Nice to meet you. I’m Rakuzan.
This book, My Summon Is Dead, came from an author hounded by work day in, day out who wanted to travel through a gigantic other world and partner up with a humongous monster.
So the main character’s partner obviously had to be a dragon, right? No, no, it’d be a giant wolf. Or the open sea would be the stage, and in a novel twist, the summoners would control fish.
Then one day, while I was trying to figure out which monster the lead, Feil Fonaf, would summon, for whatever reason, the partner that makes up the basis of the story suddenly ended up being dead.
So the lead’s summon is the world’s strongest magical beast’s corpse.
I suddenly decided on that story with just the idea in my heart—then decided to let the me of tomorrow figure out the rest. After I threw around a lot of ideas, it turned into a comedy with a group of three friends, and I added school battles, and finally, it took shape.
So this is the revised version of the story that won the special prize of the sixth Kakuyomu Web Novel Contest for the Isekai Fantasy Division. Thanks to my editor, I was also given some pages to write a completely new epilogue.
I tried to make it an invigorating scene that would be fitting after the ferocious battle. What did you think of it? And just as I touched upon in the epilogue, the world in front of the main character is so large and so bright, it’s dazzlingly brilliant.
Maybe his next adventure will be to search for the saint who disappeared without a trace three thousand years ago?
Or perhaps an attempt to conquer a living labyrinth slumbering under a certain castle?
Or maybe a friendly match against a summoner training school in a foreign country might be unexpectedly exciting?
…………
And so on, I kept adding to the list as I came up with things, but like this story, that’s something for future me to think about—that’s the spirit, right? I say that there’s always tomorrow—that’s the kind of person I am.
Speaking of tomorrows—or the future, rather—the manga version of My Summon Is Dead will be starting around spring in Dengeki Maoh. I hope you’ll enjoy the story of the young summoners drawn by the manga artist Konsai Neko. I’m looking forward to it as well.
Finally, I’d like to express my gratitude toward everyone who was involved in the publication of this book.
To Miyuu, my illustrator, thank you so very much for drawing beautiful illustrations that show not just the characters, but every little detail. I felt the bottom of my heart quiver the moment I saw the school insignias drawn with angel and devil wings to symbolize the story of summoners who are open to everything, both good and bad.
To my editor, I believe the new scene and epilogue you encouraged me to add made this a story that others would really want to read.
And most importantly, to the readers who picked up this book. This story, My Summoned Beast Is Dead, is supposed to be a super-flashy and fun fantasy!!—that was my motto while writing it. If you enjoyed the world that the main character, Feil Fonaf, lives in even in the slightest, I couldn’t be happier.
I hope that we will meet again. In the meantime, I’ll write a little each day.