"Koris, go dump the trash from the cargo hold. Remember—don't open the bags. If I smell that damned garbage, you'll be scrubbing toilets for two months!"
"Yes, Captain!" The young man in a Marley soldier's uniform answered loudly. His face still carried a trace of youth—clearly a new recruit who hadn't been in the army long. And because he was new, the Marley soldiers on the ship naturally bullied him.
Koris dropped the mop he had been holding and hurriedly opened a cabin door. Inside the dim compartment, many tightly tied burlap sacks were piled together, faintly emitting a stench.
Suppressing the urge to vomit, Koris began dragging the sacks with effort, pulling them to the side of the ship and tossing them into the sea. At this time, humanity had no real concept of environmental protection.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Koris looked at the last remaining sack and gathered his strength to lift it.
Suddenly, something inside the sack twisted strangely.
"Ah!!" Koris was startled badly. He instinctively threw the sack to the ground and fell back onto his rear, staring at the writhing sack in shock and uncertainty.
After a while, the sack was still slowly squirming, as if something were trying to crawl out.
Looking at it, Koris made a decision he never would have dared to make before. He slowly approached the sack, cautiously untied the rope at its opening, then quickly retreated to the doorway, peeking out with only half his head exposed.
All at once! Koris' eyes went wide—a human hand stretched out from the sack.
...
One day later.
In the dim cabin, Koris watched the child in front of him, who was devouring food ravenously, his expression full of worry.
It was hard to believe—who could have imagined that the sack contained a pile of foam and a child? The tattered armband on the child's shoulder showed that he was an Eldian.
Normally, upon discovering an unidentified Eldian child, Koris should have reported it to the captain. But thinking of their mission, thinking of the group of despairing Eldians imprisoned in the ship's hold, Koris struggled for a long time before finally choosing to conceal the matter.
"Yago, do you really not remember anything at all?" Koris asked.
The black-haired little boy's eyes were somewhat vacant, but he still shook his head.
"I don't remember."
Koris sighed and told Yago repeatedly not to leave this cabin. It was almost never used—dirty and messy—and aside from occasionally storing trash, served no other purpose.
"Koris, what are you doing here?" Captain Moses, squinting his eyes, walked over to him.
"Reporting, Captain! I—I—I just wanted to smoke!" Koris said nervously.
Koris knew all too well how cruel this captain was toward Eldians.
"Oh? You've got cigarettes? Give me one too." The captain smiled, took a cigarette from Koris, and wandered off.
Watching the captain leave, Koris let out a sigh of relief. After hesitating, he threw a bundle of shredded cloth in his hand into the sea. The sea breeze lifted the light-brown scraps, and one could faintly see the symbol that marked Eldians.
"Were those sacks full of children too? Then I…" Koris' heart trembled. Unlike other Marleyans, Koris had been kind since childhood. He joined the army only for reasons of state.
As the Marley Empire recklessly expanded its colonial wars abroad, the Eldian units used as cannon fodder were no longer enough. Thus, the empire called up large numbers of young Marleyans to enlist. Fortunately, thanks to his father's past military merits and connections, Koris had been assigned to the nearly risk-free Marley navy.
Looking at those exiled Eldians, Koris couldn't understand why they were called the descendants of devils.
...
"Move it, move it! Get all these damned devil descendants up here!" Captain Moses stood atop the high platform, arrogantly directing his men as they escorted one ashen-faced Eldian after another off the ship docked at the pier—men and women alike.
Koris followed nearby with his rifle on his back, watching. He knew these Eldians were all members of the so-called Eldian Restorationists, an organization with negligible power yet a burning desire to change the status of Eldians.
But when faced with exile and transformation into mindless Titans, their faces were filled with fear.
Looking up, Koris saw the rumored lost paradise where devils were exiled—Paradis Island.
More than twenty Eldians, their hands bound, were escorted onto the platform. Captain Moses revealed a terrifying smile.
"Devils! Look—this is your hell! Hahahaha!" Below the platform stretched an endless desert.
Almost every Marley soldier had an Eldian kneeling before him.
Laughing, Captain Moses kicked the Eldian in front of him. The Eldian screamed and rolled down the sandy slope.
"Hey! Run! Hurry up! Or you'll be eaten by Titans!" Captain Moses shouted at the Eldian who struggled to his feet. Driven by an intense desire to live, the Eldian stood and fled frantically.
"Hahaha, do it!" With the order given, the Marley soldiers showed no hesitation, plunging the syringes in their hands into the napes of the Eldians before them, then kicking them down.
Blinding yellow arcs of electricity accompanied the Eldians' screams. From below came sharp, crackling explosions and the detonation of electric arcs. Koris' eyes went wide as the Eldians rolling down the slope struggled violently in midair and on the ground, their bodies suddenly swelling.
"Roar! Roar! Aoo!" Terrifying howls rose from the billowing steam. One grotesque Titan after another—varying in height and shape—twisted their bodies and chased toward the direction where the Eldians had fled.
Koris felt it hard to breathe. Those horrifying Titans seemed to make him understand why Eldians were called devils.
"See that? These Eldians are devils! They belong in hell!" Captain Moses said viciously to the soldiers under his command.
"Captain! We found a child!" Suddenly, a soldier's shout snapped the stunned Koris back to reality. He couldn't believe it and turned his head—black-haired Yago was being held down by a Marley soldier.
Koris' mouth moved a few times, but no words came out.
Captain Moses walked over to Yago, pointed at the armband, and said something unclear. Then, smiling, he came over to Koris and handed him a syringe.
"Koris, you're really lucky. First time here, and you get to personally exile a devil descendant. Come on—this little Eldian brat is yours!"
Yago's small body was shoved down in front of Koris.
"No, I—Captain…" Koris trembled as he stared at the syringe in his hand.
Captain Moses' face darkened suddenly.
"What are you hesitating for? Eldians are all devils—what are you afraid of? Don't be such a coward! Hurry!"
The surrounding Marley soldiers crowded around, jeering.
"Hurry up, Koris—can you do it or not?"
"What a coward."
"Haha, we'll call you Coward Koris from now on!"
In the end, Koris still tremblingly aimed the syringe at the back of Yago's neck. Suddenly, Yago turned his head. His pitch-black eyes met Koris' gaze.
"Thank you for the bread."
Koris' breathing caught—but another hand grabbed his and slammed the syringe down. The clear liquid was injected into Yago's frail body.
Without changing expression, Captain Moses kicked Yago off the platform.
Boom!! Yellow arcs of electricity flashed, and a towering black-haired Titan, a full fifteen meters tall, appeared before everyone.
"Hoh, didn't expect a stinking little brat to turn out this tall," Captain Moses clicked his tongue.
Koris stared blankly at the Titan below.
"Roar…" The Titan shook its head, let out a low growl, and ran off toward the distance.
...
An additional chapter for your Power Stones. Thank you