73. Return in Glory
73. Return in Glory
Celestia Claudius Diaporos.
Born the daughter of a senator in the Hyphen Kingdom, the kingdom of the elves, she had always dreamed of becoming great.
This was not unique to her.
Elves, whose lifespans were so long as to seem almost meaningless, on average began to obsess over fame around the age of seventy.
Elves younger than that were more interested in money or material things, but by the time they passed seventy, they grew weary of such pursuits.
Thus, her obsession with fame could be called a natural elven trait.
Her parents and siblings did not mock her fixation on fame.
It was a path they had once walked themselves, and something they still yearned for even now.
But fame was relative, and to become more famous than someone who had already staked a claim in a domain required even more blood, sweat, and tears.
And elves took an exceedingly long time to die of old age, and for them, the concept of decline due to aging did not exist.
When these two facts were combined, for one elf to make a name in a domain already claimed by another required effort not just of blood and sweat, but of a heroic, blazing death.
The problem was that the established elves who had claimed those domains had won their places in exactly that way and were probably still putting in the same level of effort.
Therefore, fame required not only effort but talent great enough to overturn the work and history those predecessors had built.
Celestia knew this fact well.
Unfortunately, although she had talent, it was not enough to change history, so she could not surpass those who came before her.
So she shifted her thinking.
If she could not become great in a domain already claimed by other elves, she would pioneer one herself before anyone else took an interest.
But that path was thwarted too.
There was no way other elves hadn't thought of what she had.
Still, she tried on the off chance, but the results remained far out of reach.
With every elf striving just as hard, the efforts of someone as young as her couldn't compare with what they had accumulated over centuries.
In the end, the price of harboring a dream too large for her abilities was that she had to give it up.
*
An elf who had given up on her dream did not have a particularly pleasant personality compared to an elf who was still dreaming.
And since the majority of elves more often failed to achieve their dreams than succeeded, elven personalities were generally not very pleasant.
Celestia was no different.
Her true nature was still closer to good than evil, but having failed to achieve her dream, she underwent a dark evolution into a hysterical racist.
Living her daily life while occasionally displaying hysteria and racism, she enrolled in Hetairo Academy.
There, she saw a new domain.
Magical girls.
While the film domain itself had many elven heroes and sages, the magical girl genre was a domain they had yet to advance into.
- With this genre, I could make my name known...!
She immediately applied to the studio and, by a stroke of luck, was able to land the leading role of the magical girl.
At the time, she was blinded by fame.
So she demanded as a contract condition that her real name, Celestia, be used as her character's name in the show.
Now, nearly a year had passed since then.
She hated her past self.
*
After Allen made his declaration, Celestia opposed it with a look more desperate than anyone else's.
"Allen. Think again. Surely there are plenty of decent sets other than that place."
"What other sets?"
"For example, the Sanctuary of Parma..."
"That came up in the meeting too. But the Sanctuary of Parma is a wide, splendid place, not one with diverse natural environments."
"Magic! Can't we just create the environment with illusion magic!?"
"That would kill the realism. And implementing the direction we're aiming for in the Sanctuary of Parma is nearly impossible."
Allen began roughly sketching out the direction he had in mind on the blackboard.
For this episode, which required each magical girl to go all out, a forest was fundamentally more fitting than a crowded city center.
And the battle that took place in the forest had to blow all the trees away, turning it into a plain, and then shift locations to include a river or the sea.
The only place where all of this could be achieved, Allen thought, was the Hyphen Kingdom's Special Sanctuary.
"I heard that no matter how much the environment is destroyed there, it recovers completely. Considering the possibility of NGs during the fight scenes, filming there is the right call."
"I absolutely won't cause any NGs! No. Even if there are NGs, I'll fill them in with ad-libs, so please!"
Her opposing attitude gradually shifted from a suggestion to a plea.
Seeing her so desperate to avoid the Hyphen Kingdom, the film crew began wondering why she hated the idea of filming there so much.
The first among them to figure it out was Nikolai, who had a similar experience.
"Aha!"
When Nikolai suddenly exclaimed, everyone turned to him.
With all eyes on him, Nikolai opened his mouth.
"Perhaps she doesn't want to show this side of herself to her family?"
"..."
Ceres fell silent.
The film crew, who had grown accustomed to reading her emotions after filming with her for a full year, instantly understood the meaning of that silence.
The first to move was Kylie, who played Isis, Magical Mari's first companion.
"Great! It's my hometown, so it'll be more comfortable. And I'll be able to show off to the hometown folks. Isn't this what they call a triumphant return?"
Kylie, treating it as someone else's problem, began enjoying the situation more than anyone.
If a proposal had come up to film in Kylie's own homeland, the Eastern Kingdoms, she would have had a fit too, but coincidentally, the Eastern Kingdoms weren't a place where the film industry was particularly developed, so there was virtually no risk of that.
As Kylie, who had been in the most similar position to her, betrayed her faster than anyone, Ceres staggered for a moment from the shock.
But she thought it was still too early to give up.
Didn't she still have Dina, her fellow magical girl?
"Diane! You're on my side, right? Right? To make me wear those clothes and say those lines in my hometown. No matter what, this is too much!"
Ceres grabbed Diane's collar and pleaded.
But Diane tilted her head at Ceres's reaction.
"Why? What's the problem?"
Indeed.
Diane did not care either way.
Unlike Ceres or Kylie, Diane had voluntarily joined as a magical girl from the start.
Besides, Diane had nerves of steel—she had openly declared to her family, “I'm going to be a magical girl.”
Ceres's sensibilities were a domain she couldn't understand.
At Diane's flat, dry response, Ceres's expression crumbled.
If compared to an anime, it was the face of someone whose spirit had been shattered, a face suited to the effect of turning pale and losing one's pupils.
While her soul was draining from her mouth, the rest of the film crew, excluding the magical girl trio, quickly exchanged opinions.
Up until now, filming had been limited to moving around within the Empire.
So no cumbersome procedures had been necessary, but once they crossed over into the Hyphen Kingdom, the story changed.
Even with a portal, traveling to another country after academy classes, filming there, and returning the same day was a grueling schedule even for them.
And considering the administrative procedures to get travel permits... honestly, it was too much of a hassle.
But.
All these problems could be handwaved away with this one word.
Would it be an absolute blast?
It was.
Having to travel abroad after class, complicated paperwork, even one trip without a portal because of the delicate filming equipment—
None of those problems mattered before the promise of an absolute blast.
"I'm for it."
"Me too."
"I'm in favor."
One vote against. All others in favor.
By a rational democratic vote, Bon Voyage Studio's next filming location was decided to be the Hyphen Kingdom.
*
The weekend arrived, one week after the next filming location was decided.
The studio party, excluding Prince Leon and his guard Carlos, finished preparing to depart for the capital of the Hyphen Kingdom.
With Archmage Pia joining in place of Carlos, who had served as both cinematographer and lighting director, the team left the equipment at the studio and traveled light through the portal.
Originally the plan was to travel directly with the filming equipment, but Allen figured that even beyond Magical Mari, they'd likely be indebted to the Hyphen Kingdom's Special Sanctuary often.
So he decided to buy a building in the Hyphen Kingdom, establish Bon Voyage Studio's second branch, and purchase the filming equipment locally.
- "Rather than have the actors and staff suffer, I'll just spend a little money!"
It was the twenty-first-century Korean American mindset that most problems in the world could be solved with money.
The film crew cheered at Allen's decision.
They were human too, and the less travel fatigue, the better.
So Allen's generosity was incredibly welcome to them.
Only one person, Ceres, complained that his generosity didn't apply to her, wondering if they couldn't use that generosity to look into a different set instead.
*
With Ceres's whining as background noise, the party arrived at the border.
Moving domestically was one thing, but opening a portal directly from abroad into the capital was insane.
At the border crossing from the Empire into the Hyphen Kingdom, an immigration checkpoint awaited them.
Answering the questions of a pointy-eared immigration officer who mixed a bit of elitism with discrimination, the party members passed over into the Hyphen Kingdom one by one.
"And what is your purpose for entering the Hyphen Kingdom?"
"We're planning to film in the Special Sanctuary for the production of Magical Mari."
"Oh? Then you must be..."
"Yes. We're Bon Voyage Studio."
The film crew was appalled at Allen's polite demeanor, but he maintained courtesy throughout and underwent the immigration inspection.
The discriminatory, elitist elf officer also became courteous the moment he learned Allen was the priest producing Magical Mari.
"I apologize for speaking informally. The border has been a bit unsettled lately, so we've needed to maintain tension during inspections."
"Not at all. I heard the news as well. You're working hard, officer."
Allen understood the officer's casual speech, knowing about the incident where elven supremacists had attempted a terrorist attack at the border.
The officer glanced around before cautiously asking Allen.
"Er... would Miss Claudius happen to be here as well?"
Allen wondered for a moment if there was a Claudius in their party, then remembered it was Celestia's surname and answered the officer.
"Of course. How could we leave behind the star of our drama?"
Allen pointed at one of the party members waiting for inspection behind him.
As his finger aimed at a suspicious-looking woman hidden by sunglasses, a mask, and a hood—someone anyone would find suspicious—the person in question hid behind her colleagues' backs.
But the officer's gaze had already locked onto her.
Afterwards, watching the officer whose eyes kept drifting toward Ceres, Allen asked in a whisper quiet enough not to be caught by Ceres's elven hearing.
"Are you perhaps a fan of Ceres?"
"Ah, yes. I'm a fan of Mari, but I'm also from the same street as Miss Claudius."
"Oh? What a coincidence."
So the officer was even her neighbor.
A mischievous look flickered across Allen's face for a moment.
Then, with a solemn expression that had wiped the mischief completely away, he made a request of the officer.
"Officer. Celestia apparently doesn't want a commotion at the border because of her. So, what I mean is, must she absolutely remove those sunglasses and hat?"
"Yes. My apologies, but those are the procedures. Identification is necessary."
"No, if it's procedure, we must follow it."
"However, out of consideration for Miss Claudius, I could arrange for a private room for the inspection..."
"No. That won't be necessary. We can't receive special treatment. You must. Inspect. Her. Here."
Allen put particular stress on the last sentence as he entreated the officer.
He further impressed upon the officer that under no circumstances was Ceres to be inspected anywhere but in front of everyone, and that if Ceres requested a private room, he must refuse.
Allen declared that it was his conviction that heroes must never receive special treatment over ordinary citizens. The officer was deeply moved by his firm stance.
"Ah, I was being thoughtless."
"Not at all. Thank you for your consideration, officer."
Presently, Allen passed through, and the officer asked a similar question to the next person to be inspected, Nikolai.
"As Priest Price just stated, is it truly alright to inspect Miss Claudius here as is?"
Nikolai was momentarily flustered, wondering what this was about, then he looked once at Allen, once at Celestia, and realized something.
A crescent-moon eye-smile, similar to Allen's yet different, rose to his face.
Presently, Nikolai switched to a serious expression and made a request to the officer.
"As you know, officer, there's been a lot of negative public opinion lately about heroes and knights receiving special treatment, hasn't there? Especially since Mari's image is that of a hero who gets close to the masses, this kind of special treatment could actually create bad public sentiment against her."
When Nikolai too made his request in a solemn voice, the officer was moved.
Such humility! As expected of a world-class studio, their mindset is different from the start!
The officer admired them and granted Nikolai entry.
After Nikolai passed, even when other heroes and staff were asked the same question, they unanimously emphasized that Ceres must not receive special treatment under any circumstances.
In fact, Kylie, whose turn was right before Ceres, went one step further.
"Since you're a fan of our work, officer, would it be alright if we provided a bit of fan service?"
Naturally, an actor who did that at a twenty-first-century immigration checkpoint would invite controversy.
People would accuse the actor of offering a bribe during inspection, adding yet another scandal to their record.
But in a medieval world where romance took precedence over law, fan service was not a controversy but something to be praised as an excellent heroic spirit.
At Kylie's sudden action, a look of bewilderment tinged Ceres's face.
Ignoring Ceres's expression, Kylie continued her action.
She transformed right in the middle of the immigration office.
[O dream. Grant me the strength to soar once more. Flying Dream!]
Kylie changed into Isis's avatar right before the officer's eyes.
Embarrassing?
Of course, Kylie was embarrassed too.
But if she could tease a friend on her home turf, she could do this little transformation dozens of times over.
Willing to sacrifice a little to gain more, Kylie delivered her entrance line even more brightly than she did while acting.
[In pursuit of dreams, I have arrived! - Magical Isis, take flight!]
At the touching fan service, everyone present applauded.
Amid thunderous applause, Kylie crossed over with light steps to join her waiting colleagues on the other side.
- Well done!
- Wow, you nailed it!
Her colleagues cheered and welcomed Kylie as she rejoined the party.
Now the only one left to be inspected was Ceres.
Perhaps because of the fan service that had just happened right before her, the officer watched her with eyes full of odd expectation.
Not just the officer, but the people lined up to the side and behind also looked at Ceres with expectant eyes.
Amid the suffocating sense of anticipation, Ceres squeezed her eyes shut and took off her sunglasses and mask.
And just as Kylie had done, she shouted her transformation line.
[Magical Mari! A shooting star spreading hope... like a star—I appear on the scene!]
She stumbled over the pronunciation a little in the middle, but Ceres pulled off the transformation line splendidly.
Amid the cheers of the people, her face turned as red as the sun.
Watching this, her colleagues doubled over, clutching their stomachs and convulsing with laughter.