Hello, everyone. I'm Kinosuke Naito.
This is volume three. The third volume, as in one, two, three.
The cast keeps growing. Are you still keeping up? Even I get the names mixed up sometimes.
Of course, I check the characters' names while writing, but whenever a new character appears, I also check their name to make sure it doesn't overlap with that of an existing character. It's just that, since I draw on place names or borrow the names of great figures from antiquity, a lot of very similar names end up appearing... Why did I set things up this way?
On top of that, although there aren't any problems at the outline stage, unplanned characters often pop up and steal the spotlight. Conversely, some characters who had a strong presence in the outline end up fading into the background. I won't say who, but do your best. You need to stand out a little more! Huh? You have so much backstory that you can't act freely?
You want less of a burden? Don't be so naive! The backstories in my work aren't that heavy!
...What am I even talking about?
Anyway, back to the subject. The cast of this work has grown beyond my expectations, so descriptions like "a High Elf girl" or "one of the Oni Race maids" appear, often without giving their specific names.
Before compiling this into a book, I originally intended to revise those parts, but in the end, I decided that giving their individual names would only confuse readers, so I left them as they were.
Basically, I've prepared a name for every character, so they should all get their moment in the spotlight someday. No, I should say that I need to keep writing so they can have their moment in the spotlight. Right, I'll do my best.
I'll keep up the current pace and continue on to volumes four, five... A goal? I haven't set one. I'm just putting them out one book at a time.
You don't want to hear a prepared sales pitch like that? You want my honest thoughts? Well, I'd like as many as possible... All right, ten books it is.
Once I reach volume ten, I think I'll consider a new goal.
Will the day when I can consider a new goal really come?
Finally, to my editor, who looked after me for this volume as well, and everyone responsible for proofreading and copyediting: it was thanks to all of you that this became a book. I'm truly grateful.
To Yasumo, who provided the illustrations, and Tsurugi, who drew the manga adaptation, thank you both for giving us such appealing characters. I'm so sorry I wrote so many of them.
And to you, and you, holding this book in your hands, thank you very much.
Well then, I'll take my leave, hoping I'll be able to see you all again in the next volume.
Kinosuke Naito