In the early in the morning, at the abandoned farm, the air was filled with a faint scent of earth and morning dew.
After washing up, Annie took Reiner and some tools to the outer perimeter of the farm to repair the broken fence and clear away the weeds.
Ellie, on the other hand, obediently expressed that she would go count the remaining dry rations and after confirming that the two of them had walked far away, she sneaked to the front door of the main house, fished out the threatening letter she had carefully concocted last night from the interlayer of her undergarment, and jammed it into the most prominent spot in the door crack.
She chuckled inwardly.
“Plan accomplished!
Next, it all depends on Annie and Reiner’s reactions.
(￣▽￣)”
About ten minutes later.
“How can that fellow Ellie be so slow at counting dry rations…”
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Reiner walked back carrying a rusted sickle.
Just as he walked up to the main entrance, his gaze was drawn to the folded piece of parchment in the door crack.
“Hmm?
What is this?”
Puzzled, Reiner put down his hoe and pulled out the piece of parchment but almost instantly, all the color drained from his face!
“This…
This is?!”
No, impossible!
How could anyone inside the walls know about this?
They had just entered Wall Rose, and hadn’t even started searching for the Founding Titan yet!
Furthermore, the identities of the Armored Titan, Female Titan, and Colossal Titan were known to only a tiny fraction of the Marley military!
Exactly how was this intelligence leaked?
Could it be…
From the very moment they set foot on Paradis Island, had every single move of theirs already fallen into the eyes of the King of the Walls?
Reiner abruptly tossed aside his hoe and rushed toward the tightly closed wooden door, gripping the parchment.
“Bang!
Snap—Boom!”
Because he used too much force, the entire door actually detached directly from the door frame and smashed into the house!
The door panel slammed heavily onto the ground, kicking up a large cloud of dust!
“Cough cough…
Reiner!
What kind of madness are you up to?!”
Annie, who was sitting inside the house, was startled by the sudden loud noise.
So she abruptly stood up, already assuming a combat stance.
“Annie!
Look at this!
Quick, look at this!
I’m afraid…
someone already knows our identities!”
Reiner rushed in front of Annie in two or three steps and handed over the slightly trembling parchment.
“What?”
Annie frowned and skeptically took the letter paper.
After just a glance, a rare look of astonishment surfaced on her ice-cold face.
[To the visitors from across the sea: Armored Titan, Female Titan, Colossal Titan.
Your arrival and clumsy farce are fully witnessed by the King.
The Power of the Founding Titan is neither within Wall Maria nor among the ignorant commoners.
Blindly destroying the city walls will not only fail to achieve the goal you pursue, but will instead incur a catastrophic disaster!
Stop harming innocent people!
Stay within the walls and quietly await guidance!
If you dare to overstep again, what awaits you is the merciless trampling of the Titans!
——King of the Walls]
“This is…” Annie’s voice trembled slightly.
The main body of the letter was written in the ancient Eldian script commonly used inside the walls.
However, on key nouns such as “Armored Titan”, “Female Titan”, and “Colossal Titan”, the writer deliberately switched to standard Marleyan script.
Not only that, but the words also mingled abbreviations unique to the Marley military.
This writing style was simplified to improve dispatch efficiency and could never appear among the common folk!
The person who wrote the letter knows we come from across the sea!”
Reiner anxiously paced back and forth in the room one moment, and tremblingly sat down the next.
“That so-called ‘King of the Walls’!
He must have caught Bertholdt!”
“No, we must immediately find the person who delivered the letter and force out Bertholdt’s whereabouts!…
Marcel is already dead, I cannot leave Bertholdt behind again!”
With that, Reiner turned around and rushed to head outside.
“Stop, you idiot!”
Annie scolded coldly, grabbing Reiner’s arm.
“Calm down!
Use your brain, will you?”
“If the opponent really caught Bertholdt, would they still mention the Colossal Titan in the letter?”
Reiner was stunned.
“What do you mean?”
“Look closely at the words in the letter.”
Annie unfolded the letter and said, “The person who wrote the letter put the Armored Titan, Female Titan, and Colossal Titan together, using the address ‘you all’!”
“If Bertholdt really fell into the other’s hands, there would be no need for him to write such ambiguous words.”
“Therefore, at least in this matter, stop worrying blindly for now.
There is a high probability that Bertholdt has not fallen into the hands of the ‘King of the Walls’.”
“However, precisely because of this, things are even more troublesome.
The other party clearly has no hostages, yet still dares to warn us directly, which shows that they don’t need to rely on bluffing to scare us at all!”
“Perhaps in the eyes of that ‘King of the Walls’, we are just insignificant bugs that can be crushed to death at will!”
Hearing Annie’s analysis, Reiner’s eyes gradually filled with fear.
If this really is the case…
Then weren’t their actions of smashing through the outer gate and sneaking into the walls all within the other party’s expectations?
Is this also within your calculations, King of the Walls?!
“I…
I’ll go check if there are any traces around!” Reiner said, gritting his teeth.
The two immediately rushed out of the house and launched a carpet-like search around the farm.
However, there were no traces of any strangers approaching around and right at this moment, a rustling sound suddenly came from the direction of the warehouse.
Annie and Reiner turned their heads at the same time.
They saw Ellie carrying a small bag of flour, huffing and puffing as she moved outward from the warehouse.
A few pieces of straw were still hanging in her light golden hair, making her look as disheveled as could be.
Reiner stared at her for a moment, then suddenly lowered his voice and asked:
“Could it be…
Ellie?”
Just as the words fell, Ellie suddenly sneezed.
“Achoo!”
A small puff of white flour sprayed out from the mouth of the bag, leaving a comical white spot on the tip of her nose.
Huh?
Ellie subconsciously twitched her nose and shifted her gaze downward.
But no matter how she rolled her eyes, she could only vaguely see a small blur of white.
“Uwaa—How embarrassing!”
She let out a pathetic cry like a small animal.
Annie and Reiner looked at this scene and silently exchanged glances.
They smiled awkwardly, simultaneously eliminating this option in their hearts.
Ellie was only a ten-year-old little girl, harmless to both humans and animals…
How could she possibly have anything to do with the King of the Walls?
Let alone write a letter full of such oppression!
“What should we do now?”
Reiner sat powerlessly on the chair, feeling as though all the strength in his body had been drained.
“Continue breaking the wall?
Wall Rose is right ahead…”
“Reiner, do you feel like we aren’t dying fast enough?”
Annie coldly interrupted him.
“The letter states it very clearly, continuing to destroy the city wall will only incur retaliation.”
“Furthermore, the Founding Titan is not inside the walls at all.
“Then what should we do, should we flee back to Marley right now?!” Reiner asked back.
Annie gave a bitter smile.
“Remember what you said when you escaped?”
“After losing Marcel’s Jaw Titan, we cannot just return empty-handed like this.”
“Otherwise, all that awaits us is being stripped of the Power of the Titans, and then implicating our families left behind in the internment zone to be executed together.”
The air fell into silence.
“…Annie, are we completely trapped here?”
Reiner said in despair.
“Is there…
really still hope for the mission?”
Hearing this, Annie painfully closed her eyes.
“Give up, Reiner.
The mission has already failed.”
“When we initially destroyed Wall Maria, we wanted to use the lives of the people on the island to force the holder of the Founding Titan to appear.
We originally thought that as long as the wall was breached, that so-called King would definitely use the power of the Founding Titan.”
“Yet what was the result?”
She opened her eyes, her gaze falling outside the window.
The scene when the Shiganshina District fell resurfaced in her mind.
Collapsed houses, crowds fleeing in all directions, and those children crying out for their parents, only to be snatched away by a Titan in an instant.
“Wall Maria has already been broken, countless people have been eaten by Titans, and more have lost their homes, forced to crowd into refugee camps awaiting death.”
“Yet the Founding Titan did not appear, and the King of the Walls did not make a move either.”
Annie’s fingers slowly tightened.
“Continuing to destroy Wall Rose won’t change the outcome either.”
“That King will not step forward proactively just because more civilians die.
By doing this, we will only let more people who have nothing to do with the mission be eaten by Titans.”
“Therefore, give up, Reiner!”
“At least…
stop using those people’s lives to add to our sins.”
With that, Annie painfully closed her eyes.
Inside the room, only the occasional crackling sound of firewood burning remained.
Reiner was silent for a long time, and finally nodded heavily.
He walked over to the stove and threw the piece of parchment into the charcoal fire that had not yet completely extinguished.
The tongues of fire instantly swallowed the letter paper, turning it into a wisp of blue smoke.
…
A few minutes later.
“Reiner!
Annie!
The dry rations are counted, we can have extra bread for lunch today—”
Ellie hugged three rock-hard pieces of bread and skipped into the main house like a cheerful Pure Titan and as soon as she entered the door, her peripheral vision caught sight of the paper ash in the stove that had not yet dissipated.
“Hehe, it looks like these two have been completely fooled by the King of the Walls!”
“The plan a huge success!
Hahahaha!”
Ellie was endlessly happy inside!
However, when she raised her head, her entire person froze in place.
The wooden door that was still nicely installed in the door frame yesterday was now lying sprawling right in the center of the house…
Broken wood chips were scattered all over the floor!
“…”
No wait, where is my house’s door?!!
You guys can be triggered all you want, why are you tearing down the door?!
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
================================================================ poor door…
I’m gonna watch Spoke’s newest video whilst i do the next chapters so if you see random notes its about that ~.~
have a good one 🙂
================================================================