Afterword
NICE to meet you. I’m Syuu. Thank you very much for purchasing A Young Lady Finds Her True Calling Living with the Enemy.
The coronavirus upended the entire world while I was working on this novel, forcing everyone, including me, into quarantine life. So I chose the tropics as my setting because I at least wanted to be able to savor the air of a faraway country in the pages of this book.
A sea such an unreal blue it looks painted, a white sandy beach made of crushed coral, trees heavy with fruits ripe for the picking, brightly colored birds. And generous people who believe in the philosophy of “If it can be done tomorrow, there’s no need to try so hard today.”
Then I threw a wealthy young lady, a high-ranking noblewoman at that, raised in a city into that environment. The normal way to write about a protagonist in a situation like this would be to describe their various experiences with culture shock. But trapped as I was inside my house, I thought of a different idea. “That’s not what I want to write about. I want to write a story about someone who’s tossed into another world and the knowledge they absorbed unconsciously as a child suddenly means something. Where that knowledge takes root, grows branches, and bears fruit.” I truly savored the pleasure of writing throughout the whole creative process.
Around a year and a half after I started uploading my work on a web novel site, Editor S reached out to me, a novice amongst novices, about turning this story into an actual novel. They believed that the best way to help others improve was through praise. Some time later, they sent me Fujigasaki-sensei’s illustrations and I was blown away by how beautiful they were. I couldn’t believe my work would come to life through such an amazing artist. The illustrations are so beautiful I want to frame every single one. The keepsakes of a lifetime. I’m sure everyone who bought this novel would agree too.
My novel couldn’t have become what it is without a great many people. It started with the readers on the website who praised my work. From there, it went through editors, proofreaders, salespeople, bookshops, and many others before finally landing in the hands of readers like you. I’m forever grateful to everyone involved in this.
May this novel be a ship that brings joy to all who read it.
September 2022
Syuu