Chapter 48.5 – How and Why of Terheim
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Alicia: "Hello everyone! Welcome to the first ever episode of How and Why of Tehreim!"

Scarlet: "Hi."

Alicia: "Scarlet! You need to sound excited and happy all the time, like how our creator does!"

Scarlet: "Umm...HI..."

Alicia: "Talking closer to the mic doesn't count as excited and happy."

Scarlet: "Sorry, it's just...are we really doing this?"

Alicia: "Of course we are! Our creator said it would be more interesting if we did it!"

Scarlet: "Interesting? Really? Is it that interesting for us to do it?"

Alicia: "Of course it is! At least I'd rather read a Q&A made by you rather than our creator."

Scarlet: "Isn't that rude to our creator?!"

Alicia: "It's the truth though."

Scarlet: "I think I need to teach you about things you shouldn't say about other people."

Alicia: "Really? How about right after this? And can you pet my head while doing it?"

Scarlet: "I wouldn't do that. It wouldn't be a punishment if I did..."

Alicia: "Awwww..."

Scarlet: "Haaa...anyways, the questions."

Alicia: "Umm, okay. The first one. 'Will there be anymore yuri with new characters or is it just a one time thing?' from ohmyriley. Ummm...Scarlet, what's yuri?"

Scarlet: "I'll tell you when you get older. Ahem! Anyways, according to the notes, it seems that there will be more in the future on occasion, but it won't be nearly to the level as Philia. Haaa, that's good. The fact that there will be a bit might mean that I might find someone for myself someday? The fact that it's subdued might mean that it won't be shown publicly I guess? Ahhh, just thinking about how everyone saw me kissing Philia makes my face red!"

Alicia: (Grrrr, that damn hag! It's good that she didn't get seduced by that scrawny and wrinkly face of hers. Scarlet's mine, and I won't let anyone have her!)

Scarlet: "Huh? Did you just say something Alicia?"

Alicia: "Nope, nothing! Let's move on to the next question then! Ummm...'Can slimes be used as an ingredient in personal lubricant?' from Gelcube."

Scarlet: "Ah! Ahh...do we have to answer that?"

Alicia: "We do. All the questions were picked out by our creator and we're not allowed to not answer them. But what's a 'personal lubricant'? Is it like a toy or something?"

Scarlet: "Ah I guess? It is used for a type of playing."

Alicia: "Can we try playing with it?"

Scarlet: "No! No, we can't. It's not a sort of play we can do!"

Alicia: "Why not?"

Scarlet: "Ummm...I'll tell you when you get older!"

Alicia: "Muuu. Why is it always that? Why do you keep dodging my questions like that?!"

Scarlet: "Ummm...well, I don't know the answer to everything. Some times I just can't answer."

Alicia: "Oh, okay. You know so much, sometimes I forget."

Scarlet: "Thanks. Oh, right, the question. Ah! There's an answer for it already. Umm, it says 'Yes, however I do not recommend it, as the burning sensation is quite strong. I personally am not a fan of blood mixed in with my physical fun times, but I'm not you. Unlike K-Y, more is not better'..."

Alicia: "Scarlet? Are you alright? Your face is red again."

Scarlet: "Ah! Umm, yea, I'm alright! Let's move on then!"

Alicia: "Ummm...okay. The next one is 'Can't she just change her appearance to look like a male vampire, like she has some trouble adapting so why not change her appearance to at least look male if she can't fully change her gender?' from Ruiso. The answer is never! Scarlet is beautiful the way she is! I won't let anyone make her a man!"

Scarlet: "Ah, umm...thanks? Anyways, the thing is, I've kinda gotten used to this body of mine. Changing it feels weird, and it would be a pain to get used to a new body all over again, so I won't do it just to be a man again. I mean, the only difference really is what parts stick out, right?"

Alicia: "Why are you asking me? I don't know what it's like to be a man."

Scarlet: "Oh umm...it was rhetorical. Well, another bit is that things get complicated pretty quickly with the [Alter Silhouette] skill, and using it requires a bit of awareness and effort. It's not much, but if I become too disturbed, the transformation will be undone. The process is pretty painful when it's only my eyes and fangs. Just thinking about how it would be like for my whole body makes me shudder."

Alicia: "It's okay Scarlet. That dwarf can't hurt you anymore?"

Scarlet: "What are you talking about Alicia?"

Alicia: "Oh, nothing."

Scarlet: "Oookay?"

Alicia: "Now then, the next question! 'How long until I get to see my cute Alicia again?' from Ruiso. Yea! How long until I get to show up again?"

Scarlet: "It says here the answer is...'spoiler' with a smiley sticking out it's tongue."

Alicia: "Boo! I wanna come back and hug you all the time again!"

Scarlet: "I do too. I really do..."

Alicia: "Ah! It's okay! We'll always be together while we're doing the Q&A!"

Scarlet: "Yea, but that's only until this ends."

Alicia: "So we'll make the most of it!"

Scarlet: "I suppose so."

Alicia: "Ehehehe. I love it when you hug me Scarlet. You always smell so nice and are so soft!"

Scarlet: "Umm...yea...(Why does everyone like to bury their face into my chest so much? Wouldn't they get tired of it after a while?)"

Alicia: "..."

Scarlet: "Okay, it's been ten minutes. How about we continue with the Q&A?"

Alicia: "...can we do it while we're still like this?"

Scarlet: "Oh alright."

Alicia: "Yay! I love you Scarlet!"

Scarlet: "I love you too Alicia."

Alicia: "Okay then, the next question! 'My question though is, why did she go through all that? There was no point in pretending to be somebody else, they would have just seen a dead body. She could have left and they would have just had a murder mystery. And if they looked into it enough they would have found evidence of his illegal activity. THEN they would have assumed that was the cause of his death. No need to pull the farce she did.' By ThatOneJester. Wow, what a long question."

Scarlet: "It is. Well, then...basically, I didn't have much information to work off of, and had to make a lot of presumptions. Maybe it wasn't very obvious, but my thought process at the time was that being seen going inside of noble's house, having the noble die, then not be seen leaving would make everyone suspicious about a woman in black robes and long silver hair. But if said woman appeared to not be in a position where it was possible to have been the one to have done it and there was enough evidence to suggest a third party, she could buy enough time to get out of the city and if she stayed away long enough, everyone would forget about her. The disguise beyond that was insurance, as almost everyone who knew her believed she was an elf, and the one who left the mansion was obviously a foxkin."

Alicia: "So basically it was all just in case?"

Scarlet: "Yup. If they chased after a person who didn't exist, it would keep myself and the orphanage much safer."

Alicia: "Alright then. Next question is 'Is there a reason why Scarlet is masquerading as an elf as supposed to any other race?' from binarysoap."

Scarlet: "I'm not. Vampires like myself just look like it to the casual observer if they don't notice our fangs or eye colour. I might be more easily figured out by an actual elf, but I've only seen one in this life so far."

Alicia: "Yup. It's all just a misunderstanding. Now the next question. 'WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF FELIX BEING ADOPTED!?! TELL ME AUTHOR-SAMA!!!' from SovietWeeb. NEVER! She won't every come back ever and ever again!"

Scarlet: "Are you alright there Alicia?"

Alicia: "Ha! Umm, I am. Sorry."

Scarlet: "No, it's fine. I was just a bit surprised. Ummm, do you have something against Flix?"

Alicia: "No. I don't have anything against that thieving cat."

Scarlet: "She's a fox though. Oh well. Ummm...legally speaking, it won't happen. Not like with Alicia."

Alicia: (Yes!)

Scarlet: "However, we will be hanging out together in the future quite a bit, but when and in what form is a secret."

Alicia: (Grrr. She should just stay in that orphanage and never come out again!)

Scarlet: "You really alright there Alicia?"

Alicia: "I am! Next question! 'What is going to happen with the city characters once Scarlet departs? Are they here for this arc only? Will there be other permanent characters (aside from Alicia) in the future? Do you have a central plot for the story in mind or are you making it up as you go? Do you believe that the Nanjing government could've won the Second Sino-Japanese War even if the United Front had not been established?' from Zephyrus."

Scarlet: "Ummm, for this multi-part question, we have an answer straight from the creator:

'Some of the characters will come back in the future. I've set up way too many threads and foreshadowed too much to abandon them at this point. Maybe you noticed a few of them? But they'll be taking a back seat until Scarlet meets up with them again later on. I have roughly a half dozen characters that will become regulars in the story, though it won't ever stop following Scarlet as the central MC.

When it comes to the plot line this entire arc was completely unplanned and only came about because I realized that it was weird for Scarlet to go to a large settlement only to leave a day later and nothing immediately important happening like four times in a row. Something important needed to happen at a town or city before the meat of the next arc, and this one happened to be the one it happened at. Beyond this, I have about a half dozen arcs roughly planned out along with the next two planned in much more detail. In fact, I even have the ending fully planned out already, though details do change as unexpected things happen as I write.

Finally, no. The Chinese were screwed from the start during that war. Unlike what happened in Russia just a little earlier, the Nanjing government didn't stand a chance in the long run, and barely got anything done in the short term either. If the States didn't have colonies in SE Asia, Japan would've taken the entire region along with all the good bits of China. After that though is anyone's guess, as history is too complex to come up with solid answers to what if scenarios. Overall, the Sino-Japanese war was quite a different story from the European war, as it was the time's equivalent of a rising first world power against a bunch of third world countries. Only Russia was the only exception to that, and they almost lost their war in the east anyways. I think the only reason why they didn't lose any real territory there was because there wasn't anything worth keeping. At least when you consider how much of a treasure trove SE Asia was at the time.'"

Alicia: "Wow. There's some strange stuff in there too."

Scarlet: "A bit I guess. That last section was strangely long though. Maybe the creator is a big fan of WWII?"

Alicia: "Maybe? Anyways, next question: 'How much blood does Scarlet drink?' From a lot of people."

Scarlet: "Well, generally four litres a day is enough for me. It's nice and filling, and I won't feel hungry for most of a day after that, but if really wanted to, I could drink as much as forty litres at once."

Alicia: "Forty?! Really? How! How does it fit in your body?! Isn't that bigger than you?!"

Scarlet: "I don't know if it's bigger, but at the very least it's eerily close. Well, the answer is that it doesn't, not really. My [Blood Sucking] skill lets me take more blood as I raise it's rank. The reason is that my body converts blood into mana, which is used to repair my body and refills my MP reserves in addition to being nourishment. Any mana that isn't used for one of these purposes is expelled in my breath. The process can work in reverse to a degree as well, as ambient mana can be absorbed as I breathe, but ordinary mana doesn't have the nutrition my body needs to keep going, so no matter how much I breath in, it won't substitute for blood."

Alicia: "Wow, so that's the secret behind why you drank so much blood early on."

Scarlet: "Yea, it was great to get skills up quickly. Though a part of the reason why it seemed like I drank a lot was because I lost track of time so badly."

Alicia: "That's true. You don't sleep, and if you're drinking blood so often, you won't get tired either."

Scarlet: "Exactly."

Alicia: "So, here's the next question. 'why is Scarlet so different in chapter one compared to later on?' from quite a few readers."

Scarlet: "Oh, that. Huh. Well, to be honest, I didn't really think that any of that stuff in before I was reincarnated was real."

Alicia: "Huh? But it really felt like you did!"

Scarlet: "Well, it's one of those things where it kinda feels like a dream, but you're not sure, I guess? I mean, if something like that happened to you, wouldn't you wonder if any of it was real?"

Alicia: "I suppose so?"

Scarlet: "Anyways, that's the excuse."

Alicia: "It's an excuse?!"

Scarlet: "Yea, because our creator didn't have a good grasp of my personality at the time of writing, so things just came out that way."

Alicia: "An out of story retcon without actually changing anything in previous chapters?! How devious!"

Scarlet: "I think so too. I'm a little worried about the chapters that's coming up in the future."

Alicia: "How terrifying! Well, for the the last question, apparently our creator wants to be the one to answer it."

Scarlet: "Ah, so I guess that's the end for our time then."

Alicia: "Can we stay like this a little longer then?"

Scarlet: "Sure. We can for as long as you want."

Alicia: "Yay! Last question! 'How long did you take to decide to share the story, and I'd love to hear even more in-depth about how you plan out a story' by FireflyFanatic!"

'So, starting from the beginning, I started writing way back when I was still in elementary school. Not much, but just a bit here and there for fun. It didn't really go anywhere back then, but I got interested in learning more about writing in general, so I occasionally checked out tips and guides.

From there, I got introduced to web novels from a friend a few years back, and after spending most of a year binging on them, I got the urge to start writing again. I think I started up like 20 different stories. Some were only a chapter long, others went on for over 20. I stopped writing each for different reasons, but most of them were because I got stuck at some point. Half were because I got bored of it itself, while the other half was because I couldn't figure out how to continue the story. I want to go back to finish the ones I got stuck on, but I'll probably hate them if I did go back and find out how bad they were.

So, I was checking out an anime after being prodded by a different friend on it, as it was based on a WN I had finished reading. After checking it out, I just kinda felt like 'I could do better'. I mean, the original story was very much meh. The overall plot line was pretty simplistic, full of convenient contrivances, almost no character development anywhere, and overall not much meaning to the story. Even worse, almost every chapter was an exposition barf. But it was fun. Somehow, I really enjoyed the story, and seeing it animated was even more fun. I could tell that the animation studio was just enjoying themselves screwing around wherever they could.

So, I decided to write another story based on it, and after I got 13 chapters done, I tried making an account and releasing it.

Here we are, four months later, and it keeps hitting the top of the front page on SH, it gets mentioned a bunch in the forums. I really didn't expect it to explode the way it did.

Looking back, I feel like while I did fix a lot of the things I complained about in regards to the WN that inspired my story, in turn there's a whole ton of unique problems that got incorporated here and there.

But to everyone who enjoys my story despite that, I say thank you all!'

Alicia: "And as the same as our creator, we say thanks as well!"

Scarlet: "Ah, yes! Thank you for reading the story about us!"

Alicia: "About you! This is your story!"

Scarlet: "It's our story. I might be the main character, but I'm not the only important one there. You're one of them too, so it's our story."

Alicia: "Scarlet! *Sniff*" (If only she said it was just us two)

Scarlet: "There there. Now then..."

Alicia: "Right! So everyone..."

Scarlet & Alicia: "Thank you for reading!"

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