Volume 7, Afterword

Volume 7, Afterword

And with that, this is Kamachi Kazuma!!

This is the 7th and final volume!! Volume 6 was an ending for Boo Boo, but there were still plenty of mysteries left over, like it was an uncompleted fill-in-the-blank test. My intent with this volume was to answer every last one of those unanswered questions and to give a proper happy ending for Boo Boo, Beatrice, and everyone else who did not give up on happiness. I think the Sage and the elder may have left the biggest impression there.

I think having something “beyond the ending” was a very Boo Boo-like thing to do since the series incorporated a lot of video game elements, but what did you think?

Getting to the actual content of the novel, I have been writing a lot more depictions of practical applications of magic in A Certain Magical Index since the series has been running for so long, so I wanted to simplify the occult and magical stuff here to kind of “go back to my roots” in a way. That was a different approach from Unexplored Summon://Blood-Sign where I used language as a foundation to create a fictional mythological system for the series. (In other words, I created my own mythology instead of searching through the world’s existing mythologies for material). Not having to read through so much material was convenient, but that honestly made it harder to give any real depth or weight to it. I often compared Beatrice’s Fire Magic to metal jets and volcanoes or compared Wildefrau’s Ice Magic to liquid nitrogen, but that was a trace of my trial and error method there.

(Now, for their handle names, I did use the names of legendary women such as female demons, fairies, witches, and the heroines of ancient literature. For example, Beatrice is a main character from the Divine Comedy, Philinnion is a ghost girl from an ancient Greek story, Hermelina is a succubus introduced in a book on witches, etc. Strigona is a witch (or a vampire?), although you might have better luck searching for Striga. For the guys like Boo Boo, Omega, the elder, and Skull Wave, I went with nicknames lacking any kind of motif.)

Magic comes in many forms, ranging from simple rain dances, prayers, and magic charms to the complex modern Western magic that has entire books written on the process, so there is no real right answer in what part you choose to use in your work of entertainment. In that sense, I think it was very important that I took Boo Boo in the opposite direction of my other series that has lasted more than a decade.

The final enemy was Sky, whose name was the polar opposite of Abyss, and the stage was outer space. That’s probably pretty rare when it comes to fantasy worlds.

The final boss being equipped with only hero equipment was something of an important point. I seem to like going with the dark side of justice than going with pure evil. Although that might be obvious when you look at the Objects or the White Queen from my other series.

In that sense, I may have made the protagonist an Iberian Orc because I wanted someone in a position where they could talk about simple good deeds and justice without it seeming too trite. When it comes to battles or relationships, a “strongest” character really shines if you give them even one thing they long for. If your hero wants for nothing and is simply living the exact life they wanted, there’s no story there. At least that’s my view after writing so many stories.

Yes.

I think the time to end this series is when Boo Boo has truly overcome his many complexes. And that has happened in this seventh volume. So for the finale, I had him save Sky and finish that saving in the human inn town. Fighting and efficiently destroying your opponent is not what it means to be the “strongest”. Boo Boo is no longer the person who could not stop Abyss from killing herself and could only watch the festival all alone on that hill.

What is true strength? What hurdles did Boo Boo need to overcome? What did you think?

I give my thanks to my illustrator Mahaya-san and my editors Miki-san, Anan-san, Nakajima-san, Yamamoto-san, and Mitera-san. Boo Boo and Beatrice’s story had life breathed into it by the illustrations and it only succeeded thanks to all of your support. I relied on you all for a lot in developing the characters, the world, and each character’s magic circle and whatnot. I am truly grateful you stuck with me for this series to the end.

And I give my thanks to the readers. I wanted to show that there was something beyond the normal ending and that gave this a rather unusual structure, but the people who read this volume must have been those who answered “no” to Abyss’s question at the end of Volume 6. I cannot thank you enough for loving this series so much. I am truly grateful. I hope we will meet again in the next series.

And I will end this here.

I hope their happy days will continue in all of your hearts.

Sky? I love her.

-Kamachi Kazuma