Slayers - Volume 17 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

Scene: The Author (Hajime Kanzaka) and L

L: It’s out... Part three, which you swore would never happen, is out.

Au: There are no absolutes in this world, and space is full of infinite possibilities.

L: Oh, shut up! Don’t get puffed up just because the last volume sold pretty well!

Au: Sorry for getting puffed up. But anyway, this was Slayers vol. 17: “The Long Road Home”!

L: Well, all I care about is that I’m back for the afterwords! Still... I figured you’d spend the rest of your life making excuses and lazing about.

Au: Who do you think I am?! Or so I’d like to retort, but I actually thought that would be the case myself.

L: Then why the change of heart?

Au: Some things in my life calmed down, and I got absorbed in books, games, all kinds of new releases... And with all that input recharging me, I found I had the will to create something new.

L: Like Gu*pla?

Au: Partly build kits like Gu*pla, yes, but now that I’m being assaulted by humanity’s mortal enemy, farsightedness, that’s become harder. Call it the desire to write something again. That sort of thing. I had vague ideas for a non-Slayers story, but while I was thinking it over, it felt more like someone else’s idea and that I should put out a more interesting story, so I gave up on it.

L: So you finally came back here.

Au: Basically. I felt like I had to do something for the fans who have been supporting the Slayers universe all this time.

L: A better gesture would’ve been to write something not as terrible.

Au: Eck! Don’t say that!

L: Ah. He coughed up blood.

Au: I’m okay! Two hundred milliliters doesn’t count!

L: That’s actually quite a lot!

Au: It’s less than in a battle manga! Not that I’m in a battle manga!

L: But there are versions of part three in places other than the novels, right? TRY in the anime and Knight of Aqualord in the manga. Where does this part three stand? Is the novel version the canon version?

Au: Hmm... I don’t really like talking about “canon” or rejecting the other versions. Let’s just say it’s a parallel part three.

L: Well, if that’s what it feels like... You really think you’ll write this one to the end? The content so far makes it seem like it’ll go on for a while.

Au: Erk! Well... The length of the journey is one thing, but there are also issues with how long their journey is. Slayers isn’t too clear about its measurements for a reason. I’ll be writing and get an idea and look it up, but when you’re writing a travel story, really considering the distances is one of the biggest hurdles, I’ve thought.

L: So you really have thought about it, Mr. Author?

Au: Of course I have! I’ve thought about a lot of things and come up with logic and settings! And after doing that, I cut it all out to keep from boring people with explanations! That stuff is typical!

L: It is not!

Au: Is too! For this story, too, I originally had ideas about getting passes and how they’re used, and all this explanation about them... but it didn’t make the story more interesting at all! There’s not going to be any point in the story where Lina’s using her spell to fly and says, “There’s a checkpoint but I don’t have a pass! What will I do?!”

L: Ah... Fair point.

Au: The whole flight thing is basically cheating.

L: You’re saying that now? After you wrote it in?! It’s true that flight spells do feel like they could get around a lot of society’s security devices.

Au: But because of all that, it meant the scenes where she actually uses her pass would have no payoff, so I just got rid of them.

L: So there are no passes in the world?

Au: It’s more like they exist, but Lina doesn’t talk about using them. That aside, when I think about the distances traveled and stuff, it’s pretty challenging. I was looking things over online, and the people from the past would do the 53 stations of the Tokaido, about 500 kilometers, in fifteen days or less. So, based on that, when I think about how long it would take to move around the world... the answer I arrive at is that I’m really grateful to have planes, trains, and cars.

L: That’s your conclusion?!

Au: Of course it is! Five hundred kilometers over fifteen days is about 33 kilometers per day. Considering the average walking speed is 4 kilometers per hour, that’s eight hours of walking per day! I don’t even like walking for five minutes!

L: Maybe... you should put more effort in? You know?

Au: But my own personal weaknesses aside, people back then worked way too hard! They should stop at a café when they get tired like we do nowadays in the city. Not that they had those, of course. When you’re tired, it’s nice to have a place nearby to rest, but those aren’t always around. That can lead to collapse from exhaustion! And yet people walked.

L: Well, some might say they had no choice. Maybe riding horseback? But only certain people had access to that.

Au: All the more reason to appreciate our modern lives! Travel infrastructure is great, but other stuff, like air conditioning, is truly godly! Incidentally, I’m writing this afterword in the summer.

L: Well, it’s fine to be grateful for modern civilization, but what will you do about the number of days it takes Lina & Co. to travel?

Au: I’ve made the decision not to think about it.

L: You just gave up?!

Au: The roads aren’t always straight, and they’re not walking all the time, and even if I design it really precisely, it’s like what I said about passes earlier... It doesn’t create a lot in the way of narrative opportunity, so there’s not much point to it.

L: So the travel distances aside, what about your writing speed regarding the length of the story?

Au: Well, er...

L: We’re talking about various ideas that haven’t appeared in this volume—how many volumes long would it be if you put them all in the story? You’ll have to write at a pace of a volume a month!

Au: Well, by that same token, if I lived to be 170 years old, I could write one volume every ten years and still finish!

L: Are you a Galapagos tortoise now?! How long do you think you’ll stay at this? That’s right. In order to make you work hard, until you put out the next volume, you only get to use your AC in winter and your heater in the summer!

Au: Hng! Actually, I groaned instinctively, but lately the temperature has been higher than what you can set the heater to in summer. It’s also colder outside in winter than what you can set the AC to.

L: You’re right! Ah... Then just no heating or cooling at all.

Au: Sorry. I’ll do my best. Please spare me.

L: Yes, do your best! And now that I’ve forced the author to get his butt in gear, everyone, see you next volume!

Afterword: Over.