Afterword - Book 5 - Chapter 17 (Patreon)

Chapter 17: Her First Weapon

Fun fact, I had the name for Ranthia's Memory Skill set for months. [Immortal Arsenal], I liked the name and it fit perfectly for what it was going to be.

Then I wrote this chapter and Ranthia changed it at the last second. Fine, [Immortal Armaments] actually sounds better. I guess. Grumble.

Anyhow, once I had the realization that [Chest of Experience] would never fit Ranthia properly, the actual answer was obvious. Well, it was obvious for me—ironically, Ranthia needed a bit of time to get there. What better way to represent her memories than an arsenal set of familiar armaments at her beck and call?

And now I can finally reveal this: my original plans for this scene are the origins of the Lodge's owner. I needed an accessible mentor that would cluebat Ranthia into finally taking a memory Skill. Someone that would notice that she didn't have one and have zero patience for her excuses. From that need <nameredacted> emerged.

And the Hunters became a slightly more formal organization than my initial expectation, thanks to her.

This chapter was long planned as I handled my editing and rewriting process, and it contains a scene that extends back to the OG draft: Ranthia removing her ability to recall her first girlfriend's name.

I've mentioned before that I actually have names for every character that Ranthia never bothered to learn the name of, but I've also cheekily hinted at a single exception. And here, that's codified into the prose. Initially past me couldn't settle on a name for her. I wanted something floral, but struggled to come up with what—and soon realized that Ranthia was being so bad at the relationship that it'd never last. So I set my plans aside. ...Until I decided, while writing what's now Book 2, Chapter 19 (Ranger Versus Route II) and decided to make one of the rebel leaders Ranthia's ex.

And at that point, she lost any chance of ever having a name.

But as I progressed in the OG draft, I found an issue when Ranthia began her romance with Avyna—there was no way that Ranthia, an immortal, was never going to get an immortal's most important Skill.

As I said, that brief moment where she willfully decides to forget the girl's name had been planned for a very long moment.

I don't have much else to say about the scene with Ranthia, Sunny, and Clover. I've already told you all why Clover hates Sunny so much, and I feel like the scene by and large speaks for itself. It's not the most exciting scene, but I do believe that showing Ranthia and Clover's relationship being explored is just as important as anything else I can do with the prose.

Also, book spider lady (except she's an elf).