Afterword - Book 1 - Chapter 36 (Patreon)

Chapter 36: Academy IV

(Original Chapter Title: Academy III)

This chapter's fairly close to the original script, just improved. ...And Kaesios won the spar instead of Ranthia (no more [Mirror Resistance], sorry Ranran). Many of the improvements are thanks to beta reader feedback, and a big hat tip to Gemyma in particular.

The Academy has reached year two! The hardest thing about writing the Academy arc was trying to NOT just rehash what Elaine went through. A lot of the Academy itself is repetitive too, which further limits how interesting it can be. I did my best to balance, but it does keep the Academy... fast-paced. Still, I think/hope I found a good balance and kept the arc interesting without letting it drag on.

I'm curious about which course was the favorite for my readers? I've tried to highlight with them that Remus was changing since Elaine's time (largely because of her). Most prominent of these is International Studies, of course. And Woodworking.

Rigira was a fun character to write, but my favorite character in book 1 is not-so-secretly Fausteo. Irreverent Priest and several others were popular with my beta readers and what feedback I've seen from other readers, but Fausteo just FLOWS in a way no other side-character did. He's just FUN to write and, in spite of my total aphantasia, I can practically HEAR him in my head when I write or read him.

Poor Ranthia spends a lot of her time in the Academy with NO idea what's going on, which is... well, valid. Hunting wasn't big on explaining himself or outlining, and everyone else seems to assume she was properly clued in before they got there. She tries to roll with it, but learning that the dance lessons weren't JUST lessons is a bridge too far, it seems.

The next chapter's my absolute favorite in book 1. Not going to say anything else for the moment though (for the rare Knife supporter that reads this before they've seen Chapter 37).