Long time no see everyone, it"s the author, Takehaya. This time marks the release of the 20th volume. Strictly speaking, adding in the side chapters and DVD extras, it"s the 23rd volume but I am still happy. Thank you very much everyone.
Included in this volume is a series of short stories ent.i.tled "Rokujouma no Shrinyakusha!? Hercules!", and the remaining half will be included in the next volume. Unlike the other work I"ve done on the series, these are incredibly peaceful.
Truth be told, there is something that is always on my mind when I handle this work. I always worry that the readers might get bored when reading this work, so I gradually change the contents as the volumes progress. For that change, I use Doraemon as a reference. The first stage is the same as usual Doraemon, next, there is sometimes a heartfelt segment with the grandma, and once everyone is used to the characters there"s the long dramatic piece. This looks like a proper method, but there is actually a large flaw with this. Depending on the timing of when the reader fell in love with the work, the story might develop in an unwanted fashion.
In particular, when you enter the story summary, there are a lot of serious developments. There are often a lot of fights. There are those that like that kind of story, but it"s not necessarily something everyone would want. The readers from the very start I am sure would also like the same as usual Doraemon, and the heartfelt moments that appear from time to time.
So I would sometime like to write volumes like this every now and then, but that creates new problems. That is the problem of keeping the flow intact between the Folsaria arc and the Forthorthe arc. A clear link in the story was made in the Folsaria arc so I can"t imagine being able to squeeze in a period where nothing happens there.
So instead, rather than trying to make a volume out of it, I wanted to squeeze it in between the main volumes. Just then, the "Read it! HJ Bunko" site for shorter stories was started. That site worked well with what I wanted and the short stories were revealed like this.
From now on, as we advance into the Forthorthe arc, collections of the short stories written on "Hercules!" will be added in as extras. I will work hard so that everyone can enjoy themselves.
And in the next volume, volume 21, the Forthorthe arc will finally start. I am actually wondering if I should add a subt.i.tle to this or not. If I do, it would be called "The Golden Princess and the Blue Knight". The golden princess who had been in a supporting role 2,000 years ago would be taking the lead this part. As the situation develops into something similar to what happened 2,000 years ago, an adventure unfolds. Look forward to it.
That"s about it for this time, so I would like to finish with my usual greetings. I would like to give my very grateful thanks to everyone at the editorial department for their hard work publishing 20 volumes, Poco-san who always draws me cute ill.u.s.trations, and finally to you readers who have supported me for all this time.
Then let us meet again in the afterword of volume 21.
July, 2015
Takehaya