Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.6 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

Hello again, it’s Miya Kazuki. Thank you very much for reading Ascendance of a Bookworm: Part 4 Volume 6.

Rozemyne’s second year at the Royal Academy has begun, and she’s somehow causing even more problems than before! She produced divine instruments in class, tore apart her bed canopy with a water gun, and more or less went really wild. At the same time, she has to deal with various incidents that she’s hardly to blame for. Rauffen keeps pushing her to take the knight course, Schwartz and Weiss ask her to supply mana to the statue of a goddess, Prince Hildebrand appears in the library again and again, Hirschur’s disciple turns out to be an Ahrensbach student, and a ternisbefallen appears at the Ehrenfest gathering spot.

In any case, Rozemyne has her hands full dealing with a whole range of problems. She understands that her guardians are going to have a lot on their plates too, but that doesn’t make her any less upset about surrendering her reading time to return to Ehrenfest.

This volume’s prologue is told from Charlotte’s perspective. Wilfried getting engaged to Rozemyne means he is guaranteed to become the next archduke. Charlotte can never become the aub as a result, no matter how hard she works, but she still considers Rozemyne to be her savior and strives to support her.

The epilogue is told from Sylvester’s perspective. Rozemyne’s guardians can do nothing but read the mountains of reports concerning her antics, and they soon find themselves nursing very intense headaches.

As usual, my inspiration for the short stories came from reader requests. In this volume, we focus on Roderick and Rauffen.

Roderick’s story shows what went on behind the scenes after he resolved to give Rozemyne his name. It covers him speaking with Rozemyne’s retainers and preparing to gather his ingredients with the apprentice knights of the former Veronica faction.

I think it also offers a glimpse of what Hartmut does in the shadows.

Rauffen’s story is about the professors exploring the old Werkestock dormitory. It shows what they thought of the ternisbefallen incident and their relationships with each other—things that Rozemyne can’t see on her own.

The professors teaching Rozemyne’s grade tend to be casual with each other, but they need to be more polite with the professors teaching other grades. Each professor also has their own feelings and perspective on the matter, rather than them all sharing the same opinion. What will happen when Rozemyne gets unusual suspicions cast on her and even the king’s retainers are involved...? Look forward to finding out in the next volume.

Shiina-sama provided character designs for Hirschur’s disciple Raimund and Hildebrand’s head attendant Arthur in this volume. I must admit, I’m especially a fan of how disheveled Raimund looks! It’s very much like him to tie his scarf around his waist so that it doesn’t get in the way of his brewing.

I also have an announcement to make: Ascendance of a Bookworm is now getting an anime adaptation! More details will soon be announced on a dedicated website.

Although some of you might be disappointed that the voice actors aren’t the same as those used in the drama CDs, the new cast is very extravagant, with a wide range of veterans. I was surprised when I saw their names, and even more surprised when they were auditioning!

Please do take a look at the introductory PV. I can’t wait for you to see the characters and the lower city brought to life! The anime staff decided to base it on illustrations from the light novels and manga, while expanding the Bookworm world and atmosphere even further than before. I asked for the style and color of the buildings to change as they went from the poor south of the city to the rich north where the Gilberta Company is situated, for the generic characters in the background to have set hairstyles and skirt lengths, and so on. Looking back, I gave them quite a lot of specific—and probably annoying—instructions.

Also, it’s been decided that there’s going to be a third drama CD, which will go on sale at the same time as Part 4 Volume 7. It focuses on Roderick’s name-swearing, and I hope you’ll enjoy hearing all the conversations between the Royal Academy students.

The cover for this volume shows the gathering of the Library Committee. There’s Rozemyne, Schwartz, and Weiss, and now Hannelore and Hildebrand too! The two shumils are wearing their new outfits. Lieseleta’s embroidery is super cute.

This volume’s colored illustration shows the apprentice knights readying their weapons for battle during the ternisbefallen hunt. It also shows Rozemyne using a black weapon against a black feybeast, which hopefully makes her look a bit more hard-boiled. Thank you very much, Shiina-sama.

And finally, I offer up my highest thanks to everyone who read this book. May we meet again in Part 4 Volume 7.

January 2019, Miya Kazuki