Rakuin no Monshou

Volume 7, Afterword

Thanks to you all, ‘Rakuin no Monshou’ has reached its seventh volume.

Having arrived at the seventh volume, what should I talk about in the afterword? I kind of feel like I’m running out of anecdotes.

There’s nothing interesting about an author who doesn’t have even a speck of talent as a columnist talking about their private life... while thinking about it, I was organising the data on my laptop and up popped a file from more than eight years ago called ‘New Ideas’.

It was probably from when my debut novel ‘Requiem of Burning Sands’ was almost completed, and I was wondering what to write next... a time when I had all sorts of things running through my head.

What was listed in the file ranged from detailed setups to memos with no more than one or two ideas jotted down. Among them, was one which was perfect for filling up this page... er, I mean, having discovered something which is certain to be of interest to everyone, I am happy to introduce it below.

- Shadow Kingdom (temporary title), summary:

An ordinary university student, Kajima Hiroshi (hero).

Having been dumped by his lover and failing in his studies on top of that, he embarks on a journey to relieve his heartbreak; but at the space relay station that he had gone to, he gets caught up in a terrorist attack.

In the ensuing gunfight, a man who looks identical to our hero protects him and dies in front of his eyes. He is Dewin, prince of the great Imperial Dynasty of Mevius and the man who should afterwards have been heading out for the ‘marriage of the century’.

The wedding ceremony was supposed to end a war between two great countries which had been continuing for many years. If it were cancelled right at the last minute, the military situation might become unstable again... Taking this into account, the people of the empire hatch a plan to make our hero into a temporary body-double.

Our hero is forced to take part in the wedding whether he likes it or not. But another terrorist attack breaks out during the ceremony. When it comes to light that the ringleader is a military commander from a third country, there is an outcry of public opinion in Mevius to “suppress the terrorists!”

Before he knows what is happening, our hero finds himself in the awkward position of commander-in-chief of the punitive force and is leading a huge fleet sailing towards that third country.

His fiancée, the Princess, is travelling with him on board the warship and appears to be plotting something?

And his parents seem to have put in a request for a search for a missing person... Epic battles, adventure, and romance on the wide stage of outer space!

...I’m sure you have already figured it out, but this is, so to speak, ‘Rakuin no Monshou: The Prototype.’

I did not however show it immediately to my editor and it was only later (around about when I finished ‘Holy Grail of Skulls’?) that I brought it out, by which time, the genre had changed from ‘space opera’ to ‘heroic fantasy’.

Back then, he was not impressed and it was rejected, but with time, here we are now.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, ‘Shadow Kingdom (temporary title)’ has come to life and is in your hands!

I gave you the abridged version, but in fact, I wrote a draft for the first volume of ‘Rakuin no Monshou’ which was practically a manuscript, and that first version (also) differs somewhat from the current version.

To reveal the contents just a little, the target of Orba’s revenge was a handsome young aristocrat. Who was also a former friend of his... Just how did he become an uninspiring middle-aged man like Oubary? Looking back at old files and being able to follow the changes in my own imagination is kind of fun.

Anyway, from the past to the future. Whatever the sequence of events, the story once started will continue to move forward.

As soon as this afterword is finished, it’ll be time to start getting ready for the next volume.

...Just quickly, before that, there’s a short story (in planning) to be published in ‘Dengeki Magazine. It’s (planned to be) about Orba and a certain girl during his days as a body-double. If you have the chance, please pick it up.

With that,

--Sugihara Tomonori