Hello, Aorii here for a brief update~

No, Daybreak is still not ready to move onto vol.3 yet. I've been consolidating ideas, but for the most part my last two months have been taken up by real-life issues (mostly: switching job, family visits, etc.). Sadly, that means not much time for looking up artists either...

Nevertheless, my goal is to start vol.3 proper by early June, if for nothing else than to keep Daybreak alive in regards to Baka-Tsuki's project status page ^^'

That being said, I am posting a short update -- something I started months ago and completed purely for fun. It doesn't follow a plot thread or anything. But if you're like me and appeciates random slice-of-life banter that may or may not reflect on some character details, enjoy~!

The last chapter of Daybreak volume 2 is out! It's a little late (partially due to a blog backup migration), but it's also much longer than my usual.

Much thanks goes to Kadi for help bringing it about. I pestered him with enough drafts to make him tired of reading it XD Given the difficult characters involved, this chapter was quite challenging to write.

I expect it will take a few weeks before I'm truly ready to tackle volume 3. As you can tell from the chapter's end, there are a lot of details to prepare, and even more characters to introduce (I can hear some readers groaning). Volume 2 planning was rather rushed after the finish of volume 1 and it took its toll, so I'm not making that mistake again!

That being said, volume 3 will start with a few slice-of-life chapters. This is not just to offer the characters a break but also motivated by political necessity, which Pascal will touch base on during the first chapter.

During the break I'll be working on setting design, storyboarding, starting to find an artist (help on this is always welcomed o/), etc etc. It won't all be quiet either as I plan to post some character/country profiles, and possibly a few 'special' chapters that I'm simply writing for fun.

Things to expect for Daybreak volume 3:

• Proper downtime after the hasty events of Winter Typhoon.
• Marina joins the party.
• Cecylia joins the party proper (as opposed to detached duty).
• Kaede ''discusses'' the concept of a limited gunpowder adaptation for Hyperion warfare and weighs its pros and cons.
• Sylviane pokes Kaede's past and the genderswap discomforts she doesn't want to think about.
• Pascal deals with the aftermath of the Nordkreuz bombing and plans for its economic recovery, with insight into Hyperion industrialization/infrastructure.
• Tofu (I miss tofu...).

Lastly, a big thanks to everyone who provided feedback for chapter 15. I rewrote the last scene about Admiral Winter. For those interested, please take a look and see if it fits better ^^

~~ Aorii

After the last much-delayed chapter of Daybreak, this one comes on accelerated schedule: 12 days. ^^

Here's the chapter. No music this time =P

Much of this chapter refers to the event of v2ch9's last scene, if you need to go back as it's been too long.

Only the finale chapter in volume 2 left to go. The good news is that 1/3 of it is already done. The bad news is that I'm just getting into the hard part. So, we'll see how long it ends up taking.

Some of you may have already noticed a certain pattern to my writing: events will often 'resolve' quickly, only to have its effect and influence balloon out later on. I'm really not a believer of 'self-contained', single-volume stories that many LNs adhere to (with mostly only character carryover). I realize that the ever expanding snowball of details from past events may be burdensome to some readers, but this is what macrocosm worldbuilding takes. If you have suggestions on "reminder notes" that could be used, feel welcome to suggest it o/

~~ Aorii

This chapter update certainly did not meet my promise of 'around three weeks'. orz.

I can give you a lot of excuses, like family visits during the holidays, or falling sick right before my final exam for my professional class, or the fact it was very difficult to write -- I probably rewrote more scenes in this chapter than any other for a long time, one of which redone three times.

...But the biggest reason for the delay is because I got lazy ^^'

That being said, I'm still not exactly 'satisfied' with it. There's something missing, except neither me nor my beta-readers can put a finger on this intuition of mine (although Kadi shares it). So if you have any suggestions, please feel free to bring them forward.

So anyhow, here's the conclusion to the Battle of Nordkreuz. Will be the last battle I write for a considerable while, thankfully.

Since I've been hooked on Tears to Tiara 2 (a very good history/theology-inspired visual novel but terribly-paced SRPG) and its music absolutely hit the home run, here are two more battle tracks for your enjoyment while reading.
Warrior's Fate, Hamilcar (for warming up)
Arrive, Decisive Battle!

~~ Aorii