Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 36 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

Long time no see. Takehaya here. We meet again. The coronavirus is still running rampant, but I’m relieved that I was safely able to deliver this volume. I can only hope all the turmoil is put to bed by next year.

(Note: This afterword contains lots of spoilers, so I recommend that you read the volume before continuing.)

I have quite a bit of room for the afterword this time because this book hit the next sixteen-page bracket (like I was talking about in the last afterword), so I’d like to go over some of the content that we glossed this volume. First is cars and cell phones in the Magical Kingdom of Folsaria.

Folsaria has lots of cars, but they’re a little different from the ones we know. They’re powered by mana, making them a sort of magical item. The origins of this are old, with the first prototypes produced about three hundred years ago. Back then, they were horse-shaped golems that pulled carts. Over time they became smaller and more efficient, especially after referencing the cars of Earth. They eventually became identical aesthetically, although they work magically on the inside.

They’re actually quite simple mechanically compared to modern cars. The stored mana is used to directly turn a drive shaft, so there’s no engine and no mechanism to transmit power from the engine to the tires. The body is also partially strengthened by magic, so their construction is simplified as well. Because of this, their performance is lacking. Comparatively, the equivalent of Earth cars a couple of decades ago.

They have their merits, however. Namely that they’re environmentally friendly and automatically controlled. Since they run on magic, there’s no exhaust. And since they were developed from golems, they can operate on their own to some extent. That said, they still need drivers on complicated roads and unpaved areas. In combat, too. As such, all Rainbow Heart vehicles require a driver. There are magical lifeforms that can take the place of a human driver, but they’re rare and expensive.

Now, as for cell phones, Folsaria only recently entered the age of tech-based communication. Just a few years ago, it was all magical. Any remote communication required a spell or item of some sort. Maki herself used one such item when she first appeared, but these items have their drawbacks. First and foremost is that the range and the quality of the devices depend on the skill of the user and their inherent mana. Magic is also an analog technology, so it’s not suited for transmitting large amounts of information. Another problem is that such devices are quite expensive.

That was why Folsaria decided to go digital, using earth’s cell phones and smartphones for reference. These newer devices are better at compressing and sending information. This reduces the mana they need to use, which makes them smaller and cheaper to produce. As a result, more and more people have bought them. Lots of Folsarians have their own cell phones now.

That doesn’t mean traditional magic methods of communication are obsolete, though. They’re still used in confidential discussions. The introduction of digital technologies that share common features makes them relatively easy to hack and eavesdrop on, so traditional magic communication will stick around for a while.

That about covers everything on cars and cell phones. Since life in Folsaria plays such a big part in this volume, I’d like to touch on one more thing: writing a modernized magical kingdom is rather tricky. There’s lots to consider, like the fact that science is lagging behind because most problems can be solved with magic. Now, Grevanas’s resurrection is a complicated thing too, so let’s go into a little more detail on that.

In this series, magic works by using mana to alter reality. For example, the spell Explosion causes an explosion with no actual explosives. Since nothing is legitimately exploding, the scale, color, and speed of the blast are all determined by the caster’s imagination. In many cases, they recreate explosions they’ve witnessed before. Sometimes they replicate their master’s spells, or even something they’ve seen in a video.

In other words, as long as they could properly envision it, they could emulate fast-burning plastic explosives with almost no visible flame, or even slow-burning gasoline explosions with lots and lots of red fire. If someone fed Yurika false information on explosions, she’d likely be able to succeed in reproducing what was described to her as long as she had the necessary mana to make it happen. Appearances aside, the power of the Explosion spell depends on how much mana the caster puts into it.

Now, let’s apply this same logic to Grevanas’s resurrection. The man himself died over seven hundred years ago. His soul has either reincarnated into a different body or lingers in the world as an evil spirit.

If he were reincarnated, his soul would need to be restored first. That would be done artificially via the residual thoughts in his diaries and other belongings. Not so different from how Sanae returned to her body.

Meanwhile, if he’d become an evil spirit, his soul would have been consumed over seven hundred years ago. It would be something else entirely, so it would need to be restored in much the same way. This step wouldn’t be necessary if he were resurrected soon after he died. For example, Dark Purple wouldn’t have had to do it for her lover, although there was a risk of his soul being altered by the whirlpool of chaos’s influence.

In short, Grevanas’s soul needed to be restored regardless of whether he’d been reincarnated or turned into an evil spirit. Doing so just based on his diaries and belongings, however, would only yield incomplete results. He wrote his thoughts in his diaries, but did he record every detail of his entire life? That’s hard to believe. So no matter how many residual thoughts can be collected, they’d never fully constitute a soul. And that’s not even mentioning the bits and pieces lost to time. As such, the result is guaranteed to be an unfinished product.

The missing details are filled in by the caster’s imagination—same as the Explosion spell. Maxfern isn’t well known in Folsaria, so the common perception is that Grevanas was the real mastermind behind the coup d’état. In other words, people believe the rational Grevanas to be a fierce conqueror. That image of him supplemented his soul, bringing his personality closer to Maxfern’s. The power of the whirlpool of chaos also had an effect on him. That’s why the resurrected Grevanas shows no remorse about using the black vials, despite his hesitation in the past.

Given all this, how could someone have revived him closer to his true personality? The answer is simple: resurrect him sooner. It would also be important to eliminate the whirlpool of chaos’s influence. His soul would need to be shielded from those two factors—time and chaos. That way, even if a caster’s image of him shaped his resurrection process, the alterations would be minimal so long as the caster knew him in life. That’s why Grevanas said he would have stood a better chance if Koutarou had been the one to revive him. Unlike the believers who’d only ever read about Grevanas, Koutarou actually knew the man. He’d even fought with him before.

Now, Grevanas was resurrected by having his restored soul affixed to his body. This is similar to what happened to Darzakah, but unlike the skeletal dragon, Grevanas still has free will. His revitalized body is essentially a magical object, allowing him to use greater magic more efficiently. It’s essentially the equivalent of Maki’s or Yurika’s staff—just far stronger.

In magician lingo, Grevanas is now a lich. Rather than completely resurrected, he’s been brought back to life as undead. The benefits of being a lich aren’t limited to his increased magical powers, however. As he is no longer a living being, he doesn’t need to eat, sleep, or breathe. He’s also resistant to poison and disease. Indeed, you could say he’s our favorite magical girl’s nemesis.

But on the other hand, being a lich isn’t all perks. In his new form, Grevanas shares the same weaknesses as zombies and skeletons. Vulnerability to exorcism by a priest, for example. Moreover, his body is mummified. He’s basically sacrificed his humanity for magical power—a transformation that was supercharged by the whirlpool of chaos. The Grevanas of old may very well be disgusted by what he’s become.

That about covers the special circumstances regarding Folsaria, but as I have some space left, I’d like to touch on something that intentionally went unaddressed. Koutarou speaks Japanese. He was born and raised in Japan, and the series is mostly set in Japan, so he has no reason to speak anything else. The same is mostly true for other characters.

So what language does the resurrected Grevanas speak? The answer, naturally, is Lower Ancient Forthorthian. (The same language he spoke in life. It was referred to as the common tongue in his time, but it’s now regarded as an ancient language.) Koutarou and Clan learned it in past Forthorthe, so the two of them would have been able to hold a conversation with him just fine.

The same goes for anyone who has a translation device. This would include Ralgwin and his men. And as a skilled magician, Grevanas can also use translation magic himself. So since he would be able to communicate with anyone he chose, I didn’t bother addressing what language he was speaking in the course of the book. There were much more important things going on.

Theia, Ruth, and Clan are all in the same boat. In the early volumes, they’re dependent on their translation devices to communicate. They speak the Forthorthian common language (different from the ancient version), and they couldn’t initially understand Japanese. Two years have passed since, and they can now speak it without difficulty. When especially complicated topics are involved, however, they still use their translation device to avoid any misunderstandings.

I just didn’t see the point in describing all of these transitions. There might be fun instances where things are different between what’s spoken in Japanese and what the translation devices render, and while bringing that up when it happens would be fine, I don’t believe there’s any meaning in detailing it in the course of daily conversations. As such, the matter of language rarely comes up in the books. Only when necessary. Like when Koutarou converses with the Forthorthian children in volume 14, for example.

I think all four topics I’ve covered in this afterword are important to the setting, but it’s also important not to overdo things. I feel that what I choose not to write is just as important.

Welp, it looks like I’m finally running out of space, so let’s wrap things up here. I’d like to sign off with the usual acknowledgments. To everyone at the editorial department for their help in producing this volume, to Poco-san for pulling through when I asked for one last illustration of Maki as a child, and finally, to all of my readers for your continued support... thank you.

Let’s meet again in the afterword for volume 37.

October, 2020

Takehaya