Long time no see, everyone. It"s the author, Takehaya. This time I have been able to deliver Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? Volume 19. This volume was close to volume 12 in terms of page count.
As for the contents, this volume continues on the magical girl arc from volume 18. The setting moves from Kitsushouharukaze city to the magical kingdom of Folsaria. There, facing the evil magical girls, Koutarou and the others stumble upon an unexpected truth. While that was unimaginable to Koutarou and the others, I suspect some of the readers have caught on. Was your hunch correct? That might be another way of enjoying this volume.
Though I believe Yurika is the biggest attraction this time around. At the start of the series, she had neither pride, courage nor love, she was always going with the flow and always making excuses. But in this volume she splendidly fulfills her duty. So splendidly in fact, that those looking on began to worry. Koutarou and the others don"t want Yurika to take the spotlight. That"s because they know what kind of person she is. Being strong doesn"t mean you are meant to fight. Despite fighting not suiting her, Yurika chooses to fight in a desperate attempt to return to her usual daily life. Koutarou and the others think of that as irreplaceable, and so does Yurika. If you readers feel the same way, then part of Yurika"s story in this work is a success.
That"s right. I"m bringing up something I can mention now. Yurika played a big part this time around, but I made her so pessimistic in the beginning of the series because magic is too convenient. A magician was needed for the overall structure of the story, but if there had been a fully capable magician (like Yurika this volume), it would be too convenient and she might resolve all of the incidents on her own. So I gave her a lot of weak points, and made her a more dysfunctional magician. As a result, Yurika became the character most affected by the convenience of the story. It wasn"t like I tried to do this on purpose. Though you might not believe me, it"s the truth. By the way, adding weaknesses to powerful characters to lower their capability is something other characters have as well. That"s why, Kiriha who had little power on her own is a character without weak points. In that sense, Yurika and Kiriha are complete opposites. This is a trick to keep some of the characters from hogging all the spotlight.
Whoops, I almost forgot. There are actually two things I need to report. The first is that HJ Bunko"s website, "Read it! HJ Bunko" is regularly publishing short Rokujouma stories. There are also other works, so those interested, feel free to take a look.
As for the second, there will be a drama CD released with volume 20. The drama CD will continue from where it left off, and cover the first half of volume 8.5. Like with the last time, I believe there will be an alternate cover page.
With that I"ve just about run out of pages, so I will end this here. Finally I would like to give my usual regards. I would like to thank the editorial department for their help in publishing this work, Poco-san who somehow manages to make ill.u.s.trations despite the many genres involved, and finally all of the readers who bought this book.
Then let us meet again in the afterword for volume 20.
April, 2015Takehaya