Vol.4 Afterword

“Wait, where’s the next chapter?” I hear you asking, and well, surprise! It’s acliffhanger! If you wanna find out what happens next, then sorry, but you’regonna have to wait a bit! Teehee~!No, but in all seriousness, I actually wanted to have another chapter in thisVolume where you actually see what happens next, but that’d remove thetension! We finally got to see Ed and Lune reunited after three years, and nowhe’s suddenly so different! He changed his appearance, demeanor, and evenidentity! And hold on, he’s married to Marina of the adventurer party fromVolume 3!? What the heck is going on here?!There’s just too many unanswered questions, and I felt that having it resolvedin just 2 chapters felt a bit wrong towards Lune. This is certainly a turningpoint for our protagonists, and I definitely want to make it feel impactful, so Ibelieve that leaving out the last chapter for later was a smart move on myend. That being said, I changed quite a bit of things from this Volume’s initialdraft.First of all, we got to see a whole ‘nother side of Edward, which was kepthidden up until now. He’s quite egotistical and cunning, isn’t he? Paranoid aswell, as he’s often seen overthinking things that aren’t all that complicated tobegin with. He’s a bit selfish when the going gets tough, choosing himself andhis close ones instead of being a selfless hero who saves peopleindiscriminately like Lune. This was another thing I wanted to showcase, hisinferiority complex, the fear of staying in Lune’s shadow. I think he overcameit quite a bit in the span of this Volume, which I dedicated solely (heh,SOLely) to him.He’s now become his own man, with Anna standing beside him. But did youknow I was actually debating whether or not to have him and Anna be a thinguntil they ‘got drunk’? In actuality, much like for them, I kinda just went withthe flow and surprised myself with it, but it all ended up working out, so whocares?Oh, and don't forget the new Iro ability, Analyze, which we got to see Eddevelop in real time! Isn't it exciting, being able to literally read the wordscoming out of someone's mind, be they man or animal? I feel like this abilitysuits Ed the most, as he himself always tries to accommodate for others, butalways fears that someone else will peek into his own mind. Oh, and thiswas accidental, but I found it cute how the word 'Analyze' sort of has Anna'sname in it. I guess it makes sense how Ed's mind came up with it!Another thing I tried to incorporate into this world is the use of multiplelanguages. As you already know, I played around a bit with Hianic in Volume2, but that was just a dialect of Entropic. That being said, with Ed finding outthat animals have their own language, and Anna being somewhat proficient inCardinic, I'm sure this'll only further add to the worldbuilding by quite a bit. Iunderstand that not all of you know the languages presented in this world, buthave no fear, because I made sure for it to be easily translatable using onlinetranslators.One regret I feel is that I don’t believe I managed to properly explain howmuch time passed in between events. I feel like the reader might not realizethat Ed and Anna’s trip took them a whole year, and by the time they cameback, Nelly was already a certified toddler. It’s a bit wacky, so I’d like torevise that one day…In any case, thank you for sticking with Ed and me in this Volume, and I hopeyou continue to support my work in the future!              Yours truly, Mikan-Sensei