92. Academy? Battle?
92. Academy? Battle?
The genre was decided. Next was an academy battle story.
Once the plan was set, it was time to submit the proposal.
I submitted the proposal to Leon, our studio's sponsor and boss, for the first time in a year.
"No. Go back."
And the moment he read the title of the proposal, he immediately shot it down.
"Ah. Now what."
"What? What do you mean, what? You raised hell with that weird magical girl genre, and now you want to drag students in and film that?"
"Yeah. Got a problem?"
"More than enough. Are you trying to inject something strange again into those growing sprouts?"
"Something strange? Was Mari strange?"
"Are you saying it wasn't strange?"
"Yeah."
Although many people at school began attempting reckless techniques after Magical Mari aired, and the knights' abilities had changed slightly after all the suffering they had endured, those were truly minor issues.
Lately I'd also been hearing something about Dihex, but I wasn't an engineer, so I couldn't read the changing times well, and it wasn't my business.
Therefore, Magical Mari was a genuinely wholesome and problem-free film.
At least, I was sure of that.
"That's a new level of shamelessness."
Leon sighed and drew a line, saying no meant no regardless.
"You live quietly this year, too. John also only caused a scene once every three years, so hold it in until graduation. I'll freeze your accounts until then."
After the incident where I poured money into the elven territory for the previous civil-war episode, Leon had locked down the studio funds while Pia controlled my private account.
In other words, if they didn't give permission, even I couldn't make a movie.
I pleaded with Leon after that, but his stance was firm.
He said he probably wouldn't unfreeze them until graduation.
I gave up on Bon Voyage Studio's public funds without hesitation and turned my attention to my private funds.
Even so, as the founder of Wrestle Kingdom, I had a fair amount of assets I could manage under my own name.
The problem was that those funds, including living expenses and pocket money, were currently managed by Pia, but I trusted Pia.
I immediately went to Pia, knelt at her feet, and started begging and groveling.
"Pia! Please release some cash so I can make a movie! Please!"
"No."
No wonder they were siblings—rejection flew back at me instantly, as if they'd consulted beforehand.
But I knew well.
Unlike Leon, Pia was comparatively susceptible to my requests.
I immediately deployed the 50th secret technique of the Pia Persuasion Manual, the back hug.
As I embraced her from behind and whispered my plea, the desired reaction came back.
"Ha... but..."
There it was. The 'but.'
Usually, once that word came out and I turned up the intensity, the persuasion succeeded right away.
I turned her around from the back hug and held her hands.
When I fixed her with the pleading eyes of the cute cat from a certain film, she looked away, apparently embarrassed.
"Urk..."
Just when I thought I was about ninety percent successful, Pia shook off my hands and cried out.
"No means no! It's all for your future, Allen, so just know that!"
And just like that, Pia disappeared in a flash.
No wonder she was the Puppet Duchess—she vanished far into the distance before I could even chase her traces.
I froze for a moment with my hand stretched out in the direction she disappeared, then returned to the club room with a deflated look.
"How did... Never mind. You don't have to tell me. I can tell."
Nikolai, who was working on the scenario in the club room, instantly grasped the situation upon seeing my face.
I trudged over to the sofa, curled up, and lay down.
Memories of my days as an NCO, unable to do what I wanted because of a lack of money, came flooding back vividly.
The higher-ups who, because of a lack of money, didn't even give sidearms to soldiers going to fight zombies and handed them crap guns.
I mean, I wasn't even asking them to attach red-dot sights to every gun.
I just asked them to provide one pistol as a sidearm and one arm guard each.
Couldn't they do that one thing for soldiers who had to scrap with zombies?
The time the company commander and I stormed the battalion commander's office over that and nearly got thrown in the stockade—that was a truly shitty memory.
I'd never felt so miserable because of a lack of money as I did back then.
'Come to think of it, how did we resolve that back then... Ah, right.'
But in the end, we found an answer.
Since our battalion commander wouldn't give us any money, we hurried next door and pestered the U.S. Forces Korea company commander—probably—until we somehow got support.
The emergency had made the exact process rather slapdash, but in the end we'd secured the pistols and arm guards.
'Come to think of it, isn't this exactly the same situation now?'
It wasn't an emergency, but the fact that my superior wouldn't grant permission because of money was roughly similar.
The question of whether the military and a film studio were the same briefly crossed my mind, but it wasn't the important thing, so I pushed it aside.
When I applied that situation to the present, a place I could go to came to mind.
"I'm going to head out for a bit."
I resurrected myself from the sofa, immediately kicked open the club room door, and ran out.
I heard someone calling from behind me, but an American macho man didn't look back.
While running to my destination, I recalled the special skill I could use.
'I'll go to the neighbor's and throw a tantrum.'
*
Once a thought came to mind, I acted on it immediately.
That was my motto for this life.
Following that conviction, I was now sitting face-to-face with the Dean, drinking bitter tea.
"You're quite interesting. Most people can't stomach this tea."
"I find it interesting too. I wonder why others can't drink this delicious tea."
"Hoho. Like I said, you really are a peculiar person."
The Dean, who said that, was also drinking the bitter tea just fine.
The retort, 'You're one to talk,' rose up to my throat at the Dean's words, but I pushed it back down with the tea.
Instead, I just returned a smile to him.
As for me, I'd eaten bugs when I was stranded in the Amazon, so I was fine, but I wondered what kind of story the Dean had that his sense of taste was so ruined he'd serve guests this kind of tea.
But since he was an Archwizard who had lived for hundreds of years, I figured he must have all sorts of stories and didn't bother to ask.
Pushing aside the talk about bitter tea, I immediately got to the main point.
I laid out the plan, adding flowery rhetoric that wasn't in my nature, but to sum it up, I was making a movie and needed money.
Once I finished explaining, a question came back from the Dean.
"Could you explain why our department should support this?"
Naturally, I expected those words, and I began listing the reasons I had prepared one by one.
One. Providing practical experience to the students of the academy.
Heroes were no longer commandos sent to take the Demon King's head. These days, even the demon nation called its champions Heroes.
Now that Sanctuaries had changed the meaning of war, Heroes were no longer expended as pieces in border standoffs between nations.
Modern-day Heroes were closer to public relations ambassadors who earned money for the state and boosted its image through activities in the Sanctuaries.
In other words, more than ninety percent of modern-day Heroes were fated to become actors.
However, students could hardly gain convincing practical experience by playing among themselves, and most were thrown into the wilderness of society as soon as they graduated.
Our studio was going to solve that.
We were approachable for students while being at a level that didn't fall behind most studios, so we could provide them with quality practical experience.
"Hmm. Continue."
The Dean's reaction to the first reason was relatively positive.
Following that, the second reason.
"It also has the effect of discovering hidden talent."
I wasn't just flattering myself; I had an eye for hidden gems.
I was the one who had kidnapped the unknown actors wandering around Sanctuaries and turned them into Wrestle Kingdom's golden first generation.
"...You kidnapped them?"
"That's not the important part. The important part is that Wrestle Kingdom became healthier."
"...It seems like a very important fact."
Anyway, my eye for talent was reliable.
Once we seriously started filming an academy battle story, we would be able to interact with various students, and in that process, we'd be able to discover hidden gems.
Naturally, as an educator, the Dean had no reason to oppose discovering hidden gems.
'As a bonus, I could stake an early claim on the slaves... no, Heroes we'd work to death at our studio.'
There was also the added effect that later, even if this battle story just got turned into a series, our studio could recruit actors without even lifting a finger.
When I gave these two reasons, the Dean nodded in understanding.
"I see. Then what you want is for us to support you with club activity funds?"
The Dean asked, exuding a considerably positive attitude.
But I shook my head at that question.
I was grateful for the Dean's offer, but that wouldn't be very helpful.
The film business wasn't something the Department Head could fund by scraping together a little money.
Even if I used students to reduce labor costs and squeezed everything possible out of our studio's existing personnel and equipment, the money the Department Head could personally provide wouldn't come close.
Because film was a composite art.
The music, editors, attracting distributors, marketing, franchise image management, etc.
It wasn't an art form that was completed just because you secured actors and a filming location.
In the case of the magical girls, I handled these problems lightly using my personal connections and money flex, but now that that was impossible, the Dean's money was woefully insufficient to make a movie.
Perhaps surprised that I knew this, the Dean's eyes opened wide.
"I didn't expect you to know all that."
"Who do you think the priest of Magical Mari was?"
"I thought the Imperial Prince handled most of that for you."
"..."
Somehow, the image people had of me seemed a bit off.
I may act childish, but I'm not ignorant of worldly affairs.
I mean, I wasn't the type to cause trouble without thinking; I'd only go ahead after thinking it through and deciding it seemed safe.
I was a little hurt by the Dean's reaction, but I consoled myself that I could always change my image later, and laid out my plan.
I had prepared it in a hurry, so the structure had a few problems, but even by my standards it was a genuinely solid proposal, and the Department Head was impressed.
"Interesting. With this, as you said, we can save as much money as possible and still produce a film comparable to commercial ones."
"Right? Even I think that if we do this well, we could produce something comparable to Magical Mari."
"Yes. I misjudged your thoughts. I thought you'd be making a film at the level of a typical student club, but it's more serious than I expected."
"Come on, we've got years in the business. Do we look like kids making UCC clips for a contest?"
"...What's "experience" and what's a "UCC"? Are those new industry terms that appeared after I retired?"
"Something like that. Anyway, it's good, right?"
"Yes. I'll have to discuss it with professors and deans from other departments... but it's more than possible."
The Dean immediately edited the proposal on the spot.
Following his fingers, nine sheets of paper flipped over, and nine pens began writing down different sentences simultaneously.
He kept chatting with me while doing all that and even brewed tea on the side. A legend was a legend.
After completing ten-way multitasking in a matter of minutes, the Department Head handed me the request for cooperation with a satisfied expression.
It meant I should go visit each department head.
Of course, this world also had carrier pigeons that replaced faxes.
But for a major proposal like this, going around in person was proper etiquette.
Anyway, I was also planning to visit them directly as the representative of the partner company.
I accepted the proposal gratefully and left the Dean's office.
*
A week after Allen visited the deans' offices of every department in the academy.
Around the time when Leon was losing sleep from anxiety because Allen had been too quiet for a week, a notice that would set the academy abuzz was posted on the bulletin board.
Usually, students in any world generally didn't pay much attention to bulletin boards, but this time was different.
It was because the ones who posted the advertisement on the board were 'that' studio, the ones who always stirred up a storm.
Their actions, which had caused a duel boom just a few months after admission and a Dihex boom in the second semester, were like a sweet break for students plodding through boring studies.
Even just recently, that club had been lending out copyrights to film clubs for practically free, so currently, shooting magical girl films was trending among the film clubs.
[Hey, you can be a magical girl too.]
To summarize the meta they created, it was exactly this situation.
Since it was the club that had created the hilariously fun meta where a friend attending class right next to you could suddenly become a magical girl, students couldn't help but be highly interested in their moves.
'What fun content have they prepared today?'
The students looked at the bulletin board with fluttering hearts.
And on the bulletin board, an advertisement that once again didn't betray their expectations was posted.
<Academy Theme Film Recruitment Announcement: Of the Student, By the Student, For the Student>
It said they were planning a film in which every student except the protagonist could participate as a supporting actor.
They were getting a chance to participate as supporting cast in a film by the very studio that made the magical girl series.
Naturally, it was an opportunity students dreaming of being Heroes couldn't miss.
Of course, this was content that only applied to the Hero Department, so other departments would have no reason to be interested.
But the following content was something other departments couldn't help but be interested in.
- Recruiting Assistant Sages and Prophets from the Faculty of Foresight.
- Recruiting Supporting Cast from the Knight Faculty.
- Recruiting Avatar Coordinators from the Theology Faculty.
.
.
.
- The film will replace semester-based lectures.
- We are recruiting 100 personnel per department, and there may be additional recruitment as film projects are added.
- Grades will be assessed by Priest Price, Sage Cervantes, and Co-representative Leon.
The last lines were the finishing blow.
They would film a movie, and it would replace lectures.
For people already planning to work in the arts, it was an unbeatable résumé builder, and now it even replaced their classes.
Plus, the recruitment numbers were generous.
Considering this was targeting the entire grade, this made the success rate quite decent.
Finally, the moment they heard that Allen would be grading their performance, they had no time to hesitate.
Even though the specific recruitment dates hadn't been announced yet, the front of Bon Voyage Studio was crowded with students, creating a bustling scene.
Some students had even begun pitching tents and living there, meals and all.
Having watched this entire situation unfold, Leon quietly closed his eyes and reminisced about the past.
The words Allen had proudly said as a child, throwing a net into the pond the moment a decree banning electric fishing was issued.
- Do you know the balloon effect? Press one side of a balloon and the other side bulges. If the Emperor tries to regulate me, I have ways around it.
Afterward, the Emperor issued an order banning Allen from going near the pond and muttered in front of Leon.
- What am I to do with this rascal...?
"What do I do with this rascal..."
Just as his father had done, Leon uncorked the wine and chugged straight from the bottle.
On top of that, we'd be filming an official academy documentary and an academy battle film.
One month ahead.