Fremd Torturchen - Volume 8 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

Hello, Keishi Ayasato here.

I don’t know about you all, but my cat’s been shedding like crazy this summer. Each time I looked down, I found I was covered in a sheet of white fur.

As for Torture Princess, it’s finally reached Volume 8.

Dear me, how auspicious.

Of course, because of the way it ended, I felt like I was raising a death flag for myself just by writing it.

That said, it was also the volume where both I and Elisabeth came to understand what losing Kaito Sena truly meant, and I think I was able to convey everything I set out to in it.

I was also really happy about being able to write about what became of all sorts of different members of the cast. Now, I don’t know if all of them are truly happy with how things turned out for them, but all I can really do is write clearly—and, to the best of my ability, compellingly—about the way they choose to live their lives, so that’s what I’m going to keep doing from now on.

I hope I’ll be able to do them justice in the next volume as well.

I hope you’ll read it and bear witness to their destinies.

And I truly do hope you’ll enjoy, even if only a little.

Now then, as is custom, I have some people I’d like to thank.

To Saki Ukai, for the breathtaking-as-always cover and all the other beautiful illustrations; to my editor O, for putting up with all the trouble I caused you this time; and to Hina Yamato, for the wonderful manga adaptation—I would like to thank you all so much. I’d also like to extend deep thanks to everyone else involved in the process, as well as my beloved family, particularly my sister. And more than anything, I would like to express my gratitude to my readers once more.

Looking back, Torture Princess has come quite a long way.

I fully believe that it’s thanks to you all that the story was able to make it this far.

Thank you so much for accompanying me on this journey.

Now, I’ve mentioned this before on Twitter, and some of the clever ones among you probably realized on your own, but Torture Princess is structured in three-volume arcs.

Volumes 1 to 3 were the Foolish Servant arc, Part I.

Volumes 4 to 6 were the Foolish Servant arc, Part II.

And sure enough, Elisabeth’s story, the Torture Princess arc, is going to last from Volumes 7 to 9.

So before I wrote Volume 6, I wrote up a three-volume plot outline that ended on Volume 9 and sent it over to my editor. In other words, what I’m saying is this:

Whenever there’s a beginning, there must always be an end.

The next book will be the series finale.

It’s going to pick up where Volume 8 left off and go full throttle until it hits the finish line, so I imagine it’s going to be a bit of a challenge to write. But I intend to give it my all.

If you don’t mind, I really hope you read it through to the end.

This I humbly beg of you.

There was something he once said.

“We gotta bring this story to an end.”

There was something she once said.

“Would it not be better for a world such as this simply to end?”

There was something she once said.

“Please, you must protect this world of yours.”

This is a tale that lies beyond the one of admiration, folly, and love—

—and it’s one of repentance, dreams, and hatred.

I hope you’ll accompany me one final time.