her when she first took the position…"
She paused briefly before narrowing her eyes slightly.
"But releasing this movie only now… it seems the Department of Modern Magecraft and the Department of Astromancy are probably preparing for something big soon."
"As expected of Shinji Matou. Even when making a movie, he's still scheming this much. What a sinister guy."
Alice gently smacked Aoko on the shoulder.
"Please call it wisdom. Thank you very much."
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At this moment, the story on the television screen entered its next phase.
After a round of discussion and analysis, Olga Marie finally arrived at a conclusion so obvious even a three-year-old could have guessed it:
If they cleared Fuyuki City's Singularity F, not only would humanity be saved, but the three of them would also be able to return to their original era.
"Ooooohhhhhh—!!" ×2
Ritsuka and Mashu immediately burst into amazed cheers and applause.
After their earlier interaction, the two of them had already fully grasped the director's personality.
It didn't matter whether the young lady's words were profound insight or complete common sense, just agreeing enthusiastically was the correct answer.
And Olga Marie was extremely pleased by their flattery.
Puffing out a chest whose impressive size rivaled even Mashu's, she proudly declared:
"Coming to such a conclusion is only natural. After all, I'm not just some pretty-faced director who—"
Crack
An unnatural sound suddenly echoed through the silent night sky.
Startled, Olga Marie reflexively grabbed onto Ritsuka's arm.
"Wah?! W-what was that sound?!"
After the incident with Darius, Olga Marie had become like a frightened bird at the mere twang of a bowstring. Even the slightest disturbance would infinitely magnify her anxiety.
Clinging to Ritsuka was nothing more than instinctive behavior.
However, that action directly triggered the "main heroine" instincts inside the little eggplant.
Seeing the director tightly hugging her beloved Senpai's arm, Mashu deliberately tapped her finger against her shield.
"It was only the sound of glass breaking. Nothing serious at all."
She smiled sweetly.
"Right, Senpai? Director?"
"Y-yeah… right…"
Although Mashu was clearly smiling, Ritsuka couldn't feel even the slightest warmth from it.
Instead, a faint chill crawled down his spine.
Perhaps this was the true meaning behind the old saying: The scariest people are the gentle ones once they get angry.
Still, Ritsuka didn't need to worry about how to calm Mashu down.
Because at that moment, a figure slowly emerged from the darkness.
Bending slightly forward, the newcomer spoke in a seductive voice.
"Ara ara~ There are actually survivors left? How very fortunate~"
The enemy had arrived.
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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.
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