Creating Anime In A Fantasy World

After the auditions for the Snow Flower Troupe concluded and the participants returned to their respective rehearsals, a map of the Empire’s Southern Territory was laid out on the table of the second-floor room of the Edward Film Studio.

Edward was putting all his effort into this new film. Immediately after selecting the actors, he began scouting for filming locations. Though the roles for the magus had mostly been cast, Edward was still undecided about the actors for the seven heroic spirits. He wasn’t sure whether the people General Wilhelm would bring would meet his expectations.

Before he could conduct auditions for the knights, Edward needed to resolve the matter of filming locations. Due to the extensive plot of Fate/Zero, and because he couldn’t turn it into a TV series at the moment, Edward decided to break the story into multiple films.

His plan, based on maintaining the pacing of the narrative, suggested that three films would be the most reasonable number.

Edward intended to divide the plot into three parts: the story’s beginning until the gathering of the heroic spirits and their assault on the sea monster, the assault on the sea monster through to Kiritsugu’s flashback, and from the end of the flashback to the conclusion.

This breakdown not only maintained suspense, as it allowed for cliffhangers, but also made it feasible for Edward to shoot the first part quickly.

Stopping the story before the sea monster’s appearance meant he didn’t have to figure out how to depict such a terrifying creature just yet.

He wasn’t about to ask Viz, the lich, to summon an eldritch being using forbidden magic either.

Having divided the plot in this manner, Edward quickly marked most of the required locations for the first chapter on the map, with those not yet found highlighted in bold in the script.

For this first chapter of Fate/Zero, the two locations still undecided were the Einzbern family castle and the underground structure where Caster hides.

The first location was crucial: the Einzbern family castle was in a snow-covered forest, and while Edward didn’t need to depict the forest in detail, the snow was non-negotiable.

However, it was spring, and finding a place in the Empire still blanketed by snow was quite the challenge.

As for the second location, Edward already had a vague idea.

When filming Goblin Slayer, they’d scouted a similar place for the Water City scenes, and he just needed to visit it again.

Thus, the immediate problem was finding a castle resembling the Einzbern family’s.

Carrying this dilemma with him, Edward gathered everyone currently in the Edward Tavern and openly asked, “Does anyone know of a snow-covered forest somewhere in the world? Preferably with a castle…”

“Snow-covered? Forest? Castle?”

Most people showed puzzled expressions at his question.

Zat, Daphne, and others who hadn’t traveled beyond the Southern Territories had no idea of such a place.

On the other hand, Belldia and Saeki, who had survived in the chaos lands north of the Northern Territory, seemed to be deep in thought.

After a moment, Belldia spoke up: “The chaos lands north of the Northern Territory have different seasons than the Empire. Even though it’s now spring here, much of the chaos lands are still covered in snow. If you don’t mind filming in the chaos lands, I do have a suggestion.”

“Oh? First, how dangerous is it?”

Even Edward was nervous at the mention of the chaos lands, a region still unexplored by humanity due to its dangers, thus earning its name.

After a moment of thought, Belldia replied, “If it were in the past, I would have said it’s extremely dangerous. But now, with the lich that controlled me being dead, it’s one of the safer areas in the chaos lands.”

“What do you mean? Wait, are you saying that place is…”

Belldia smiled as he answered Edward’s surprise, “Yes, I’m talking about the castle where I was once imprisoned by the lich.”

“…”

It took Edward a moment to recover from the revelation, looking at the headless knight, who seemed carefree despite his past. After frowning in thought, Edward asked, “Are you sure it’s safe?”

Belldia calmly replied, “That lich was one of the most dangerous beings in the chaos lands. Most creatures and undead wouldn’t dare approach the castle, and news of the lich’s death likely hasn’t spread. As long as we don’t draw attention to ourselves, it should be quite safe.”

Understanding what Belldia meant, Edward pondered for a moment before adding the location to the script.

Soon, looking at the mostly finalized filming locations, Edward realized that the only thing missing for the Fate/Zero film were the actors to play the heroic spirits summoned by the magus.

“Has General Wilhelm arrived?” Edward asked.

Viz was the first to respond, “The general has been waiting downstairs with his men for a while now. In fact, since it took so long, they all went to the cinema across the street to watch a movie.”

“…”

Surprised that he had kept them waiting so long, Edward hurried downstairs with a helpless expression.

As Viz had said, General Wilhelm and a large group of knights were there, having been waiting for quite some time.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. You know why you’re here, right? Let’s start the auditions.”