Chapter 20

AFTERWORD Hello, nice to meet you. I’m Kisetsu Morita! —But I suppose there will be a lot of you whom I’m not meeting for the first time. If you’re not a first-timer, then long time no see—this is Morita. This book, Bottom-Tier Bureaucrat (which is my name for it because the title is so long), is a spin-off of I’ve Been Killing Slimes (which also has a long name, so I keep it short). The original novel series, I’ve Been Killing Slimes, has ten total volumes so far released by GA Bunko, and the comic adaptation, drawn by Yusuke Shiba, has five volumes on sale from Square Enix! For those who want to know what’ll happen next, you can check it out on Shousetsuka ni Narou, so please take a look! Now then, as you may have been able to tell from the cover, this book is about the demon minister of agriculture, Beelzebub, who appears in I’ve Been Killing Slimes. Bottom-Tier Bureaucrat was originally serialized in GanGan GA, and thankfully, many people read it. Not only have I been able to add a great many new chapters to her story, but we have now been able to publish an entire stand-alone novel! I truly, truly thank you all! Among the new chapters, we have Beelzebub’s parents appearing, and Beelzebub has some intimate moments with Pecora. Beelzebub’s parents, especially, are a type of character that have never shown up in the original I’ve Been Killing Slimes, so they were a lot of fun to write! There are also a great many new illustrations added by Benio, so please enjoy them all together! Also, Volume 1 of the comic adaptation of Bottom-Tier Bureaucrat by Meishi Murakami will go on sale at the same time this book comes out! Please check that out, too! Murakami has beautifully portrayed Vania’s spacey moments, that look on demon king Pecora’s face when she’s plotting something, and other things I couldn’t fully describe in words in this adaptation. I honestly recommend it! Also, Volume 5 of the comic version of I’ve Been Killing Slimes will be going on sale at the same time, too! Beelzebub is also on the cover of that one, so it’s a whole Beelzebub party out there! Which means three total volumes related to the I’ve Been Killing Slimes series will be coming out this month. Nothing would make me happier as the author than if the world of this series grows bigger and bigger. Just like how slimes multiply. Well, since I have the space, I may as well talk about why I ended up writing a Beelzebub spin-off in the first place. First, GanGan GA, which is serializing the comic adaptation, asked me if I would write some sort of short story for the same world. So then I decided to write a story about Beelzebub, since she is my favorite character in I’ve Been Killing Slimes (I know this started off sounding like it would be a long story, but it really wasn’t). One other reason was that Beelzebub was the only one of the main cast who lived apart from the rest of the group, so I thought it might be easier to write about her. But the biggest reason was definitely that I like Beelzebub. Also, there are other spin-offs, like the Halkara side story, “Food for an Elf,” and the Laika side story, “The Red-Dragon Academy for Girls.” For some reason (since they’re short stories), both are available to read on the smartphone manga app Manga UP! Also, the Halkara side stories are included in Volumes 8 to 10 of the original series, with two chapters in each. I hope you keep an eye out for more spin-offs! I also hope to see you in Volume 11 of I’ve Been Killing Slimes. That will be hitting shelves in December! Finally, my thank-yous. Thank you so much to Benio, who has done the illustrations for this and I’ve Been Killing Slimes! I am so happy we got to see new sides of not just Beelzebub but of the leviathan sisters, too! Additionally, I want to thank all of you who have supported both the spin-off and the original series! It’s because of your support that we’ve gotten to publish a stand-alone novel! Please keep reading the main series and the spin-offs! An addendum: Starting on the next page is a bonus chapter. I hope you enjoy it. The last chapter of this spin-off novel takes place mostly in the past from the perspective of Azusa, the main character of I’ve Been Killing Slimes, but the bonus chapter occurs in the present. I hope to see you somewhere again soon! The guy who orders at the only fancy ramen shop by the local station only to find it’s Jiro-style, Kisetsu Morita