Hello, it’s Nagawasabi64 here. Thank you for buying The Unimplemented Overlords Have Joined the Party!, Vol. 4!
It didn’t take us very long to get this far, hmm? Reaching the fourth volume is an important milestone for us light novel writers. Once you make it there, you know that your series is well established and likely to survive. Thank you so much for buying this book!
It’s my dream to witness someone purchasing a volume of Unimplemented Overlords with my own eyes someday. If you see someone suspicious intently watching the Unimplemented Overlords shelf area at a bookstore, do not be alarmed—it might just be me!
Isn’t it awesome that Romi Park narrated the ad for Unimplemented Overlords that appeared during the In the Land of Leadale anime broadcast?
In other news, the first volume of the manga adaptation by Tomo Hirokawa is out! I really feel like I’m on a roll lately. It’s kind of scary to suddenly find yourself so successful! And be earning a good amount of money! Well, I hope it lasts!
In this volume, we see a lot of character development in Shuutarou. While the incident with the Liberator leaves scars on the Party 7 members, it also brings them closer. Shuutarou encounters a problem unique to his situation—dungeon invasion—which helps him grow more mentally resilient and also much, much stronger as a player.
While Shuutarou is very responsible for his age, he’s still a child. I didn’t want to put him in scenarios that were too disturbing before he became a little more mature, but now I feel he’s ready to take on more challenges.
With this volume, I have finished laying the groundwork for the grand adventures to come. You might think I’m really slow to need this many volumes to set the scene, but I promise you many dramatic developments and a breakneck pace of adventure from Volume 5 onward! I’m also planning to give more space to the Overlords in the next volume and properly flesh them out, adding to their backstories at the end of each volume. I hope every reader will pick their favorite Overlord!
This time, I wrote about Theodore’s past. I really had to brace myself for it, since it seemed like it’d be the hardest story to write. (Theodore’s the most ordinary-looking Overlord.)
Initially, I was going to have Theodore as a middle-aged knight, but then I thought it’d be interesting for the serious-minded Theodore and the laid-back Bertrand to have a sort of brotherly dynamic, so I made him younger. I gave up on them calling each other “Theo” and “Bert” from the beginning, though, instead having the relations between the Overlords be tense at first. Shuutarou’s addition to the mix gradually leads to the Overlords loosening up…although you might not see much of that yet!
“King of the Dragons” is a remake of a story I wrote a long time ago for the Shousetsuka Ni Narou campaign. As far as I can remember, it was based around the concept of using the trope of the protagonist being the strongest in the world, but in an engaging way.
I know that stories about characters who seek to become strong, only to find out what’s really important after the final battle are cheesy, but I’m a sucker for them. Also, it serves to justify Theodore’s respect for Shuutarou, who’s known all along what matters the most. What further convinces Theodore that Shuutarou deserves to be their master is the fact that his treatment of the Overlords remains consistent even after they begin to fear him, having seen him fuse other monsters with Punio to enhance the slime. Now that you have some insight into Theodore’s reasoning, you can see why he was the first of the Overlords to assume a respectful attitude toward Shuutarou.
The following volume will end with Gallarus’s backstory. His circumstances are quite different from the other Overlords’… You’ll see why I chose to focus on him when you read the next volume! I recommend you start by reading the main story, then Gallarus’s backstory, and then the main story once again. Gallarus fans, stay tuned for Volume 5—the big guy will take center stage!
The first two volumes of the remake of another of my series, Frontier World Online: Working as a Summoner, are out there for anyone interested! It’s also a VRMMORPG story, but it features the laid-back adventures of a group of kids. It might be nice for a change from the drama-filled Unimplemented Overlords.
If you’d like to send me a letter or a gift, please mail them to the Famitsu Bunko editorial department. (I love getting fan art!) I also love reading your feedback about my stories on Twitter and Shousetsuka Ni Narou. Feel free to share your thoughts with me!
Take care! See you in Volume 5!