Here is the chapter:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19nyP6CXiUMkUXO-EXYtUjvSh0auuYzhjG1FC_M1lM3U/edit?usp=sharing
Author’s Note
Good morning everyone,
First of all, I want to sincerely apologize for the massive delay over the past few months. I’d love to come up with a good excuse—something external I could blame—but the truth is, this is entirely on me.
I actually had Chapter 9 ready on time. The problem was that it ended up being way too long—so long that I could easily split it into two full chapters.
So….that’s exactly what I did.
And that’s where the real problem started.
As some of you already know, I always roll for certain elements—characters, events, and other details—whenever I start working on a new chapter.
I did my rolls as usual, and the results I got were honestly incredible. I won’t go into specifics because it would spoil some major future developments, but what I can say is that those results allowed me to massively improve what I call the “civil arc” of the story.
In fact, that’s something you’ll probably understand much better once you read Chapter 11.
So why did this delay Chapter 9—and later Chapter 10?
Because a lot of what I had originally written for those chapters became completely obsolete.
The chapters themselves weren’t bad, but the new plotlines that came out of those rolls were simply much better than what I had initially planned. So instead of releasing something I knew I could improve, I decided to rewrite both chapters entirely, adjusting everything to fit the new direction of the story.
That brings me to the next point.
I don’t feel good about making you all wait this long, so I’ve been thinking about how to make up for it.
Especially since, in practice, you missed last month’s vote because I was busy rewriting Chapters 9 and 10.
As compensation, I pushed ahead and also wrote Chapter 11, which technically counts as this month’s release. On top of that, you’ll be getting another chapter this same month—and that one will be decided by you through a vote.
And that’s not all. I’ll also be posting three additional polls.
One of them is extremely important, and I’ll explain it in a separate post.
The other two aren’t as critical….but I’d strongly recommend not skipping them, since they’ll influence certain aspects involving some very specific preferences.
Ahem… traps… ahem.