Secrets of the Silent Witch - Volume 4.5 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

Thank you so much for purchasing Secrets of the Silent Witch, Volume 4 –after–.

In Volume 4’s afterword, I touched on how I’d kept writing more and more. Well, I wasn’t satisfied with just that—I went on and wrote a whole extra book.

I have the editing department to thank for that. I told them I wanted to keep moving the main story ahead, but that I also thought slice-of-life episodes were important. I wanted to write so much. I wanted to write and write and write! And so they proposed an after story for Volume 4, which tickled my selfish authorial impulses.

It was a blast getting to write all of it.

This book takes place between volumes 4 and 5, serving as kind of a volume 4.5. But you can’t write decimals like 4.5 in Roman numerals, so we went with the subtitle –after–.

The editorial department actually had several other suggestions aside from the English word after, but I told them that I had zero English ability and begged them to pick the easiest, simplest word they could. And so we settled on after for the title.

One of the other English words they suggested was fragment, but I misread it as flamingo due to their similar Japanese spellings.

Silent Witch IV –flamingo–

…In terms of impact, at least, I think that one’s got it in spades.

I have a bunch of pages left for the afterword, so I’d like to comment a little on each episode individually. If you haven’t read the book yet, please beware of spoilers.

Prologue: The Seven Sages and the Library’s Secret

The Seven Sages gain more respect the longer they serve in their role, so out of Monica, Louis, and Ray, Ray should be the most respected. But in general, he gets treated the same way he does in this story.

Louis was actually being considerate of the two of them. If they’d been his juniors or subordinates, I think he would have just kicked them all the way to the library.

The Black Cat Detective’s Stray Reasoning ~The Delinquents’ Secret Book-Reading Mission~

Originally, I was going to go with “What the Useless Maid Witnessed” or “The Louis Miller Assassination Attempt.”

Incidentally, whenever you see the phrase “The X Assassination Attempt,” you assume it’s a story about X almost getting killed. But when that X is Louis Miller, it sounds like he was the one doing the plotting, doesn’t it? Or is that just me?

The Struggle of the Icy Scion and the Butcher’s Son ~The Meat Thief and the Lost Girl~

This is a story where a little squirrel gets eaten. They’re pretty low in the food chain. I hope she can become a real girl soon.

The Cynic’s Melancholy ~The Musician Playboy and Rumors about the Old Dorm~

I hope you’ll continue to warmly watch over this musician with too much love and his droopy-eyed friend who gets yanked around whenever his friend’s heart gets broken.

The Villainess’s Secret Maneuvers ~The Charmed Dream~

This is a story about the prince having to worry about his hair and socks.

Epilogue: The Silent Witch’s Little Mystery

There are a lot of boys in this story who are terrible artists, but currently, first place has got to be the vice president, artisan of nondescript blobs.

Secret Episode: With Thanks from the Silent Witch

Apparently, Hilda Everett’s little episodes of disastrous housekeeping (that always end in fires) are basically a year-round ritual.

Monica’s dubious ability to do chores is only partly because she’s never been interested. The other part is due to Hilda’s influence.

Nanna Fujimi, thank you so much, as always, for all the wonderful illustrations. It makes me so happy that you go to the trouble of depicting all the little objects in each scene. The detailed decorations on the pink book’s spine put a huge smile on my face, too. They’re so cute… I can’t believe how adorable the spine is… (Please read the book to find out who made it and why.)

The manga adaptation is reaching the latter half of Volume 1, too, and there are so many scenes I’m looking forward to.

Finally, thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who purchased this book and read it. I am always in your debt.

Volume 5 will be the start of the winter break arc. I’m already doing my best to write it, so I hope you can continue to support me.

Matsuri Isora