Afterword
IT’S ME, BAKUFU NARAYAMA, the author who hasn’t kept up with my English studies like I should have! I have a bad habit of forgetting everything else when I’m busy writing, and it’s a pattern that just keeps repeating itself. As much as I’d like to make studying a habit like I have with writing, I don’t have the willpower. This year is going to end without me making any progress if I don’t remedy this problem.
But, you know, studying English makes me feel like I need to study Japanese more. Then I find a story and I get so invested, which makes me realize again and again how much I absolutely love reading. I’d like to find a way to incorporate what I love into how I study.
By the way, dear reader, are you the kind of person who reads the afterword before reading the story? Or do you read it once you’re done? I’m the latter, personally. That’s why I have a habit of writing a bunch of spoilers for the story in my afterword. This time, I decided to be more careful about that. Those of you reading this ahead of the story might be curious, like, “Ooh, what’s gonna happen?” Look at the cover and see if you can guess. I think Claudia’s expression says it all. Those of you who have already read the story will already understand, I think. I myself am quite excited to see where our story goes from here.
While writing this volume, I relied on my editor more than I normally do. I don’t think I could have done it without them, and I cannot even begin to express how grateful I am.
I get so sentimental that I can’t help wanting to look back on the series as a whole. Looking at all the cover and undercover illustrations for the past volumes and seeing how the story plays out through them, I’m surprised at how much variation there is. Huge kudos to Ebisushi-san for how well they’ve captured the atmosphere of each individual volume with their art. Not only has the artist helped give greater expression to my story, but they’ve also given me great inspiration as well.
This is off-topic, but I’ve seen overseas readers talking about how beautiful the covers for the light novel are on the internet, and I couldn’t agree more. It made me appreciate how universal art is, unaffected by language barriers.
I would like to thank all my readers and my family for their support, and my publisher for helping this work make it to print. I hope everyone will continue to support me in the future. I pray we meet again soon, dear reader.
Yours,
BAKUFU NARAYAMA