Afterword

Nice to meet you. I’m Torutonen. In a world overflowing with entertainment, I’m deeply grateful to everyone who picked up this book and even read all the way through to the afterword. If Torutonen had ears and a tail, they would be wagging like mad with joy. Sadly, Torutonen has the build of a bear in winter, so there’s no charm or cuteness to be had!!

This work, What Do You Wish For With Those Murky Eyes? Record of the Highserk War, is based on the version published on the novel-posting site Shōsetsuka ni Narō, with new material written for this book and revisions added throughout. I hope you’ll enjoy the differences in phrasing and expression from the web version.

What Do You Wish For With Those Murky Eyes? is the story of a protagonist reincarnated in another world, whose life is bought up by the state at a price called a preparation allowance, and who struggles to survive on the battlefield. Senseless death that comes to everyone equally. Plunder and violation, where screams and cheers blur together. Whether he likes it or not, he is dyed in the madness of the battlefield, and he shows a talent for fighting that would never have awakened in peacetime. Along the way, he dilutes the leftover dregs of his morals and conscience with hypocrisy, resisting so as not to lose the humanity he built up in his former world. The title, What Do You Wish For With Those Murky Eyes?, expresses a small part of the protagonist’s state of mind. I would be happy if the story as it unfolds stirs your feelings and you enjoy it.

In shaping this work into a book, I received a great deal of help, and I would like to express my thanks. To my editor and everyone on the editorial staff: thank you for approaching me about publishing it. Whenever Torutonen got stuck or struggled over a passage during the work, you gave me precise feedback, as if to say, “This part is not finished!” Gnnh. All I can do is groan and admit that you’re a real editor.

To Sou-taro: your Skill at drawing everyone from appealing, muscle-bound older gentlemen to lovely young girls is wonderful, and I could only be innocently delighted. For Torutonen, whose picture of crayfish fishing somehow ends up as a scene from a B-movie where a giant crayfish rampages, it is a miracle that appears on a flat surface.

To everyone who read the web version: without your encouragement and words of support, this work might never have seen the light of day.

To the readers who bought this book: thank you. After you finish reading it, I sincerely hope some lingering resonance stays in the corner of your memory and your heart.

Thank you for staying with me this far. The story isn’t over yet. I look forward to your continued support.