Quesada's Swan

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

There's someone running, and attacking a daemon with her spear! It's an exorcist!

But the daemon wasn't Dyle.

She's crying...because the Abbey's refused to help this village since they don't want to follow their rules.

But she's trying to make excuses for herself in front of Velvet. She's a praetor.

Eleanor Hume is her name.

The look on Velvet's face is classic "idgaf." She asks about Dyle.

Eleanor wanders off to find Dyle and "put it to the sword." She doesn't even see the daemon as a person, of course.

A girl asks if the praetor's gone. She's relieved that she'll get eaten. She then starts denying that she's hiding a daemon.

Rokurou reassures her that he won't tell anyone. He sort of reminds me of both Lhev and Nyiva here... (names ciphered)

She points out the lizard daemon Dyle is in the northern cave. She gives them fruits to keep them quiet.

Velvet and Rokurou eat them. It tastes good for Rokurou.

But Velvet looks sad. She can't taste the fruit anymore...

Rokurou has a serious look on his face.

The game tells us we're now in Beardsley, the Snow-Covered Hamlet.

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Velvet wonders why there are exorcists patrolling the outlying areas.

Rokurou points out they're there to "measure the success of whether exorcists win or not." He also says it's to put a check on other exorcists, to ensure they're doing their jobs. He likens these exorcists to MPs.

Now how does he know that? I'm getting suspicious of how much Abbey lore he knows...

Rokurou: "Still, it's best not to take a woman's tears at face value." Rokurou, you teaser...

So the villagers here are discriminated against by the Abbey.

Lol, Rokurou's cuddling with yaks...then the yak burps at him!

The villager nearby warns him not to smell their burps, as they ruminate their food.

So Beardsley's the sulfur supplier, while Hellawes sells flamestone. But business and trade remain stagnant in Beardsley...

One villager hates the Abbey's strict rules to the point where he stole medicine from Hellawes for his child...

We find another Katz chest and free the Katz from the box. No reward.

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The Abbey even crushes local businesses too...

Most of the villagers have given up trying to cover for Dyle.

Eleanor usually checks up on Beardsley's citizens by "asking them 'serious questions.'" One warns that she might get in trouble if she starts getting too curious...

So if one breaks a rule, or doesn't follow the Abbey to the letter in Hellawes, one ends up in Beardsley. Oh my god...

The Elder explains more about what happened after the Advent, saying that the exorcists came to "quell the tide of daemons and to restore the human world." But they could only protect the "important" cities.

Elder: "There aren't enough exorcists to protect everyone."
Rokurou: "When the going gets tough, cut off any excess baggage. It's the 'rational' thing to do."

I'm guessing that's probably why Artorius turned on Velvet...it was the "rational" choice for him...

Elder makes his case for humanity. They're not robots or cattle, he says. He and the other villagers chose to defy the Abbey for the sake of their freedom.

Exorcists aren't perfect...

Now one question's on my mind for this week:
Is Rokurou a spy? He seems to know certain things about the Abbey, and about ships...or maybe he's that good at observations?