......

This is...Purity Square.

No matter how much time passes, this city never changes. Ever since it was destroyed by that thing...

Mom...Dad...Amel...

Wait, Bertz! Can we just talk?

......

How much do you know about this area? About St. Creek...?

Huh?

Well, Lugi told me that a demon left the region like this...

...but I don't know anything about it before that.

......

Long ago...this region was once centered on the pure, clean waters that flowed through it, as the name implies.

And this city, too. Roux Chess was the heart of the region.

It was widely known as a small but vibrant city.

Although you might not believe it, seeing it as it is now.

The place where we're standing now in the city's center? It was a place where people came to relax, and it was always full.

On holidays and days off, it would've been lined with food carts.

My little sister and I used to beg my mom and dad for spun sugar sculptures, right over here.

Wait, you mean...?

Yes. This...is where I was born and raised.

Until it... Until that demon came...

......

I can still clearly remember the day the demon appeared...

It was all very sudden.

Everything was enveloped in flames, then came the explosions and the screams...

There was something massive and horrifying, and each time it moved...

...people who had been happily talking with each other just a moment ago began to scream and die.

I was so young, I didn't understand what was happening. All I could do was look on in horror.

......

My parents took my sister and I and tried to flee...

...but along the way, they died, shielding us as a building collapsed and fell on us.

Afterwards, I led my sister almost all of the way to the suburbs...

...but we were caught in a mass of panicked people, and became separated.

I searched for her immediately, of course, but also later, when I became a diplomat...

...and I've yet to find any leads.

In all likelihood, back then...

Bertz...

Do you know why I told you all of that?

I wanted you to know why...

...why I wanted the true power of Summoning, so much that I would even deceive the Federation and Rahnas...

I wanted you to see how I desire the strength to defend my home.

And for you to know exactly what Garrett and that girl...what Mel's plan...

...truly means for this world.

......

I am not like Mel... I'm not like that puppet.

Now, will you please hand her over to me?

B-But, I...

Hah! We give you a chance to explain yourself and out comes that drivel!

Just as I suspected, you're no better than her. Look at you...

...dragging the past around with you everywhere.

Is squaring your losses your only goal in life?!

Lugina, you...

You can't do anything about what you've lost.

How about you turn around, look ahead, and try living your damn life?!

......

Lugina, we've known each other a long time...

...but we've never really talked about where we came from.

Of course you can blow it off. You don't know what it was like.

The hell that broke loose here... The horror of that demon...

And the rage and misery of the people who lost everything they held dear...

Hmph...

......

Those spun sugar sculptures you used to beg for...there were four colors and flavors, right?

...?

Unlike you, my old man used to smack me just for asking.

Even so, I was always excited to come see the city and all its energy.

Well, back then, I was still just a kid, after all.

Lugina, what are you...? Huh...?

What? It's no big deal.

I'm not actually from the city. I lived a short distance away, off in the mountains.

But just like you, I suffered the same kind of losses to that demon as a child.

And that's the whole story.

My old man, my mom... They died that day too.

Lugina!

No...not you too, Lugi...

......

Hey, why are you making that face? I bet you're feeling sorry for me or something, right?

Well...

Didn't you hear me? I said that was the whole story.

It doesn't mean anything now!

You mean to say you've experienced the same hell I did, and forgotten the misery?

Your family was killed, your home destroyed...

...and yet you say you feel nothing?!

Don't get me wrong. I haven't forgotten, either.

I couldn't possibly.

What I mean is...letting something like that control you forever is a waste of time.

A waste...of time?

I mean, sure, the past is the past, and you never know if someday I'll have a chance to settle that debt.

But it'd be a waste of time if that was the only thing I lived for.

After all, I'm blessed with an excess of talent.

If I don't put it to good use in the future, the whole world is missing out.

Lugi, be serious...

So how about you, Bertz?

Are you satisfied, just carrying the past around with no future in sight?

Are you going to drag Mel and Garrett back to the Federation, take over for Rahnas...

...and go back to nursing those old wounds you cling to like a baby blanket?

......

Wh-What's going on?!

The ritual...has begun.

Tsch... We're done talking! We have to hurry up and get to Garrett!

We can't let him resurrect that demon.

Right!

......

Bertz, what's your plan?

Want to bow out now, and leave the rest to us?

I'm going too.

No matter what you say, there's no way I'm letting that tragedy happen again.

Nothing can change that.

Hmph...