Inside a residential building,
"Lock, thanks to you this time, otherwise Eren and Mikasa might have been…"
Thinking of the possible terrible consequences, Karal was speechless, her eyes blurred with tears.
This made Eren and Mikasa anxious, unsure how to comfort her.
"Aunt Karal, please don't say that. I have always regarded Eren and Mikasa as my brothers and sisters. As a brother, how could I let them get hurt?"
Touching the small heads of Eren and Mikasa, Lock changed the subject casually and asked Grisha and Karal, "By the way, when did you leave? I went to your house before, but didn't see you…"
"I was going to send your uncle Grisha inland to practice medicine, but who knew the city wall was breached by Titans just as we set out, with huge rocks flying across the sky.
If we had left just a few steps later, we wouldn't have seen you!"
Karal's eyes remained full of lingering fear.
As a housewife, all she wanted was a harmonious family—just the few of them complete, living peacefully forever. She had no other ambitions.
But because the wall was breached by the Titans, everything was gone.
Fortunately, Grisha and Eren were safe… Otherwise, she really didn't want to live.
Feeling the same pain, Masha, sitting next to Karal, held her hand tightly and comforted her through tears:
"Don't think too much. Though the home is gone, at least the family is still here. We can start over, right?"
"Yes…"
Karal nodded heavily. "Start over!"
Seeing the two girls like that, and after being at a loss at first, Alan's eyes suddenly filled with fierce hatred.
He hated the Titans!
If it weren't for them, his mother wouldn't cry!
If it weren't for them, there wouldn't be so many displaced people! There wouldn't be so many tragedies!
Creatures like Titans should not exist in this world!
Noticing Alan's expression, Lock sighed inwardly:
Although you haven't yet experienced your mother being devoured by a Titan in front of you, from this situation, it seems inevitable you'll face it eventually…
His eyes shifted to Grisha, who had remained silent.
According to Aunt Karal, Grisha had not yet left for the inland, meaning he had not yet taken the power of the Founding Titan.
This shocked Lock, because it was excellent news for his plan.
It was not the right time to seize the Founding Titan power directly. Even if he were to, neither Grisha nor Alan could handle it.
After all, both had royal blood but could not directly activate the coordinate power.
Lock couldn't afford to wait until the plot advanced to a later stage.
He couldn't stay silent any longer.
When the wall was breached, the old power structure inside the walls collapsed. Peace was no longer an option.
He could now fully pursue actual benefits from the ruling Reis family.
But only temporarily.
The Reis family, bound by the ideology of the "Twilight Paradise" and the "Non-War Agreement," had no ambition to develop themselves or leave the walls.
They blindly followed the ideas of Karl Fritz, willing to lead millions of Eldians to die quietly inside the walls.
The Reis family didn't know that a technological revolution had already happened outside Paradis Island.
The seemingly invincible Titan power's deterrent effect was gradually fading.
In addition, Paradis Island's resources were plentiful. Even without fighting, Marley and other powers that emerged during the technological revolution would eventually attempt to invade.
Strong ships and powerful guns would come.
If they delayed, they would be crushed.
An eternal truth.
The most disappointing part was that the Reis family, despite being the true rulers inside the walls, lacked any ambition to progress or even protect their people, their believers, and their domain.
Frieda Reiss, the holder of the Founding Titan power, could have prevented all this.
Unlike Lock, a mere outsider, she had the position and authority as part of the ruling class.
But in the end, she remained inactive.
The family had grown rotten and irrelevant to the times.
Simply sacrificing the lives of a few to preserve the majority outside wasn't noble—it was cowardice masked as atonement.
Yet escape would never solve the problem.
Your only purpose should be to help me gain greater power and status. After that, I won't need you anymore.
For people so utterly corrupt, as a time traveler, Lock undeniably held a grander view of the world—an almost god-like perspective.
The outer Maria Wall was already breached. The Marleyan Warrior unit had infiltrated and would soon act.
Lock knew time was running out.
It was unwise to linger.
When will you take action?
He glanced at Grisha without drawing attention and made a decision.
The most urgent task now was to excuse himself.
Because Grisha, already aware of the Reis family's secrets and shocked by the wall's breach and the people's suffering, might seize the power of the Founding Titan at any moment.
He must not let that happen.
But a major problem stood before Lock.
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