Grimgal of Ashes and Illusion - Volume 14 - Chapter Aft

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Afterword

I will now confess to a crime I committed.

It was a long time ago now, but when I was a kid, there was a lumber mill in walking distance from my house.

I often snuck in there, and I would steal scraps of wood.

Well, it was a lumber mill, and it produced a lot of wood waste. There were mountains of the stuff piled up. I think they just threw the stuff out, so they might have given it to me if I’d asked. But at the time, I was in elementary school, so I couldn’t resolve myself to talk to the people who worked at the lumber mill.

Now, as for what I used those wood scraps for, I cut them into an appropriate size with a saw, nailed them together with a hammer, and made swords and shields.

Even I, who had a limited circle of associates, had a number of friends who’d join me in doing that sort of thing. We fought serious sword battles with our self-made swords and shields.

Though we were defending with shields, wooden swords are on a different level from a newspaper wrapped in packing tape. They have quite a lot of power.

Also, as we fought, we polished our combat technique. It was quite hard to slip past a shield and land a blow on the body, but it was just a matter of targeting the shield. If you pounded wildly on the shield, you might get lucky and destroy it, and failing that, the beating might make the person holding it lose their balance. You used that opening to hit them.

We were doing this with the strength of children, but it wasn’t uncommon for blood to be shed in our sword fights.

Not satisfied with wooden swords, some of us made long spears, and the shield and long spear combination was fearsome.

If it were just a shield, all you would have to do is close the gap, but when you closed in, you’d be pushed back by the shield, they’d get some distance from you, and then they’d attack with the spear again. When fighting a spear user, you had to do something about the spear itself, or you’d never win.

Now, when I think back on these things, I feel like it’s not all that different from now.

I’ve always lived like this, and I’ll likely die this way, too.

Now then, to my editor, Harada-san, to the illustrator, Eiri Shirai-san, to the designers of KOMEWORKS among others, to everyone involved in the production and sales of this book, and finally to all of you people now holding this book, I offer my heartfelt appreciation and all of my love. Now, I lay down my pen for today.