Final Thoughts

Ah—

This was the third time I had written final thoughts. It really was a different experience every time.

The first time was for Sword God, my first book as a newcomer. I fell ill in the middle and lost another half a year because of it. In the end, I stumbled and staggered my way to the finish line, just in time for the New Year. My heart was a tumult of flavors, but I was quite happy.

The second time was for Slaying Demons. It brought me many new achievements, and it was especially long. When it finally ended, I felt lost and wistful, but also full of anticipation.

But finishing this one did not make me very happy.

This book took the shortest time to write—barely a year and a few days. I checked; it was published on April 18 last year, so it had been about a year and a week.

Writing a book was like traveling. If the previous two had been tiring but happy, then this one was probably tiring and painful in the first half, and not tiring but still painful in the second. Readers who had followed the book all along could probably feel that pain too. It just hurt.

The reason was probably that I wanted results too badly, so I chose a story I had not liked from the very beginning.

When I wrote my first two books, my original intention had been simply to have fun, to write some funny stories. It would have been even better if readers could resonate with them.

But after finishing Slaying Demons, I started having some thoughts. I had reached this level just by casually writing—if I were more rigorous, more serious, and learned and absorbed a little more, would I have a