Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 45 - Chapter Aft

Hint: To Play after pausing the player, use this button

Add to favorites

Afterword

Congratulations! This is the fifteenth anniversary of Invaders of the Rokujouma!? and tenth anniversary of the anime, although strictly speaking, that is in July. Long time no see, everyone! Takehaya here. I mentioned this at the start, but as of March this year, this series will have been around for fifteen years. Not many light novels make it this far, so this is all thanks to you. Thank you very much. I will continue working toward bringing this series to a proper ending, and I ask for your continued support.

It has been fifteen years for the light novel, but it’s also the tenth anniversary of the anime. Although it’s a little early, since it started airing in July, in celebration of this, a Blu-ray of all episodes is being sold. I’m sure you’ll be able to find it by searching the web or social media. You will find a retweet on my social media from the makers.

Still, fifteen years is a long time and a lot has happened. At the beginning I was working on visual novels as well, but that was when that industry started to decline. I won’t go into specifics, but I’m sure you can guess the circumstances as a lot of makers disappeared. Having experienced that, I decided that I would take responsibility to see this series through to the end. That’s why I wrote it so that it could end at any time, and if circumstances were to happen so that the rest couldn’t be published, like a meteor falling on HobbyJapan, I was thinking of self-publishing the end. Fortunately, that didn’t happen and here we are. In the meantime, major events occurred in the subculture. The first I can think of is developers and publishers being in an uproar as factories stopped due to the earthquake. Lately game regulations are being tightened in China, and people I know are running around in confusion. Even Rokujouma was affected by COVID, which delayed the publishing of the English version. So I’m happy we have been able to get this far. I am ever grateful to all of my fans.

Speaking of games, I am actually secretly working on one. It’s an adventure game for the general public, but I can’t go into any more details due to confidentiality. But considering the timing, by the time this volume is published, the first bits of information should be out. I still don’t know, though. Maybe it’s not out yet. Anyway, when it is out, I will be reposting on X (formerly known as Twitter), so those who are interested, please look over there.

Now then, I think it’s about time to touch on the contents of this volume. In this volume Maxfern is finally resurrected and begins making his moves. Opposing him are Koutarou and the girls, and the royal families of Forthorthe, resulting in the spotlight falling on Elfaria quite a bit. It goes without saying, but Elfaria is Theia’s mother, yet she also has another important role. While it is not on the level of Harumi, she fulfills the role of Alaia’s successor. This time, I wanted to touch on Elfaria.

From here on, there will be spoilers, so those who haven’t finished, be careful...

Alaia fulfilled her duty as empress until the end, and after passing, she was guided by her contract with Signaltin and reincarnated as Harumi. She became a normal girl and met Koutarou before anyone else, fulfilling her wish through Harumi. However, not all of Alaia’s elements were carried over to Harumi. As Harumi was born a normal girl in a normal family, parts of Alaia had faded away. Especially the part of her that is royalty. Harumi inherited some of that, but as a normal girl it couldn’t surpass that which Alaia had. Instead, the one who inherited the royal side of Alaia the most deeply is the current empress, Elfaria.

Much of what Elfaria does is what Alaia would have done. She loves her country and her people and is devoted to the development of Forthorthe. She prioritizes it over her life and honor. But Elfaria can be vicious in her tactics, which made it difficult for people to understand her intentions. The difference was a result of her personality; while she inherited elements of Alaia, Elfaria’s own personality made her take different actions. Moreover, times have changed. The modern world isn’t as simple as the age Alaia lived in, so methods become more complicated.

Despite Elfaria and Alaia being like that, there is one thing they have in common: the feelings they have for Koutarou. Neither one lets those feelings show either. Alaia didn’t want to hold back Koutarou, who had to return to the future, and Elfaria is older, formerly married, and the empress, which all bar her path. In other words, Alaia was stopped by the future, and Elfaria by the past. The two are designed to be mirror images of each other with Koutarou in between them. Alaia overcame the situation by becoming Harumi, and Elfaria, who kept the royal elements, was admonished by Theia to come to a decision. By becoming a hero as a normal human, Koutarou had plenty of concerns, and in order to cure those problems, Elfaria came to him as empress. As a result, both the ordinary girl and eminent empress have resolved the problem...although it may be a disaster for Koutarou-kun.

With that, Elfaria is ready to take the stage as empress of this age. I believe those who have read this volume will understand what I mean. From here on, Elfaria will join hands with Koutarou and the others to fight Maxfern. I hope you will take note of the actions of Empress Elfaria.

In the next volume, our three brains of the series will find themselves in danger. I am still thinking about how to structure it, but the three who are usually in the background will be coming back into the spotlight. Please look forward to the troubles that Ruth, Kiriha, and Clan will encounter.

With that, I am just about out of space, so I would like to move on to my usual greetings. I would like to extend my thanks to everyone at the publishing department at HobbyJapan, and all related businesses, as well as Poco-san, who has been working in tandem with me for these past fifteen years, and finally to all of you who have come along for the journey to this forty-fifth volume.