“Let’s go, Master!”
That’s Alto’s line in the epilogue. The words with which he and Setsuna leave Lypaed and take the next step in their journey.
Originally, I planned for Setsuna to repeat the same line he’d said when they first set out back in Volume 1: “Let’s go on our journey together now, Alto.” But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how different both Setsuna and Alto have become since then. They’ve grown a lot, and I wanted that line to show just how much Alto has changed, so I decided to write something new.
I thought it turned out to be the right line for Alto. He faced Ragi’s death head-on and still chose to move forward. It feels like a personal milestone for me as well, marking the end of the first part of their journey.
Volume 6 only brings us to the close of the first arc, if you compare it to the web novel version. Setsuna and Alto’s journey is far from over. We’re going to keep giving it our all, so I hope you continue to follow along and watch over them.
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Thanks so much for picking up Volume 6 of The Ephemeral Scenes of Setsuna’s Journey. My name is Usuasagi.
If you haven’t read the main story yet, I recommend going back to the start of the book and reading through it, then coming back here when you’re done. From this point on, I’ll be talking about how we planned out Volume 6.
The story in Lypaed began in Volume 4 and concluded in this volume. In the web novel version, this arc would have wrapped up in Volume 5 had we not included the short stories, so this time, we ended up adding an entire volume’s worth of new material and doing extensive revisions. Here’s why we made those changes:
First, I wanted to finally write about some parts of Ragi’s past that had never been fully revealed, including his dragon emblem and the reasons he left the mercenary life behind. I always intended to explore those in the web novel someday but never had the chance, so I chose to tell them here instead.
Second, I wanted to depict Ragi’s final days in detail. Back when I was writing the web novel version, I decided against it because I thought most readers wouldn’t want to watch a character’s slow decline toward death.
But as time passed, I began to worry that leaving those days unwritten would create too big of a disconnect between what I knew about Setsuna’s feelings and what the readers knew. So in the end, after a lot of discussion, we decided that we would show it all in the print edition.
The third reason was to give Ragi a sort of redemption. I often wondered, even before the series went to print, if he really passed away at peace. After all, although his longing for family was fulfilled during his time with Setsuna and Alto, he still never received forgiveness from his old friends.
So I quietly decided that if we ever did a print version, I would add that resolution. At the time, I didn’t mention this to Rokusyou, because there was really only one character who could act as a stand-in for those friends—that being Cyrus—and I wasn’t sure yet if he’d grow into someone who could carry that role.
I was prepared to stay quiet and never bring it up if it came down to it. But as I kept writing, especially from Volume 3 onward, I focused on helping that character grow into a person worthy of it. By the time I was ready, I felt confident enough to convince Rokusyou, and thankfully, it worked! (Though it wasn’t easy, because Rokusyou always thought of Cyrus as the comic relief, so I had my work cut out for me.)
Anyway, that’s how the Lypaed arc took shape. I really hope that someday you set aside time to read Volumes 3 through 6 together in one big stretch.
One more thing, and this may be a bit of an aside, but the story of the 69th hero has also wrapped up its time in Ellana. Ellana wasn’t really familiar territory in the web novel version, but I wanted to give a glimpse of the sacred city in the print version.
That storyline really forms one complete arc spanning Volumes 3 through 6. So if you’re in the mood, it would make me so happy if you read through that section as a whole as well.
From here on, the story will move to Sagana and Toria. I really hope you continue encouraging us. It would mean a lot.
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Finally, we want to express our deepest appreciation to our editor, who has always stood by us, to sime, whose illustrations have once again touched our hearts, and to everyone involved in bringing Volume 6 of The Ephemeral Scenes of Setsuna’s Journey to life. And of course, a big thanks to you—our readers—who have stayed with this story.
March 5, 2025
Rokusyou & Usuasagi