And, afterword.

There is a description about a 'ghost writer' in the book 'Malice' from Japanese mystery author Keigo Higashino, who I have been a fan of. I don't have a clear memory of it by now, but the ghost writer in the book is very skilled in writing and the book shows us his previous note where he practiced writing by copying books of a specific author from beginning to end, to absorb his unique way of writing as it is. This is actually one of the approaches called 'Copying' in Asian countries to train authors, and it is widely known to non-authors as well.

The first time that I had run into the fantasy novel 'Swallow Knights Tales' had been at a small bookstore in front of my house, when I used to be in middle school. But I had not been impressed that much at the moment and had forgotten it for a long time, and when I started reading fantasy novels again as I got promoted to Sergeant in the Navy, this novel popped into my mind and I decided to reread it. And it has now become one of the best fantasy novels for me. I gotta confess, I've read it more than 10 times by now. If I am to read it again, I think I will, gladly.

The reason why I've been so into SKT is because the novel is 'comic'. Specifically, the way the author drew out a smile through the protagonist Endymion Kirian was that of a masterpiece. And another character that I liked the most, Kiss Cezyr was also portrayed as a very comic one, and in fact one of the reasons why I wrote this novel was 'to live like him'. If I had to mention it here, it was some sort of 'admiration for him'. From another book by Keigo Higashino 'I Killed Him', which I read recently, I happened to see the phrase 'admiration for badness'. For me who have been living by the rules in every aspect, I seriously wanted to learn how Kiss Cezyr could be so lazy, empty-headed and slacking off all the time. (Those may be some misleading words, but SKT is not just a low-quality comic book at all.) So to speak, it was the 'admiration for badness' in my own way. And for that, I copied SKT. Well, there are not too many funny moments in my writing and for that, you can blame my incompetence. It was simply impossible for me to copy the gag sense of Cheolgon Kim. (Author of SKT) (Laugh)

Anyway, like I said, this novel is what I wrote admiring Kiss Cezyr who lived like water flows and always laughed (except the tragedy at last), and what I wrote to be happy. Finishing this up, if I asked myself 'have you been happy?' then I would not be confident enough to answer 'yes, I have.' straightaway, but it is true that part of my personality has changed a little bit. Still wondering if I stick with standards and common beliefs and all too much, but I'd say at least I've become closer to the character of Kiss Cezyr than before. I've become more flexible when it comes to relationships, and able to shrug off things that would've eaten away at me in the past with a little 'whatever'. Now I will keep trying to enjoy my life and be happier, drawing Kiss Cezyr in my mind. And hope I can read either this novel or SKT and laugh out loud whenever I recall that resolution.

I think I've been talking about Kiss Cezyr too much, but in fact the protagonist of this novel has been modelled after the typical straight-arrow(-_-;;) knight from the original book named Karon Sharpentooth. Speaking of which, I'll reveal some secrets(?) of this novel here. The protagonist Kiriyan Masis was created by combining the names of the protagonist of the original book Endymion Kirian and one of the characters in the game Ace Attorney – Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations Tenryusai Masis, Ensis Knights was made from one of the characters of the original book Alteo Ensis, and Guillermo Raspalmas was actually the king of Beres, one of the kingdoms in the original book corresponding to Perriun in this one. Yes, it is a very shallow novel. (…) The distinctive things that I've put to make this different from the original work were also brought from somewhere and inserted whenever I got inspiration, rather than created. For example, channeling was inspired by the game I mentioned, Ace Attorney – Phoenix Wright, the maneuvers that Kiriyan used from time to time here were copied from the pro-wrestling program WWE, and Mikael's supernatural skills were inspired by oriental fantasy novels.

As I was writing, I had come to the conclusion that it was impossible to include all of the character settings, the development of incidents and etc from SKT Ⅰ - Ⅺ in this short novel. So it would seem like an excuse, but there are some characters that came out of nowhere and also some that didn't come to fitting ends. But I did the best I could for a long time to bring in the feelings of the original work as it is and give it some distinguishable features at the same time. So I think I've felt more attached to this novel than the other two I had written in the distant past and the depth of contents was deeper as well, despite many parts that I'm not satisfied with. Above all, when I started this writing was last year when I was serving in the Navy and now I cannot believe that today, after about 5 hours I'll have to go back to Uni for the first time after discharge. (Laugh) It was really a long time indeed, and a lot of things have happened. As I'm finishing this novel, I will go back to my past self who used to keep a diary. If I run into another mind-blowing work like SKT someday then I hope I have an opportunity to copy it as well, and I'm so certain it will be the time that I can make another change on myself like now. Wrapping up the afterword, I want to give this novel a belated title, Ensis Knights Tales, EKT. (Shallow to the last…) EKT, which has troubled me a lot, but I've grown fond of. Bye now.

Lying on my stomach,

03.09.2012 2:20am