AFTERWORD
Thanks for your patience! That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Vol. 7 is finally here, and as you can see, this one also wound up on the lengthy side.
I think my conversation with my editor went something like this:
“I’m going to keep this one more compact!”
“Oh, you will? But it’s going to run long anyway, isn’t it?”
“No, no, there are a lot of parts I’m cutting out from the Web version, so it’s gonna turn out shorter!”
“You don’t have to force it, you know. I’ve already given up on that.”
And of course, right on schedule, the manuscript began to grow into a tome.
“Um… As I write this, I think it’s looking just a bit longer…”
“You say that every time, don’t you? I’d assumed as much.”
I suppose you could say we’ve built a relationship of trust by this point. Mr. I, my editor, could see through everything. Was it that way from the start? I better not overthink it.
So let’s talk a bit about the content. As those of you who’ve been with me up to now are aware, I often include spoilers in my afterwords. Not that this warning matters by now. You don’t see many people picking up a series at Volume 7, so I assume I don’t need to recommend that you should read the actual novel first.
If you’ve read the Web version, I can’t blame you for thinking this is an entirely different story. To be frank, the content doesn’t match at all.
My claim that the “overall plot is the same” is really starting to ring hollow, I know. That’s because, as I change the story’s developments here and there, it’s becoming impossible to keep everything connected the way it used to be. Thus, at around this point in the story, I decided to rewrite things a fair bit so we could get back to the main plot. An even bigger reason, however, is because the background for a certain character has changed extensively. I won’t say who, but while the personality may be much the same, the motivations and skills that character comes with aren’t the same any longer.
Hinata, the star of this volume, was probably influenced the most by this. She might seem like a different person from the Web version by now, but this is how she originally was. I’d suggest comparing her between the Web and novel versions, but really, if you’ve gone this far and not read the Web one, perhaps you’d enjoy sticking to the novels more by now. Take it the way you like it!
The people engaged in that foreboding conversation at the start of this volume sure didn’t show up again, did they? Don’t worry—I haven’t forgotten about them. Be on the lookout for the next volume!
Although by now, I think something’s begun to dawn on most readers. What? “The author’s got no clue what’s going on”? No, not that. More like “The author has no intention whatsoever of writing out the Web version over again.”
Admittedly, it’s true that sticking to the Web version is probably a lost cause. However, with Volume 7, I’d like to think I succeeded at righting the ship and helping it sail back to its original route. As I write this, I’m thinking that maybe, with luck, I could keep Volume 8’s content pretty close to the Web version. I mean it. A lot depends on how I feel about it when I start writing, but still.
So yeah, maybe I’m not the most careful planner with stuff like this, but hopefully you’ll still want to keep up with me. See you all in the next volume!
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