Afterword - Book 2 - Chapter 48 (Patreon)

Chapter 48: Conflict Rekindled

(Original Chapter Title: Shattered Peace)

This is a fun chapter to edit. Not much changed, in the grand theme, from the OG draft, but I enjoyed polishing the combat scene at the end.

That said, the OG title kind of sucked. Like, yes, it's strong, but Remera hasn't existed for long enough to warrant it, and it wasn't like hostile contact was even remotely surprising after the last chapter.

Overall, Ranthia tends to roll with whatever life throws at her. Sure, she might complain a bit, but I feel like moments similar to where she reunites with the [Messenger] are more honest reflections of her. She was surprised, but she shrugged off the woman's use of her name. It seemed harmless enough and Ranthia had no immediate cause to reject the woman. So personal [Messenger] tentatively approved!

More-or-less completely on a whim.

The same scene shows a side of Avyna that Ranthia hadn't quite called attention to previously. Her elf has a mischievous streak and a fondness for teasing people, especially those that get embarrassed over things that—to Avyna—shouldn't be a cause for embarrassment. We have actually seen this before, when she's teased Ranthia to elicit emotional reactions, but this is the first time we see Ranthia being properly mortified by her lover's antics.

I don't know how common it is for people to be familiar with jumping between a heavy rainstorm and sweltering heat without enough time for the water to flow away/properly soak into the ground. But the 'flakes' Ranthia described are exactly what happen in the right terrain. As she described, it's a bit of a crapshoot on if there's still mud under the scale-covered surface or if it's mostly solid ground. For those without System-backed balance, it can make for surprisingly treacherous terrain; you never know if you'll be on firm ground, sink ankle-deep into a mud hole, or slide across a thin layer of slick mud over firmer ground.

Remera's humans were assigned by the Legions without any real input from the base commander. They're a mix of raw recruits fresh out of training and veterans who have seen some fighting, which is reflected in the varied capabilities of her scouts. She has one by-the-books woman, one scout with the exaggerated confidence of doing well in training, and one veteran monkey man. When the chips come down, the confident guy caused problems, the veteran covered for his junior to save the guy's life, and the focused professional reacted as she was expected to.

But when them out of the picture, it was Ranthia's turn to do what she did best.

...Not that she had a proper understanding of what the true shimagu forces were like.

Ranthia underestimates her enemies until it's too late—her safe avenues of escape are beyond her reach before she knows what happened. Someone (legit can't remember if it was a beta reader or Patreonling) pointed out that she could have thrown an image high, shifted, then used the vantage point to get the line of sight to put an image further out. But after reviewing this chapter again, I'm... not so sure that would have worked. [Reflections of Reality] has a smaller range than [Scattered Reflections] does, and altitude actually makes the problem worse. Picture a sphere that reflects her maximum range. Note that as you raise it, the distance she can utilize diminishes. And her opponents plainly learned enough to crush her images where they appeared; she had to weaponize distractions to get herself back out of the air.

But when Skills are involved, well, Legs said it best: https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-05-28

Despite finding herself in danger, Ranthia manages to immediately underestimate her enemies again by assuming they had a solitary [Leader] coordinating an army of that size. But it's not all failRan mode, Ranthia also proves that she's still powerful enough to force an entire army into a holding pattern while they traded lives in a bid to wear her down. She butchers and leaves charnel in her wake.

And then Sentinel Night arrives.

Ranthia is powerful. She killed with ease. But Night is still a realm beyond her reach, even if she out-levels him: he was death incarnate. A piece of it is the difference in their combat styles, but... let's just say Night has a bit more real-world experience (eight or so years worth, presumably) with dealing death than she does, even after her time at war.

And, honestly, that's why I like this chapter so much. We see that Ranthia is a competent killer—even with the mistakes that she made—but she's not yet world class. There's a lesson somewhere in there, but for the moment, Ranthia's just relieved to have narrowly escaped.