Chapter 20: Magical Girl Magical Mari – Appearance! (1)

Two months had passed since Ceres became a magical girl.

Magical Mari had been running smoothly up to Episode 8.

She had become famous, just as she had hoped.

The name of Magical Girl Mari spread widely, not just among the people on the island, but beyond it as well.

Along with her, the reputation of Celestia Claudius, who played Mari, also became well-known.

The problem came afterward.

Contrary to her appearance, which seemed to appeal to girls, Magical Mari was also very popular among men.

This part was understandable.

The creatures appearing in Mari’s story were certainly appealing to men.

However, the real issue was that the popularity transcended gender and began to blur age distinctions.

This was something that neither Allen nor Nikolai had anticipated.

The original target audience had been the academy students, yet an unexpected demographic was now enthusiastic about the show.

This stemmed from the unique characteristics of the races in this world.

In a world where long-lived and short-lived species coexisted, the time spent living and mental age did not necessarily match.

For humans, 70 years old might be the age of growing gentler and wiser, but for elves, 70 years old was still the age where they carried their backpacks to school.

Thus, it was common for short-lived species to be much more mature mentally compared to long-lived species.

When a human and an elf met at the age of 10, by the time they were both 70, the elf might appear relatively immature.

The unexpected situation arose here.

A 70-year-old long-lived being recommending Magical Mari to a short-lived friend of the same age.

And with the intention of just trying it out, the short-lived being, after watching, became enthusiastic about Magical Mari alongside their long-lived friend.

“See? I told you to ease up on the action scenes a bit,” Nikolai remarked.

As he said, the cause lay with Allen.

The person involved in filming Mari was John Price, a master of hand-to-hand combat.

“Ah, come on! Does that even hurt? Let me show you how it’s done.”

It all started with Allen’s instruction.

At first, he taught her some punches and kicks suitable for a magical girl, but before long, he was teaching her the martial arts from his past life.

Under Allen’s guidance, Mari, who had been modified, became a mixed martial artist utilizing her legs as deadly weapons.

“No, brother. I get that Taekwondo is something you learn in the military, but where did you learn Capoeira?”

“I didn’t know how to do it in my previous life. I’d seen it a few times, but my body couldn’t keep up. However, when I tried to do it in this life, it worked!”

The essence of martial arts ultimately comes down to using both hands and feet to hit someone.

Even if it wasn’t her style, if the body cooperated and there was a sufficient understanding of the physicality, most martial arts could be somewhat replicated.

“I found that most martial arts I had seen at least once in my past life could be realized.”

With her body moving as she imagined, she was able to reproduce various techniques.

Of course, she had modified parts she didn’t remember to fit his tastes, but the point was that Magical Mari had become a monster that wouldn’t seem out of place in the UFC of her past life.

“Fortunately, since Ceres was a spirit guardian, she had the basics of combat down. She absorbed everything I taught her well.”

“Is this really okay? It seems like she’s strayed too far from being a magical girl already.”

“Well, what of it? When I asked the inn’s elder ladies if they knew Mari, they thought it was a martial arts movie. Since it seems too late to change, let’s just push forward shamelessly.”

Allen passed a rough sketch of his direction to Nikolai.

“Did magical girls not use martial arts in your world?”

“There were similar ones, but…”

“Then our show is an authentic magical girl story, after all.”

Is it really that simple?

As Allen’s idea sank in, Nikolai contemplated for a moment.

Well, in a way, they were becoming the origin of this world, so why would they need to concern themselves about what’s authentic?

Setting aside their thoughts for the moment, the two of them returned to considering the filming of the next episode.

The currently aired episode was Episode 8, and they were thinking about planning for around Episode 10.

So far, the story had centered on Mari, who was living her daily life, slowly growing stronger by defeating monsters.

(Mainly in a combat sense.)

However, from a story perspective, Mari was just growing without any real progress.

If they continued to repeat a few more episodes like this, the viewers would soon get bored.

Therefore, both Allen and Nikolai thought it was time to move the story forward.

“It’s about time to introduce a council-level character.”

“But this time, a name-brand character that you know will be appearing, right? Isn’t that a bit too strong for a council member?”

The wrestlers who had appeared up to now were mostly new characters from the Wrestle Kingdom.

However, the character appearing this time was a named wrestler on par with King Lion and Big Evil Wolf, which was the problem.

Allen was concerned about whether the power inflation of the subsequent higher-ups could be handled.

“What do you mean? If they’re one out of ten council members, they should be strong.”

“There’s usually that cliché. The first higher-up to appear is often the weakest, or something like that.”

“There’s also a fresh shock cliché. Suddenly an overwhelming higher-up pops up.”

“Well, the story is better created by you than me. I trust you.”

The reason Allen chose the John series as his first project was that he could throw together a story without much trouble.

He was not a person distant from delicate story design.

“For now, the rough outline of the story is mostly finished. How the council member came to meet Mari and why they decided to spare her. But coming up with a shocking portrayal and battle scenes that match their combat strength is challenging for me. Could you create that part for me?”

“For now, write down the loose ends and the council member’s abilities.”

This time, Nikolai passed a note to Allen.

Receiving the note, Allen closed his eyes and began to envision the battle between Mari and the higher-up.

After about five minutes of doing so…

His hand moved, completing the battle scene.

“It’s amazing every time I see it. They say battles are usually the hardest to direct, but whenever you close your eyes, it’s like you’re spitting them out like a vending machine.”

“Maybe I’ve seen enough explosions in my past life to have a rich imagination?”

“Ah…”

Nikolai rolled his eyes.

Whenever Allen talked about his past life, this was usually his reaction.

He was definitely curious, but hearing that Allen was a soldier who died from bombings after experiencing two world wars made it hard for him to ask questions, especially as a civilian.

However, it wasn’t just simple sympathy; it was also a respect for soldiers who died to protect civilians like himself, which is why he had never made a misstep in conversation until now.

“Why are you so flustered? I was just joking.”

Allen forced a smile and handed the completed script to Nikolai.

Trying to brush off his embarrassment, Nikolai’s reaction was exaggerated compared to usual.

“Wow. With this level of production, I think we’ll achieve the highest ratings. I should contact them to air reruns on the magic tower in advance.”

“Come on, don’t embellish it too much. It’s not that amazing.”

“I mean it. Haven’t you heard the saying, ‘Make hay while the sun shines’? If we air this a few times as reruns, we might reach Wrestling Kingdom level… Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but it will definitely become quite famous.”

“Well then. Thanks for the compliment.”

Maybe it wasn’t an exaggeration after all.

Once the script was complete, the two headed to the filming location.

In the draft they left behind, the words <Prison Break> were underlined.

<Magical Mari Starts>
Before long, Celestia had become accustomed to being a magical girl.

During regular days, she was the top student Celestia Claudius at the academy, but when monsters appeared, she transformed into Magical Mari.

Despite the title of magical girl, it seemed more physical attacks dominated her fighting style rather than magic, yet the transformation itself was magical, so she was indeed a magical girl.

At this point, preferring to kick and punch rather than using attack spells had rendered the title of magical girl somewhat irrelevant.

There’s a saying that it doesn’t matter how you get to Seoul as long as you reach it, so her logic was simply to defeat the monsters.

Thus, the 89-year-old girl, straddling the line between magic and physical strength, continued to protect the peace of the island of Hetai.

In the process, she learned about Lirpin’s past.

First, Lirpin’s Heart Gem was a jewel that came from a meteor that fell from outside this world thousands of years ago.

Celestia had already suspected this much.

But the main point came next.

The gem was not a single piece but a total of ten, and the Heart Gem that Celestia used was one meant for the council.

In other words, the magical power used by the monsters and the magical girl wasn’t all that different.