Spice and Wolf - Volume 3 - Chapter Aft

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AFTERWORD

It has been a while! I’m Isuna Hasekura, and this is the third volume, which makes it the third story in the series.

This time I feel like I was able to write without forgetting the personalities of the characters. Instead of that, I’ve managed to forget the deadline for this afterword, and just a moment ago, I got a phone call from my editor, whose unfriendly smile I felt I could hear over the phone.

I’m starting to wonder if I’m not just going to be forgotten by the readers.

Well then, volume 3 means there are three books, of which this is the third novel. Around this time last year, I’d passed the first-round selection for the Dengeki Novel Prize and was camped out next to the phone, waiting for the results of the second-round selection. Back then, writing even one volume was a major effort—I’d write, then throw it away, write again, then throw it away again.

So since the end of last year, I’ve been writing at a nigh-heroic pace, and even in that year, I feel like maybe I’ve grown up just a bit.

My latest hobby is surfing real estate sites. And not normal ones. I’m talking about the big time—hundred-million-yen condos and mansions.

I like the view from high places, so I was thinking I’d like to live someday in a high-rise condo with a view of the city lights at night. I’ve been looking at model homes along those lines, and they’re crazy. Everything’s just done up in this unimaginably overwhelming fashion, and before I knew it, I was sucked in.

The prices had so many zeros I was rubbing my eyes just to make sure my vision still worked right, and when I saw the mere two-hundred-yen neighborhood association fee, I was genuinely relieved. Somehow I felt like I could work hard and keep on living. When I realized that using the parking lot and wine cellar (it had a wine cellar, guys!) of one of these mansions would cost more than the rent of my entire apartment, well, I guess I’m just a commoner at heart. I hope you’ll all bear with me.

And now, my thanks.

To illustrator Jyuu Ayakura-sensei, thank you for making time in the midst of your busy schedule to draw such wonderful pictures. They make me want to have my writing be worthy of them every day.

And to my editor, Koetsu-sama. For your patient grammatical guidance, I thank you. As basic corrections to my Japanese become less and less frequent, I will devote myself more thoroughly to everything that comes after those corrections.