The sun was emerging from the curtains of darkness, the wind was blowing in the calm and the clouds were light, each passing minute opened the sky in a vast endless blue color, today especially was a good day to honor the dead.
Early in the morning, Takashi and a group of recruits finished checking their respective three-dimensional maneuvering equipment, filled the fuel tanks, renewed their blades and mounted their horses, following Commander Erwin Smith and headed towards the Karanese area through Rose's territory.
On the other side of the wall Sina, Annie who had joined the Gendarmerie, woke up early and started making her move long before even the Survey Corps soldiers woke up.
In order to swap duties today with another recruit, Annie had to do too heavy a job yesterday, which was to find a missing person.
As a result, she had been busy all day, and this matter involved far more than she could have imagined. If it weren't for her excellent physique, she wouldn't have finished on time.
After grabbing a bite to eat, Annie made sure to wear her ring and hurried out of town.
Something important to do today! It's been over five years, she's been inside the wall for a long and bitter time, she must return to Marley, she wants to see her father again, even if her hands are stained with blood! However, to get back she has to bring something in return, and that something is Eren Jaeger.
She donned the three-dimensional maneuvering gear, was even able to get her hands on a green cape characteristic of the Survey Corps and then with a backpack she ran towards the Rose Wall.
She intends to kidnap Eren. She has been in the gendarmerie for a month, but she still hasn't found any information about the founding titan, there is no trace of that power. At least she can take Eren's power and return home! From the beginning, Reiner and she thought that the power of the coordinates might be in Eren.
The wind stirred Annie's golden hair and she knew she was about to start a killing spree, she was restless and she didn't know why she was thinking about Takashi, not because of him, but because she remembered how she had beaten him and he had survived.
Those memories she had with him, she lost her sanity when she attacked him without much thought.
It was late 849, a rare day of rest, where everyone was busy, preparing meals and cleaning the dining hall.
Takashi, wearing an apron, took a plate of carved potatoes from the kitchen and put them on the big table. Everyone was already waiting for the food, after the food was served, everyone couldn't wait to start eating.
"Hey, tell me, if we strike up a conversation with the titans, will they be able to talk to us?" Asked Takashi suddenly after he had put the food in his mouth.
Connie smiled stupidly and said, "Takashi, did you suddenly become an idiot? The titan will swallow you and the food alike."
Frowning, Jean looked at his puzzled, "Why do you think that way? Didn't the teacher tell you that titans have very low intelligence and only eat people? They don't even attack other animals!"
Eren, Armin, Mikasa and Sasha also felt puzzled, wondering why engage a titan in conversation in the first place.
"Ordinary titans are actually mentally retarded. I mean, compared to the Colossal and Battleship titan who seem to be very intelligent. Can we talk to them instead of the normal ones?" Takashi was unfazed by the criticism and asked seriously.
Everyone's hand movements froze and the atmosphere became very strange. Reiner's and Berthold's expressions were a bit unnatural, but no one noticed.
"Impossible, we know very little. You don't even know their origin and purpose, what they are and if they can understand human language, it would be difficult to negotiate with them." Armin analyzed.
"No need to negotiate, how many of us have they killed, I must make them pay the price!" Eren suddenly became very emotional, not hiding his hatred for the titans as usual.
"Violence leads to more violence, let's just think intelligently, hatred breeds hatred and force can solve the existence of problems, but not all kinds of problems." Takashi began to speak eloquently.
"I can't make peace with them because I hate them!" Remembering his mother, Eren said angrily, and it's rare to have a disagreement with Takashi.
"Forget it, it's just an illusory assumption..." Takashi shook his head in annoyance, Eren lived every situation a lot, he didn't know anything about the titans attacking humanity and he also didn't know if they were willing to negotiate.
"Takashi, why do you think that?" Reiner asked suddenly with an unnatural expression on his face.
"It's nothing... Well, am I the only one who feels that the actions of those titans are a bit strange? If they can exterminate humans, why don't they go all out? There haven't been any attacks these past four years."
Takashi inside his mind had analyzed all the enemies of this world and never understood why they attacked humanity. Where will those titans who can be human live if there is no world to live in anymore?
"It's a good thing, maybe they will never show up again," Connie said innocently after taking a sip of the soup.
"Well, I hope that when they appear again we are ready to finish them off, we have no choice but to defend ourselves." Takashi smiled without paying much attention.
Outside Sina, Annie, who was riding a horse, came back to herself.
In fact, she initially thought about whether it was possible to negotiate with a portion of the people inside the walls, but in the end, Reiner and Bertholdt ruled out that possibility, not to mention whether it was possible to negotiate, even she unconsciously believed that the founding titan would not be captured without a fight.
King Fritz 145: If any of you dare to provoke me, I will launch the "Rumble" to exterminate the whole entire world!
Besides, they have killed so many people and negotiations are too complicated, without trust and mutual understanding. Most importantly, Marley didn't plan to talk about it, let alone prepare any kind of conversation.
And so the Survey Corps members from the other side have arrived in the Karanese area.
When the large group of Survey Corps horses passed through the main street, many people looked at them curiously, the civilians were still friendly because they hoped that the Survey Corps could take back the Murio Maria someday.
"Come on everybody!"
"Captain Erwin, we must take back the Maria Wall!"
"Captain Levi, cut those titans down!"
It is ironic to say that after the fall of Mary's Wall, humans have a little more understanding towards the group of warriors who defied their fear and fought outside the walls, before they thought they were wasting tax money only to die.
"Are we that popular?" Sasha asked with a bit of tenderness.
"Yes, this feeling is really good." Connie was happier, now he felt like a big hero.
"We just got lucky. There was a lot of booing before the Maria wall was taken..." Jean remembered as a child, when he saw the Survey Corps pass through the Trost district, people looked at them with disgust.
Too bad he's a Survey Corps soldier now too!
"The worse the situation for human beings, the better the situation for the Survey Corps." Armin recalled the days when he witnessed the victory of his friends.
"Takashi, Christa, Ymir, it's me!" In the crowd, Liam, who wore the uniform of the garrison troops, greeted Takashi and the others.
Christa was a little surprised, "It's Liam, what a surprise to see him here. "
Ymir teased, "Hey dead weight, you're doing good!"
Liam scratched his head in embarrassment, even though he knew about what happened on that mountain, he kept the secret.
Takashi also looked at Liam, who saved on the mountain and said, "Liam, that witch is like that, ignore her."
Ymir snorted coldly, Liam looked at Takashi and reminded him, "Be careful, Takashi, remember to protect everyone."
"Don't worry, I'll kill all the titans."
Christa to the side also shouted to Liam, "Don't worry about us, you too, take good care of your mother and protect the walls."
Liam nodded and watched Takashi and the others walk away.
Eren stayed in Levi's squad, he was full of confidence at that moment and he felt that his battle was about to start.
When he saw the two kids lying at the window looking excitedly at the Survey Corps team, he couldn't help but laugh, he remembered that he had been like that before, it's been many years, hasn't it?
This time, we'll definitely win this time!
Takashi didn't know that the protagonist Eren was raising the flag of victory again, otherwise, he would beat him up.
"The nearby titans have been attracted!"
"The gate will open in 30 seconds!"
"Today we will take a new step!"
After the gate was opened, the scenery outside the wall was barely visible. Commander Erwin, who was no prince, rushed to the front on a white horse and shouted, "Let's all go!"
"Roar!!!"
"Metallic sound!"
Everyone shouted loudly, many even pulled out their knives and rode their horses forward. The Survey Corps carriages and horses took off in a line, heading towards the fallen Mary Wall!
Takashi mounted his horse and looked toward the black top of the Karanese district gate.
After exiting the city gate, the field of vision widened in an instant, everything felt so big.
As soon as the large army came out of the city wall, an abandoned village appeared. After the fall of Mary's Wall, all the towns and cities in the territory were deserted and the people were evacuated to Rose's Wall.
The walls of the buildings in the town were covered with moss and vines, weeds grew on both sides of the main road and the wooden doors were a little rotten, which was desolate.
There are several titans wandering in it.
"Boom! Boom!"
A 10-meter tall titan with a beer belly saw a group of Survey Corps members and walked toward the legion.
Many recruits suddenly became nervous, and an old Survey Corpsman shouted, "Don't panic, the support squad will take care of them, keep going!"
Indeed, several elite squads of the support squadron moved forward to contain or kill the titan.
The recruits barely kept their cool, and the large force continued to advance, and soon raced out of the city, heading for a more dangerous area.