NOVEL WEB Volume 8C, Preface
Volume 8C, Preface
Cover Flap
Kawakami Minoru:
Born on January 3, 1975. From Tokyo. Finished writhing the novel version of Obstacle Series - Clash of Hexennacht at about the same time as he finished writing this. Look forward to it!
Satoyasu:
Born in Yamagata and raised in Tochigi. “The scum-removing ladle I bought for making my favorite pork miso soup works great. Really gets that scum off the broth.” Should you be doing that when it’s getting warmer this time of year?
Installation
Miriam Poqou
This one would require a lot of spoilers, so I can just skip it, right!?
I can’t?
Then let’s chat about other stuff.
Miriam uses a wheelchair, so let’s talk about that. Wheeled devices for carrying people have existed a lot longer than you would think. Carriages and chariots technically count (even if they use a different power source), but they apparently already had wheeled chairs people could push around since the middle ages. For example, during his later life, records say Philip II moved around in a chair equipped with what we would call casters.
Allowing the seated person to move them around required a bit more craftsmanship on the wheels and that idea came to fruition in 1650. The year 1648 acts as a major dividing line in the Horizon world, but they can always rely on Testament notes or Far Eastern records. Surprisingly, Japan had the tsuchiguruma, which was like a baby carriage with an open top that people could sit in and propel with a staff or their hands. I wonder if they were seen as a simpler version of a litter? Of course, they were normally pulled by a rope or pushed from behind, but they could be self-propelled and some daring people apparently traveled around in them. The Japanese were surprisingly active back then…
Anyway, the controls on the front of the armrest for Miriam’s wheelchair use an interpretation of that, saying she is indirectly moving the chair herself since it is powered by her Blessings.
When we think of wheeled vehicles, a bicycle tends to come to mind, but wagons and so much more came in between the chariots seen in movies from the Roman period and the bicycle. For Japan, wheeled transportation brings to mind oxcarts and wagons, but there was a missing link there too. In fact, maybe it was the presence of horses and those alternative that created less of a need for bicycles. Or maybe the culture and market at the time didn’t accept them and suppressed them.
As for her design, she is one of the few who don’t wear tights. You can see her forehead because she finds her bangs to be a pain to deal with and she doesn’t wear her hair up because she wants to make things easier for her when she can’t take a bath. Her hair can get kind of messy thanks to that, but she doesn’t mind. She does make sure she looks decently presentable at all times in case she receives an unexpected visitor, though. She wears her jacket like a stole so she can lie down in bed with minimal fussing around with clothing. She likes lying around in bed quite a lot. When Azuma and the girl arrived, she thought it would mean more time in her wheelchair, but Azuma spends a lot of time pacing on the floor and tidying up, so she actually gets more time in her bed.
(Kawakami Minoru)
Sake
Title: Sake - Sharp Sword
Top right: The more you swallow, the more it swallows you.
Top Box:
Guaranteed to knock you out
Sake - Sharp Sword
The definitive sake developed in the pursuit beauty and flavor. Recommended for drinking and for boosting your weapon’s divine protections before battle.
This special character bottle features an extra-large label depicting Hirano-sama, the heavy drinker of Hashiba’s Ten Spears.
A 1sho bottle in paulownia box starts at 13,000 yen.
○Order Here
Bottom Box:
A Super Goro for you and me
Super Goro
Cheap! Harsh! But it gets you good and drunk! Super Goro is the ethanol legend from the world of shochu!
“Water is valuable, so make sure you ‘water’ it down with sake instead.”
“I start drinking and next thing I know it’s midday.”
If that sounds like you, then make sure to buy a 16-liter pack for a mere 8,500 yen!
○Order Here