Chapter 16: The Magical Girl is Open for Business

With a crackling sound, my neck returned to its original position.

Honestly, even I thought it was too much to have her play Magical Marie.

Originally, she was responsible for making props.

Though Aily managed to handle both acting and props for the commercial, if we moved into a full-length shoot, she’d be the first to collapse.

So, for the sake of a healthy production, we had to find a new lead actress to replace her.

“Still, the commercial wasn’t completely ineffective. We’ve gotten quite a few applications. Now, we just need to find someone with a suitable magical girl concept.”

I spread out the application forms on the desk and started reviewing the concepts of the candidates.

Nikolai also picked up a stack of papers and began going through the applicants.

The other club members glanced at us and slowly left the club room.

It wasn’t that they were slacking off.

The magical girl genre was one that only the two of us understood.

No matter how many others were around, they wouldn’t be much help with the work.

We carefully examined the documents one by one, looking for a magical girl to sign with our company.

There were various concepts among the documents.

However, most of them were typical knights or paladins, and some were even special agent concepts similar to John.

Moreover, even those concepts were boring and amateurish, lacking any flair.

As I looked through the papers, memories of the past began to surface.

I remembered a time when I had only two documents: the concept description of John Armstrong and Leon’s recommendation letter, as I approached the priest.

The result had been a great success, but I still vividly recalled how nervous I had felt back then.

These applicants must have also pondered and felt nervous when they applied.

I smiled like a father and set aside some of the documents carefully.

Even if they weren’t suitable for this project, I thought I could offer them roles in other projects.

After wrestling with the pile of documents for a few hours,

we finally discovered some promising candidates.

The conditions for the magical girl were as follows:

Appearance didn’t matter, but the body should be somewhere between that of a magical girl and a mature woman.

They should have some proficiency in combat and a talent for magic.

Additionally, it would be a bonus if they had a summon or something similar to keep as a mascot.

There was a race that met all these conditions.

They were a long-lived race, growing slowly but having plenty of time to master both magic and combat, and they easily connected with spirits due to their racial traits.

It was the elves.

I showed the name of the candidate I had found to Nikolai.

Celestia Claudius Diaphoros.

Nikolai looked at her specifications and nodded in satisfaction.

However, before he handed the paper back to me, his gaze became fixed on something.

“Um… Brother.”

“What?”

“This person is great, but there’s one thing that’s a bit concerning.”

“What’s the problem?”

His finger pointed to a corner of the paper.

My eyes followed his finger to the age section.

• 89

“What do you think, brother?”

“…Can we just consider her heart to be 18 years old?”

“Even you think that’s a stretch, right?”

“Damn. Then is there anyone else?”

“No…”

“Okay. It can’t be helped. She should be around 18 in long-lived terms, right?”

“Uh… I guess?”

“Alright. Let’s go pick her up.”

“Yes.”

***

A little while later, the elf entered, guided by me.

As expected of an elf, persuading her was quite a challenge.

If she had demanded cash, I could have negotiated somehow, but her request wasn’t for money.

For an elf living a long life, money holds little value.

Simply surviving and accumulating interest would make them rich.

So, what they wanted varied for each individual, but generally, it was to leave a name for themselves.

What Celestia wanted was utterly absurd.

“Magical Girl Magical Marie will be played by Celestia Claudius.”

I found it hard to understand what that meant at first when I heard that condition.

It wasn’t until I listened to her explanation that I finally grasped her meaning.

She wanted to appear as Celestia Claudius when Magical Marie wasn’t transformed, without using an avatar.

Indeed, if she did that, Celestia Claudius wouldn’t just be an actress playing a magical girl; she could gain widespread recognition through the movie.

Moreover, if any disputes arose between us, her face would already be known, making it impossible to replace the lead actress.

Fortunately, the commercial had cut off just before Marie transformed, so it wouldn’t be a problem to have Celestia live as the everyday protagonist.

However, there was one issue…

“Brother, should I correct her misunderstanding?”

“What does it matter? She wants to drink alone.

It’s a tough genre for a magical girl to reveal her face and act.

Well, she’ll figure it out.

What she doesn’t know is that the hardest part of negotiating with her was holding back my laughter.

“Next is the monster.”

While it’s tough to find a magical girl, it’s equally difficult to find someone to play the monster role.

That’s just how the magical girl genre works.

Various monsters get weeded out almost every day in this genre.

Unless you’re in a high-ranking position, minor or mid-level monsters are typically replaced with each episode.

No matter how wide my acting range is, I can’t portray all those villains.

But if I were to hire actors corresponding to the number of monsters, the production costs would skyrocket exponentially.

How would I resolve this contradiction?

Coincidentally, I had the perfect means to solve it.

“Don’t worry; I’ve got the monsters covered.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’m actually planning to talk with them this weekend, so let’s all go together with the filming crew.”

“Are we going far?”

“Not too far. We’ll be there in no time if we use a portal.”

“Wow. You really are rich, using a portal like that.”

I merely shrugged.

He seemed unaware, being the son of a baron from a small town, but using portals is commonplace in the capital.

Not just for nobles, even commoners can use them when necessary.

That’s why there’s a saying about economies of scale.

Moreover, you can use them even more cheaply if you pay a monthly subscription to the Portal Management Bureau.

There was no need to mention that to him, so I handed him a ticket.

With a promise to meet on weekend morning.

Weekend.

Crossing through the portal, they headed to a sanctuary located next to the imperial capital.

Following Allen’s guidance, the group arrived at a huge stadium located in the center of the sanctuary.

Nikolai looked up at the sign in awe.

“Wrestle Kingdom…!”

For the first time, Nikolai looked at Allen with admiration.