Afterword
Long time no see. It’s me, Takayama, once again.
This was Volume 1 of the after story, the so-called “fan disc,” for The Master of Ragnarok. I have more room than I’d expected for this afterword, so I’d like to go into the concepts for each part of this volume.
Act 1 Concept: “Overkill.”
After the main adventure is over and the hero has reached level 99, what if he went back and fought the first boss? That was the idea that birthed this story. Well, I say “first boss,” but all things considered, he ended up being an accomplished hero in his own right. Honestly, when writing this boss, I started to seriously feel sorry for him. That said, that didn’t stop my pen in the least!
By the way, he’s a real historical figure who actually existed—although to tell the truth, I based him more on Xin Li from Kingdom, ha ha.
Act 2 Concept: “A story centered around Albertina.”
This was the chapter I struggled with the most in this volume. Believe it or not, Albertina turned out to be one of the hardest characters for me to write throughout the series. On the other hand, her counterpart Kristina was probably the easiest out of all the heroines. Thanks to that, even though they were supposed to have equal screen time, Kristina ended up showing up more and more on her own. With that in mind, I resolved to give Albertina her own chapter here, but I couldn’t decide on what it would be about. It seemed that she truly was a weak spot of mine. I loved the character, but I couldn’t figure out how to use her. In the end, even though I still didn’t have a clear idea of where I was going, I just started writing and eventually settled on the “Which one of the twins is truly the mature one?” theme. They say admiration is the feeling furthest away from understanding, and I certainly felt that here.
Act 3 Concept: “A lighthearted rom-com scenario with a slight twist.”
Ingrid’s turn at last. Though she ended up not appearing in the series very often either, my problems with her were the opposite of those I had with Albertina—she was actually very easy to write, and I felt I could always utilize her effectively. She lives life only doing what she wants to do, is naturally candid and easygoing, and is somewhat antisocial—a lot like me, I suppose, which explains a lot. I’d always wanted to give her more appearances because she was such a necessary character to the plot, but I was never able to fit her in like I’d wanted in the main story.
However, my friends and my editor all told me “If you’re doing a collection of side stories, you’ve got to have Ingrid in there,” so maybe she ended up more deeply rooted in people’s hearts than I thought?
Act 4 Concept: “What about Yuuto’s children?”
Because The Master of Ragnarok is a chronicle of Yuuto’s legacy, and because I wanted to depict a warm, lively family scenario within this work, I decided to write a story about Yuuto’s family after the main story was long over. I wanted Nozomu to be the only one to resemble Yuuto, and the rest to all mostly inherit traits from their mothers. Felicia’s son Rungr was meant to be the spitting image of Loptr as a child. Mirai, Nozomu’s twin, was supposed to be just like Mitsuki, and Sigrún’s daughter Wiz was supposed to resemble Sigrún as a child. As for the rest of the heroines’ children, you might see them here and there in the next volume...
Oh dear, I got so caught up in talking about the kids that I forgot about the main heroine of this chapter!
From a young age, I was always left alone in the house and often dreamed of having a kind older sister that would teach me about the ways of the world. In fact, out of all of Yuuto’s children, Nozomu is probably the one most like me, so I thought a kid like him would probably want a nice older sister character as well. Thus, Ephelia.
Aren’t beautiful, kind childhood friend older sister characters just wonderful?!
Side Story 1: “The Sworn Einherjar” Concept: “Show how each heroine views Yuuto.”
This was something I wrote for Hobby Japan’s free-access novel site, somewhere around the fifth volume. However, for multiple reasons, it was shelved and never saw the light of day, so I remade it for this volume. That’s why this particular story takes place around Volume 5.
Side Story 2: “Hildegard’s Adventure” Concept: “A very ‘Hildegard-like’ tale.”
This takes place around the eleventh volume, when the Steel Clan goes to meet Nobunaga. I also wrote this with the intent of publishing it on Hobby Japan’s site, but I honestly don’t remember what compelled me to write it in the first place. Hmm, why did I write this...?
Well, Hildegard’s also a very Takayama-like character, so maybe that’s it. I actually modeled her on one of my close acquaintances, so writing her came quite easily. I love when characters write themselves. My pen just starts moving, and the pages are filled in no time at all!
In the story, nothing ever really goes right for her, but to me, that’s what makes her so endearing. Come to think of it, in the anime world, it’s practically a staple for the author’s favorite characters to suffer the most!
Well, let’s leave it at that for now. I’ve gone on for much too long, so let’s get right to the acknowledgments. Chief Editors U-sama and A-sama, as always, thank you for everything you do. Illustrator Yukisan-sensei, thank you so much. To everyone else who had a hand in putting this book out in the world, you have my heartfelt gratitude. Above all, my ultimate gratitude goes to you, readers, for picking up this book!
Only one more volume remains. Much of the conflict may be over, but please look forward to seeing what kind of happy ending the characters reach once their stories have concluded.
Seiichi Takayama
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