Afterword

Hiyo, light novelist Sakaki here.

I humbly bring you Volume 5 of Outbreak Company: The Power of Moe.

I handled this story a little differently than in the past. Well, not that differently; I mostly mean there were multiple perspectives. I decided to treat Myusel, who (seems) quite popular with readers, as almost a second protagonist. As I worked with her perspective, I was surprised to find myself, well, surprised by the character I was discovering.

I mean, for one thing, she seems like the type who could be very violent when cornered. I mentally revived the possibility of making her a yandere.

As a point of fact, the reason Myusel doesn’t use a 9mm or a Type 89, but a Squad Automatic Weapon, started with a request from my illustrator, Yuugen-shi. I give it some thought and figured that Myusel did do a stint in the military, and maid work involves quite a bit of physical labor (carrying lots of laundry, for example. Plus, using a washboard is supposed to be pretty taxing), so I decided, sure, why not?

Setting aside the convoluted explanations, though, I think we can all agree that a beautiful half-elf girl in fantasy garb carrying a huge gun makes for a great picture.

For the record, the Minimi that Myusel uses (and gets via Minori), along with the equipment from the Eldant garrison, is in my view considered to be obtained from the same place that special forces get these sorts of things. That is, these weapons don’t officially exist (on the JSDF manifests, for example). So the Minimi, the gunstocks, and so on aren’t technically those used by the Self-Defense Force. Just an obsessive little detail—not that it makes any difference (grin).

So then. Following the rule of ever-intensifying threats, I would expect the next volume to introduce a character who threatens Shinichi’s very existence, but how could such a thing happen??

I would love to see you again for the next volume.

Ichiro Sakaki

31 October 2012