Afterword - Book 1 - Chapter 31 (Patreon)

Chapter 31: Academy I

(Original Chapter Title: Academy I)

We've finally come to Chapter 11 of the original draft! ...I am not kidding; I rushed SO hard in the original.

Artillery Mage C was the first clear-cut "cameo" (that is so not the right word, but I don't have another short way to refer to BtDEM characters that showed up in Blind Chaos) I had in the OG draft. Obviously that's not the case now, but back then I really strove to avoid the BtDEM characters as much as I could... until I realized there was NO way to do that at the Academy. Expect a feast of familiar faces from here.

Ranthia is at the Academy at last and is actively having to resist her urges to cause minor bits of chaos! It's fun to play with her takes on common military practices and the entire Ranger Academy schtick. She's savvy enough to spot things, biased enough to roll her eyes at other things, and naive enough to regret some of her opinions as she progresses. It's easy to shrug things off before they actually affect you, after all.

The disks aren't something I would have thought up on my own, had they not shown up in BtDEM. It feels a bit excessive for inscriptions, but then again maybe one of the instructors makes them with a Skill? I try not to nitpick the early canon, but I DO try to make it fit into what's been established since I often have to revisit it. In this case, not exploring it was the better option though.

As a few people have pointed out, Ranthia's [Covenant] isn't especially restrictive (which is part of why its reward falls off in value FAST, unlike Elaine's own ridiculously powerful Oath). But it DOES bear the line "and I shall endeavor to spare those that cause true Chaos." Most people probably consider her obligation to cause chaos the problem, but IMO the bigger problem is that she's bound to spare those whose actions fall under a specific umbrella. Either way, best thing to do is to throw the Rangers' resident restriction skill expert at her and maybe have her talk to a [Priest] sometime.

There's not much I can say yet since the Academy's just getting underway, but there's a lot in this arc I look forward to sharing!