Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 18 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

Cat: “Hmm... Hrmm...”

Xun: “Time fOr the afterword. I’m ‘Xun,’ shOrt for ‘Xunyu.’”

Fox: “And I’m the ‘Fox,’ Tsukuyo Fusooo! Just so y’all know, the Bear and Sechs are on a break this time.”

Xun: “Guess thEy’re tired from what happenEd this volume... Anyway, Chesh, whAt’re ya groanin’ fOr?”

Cat: “Oh. I’m the ‘Cat,’ Cheshiiire! And I’m a biiit troubled right nowww...”

Xun: “Why’s thAt?”

Cat: “There’s a problem with this afterword...”

Xun: “A problEm?”

Cat: “...We got a whole seven pages left, but no real subject to spend them on. We’re out of things to talk about.”

Xun: “It’s an aftErword. Do we really nEed ’em?”

Cat: “A-Anyway, let’s use this to give out a couple tidbits! You two will reveal some info relevant to the volume that the volume itself missed! You first, Xunyu!”

Xun: “You’re not bEin’ reasonablE...but all right, I’ll dO it.”

Cat: (I didn’t even have to convince her... She’s so nice.)

Xun: “Ray’s group gOt an arena, so I guess I’ll tAlk about how duelin’ wOrks in Altar and elsewhEre.”

Fox: “Is it that different in other places? FYI, I already know that Granvaloa doesn’t have arenas.”

Xun: “Yeah, thAt was brought up in VolUme 17. I’ll talk abOut other countriEs. First of all, those who stArted in Altar woUldn’t know this, but the kingdOm’s arena situatiOn ain’t normal.”

Fox: “That so?”

Xun: “Ya gOt way more of ’em than any othEr country. You can actUally add up all the arEnas everywhEre else and yOu’d still have less thAn Gideon by itself. Even oUr Huang He has just threE of ’em, each in a diffErent town.”

Fox: “Meanwhile, Gideon alone has thirteen...”

Xun: “And sincE Huang He’s arenAs prioritize events and rAnked matches over anythin’ elsE, ya get way fEwer chances to spAr or do some secrEt trainin’ than in AltAr. Rentin’ thEm ain’t as easy, so you almOst never get tO test out your skills bEhind a barrier that dOesn’t show what’s gOin’ on inside. That’s whY you gotta do yoUr secret trainin’ deEp in the mountains and away frOm people, even if thAt comes with thE risk of givin’ you the deAth penalty. And there’s obviOusly no barrier, so yoU also don’t get bAck your MP, SP, items, or whAtever else your skills usE.”

Fox: “Now that just sounds painful.”

Xun: “Huang He’s a lAnd with lots of placEs good for trainin’, thOugh. One of our SuperiOrs, Ming She, bAsically lives in thE mountains. Anyway, ’caUse of all that, I like GideOn a good bit. It’s grEat to always have accEss to an arena. It’s alsO why I’m pretty jealoUs of Ray’s groUp for gettin’ one fOr a base.”

Cat: “It’s actuallyyy the first time an arena has become the HQ of a claaan!”

Xun: “By the wAy, though things arE about the same in thE rest of the coUntries besides Granvaloa, in Tenchi, yA got people riskin’ thEir lives in duEls outside of barriErs like it’s nOrmal.”

Fox: “Well, it isn’t normal. There’s gotta be something wrong with them.”

Xun: “Why’s Gideon got sO many arenas, anyway? Care to tEll me, devcat?”

Cat: “We’re not fit to answer thaaat... Just like the Primeval Blade and jobs, they’ve been around since before we got involved, so we just don’t know.”

Xun: “...Y’all arEn’t that good at runnin’ this shOw, huh?”

Cat: “I don’t think I can disagreeee... But there is a reason why they’re spread out like this.”

Xun: “Hm?”

Cat: “The arenas that are around now are the ones that remained intact even after we got involved. And out of the places that had multiple arenas grouped up, Gideon just happened to be the only one that stayed exactly the way it waaas.”

Xun: “...That rAised more questions thAn answers, but I wOn’t ask.”

Cat: “Thank youuu. Please dooon’t.”

Fox: “Anyway, it’s my turn now. I’ll say a thing or two about bases in general. First of all, a base can be literally whatever—cabins, mansions, anything. A base is a base. There’s even clans that use ships. And the bigger clans tend to have more proper bases.”

Xun: “I’m not in a clAn, so lemme ask... WhAt’s the point of a basE, anyway?”

Fox: “This is more about buildings in general than just bases, but they can have all kinds of bonuses. For example, they can increase the rate of MP and SP regeneration, or give production quality or success rate bonuses to crafting jobs. My Lunar Society’s base reduces the MP cost and cooldowns of healing spells, so we don’t have to worry even if we get a lot of patients at once!”

Xun: “That makes yoUr base sound less like a rEligious place and more like a hOspital.”

Fox: “Dendro’s religious institutions are all about clergymen grouping healing skills to begin with. Most of them function like hospitals.”

Xun: “Oh, that sO?”

Fox: “I wasn’t there back then, but our base was actually very busy during Volume 15.”

Xun: “Your group’s a rEal pain in the ass fOr Altar, but it’s lOokin’ like nOt havin’ you around woUldn’t be tOo good either...”

Cat: (That’s exactly what makes them so baaad.)

Cat: “Anyway, that filled in the pages. With that done, it’s time for the comment from the author!”

Xun: (He was being serious about that...?)

Dearest readers, thank you for your purchase. I am the author, Sakon Kaidou.

Volume 18 came later than planned, but I hope you enjoyed it in spite of that.

It was originally set to release in March, but we had to delay it by a month for quality assurance reasons, and I deeply apologize for making you wait.

However, it was because of this delay that I was able to polish the text and, more importantly, Taiki was able to deliver such wonderful illustrations for this volume. My personal favorites are the color illustration depicting the clan and the one finally showing Baldr in all his glory.

Speaking of Baldr, his design was actually created during the airing of the anime.

Since the anime only covered everything up to Volume 5, it only showed Baldr in his battleship form, but the robot form was actually designed first. This ultimate transformation was what the battleship form was based on.

Baldr wasn’t the only thing designed by the anime staff. We also had them create designs for several items and characters, and I deeply appreciate their work.

And now, after two whole years, you were finally able to see Baldr in his robot form.

I was the one who requested that he receive an illustration in this volume, and I can only hope that you were left surprised by how cool he actually looks.

Anyway, this volume was about Ray’s everyday life, the results of his actions, as well as the past shared by Shu and Sechs.

I feel that I write many characters that are fundamentally opposed to each other, but these two were perhaps the most extreme example of that.

While Shu always made choices he deemed right, Sechs simply went with the flow to do what the world saw as evil.

While Shu had an unwavering soul, Sechs didn’t even have a core sense of self.

I hope the battle between them as well as their story has reached your heart.

Volume 19 will continue from here.

Holding new equipment, Ray will challenge his new opponents in The Tournaments, while Sechs is fully prepared to make his escape from the gaol.

Where will these paths they have taken ultimately lead...?

To learn that and more, please continue supporting Infinite Dendrogram.

Sakon Kaidou

Cat: “VOLUME 19 WILL probably RELEASE IN AUGUST, 2022!”

Fox: “He went and made the announcement right as the author’s comment ended.”

Xun: “ThoUgh...did you hEar him say ‘probably’?”

Cat: (Feigning ignorance by whistling.)

Fox: “Oh, I get it. He’s scared that this volume may be delayed too.”

Cat: “ACK!”

Xun: “Oh, so thAt’s it, huh?”

Fox: “He went and made the announcement right away ’cause he wanted to make the date somewhat fuzzy.”

Xun: “And he’s dOin’ an awful job hidin’ it...”

Cat: “...Th-The next volume should come out as planned, so please look forward to it!”