Scribble scribble scribble.

"You didn't, I take it, meet anyone with a Necklace of Sustenance?"

"Not that they were admitting to, at least."

Anyway as far as Blai knows he has nothing in particular on for the rest of the day. He'll finish the sermon book so he can return it.

Erastilian sermons!

...But even in the thick of battle, remember what we are fighting for. We are not fighting for our children's children to bear the burden of fighting in a ceaseless war; we are fighting for a world where they will not have to. For a world where an infant can grow to adulthood and never once lose a neighbor or a relative to the hordes of the Abyss. For a world where fathers are not called away from their families to fight on the front lines. For a world at peace...

...It may seem a small thing for a man to enjoy the company of a camp follower, even if he has a wife waiting for him at home. But it is not the will of Erastil. Erastil does not call on us to be faithful only when it is easy, and to say otherwise renders the word meaningless. How can a man say he is faithful, if he allows the temptation of lust to drive him to conduct he would not dream of narrating to his wife?...

...She was afraid, because she did not know whether she would be able to feed her family. But now that her sister was dead, her sister's children had no one else to care for them, and so she was resolved to do her best for their sake. She set herself to providing for them in every waking hour, no matter how her feet ached or her fingers grew stiff. Even in the times of greatest desperation, she never once complained, for her complaints would not feed the children.

And when the harvest came, she was blessed with a great bounty, for Erastil had seen how diligently she had worked for their sake and rewarded her for her steadfast heart...

...There are those who say that the virtues of men are superior to the virtues of women, but this is not so. It is true that the world need those who possess a spirit full of valor, or honor, or mettle, or justice, or loyalty; but so too does it need those who possess a spirit full of compassion, or patience, or resourcefulness, or mercy. Furthermore, there are many virtues that belong equally to both sexes. Men and women alike ought to be honest, ought to possess good judgment, ought to be temperate in the face of drink or other temptations. Even obedience, which has often been called a virtue of women, in truth belongs to both sexes, for a soldier who is not possessed of obedience will be a poor soldier indeed...

...No matter how far your service in Mendev's armies takes you from your home, remember that your labor still protects your community. When you patrol through the snow in the depths of winter, when you fight back a demonic siege, you are not only fighting for the sake of your comrades-in-arms, or for strangers you'll never meet. You are fighting for your parents, your younger siblings, your wife, your children. Your sacrifices here protect them, and without your efforts they too would fall prey to the forces of the Abyss...

(It's close to the start of dinnertime when they finish; Irabeth's made another trip back from the Garrison, and from the set-up the bartender is doing he's apparently decided that the time for the celebratory party is now.)

The Erastilian stuff is more... foreign... than even the Sarenrite bits, but he does think he's getting something out of it.

Does Stasia want it back or should he give it to the Erastilian fellow direct?

"You can give it back to Kyado for now." She hesitates for a moment. "—I'm sorry if I was rude to you earlier, I was worried you might be a demon in disguise."

"...you were extremely restrained if you had that under consideration, really."

"...well, if you were a demon, it wasn't going to help to get mad at you for being a demon. Because then you'd probably just kill me before I could tell Anevia. But I'd never heard of someone coming from another timeline, and I have heard of demons trying to trick people with stories that don't make sense."

"I've never heard of the timeline thing either. Uh... if I have to explain this to more people in the future can you think of ways it might have come across less alarmingly at all?"

"...I'm not sure. It would probably be less frightening for people who don't live somewhere with so many demons?"

"Stands to reason."

"I'm sorry I don't have anything more helpful. It's just, for something like that, it's always going to be more likely you're talking to a succubus with a complicated plan. ...I guess if I'd seen you do a channel, it would've been less likely you were secretly a disguised demon? But the Count can channel to heal even though he's Evil and hates all the gods, so there might be a way for demons to do it too."

"Yes. I suppose I could brandish the angel sword more freely."

"The angel sword?"

"...I had sort of imagined the rumor mill was more thorough. There is a sort of magic immaterial sword that I found underground shortly after I first arrived on the scene and now I can do this." Voila. "I have been conservative because I do not know its usage limit but it may be that I should go about finding it."

Probably it would be more thorough if she were spending less time posted in the pantry. 

"...Huh. There are demons that can do illusions but I don't know if they can do illusions that feel like that." (Could they do it with a Suggestion? Maybe, but not to a whole crowd...)

"The Prelate seemed to find it convincing and that is, I take it, a high bar."

"—Oh, if he thinks they couldn't do it then they almost certainly couldn't. But he knows more than I do about what sorts of things they can do."

"Anyway. Thank you very much for the loan of the book."

She smiles at him. "I hope it was useful to you!"

It was informative in that he now suspects his sensation of inadequate catechization will persist until he's been dead for several hundred years that's not fair, he hasn't even tried going to Lastwall. "Very, yes."

He'll go give it Kyado if the fellow can be found.

Kyado is hovering near Fiducia Rathimus.

He holds out his holy symbol to Blai. "While you're here, would you mind saying a prayer over it? For good luck."

".........do you have one in mind?"