Thank you for reading Volume 2 of Forget Being the Villainess, I Want to Be an Adventurer! It’s thanks to your support that I was able to publish a sequel.
The first volume was about a young Serephione who struggles against her fate and gains friends as she grows, but this time, the flavor is completely different.
First of all, it includes the Boy’s Night sections, which received rave reviews (?) on the web and had to be cut from Volume 1! You get to see what the boys think of Sere-Alma! Their meetings have unexpected influences in various places. I hope you enjoy it.
I also responded to cries from my elementary school boy readers that there weren’t enough battle scenes by adding more fighting than in the last volume. Sere, Lou, and a mysterious new force battle using both physical weapons and magic. There may be some messy fighting, but I hope you’ll cheer for Sere and believe in her future with Lou. Oh, and the genre is isekai/romance. In case you forgot.
I hope you’ll read this book as if you were friends with Sere as she goes through meetings, partings, and training with gritted teeth. Spoilers end here.
Next, to continue from the previous afterword, I’d like to tell you my feelings about some more of my beloved characters.
First of all, Asu. When I started writing him, I was picturing something like a dark hero who stands indifferently on the shoulder of the world’s strongest man; I pictured him refusing to listen to his master’s orders when he doesn’t like them...but he turned into more of a mom? Unlike the young Lou and Miyu, he discreetly watches over Sere from on high, but he’s her protector nonetheless. He’s Sere and Gillain’s biggest supporter. I wrote him while looking at the Vermilion Bird image at Kitora Tomb.
Speaking of which, the Azure Dragon image at Kitora Tomb has limbs, but the Azure Dragon that appears in this story doesn’t. You can read this volume for more details. I’m a fan of both the old and new Azure Dragons.
Next is Mr. Kodak. He started as just one of three drunkards in Trundle Guild, but he ended up being the perfect choice to teach Sere about normalcy and common sense while she was surrounded by her extraordinary family! He went through a big change. He may seem unruly on the outside, but he gets things done when he has to. He’s a man of duty who would give his life for the people he loves and believes in. He became Sere’s lifelong teacher, and he’s trusted deeply by Lou. I wrote him thinking about what kind of teacher I would have been glad to have as a student myself.
I can hear some people telling me to write about our main hero Gillain, but I think it’ll be more fun to read if I don’t give away any more information about his backstory than I need to, so I’m keeping it a secret.
By the way, I’m happy to say that this series received a manga adaptation in FLOS COMIC. I was moved just to see my characters illustrated in the light novels, but now our cute Sere and Lou are even able to move! I must have some really good karma from a past life!
I’m cheering on Serephione and her family right along with all of you as they show expressions that I wasn’t able to describe fully in the book. I’ll have to work harder at writing so I don’t lose to the comic! It’s being published for free on the web, so go check it out.
And with that, thank you again.
Thanks to my lead editor Y, who guided me gently like a Buddha—despite my complaining—and didn’t hide their love for Lou, and thanks also to everyone else involved in this book’s publication. Thanks to Tobi for drawing Sere ever more handsomely as she went through more conflict, and thanks to Tasuke Sakura for expanding the world of her reincarnation in the manga adaptation. I’m very grateful to all of you.
I would like to thank all the readers who have picked up this book following the first volume and all the readers who give me encouragement and advice on the web. Thank you very much. I was able to finish writing another book because I knew you were waiting for me. Thank you for your continued support.
In my last afterword, I wrote that the new era, Reiwa, is finally here! I am very happy to be able to publish a book at this turning point of the era.
I wish you all the very best in this new time.
Hiro Oda