"Hidden here?"
"Yes."
Zachary sat behind his desk, holding a slip of paper with an address written on it.
Standing in front of the desk was a soldier wearing a Military Police uniform.
"I managed to track one of them and followed him to a warehouse area in the southern suburbs," the soldier reported. "I wanted to go in and investigate further, but I was afraid of being discovered, so I withdrew immediately."
"Withdrawing was the right call," Zachary said with a smile. "If you'd gone any closer and been noticed by that man Kenny, you wouldn't have made it back alive."
"..."
At the mention of the name Kenny, a trace of fear flashed across the soldier's face. Clearly, he understood the terror that name represented.
"Then… what are your next instructions, sir?"
"Hmm, let me think." Zachary leaned back in his chair, resting against the backrest, staring at the address on the paper while stroking his chin. "Getting old—my mind's not as sharp as it used to be."
"That's not true at all, President Zachary. Your intellect is indispensable within the Walls."
"Haha, enough flattery. Alright, you can go. Don't mention this address to anyone. Pretend nothing ever happened."
"Understood."
The soldier left the room. Zachary let out a long, slow sigh.
"If what that kid said is true—that the special secret unit led by Kenny exists to protect the true king… then capturing that old bastard won't be easy at all."
Zachary wasn't young either. He'd climbed up from the very bottom step by step, and he had lived through the era when Kenny Ackerman ran rampant. Several of his friends who had joined the Military Police back then had died by Kenny's hands.
Later, after Kenny was secretly recruited, the royal government issued an order forbidding anyone from pursuing his past crimes. Kenny Ackerman was even declared dead in the newspapers—but Zachary had never forgotten.
He also knew very well how powerful the man was. Even now, in his fifties, Kenny's combat strength was still terrifying. And then there was that special unit under his command, the size of which was still unknown…
Zackly didn't know much about that unit, but he had long been aware of its existence. After all, the Military Police didn't produce that many outstanding talents every year—yet many vanished without explanation. It wasn't hard to guess where they went. With that in mind, the combat power of this unit was undoubtedly fearsome. Their duty was clearly to serve as guards for Rod Reiss—the true king of the world within the Walls.
"This really complicates things…" Zackly muttered. "Tch. Did that kid already foresee this?"
Zachary recalled what Lillian had said back then and couldn't help letting out a couple of soft chuckles.
{When you eventually locate them, please don't act rashly. Pass the information on to me, and I'll find a way to capture that king while avoiding bloodshed as much as possible}
Avoid bloodshed?
Was something like that really possible?
Zachary thought about it for a moment, then stopped dwelling on it. He lit the slip of paper with a flame, and after a few moments, it burned down to ash.
Then let's see what you can do.
---
"Did you not find any breach in the Wall?"
"Yeah… that's right."
Faced with the questions from the 104th Training Corps recruits, the veterans gave an answer that left them utterly confused.
"A hole big enough for Titans to get through, and you couldn't find it anywhere? That's strange!" Oluo from Levi's squad said as he stroked his chin. His voice dropped into a low, deliberate tone. "So what, exactly, is the truth here?"
"Hey…" Petra shot him a glare, her face dark with irritation. "Can you not imitate Captain Levi at a time like this? And he wouldn't say something like that anyway!"
"Hmph. Foolish woman."
"Huh?!"
"Alright, alright…" Lynne from Mike's squad stepped in to smooth things over. "By the way—Captain Mike still hasn't come back, has he?"
"..."
At those words, everyone fell silent.
Earlier, when the Titans had first appeared during the day, Mike had taken the initiative to charge out and draw several Titans away.
With his abilities, killing them all would have been entirely possible. By all rights, he should have returned long ago. Yet now… he still hadn't come back. What that meant—many of them already understood in their hearts. They just didn't want to acknowledge it.
"Maybe the captain wanted to hold off more Titans…" Henning from Mike's squad said weakly, forcing himself to sound upbeat. "That's why he didn't come back at night. Everyone doesn't need to worry. Titans don't move at night anyway."
"That's right," Nanaba nodded. "We don't need to worry about the captain. All we need to do now is recover our strength and wait until morning."
"Mm…"
After a full day of exhaustion—both physical and mental—no one really had the energy to say anything more.
"Hey, everyone."
Suddenly, Gelgar from Mike's squad came up from downstairs, a bottle in his hand. "Look at this—what do you think this is?!"
"Alcohol?"
"Yeah." Gelgar examined the text on the label. "What does this say…?"
"Don't tell me you want to drink at a time like this!"
"Of course not! There's no way I'd—"
As they talked, Krista—who was sitting off to the side—stared intently at the bottle, her lake-blue eyes fixed on the strange writing on the label.
Could this be… what Lillian mentioned? Something from Marley?
But judging from the script, it seemed to be the same kind of writing used inside the Walls—yet the characters themselves were ones she had never seen before…
Krista's intuition wasn't wrong. The language inside the Walls and that of Marley was the same—Eldian. After all, that vast empire had ruled for so many years; Marley wouldn't simply change its language. In fact, not just Marley—Eldian wasn't universally spoken across the world, but it was widely understood in many places. Much like English on Earth, it functioned as an international lingua franca.
As for not recognizing the characters—that was perfectly normal. Those words simply didn't exist within the world inside the Walls.
It wasn't a linguistic difference, but a gap in knowledge. Just like how people inside the Walls would never understand words such as "submarine," "tank," or "sashimi." It wasn't that the language was different—it was that the concepts themselves were outside their comprehension. If something doesn't exist in your world, how could you possibly understand it?
Of course, Krista didn't know any of this. She shook her head, snapping back to her senses—and was immediately startled.
"Ymir…"
She saw Ymir standing there, completely still, staring straight at her with an indescribable look in her eyes.
"Krista," Ymir asked quietly, "were you just… looking at the writing on that bottle?"
"Y-Yeah," Krista replied, confused. "Ymir, what's wrong?"
"…N-No, nothing."
Ymir answered strangely, then fell silent.
Krista noticed the heaviness in her expression, but she had no idea what Ymir was thinking. In truth, although she was closest to Ymir, she always felt that Ymir had many things she never told her.
When they were together, Ymir was always smiling, joking around, acting carefree. She often teased Lillian for no reason and argued back and forth with him. Yet several times, when Krista accidentally saw Ymir alone, her expression was filled with sorrow…
Krista thought that Ymir must have a painful past she never spoke of. Naturally, Krista wouldn't ask. Just as she herself had an unbearable childhood, everyone probably had memories they didn't want to revisit.
And after hearing Lillian reveal so many secrets, Krista's first reaction wasn't anger at him for hiding things from her. Instead, she felt sad… and finally understood why, when Lillian first joined the Training Corps, he was always alone, unable to truly fit into any small group.
At this moment, Krista finally understood something else.
Why had the three of them become friends?
Perhaps… it was because all of them carried pasts they couldn't bear to look back on.
People who have been hurt are better at noticing the wounds of others. Maybe those with painful memories are unconsciously drawn to their own kind.
Now she knew Lillian's past—though only partially, vaguely—but she knew enough. She had also told Ymir about her own past. Yet Ymir's past remained a mystery.
Of course, if Ymir didn't want to speak, Krista wouldn't ask.
"Looks like quite a few bandits have been using this place as a base," Gelgar said. "But that works out for us. Thanks to all this stolen stuff, we can get some proper rest. You recruits should rest too. Even though Titans won't be active at this time, we'll still take turns standing guard. We move out four hours before sunrise."
"Senpai," Armin said from the side, analyzing calmly, "I think what we really need to figure out right now is whether the Wall is actually breached. The officers searched everywhere and didn't find a hole, so I think the Wall probably isn't broken. In that case, how did the Titans appear? And there were far too few of them… If the Wall had been breached, there's no way there would be only that many Titans."
"..."
Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but nod in agreement. It really was as Armin said—only a little over a dozen Titans had appeared during the day. Compared to the breach of Wall Maria years ago, when hundreds poured in within mere minutes, this number was several times smaller.
"And also…" Armin continued, his face lit with recollection and careful thought, "when we investigated those villages, the houses didn't look like they'd been destroyed by Titans from the outside…"
So this is the clever kid the commander specifically mentioned—the one with no suspicion on him?
The soldiers from the two elite squads glanced at Armin, thinking to themselves that this kid really was sharp. He could quickly summarize and analyze the situation—truly a rare talent.
"That's right." Connie spoke up as well, his expression serious. "My village too. The houses were destroyed, but there wasn't a single trace of blood… Did all the villagers escape? But the Titan lying in my house… its body couldn't even move properly. And it just felt really strange… That Titan looked a lot like my mom…"
"Hahahaha!" Ymir suddenly burst out laughing, shattering the heavy atmosphere in the room. "You think your mom's a Titan? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard! If that were true, why are you so short? I always knew you were stupid! Guess I should be praising you as a genius instead!"
Connie clutched his head in frustration. "Can you just shut up already?! I already feel like I'm losing my mind as it is!"
"Hey Connie, if your mom really were a Titan, then your dad would have to be one too, right? Otherwise how would they even do that?"
"SHUT UP!!"
"Hahaha, this is killing me." A look of relief flashed through Ymir's eyes. She turned to the person beside her and said, "Krista, are you hungry? I'll go find you something to eat." Without waiting for a reply, she stood up and headed downstairs.
Armin watched her retreating figure and frowned slightly.
Ymir… were you deliberately changing the subject?
---
Downstairs, the room was filled with crates packed with all sorts of miscellaneous items. The alcohol Gelgar had found earlier came from here. In fact, if one looked carefully, it was obvious that these weren't things ordinary bandits could have obtained.
Whether it was the clearly military-style wooden crates, or the random assortment of items inside them.
"Hey, Ymir, find anything?"
Reiner had come down at some point as well. Seeing Ymir rummaging through a crate in the corner, he spoke up. She was holding a can at the moment, glanced at it, then set it aside casually.
"Herring. Looks like it hasn't expired yet, but the smell's not great. Let's see if there's anything else."
Reiner glanced at it, stepped closer, and picked up the can resting on the crate. He looked at the writing on it.
"Canned food…" he said—then suddenly realized something. His face changed drastically.
"These letters… I can't read them. It says 'herring'? You can actually understand this writing… Ymir?"
Cold sweat broke out on Ymir's forehead as she slowly raised her head to look at him.
---
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Earthquake-like footsteps echoed in the distance. Under the moonlight, Titans were approaching from afar.
Also moving beneath the moonlight were three fast horses.
"Did you hear that?" Lillian galloped at full speed, his war scythe folded into a short-scythe form and gripped in his right hand. He turned his head toward Annie and Marlo. "Get ready. It's time to start cutting people down!"