Afterword
To those of you for whom this is the first time, nice to meet you, and to everyone else, welcome back. I’m Densuke, the author of this work. Thank you for picking up this book.
With this, the fifth volume, I have passed the deadly number four and arrived at my fifth publication. This is a feat that will surely go down in human history—oh, what am I talking about? Enough of that.
I have other good news. The first volume of The Death Mage comic from Takehiro Kojima has been released. There has also been something of a trend with internet novels being turned into anime in recent years. Maybe The Death Mage will become anime soon as well! I’ve been waiting to have a prophetic dream about it, but nothing has hit me yet. Hopefully it will turn out the same as my dreams about publication and the manga!
As some people might start by reading the Afterword, I’m not going to drop any big spoilers. The new heroine for the published edition, who first appeared in the previous volume, sees some action again in this one, and we also see some more characters coming in from the internet edition. Existing characters also get to show off what they can do, which I hope you will all enjoy. In particular, look out for the sisters on the cover. They have been part of the story since the first volume. Takehiro Kojima had already drawn their faces in the comic, but now Ban! has kindly drawn their reborn(?), sexy new forms! They also get up to all sorts of antics in “The Armor Sisters’ Armor Contest,” with Sam in tow.
Of course, our main character, Vandal, is also growing up. He’s continuing his trajectory away from normality, after making careful preparations. I hope you enjoy the gross and grisly—ahem, bold and brave—way Vandal and his allies take on their enemies.
You’ll also see the return of someone key to the story, and the first appearances of people who have only been names until now! There’s a lot going on in this one.
I’ve done my best to write a fun story, but it still feels like the afterword is the hardest thing for me. It sounds silly even to me, but I have more difficulty deciding what to write here than for a new story or fresh additions. It’s still cold outside, so I’m too scared to walk around and think. It’s not a good idea to wander at night, even close to home. I’m left with no choice but to sit and think, but then my family complain about how weird I’m acting. I can’t play a cellphone game to take my mind off things because I still have a flip phone. I’ve considered upgrading, but my current phone does pretty much everything I need. It also stops me from getting hooked on some game or other and becoming enmeshed in microtransactions…although I do already spend a lot of money on books.
My apologies for the incoherent ramblings. I am running out of space and so I’ll wrap things up. To my proofreader, editors, and all the staff at Hifumishobo, thank you all once again. I would also like to thank Ban! for the fantastic illustrations of my weird characters, and to apologize for asking him to design more weird and wonderful ones this time. To everyone involved in the publication of this book, and to all of my readers for your support—thank you all so much! I look forward to seeing you in the next volume!
—Densuke