Chapter 19: Wrestle Kingdom(3)

“Now, think about it logically. What’s the origin of professional wrestling?”

“Well, isn’t it just wrestling?”

“NO, NO, NO. That’s the usual case. I’m talking about in this world.”

Nikolai, dragged into a separate room by me, was being made to understand the current situation by the great and evil wolf he respected.

As for why I only brought Nikolai, it’s because, unlike the other two who quickly grasped the truth, Nikolai kept denying reality until the very end.

• No way!! That imposing, cool, and terrifying Wolf is actually this kind of person!!!

That’s why I brought Nikolai into the private room.

Originally, this room was set up to educate my troublesome junior gang members who kept messing up the script.

Back when I was active here, it was known as the Room of Truth.

“I’ll ask again. What’s the origin of professional wrestling in this world?”

“Well… uh…”

“Of course, it’s something from the mind of a reincarnator like me.”

That doesn’t make any sense.

Out of nowhere, we have reincarnator-style professional wrestling, reincarnator-style voting, and reincarnator-style scripting.

Isn’t that enough explanation?

“That doesn’t add up! You even filmed with John Armstrong!”

“That was a movie. It’s not like I’d be filming John for three years straight. I’d shoot intensely for a month, then work elsewhere the rest of the time.”

“The prosthetic! What about the prosthetic? You originally had a prosthetic-”

Tap.

I detached the prosthetic arm from my arm.

Then, my perfectly normal hand and leg were revealed underneath.

“Seamless, right? I secretly made it with the equipment from the Golden Tower. It’s actually a complete arm guard, but I manipulated the air to make it look like a prosthetic.”

For the record, I didn’t make it myself; I had a lot of help from my mother.

The proof is, the time I started appearing with the prosthetic as the Big Bad Wolf was after my parents found out I was working as John Armstrong.

“Please… don’t shatter my world…”

“Stay strong, boy. This is how adulthood works.”

“Argh!!!”

That day, Nikolai’s world crumbled.

Leaving the mentally out-of-it Nikolai in the corner, I returned to King’s office.

“Let me introduce you. This is my uncle, Leonhardt Price.”

Since King Lion’s true identity wasn’t publicly known as a luchador, I reintroduced him to the girls.

Hearing my introduction, Aily seemed confused.

“Wait, are you related by blood?”

“Of course. Why else would I call him my uncle?”

“But, senior, you have animal ears…”

Her gaze moved to the top of my head.

But there was nothing there.

“Could it be that you’re hiding them?”

“I don’t have animal ears.”

“Then, this person…”

This time, her eyes shifted to my uncle’s head before quickly turning away.

Perhaps she thought it was rude.

But there’s no need to worry.

He’s the kind of person who wouldn’t care about any impoliteness unless it was physical violence.

“Our dad’s half-brother. We have three grandmothers.”

Wow, it must be nice having three grandmothers.

I suddenly became the grandson of the grandmother trio, while my uncle became part of the child of the granny trio club, but it’s the truth, so it can’t be helped.

I also found it hard to adjust at first, but in this empire, it’s normal to have multiple wives.

However, that’s only in the empire. If I remember correctly, the kingdom she’s from practices monogamy, so it seems difficult for her to adapt.

In contrast, the elf understood immediately.

Being a race with such long lifespans, frequent divorces (or widowhood) and remarriages are common.

Even so, Airi, being a rational magician from the Magic Tower, somehow accepted it.

“As expected of Airi. So smart.”

“It’s Aily, senior.”

“Oh.”

“I’ll correct myself. Aily also has her rational side… Anyway, Uncle Leonhardt is my business partner who helped build the studio Wrestle Kingdom from the ground up with me.”

The reason I suggested the pro wrestling business to my uncle wasn’t just because he practiced the Beast’s Glory technique, which was similar to wrestling, but also because he had the same reckless attitude as me.

My parents weren’t aware that my uncle and I, without telling his brother and sister-in-law, started a business together. Though he did get scolded by them later, the business succeeded regardless.

Uncle became the owner of a massive entertainment business with an average viewership of 5 million, and I, as a co-representative, kept receiving my share.

“Wait. So, Allen, your assets…”

I shrugged.

“Not to brag, but the scale of assets I can manage is enough to run a film business. I’m not greedy for money, but films require a lot of it. And often, that money dictates the direction of the movie. I didn’t like that.”

I wasn’t going to allow anyone to meddle in my films. That’s why, when I started filming John Armstrong, I also started this business.

“Anyway!”

That wasn’t the important part. I patted the rebooting Nikolai and shared the upcoming plan with them.

“From now on, Wrestle Kingdom’s pro wrestlers will appear as monsters in our Magical Girl series.”

Pro wrestlers already had various gimmicks like the monsters in magical girl shows.

They were perfect for presenting a new pattern in each episode. Plus, most of them had bulky physiques, solving the issue of body image.

“But what about the money? We’re just students—how can we afford this? And, before that, do those brutes even match the level of magical girls?”

Ah, these pointy-eared folks. They discriminate without even thinking.

Me, Allen Price. From my past life to this one, discrimination has always been there.

“Ceres, maybe because you crawled out of the forest, you don’t know the ways of the world. I’ll tell you just once, so listen closely. First, Hetairo Academy students aren’t just ‘ordinary students.’ Second, wrestlers aren’t brutes; they’re officially recognized heroes who operate in sanctuaries. Third, value isn’t all about money.”

Uncle nodded beside me.

Her face twisted, maybe because she never imagined someone would call her ignorant at the age of 89. Well, I meant to annoy her, so I didn’t care.

“As you saw earlier, wrestlers live and die by their popularity. The problem is that popularity is like money—most of it is monopolized by the famous ones.”

“Our Wrestle Kingdom frequently holds tournaments exclusive to rookies aside from today’s match. But like Allen said, people usually don’t care about rookies, so the impact is minimal.”

“Stagnation leads to decay. Even if they’re popular now, if the veterans keep monopolizing the spotlight, Wrestle Kingdom will collapse the moment they retire. That’s why promoting rookies is crucial, and the magical girl series is the perfect advertisement.”

“The rookies get a chance to show their faces as monsters, we get to promote them, and you save costs. It’s a win-win for everyone, so there’s no reason to refuse.”

She seemed to accept the explanation, closing her mouth, though her lips still pouted as if she was still annoyed. Not that I cared—now all that was left was to sign the contract with Uncle.

“Aily, can we include the Golden Tower in this?”

“Yes, of course. The Tower Master will approve. For now, I’ll sign in my name, and later we can get the Tower involved.”

“Thanks.”

The Golden Tower was a tower that either sold or outsourced minting techniques to various nations. As the wealthiest among all towers, it also functioned as an international bank.

Since wrestlers from various countries would gather for this shoot, having the Golden Tower involved would make transactions smoother. Thankfully, Aily was a senior member, so she could approve things on-site without needing to visit the tower.

With that, the contract was signed and sealed with the signatures and marks of the three of us.

“Uncle, I look forward to working with you.”

“Likewise.”

“Senior, by the way, when will Nikolai come to his senses?”

“Is he still in denial?”

“Yes.”

“There’s actually a place that’s perfect for making someone face reality. Uncle, you didn’t move the training center, right?”

“It’s right next door. We even brought in new gravity load devices in collaboration with the tower recently.”

“Oh, nice. Let’s head there right away.”

The filming proceeded smoothly. There was a problem at the beginning where the writer and director had to use a wheelchair after visiting the training center, but since they weren’t acting, filming continued without issue.

There were a few troubles during the shoot, but that wasn’t my concern, so the filming went on.

Another change was that we signed a contract with the Tower of Muscle to air every Saturday right before Wrestle Kingdom. Since Wrestle Kingdom was the main sponsor of the Tower of Muscle, they had to accept our request.

“Brother, but can we even call this a movie?”

“Why not? You said that in your time, the line between movies and dramas was blurred, right? Think of it that way.”

They say it’s an era where dramas are viewed like movies. Unfortunately, in our world, wars broke out before such companies could even appear, so I wouldn’t know.

Besides, even in my past life, early dramas weren’t much different from movies, so distinguishing between them was meaningless.

After countless trials and challenges, the series Magical Girl Magical Mari, something between a movie and a drama, was finally revealed to the world.

We lounged on the clubroom sofa, waiting for the premiere on the big screen. It didn’t take long to find the entertainment channel of the Tower of Muscle while flipping through the channels provided by the towers.

Fifteen minutes before the premiere.

Everyone held their breath in anticipation as the clock struck the hour, and the show finally began.

As the movie started, a familiar opening theme played for Nikolai and me. In contrast, the medieval folks who weren’t used to having an opening theme before the start of a film looked confused.

“What is this?”

Here is the translation, with each line starting on a new paragraph:

“Could it be that the reason you told me to film those short clips back then was because of this?”

Senior,

“Human. What is this? This isn’t a movie, is it?”

Ah, this is called an opening. Such primitive medieval folk.

I stopped my idle thoughts there.

Nikolai and I quickly emphasized the importance of the opening before it ended, just as we had prepared.

Even though all we concluded was that a well-made opening is half the battle.

After a brief commotion, the drama began in earnest.

The first episode of a magical girl show doesn’t stray far from everyday life.

The main storyline is usually about making a contract with a mascot to defeat a monster that appears halfway through the episode, struggling a bit, and then defeating it.

As a side note, according to Nikolai, that world often tries to break away from clichés, which made me curious just by hearing about it.

Anyway, our story had a similar pattern.

On the screen, ‘Celestia Claudius’ was running to the academy with a piece of toast in her mouth.

“Now that I think about it, why did she have to be running with toast in her mouth? She could have just woken up earlier and eaten it.”

“Because that’s what high school girls do.”

“And that’s how they go to school.”

Nodding.

“?”

With our explanation, Celestia accepted it, albeit reluctantly.

Celestia was a top student at Hetairo Academy.

Academics, sports, friendships.

She was perfect in every aspect.

But even she had one secret she couldn’t tell anyone.

“Lirpin, I’m bored.”

“Guardian, even if you say that, there’s nothing I can do about it, nya.”

It was that she had a spirit friend.

Usually, spirits are rooted in nature.

But her friend was an irregular, born from a gem, so she kept it a secret from people.

Lirpin looked like an SD cat spirit.

She met Lirpin one day on her way home from school when Lirpin suddenly fell in front of her.

She quickly became close to Lirpin and often consulted her about her concerns as an honor student.

Up to this point, it was a slightly special but mostly ordinary student life.

But the disruption of daily life came suddenly.

On the way home, when everyone was heading back, a gorilla-like monster suddenly fell from the sky and attacked the academy.

However, unlike in her previous life, the citizens of this world weren’t helpless humans who would panic at the appearance of a monster.

Moreover, this was an academy.

An average villain could have their spine snapped in half here.

So, it was necessary to add a bit of justification.

[Hahaha! Do you think you can stop me with such weak magic?]

Extras attacked the monster that had appeared out of nowhere.

But their magic didn’t leave a scratch on it.

Just when people started realizing something was wrong, the monster revealed, without being asked, that it wielded otherworldly power and couldn’t be defeated with ordinary magic.

In reality, it was just enduring with the toughness of a professional wrestler, but that’s how it looked on screen.

The professors could injure the monster a bit, but that was the extent of it.

It was at the moment when it seemed like the school would be taken over by a single monster.

The screen returned to Celestia.

In this sudden situation, Lirpin proposed a contract.

[Make a contract with me, nya!]

Celestia accepted it without hesitation.

A scam contract?

You don’t look for those in magical girl stories.

It was still too early in this world for a twist where the mascot pulls a scam contract.

Besides, Celestia in the real world had already borne the price of the contract.

Anyway, after forming a contract full of hope and dreams with only favorable terms for her, a heart-shaped gem-adorned staff appeared in her hand.

As that scene played, Ceres’ lips tightened.

It was inevitable.

The next scene was one where they had hundreds of NG (no good) takes.

[Trans-formation!]

Ceres shouted boldly.

But her staff didn’t respond at all.

[There’s no reaction?]

[The incantation was wrong, nya! You have to chant the transformation spell, nya!]

[What is it?]

[‘Shine! Will of Light! Shining Willingness!’ nya! But leave out the ‘nya’ at the end, nya!]

It wasn’t obvious at a glance, but the people involved in the shoot knew.

The mascot on the screen—Ceres’ summoned spirit in reality—was dying of laughter.

They still vividly remembered the time when they had to retake that scene about 30 times because the spirit kept bursting out laughing.

Soon, the scene that had the most NGs during this episode’s shoot appeared.

[Shine! Will of Light! Shining Willingness!]

Her body was wrapped in radiant light.

When the light faded, her ordinary academy uniform had transformed into a frilly dress, and her toy-like staff had become a gauntlet.

Even though it clearly didn’t look like battle attire, overcoming such contradictions was part of being a magical girl.

As the transformation ended, ‘Magical Mari’ shouted.

[Magical Mari! Like a shooting star spreading hope—appearing here!]

Both the transformation line and the appearance line had to be shouted.

This was a crucial rule.

When she appeared, the reaction in the clubroom was intense.

“Pfft!”

“Hahahaha!”

Everyone in the room except for one person burst out laughing.

She truly was a magical girl spreading dreams and hope.

Otherwise, how could everyone in the room be smiling so brightly?

“Hahaha!!! I knew making a contract with her was the right choice!!!”

Even the spirit floating next to Ceres was rolling in mid-air, clutching its belly in laughter.

Zap.

Narrowing her eyes, she sent the spirit back to the spirit realm.

But I wasn’t about to let it end there.

Even if it was her spirit, wasn’t that spirit also a member of our filming crew?

That spirit deserved to watch this movie until the end.

I signaled Carlos, who then summoned the spirit back to the room.

“Hey!”

“Hahaha!”

Ceres, face buried in her knees in embarrassment, mumbled quietly.

“How many episodes are planned?”

“Well, Nikolai, how far is the script written?”

“For now, with the wrestlers that the boss signed contracts with appearing four or five times each, we’ve planned for roughly 100 episodes. If the response is good, not only will new wrestlers appear, but even professional ones and other heroes who need promotion could participate, so it could potentially go up to 300 episodes.”

I calculated.

One episode per week. And there are 48 weeks in a year.

“Wow. Congratulations. You won’t have to worry about roles until you graduate from the academy.”

“Aaaaah!!!!!”

A pitiful scream echoed through the room.