Coming Soon — Demon Healer Naberius: Volume Ten!
Goddamn, it’s been a minute, hasn’t it?
I mean, when I look back at the preview article for Volume Nine, I’m talking about switching from Zeta to Anila back in Granblue Versus, and I’ve jumped mains twice since then. I suppose there was the burnout article I wrote a few months back, but c’mon—it’s been over a year since I’ve shared anything new for DHN. Some author I am, huh?
I’m truly blessed that you’re reading this. My own satisfaction aside, knowing that there’s even one person who looks forward to the next step in Nabby and Bosa’s adventure is the reason my spark may gutter but never die out, even amidst life’s speedbumps.
Anyways, thank you very much for joining me. As it says on the tin, I’m here to announce that Demon Healer Naberius: Volume Ten is almost ready for takeoff. I’ve finished the third draft, but since I had to make some late-stage adjustments, I want to go over it one more time to make sure everything is copacetic. When I reread Volume Nine for continuity, I found some small stumbles that I should have caught, and I don’t want to subject you to that again. On that note, I apologize; I know I could have given Volume Nine another sweep, but I pushed it out figuring I was experienced enough that I didn’t need to do so many drafts.
Bad Peter—very bad.
But you’re not here for my self-flagellation (and if you are, I’m both terrified and intrigued). We’ll start with our shoutout to Tostantan, who prepared the art for this new volume almost a year ago (I’m very sorry for dragging my feet on actually sharing it with the world, Boss). As always, he’s wonderful and talented, and in this age of AI counterfeits, he deserves more love than ever. I look forward to commissioning him for the next book as well.
And with that, let’s hear what this volume is even about.
Introduction
Past introductory articles are available in the Archive here.
Now rejoined by Bosa, Nabby and her friends have gone full steam ahead in their search for the Source of All Monsters, yet their foray into the forbidden Shrouded Lands was as serendipitous as it was damning. While their exploration resulted in the recovery of Dr. Monica Sturluson, a monstrologist who was thought to be dead after she lingered inside a fading dungeon, it has also awakened the Monstralian Goldrush, a tidal wave of expeditions driven by the avarice of those seeking to pillage Monstralia of all she’s worth—including the Source.
As Lewis maneuvers to find and protect the Source before anyone else, his adventurers will spend a quiet evening recounting the days of yore before teaming up with a dark prodigy and pushing ever further into the Shrouded Lands. All the while, Monica will happily commit their new discoveries to the Monstralian Survival Guide, a project she shares with Bosa and Lewis, though the greatest revelation yet dwells further beyond, in lands untouched by time and barred by strife.
Two of the characters below were introduced last volume, but I withheld their formal profiles until now. The latter two are completely fresh.
Characters
Lewis Aitken
Race: Half-elf
Job(s): CEO, outpost coordinator, pseudoscientist
Age: 80
Likes: UFOs, mingling, magic technology, sitcoms
Dislikes: Fast food, micromanaging, self-abasement
Skills: Business management, pseudoscience
Lewis’ father was the founder of the Aitken Group, a magic technology conglomerate, and he married an elven woman so his only child could enjoy a longer life while they carried on his legacy. Unfortunately, he was unaware that half-elves, like all hybrids, are sterile, yet he was able to pass in peace because Lewis had already grown into a fine man and entrepreneur…despite his bizarre obsession with UFOs and conspiracies.
Lewis is the owner, coordinator, and primary source of monetary support for Aitken Outpost, the expedition outpost Nabby and co. joined upon reaching Monstralia. After reading a theory that monsters and magic came from somewhere beyond Rullia, Lewis convinced himself that the mythical Source of All Monsters must actually be an alien construct and that monsters are part of their experiment. Accordingly, Lewis departed for Monstralia and established his outpost, forming one of the few expedition teams explicitly searching for the Source while continuing to oversee his businesses remotely.
A firm believer that a leader’s worth is proven by his subordinate’s trust, Lewis spares no expense in keeping his business’ employees and outpost’s adventurers happy. He is fixated on aliens and will babble nonstop about his theories to anyone who will listen, but though he may come off as naïve, he’s still a talented businessman who knows how to negotiate with the shrewdest of misers. While he maligns how his expedition into the Shrouded Lands instigated the Monstralian Goldrush, he doesn’t regret his actions purely because they also resulted in Monica’s rescue.
Dr. Monica Sturluson
Race: Dryad
Job: Monstrologist
Age: 36
Likes: Monsters, quiet evenings, iced tea, hardback books
Dislikes: People (especially children), smoke, mingling
Skills: Monstrology
As a child, Monica was neglected by her parents and ostracized by other children, the latter of whom nicknamed her “Mon-stur” and likened her to a reclusive beast. This sparked a curiosity and eventual fixation on monstrology, leading to her obtaining a doctorate in the field, yet she became disenchanted when her career revolved around monitoring monster populations and arranging abatement services rather than research. Then, after having her only hope for an experiment denied, Monica lost her drive for life itself, and the next time her team was sent to collect samples from a cleared dungeon, Monica stayed inside. It wasn’t until days after the dungeon collapsed that anyone noticed she was missing.
Yet rather than fade away with the dungeon, Monica found herself transported to a wasteland surrounded by a dust storm and oppressed by a sun that never set, which she would later learn was the Shrouded Lands located within Monstralia. She survived by drawing nutrients and water from an oasis, unaware of the toxins suffusing them, but she did not succumb to illness and instead developed an immunity to said toxins as well as some other odd traits—most notable being how monsters no longer showed her any aggression. Monica would eke out an existence at the oasis for five years before Lewis’ expedition team found her, and while the team unknowingly killed a monster that she considered a friend, she holds no resentment towards them, as she understands more than anyone that people loathe monsters.
Quiet and withdrawn, Monica is hard to approach and awkward to talk to—unless you’re asking her about monsters. Lewis hired her as his assistant and personal monstrologist, and while she finds him overbearing, she appreciates everything he’s done for her. She never mourned the death of Lucky, the owl monster she befriended, yet she wears a hairclip made from a feather Bosa collected from its remains.
Ichiro Mizukami
Race: Blattokin
Class: Priestess
Age: 23
Likes: People who know their place, embroidery, soft cushions, Chuck
Dislikes: Upstarts, pain, oversleeping
Skills: Leadership, low level healing miracles
The future head of the esteemed Mizukami family, Ichiro’s father attempted to raise her as a boy since male heirs are seen as more valuable to the blattokin—a fact still seen in her masculine name—but Ichiro put a stop to his antics the instant she was old enough to understand what he was doing. Her father has remained under her thumb ever since, and Ichiro has established herself as a dominant force in both her family and their businesses in the Aitken conglomerate, which led to her needing a bodyguard at all times. However, Ichiro couldn’t trust the guards her father provided and instead sought a protector who would be unshakably loyal to her, and her search was rewarded with the appearance of a young oni man in desperate need of aid. Ichiro has been accompanied by Chuck ever since, and the two of them have become adventurers and even traveled to Monstralia, under the guise of personally researching the needs of those who buy products from her family’s businesses.
Prideful and condescending, Ichiro is unbearable to most who meet her. She takes her role as future head of her family and its businesses very seriously and has no patience for conniving executives or disrespectful louts, though she is surprisingly gentle with subordinates who do show obeisance. She is as delicate as she looks, and her abilities as a priestess are pitiful—egregious weaknesses that Chuck somehow compensates for.
Charles “Chuck” Barber
Race: Oni
Class: Warrior
Age: 26
Likes: Wrestling, meat and potatoes, his family, Ichiro
Dislikes: Crossword puzzles, deep water, his own weaknesses
Skills: Personal security, raw strength
Born to a mundane family, Chuck was on track for a wrestling scholarship until a housefire destroyed his home and left his parents and brother in the hospital. He took on part-time jobs in a bid to keep his family afloat, and when he saw an opening for a bodyguard with the prestigious Mizukami family, he decided to apply despite how unqualified he was—which made it unbelievable that he not only got the job but was given an advance payment in order to secure his family’s future. From that day forward, Chuck has acted as Ichiro’s personal bodyguard, dropping out of high school and wholly devoting himself to her.
However, there came a day when Ichiro was kidnapped by a rival family, and while Chuck was able to rescue her, he was severely injured in the process, causing him to sink into a self-loathing spiral over his near failure. Conveniently, Ichiro then developed an interest in adventuring and forced Chuck to become her guardian warrior, and through battling monsters, he was able to regain his confidence and further his pursuit of becoming strong enough to defend Ichiro from any and all dangers. He presently accompanies his charge on her survey through Monstralia.
Simple and earnest, Chuck is well-liked by everyone who meets him. Despite his imposing build, his face betrays his amicability, so Ichiro makes him wear a mask and stay silent under most circumstances. She also designed the weapon he carries on his back.
Where can I find Demon Healer Naberius?
Per usual, Volume Ten will be available on Amazon for $2.99 digitally and $9.99 in paperback. I’m also looking into hosting my books on a platform other than Amazon, where they will be available purely as digital files, though I’m going to hold off on working on that until after this volume is out. Let me know if you have any recommendations.
All updates will be posted here, as well as linked to on my Bluesky and Twitter. Feel free to hit me up if you’d like, and please excuse all the Umamusume posts.
In Closing
Not to be a broken record, but again, I apologize for how long it took for this volume to reach even this state. I had planned to hold fast to a “one novel every six months” schedule, but I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you how God feels about mortal plans. That said, I do think this more relaxed approach has been healthier for me, so I doubt I’ll rush out the following volume either.
But I digress. I’ll comb through Volume Ten’s final draft as finely as I can, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading the tales contained within. I’ll strive to get it to you as soon as possible—ideally within the next two weeks—but until then, take care.
Persevere, dear reader.
