Sorcery Hacker:Volume3 Afterword
Afterword[edit]
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Volume 3 has arrived.
This is Kamachi Kazuma!
A lot happened and we’ve moved!! Thinking back, this series the first thing I wrote for anyone other than Dengeki, but then moving the entire series again is a few too many firsts in a row… Anyway, Sorcery Hacker weathered the storm and reached its third volume. This one is set at the Academy Towers where Ayato and Teleria used to attend. This was already a special sort of fantasy world set up with a sorcery network, but the level of technology has increased a little further here.
I had fun emphasizing the human occupations in Volume 1 and the demon races in Volume 2, but this time I did it for clubs, committees, and things like that. Since this is a magic school, I figured those roles would provide a special status.
Beyond that, I was glad I got to write Henrietta referring to the Student Council as a mysterious organization and the dark elf being confused by school uniforms, pet robots, and other things we consider normal. Swords and sorcery are normal for them, so they see our world as the “other world”. You probably already know, but I love little twists like that.
The theme this time was the past.
That’s why I included a gloomy bastard who digs into people’s old scars and tries to tear down people’s relationships. The enemies and allies don’t always find peace in this series, so I can provide a different kind of thrill: someone getting their just deserts. Did you all find it satisfying?
Teleria was at the mercy of her secret in Vol. 2 as well, but the impression that gave probably changed a lot with someone using that secret against her.
This series is about a Sorcery Hacker, so there was no avoiding the topic of spying on someone else’s secrets. That’s why I especially focused on that this time. Pay attention to how both sides did the exact same thing when it comes to using someone’s secret against them. This one volume also let you see what it feels like to be the person doing that and to be the target of it, so I was hoping that would help show the real essence of what it means to use someone’s secret against them. If you laughed and enjoyed it when that bastard who loves (stealing and collecting) uniforms had his secret revealed, did you take damage in the following scene where Teleria’s secret was used to pressure her? But this is a lot like in samurai movies that start with the bad guy cutting down one person and the ending has the protagonist storming a mansion filled with tons of bad guys. The action might be the same, but the impression it gives changes a lot depending on whether or not there is fake blood on the wounds and makeup for the corpses.
I think there are demons with all sorts of personalities, but this time I included a Four Lord who sent out northing but negative emotions. Before, those who wielded great power tended to be the more reasonable ones, but I overturned that idea here with self-centered and childish Escalrain. Unlike Demon Lord Nirvelphany and Fleurelisia, he never had anyone other than himself he wanted to protect. But if you take someone with a human-level mind, trap them, and treat them like a lab rat, of course they’re going to be angry. You mustn’t look down on demons, but you mustn’t put them on a pedestal either. If they really are “just like humans”, then you can’t deny their faults and flaws either. That’s a fairly important theme in Sorcery Hacker. If the humans force a convenient ideal on the demons and assume they’ll forgive the humans, they’re just creating another opening for discrimination and prejudice.
Speaking of demons, let’s talk about Teleria. At first glance, it looks like she made up her mind about a lot in Vol. 3, but it actually ended as a close call when it comes to what Ayato knows and what has been confirmed. (From Ayato’s viewpoint, even the death of the President hasn’t been confirmed.) I took the opposite approach in Vol. 2 and left all the information open to the reader, but how did you like this different approach to keep things interesting?
I give my thanks to my illustrator HIMA-san and my editors Miki-san, Nakajima-san, and Hamamura-san. This one featured a somewhat strange school. I think capturing the essence of that “somewhat” had to be really tough. Thank you for working with me again.
And I give my thanks to the readers. Do you remember at the end of Volume 1, when it was asked whether they wanted to go to the ocean or the mountains? Now they’ve done both! I focused a lot on contrasting Vol. 3 with Vol. 2, such as the difference between the Water and Wind Lords, but which did you prefer: ocean or mountains? Thank you so much for reading this far!
And I will end this here.
My favorite Council member was Sibell Wildcat.
-Kamachi Kazuma
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