Spice and Wolf - Volume 20 - Chapter Aft

AFTERWORD

Long time no see. This is Isuna Hasekura. Spice & Wolf has finally reached twenty volumes. Thank you. Now that I think back on it, around the time of Volume 3, I had already written all the stories I thought up and was worried about what might happen in the future. Though I had a stock of stories I wanted to tell just as I was starting up again with the short story collection, as of late, coming up with new ones started to feel like wringing out a dry cloth. It is quite strange when something drips out from it. Perhaps this cloth of mine is very good at pretending to be dry…? I would like to keep on writing so long as this cloth does not tear from the constant wringing, so I hope you will continue to bear with me.

Also, by the time you all are reading this, Keito Koume’s last chapter of Spice & Wolf should be published already. He, too, has illustrated Holo and Lawrence’s tale for over ten years and more than one hundred chapters. Manga versions of light novels are often swayed by circumstances such as anime adaptations, and it is a lot of trouble to keep going when the original series is so long. And yet Keito Koume has maintained such high quality and kept on illustrating to the very end. Thank you for all your hard work! Among the many different manga adaptations of light novels, I think I can be counted as one original author who is very pleased with the results. I also thank the editor Mr. O for introducing us!

I have ended on such an unusually moving note, but the rest of the page is blank…Also, Spice & Wolf and Wolf & Parchment will (should) still continue!

As for me, I’ve gained weight recently. This is the most I’ve weighed in my life, and my stomach feels crushed when I sit. Before the summertime, I had been jogging and watching what I ate, but I grew careless, and soon I was eating nothing but ramen, curry, curry, ramen, and it happened in an instant. I am now back to exercise and plain bread rolls. And just as I say that, I had a cake-like pizza called Chicago pizza just the other day! It was so delicious! What I want to eat most now is anglerfish hot pot. One with plenty of monkfish liver. It should be healthy because it has lots of fish. I’m sure. I think.

On the other hand, I have not been traveling very much lately, so that is how I hope to spend 2018. I counted, and I have yet to visit even half of Japan’s prefectures (not counting the ones I only passed through).

I do want to try the Shikoku pilgrimage, and there seem to be many things I haven’t done yet.

And so, there should still be plenty more interesting stories slumbering in the world of Spice & Wolf!

That is how I would like to end this afterword.

Isuna Hasekura