Afterword

Hey there, kentusrpg here. And yes, we got through the fifth volume. There is much and almost nothing to say, some people may feel betrayed for the climax again, but it's intentional. In this volume are no big fights, small skirmishes here and there, but the magnitude has lessened due to the circumstances. So the climax this time is more about the chase.

A lot is going on regarding character development here, Kenta has a genuine, not mean smile, for the first time. The girls feel the first conflicts towards each other, something which happens. It's rather small and easily solved after speaking with each other. Like many conflicts in real life. But a significant part of it is the natures of Rine and Ara'ainn because they're honest and don't see the need to hide their thoughts. Even though they differ otherwise.

This time we also got a bit more about the curse. It's actually a marriage! But what Kenta and Kyou don't know is the difference between a marriage in their homeworld and a marriage in the fantasy world. Ara'ainn doesn't either, as 'marriage' was something she learned after being transported.

There is much more to it in the fantasy-world than what we refer to as marriage in our world.

I also had the opportunity to go more into details regarding the oni. She doesn't have a real name, she was never named officially. Even the name of her false identity, Ogra, is just a fake name.

By the way, Ogra is coming from ogro, the Spanish word for ogre, which is the most direct translation from the Japanese oni.

I feel like I missed going into details regarding the barbarians, but there just seemed no point to give a real proper explanation without messing up with the flow. To cut it short: Barbarians are human warrior nomads, who travel through different countries and act like bandits often. They are terrifying strong, so strong that people started to refer to simple cultures as savages in general, while “barbarians” got somewhat patented.

One of the reason is that barbarians have a lot of non-heroes who learn combat-[Skills]. While most soldiers will learn some eventually, the barbarians take it to another level. With such a high bar for seasoned warriors, it's hard to fight them, especially since they're so mobile. Good thing there are only a few tribes. Otherwise, they could most likely run over any country... well, sometimes they do. Not to conquer, but to raid. The people of the Wildlands are scared of them for a good reason.

If you're asking: What is with Masahiko and his friends, and what about Hoshibashi and Yoshimura, the other heroes?

Well, both of them get covered in volume 5.5, in addition to the non-combatant heroes of Feuerberg. I decided to put it in an extra volume, because it's interesting/important enough to keep up to date, and it just feels wrong to have too many side-characters doing something entirely else in a regular volume.

I also needed a bit of a break, writing something else, so this is like a compromise. Writing it put me in a good mood, and I'm back on track with the main story. So first the break, then the extra volume, then a little break again, then volume 6! The first time Kenta has to deal with revenge...

As we know that the curse is an actual marriage in this world, there is another poll. Who do you think has the best Wife Power of them all? Also included the oni and the Crusader based on the comments of some. For those more interested in men, I'll include something at another time, as I think it'd be better to make that one, after I've re-introduced some of the other male characters. Don't worry though, you can comment about who the best husband would be right now!

How to support the story

If you like to support the story, there are several ways.

The easy ones (no to little effort put into it and you remain anonymous):

1.) Vote on TWF. It's easy, just a few clicks, no account needed, and you've got a vote, which will last one week. The higher the story is on the list, the more likely it is that more people will take a look.

2.) Become a Follower/Favorite. If you aren’t following the story via the Follower-option, consider doing so. Just go to the fiction page and choose “Add to your Bookshelf” on the right side. This not only boosts my confidence, but the number of Followers and Favorites is also visible for everyone on RRL.

3.) Rate this story. If you have a RRL-Account, you can rate this story on the fiction page. The higher the rating is, the higher it is ranked, therefore making it easier for the search function to be found. There is also WLN, where you can rate this story, even without an account.

4.) Upvote and downvote reviews. You can do that on the fiction page as well, and yes, you need an RRL account. The more a review is upvoted, the higher it is on the list. The more it's downvoted, the lower it is placed. So if you like to help, upvote the positive reviews, downvote the bad ones, and give visitors to the fiction page a more positive outlook to the story.

With the new version of RRL, up-/downvoting became a bit of a hassle (because the page reloads every time), but I'd appreciate it if you do it nonetheless.

Some effort involved (and you'll lose your anonymity):

1.) Write a comment. I really like to read your comments, I'm easily pleased by praise, I'll think about actual critique which is usable, and I like to converse with my readers in general. Even if you spot a typo, everything is fine. As long as you don't write stuff like "I hate your guts," "your story is full of shit," and "I don't like your MC," this is not really helpful. I can deal with critique, but I need reasons, I need personal outlooks, I need examples why something feels wrong.

2.) Write a review. Another way to increase the rank are reviews, also made on the fiction page. They have more "weight" when determining the rank of the story. Of course, advanced reviews have more weight. To put it into perspective a half star rating without review made me fall 10 ranks, a 2-star advanced review made me once fall about 80 ranks. So there is a lot of control here, how this story does on RRL.

3.) I also use Social Media... sometimes. Here is my FB-page, here is my Twitter. You can like the former and follow me on the latter. You can also ask questions, make comments, all the nice stuff.

Go the extra-mile

1.) Advertise the story. Be it on social media (there are also share-buttons at the end of each chapter), on other forums or fiction pages, blogs or by talking to friends, there are several ways to make this story known.

2.) Leave a review on WFG. If you have an account there, you can also make a review there. Of course, a positive one would help there.

3.) Apply as a proofreader. As a non-native, I need my PRs. And as I like to work on Volume 5.5 to some degree during the break to make releases more regular again, it'd be great if people would help me here.

4.) Donate on PayPal and/or Patreon. I'm still trying to figure out a satisfying resolution for my Patreon

Another way than to hit the PayPal-button for a direct donation is my kofi-page, just hit the button below. It's a bit nicer there and you can leave a message as well.

The donations will only be used for the improvement of the story.

5.) Make fanart. I'm always more than happy to receive anything art-related, be it pictures, be it shorts, no matter. I'll make sure to post them on my blog as well while giving you all the credit. It's just pleasing to see how people care about my story to go that far ahead.

I hope to have you again in volume 5.5!