Thank you for reading Volume 3 of Forget Being the Villainess, I Want to Be an Adventurer!
Sere is finally going to confront Maribelle, the heroine of Wild Rose. Will Lou fall under her charm again? Will Sere be condemned as the villainess according to the plot? I hope you remember all of Sere’s efforts up to this point and cheer for her to win against fate.
Spoiler warning from this point on.
I think every author gets story ideas differently, but in my case, I see images in my head. This series was based on three images that I got. The first was the scene with Lou frolicking in the snow that I wrote about in my first afterword. The second was the climax of this volume, where the heroine is torn as two of her loved ones fight each other. The third was the heroine awakening in the despairing hero’s embrace through the power of his love. I made this work by fleshing out and connecting those three images with a wholesome, enjoyable story.
What I mean to say by this is, I really wanted to get this third volume published! I’d only been able to fit one of those three images in the first two volumes, after all.
When I was putting together the first volume, due to page count limitations, I had to choose between introducing General Avenger or adding an intermission about Alma. Were the first volume going to be a stand-alone work, I think it would have been more effective to liven up Sere’s fun knight school life if I had given more background on Alma. But in order to get to the ending that I had in my head, I had to introduce the general. I bet on the fact that I would be able to publish the whole story and believed in those in charge.
In hindsight, I’m glad I had the courage to choose the general. And beyond that, I also added a lot of foreshadowing that I could only call back to with this volume. My desire to not leave those details as mysteries reached the readers, and the readers’ desire to see what happens next reached the publishers, which is why I had the opportunity to finish the story. I feel very fulfilled. I hope all of you are satisfied too.
Also, good news: the first volume of the manga is being released the same month as this third volume! Sere in this third volume turned seventeen and matured overall (she really looks like a big sister in the cover art!), so going from this to the comic makes me feel like a grandma thinking, “Look how much my little Sere has grown...” Keep some tissues nearby while you read. My personal fave (as expected?) is our demon lord papa.
And with that, thank you once again.
Thanks to my editor Y, who took me from just a fantasizing bookworm to releasing three volumes of a story, and thanks as well to everyone involved in publication. Thanks also to Tobi for lovingly drawing Sere and the fluffballs, as well as Tasuke Sakura for depicting the bonds and coolness of the Granzeus family in the manga adaptation.
Thanks also to everyone who was first to cry tears of joy together for the web version when Sere ended up happy in the end, and to everyone who purchased the print editions and stuck with me until the third volume. We were able to come to this finale thanks to all of your support. I can’t thank you enough.
Lastly, the one person who went through the most, my beloved Serephione. Sorry for putting you through so much suffering just because I like misfortune. My message for Sere at the end of her journey is...
“Screw you and Gillain for having a fulfilling love life!”
I hope from time to time you picture Sere, Lou, Asu, and Miyu being all lovey-dovey at the swamp, the three drunkards at the guild being scolded by Lara, the Granzeus family happily eating Matsuki’s cakes in their snowy domain, Sere and Lou soaring through the open sky, and Sere and Gillain’s somewhat vexing, yet intimate, relationship.
I will forever treasure the connections I’ve made through Forget Being the Villainess, I Want to Be an Adventurer! At the end of this letter, I would like to wish you all the best in the future.
I hope we can meet again somewhere.
Hiro Oda