Chapter 85

AFTERWORD Thank you for your continued readership—this is Hasekura. It’s been almost another year, hasn’t it…? Plotwise, I thought, this will be an easy write! I felt such a strong pull. Rising action! Twist! Climax! Conclusion! Spectacle-tentacle! I even wrote an email to my supervisor saying, “I should be finished by the end of September!” And then I ended up finishing around mid-December. In the end, I think I had an even more painful time than I did in the nightmarish fourth volume. It happened again—when I finished and let my supervisor read it, I was told “This is really bad! ” in so many words. So when I went home, I had dreams that my supervisor K was telling me, “This draft is pretty boring.” (This is just my dream, just to confirm.) After great distress, I finally finished writing, only to be told to rewrite it from the beginning. It did take shape eventually. The only thing I regret is that I wish I’d put in more conversation between Myuri and Col. That said, Myuri feels a bit more grown-up in this volume, and I feel like it opens up new possibilities for banter of a different flavor than what we see with Holo and Lawrence. Now, storywise, I believe this turned out to be quite a big turning point. There are things I avoided in Spice and Wolf, because the problems would get too big in scope. But I want to face these things head-on in Wolf and Parchment. Supervisor K broke it down for me—I struggle so much every time to tie the story together, because I need to incorporate three things into the pillars of the story: the wider world problems, the relationship between Col and Myuri, and the plot for each individual book. How sharp to notice that… Which would mean that Spice and Wolf had two pillars. And that gave me enough trouble as it is. This year marks the fifteenth anniversary of my author debut, and I think it’s about time I ramp up my release speed a bit. By the way, the second edition of Spice and Wolf VR, a VR anime where you get to enter the anime world and meet the characters, is now on sale. Myuri also makes an appearance, and she comes quite close to you on the screen while she’s running around. There is also a mode where you get to see Holo from the first episode of the Spice and Wolf anime alongside Myuri, where you can enter the anime and appreciate (philosophically) the characters and their show. I would be delighted if you gave this next-gen content a shot! I believe you can find it by searching for Spice and Wolf VR 2. Well, I am glad to see you again this year. Maybe next I will do a Holo and Lawrence story, or perhaps I will stay on this path and continue with Col and Myuri. Isuna Hasekura