Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 19 - Chapter Aft

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Afterword

Long time no see, everyone. It’s the author, Takehaya. This time I’m delivering Invaders of the Rokujouma!? volume 19. This volume was close to volume 12, the longest in the series, in terms of page count.

As for its content, this volume continues the magical girl arc from volume 18. The setting moves from Kisshouharukaze City to the Magical Kingdom of Folsaria. There, facing the evil magical girls, Koutarou and the others stumble upon an unexpected truth. While it’s unimaginable to them, I suspect some of you readers have caught on already. Were your hunches correct? I think that’s one way of enjoying this volume.

I think Yurika is also the biggest attraction this time around. At the start of the series, she had neither pride, courage, nor love. She was always going with the flow and always making excuses. But in this volume, she splendidly fulfills her duties. So splendidly, in fact, that those watching her begin to worry. Koutarou and the others don’t want Yurika to really shine in battle because they know what kind of person she really is deep down. Being strong doesn’t mean she should have to fight. Yet despite fighting not suiting her, she chooses to fight in a desperate attempt to win back her wonderful everyday life. Koutarou and the others think of that life as priceless, and so does Yurika. If you readers feel the same way, then part of Yurika’s story in this work is a success.

Now, as for something I couldn’t really talk about before... Yurika played a big part this time around, but I made her so pessimistic in the beginning of the series because magic is too convenient. A magician was needed for the overall structure of the story, but if there had been a fully capable magician (like Yurika in this volume), it would have been too convenient and she might end up resolving all of the incidents on her own. So I made sure to give her a lot of weaknesses, and made her a more dysfunctional magician. As a result, Yurika became the character most affected by the convenience of the story. It wasn’t like I tried to do this on purpose. Whether or not you believe me, that’s the truth. But on a similar note, Yurika’s not the only one who was given weaknesses in order to balance out her other powers. Arguably, Kiriha—who has no real powers of her own—is the only one without weaknesses. In that sense, Yurika and Kiriha are complete opposites. This is a trick to keep some of the characters from hogging all the spotlight.

Whoops, I almost forgot! There are actually two things I need to report. The first is that HJ Bunko’s website, “Read It! HJ Bunko,” is regularly publishing short Rokujouma stories. There are also other works on there, so if you’re interested, check it out sometime.

As for the second thing, there will be a drama CD released with volume 20. The drama CD will continue from where the first left off, and cover the first half of volume 8.5. Like with last time, I believe there will also be an alternative cover.

With that, I’ve just about run out of space, so I will end things here. Last but not least, I would like to give my usual regards. I would like to thank the editorial department for their help in publishing this work, Poco-san who somehow manages to draw these illustrations despite the many genres involved, and finally, all of the readers who bought this book.