Afterword

The following story took place before I turned thirty.

I was busy being a healthy, productive corporate drone, running myself ragged going from home to work and back again. A shuttle run with no end in sight. Then one day I was lying in bed and found myself whispering…

“Ugh, if I could just go back in time a decade…mm?”

Then I remembered what I’d been like ten years earlier.

“I know for a fact I’ll be saying the same thing ten years from now.”

I could see myself, nearly forty, saying something equally futile…and started to panic.

Thirty isn’t too late! I’ve gotta do something now! That impulse drove me to my current position, here at the bottom rung of light novelists.

At the time, I was impressed with myself. Never before had I been so certain I’d achieved real personal growth.

And now?

“Aw, crap. My deadline’s almost here! I should have been done by now! If only it could be a week ago…can I go back in time? Could a completed manuscript just fall out of the sky? Or grow out of the ground? Don’t care which. I’m not picky…”

I swear to you, I have grown as a person.

But, like, from negative a hundred to negative fifty. The taint of failure is seeped deep into these shoulders, permeating all the way to my hips.

Hi, I’m Toshio Satou, once more wallowing in the hot springs of failure.

Somehow, we’re already at the sixth volume of Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town! It feels like just yesterday I was sitting in a car, repeating the title over and over, afraid I’d get it wrong at the award ceremony.

Time for apologies! To my editor, Maizou, thank you for taking time to help with my work despite your busy schedule.

And Nao Watanuki, once again, thank you for the lovely illustrations. Lloyd on the cover is far too cute. It’s like a DLC costume!

Hajime Fusemachi, thank you for drawing the manga every month. I look forward to seeing manga Lloyd every time.

To everyone in editing and sales, to the designers and bookstore owners—thank you.

And to my readers: Have you been enjoying the ride?

I’ve been able to release this many books because of you. I keep my nose to the grindstone so that you will laugh and have a good time.

I hope we will meet again in Volume 7.