SelkieMyth

Art! Elaine and Auri!

So, this is actually a WIP that got terribly corrupted, and the artist sadly needs to start over. Why waste the amazing art? Enjoy!

Reminder - Admin Week

Not the message you all want to get I'm sure.

This week's admin week, because of how sick I was last week. Moving it up. Sorry all!

Still have a little cough but I'm otherwise fine.

Cheers, see you next week!

Blank Character Sheet + Notes

Hey all!

I recently needed to rebuild my character sheets and some of my notes, because the old one was too corrupted.

While I was at it, I figured "why not?", and made a base template sheet for anyone to fill out. It also includes a few of my notes that haven't been published before!

Enjoy!

Chapter 472 - Minor Interlude - Qiao Zhi

Silver Qiao Zhi was a busy, busy man, but he always had time to hold onto the brass love charm Lin Lei had given him. The [Battlefield Observer of the Threefold Reflection - Radiance] was attached to [Tactician] Huang Ling in [Great General] Pang Nuan’s army. Zhi swelled with pride as he considered how important his job was in the grand scheme of things.

He would win the war. The Mandate of Heaven had blessed the Yan, and it was throu...

Chapter 471 - Aftermath

AN: Sick. There will be a third chapter this week. Admin week next week, the 11th, instead of the 18th. Sorry, but like, sick. And Flora's sick. Thank goodness for backlogs, but my work's piled up a bunch and I'm rambling.

Enjoy the chapter.

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It was no time to rest. I collapsed most of my [Parallel Thoughts], moving to help people while checking on my notifications at the same time. They were of all different races, and their cloth...

Chapter 470 - The Decision

Iona’s request had briefly stunned me, but one thing I prided myself on was rapid decision making. It had been trained into me for years, and I’d honed the skill to a high degree.

“Go!” I shouted, wanting to be loud enough that Iona could hear me. Then I dashed off at top speed to where Katerina was waiting, my mind working furiously on four tracks.

Auri revealed herself and started flying towards Iona, wanting to hitch a ride.

Iona and I had a solid bond of trust. S...

Chapter 469 - The Question

The winter weeks flew swiftly by, and a false spring was raising everyone's hopes. It wouldn’t be long before winter’s cold jaws clamped down on its neck, reminding us all that it was winter, but I was enjoying the nice day and the fine company.

By ‘The Sixth Legion is leaving in the spring’ Arachne and the rest of Command meant early spring, and there was a ton of running around and shuffling going on in the Legion as people got everything ready at the last mi...

Chapter 468 - The Extinguisher of Legends

The old year had ended, the new year was in. Night and Arachne were busy, busy people, and while I’d gotten a number of invitations to fancy functions and various parties, without Iona to push me and provide a strong incentive to go, I’d declined almost all of them. The only one I’d accepted was a party the War Sentinels were throwing, which had felt a little out of my league. It wasn’t that I felt I didn’t belong or anything like that, just that their idea of entertainment...

Chapter 467 - Nike

AN: Sorry this is short, victim of trying a new thing out with writing. I’m probably going to axe the new thing I’m trying out, but for now… sorry this is so short, I’m not going to make a habit out of it. The next few chapters are 3500+ words

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The rest of the Saturnalia went by with… no incidents at all. Nope. None. The mess at the feast didn’t count, I’m the Sentinel and everyone loved it....

I goofed - The details

Hey all!

I goofed! Small goof!

Two chapters today! 

I tend to keep my chapters in order of posting on my computer. Got up this morning, dragged myself over, sleepily edited the 'next' chapter in the list, went copy-paste-post, and while I was updating the TOC went 'oh shit'.

Better than a cup of coffee any day. It's like dropping a table in production...

With newfound vigor and energy I went back, edited 465, and post...

Chapter 465: Friends come, friends go

AN: I goofed, sorry! My files got out of order and I posted without double checking. Double chapter today! No chapter Friday! (You're getting it early...)

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I’d made the connection, and I was starting to feel out of place. Artemis, Julius, and Night all had their own relationship with each other, independent of me. I’d gotten them all chatting again, things seemed to be going smoothly.

I made a brilliant excuse to deftly leave in...

Chapter 466 - The Saturnalia

Being a War Sentinel wasn’t all fun and games. I felt the crushing responsibility of the lives of the [Legionnaires] in my hands, and the stress and pressure was steadily growing as the fated day to leave approached.

The Legion was divided into eight cohorts, each headed by a [Tribune]. Generally, most issues simply needed one, sometimes two cohorts dispatched to handle the issue. It let the Legion handle several things at once, and I’d imagine I’...

Chapter 464 - Old Friends

I leisurely flew back home. I didn’t want flying to become perfunctory. I didn’t want it to become just a way of getting from A to B. I had a bit of time to simply enjoy it, to revel in the absolute freedom of unconstrained motion, knowing that I could simply pick a direction and fly for hours if I wanted to.

I did want to see Iona, spend as much time as possible with her before her trip, and check up on Auri, so I still headed homewards.

[The World Around Me]...

Chapter 463 - Springtime is wartime

AN: Thanks to feedback and a brilliant idea from a reader, the ending of last chapter has been modified, along with some tiny edits to the chapter itself to better foreshadow the ending. To spare you all going back and finding it, I've posted it here:

“Home.” She [Iona] agreed.

Red - the catkin - whirled on us, and I expected a tearful tirade, maybe a vow to figure out a way to reanimate him or something. Instead, she started cussing up a storm, quickly joined by some of the ...

Chapter 462 - Adventures in Nippon-Koku

AN: This chapter is me trying to dip my toes into comedy/satire a bit, and I'm not sure how well I succeeded. I feel it's so-so, and as a result, it's just a single mega chapter instead of being split into 2 or 3 smaller chapters. So enjoy the mega chapter, and I don't intend to be taking BTDEM in a radically different direction. Just thought this could be fun.

Enjoy!

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I had a fairly uncomfortable realization when we finished crossing the ...

Chapter 461 - Interlude - Nina - Communication

Nina finished waving Iona off. On one hand, she was sad to see the Valkyrie go, but on the other, it was almost a relief. A break from the constant training. A moment to rest.

Nina had spent years on the streets, often alone. Having other people constantly near her grated on her in a way that was hard to properly define. She didn’t have good words for it - it was simply comfortable being alone for a bit.

“Brrrpt?” Auri fluttered up and perched on her should...

Chapter 460 - To Nippon-Koku!

It took two more days for them to finish everything up. The bulk of the work was done the first day, and everything after was the fine details. Installing doors, getting the windows just right, planting grass in the inner courtyard, sanding the wood, and the thousand and one other little details. It was stunning to watch the whole thing come together.

Equally stunning was the bill. I knew how much it cost, but actually paying brought it all home.

I was at the bank with th...

Announcement - Dead Tired, Mango Media, and the future

Hey all!

FIRST - No changes to BTDEM's schedule, post frequency, etc. Everything remains the same there.

SECOND - This post has nothing to do with BTDEM. Just me as the author. If you're not interested, feel free to bail now!

THIRD - This will probably be the only time I mention Mango Media here on Patreon, apart from maybe an occasional mention in the monthly author announcements. You're all here for BTDEM.

Alrighty! WIth the disclaimers out of the way, let's talk a...

Chapter 459 - There’s no place like home

I saluted Arachne.

“Forgive me, I haven’t been sent on a mission before. Just, the entire situation feels a little unusual. A message through Night, instead of a courier? Directly to me, and not something with the Sixth?”

Arachne gave me a small smile.

“Good, you did notice. Yes, this one is unusual, even by Sentinel standards. Normally, what I’ve got here is a job for a Ranger team. Specifically, Ranger Team Gale.”

She gave me a pointed look at that.

July EOM announcements, August, September Schedule

Hey all!

The Void Month is just about nearing its completion. I'm like 50% moved in, but moved in enough that I can get back to posting. Yay!

Posting will resume on August 2nd as scheduled.

Now, I hate this timing.

Life has taken a baseball bat to my kneecaps. My basement flooded twice (Two different storms, two different spots springing a leak. It sounds worse than it is, we've mitigated and fixed, but in the moment it destroyed all concentrati...

July Incentive for Iona+ tier Patrons!

By Nort! Creator of Tara and Beverly! Find their stuff here (Slightly NSFW) https://nortverse.com/comic/overconfidence/

Okay, Imgur really dislikes the artwork, hang tight while I figure something out...

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/864504247530029117/...

Chapter 458 - Seize the Day, Mug the Night

I closed on the house! Yay!
Thank you all for making my dreams a reality! I can't thank you all enough!
This is the third and final chapter in July. The next chapter will be August 2nd, and normal posting 3x a week will resume. The time isn't quite going to be stable for a while as I sort out when's best in my day to post.

There might also be a mini announcement between here and there.

Thank you again! Enjoy the chapter!

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