Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 19 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

Cat: “Time for the afterwooord. This time it’s brought to you by me, Cheshire the Cat, and...”

Bear: “Shu Starling the Beaaar.”

Cat: “The standard duo’s back, eh? I feel like it’s been a while since it was just us two.”

Bear: “Yeah. I took a break last time, and befur that the bear wasn’t me, but Carl.”

Cat: “Speaking of Carl, this volume gave us another character in a costume.”

Bear: “ZZZ, huh? Honestly, fur him it’s less like a costume and more like a sleeping bag.”

Cat: “First Carl, now that guuuuy...this is the second time we’ve gotten somebody in a costume who’s kinda invincible. These costumed types sure like their weird combooos. Tenchi’s Bachigo Futae is another one that comes to mind.”

Bear: “Really? I’m a costume guy too and I’m pawsitively normal.”

Cat: “A guy who uses a giant robot to break space itself isn’t normal at aaall.”

Bear: “Actually, does Dendro even have any tough guys who don’t use any combos at all?”

Cat: “Good point. Jobs, Embryos, and MVP rewards—these three systems are all intertwined with each other. I can’t deny that things go crazy when they’re mixed in just the right (or wrong) waaay.”

Bear: “Three systems?”

Cat: “Jobs are the foundation, since they were here from the very beginning. Then there’s the Embryos we brought, and after that we’ve got the MVP rewards, which are the result of us meddling with, modifying, and further processing the non-humanoid inhabitants. That one’s actually the system we did the most work on. We didn’t even touch the other two.”

Bear: “Hrmm. I feel like you just dropped some impawtant info like it was nothin’.”

Cat: “There’s gear that’s stronger than even these MVP rewards we worked so hard on, though. The axe from this volume is a prime example of that. As far as weapon tiers go, that thing is actually above Gloria. And it’s as dangerous as it is powerful. It’s gonna be a long time before Ray can use it without any problems. He only managed it this time because it was a dream. It’s like he got a preview of the gear you get in the endgaaame.”

Bear: “I’ve thought this for a while, but...you really talk more than you should, huh?”

Cat: “I hear that a lot from my colleaaagues too. Then again, I’m the Embryo of a Master who wanted companionship, so you can’t blame me for being talkative, can youuu?”

Bear: “Look at you, em-bear-acing it.”

Cat: “That’s it for the chat, though. It’s time for the author’s commeeents.”

Greetings, dear readers. Thank you for your purchase. I am the author, Sakon Kaidou.

In this volume, you saw Ray grow in some way to win a battle he could afford to lose. With this, he has finally overcome one of the weaknesses he’s had since the very beginning.

This story is a long one, and many of its characters change and grow as it moves along. A good example of this is Gerbera, whom you saw accompany Ray in this volume. It would give me much joy if you dear readers continue to watch how the characters change as the story keeps moving forward.

With that in mind, the next volume will be focused on Hugo/Yuri. She is another character who is in the process of changing, so please look forward to seeing what kind of trials await her. Volume 10 of the manga is currently out as well, depicting Hugo’s battle against Rook with all the quality you have come to expect from that adaptation. Please do take a look at it.

That said, with the next release of this light novel, it will be twenty volumes long. As the author, I can’t help but be overwhelmed by how far we have come.

You all are the reason this series has continued for this long, and it will definitely keep going, so as always I will do my best to make it into something you, dear readers, will enjoy.

And because breaking the twenty volume mark is cause for celebration, we plan to try something different for it. I am personally looking forward to it, so I think you won’t go wrong if you get excited for it too.

Nothing would give me more joy than seeing your continued support for Infinite Dendrogram.

Cat: “Anyway, time to announce the next voluuume.”

Bear: “The announcements were months off multiple times in a row now. You sure you’re good fur this?”

Cat: “Heh heh heh. Don’t worry—I have an idea...VOLUME 20 IS SET TO COME OUT IN WINTER SOMETIME!”

Bear: “He wussed out of actually naming the month!”

Cat: “If you’re gonna miss the release date, then just don’t say it in the first place! Simple!”

Bear: “But what if it comes out in March? Saying ‘winter’ doesn’t account fur that, does it?”

Cat: “It...probably won’t come out that late! And even if it does, if it’s cold, it’s still winter!”

Bear: “Well, whatever happens with the next volume...please look furward to it.”