Afterword

Thank you for buying “Walking My Second Path in Life!”

This book was written as part of my journey to become a light novelist. It was originally a web novel. With various corrections, modifications, and the addition of some extra side stories, it has finally become a collected book.

For those who are filled with a feeling of apprehension after reading the main story, please do not worry — Fie and Queen will get along well as the chapters go by.

It’s true... My project supervisor, Saitou-san, insisted on Queen being released no matter what, and so we had to leave the story hanging at that point.

I never did expect this light novel to actually make its way into being a printed book — I have my readers who supported me from the web novel days to thank. Thank you very much.

Also, I would like to thank Kurodeko-san for their amazing character designs and illustrations, Saitou-san for supporting me and offering me words of encouragement; and although I didn’t speak with them personally, Kousei-san and the various bookstore staff who helped promote this book. Although I don’t know much about the process that goes into bookmaking, I am deeply appreciative to those who have helped this book see the light of day.

I am also grateful to my family, as well as the readers reading this now. Thank you very much.

From this point, I will talk about the various points in the process of the web novel becoming a book.

First, I’ll talk about Kurodeko-sama, who was tasked with the illustrations in the books.

For authors who first start off with web novels, the one thing they look forward to the most is when their characters are brought to life through illustration. When I had first heard that Kurodeko-sama was going to illustrate my characters, I marveled at how far they had come as an illustrator. However, after a few days, they sent me a rough sketch of Queen, and I was blown away by it.

“What the hell is this? He’s cute and cool... Is this design a miracle...!?” was my reaction.

It totally exceeded my expectations. Queen is so cute.

And although I did not imagine it to be so, even Gormus’ design was that way.

To tell the truth, I had thought that he’d end up looking like some haggard muscle-bound old guy, but Kurodeko-sama’s illustrations once again blew away my expectations, successfully bringing to life the menacing but strong Gormus that we have seen thus far. Although it was not what I expected, he was cool. And very Gormus. It was amazing.

How do I say this? The unformed, vague images in my mind were torn apart.

After that, as the design phase went on, the rough sketches and backgrounds were equally impressive. I felt like I had been transported to the world of “Walking My Second Path in Life!”, vibrant with beauty and color.

In any case... it was a shock.

Although I had just left the whole illustrator thing to Saitou-san, and then went “Oh great we got a nice person!” when Kurodeko-sama was selected, I ended up getting put in my place by their godly skills. Even now, I respect them very much.

Just talking about one thing uses up so much text!

(Editor’s note: In the following section of the afterword, the author refers to “i-nuki,” meaning “without i.” This is a contraction in Japanese where the “i” sound is dropped from between two words, which is used in casual speech.)

The other thing that left an impression in my mind was receiving the original draft back from Kousei-san and seeing many “i” characters in the edit.

Readers who have already gone through the text may have noticed that this light novel features a lot of i-nuki phrases. As a light novel, it goes against some fundamental rules of the Japanese language.

To be honest, I had received similar feedback from when the book was still a web novel. However, I prioritized ease of reading over all else, and as a result left things as they were.

Now that the work has finally become a book, this issue has surfaced again, in a variety of forms.

I was also worried about it — I did look up opinions on this around the net after all...

If we think about it from a common sense angle, removing the “i” character is probably okay when characters are speaking. This phenomenon is also frequently seen in the narrative sections. It was a methodology of wording required of light novels and narration.

Although I was worried about it, in the end, I came to the conclusion that this wasn’t a story that had to rigidly follow literary rules, and hoped that it would work itself out.

Also, some readers have asked me if I would correct the wordings and present them in their correct style if I got serious about it. To which I said that I wouldn’t at all.

And so the draft that I sent to Kousei-san had many involuntary i-nuki words.

If you would ask why I had all these silly things to say right at the end, it was because my project supervisor told me to explain the situation clearly and to clarify that Kousei-san had done his job properly — the i-nuki words are all my own doing.

Lastly, the web novel can be read here: (http://ncode.syosetu.com/n7590cy/). I’ll be happy if you read my work.

Also, I had intended to use Saitou-san as inspiration for the afterword, something along the lines of “My supervisor makes things difficult for me!” However, perhaps I’m the one that somehow turns normal business procedures into difficult problems time and time again. Saitou-san is a nice person. Well then! Until next time!