Thank you for picking up this copy of volume 13 of The Mythical Hero’s Otherworld Chronicles. For those of you returning from the previous volume, welcome back. As Mythical Hero has concluded with volume 13, this afterword will be my last.
Four years have passed in the real world since I started this series, and four years have passed in Aletia since the story began. As for whether that was planned or just a lucky coincidence...well, I’ll let you decide. More to the point, in the last volume, I mentioned a secret hidden in the volume numbers, didn’t I? To give you a hint—okay, the answer—think about the twelve gods of a certain empire, as well as their new thirteenth addition, the Last God. Volume 1 is the Beginning, volume 2 is War, volume 3 is Beauty, and the other volumes either begin with hints at certain gods’ domains or otherwise allude to them in some way. If you can spare the time, I’d be pleased if you could read back and look for them!
I poured all the chuunibyou I could into this series over the past four years, and I would like to think I’ve managed to end it the same way. That said, I never would have gotten this far without all of your support. I can never thank you enough, but if you’re interested in how things turned out in the Grantzian Empire, I’ve included a little “After the Afterword” as a small show of gratitude. If you’re interested, please take a look. You’d make this author dance for joy.
In regard to what the future holds—well, I’ll leave that up to your imagination. For now, however, I’m going to set down my pen.
I’m running down my line count now, so I’d better get to the thank-yous.
To Ruria Miyuki-sama, I will treasure all the gorgeous artwork you’ve provided for this series, rough sketches and all. Thank you for accompanying me all the way to the end.
To my editor, I-sama, you becoming my editor was a saga in and of itself, and I’m sure I’ll cause you no end of trouble in the future, but I hope you’ll continue to lend me your support.
To everyone in the editing department, the proofreaders, the designers, and everyone else who helped to make this book a reality, thank you.
And last but not least, thanks again to you, my readers. It’s only because of you that I’ve been able to see Mythical Hero through to its end, and I’m more grateful than words can express. Mythical Hero might be over, but I’ll keep the chuuni rays on full blast over here, so I hope you’ll continue to support me.
May we meet again in some other chuuni world line.
Thank you very much.
奉 (Tatematsuri)