I’ve finally finished the big job that had been weighing on my mind.
Hello, it’s Umikaze Minamino here. I’m writing this afterword at the end of March 2025.
We’ve made it to volume 8. This volume was another complete original following volume 7. I spent so long crying to myself thinking that I would never reach the end, but here it is, successfully published. I tried really hard. Please praise me.
This time, I have space to write in the afterword. That’s why I thought I would take this opportunity to ramble a bit, but then I heard a voice say that if I was going to ramble, I should at least make it about the important stuff. As such, I will not ramble. Space is limited, after all. If I ramble about pointless topics, that space will be filled up in no time. When I need to meet a word count, I can’t do it. When I need to write, I just can’t write. Yet when it comes time to talk about something pointless, I can go for hours. Why is that? Maybe it’s because I don’t need to consider consistency when writing randomly. Or maybe it’s because I can just write whatever comes to mind. In any case, I’ve decided I won’t ramble. I’d feel bad if you had to read a whole load of blabber. But I always wanted to do this. I wanted to just ramble forever. I wanted to fill my afterword with a bunch of pointless fluff. Please forgive this author’s selfishness. But I really will stop now. There is absolutely no substance to any of this.
We’ve gotten through 8 volumes of Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden. Isn’t that amazing? Reaching an eighth volume is no easy feat. It’s so amazing that double-digit volumes are starting to feel like a real possibility.
Speaking of double digits, that means it’ll reach the same numbers as DQ and FF. When you think about it that way, you can get a sense of the overwhelming presence that double digits grants a series. It essentially puts it on par with those greats. I hope it continues long enough for me to reach that...
I apologize for bringing up a more personal matter, but it’s just this one thing. My other work, Kunon the Sorcerer Can See, has been greenlit for an anime adaptation. I would be greatly appreciative if you would check it out. To put it simply, the story is about a boy called Kunon who does a bunch of things.
Katana-sensei, thank you for all your beautiful illustrations. This volume had a lot of battle scenes. The dynamic pictures really nicely complemented the text. It must be nice to be able to draw. Unfortunately, I’m someone with absolutely no artistic talent whatsoever, so I’m very jealous.
Kodai-sensei, thank you for always making the manga so fun to read. Will the sixth volume of the manga be out before this? I’m not sure, but I’m looking forward to it. Please recommend it to all your friends and people you know. It can be hard to recommend light novels to people who don’t really read, but manga should be easier to recommend. Give it a try.
My editor, S-san, you’ve helped me out a lot yet again. We’ve somehow made it to the end of two completely original volumes. It was really tough. I might have gotten a little too enthusiastic and written way too much, so progress was painfully slow. At the point of me writing this, there is still a bit of work yet to be done...but by the time this book is released, it should be finished.
Thank you to all of the editing team that worked alongside S-san as well.
And finally, a message to my readers. We’ve reached volume 8. I’ve made it to volume 8 because of all your support. Thank you so much. This volume shouldn’t really be read before volume 7, so if you haven’t read it yet, please go do so.
Last volume, I didn’t have many pages left by the end, so I was only able to write the required things. View my rambling as the rebound from that.
The tournament was completely cut from the web novel, but how did you find it? I hope you enjoyed it. The story will take a drastic shift in the next volume. Please continue to join Nia and friends on their journey.
Let’s meet again!