Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? Volume 4 G

To readers old and new, hello! I’m Okina Baba.

Although I doubt there are any newcomers picking up the fourth volume.

That’d be like starting with the hardest member of the Elite Four, y’know?

Stop that! Put this down and start with the weakest member, aka Volume 1!

This is an ongoing series, so you’re not going to understand if you start with Volume 4!

The main topic of this volume is Mother, whose presence has been lurking since all the way back in Volume 1.

Are there any other novels where the first illustration is not the protagonist but the protagonist’s giant mother?

No, probably not!

Normally, the first illustration would be either the hero or a cute heroine, but instead, boom! Giant spider!

And when she reappeared in Volume 3, she once again stole the spotlight in the very first illustration.

Yes, Mother is the prima donna who took over not one but two major illustrations in the past.

Don’t give up, protagonist!

You’re still winning in terms of total number of illustrations, protagonist!

There’s a high percentage of illustrations that don’t feature humans, but I guess that’s inevitable given the nature of the story.

I mean, every one of the first three volumes featured nonhuman characters across the board.

Well, the protagonist’s not human, so that’s how the cookie crumbles!

I’m so impressed with Tsukasa Kiryu for dealing with all that. Don’t worry—there are plenty of humans in Volume 4!

This time around, the book features a story that wasn’t in the web version.

The amount of new material I write for each volume has only gone up since Volume 1, and now I’ve finally reached the point where 90 percent of the book is brand new.

If I keep this up, Volume 5 and onward will all be 100 percent new material!

Unforgivable! That will never pass muster!

Speaking of new material, I also wrote a new short story.

Kadokawa Books is conducting a survey to commemorate its first anniversary, and it’s set up that if you fill out the survey (http://kadokawabooks.jp), you can read the short story.

Please participate if you’d like to read it.

Now on to the thank-yous.

To Tsukasa Kiryu, who always draws the most incredible illustrations for this humble nonhuman-character-filled series.

To Asahiro Kakashi, who also does an amazing job of drawing all those nonhuman characters in the manga adaptation.

To my editor K and everyone else who was involved in bringing this book into the world.

And to everyone who has picked up this book.

Thank you all very much.