Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 41 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

Long time no see everyone, Takehaya here. It’s been roughly six months since volume 40 went on sale, which is a longer wait than usual. Sorry for making anyone worry. Please allow me to explain what happened.

In truth, something strange happened at the end of last year. My vision got worse and everything started looking whiter. It was minor at first and I’d only just changed glasses, so I thought it was my imagination, but after a while, I began noticing distinct changes while driving. It became harder to see lit signs in my rearview and mirrors at intersections. Since that kind of thing can be dangerous, I stopped driving and went to an eye doctor. And to my surprise, the diagnosis was cataracts. You know, those things that old people get.

Cataracts are where the lens of your eye becomes cloudy, preventing light from reaching the retina. It’s like wearing sunglasses with white lenses. It’s faint at first but gradually gets worse, causing your vision to deteriorate. When light passes through the lens, the cloudy white areas diffuse it, making it seem very bright. I’m still only in my late forties, so the diagnosis was quite a shock. But according to the doctor, even younger folks can get cataracts. It can happen as a complication of diabetes, but I have no problems with my blood sugar, so that wasn’t my case. Another cause can be strain from poor vision. I’ve been nearsighted and reliant on glasses since junior high, and nowadays I work staring into a computer every day, so that could be my issue. Now, there are also people who are simply predisposed to developing cataracts. That may also be the case with me. The doctor suspected the cause was either that, strain, or both.

When I got my diagnosis, I immediately decided to have surgery. Medicine can slow the worsening of cataracts but not cure them. The end result is blindness, so surgery is a must. The question was when to have it. My symptoms were still on the lighter side and didn’t interfere with my work, but I was looking at more work (unrelated to novels) at the start of the year, so there was a sense of urgency because it generally takes about six months for your eyes to recover. My condition also made driving dangerous. Since I live in a quiet area, away from highways and downtown areas, giving up driving would be difficult. And so I decided to have the surgery as soon as volume 40 was done.

There were some tests before the surgery and I took some time to get ready, so the actual surgery took place around the time the book was released. To summarize the procedure, they pierce your eye and remove the vitreous humor before replacing it with a substitute. The technology is so advanced, however, that it only takes fifteen minutes for a single eye. Doing both at the same time would have left me completely unable to see, so I did my right eye first and my left eye one week later. After a week, you can take the patch off your eye. Fortunately both operations went well, but that was where the real difficulties began.

The first problem was bathing. Small or not, I’d had holes put in both my eyes, so I couldn’t get water in them. Because of that, I couldn’t bathe for roughly a week after surgery. And since I staggered my surgeries by a week, I couldn’t really take a bath for two weeks. I remember washing myself vigorously the day before and on the morning of the second surgery. Then again a week later.

The next problem was medication. I had an oral prescription for antibiotics and painkillers that I only took for a few days. But the eye drops continued for three months while the wound completely closed. I had three types of eye drops, both antibacterial and anti-inflammatory, one of which I had to use twice a day, and the other two I had to use three times a day. I’m forgetful enough as is, so keeping up with three eye drops meant I made mistakes about which to use. Since that can cause inflammation, I eventually made a checklist.

The third problem was my glasses. My wounds healed roughly two weeks after the surgery, and I was told that I could work and drive again after that. However, my vision wouldn’t stabilize until about a month out, and then I’d have to wait for new glasses. So the question was how to work for three weeks without new glasses. I had no choice but to use a magnifying glass to muddle through and cope as best I could. And that’s why volume 41 was delayed. Fortunately, after I got new glasses I was able to work again, although it was a little hard to see. Of course, my vision still isn’t perfect. My eyes won’t fully stabilize for half a year after the surgery, so I’ll need new glasses again. I’ve started getting used to the condition of my eyes, so once I get new glasses, I should be able to work like normal. So while I’m working now, there’s a chance volume 42 will be off schedule.

That’s also in part because volume 41 wasn’t released as planned. We need to schedule carefully so as not to put an unnecessary load on Poco-san and the proofreaders and the reviewers. We’re working that out, so I can’t say when volume 42 will come out, but once it does, I believe we’ll get back to our regular pace. I ask for your support.

Incidentally, volume 40 also ended up going on sale a month later than usual, but that was simply because the production line couldn’t keep up with the additional half-length novel (currently on sale to rave reviews on BookWalker) that was released as part of the volume 40 celebration. It had nothing to do with cataracts.

Now then, with that complicated topic out of the way, let’s move on to discussing the volume. Koutarou and the others are back in Forthorthe with the goal of either apprehending or defeating Ralgwin. But there’s much afoot, so the entire country’s in an uproar. And in the midst of everything, a report comes in about a stronghold of Ralgwin’s. The spotlight this time is on Ruth, who finally gets to bare her fangs. When in Forthorthe, she can really unleash her information processing and operational talents to their fullest, making something extraordinary happen. But you’ll have to read the book to find out what!

As for those of you who have already read it, what did you think of Ruth? If I were a villain, I would no doubt go after her first. Then there’s Kiriha and Clan. The three of them are light on combat abilities but their strengths are broadly applicable, making them powerful in all kinds of situations. That’s why I’d target them. And I’m sure Ralgwin is thinking the same thing, so the fight from here on out will probably be about protecting them.

Yurika’s kind of the opposite. She can do anything with magic, yes, but only on a limited scale. That makes it harder for her to have big moments in bigger fights. Maybe I should give her a strategic spell. But if I do that for her, I’ll have to revisit the other girls too. I’ll have to think about it... Wait a minute. Yurika really got to shine this time too (lol).

To wrap up, I’d like to touch a little on the next volume. Ralgwin has suffered some serious losses, but he’s not the type to shrink back because of that. Feeling his back up against a wall, he decides to take drastic measures against the royal families and the Blue Knight. Ralgwin’s subordinate Fasta then makes contact with Koutarou. What is Ralgwin after? And what is Fasta doing? Find out in the next volume, which is planned for early 2023. Normally there’d be a Hercules volume at the end of the year, but with the schedule being set back because of my eye surgery, we’ll be continuing with the main story. Please look forward to it.

Lastly, the acknowledgments. Thank you very much to HJ Bunko’s editorial department and related companies for all of their hard work, Poco-san for the illustrations even when the schedule shifted, and all of you readers for waiting for this volume to come out. Let us meet again in the afterword for volume 42.

August, 2022

Takehaya