By the time the alarm sirens were sounded in the internment camp, Lillian—who had already fled to the harbor—heard them clearly and knew his escape had been exposed.
Under these circumstances, he had to board a ship as quickly as possible.
At this moment, three or four ships were docked at the harbor. He had no idea which one was bound for Paradis Island. But after observing carefully, he noticed several people wearing armbands carrying barrels of cargo from a warehouse onto one particular ship.
The armbands marked them as "Honorary Marleyans." Of course, in truth, even if Honorary Marleyans joined the army, they were only ever given dirty, exhausting labor. If sent to the battlefield, they were nothing more than cannon fodder.
It could be said that among all Honorary Marleyans, only the relatives of the "Warriors" who possessed the Intelligent Titans lived slightly better lives. But even they were kept under the strict surveillance of the Marleyan military. The moment a "Warrior" showed any sign of betrayal, those relatives would be executed immediately.
In plain terms, they were hostages used to restrain the Warriors.
And the bitter irony was that Eldians were branded as devils, yet the Marleyans depended on their power to invade other nations across the continent. This only made the reputation of the Eldians worse and worse—so much so that they would never be able to redeem themselves for all eternity.
Lillian walked as though casually, but inside he was burning with anxiety. His appearance was far too conspicuous. If news from the internment camp reached the harbor, the soldiers here would arrest him the moment they saw him.
So he had to determine which ship it was—immediately.
"I'm telling you, who knows how many there are this batch."
"Heard it's more than thirty…"
"Sigh… they're all our own people…"
"Shh! Are you trying to get us killed?! If the Marleyans hear that, we're finished! Back to the internment camp we go! 'Devils'!"
"Right, right, they're all devils… all devils…"
Two soldiers wearing armbands carried wooden barrels toward the ship. Overhearing their whispered conversation, Lillian instantly confirmed that this was the vessel he needed. But when he glanced at the Marleyan soldiers standing guard along the rail, he hesitated, then turned and ran toward the warehouses.
Unlike the ships, the warehouse area had no soldiers guarding it at all. Which was perfectly normal—this was a military harbor. What thief would dare steal from a place like this? Don't be ridiculous.
So Lillian slipped easily into one of the warehouses. The two Eldians he had seen earlier had been carrying barrels out from here. Taking advantage of the moment before they returned, he rushed to a corner, opened one barrel, and glanced inside.
It was full of black bread.
Thud!
He shoved the barrel over, dumping all the bread out, then blocked it off with other barrels. He dragged the now-empty barrel to the front, quickly climbed inside, and pulled the lid shut.
His small, thin body fit just barely inside, curled up tight.
Not long after, he heard footsteps approaching, then stopping right in front of him. Because he had placed his hiding barrel at the very front, they lifted this barrel directly and began to walk away with it.
"Why does this one feel so heavy?"
"Yeah, I think so too…"
"Should we open it and take a look?"
At those words, Lillian clenched the pistol hidden in his pocket.
"Forget it. If the Marleyans see us, they'll think we're trying to steal food. You know how they are—they don't need a reason to whip us. And if you dare talk back, it's straight back to the internment camp."
"Sigh… yeah…"
They carried the barrel onto the ship and placed it in the lowest storage hold. And just then, from outside, Lillian heard chaotic footsteps rushing past.
"Have you seen a teenage brat around here?!"
"A teenager… I think I saw someone in a military uniform wandering around earlier, but he vanished in the blink of an eye."
"That's him! He must be hiding in the harbor! Damn it—he slaughtered Major General Mastan's son! The general's gone half mad! Search! Search everywhere!"
"Yes!"
Chaotic voices rang endlessly outside. Lillian was trembling with fear. As long as this ship did not set sail, he ran the risk of being discovered. And once discovered, even dying would probably not come easily.
Because he had also heard that the boy he killed was the son of some major general. If he were caught, he would certainly be tortured to death — and that was not what he wanted. But now he could only place his hopes on the idea that they would not search the ship's storage hold.
The noise outside continued without pause, mixed with shouting and curses — clearly, they still had not found anyone.
In the end, some soldiers came aboard and began to search, starting from the upper decks and working their way all the way down to the lowest storage hold.
"Come on, how could that little brat possibly be on my ship?" said someone who sounded like the captain. "I've been standing by the hatch the whole time. Unless that kid can fly, there's no way he could have slipped aboard right under my nose."
"Hmph. You never know."
The searching soldier glanced at the more than twenty wooden barrels in the room and frowned slightly. "These are…?"
"All food," the captain said. "We're heading to 'Paradise' tomorrow. Of course we have to prepare something to eat along the way."
The soldier nodded, then suddenly reached out, grabbed the rim of one barrel, and yanked hard. With a loud thud, the barrel toppled to the ground, its lid bursting open. The canned cured meat inside spilled out and went rolling all over the floor.
"Hey!"
The captain immediately flared up. "I already told you it was food — what the hell are you doing?! Now it's all over the floor and we're the ones who have to pick it up one by one! Don't think that just because you're guards under Major General Mastan you can run wild on my ship! My direct superior is Admiral Kaf!"
"..."
Hearing this, the guard glanced at the cured meat scattered everywhere, nodded slightly, and asked, "This ship is going to Paradise tomorrow?"
"Yeah," the captain replied irritably, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "That brat would have to be crazy to hide on this ship. What, does he want to turn into a devil too?"
The guard nodded and said no more, leading his men out of the storage room.
"Ptuh! Damn dogs relying on their masters!"
The captain spat on the ground, cursed a few more times, then had several sailors clean up the cans. After that, they all went back upstairs.
Curled inside the barrel, Lillian finally let out a breath of relief, though fear still lingered in his heart. The barrel the guard had overturned had been right beside him. One could easily imagine that if it had been his barrel instead, everything would have been over.
Even with a gun in hand, a small broken pistol could never take down several well-trained soldiers. And once a shot rang out, everyone outside would notice immediately — it would be nothing but a dead end.
But for now, at least, luck had been on his side. He had survived this ordeal. As long as he could endure tonight and wait until the ship set sail tomorrow, things would be relatively safer.