Hello, this is Iori Miyazawa. I’m the author.
This novel was based on the campaign setting of a tabletop RPG called Labyrinth Kingdom. It’s an original transported-to-another-world, or isekai, story. The protagonist is a thirty-something half-Japanese, half-British man who was discharged from the Special Air Service.
Not knowing the source material or about special-forces teams shouldn’t be a problem. You don’t have to be familiar with anything from the game or be well versed in military matters—you should still be able to read it and find it interesting.
The SAS, to which the main character Taiga Andou-Garrett belonged, is a UK fighting force said to be the best in the world. They train at a high level and have an abundance of combat experience. The entrance exams are horrifically brutal, and even those who fail are respected simply for making an attempt.
Our protagonist served with the SAS for twenty years; he’s had a whole lot drilled into him. I envisioned a sternly handsome sort of man, like the British actors Tom Hardy, Daniel Craig, and James McAvoy, when creating him.
Being a former SAS member who is half-Japanese and half-British, he may immediately remind many people of the protagonist in the famous manga Master Keaton, Taichi Hiraga-Keaton. I loved the author as well. (The names sounding somewhat similar was coincidental, though, not on purpose.)
Labyrinth Kingdom takes place in what used to be a totally normal fantasy world, the kind you’ve all probably seen in video games and isekai stories before. But then a magical disaster called the Dungeon Calamity occurred, and a maze swallowed up the world.
The “totally normal” fantasy setting was engulfed in darkness, transformed into a hell with no exit.
The dungeon itself expands both aboveground and below, forming countless layers. Even the ocean and sky have been incorporated into it.
Humans were scattered throughout this world, now known as Million Dungeon, and they created small, huddled kingdoms with populations in the dozens. To obtain food and resources, they need to set foot into unexplored areas of the labyrinth. They have to expand their nation’s territory by venturing into a place filled with monsters and traps around every corner. In the original tabletop RPG, the players control the Landmakers leading one of those small countries.
Our main character, Taiga, is suddenly thrown into that harsh world and ends up a Landmaker himself. Being a former special-forces soldier, Taiga is very skilled in survival techniques, but it’s still not easy for him to endure in this strange world that’s so different from the Earth he knows. Things only get more difficult as he’s forced to protect others, too. Will Taiga be able to safeguard these people and save his fledgling nation from utter destruction? This story is sort of like the hard-mode version of an isekai and civilization manager.
Labyrinth Kingdom first debuted in 2004. Toichiro Kawashima of Adventure Planning Service designed the game. He and a manga-ka named Rasenjin Hayami each wrote about half the world’s backstory. Many other writers contributed to it after that, and every once in a while, a new one is added to renew and continue things. With such a rich history, I personally had a lot of interest in the title, so I’m happy to have been blessed with the opportunity to create a novel in this setting.
Since 2004, Labyrinth Kingdom has undergone several versions. Most recently, in 2018, Kadokawa released it in the form of the Labyrinth Kingdom Basic Rule Book. The game has enjoyed long-lived popularity.
To conclude, I’d like to offer my gratitude to a few people. Thank you to everyone involved in the production of Labyrinth Kingdom and all the players who love the game. My sincerest appreciation to all involved with this novel, especially Yo Shimizu, who drew the beautiful illustrations. But most of all, I want to thank you for picking up this book.