Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.9 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

Hello again, it’s Miya Kazuki. Thank you very much for reading Ascendance of a Bookworm: Part 5 Volume 9.

This volume’s prologue focused on Grausam. I tried to cover everything from his invasion of Giebe Gerlach’s estate to where we last found ourselves with the main story. Hopefully it conveyed his talents as a scholar and opinions about his kids and other family members. Grausam had no qualms about exterminating his enemies, so unlike Rozemyne, he had an especially dry take on things. It really made his brutality stand out.

The main story began with the Battle of Gerlach. Rozemyne might be more sensitive to blood than she sometimes lets on, but she pushed down her fears to break through the enemy’s formation with her knights, restore her allies, and sneak into the giebe’s mansion with Matthias. By confronting Grausam, she managed to buy Ferdinand enough time to manipulate the estate’s foundation. She carried out her duties, if nothing else.

Then there was a brief return to Ehrenfest. Rozemyne got a little more time to breathe, but she was still exceptionally busy! She listened to everyone’s tales of heroics, checked up on the lower city and temple, and got her new clothes fitted. Those chapters in particular were such a blast to write.

As nice as those moments of relaxation were, the battle isn’t over yet, is it? Rozemyne has a duty as the holder of Ahrensbach’s foundation to capture those who teleported using the Lanzenave Estate. Please look forward to what’s happening at the Royal Academy.

This volume’s epilogue was written from Gervasio’s perspective. I wanted to show what his group did upon arriving from the Lanzenave Estate. I packed it full of cool details and extra lore not in the web novel, like his meeting with Raublut and more information about the Adalgisa villa.

Once again, I elected to shorten the main section of this volume to make room for another collection of original short stories: “The Defense of Ehrenfest (Second Half).” There were five stories in total, written to show what happened in Ehrenfest while Rozemyne was fighting in Gerlach. I worked really hard on them, so hopefully they were to your liking!

For the next volume, I want to continue this trend and write as much original content as I can. My ambitions are high—there are so many characters I want to write about—but maybe I’m being too optimistic. Let’s see what happens!

This volume’s cover art depicts the Battle of Gerlach. Matthias faces off against his father while Rozemyne prays for blessings. Grausam’s black prosthesis looks so threatening—especially when the rest of the art uses so many dark colors. But at the same time, Rozemyne’s beauty leaves me breathless!

The color illustration represents the Defense of Ehrenfest. I asked Shiina-sama to squeeze all of our main combatants into the picture, if she could. I think Damuel and Sylvester look especially cool; seeing them actually rendered me speechless. Shiina-sama—thank you.

And finally, my utmost thanks to everyone who read this book. May we meet again in Part 5 Volume 10.

June 2022, Miya Kazuki