Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.4 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

Hello again, it’s Miya Kazuki. Thank you very much for reading Ascendance of a Bookworm: Part 5 Volume 4.

For this volume’s prologue, we have a story from Lamprecht’s perspective—the first in quite a while. He doesn’t interact with Rozemyne very often, despite being her brother, because he serves Wilfried as a guard knight. On a brighter note, his son was born, making him a father! I decided to focus on how Lamprecht sees Rozemyne and her retainers, what lessons Elvira drilled into him, and his relationship with his wife. He really is at his happiest.

The main story began with the archduke candidates’ return to Ehrenfest. After being unified for such a long time, the archducal family was fractured as a result of the desires and demands of the Leisegangs. As everyone’s hopes for the future fell out of alignment, small buds of distrust grew into something more sinister.

From there, Rozemyne visited Kirnberger’s closed country gate. The other duchies with country gates are unable to open or close them because of the missing Grutrissheit, but Kirnberger’s situation is a little more complicated. Its gate was sealed long ago by the ruling Zent of the time—so long ago, in fact, that Ehrenfest hadn’t even existed, and Kirnberger had instead been a part of a duchy called Eisenreich.

The theme of this volume could perhaps be described as the shift from one generation to the next. The purge completely eradicated the former Veronica faction, making the Leisegangs an undisputed power. Then, Brunhilde was announced to be joining the archducal family as the aub’s second wife! Things aren’t as straightforward as they seem, though; even within the Leisegangs, there’s a big difference between what the older and younger generations want.

Melchior starts visiting the temple to be trained as the new High Bishop, which makes Rozemyne very conscious of the fact that she will one day need to resign from her position. The Gutenbergs have reached a point where they can delegate long-term business trips to their disciples instead of going themselves. Some fight against the flowing river of time, while others wish to accelerate it...

The epilogue was written from the perspective of Alexis, one of Wilfried’s guard knights. In it, I depicted the neutral son of Giebe Kirnberger trying to process both his father’s perspective and his own feelings about his changed lord. Judithe shares a hometown with him, but he doesn’t think much about factions, so he didn’t notice the significance there. He didn’t think anything about Wilfried being so close to Veronica either, nor did he feel the need to unify as the Leisegangs did. How will the scolding he receives from his father change him going forward...?

This volume’s first original short story was from Charlotte’s perspective and explores her pain, compassion, and aspirations. She feels responsible for Brunhilde becoming her father’s second wife, unaware that Brunhilde made the proposal to begin with.

The second short story was written from Gunther’s perspective and shows Clarissa’s arrival at the west gate through the eyes of the lower city. I decided to make it fast-paced and comical rather than serious. It was so much fun—and so easy—to write Gunther; his love for his family never wavers in the slightest.

Four characters received designs for this volume: Leberecht, Bertram, Alexis, and Giebe Kirnberger. All men, huh? (Haha.)

As you’d expect from Hartmut’s father, Leberecht is both a very talented and a very cunning scholar. I’ve always imagined him as the person Hartmut would have grown up to be had he never met Rozemyne.

Bertram is Laurenz’s paternal half-brother, who was taken to the orphanage during the purge. He maintains his noble pride, but it seems to be putting him in an even more dangerous position...

Alexis recently became an adult and serves Wilfried as a guard knight. I think he’s grown to be super cool. As for his father, Giebe Kirnberger, he has an intense aura and tends to operate personally. There’s a nice familial resemblance between them.

I also have some announcements.

Bookworm came second in the tankobon category of This Light Novel is Amazing! 2021. Thank you to everyone who supported me!

Part 4 of the manga adaptation is starting to be serialized. So many readers told us how much they wanted to see the Royal Academy illustrated, so we received approval to start early! Please look forward to it, the upsurge of retainers, and the adorable Schwartz and Weiss, all in manga form.

As I write this, Part 2 Volume 5 and Part 3 Volume 4 of the manga are being made ready for release. A lot of readers will probably find it confusing that Parts 2, 3, and 4 are being adapted at the same time, but please do enjoy them all.

The cover art for this volume gives off such a tragic, heavy atmosphere, reflecting how each member of the archducal family is going in a different direction. I think it does an excellent job of embodying the contents of this book.

The color illustration shows Rozemyne being led to Kirnberger’s country gate. A more accurate portrayal would have included the border gate along with it, but I wanted to isolate the country gate for emphasis.

Shiina-sama, thank you very much.

And finally, my utmost thanks to everyone who read this book. May we meet again in Part 5 Volume 5.

October 2020, Miya Kazuki