I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 443: Cú Chulainn: I Shall Enter the Battlefield as a Caster!
"GAAAH!!"
Caught within the giant wooden hand, Medusa let out a scream of agony.
She desperately struggled to break free from its grip, but the one who had finally trapped her had no intention of letting her escape.
"My magecraft is a cage of flames.… a flaming yet verdant giant."
A man clad in white robes and holding a staff stepped forward, placing himself in front of Olga Marie protectively.
The audience didn't need to look closely to recognize him, after all, that iconic short blue hair already revealed his identity.
"Ohhh, so this is finally my entrance scene."
Cú Chulainn himself seemed extremely satisfied with his appearance in the film, nodding repeatedly in approval.
"As expected, handsome guys look good no matter what they wear."
"Good-looking, huh~?"
Gilgamesh let out a mocking snort.
"Mut, your outfit just makes you look about the same as that annoying Merlin guy~ Barely counts as decent."
Under normal circumstances, Cú Chulainn would absolutely have argued back and taught that obnoxious golden king that not only was his face handsome, but his fists were even more impressive.
But today, the great Cú was in an exceptionally good mood and simply couldn't be bothered arguing with Goldie.
After all, this had been the most enjoyable filming experience of his entire career.
He was basically the savior of the protagonist group, slaughtering enemies left and right throughout the story.
Back when filming Ultraseven X, Cú Chulainn had technically been the lead too, and he'd even won Best Actor afterward, but the filming process itself had been utterly miserable.
To meet director Denis Villeneuve's acting requirements, the poor hound had nearly broken his back from all the emotional suffering.
From a personal perspective, Cú was genuinely grateful to Villeneuve.
Thanks to the director's relentless coaching, he had somehow become the best actor in Prologue.
But from the perspective of sheer filming enjoyment?
Cú still vastly preferred a script like Prologue, where he got to dominate everything effortlessly, especially considering how, in every single Fate/stay night route, he died more miserably than the last.
"So in Master's eyes… whether I get to shine or not really just depends entirely on my Luck stat, huh?"
Looking at the giant [Luck: D] displayed beside his Caster-class profile in the Prologue databook, Cú Chulainn fell into deep contemplation.
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Onscreen, Cú Chulainn had already begun Medusa's execution.
"Retribution.… a shrine that purifies the evil of human affairs—"
The giant hand gripping Medusa slowly rose upward.
Then, a colossal giant made entirely of wood crawled out from the magical circle beneath the earth.
"So cool…"
Ritsuka stared upward in awe.
Even someone completely ignorant of magecraft could feel the overwhelming pressure just from the giant's sheer size alone.
"This magical reaction…?"
Far away in Chaldea's control room, Romani's face turned pale as he watched the incoming data.
"A large-scale spell of this level… modern magi shouldn't be capable of something like this…"
"The only person who could perform magecraft on this scale… no, don't tell me—it's that Servant?!"
As if responding to Romani's realization, the chanting Cú Chulainn gave a cold grin and delivered his judgment upon Medusa.
"The one who destroys... Wicker Man!!"
"▂▂▂!!"
Flames ignited beneath the wooden giant's feet as it released a heavy, monstrous breath.
Slowly, it opened the small hatch in its chest and stuffed Medusa inside.
If this had been a Toei Super Sentai set, this would've been the moment where Medusa dramatically struck a sexy pose inside the cockpit before piloting the giant robot into battle.
Unfortunately, this was a Fate production.
And this wooden giant wasn't some heroic mecha.
It was merely a gigantic prison.
"CASTER!!"
At the final moment, Medusa screamed the man's class name in hatred and fury.
Sadly for her, the man had no intention of showing mercy to a beautiful woman.
He simply lowered his staff calmly and spoke the true name of his Noble Phantasm.
"Wicker Man: Cage of Scorching, Consuming Flames!"
The giant wooden figure instantly ignited.
A massive pillar of fire shot into the heavens, visible even from the staircase leading up Mount Enzou.
And the Lancer-class Servant known as Medusa—along with the wooden prison containing her—was reduced entirely to ashes within the inferno.
Only after the flames gradually subsided did the man finally turn around to face Chaldea's trio, who still regarded him cautiously.
"Seriously now… I help you people out, and this is the reaction I get?"
The man scratched his short blue hair awkwardly while complaining helplessly.
"Well~ after getting attacked nonstop like this, I guess that attitude makes sense."
Despite his rough appearance and intimidating face, his easygoing personality carried no trace of hostility.
Ritsuka cautiously peeked his head out from behind Mashu's shield and asked quietly:
"A white-robed Gandalf? —No, wait, way too young."
"Who the hell is Gandalf?!"
The man jabbed Ritsuka's cheek irritably with his staff.
"I'm more like the Sage of the Woods, damn it!"
Clearly dissatisfied at being called the wrong name, the man swung the staff onto his shoulder and introduced himself with the attitude of a street punk.
"Listen up, kid."
"The name's Cú Chulainn."
"Cú Chulainn, summoned into this world under the Caster class! So make sure you remember it properly!"
"So he's really a Caster…"
Unlike the actors who already knew the behind-the-scenes details, ordinary viewers only truly confirmed his identity after the onscreen Cú Chulainn introduced himself directly.
It wasn't that the audience lacked deduction skills, rather, it was simply because everyone knew Shinji Matou loved pulling bizarre tricks.
Who knew, maybe this was a fake-out and it was actually regular Lancer Cú with some weird new ability? It's only after Cú officially declared himself a Caster did the viewers finally begin discussing it seriously.
"Never thought Cú Chulainn would be this strong as a Caster."
Fujita rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Guess every man secretly dreams of becoming a mage."
After all, style was justice, coolness was power.
As the saying went:
Every version has its gods, but every generation worships mages.
In almost every game, the mage class was always the brightest star on the battlefield.
Why?
Because mages were cool.
And Caster Cú wasn't just a mage, the guy could summon giant wooden constructs too.
While the guys were busy admiring how cool he looked, the girls were much more straightforward.
They were simply admiring him.
"Didn't expect him to look this handsome when he's acting serious."
"Back in FSN he died so hilariously every time that I honestly thought he was just comic relief."
"Maybe it's the white robe boosting his attractiveness? Clothes really do make the man."
Listening to the girls whispering among themselves nearby, Aoko silently looked down on them from the depths of her soul.
You bunch of appearance-obsessed idiots. Cú Chulainn is a legendary hero from Celtic mythology, you know? Stop looking down on him so much.
Be careful or Queen Medb might throw rotten cheese through your windows tonight.
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"Caster-class Servant… Cú Chulainn?"
After hearing the man's introduction, hesitation appeared on the faces of Chaldea's trio.
Ever since arriving in Fuyuki City, they had done nothing but fight Servants.
Subconsciously, they had already begun equating:
Servant = Enemy.
At the same time, however, the fact that this man named Cú Chulainn had just saved them was undeniable.
Unlike the other Servants they had encountered, he showed no obvious hostility.
The Cú Chulainn summoned under the Caster class clearly possessed significantly higher emotional intelligence than his Lancer counterpart.
Sensing the trio's uncertain attitude toward him, he deliberately took a verbal step back to lower their guard.
"Relax. I didn't save you out of kindness or anything. I've got my own goals too."
"In short, let's work together."
Cú understood that directly claiming to be "one of the good guys" would only make them more suspicious.
But if he framed it as mutual benefit instead, communication would proceed far more smoothly.
And just as expected, the moment Cú admitted he had his own motives, Mashu's vigilance noticeably weakened.
She slowly lowered her shield, allowing the two people behind her to face him directly.
However, Mashu lowering her guard didn't mean everyone else trusted him too.
Olga Marie clenched her fists and immediately shouted:
"Don't joke around! Why would we trust some suspicious guy who suddenly appeared out of nowhere?! If your attack had gone even slightly wrong earlier, I would've been burned alive!"
Cú Chulainn casually dug at his ear with one finger, looking utterly unconcerned.
"Tch. I was trying to save you, wasn't I? Couldn't be helped."
"What kind of attitude is that?!"
Olga Marie nearly exploded from anger at his complete indifference.
In the end, the one who stepped in to mediate was Romani, speaking remotely from Chaldea.
"Director, please calm down. At the very least, listening to what he has to say won't hurt—"
"—You, of all people, have no right to interrupt, you slacker doctor!!"
"Skipping work isn't illegal! What's wrong with taking a little break?!"
On the other side of the communication line, Romani shed tears of frustration.
Unfortunately for him, nobody present felt even the slightest sympathy.
Mashu then turned toward the one person who had remained silent this entire time.
"What should we do, Senpai?"
"The director doesn't seem very calm right now…"
At this moment, Ritsuka looked far more like a mature leader than Olga Marie herself.
He stepped forward until he stood directly in front of Cú Chulainn.
"Mr. Cú Chulainn."
"Hm?"
After enduring Olga Marie's nonstop complaints, the hound gave an irritated grunt.
Ritsuka, however, paid no attention to his attitude.
Instead, he bowed deeply and respectfully.
"Thank you very much for saving us earlier."
"My name is Fujimaru Ritsuka."
"I look forward to working with you from now on."
"Eh?"
The director, who had still been preparing to continue complaining, instantly fell speechless.
"Kid, you're pretty good."
Cú Chulainn grinned broadly.
"I like you."
Laughing loudly, he grabbed the hand Ritsuka extended toward him.
"Likewise, Master-boy~ Looking forward to it."
And thus, with Caster Cú Chulainn officially joining up with Chaldea's trio, the heroic squad destined to conquer Singularity F and save human history was finally formed.
Unfortunately, the four-member team consisted of a half-baked Lord, a complete amateur Master, a Demi-Servant who had barely managed to borrow the power of a Heroic Spirit, and a Caster whose class compatibility felt extremely questionable.
If Olga Marie had been just a little older, they could practically have been called the "old, weak, sick, and disabled squad."
"…What kind of mess is this…"
Looking over her team members, the director let out a deep sigh.
Back then, her father had recruited the very best talents from all around the world in order to save humanity.
Especially the seven Masters of Team A, every single one of them had been elites among elites.
And yet the people actually carrying out the mission to save humanity now were…
If Ritsuka hadn't just buttered her up so effectively moments ago, Olga Marie probably would've unleashed an endless string of insults right then and there.
"The future looks grim… If only Lev were here…"
If that dependable Lev had been present, then even a bizarre team like this could probably save humanity without issue.
Yes.
If only her reliable assistant were here.
As Olga Marie followed behind Ritsuka and the others toward Mount Enzou, thoughts of Lev surfaced in her mind once more.
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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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