Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 4 - Chapter Aft

Afterword 

Cat: “We won! Franklin’s part is over! Hello, this is the control AI you already know well, Cheshiiire!” 
Xun: “Whoa noW, it ain’t over yEt. And hey, I’m the Master Jiangshi, XunYu.” 
Cat: “Brother Bear cannot participate due to certain circumstancees.” 
Xun: (Certain circumstances...?) 
Cat: “We will start this afterword by informing you about something. The manga version of Infinite Dendrogram, drawn by the skillful Kami Imai, recently had its first volume released!” 
Xun: “I bet thAt tons of novel rEaders are already readiNg it.” 
Cat: “The first volume ends with chapter 5, the one that got lots of ironic ‘Is this the final chapter?’ comments on Niconico Seiga. Our battle had only just begun!” 
Xun: “Stop adding uNtimely endings to sTuff.” 
Cat: “If all went smoothly, then chapter 6, the continuation of the first manga volume, should already be up on Comic Fire! We will be very glad if you enjoy this story in both novel and manga form.” 
Xun: “Well, with the adVertising done, let’s go bAck to talking about tHis volume.” 
Cat: “Yes. Despite what I said at the beginning of the afterword, this incident isn’t over yet.” 
Xun: “The latter haLf of the Franklin paRt will be in vOlume 5.” 
Cat: “Yep. However, while the latter half was too large to fit into volume 4, it’s also too small to fit into a separate volume, so volume 5 will have new scenes that don’t exist in the webnovel.” 
Xun: “We’ll leavE the explanation to the aUthor and his serious commEnt.”

Dear readers, thank you for the purchase. I am the author, Sakon Kaidou. 
Instead of ending the ongoing incident with volume 4, I decided to make it continue into volume 5. 
I figured that making the split and adding additional scenes was a better choice than cutting good scenes just so that I could cram it all into a single volume. 
After all, Franklin’s part has numerous scenes and includes lots of characters, so I wanted the novels to use Taiki’s superb drawing ability to portray as many of those characters in as many scenes as possible. 
However, this choice wouldn’t have been possible if the novel series had gotten canceled on volume 4. 
Thanks to your support, dear readers, we have plans to continue the series further. You are the ones that allowed me to make this choice, and I simply can’t thank you enough for it. 
That aside, I have something to say about this volume. 

It portrays the battles between people who are “similar, but unlike.” 
There are those who began playing Dendro for the sake of their creations: the manga artist, Marie, and the composer, Veldorbell. 
There are those who are friends with Ray and are both indecisive in their own ways: Hugo and Rook. 
Ray, who uses all he has to seize the possibilities, and Franklin, who has used everything he has to win. 
It’s safe to say that this volume was all about such similar people fighting for what they couldn’t give up on. 
Rather than the amount of powers or the knowledge needed to win, the results of their fights could have actually been decided by their mental strength. 
After all, it was Ray’s unbreakable will that allowed him to defeat his natural enemy and pull victory from the fiery maw. 
The only reason why Taiki’s wonderful illustration displaying the final scene of the battle could go at the end of the volume was thanks to the split which, again, could only happen because of you — the readers. 
I will continue to do my best to answer to your expectations. 
Just as you’ve already been informed, the next volume will contain scenes that weren’t in the original webnovel. Up until now, I’ve been doing primarily sorting and editing of parts too personal or verbose, so this would be my first major addition to the novel. 
Little would make me happier than your excitement for the conclusion to this incident in volume 5.

Sakon Kaidou

Cat: “So there, please wait for volume 5.” 
Xun: “It’s alrEady decided when it reLeases, though.” 
Cat: “...Ah! Infinite Dendrogram volume 5 is—!” 
Xun: “Volume 5 is sEt to come out sOon! Look forwaRd to it!” 
Cat: “I thought I’d get to say it this time! You thieving cat!” 
Xun: “You’re the caT here. By the waY, Cheshire.” 
Cat: “Mrrgh, I didn’t get to announce it even once... Well, what is it?” 
Xun: “Why didn’t thE bear partiCipate in this afterWord?” 
Cat: “He said he’s on standby for volume 5.” 
Xun: “...AlreaDy?!”