Afterword

Afterword

HELLO, MY NAME IS Mikawa Souhei. It is a pleasure to meet you.

Thank you for your interest in this book.

Magic User: Reborn in Another World as a Max Level Wizard is a story that, in its original form, was uploaded to the novel-sharing site, Shousetsuka ni Narou. In English, that’d be something like “Let’s Be Novelists.” I started posting the story as a serialized web novel on January 28th, 2017. The original title was Record of a Hesitant Man in His Forties Founding a Nation. The book you hold in your hands now is an updated and rewritten version of that story.

Readers who are familiar with tabletop RPG tropes will quickly get all the references to real games, I suspect. However, there are many ways in which I have deviated from well-known, official TTRPGs, including the usage of some spells and their effects, in service of the plot. I hope you’ll be understanding.

While I think the premise of the novel is summed up in its subtitle, I wrote this story as an answer to the question, “What if an older guy who loved playing tabletop RPGs got transported to another world?”

There are scenes where the main character, a maxed-out magic user, spectacularly defeats his enemies with little effort, and scenes where he is pampered by beautiful women and girls. So, if what you are after is a transported-to-another-world fantasy with cheats and harem mechanics, I believe this story checks all of the important boxes.

On the other hand, it is also the story of an ordinary older guy. Although he is overpowered, he has lots of weak points, and even though he’s surrounded by beautiful women, he can’t find it in him to take advantage of the situation. He spends a lot of time fretting over how to make his next move. So, in that sense, this is the story of an ordinary old man making tough choices as he tries to start a new life in another world.

If some readers are able to insert themselves into the story and wonder how they might handle the challenges Geo Margilus faces, I think that’s great. For that purpose, I’ve detailed his abilities and circumstances as much as possible.

To be honest, when I first started writing this story and uploading it to Shousetsuka ni Narou, I was worried whether there were many people that would want to read a story like this.

Fortunately, enough people supported the web version that publishers took notice, and I was able to have this version of the story published. Of course, I plan to continue updating the web version, so I would be happy if you continued to support me online as well.

There are many people I would like to thank for their support.

First, I would like to thank my first editor, K, for helping me navigate my way through the process, even when I didn’t know my right from my left, and my second editor, F. I would also like to thank the illustrator Ryota-H, for creating images that went far above and beyond what I could describe in my writing. Thanks to you all, I believe we were able to make this version of the story a success.

Next, I want to thank my old gaming friends J and Y. The nerdy things I discussed with you over yakiniku became the soul of this book.

Thank you again, everyone who supported me back when this story was in its beginnings as a web novel. It is thanks to your support that I was and am able to continue writing.

Finally, I want to thank you, the reader, for purchasing this book. Thank you very much.

If you thought this story was interesting, nothing could bring me greater joy.