> Huffing, I flipped my hair over my shoulder in a perfectly childish act of pretend-annoyance, turned my back on them, and leaned against the counter. Aiming for an even more impressive display of casual boredom and utter disrespect for the stuffy adults, I raised myself up onto the very tips of my toes — stupid child body — so that I could rest my elbows on the awkwardly high countertop.

Hi everyone,

I promised a chapter by the end of February, and it's March now so things are obviously taking a bit longer than expected. Nevertheless, there is progress. I've just completed the second draft of the side story I promised. Did I mention earlier that it was 10k words? Well, I lied. It's much closer to 20k words. Anyway, I'll be doing a last proofreading and cleanup pass now, and hope to begin posting it by the end of the month.

As I'm on to proofreading, allow me to put on my best begging face. I still need beta readers. f you'd like to beta-read Vale, and help prevent glaring continuity errors, plot holes, or inconsistencies from slipping in, let me know.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

On even more story-related news, both the side chapter and volume two involve more locations than just Birnstead. An easy way to convey where all the mentioned places are located sure would be convenient, wouldn't it? Such a convenient tool is sometimes called a map. We have those so-called maps. Have some maps:

image [https://i.imgur.com/SKkw7Vs.png]

This first one is just Birnstead and its surroundings. The next one is a more country-level overview. It even has a little arrow pointing toward the distant continent of Ostea on it:

image [https://i.imgur.com/wmZYliZ.png]

Finally, discord. You know, it's that thing all the hip, trendy, and popular authors use to engage with their readers. Alas, I may not be hip, trendy, or popular. But I do have a discord server now. I don't know how that will turn out. I'm terrible at engaging with people. But hey, it's there now for you to use:

https://discord.gg/kF9ErFYrnX