Majo no Tabitabi - Volume 4 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

A certain day in March, I get a phone call from my editor, M.

“Jougi, listen, we published Riviere, right? (Note: That’s an abbreviation for Riviere and the Nation of the Prayer. A series launched by GA Novels starting March 15, 2017. Illustrated by Azure, it’s being published as the official sequel to Wandering Witch. Elaina makes an appearance! Buy it, okay?) Wandering Witch is selling well thanks to that. It’s a longtime bestseller. And we’re going to do a second printing of all the volumes. How about a fourth book?”

I cried. Huh? I can put out a fourth volume? Really?! A longtime bestseller? Seriously?

This was all thanks to continued reprints taking place over about a year, and thanks to getting additional printings approved for all the volumes. In short, it’s thanks to everyone who bought the books even though a bit of time has passed since they first went on sale. Since the usual two pages wouldn’t be nearly enough to tell you how happy I am to be writing the afterword to the fourth volume, this time I asked a big favor of the editing staff to increase the length of the afterword.

And to that end, I’ll properly introduce myself. Jougi Shiraishi. Nice to meet you. It’s been a while.

More than half a year has passed since we published Volume 3, huh? All sorts of things have happened. Though the more I try to think of a concrete example of something that happened, the harder a time I have remembering. In regard to this series, I feel like only happy things have happened, since we got second editions printed and made the ranking in the magazine called This Light Novel Is Amazing! But since most of that happened after they decided to cancel this series, I was beset by an unshakeable sadness. It was really frustrating to not be able to continue it, even though I wanted to. But as I told you at the start of this afterword, we’re now at the stage where we can resume operations, thanks to Riviere. I’m as grateful as can be. I feel as if a wish I’ve been making for a long time has come true. But since I don’t want this series to end again, I’m going to work even harder than before.

Volume 4 took the passage of time and lapse of memory as its major themes. I feel like I always write this, but this time, the book turned out especially long. To the point where I thought Amnesia’s story alone could probably fill a whole light novel on its own.

I think the inspiration for writing a story like Amnesia’s came out of not wanting my readers to forget about Elaina’s journeys to date. I probably should have made good on all the obvious foreshadowing that was in the previous volumes, but Amnesia’s story was the one I wanted to write, so this is how the composition of this book turned out. I tried my best, and it turned out to be the longest story in the series. I never thought it would get so lengthy…

I’m sure you’ve noticed, however, that this book has the fewest total stories and the lowest page count so far. This is barely an excuse, but I had to write it in a hurry because the fourth volume happened unexpectedly after we published Riviere. I admire the authors who can maintain this kind of pace… There were no extensions to be had this time, so I did nothing but write. I was rusty after a long time not writing, and I ended up repeatedly throwing away my drafts. But it was fun. It felt like I got back to basics. Back when I was writing for Kindle, I spent my days writing and throwing away material for my books…and doing so earnestly. Since becoming a full member of society, I’ve been too busy, and it feels like I’ve forgotten something important.

By the way, in this extra-long afterword, I’m going to make comments about each chapter with spoilers. If you’re one of the people who reads the afterword and looks at the illustrations first, you should probably skip over the next few pages.

• Chapter 1: City of Oblivion

I wrote this one to go with the all too incredible cover art by Azure. When we met up, Azure told me that “the cover is going to have some crumbling ruins,” and I was like, “Score! Let’s do a dark story!” and wrote a most depressing tale, but in the final drawing, the ruins looked way too inviting, so I tossed that story in the garbage.

• Chapter 2: A Fictional Witch

I really don’t understand coffee. What do they mean by “rich flavor”? What do they mean by “acidity”? I only understand the difference between drip coffee and canned coffee. In fact, I’m writing this in the afternoon on a day off while sipping a can of coffee.

• Chapter 3: Likes and Dislikes

I revised the story in this chapter from a special edition bonus story. When I thought about it, Saya had an extremely limited role in Volume 4, so I forced her in there. By the way, I also hate mushrooms. I mean, they’re fungus!

• Chapter 4: The Apple Murders

I tried my hand at writing a detective story based on the Grimm brothers’ “Snow White.” Making the prince a necrophile was a nod to the original work. The prince is the creep. Oh yeah, this volume has too much puke in it.

• Chapter 5: Trivial Stories

Trivial stories where I just used wordplay to harass some characters. Elaina being mean, basically.

• Chapter 6: The Sunken City

They say those who cannot adapt to their circumstances will be left behind by the times and perish. It has been the same since before antiquity. If someone can adapt even to harsh circumstances, then I suppose they can get along pleasantly in their own way.

• Chapter 7: Amnesia’s Forgotten Travelogue

This is the story in which we meet Amnesia. Elaina says that she’s interested in the Holy City, Esto, but in reality she can’t help but be curious about Amnesia. I digress, but the name Amnesia is a pun, a word that means “forgetful” in Greek. Why Greek? Because it’s cool.

• Chapter 8: The Hero, the Dragon, and the Sacrifice

This was the last story I wrote for Volume 4. It came to be because once the manuscript was all assembled, I realized that all the stories about Amnesia were too serious. I digress, but if you picked up on the meaning of the guest book in the inn, you are an adult.

• Chapter 9: A City on Ice

A serious episode in which the broom makes a surprise second appearance. I think that Amnesia and Rudela were the same in that they couldn’t make forward progress unless they made a very painful decision.

• Chapter 10: Amnesia’s Forgotten Homecoming

As for the final chapter of the volume marking the new start of this series, I originally conceived of it as a standalone story. I hope you can appreciate the changes I made to fit it in as part of a larger book. Caught in a loop of repeating the same day over and over, Amnesia can finally look forward. Since all my stories related to memory were completely hopeless, I thought it might be nice to have one that was a little more positive, and this is what came of it. When I went to write it down, it ended up being ridiculously long. I digress, but the name Avelia is a pun, a word that means “tomorrow” in Greek. Why Greek? Because it’s cool.

Those were my comments for each story. This is supplemental information: Amnesia’s hair is white because Azure draws the cutest girls with white hair. I can’t even express it in words. We had saved them up as a secret weapon for a special occasion. When it was decided that the series would end with the third volume, I was apprehensive because we were going to end the books without revealing our biggest secret! I’m glad we could release this volume. Seriously. No, really, I’m serious.

All right then, the acknowledgments.

To Azure:

Thank you as always for your cute illustrations! Amnesia is too cute. Elaina’s new clothes are too cute. After I spoke with you at the awards ceremony, I watched Attack on Titan, and I bought every volume of the original work. I think that Hiroyuki Sawano is a god.

To M, my editor:

Thank you for all you do. Sorry for being unreasonable and writing such a long afterword. But if there is a fifth volume, I think I’ll want to write a long one again. You always have an incredibly blunt attitude in your emails, but when you praise my manuscripts, I do a little jig, gripping my smartphone tightly. You’re such a tease.

And to everyone who purchased this book:

Thank you very much! I can’t contain my joy at being able to write another volume. I’m going to work even harder to ensure it doesn’t end at four volumes. Thank you for your support.

All right then, I’d like to wrap up my afterword with my sincere hope that we can meet again in the next volume. See ya!