Rakuin no Monshou

Volume 5, Afterword

This marked the start of the second part of "Rakuin no Monshou".

The stage is the western region of Tauran.

As the (body double of the) prince, Orba previously played an active role, sometimes leading an army of several hundred, sometimes ambushing enemies whose numbers were twice that of his own forces. This time however, he is just a single mercenary.

Tauran is rougher and more savage than the centre of the continent, and there he is destined to fight a mysterious sorcerer who claims to be Garda, but... Yep, that is the outcome we are headed towards.

Now then.

As the author, I felt quite uneasy for a number of reasons when I started this second part. The first cause for concern was of course that the stage had moved from Mephius to Tauran. Mephius has been the setting for four books and I was silently worried about leaving that familiar land in which so many of the characters are rooted.

But...

Right, starting with Taúlia and then Helio and Cherik, describing the cities, people and customs of the western regions was really, really fun. The sky and wind are free there, unlike in Mephius, where the atmosphere is oppressive because of Emperor Guhl's wilfulness and of his constant attempts to checkmate the relations between the three countries.

Of course, Tauran is a land of incessant warfare and the current invasion by Garda's army has left the people terrified. Even so – because it is a land that has long experienced war – warriors would feel more at home there than in Mephius or Garbera. It was fun to write about since although each of the individual western countries are only small powers, their statesmen have a wide range of personalities.

So.

Because I was engrossed in depicting all of this (although that isn't the only reason) the all-important Mephius didn't appear. Which also means that Princess Vileena, the heroine who up until now had a perfect attendance record of appearing on the covers next to Orba, didn't get her turn either this time.

However, no matter how wide the world becomes, "Rakuin no Monshou" is first and last Orba's tale and it goes without saying that Vileena's existence is indispensable to that tale. We will just have to wait a while for the two to meet again.

-- Tomonori Sugihara

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