Dark Elf:Volume1 Afterword
Afterword[edit]
This is Kamachi Kazuma.
This one was a magical battle against nature with the added bonus of dark elves! The MC can use magic, but he is far from all powerful. With this magic, you have to figure out how exactly you can use it to give yourself greater freedom. And you have to decide if you’re willing to reduce your own lifespan and mobility to use it. I also went back to my roots and simply thought about what kind of power would be neat to have.
The focus of this story is the MC meeting Slender.
So you’ve finally found what you had spent all your life searching for, but then they attack you and try to burn you at the stake. What would you do in that situation? You could run away, or you could fight. It’s your choice. Klaus is the kind of MC who can’t bring himself to slaughter them even after learning he has to stop the resurrection of the ultimate dragon. He instead works toward mutual understanding while continuing to pursue the girl of his dreams. He really is a dyed-in-the-wool dark elf lover, isn’t he? He can’t make too much fun of Professor Dissection or his rotten teacher.
As an alternate world fantasy, you’re free to do what you want. You can go anywhere in any direction, but making sure you’re sufficiently prepared to enjoy that freedom is no easy task. You’re even free to go somewhere that gets you killed! I hope I managed to show that freedom comes with a price. To function as a novel, I had to show the characters acquiring hints and drawing conclusion on their own (and those conclusions weren’t necessarily accurate, for Klaus or for the dark elves), so even a simple walk through the woods ended up full of foreshadowing. Conversely, I made the dark elf village and the human knights be a threat to the MC – in that they obstruct his freedom. Once you can no longer keep moving through the vast forest, it’s checkmate and game over. Now, which do you find more appealing: dangerous freedom or restrictive safety?
He didn’t know her language or her name, so what could he do to get to know the dark elf girl better? As a student who specializes in fieldwork, he naturally gravitated toward watching her like a wild animal. It would seem different sorts of eccentrics have trouble getting along. The MC harshly criticized Professor Dissection for only believing what he had seen for himself, but he was twisted in his won way for never questioning his fieldwork observations. People can’t detect their own odor, after all.
He could have taken his Camouflize magic in a pretty scummy direction (such as turning into a puppy and having the dark elf pick him up so he could lick all over her face), but you saw what it can do in a serious context. I hope you enjoyed that trick that made use of the entire stage. If you can turn into any lifeform, the only two options are a cute girl or the strongest creature, right!? Also, note that his magic is a double-edged sword that can also destroy him if he uses it wrong. This contrasts the dark elf Archdragon Magic that consistently provides the same result. Also, distracting an enemy’s horse by transforming into a mare comes right out of Norse Mythology. If you’re interested, just do a search on Loki☆ I’m sure you’ll end up wondering how a god failed to predict how that plan would end if it succeeded.
I used a special language again, but this one was a lot simpler than the one in Blood Sign. You should be able to figure out the elf language as well if you use Klaus’s line in Chapter 1 and how the dark elf conversion works. I recommend reading the book a second time now that you can decode those two languages. What were the dark elves and the hope elf thinking when Klaus was working so hard to observe them? Maybe you can enjoy it like having a second sound track. Klaus-kun was going to a lot of wasted effort out there☆
…N-now, I did carefully check over everything, but I may have made the occasional mistake. If you find one, just assume that dark elf has a unique accent.
I went back and forth on whether I should have the rotten teacher actually show up in the epilogue, but I decided she would seem more mysterious and dangerous if she only left a note. I made sure all of the main characters went to some wasted effort at some point or another but got a happy ending anyway. In her case, I did something that made her seem even more impressive while also being fundamentally wrong about something. Someone on her level takes wasted effort to a whole new level. I didn’t spend any time describing life in the city since this book is supposed to be about the awkward interactions between a human boy and a dark elf girl, but I think this helps you imagine what Klaus goes through in his ordinary school life.
I give my thanks to my illustrator Mahaya-san and to my editors Miki-san, Anan-san, Nakajima-san, and Hamamura-san. I imagine it was hard to show the unique environment of the forest while also showing how cute the dark elves are. Thank you so much!
I also give my thanks to the readers. How did you like these unusual magic battles where supplies are the key factor? I hope you can look at the setting like a puzzle and figure out how you would use that magic to survive the fantasy forest.
I will end this here.
Maybe I should have left everyone’s real names unknown, instead of just the dark elves.
-Kamachi Kazuma
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