Afterword

Thank you for picking up volume eight of The World’s Least Interesting Master Swordsman! I’m Rokurou Akashi, the author.

We’re all the way up to volume eight now, and things are going well in terms of sales. Please accept thanks not just from me as the author, but also from everyone involved in the book’s creation.

So, now that you’re reading the afterword, I assume you’ve already finished volume eight. Of course, there are those of you who might have already read the parts that were published on Shosetsuka ni Naro, and there might be others among you who will be reading the novel after reading this afterword.

Ahem, so, let me be honest here. I rewrote over three-quarters of the content. There’s pretty much nothing left of the original.

It’s not that I rearranged or rewrote the original structure. Instead, it’s a completely different set of stories at this point. There are some additional episodes added in, but everything else was rewritten pretty much from the ground up.

There’s also a lot that I’ve deleted, so when you include all that, it’s about six-quarters different than the web novel version. Yes, I’ve completely gone over four quarters!

In this volume, about the only part that’s pretty much the same as the web novel version is the part with Sansui, Blois, and Lain. The part with Sansui’s students is also the same.

Ordinarily, I suppose I should be talking about Sansui’s new family here, but I’d like to talk about Sansui’s students here instead.

There was originally more that was supposed to be written about them, but I’m happy that I managed to get as much about them in here as I did.

They’re pretty much all secondary characters, but I really like their little stories. They’re just plain people, or people who are a little worse than average. I really love being able to illustrate society through their eyes.

I feel like I can’t get the whole depth of the setting out if I just write about the surface. Maybe it’s just my ego as a writer, but I’m very happy that I was able to include their stories in a printed volume.

Now, last but not least...

To Shiso, the illustrator. Thank you so much for your work. I look forward to further volumes with your illustrations.

-Rokurou Akashi