Afterword

Yahhaahhh! Say my name!

Firehead

⇒ Birdon

Bomberhead

Whyyyyy?!

Hello, everyone. So we meet again. It’s Firehead. This time it’s the afterword of A Wild Last Boss Appeared! Volume 3. I’m living on the line of just barely not being cut. I’m planning to have the series finished in about six or seven volumes, so if I can manage to not get dropped before then, I’ll consider this whole thing a great success. If I do get dropped, though, please laugh it off, and just say that I needed to get it together.

Now then, let me brag to you about the contradictions in this story here in the afterword pages, where no one will benefit.

Contradictions are something that always happen when anyone tries to write a story. Consistency relies entirely on the writer’s strength of memory, after all, given that you’re writing something entirely out of your imagination. If the writer ever forgets a single detail of what they wrote, that can create a contradiction. It’s really hard to get perfect. If the writer’s memory fails, so does that same part of the world they’ve built. If the writer makes a mistake, the fictional world goes right along with them. If a character is established as a man, then that character is, of course, a man, and will be as long as the characterization stays. They’ll enter the men’s bath, and they’ll have a deagle between their legs.

But just like Schrödinger’s cat, as long as the readers don’t ‘observe’ something, it’s not definite. In other words, as long as the readers don’t ‘see’ that the character is a man, then it’s possible for the character to be revealed as a woman later on. Creators are just like that. If a fact is observed and then breached, then that is when a contradiction is created. In that event, I’ll hurriedly paint over it with a new fact to try to smooth things over.

Take the “Bull” of the Twelve Heavenly Stars for example. I’ve already made a mistake with his name. I forgot that I’d already named him “Tauros” and wrote his name as “Taurus” in this volume. As of the writing of this afterword, I was already told by my editor, “Taurus is fine,” through laughter. Only now do I realize why.

I feel like I totally messed up. If this were a web novel, then I could just edit that back in afterwards, but that doesn’t fly in print.

So what do I do? That’s when I had an idea.

—That’s right. Let’s just make it a joke that the Bull is bothered by how often people get his name wrong! It’s an annoying distinction anyway, and even I as the writer got it wrong, so it’s fine if Lufas and the others do, too, right? That’s what I think, anyway.

By doing that... Oh my, how mysterious! Both Taurus and Tauros are suddenly correct! I mean, the characters themselves are getting it wrong, too. On top of that, Taurus gains a “My master doesn’t remember my name,” trait and thus sets his character off on a strange arc.

Great, it all worked out. (I swear) Basically all the things I write turn out like this. Contradiction gets piled on top of contradiction, and I’m just trying to cover it all up like a criminal in the Ace Attorney series.

So, Phoe〇ix Wright, show us your evidence! I’ve been waiting for that chance! Objection! Take this! If that ever happened, I wouldn’t even be able to argue. I’d just be found guilty and carted off to prison.

Now then, of all the new characters that appeared in this volume, I’d have to say that my favorite is Friedrich. While he was named in volume 1 as the Sword Saint (lol), he’s really just a misfortunate tiger. Even though he’s hailed as humanity’s strongest in this era, he’s nothing much from Lufas’ perspective. Not to mention, Benetnasch exists, too, so he ends up being a character where his fame and his actual ability don’t match up. I already knew from the start that he wouldn’t even be strong enough to be considered an underdog.

That’s why I decided to specialize him in jokes, which turned him into the tiger/Sword Saint you see now. I myself am really satisfied with how the character turned out, and I think I did a pretty good job of making him stand out. If he was just a regular hot swordsman, then he’d probably be even less memorable than Dina.

Also, Sei unexpectedly stood out a lot, too. I’d always had him in the role of a victim (hero) who was troubled, because he was called into such a ridiculous world, but he’s trying pretty hard to find his own way. Sure, I get that people might not like the fact that he threw away the defeat-Lufas route for the peaceful route so quickly, but it’s the right choice to make in-universe, so... I don’t know if he’ll be able to successfully mediate between Lufas and the rest of humanity, but I’d like it if all of you cheered him on.

There were also a bunch of other important characters who debuted in this volume like the Devil King, Scorpius, Virgo, and Parthenos. It’d be great if you cheered them on, too.

...Ah, and don’t forget the Crab.

Lufas? Ahh, you don’t really have to cheer her on. Even without main-character levels of plot armor, she’d still be able to take out most enemies with a single flick to the forehead with how oppressive her stats are. In fact, you should try to bolster her enemies.

That’s just what A Wild Last Boss Appeared! is like. So if you all like, it’d be great if you’d keep reading.

-Birdon