Good eeeeeeeeeeeeeeevening! (This is a greeting.)
And, about the wait... I’m sooooooooooorry! (This is an apology.)
Honestly, it’s been far too long. How have you been, everyone? I’ve been struggling with my physical health for the longest time, but I finally feel better and I’m full of energy. And, thanks to my revitalization, I finally managed to prepare this volume for publication!
Volume two was released in August 2020, nearly two years ago. It’s so tardy that I’d have no cause to complain about any punishment. My two editors from the last volume and the three editors working on this one, however, never gave up on this book no matter how long the gap grew. They continued to support me all the way through. You’ll never hear me say a word against them. Honestly, I’m grateful for all they’ve done.
As I said before, the reason for the delay was my own poor health, but I won’t go into too much detail—I don’t want to sound like I’m making excuses, after all! I will mention one thing, though. It turned out the root cause of the problems was completely different than we had initially thought. It was a real shock at the time, but the doctors knew what they were doing. And now I’m back on my feet, as healthy as ever. I couldn’t believe how good it felt to be healthy again, and right away I went to immerse myself in the latest video game release.
That last part was a joke. I’ve been working hard at writing. The next volume should be out before too long as well. Please, believe me.
Now then, in this volume Kanata obtained her third fluff, adding a pink to the black and white—a veritable Neapolitan ice cream of fluff. Perhaps she has finally obtained true happiness. In the face of Kanata, neither the Demon King of the Dark Continent, nor the proud and aloof Spirit Wolf, nor even a haughty and domineering ancient vampire have any recourse but to become adorable balls of fluff. Perhaps you, too, will end up becoming fluff by the time this is finished.
The evil gods have begun making secret maneuvers against the threat of Kanata, but not to worry—Kanata isn’t about to lose. It’s hard for me to imagine them even putting up a serious fight against her, and I’m the author! Even if all of them attacked her at once, Kanata would simply drive them off and continue on her merry way, searching for ever more fluffy companions on her quest. She’d save the world on the way, of course. It seems like Kanata can’t help acting the part of a Saint whether she intends to or not. And you can be sure Miss Melissa will keep getting more and more work, and keep moving up and up the ranks. The day she can retire from being a guild receptionist and return to her leisurely life of adventure seems far away indeed. (I’m praying for you, Melissa!)
Finally, I would like to say some words of thanks to finish out this book.
To my editors, S, O, and A: thank you so much for keeping the pressure on day after day! If it weren’t for you three I might have run away instead of pushing through when things got hard. I’m looking forward to working with you again in the future.
To Falmaro, who did the illustrations: you had the cover for this volume ready a long time ago, but thanks to a certain author I could name being unable to write, it took until now for it to be ready for publication. I’m so very sorry! It’s been a while, but Kanata and her fluffy furballs are looking as cute as ever—no, even cuter!
To everyone in the editorial department, the designers, the proofreaders, the business people, the booksellers, and everyone else who made this possible: thank you! I couldn’t have done it without you!
And to all of you reading this book after two years of waiting, I owe you my utmost thanks!
Until next time!
-Inumajin, June 2022