Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.6 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

Hello again, it’s Miya Kazuki. Thank you very much for reading Ascendance of a Bookworm: Part 5 Volume 6.

This volume’s prologue was written from Florencia’s perspective. It focuses on the reports given by those from Ehrenfest between the end of the Archduke Conference and their return home, as well as the archducal couple’s discussion of what happened. How did she view Rozemyne’s planned adoption by the king? And what kind of an influence did she expect it to have?

The main story began with the archducal family hearing the decisions of the Archduke Conference. Bonifatius was enraged to learn that his precious granddaughter was being stolen by the royal family, Melchior was anxious about the temple handover, and Charlotte was overjoyed that she could strive toward the archducal seat again. As for Wilfried, he was overflowing with emotion. They all had very different reactions to the same news.

After being tasked with preparing for Rozemyne’s move, Elvira started making all the necessary arrangements. I made sure to carefully describe how she felt about the situation and everything leading up to it, since she’s supposed to be Rozemyne’s “real mother” and all. I wanted to include a bit more information about her past, but it ended up feeling too out of place, so I moved it to the sixth voice drama CD’s short story. Please enjoy it alongside Inoue Kikuko’s passionate performance as Elvira.

After that came the handover and even more preparations for the move. Over the course of some very relaxed-seeming days, Rozemyne sorted out who would accompany her and who would stay behind. There are no good, bad, right, or wrong choices; the only important thing is that everyone follows their heart.

Way back at the end of Part 2, Dirk was a baby who couldn’t even sit up on his own. Now he’s approaching his baptism, and declaring his resolve to become a noble to Hartmut and the archduke! I must admit, while writing those sections, I started to get that motherly feeling of “My, how much you’ve grown since the last time I saw you!”

This epilogue was written from Lutz’s perspective. It feels like quite a while since we’ve seen the world through the eyes of the lower city. It was fun to write about him meeting Tuuli for the first time after her coming of age. I was absolutely insistent that we have an illustration to accompany the moment! Lutz then returned home to speak with his mother. I made various additions to this volume to reinforce the theme of mothers and their children, so please enjoy the lower-city version of this.

The first original short story was from Lieseleta’s perspective. It contains everything leading up to Rozemyne asking her to come along to the Sovereignty—and even includes her father being indirectly ordered to let it happen. I also packed in the other retainers’ reactions to her decision.

The second short story was written from Sylvester’s perspective. This one focused on the inquiry that occurred after the late Aub Ahrensbach’s funeral. The main story showed the public analysis, whereas this short story showed what was actually witnessed. As you’ll see, Sylvester is more concerned about Georgine than the royal family. Look forward to seeing the impact of his “gut feeling.”

Newly designed for this volume were Lasfam and Leonzio. The former is a laynoble attendant who gave his name to Ferdinand. (This one was a long time coming.) The latter is the grandson of Lanzenave’s king. He came out even hotter than I expected, to the point that I really started to understand why Detlinde ended up being wooed... (Haha.)

This volume’s cover art features a visualization of the discussion with Elvira. She and Rozemyne are at the front, with the retainers due to move to the Sovereignty around them. At the very top is one of the feystones marked with Rozemyne’s crest, which she gives to everyone who’s accompanying her. A few people ended up hidden behind the title block, but you can see them on the version without it.

The color illustration depicts the process of making maximal-quality fey paper. Hartmut and Clarissa have very few black-and-white illustrations despite their extremely active roles in this volume, so I made sure they appeared in color alongside Ferdinand and the letters. Thank you, Shiina-sama.

And finally, my utmost thanks to everyone who read this book. May we meet again in Part 5 Volume 7.

June 2021, Miya Kazuki