Nice to meet you, new readers. It’s been a while, old readers. I’m Hagure Metabo.
Thank you very much for purchasing this fifth volume of A Livid Lady’s Guide to Getting Even: How I Crushed My Homeland with My Mighty Grimoires.
After much discussion with my editor, from this volume onward I’ve decided to make significant changes to the story I’d initially written in the web novel. If I continued to follow the original storyline, this series would reach its end in another volume or two. However, thanks to the considerable support you’ve shown me, I’ve been given the chance to continue it further. I’m overjoyed to be able to write about the many unexploited ideas I’ve had in mind for Ellie and her companions.
While this story is a little atypical, I was finally able to include two staples of fantasy stories—a martial arts tournament and a festival. On top of that, Alice found herself an adorable little mascot. At the very start, I meant for Carol to be a tiny dragon, small enough to fit in the palm of her hand, but I eventually settled on a fluffy carbuncle. I knew I’d made the right choice when I received masami-sama’s wonderful illustration.
On a different note, I’d like to fill you in on a rather big change in my life. The truth is that I’ve recently changed jobs. For many reasons, I wasn’t able to continue at my previous job. At that time, I applied for unemployment benefits through Hello Work, but since my income from my writing side gig was extremely irregular and unstable, I ended up causing a lot of trouble for the staff. Thankfully, I was able to find another job after around two months. Then, another issue arose. Since I’d been lazing around at home during that period of unemployment, I wasn’t able to handle the hot September weather when I finally went back to work. I suffered from heatstroke and was sent to the hospital. As I’m writing these words, temperatures have long since cooled and gone from refreshing to outright cold, but I’m already anxious about summer returning in a few months. Please always take good care of your health and remain cautious.
Anyhow, allow me to move on to the acknowledgments.
First of all, I’d like to thank my dear illustrator, masami-sama. I’m always in awe of the cool and adorable art I receive! Some characters have become more prominent in the story because their designs were so good that I just had to give them more attention. Even I was surprised by this development!
I’m also very grateful to Oonoimo-sama for adapting Livid Lady into a manga. Thanks to Oonoimo-sama’s work bringing out the charms of Ellie and the other characters tenfold, many people have come to know my original work, and I’m incredibly thankful for that.
As always, I’d like to thank S-sama, my editor. Thank you for always helping me brainstorm and pointing me in the right direction when I’m not sure how to write something. Thanks to you, Livid Lady has become a work that I, too, can enjoy, and one that I certainly couldn’t have produced alone.
I’m also beyond thankful to everyone who was involved in the process of publishing this volume. I’m starting to run out of ways to describe how mind-blowing their efforts are. I need to start thinking of new ones, but that will be a challenge for future me.
Last but not least, thank you, my dear readers. It’s only thanks to your support that I get to indulge in such luxurious worries!
From the bottom of my heart, thank you!