Now then, around here should do.

Where should I begin?

Maybe I should begin from when Owen and I were still young, and were competing over the same woman.

Pardon me, but if you could, please skip over that.

I agree with Paris.

You two are a tough audience. I'm only joking.

Hey, Hans, you understand, don't you?

......

Oh, sorry. This isn't an easy story to tell.

But I will try. The story of the founding of the Akras Summoners' Hall...

......

Lucius's Gate opened, and from it Owen first left for Grand Gaia.

He then became a Summoner and returned.

Afterwards, along with Warlon and myself, who were also able to see the gate...

...Owen went adventuring in Grand Gaia.

You all know the story up until this point.

Yes. We have that legend in the Empire, too.

Ho ho ho, you're exaggerating by calling it a legend.

We were just enjoying adventuring in an unknown world...

...adventures across Grand Gaia, which we knew only from myths.

......

Our adventures took us to all kinds of lands.

Unlike the present day, there was almost no information left on Grand Gaia...

...and we fumbled our way from place to place.

I've heard a little bit about this, too.

That we're able to adventure around Grand Gaia now thanks to the information gathered by our predecessors.

That information was gathered by the lost leaders of the Demon Slayers, not by us.

Members of Ishgria's Recon Squad who came later, held in high regard by Mirfah.

......

We just let our adventures take us wherever our whims dictated...

...on dangerous journeys that others could not undertake.

Then after the founding of the Summoners' Hall, we sent others to survey and explore the land...

...and blaze a trail for others to adventure in Grand Gaia.

...well, we've gotten a bit off track.

Where were we?

Before the founding of the Summoners' Hall, when Owen and the rest of us were adventuring as we pleased...

...we discovered a certain document.

A document?

Yes, a little scrap of paper mixed in among countless other pages.

An insignificant thing that would definitely be overlooked in a normal search.

However, for some reason, it fascinated us.

As if it was our destiny to find that scrap of paper...

What was written on it?

Just a brief, inscrutable passage, and the author's name.

......

We felt as though we had missed something, and tried to forget about that paper.

But the same name continued to turn up on items at other ruins and battle sites.

Sometimes it was words inscribed on stone tablets, and sometimes it was even engraved in walls.

And as we read each one, the words were incomprehensible and mysterious.

However, as we continued to read over them, in time we began to understand the writer's intent.

The writer had feared the eyes of the gods.

They feared that their record of the truth behind humanity's battles with the gods would be found and destroyed.

So the writer left short passages along with a name spread across Grand Gaia...

...the truth behind humanity's battles with the gods, the tragedy that befell the author and his companions...

...the true identity of the entity maneuvering in secret among the gods...

...and numerous bits of information that seemed useful in defeating that entity...

So, so many notes, in so many forms, so many I lost count...

......

He believed that someone would avenge him...

...and that humanity would someday leave the gods behind to stand on its own.

......

The author's name was...Akras Z. Muzel.

While he once served the gods, he was the first to notice their true intentions and turn against them.

And though he lost, he lived on.

He was the one who left messages all over the land, in a solitary battle to avenge those who fought with him.

When we realized his intent, Owen and the rest of us resolved to carry out his dying wish...

...for human independence from the gods.

Thus began the founding of the Summoners' Hall. It was named in his honor.

Now I understand the founding of the Akras Summoners' Hall pretty well.

The writings contained Lucius's secret plotting, then?

Yes, that is correct.

So we tried to make the Summoners' Hall into as big an organization as we could.

In order to gain enough power to prevent the end of humanity, even if humans were to oppose the gods said to have saved them.

Did the writings also say why Karna Masta must be defeated?

......

The writings had this to say about Karna Masta...

...that he was "the first god to decide to destroy humanity."

Put simply, the fact is that Lucius did save humanity once.

But Lucius's goal was only to maintain order in the world.

Protecting humanity was simply a means toward that end.

Surely you all also understand that the situation was uncertain...

...and that we could have been destroyed by Lucius at any time?

The god that Lucius sealed away was Karna Masta.

It seems he was a wild deity, and a holy emperor in name alone.

It was only because they feared his incredible power that the other gods followed Karna Masta...

...no matter how unreasonable he was.

That's why Lucius schemed to seal Karna Masta away.

However, we defeated Lucius, who sealed Karna Masta, in order to secure our freedom.

At that point, humanity became independent from the gods.

But defeating Lucius also weakened the seal on Karna Masta.

The seal will break eventually.

Must humanity live in fear again, unsure of when we will be annihilated by the gods?

No. We will not.

To bring humanity true freedom...

...we must defeat this wild deity that would destroy us on a whim.

No matter how incredibly powerful that god is.

Seria, Paris, and Hans.

Will you join us as we go down this path?

Will you choose...

...to grant Akras's last wish and fight for true independence from the gods?

......

Despite having told you all this, I will not force you to do anything against your will.

Karl has likely heard the same story, but...

...he has chosen to keep things the way they are.

...... Lord Grahdens, I, for one, am relieved.

Honestly, I'm still not sure...

...how we would go about fighting Karna Masta.

But I could feel that you truly care...

...for humanity when you spoke.

This time...I'm confident I chose the right side.

I feel better, too, hearing that from my pretty little Paris.

One question, Lord Grahdens.

What happens to Tilith if we maintain the current situation?

Honestly, I don't know.

No matter how you look at it, we thought that when Tilith left her role...

...Ishgria would be fully released...

...and the seals on Karna Masta all over the land would break at the same time.

However, it seems that Karl thinks differently.

That's something you'll have to ask him about.

Understood. I'll be sure to ask him.

If Karl can't save Tilith...

...then I'll fight, against the Holy Emperor or whoever stands in our way.

Hans, that's what you're planning too, right?

Ho ho ho...

Hans, I can see Tilith is dear to both you and Seria.

Lady Tilith is dear to me, too!

Oh, yes, of course.

Tilith is dear to me, too.

In any case, Tilith will be freed if Karna Masta is defeated.

That's why I was searching for the location where Karna Masta was sealed in this land.

I gave Lugina orders to do the same.

......

That is everything I've been hiding about the founding and objectives of the Summoners' Hall.

What you all choose to do from now I leave for you to decide.

......

It would probably be hard to discuss this with me around.

I'll leave you to yourselves for a bit, so take some time to consider things.

But you mustn't forget your current goal.

After all, your goal now is to defeat the demons of this land.

Akras Z. Muzel... It's a mysterious name.

I'm sure this is the first time I've heard it, but it feels familiar somehow...

A human who risked his life to leave messages, in a world set to be destroyed by the gods.

I can't even imagine what he felt as he continued to fight...

That said, we have to fight right now, for our own survival.

Hans, let's get going.

I'm sure we'll find our own answers in the battles with demons to come.