The words I had said then came back to me.
When I looked at Liscia, staring entranced up into the snowy sky, I couldn’t just stay put any longer. I got out from under the blanket, then hugged Liscia, blanket and all.
“Wha, Souma?!” Liscia cried out in surprise. I didn’t let that stop me from holding her all the tighter.
“…The truth is…”
It was cold out, but for some reason my entire body felt hot. I could see my breath, but my face was burning. I might even have been crying.
“The truth is, this is something… I really ought to have told you before Aisha, before Juna, and before Roroa…”
She was silent, questioningly.
“Liscia… I love you. Please, marry me.”
Liscia was dumbstruck by my sudden proposal.
“…It sure took you long enough to say it,” Liscia said, then gave me a shy smile that made me feel ticklish. Then, gently pushing me away, she put her hands on my chest and stood on her tip toes. As the blanket fluttered to the ground, Liscia’s face slowly approached mine. “I love you, too, Souma. I hope we can be together forever…”
Our lips intertwined.
The clock passed midnight, and it became the 32nd day of the 12th month, New Year’s Eve.
We stayed that way for a while, listening to the approaching footsteps of a new year.
Maps
Midword
To everyone who bought volume four of Realist Hero, thank you very much. This is Dojyomaru, having just the other day finally updated my Ichitaro word processor to the newest version. Thank you for everything, 2006 version…
For this afterword — or midword, rather — I was given three pages. This volume marks the end of the first part of Realist Hero, so I secured the extra space because there’s a lot I wanted to say.
In terms of the story, this volume concludes the calendar year 1546 CC, the year in which Souma was summoned. It may seem strange to say this myself, but the composition of this story is pretty strange. The first volume is all internal politics, the second volume is all war, the third is the post-war process, while volume four is the continuation of that process and resolution to the remaining problems.
I think you’ll understand, now that I’ve put it that way, but volumes one through four of this series form one larger story. It was written as one long serialization online.
Basically, I’ve spent one volume on each of the four stages of the ki-sho-ten-ketsu (introduction-development-twist-conclusion) structure. That was why the foreshadowing often stretched across volumes. The intentions of the three dukes become apparent in the second volume, the intention of the Empire in the third, and the reason why the throne was given to Souma back at the very beginning in this fourth. That’s the sort of thing that brings reviewers to tears, huh? I think it makes coming up with an opinion on each volume very difficult.
I spent a decade sending my work in to newcomers’ awards and failing to win them. If I had sent a book with this composition to a newcomers’ award contest, I doubt it would have passed the first screening. If I’d sent one volume’s worth, it would have just been an incomplete manuscript. If I’d sent it all in, I would have gotten screened out by one of the contest criteria (word limit), and they wouldn’t have even looked at it. I’m kind of amazed it’s been able to see print myself.
I think a large part of why I have been able to get this novel printed was because it was a web novel.
I was able to write what I wanted, without having to worry about word counts, and there were readers out there who would read the long text. Thanks to that environment existing, the story was able to be well rated, and I was approached by a publisher. People often point to the benefits of advance advertising and rankings, but I think this may be where the true value of releasing as a web novel lies.
I couldn’t be more grateful to the old home of this novel on the web, the people who followed the web novel version there, as well as those who are still following the ongoing serialization on Pixiv. Thank you all very much.
Now, on that note, I’ll talk about this novel, which has reached a good breaking point. For me, I had been thinking of this volume as a sort of cancellation line. That is to say, if I could just make it this far, then even if the series was canceled, I would at least have something worthwhile to show for it. That’s because, in the web version, this is where the title changes from How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom to How a Realist Hero Redeveloped the Kingdom. It looks like I’ll be able to keep writing, though, so I’m relieved to hear that.
By the way, because I’m told a title change after only a few volumes would cause confusion, the plan is for the next volume to be How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom V.
…Though the rebuilding is pretty much done at this point, you know.
Still, there are a lot of long-running programs that have titles that don’t really match what they do anymore, aren’t there? Like a certain show that hardly ever talks about law, but still has Consultation Office in its title, or that show that went to the ends of the world, then stopped doing quizzes, but still has the Q in its title. While taking advantage of the same jinx used by those long-running programs, I hope I’ll be able to keep writing for the time being.
Now then, if you’re wondering why we have a “Midword” this time, that’s because there’s another short story after this. People who have been following me from the web novel days might recognize it. This short story that takes place after the end of volume 4, on New Year’s Eve, was posted not as part of the main text, but through my activity updates. It was in the middle of this story that I announced the series would be getting a print edition, too.
I liked the fluffy feeling of that short story, and I wanted to fit it in somehow, but it felt slightly redundant after the conclusion to this volume, so I decided to mark an end to things with this Midword, and then include it as a sort of bonus.
I do hope you’ll stick with me until the end.
Now, I give my usual thanks to Fuyuyuki, who draws the illustrations, my former editor, who I congratulate on being promoted to assistant chief editor, my new editor, who will be looking after me from here on, the designers, the proofreaders, and everyone who now holds this book in their hands.
This has been Dojyomaru.
Bonus Story: The Beginning of 1547, Continental Calendar
— Just past 11:00 PM, 32nd Day, 12th month, 1,546th year, Continental Calendar — Souma’s Room
The spur-of-the-moment project that was the “First Friedonia Kouhaku Year-end Song Festival” had, partially due to it being the first time it was held, had a shortage of singers and ended at 7:00 PM after only three hours.
The cleaning was now done, and the five of us, Liscia, Aisha, Juna, Roroa, and I, were in my room relaxing at the kotatsu. We had been up nearly all night the night before working (though we had taken naps somewhere in the middle), so everyone was as tired as you might expect.
This end of year business shared a lot in common with the New Year’s Eves I had experienced in my old world.
If I’d just had New Year’s soba noodles, it would have been perfect… but we hadn’t been able to get soba ready in time, so I was substituting yakisoba with sauce instead. New Year’s yakisoba with sauce… It felt incredibly off, somehow.