Afterword
Hello, it’s nice to meet you. To some of you, long time no see. This is Toru Toba. Thank you for picking up The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt: Hey, How About Treason?
How did you like this book?
Its topic is what you might call “governance.”
Governance: It’s seen as a vague, difficult, troubling topic. The more you look into it, the tougher this undertaking seems.
But at the same time, a nation isn’t something that moves by way of some invisible force working outside the bounds of mortal knowledge. It’s run entirely by human hands.
And because it’s run by humans, there are countless times when people have come together, racking their brains to decide on a solution, only for it to fail. Or just when they expect success, foreign countries might interfere or natural phenomena could cause some chaos, making them stumble in unpredictable directions. Other times, they might succeed without any major obstacles, winding up in a situation where they ought to give themselves a round of applause.
I think everyone has more or less oscillated between this kind of joy and sorrow.
Governance is about human behavior—a complex, tangled thing involving the thoughts and feelings of all kinds of people.
In this book, I wanted to put a spotlight on the main character’s mood swings. I’m sure there are readers who will glance through this section before reading the main text, so I can’t go into too much detail here, but I’d feel blessed as the author if you grow to love this hardworking hero burdened with the important task of running a government.
To switch subjects, I’ve been going on a lot of small outings lately. I used to be an extreme homebody, but one day, I started thinking I really couldn’t keep living that way. I’ve been doing different kinds of day trips to popular tourist destinations.
I mostly visit shrines and temples. But I’ve noticed how convenient public transportation is as I go back and forth to these spots. Spend a few hours swaying on a train, and you can get pretty much wherever you need to. When you stop and think about it, that’s pretty incredible.
We’re always trying to shorten travel time. I wonder how far our innovations will go. I’ve recently heard of developments in personal aircraft. It seems as if the possibility of flying though the sky alone might be possible within my own lifetime…or maybe not… But I would’ve never imagined smartphones and tablets as a child, and now they’re a part of everyday life. So perhaps it’s not out of the realm of possibility? Just as we speak of the steam engine trains with nostalgia, one day we’ll probably talk about the train like that, too…probably.
Personally, I find that these developments are fun and exciting, but they also make me question my own standards and common sense as a kid… I’m going to try not to be left behind by these new technological advancements. Then again, I still don’t even have a smartphone.
Well, this is where I give my thanks and advertise.
First of all, a big thanks to Ohara for helping me out with this book. Thank you for being there to guide me from the planning stages to the final plot and text. Because of you, I could give the readers a polished story. I look forward to working with you in the future.
And to my illustrator, fal_maro, thank you for your beautiful illustrations. As the author, I’m always excited to see my work come to life, and I wholeheartedly approved each one of your illustrations as my editor sent them to me. Especially the third color insert. Yes, it was very nice.
Thank you to all my fellow authors for their valuable insights. I’m especially grateful to Akamitsu Awamura for the detailed advice.
By the way, it looks like GA Bunko will publish Awamura’s new work 100 Years War of 100 Gods in June. It’s a battle fantasy where gods fight one another for imperial dominance, and just by the synopsis, I can already tell it’ll show you a whole new world. Be sure to check it out!
And last but not least, to all the readers, thank you for putting this book in your hands. With an overwhelming number of books published each month, it must seem like an unending flood of books to you, but I’m truly honored you chose mine out of so many.
From now on, I will do my best to create more interesting books. Please look forward to it. Well then, let’s meet in the next one.
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