Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 23 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

Thank you so much for picking up this book, the twenty-third volume of Cooking with Wild Game.

By the time this book makes it to store shelves, 2020 should be coming to a close. This year brought us a disaster of historic proportions, so I pray that everyone can celebrate its end in good health.

Currently, I’m spending my days in the same manner as always. I was more of an indoor person to begin with, so though I was afraid of what a lack of exercise and subconscious stress might do to me, I’ve been able to avoid any serious issues.

Now then, as for the book itself, when I published this part in the web version, it was under the title The Season of Competition. It had a lot of action, with the showdown between Ai Fa and Lem Dom, the Genos swordsmanship tournament, and the contests of strength at the festival of the hunt.

I’ve always enjoyed battle-focused works, so one of my hobbies is watching martial arts competitions. I’ve never once gone to an event in person, but the hard disk attached to my TV is filled with recordings of coarse men grappling, which I currently watch every night with dinner. I just hope this hobby of mine has been reflected at least somewhat well in my work.

As I have some pages to spare for this afterword, I’d like to explain a few things and tell you how I referenced the name of a martial artist with a character in this book. As the setting is a whole other world, I try to avoid using real names as much as possible, but I felt it was okay as long as I tweaked them a bit. Names like “Deek” and “Yang” do have some overlap with existing names, but it’s just coincidental.

Furthermore, if I borrowed too much from the names of real people, it would come across like a parody, so I tried to be careful about that. But if I borrowed from a martial artist who was active twenty years ago, you’d have to be a real fanatic to pick up on it. In fact, if anyone out there knew there was a martial artist with a name similar to Gulaf Zaza’s, I’d love to shake their hand.

Speaking of naming, a few people made an interesting observation in the comments for the web version some time ago. Yamiru Suun contains the word “yami” (darkness), Mida Suun contains “mida” (disturbance), Tei Suun contains “tei” (stop), and the name of the man who made the Suun clan into what it ultimately became, Zattsu Suun, contains the English word “that’s.”

Jumping straight down to the bottom line, none of that was intentional on my part. I can’t deny the possibility that I subconsciously chose Yamiru’s and Mida’s names for those reasons, though, as they seem to make sense to me. And I’m glad that people managed to work in Tei Suun and the others later.

Getting back on topic, “Intermission: The Castle Town’s Star Reader” was originally a Group Performance story. But since it fit best before the swordsmanship tournament, it was added to the middle of the book instead. It was originally written before volume twenty-two. I tried my best to display the titular character in her starring role.

Meanwhile, the Group Performance this time around, “A Descendant of Old Blood,” centers around the young chef from the castle town, Shilly Rou. Despite the ostentatious title, she really is just a minor character. One of the many noisy girls in the main book. But I do hope that you’ll look forward to reading about the thoughts and feelings she keeps hidden away inside her.

For the extra chapter, we have a celebration in the castle town. When I was writing the main story, a party set in Genos Castle, which Asuta hasn’t been to yet, felt like a big deal, but I never found a good opportunity to make it happen. I only had a small number of pages to work with, but it helped clear up some regrets I’ve had for a number of years now.

Next volume, we’ll finally move into the gold month. If you’re wondering why I say “finally,” the advertisement at the end of the book should make it obvious. It’s when a certain group that departed in volume nine, published all the way back in 2016, is set to return to Genos. It’s only been half a year in the story, but it’s taken over four years in real time. I hope you’ll follow them with kind eyes as you watch to see whether they’ll be able to make it back safely or not, and if things will turn out the way they hope.

Of course, there will be all kinds of other stories packed in there as well. Both this volume and the next one were originally long enough to put me over the page limit, so I had to shave off some excess. I hope that I’ve compressed the contents in a way that you’ll find satisfactory.

Let me finish by thanking everyone involved with the production of this book, and of course, all of you who purchased it.

See you again in the next volume!

November 2020,

EDA