by Hiro Ainana
As Mia wept tears of joy and clung to her parents, the entire forest seemed to say:
Welcome home, Mia.
This is where you belong.
Afterword
Hello, Hiro Ainana here.
Thank you for picking up the seventh volume of Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody!
Thanks to all your support, the book version of Death March is celebrating its second anniversary!
I’ll keep coming up with new ideas to keep things exciting, so I hope you’ll continue to read Death March for a long time.
The comic version of Death March by Ayamegumu is going wonderfully as well, and a lot of new readers have come to the novels because they liked the manga in Monthly Dragon Age or on ComicWalker.
If you haven’t read it yet, please check it out right away.
I’m sure you’ll get so sucked into Ayamegumu’s version of the Death March world that you won’t be able to wait for the next chapter.
Personally, I always look forward to checking over the latest thumbnails, and getting to read the finished product when it comes out is a constant source of pleasure.
There are even a handful of original scenes in the comic version, so I always enjoy trying to spot those. (For instance, when the beastfolk girls get shoes in the labyrinth, Pochi says, “We can take turns wearing them, sir.” That was such a wonderful addition, since she would definitely say something like that.)
If you’re at all interested, definitely try out the first chapter, which you can read for free on ComicWalker. I guarantee you’ll be just as addicted as I am.
That advertisement went on a little longer than planned, so let’s talk about the highlights of this volume now, shall we?
As with the previous volume, this one includes new scenes and a better-organized story, and most of it is newly written for the book version.
For instance, the first chapter, “Princess Menea’s Request,” is a completely new story that wasn’t in the web version. If you haven’t read the book yet, I hope you’ll enjoy it!
This volume begins with Princess Menea, a character who was introduced at the very end of the previous volume.
In the web version of Death March, she was supposed to meet Satou in Gururian City, but in the books, her spot was stolen by Sara, who traveled all the way to the Muno Barony, so it’s taken until Volume 7 for her to finally win the role of guest heroine.
In the web version, she was making eyes at Satou from their first meeting, but things go a little differently here, so keep an eye out for that.
I feel pretty pleased that I made her into a different kind of heroine from the girls we’ve seen so far in Death March.
Since Satou’s interactions with Hayato and his relationship with Ringrande have changed from the web version, too, we’re on a different route now. I added more scenes with the rest of the hero’s party, as well, since they didn’t originally appear outside of battle scenes.
In the old capital, there are more interactions with the nobles, and I got to write more about the workshop tours and Satou’s non-cooking-related craftsmanship.
He upgraded his party’s equipment, too, and the beastfolk girls trained a lot with Mr. Kajiro, the samurai from the Saga Empire.
I’m sure this will all help express the “heartwarming” nature of the series.
Well, I’m reaching my page-count limit now, so I’ll wrap up the talk about Volume 7 here.
Incidentally, this isn’t directly related to Death March, but there’s a new web-novel site like the one where this story was born, called Kakuyomu.
As of the writing of this afterword, it hasn’t officially opened yet, but by the time this book comes out, it should be fully operational.
I’ve only gotten as far as making my account, so I haven’t posted anything yet, but I’m interested in seeing what new stories will be born on the stage of Kakuyomu.
Now then, it’s time for the usual acknowledgments.
My editor H’s advice and revisions helped me to vastly improve a lot of different scenes.
H is especially good at pointing out the exact things that authors tend to miss, which is very helpful.
Please continue to guide and encourage me in the future.
Also, I always have to thank shri for illustrating the world of Death March so wonderfully.
This volume’s highlight is definitely Princess Menea’s pink hair! Those loose, wavy curls look so soft, you almost want to touch them!
Please keep up the great work on the visual side of the Death March world.
I also want to thank the Kadokawa Books editorial department and everyone else involved in the publication and sale of this book.
Finally, the biggest thank-you of all goes to you, the readers!!
Thank you so much for reading all the way to the end of the book!
I hope to see you again next volume for the Elf arc!
Thank you for buying this ebook, published by Yen On.
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