No Hero

Volume 8, Afterword

Translated by lucathia (proofread by Faren & J Tao)

The afterword contains spoilers for the plot. Please finish reading the story before coming to read the afterword. Thank you.

***

This volume should be named the volume of the Sun Emperor’s machinations.

From this volume, you should be able to tell that Luo Ye isn’t a big deal at all in the Sun Emperor’s eyes. Our great Sun Emperor only ever takes action for Ah Ye’s sake, especially now that Ah Ye’s thousand years are at stake. In comparison, Luo Ye is simply as unimportant as a single leaf to the Sun Emperor.

I wonder, as everyone read the book, were you able to guess just how many goals the Sun Emperor wished to achieve? Perhaps, after reading volume 9, you will discover even more goals.

The great Sun Emperor is very busy, so he wants to finish everything in one shot, giving the author a huge headache, too. I just want to yell: Are you done yet? Isn’t this enough? Just what else do you plan on doing?!

***

Because this series uses a first person perspective, I need to use many methods to bolster what has happened to present the full story to everyone to the best of my abilities. As a result, some things are shown out of order. I hope it does not cause any problems for anyone.

Originally, No Hero was supposed to conclude with this volume, but for some reason, the plot exploded on me again. It exploded so much that there’s a whole extra book now. I have really underestimated No Hero. I would never have thought that a single moment of carelessness would have led to No Hero having more volumes than The Legend of Sun Knight. Nine volumes sure is a fascinating number. Nine, everlasting.1 Fine, it can be considered lucky.

I will do my best to conclude the story with the next volume. I hope I won’t have to change it to a perfect ten (sweats). I really don’t dare to announce the number of volumes again in the future. It’s inaccurate anyway. Just as inaccurate as the date I turn in my manuscript. At most, I’ll say one to five volumes, five to ten volumes, or ten to fifteen volumes. I can handle announcements with a large range like that.

So, if I start a new series in the future, don’t ask me in too much detail how many volumes it will be, since my prediction will be as inaccurate as poe divination.2 You might as well throw the poe pieces and see how they land!

***

Addressing matters regarding Luo Ye in No Hero surprised even me. Even though I had already planned during Eclipse Hunter for this old man to still be alive, I had not known where he could make an appearance.

It took all the way until the late volumes of No Hero for him to rush out on his own. This is likely due to how, when it all comes down to it, No Hero follows the trajectory of the young master’s life. He just has to solve this case of his dad who is not his dad what the heck.

Writing stories is truly mysterious at times. Plans that I thought of but haven’t written are stacked as high as mountains. A series will have countless elements hidden behind it, many that I have thought of but might not write out. Sometimes, the difference with the story’s time period is too great. Sometimes, it is simply a choice I made for the sake of the plot. But in any case, these elements already live in the author’s brain. I really don’t know what brain space it is taking up.

Luo Ye, this hidden setup that has lived in my brain, suddenly leaped out on his own one day to seek abuse. Everyone, how about guessing how he feels about his own son and his not-son?

His not-son who wants to protect him and his son who wants to kill him, hehe, what else can this be other than jumping out on his own to seek abuse?

***

Normally, No Hero always has a preview of the next volume. However, since the original plan was to conclude with this volume, I did not include a preview last time, thinking that I’d let everyone read the ending for themselves. I didn’t think there would be another volume.

Uh, so this time, I will show a bit of a preview to make up for everyone’s injured spirits from not getting the ending.

Please look forward to the appearance of the heroes who had no role in this volume!

Because the word count of this volume already exploded, I did not include the short character stories I had planned on writing. The next volume will definitely be the conclusion, so no matter if the word count explodes like a grenade or a nuclear bomb, I will still include short character stories at the end.

Even though I want to give a preview of what they will be, I’m afraid that what I say will be as inaccurate as divining by tossing poe. Who knows, maybe I will think of even better short stories to write and switch to those instead. So, I can only say “maybe,” “possibly,” “probably,” it will be DSII and Dragon Peace, Briar and Ah Ye, and a story that will take place far in the future.

P.S. I am super happy that the Earth peacefully survived 2012. I wish everyone a happy 2013!

By Yu Wo

***

Character Introductions

Poseidynne

Connection: The young master’s back-up fiancée candidate

The Young Master’s Impression: So strong! I love her!

Luo Ye

Connection: Said to be the young master’s father, the master’s uncle?

The Master’s Impression: Kill!

Shuu Kahl

Connection: The butler’s classmate.

The Butler’s Impression: Medical Encyclopedia.

Note:

1 “Nine, everlasting”: Yu Wo mentions that nine could be considered lucky, as nine (九, jiu) sounds like the jiu in 長長久久 (chángcháng jiujiu), which means everlasting. In other words, “endless.”

2 “Poe divination”: A traditional Chinese divination method that involves dropping two wooden pieces on the floor. The position of the pieces after landing indicates whether or not a future course of action is favorable.