Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 22 - Chapter Aft

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Afterword

Long time no see, everyone. It’s the author, Takehaya. This time I bring you volume 22. I wonder if you all have 24 (or 25 if you include the anime bonus) volumes lined up on your bookshelves? As the first volume was released in February of 2009, this volume marks that seven year anniversary of the series. When I think that people who bought the first volume in middle school have already begun their adult lives, I’m overcome with a strange feeling. As we enter year eight, I will continue my hard work to make sure that everyone can enjoy the series.

Now then, as for the contents of this volume, we follow along with Koutarou and the others who fell to the surface of Alaia at the end of the previous volume. There are enemies all over, but they’ll have to break through somehow. The story will progress as they come across unexpected encounters and events along the way.

A slight problem I encountered along the way, however, is the pet situation in Forthorthe. Are there cats and dogs on Forthorthe like there are on Earth? Since its humans are almost the exact same, we already know that mammals exist. That leaves the question of whether or not cats and dogs evolved somewhere along the line.

Unlike Theia’s worries regarding humans, there is no need for cats and dogs to be exactly the same. They only needed to look roughly the same. For example, a bulldog and a shiba inu are both dogs despite how different they look. There’s a certain amount of wiggle room there where there isn’t with Theia’s concerns.

There are no doubts that Earth and Forthorthe have a similar environment. That just leaves the problem of whether or not similar creatures would arise from similar environments. In this regard, there is already an example on Earth. From long ago, there exists evidence of creatures living on different continents that evolved on their own and ended up looking very similar. Mammals and marsupials are like that. While they are on completely different places on the evolutionary tree, there are several creatures that look the same. There might be a form living creatures inevitably assume based on their living conditions.

Environmental conditions on Earth and Forthorthe are similar. As a result, it’s quite likely that similar creatures exist. There will of course be exceptions, but I believe it’s safe to assume that animals by and large look similar between the two. So from there, I decided that cats and dogs do exist on Forthorthe. Maybe they have pouches to carry their young or maybe they have dramatically different colorations and patterns, but as long as they were selectively bred to be pets, they would likely end up looking similar.

Also, you-know-who makes another appearance. After reading this volume, I believe you’ll have a faint understanding of how the overall Forthorthe arc is going to go down. It should be fun to compare your guesses to how things actually unfold, so please look forward to the coming volumes.

Oh, that’s right! The other day I actually received several volumes of the Taiwanese version of Invaders of the Rokujouma!? The latest was volume 20. I was surprised to find out they were that far along already, and I was even more surprised to find out it came with a drama CD! It used the Japanese voices, but included a translated script. I had to wonder if that was really copacetic, but according to my editor, S-kun, the fans over there have a pretty good handle on Japanese. That was a surprise in itself. It might even mean there are some readers diving into the books directly, so hello, everyone from Taiwan! S-kun also says the Korean version is about to overtake the Taiwanese one, so hello to everyone from Korea too!

Having my work read in different countries is a very special experience. I’m interested in finding out what international readers like about the series. I’m sure there’s a lot that’s different from country to country and culture to culture. There might even be a difference in how we experience the seasons. I’m also curious to know which characters are popular in other countries. It’s an interesting question, so I wonder if there’s a way to find out. Maybe I should bug S-kun, huh? (Ha!) I’ll do my best so that fans from other countries can enjoy this series as well.

There’s one more thing I need to mention in regards to drama CDs. It’s about the bonus drama CD included with BOOKWALKER’s digital edition. It was the first time they’d included a drama CD with a digital edition, so they didn’t really know what to expect in terms of sales. There was some uncertainty about whether or not it was viable, but fortunately it far exceeded the minimum goal. There’s now talk of doing more in the future.

As I’m writing this afterword toward the end of March, it’s been decided that the drama CD that came with the physical copy of volume 18 will be included with the digital version of this volume. While I can’t go into details here, you can find them on the official Hobby Japan and BOOKWALKER websites.

Personally, I would be happy if all four drama CDs could come out this way. I’ve heard a lot of people say that they missed buying the special edition of the physical release, so this is an excellent way for fans to get their hands on the CDs.

Will this way of offering the drama CDs become more widespread in the future of light novels or the subculture as a whole, I wonder? I think it’ll help reduce availability issues. That said, I’m sure there are those who want the physical CD, so the physical release is always good too.

Lately one of the things I’ve been worrying about is that the world is changing too fast and our response to it is too delayed. A good example is that we here on the publishing side can’t listen to the correct proportions of reader voices.

The majority of readers of light novels are middle and high students, and there’s a handful of fans still reading into their thirties. We know that people really peter out in the late-twenties zone thanks to the questionnaires that come with related products, but I also know we’re not hearing all of you. So few people actually send in the physical surveys that most of the data comes from twenty-somethings online.

Think about it. You have to use a credit card to buy ebooks in online stores, so most people who do are over 20 years old. On social networking services or review sites, many conceal their age to protect their personal information and privacy. Those folks are also usually over twenty. Moreover, since buying books frequently isn’t cheap, people who buy more and spend more on books tend to fall in an older age bracket too.

So because of that, while we might be able to hear the voices of the readers from all over the internet, we aren’t hearing them in the correct proportions. It is difficult to accurately know how much of which generation is saying what.

We know we should do something about that, but it’s hard to come up with an immediate solution. We’re working on it and discussing it, but in the meantime, we’re still relying on those physical surveys you guys send in.

It’s ironic we’re stuck on snail mail in the digital age, but at present it’s our lifeline. Submitting the surveys you have on hand won’t just help us, but the entire industry. We can especially stand to learn what’s introduced younger audiences to light novels. That’s something we need to know to keep light novel culture going, so I hope you’ll all help us out.

Now, on a bit of a personal note, I have some news to share. A different label I wrote light novels for has closed due to operation issues, so I’ve got quite a bit of free time on my hands these days. Of course, it’s not good to lose work, so I’m currently working on a new project. If I had to give a generic label to it, it’s an adventure story. The main character isn’t satisfied with the life provided for them, so they leave their familiar hometown to go on a journey. From a technical standpoint, it will have the same feel as Rokujouma!? It’ll start simple and slowly reveal its complexity. Because of various big and scary adult issues, I can’t go on for too long about it. I believe I’ll be able to announce more details in the future, so please be patient.

With that, I’ve used up all of my allotted space, so I think I’ll wrap things up here this time. Last but not least, I’d like to give my usual thanks to everyone at the editing department who worked so hard, to Poco-san for all the illustrations, and to you—the readers who have stuck with me for seven years.