Time flew by, spring and autumn passing in turn, four whole years had passed since that peaceful afternoon.
During these four years, Ellie completely abandoned the fantasy of clinging to someone powerful’s coattails, the seemingly unbreakable rule of the Reiss Family was actually already tottering and destined to sink four years later.
Before that, she had to find a glimmer of hope for her survival!
“Damn it!”
When other people time-traveled for four years, they either awakened a system or practiced divine arts, and at the very least they should have gathered a bunch of loyal subordinates, right?
But what about her?
No system, no elderly mentor, and she couldn’t even flirt with girls!
What a sin!
…
However, complaints were complaints, and in order to survive, Ellie hadn’t spent a single day idle over these four years.
During the day, Ellie Reiss was the smartest and most well-behaved illegitimate daughter in the Reiss Estate, she followed her tutor to study the characters inside the walls, arithmetic, and tedious aristocratic etiquette.
And not only did she learn quickly, but she could always draw inferences from one instance, making her teachers repeatedly call her a genius but behind closed doors, this genius was frantically studying another kind of knowledge!
Since she had already decided to run away, she couldn’t possibly not even know the way, could she?
Maps, texts of the Church of the Walls, and caravan trade route records—all of these needed to be memorized!
Therefore, she engraved every main road, path, shortcut in the southern part of the kingdom, and even where there were water sources and post stations, into her mind.
For the parts she really couldn’t remember, she just secretly copied them down.
Of course, such things definitely couldn’t be recorded directly using the characters inside the walls so to prevent leaving behind notes that exposed her secrets, Ellie displayed the wisdom of a modern college student making cheat sheets—codes!
As long as it was intelligence she knew, anything touching upon sensitive content was strictly written in English!
Anyway, no one in this world could read English!
She deliberately broke apart these characters and mixed them among doodles of the sun, flowers, ponies, and castles.
On the surface, it looked just like a little girl holding a charcoal pencil and leaving a bunch of scrawls on paper and even if Rod Reiss himself came over to inspect, he would only think that this daughter’s passion for painting had reached an obsessed degree.
In reality, Ellie was using this opportunity to record important intelligence from her past life!
“Colossal Titan, Armored Titan, Female Titan.”
“Reiss Family, Titan serum, Coordinate, roads…”
Every day before going to bed, she would recall the original plot again and supplement it with newly remembered details, lest her key memories in her mind gradually blur over time without being recorded in time.
It could be said that on the intelligence level, Ellie had pushed the preparations she could make to the absolute limit.
However, no matter how perfect the preparations were, they couldn’t conceal a fatal flaw.
This body of hers was only six years old!
Even with four years passing now, she was merely a ten-year-old little girl!
Whether it was strength, speed, or endurance, it was impossible to compare with trained adults!
“Bang!”
A small figure traced a graceful parabola from horseback, crashing into a nearby haystack.
“Pui, pui, pui…”
Ellie crawled out of the haystack covered in dirt, spitting out the hay in her mouth.
“Oh my!
Ellie!”
Marta, who had been guarding nearby all along, turned pale with fright, hurriedly lifted her skirt and ran over, anxiously patting the grass clippings off Ellie’s body.
“I told you you are still too young, why must you learn horseback riding?
What would you do if you broke something from falling!”
“I’m fine, Mother, my butt just hurts a little…
(＞﹏＜)”
Ellie grinned with a grimace.
Hiss—
Fortunately, there was a thick layer of hay underneath, otherwise this fall would have broken her into pieces!
The groom responsible for teaching horseback riding nearby also hurriedly grabbed the pony.
“Let’s stop here for today, Miss.
You have already fallen three times, and if you keep practicing, you might really get hurt.”
Ellie rubbed her bruised backside and stubbornly shook her head.
“I just didn’t stand steady when stepping on the stirrups just now.
This time I’ll be slower, and I definitely won’t fall off again!”
“But…”
“Just the last time!”
Ellie held up one finger, looking pitifully at the groom.
“If I still fall off, I’ll obediently go back to rest today, alright?”
“Sigh, Miss, you…”
How could the groom withstand this kind of plea!
After hesitating for a few seconds, he could only sigh helplessly.
“Alright then, truly only the last time.”
With the groom’s help, Ellie climbed back onto the horse’s back.
The pony walked forward slowly and Ellie continuously adjusted her posture with the undulations, finally managing not to tilt to the side like the previous few times and when the pony finished walking a full circle around the pasture, she finally raised both hands happily.
“Success!”
In the following half-month, similar scenes were staged almost every day.
At the very beginning, she needed others to carry her onto the horse, but later she could step on the stirrups and climb up by herself.
Half a year later, she was already able to ride the pony for a slow jog around the estate, and by this point her horseback riding finally looked somewhat decent.
However, horseback riding was only the first item in her training plan!
In order to be able to enter the military branches in the future, Ellie had to run two laps around the estate every morning.
This distance was nothing to an adult but she was only six years old when she started training!
Often before the first lap was even finished, her little face was already flushed and she was out of breath and by the end of the second lap, she would collapse directly onto the grass, unable to even complete sentence.
Every time she saw herself trained to such a miserable state, Frieda would run over with heartache.
The gentle royal older sister would wipe her sweat with a handkerchief, and tenderly comb through her tangled hair while softly advising her.
“Ellie, you don’t have to push yourself so hard.
With Older Sister here, no matter what happens, I will protect you!”
Facing this affection from her royal older sister, Ellie could only reply sweetly on the surface: “I know, thank you, Sister!”
Then, she smiled bitterly in her heart!
Of course Ellie knew that Frieda wished to protect her all along!
But the problem was, Frieda would be done for four years later!
By then, I would be finished along with her!
(╥﹏╥)
However, her efforts did not go to waste, as the training deepened, the instructor responsible for teaching her basic self-defense perceived that this little girl’s mental fortitude far surpassed ordinary people.
The instructor was named Traute Caven, she was an elite secretly cultivated by the Reiss Family and in the future, she would become the vice-captain of the First Military Police Brigade’s Anti-Personnel Suppression Squad.
Rod probably felt that an illegitimate daughter also needed some self-preservation ability, so he casually assigned her to instruct Ellie.
“Crack!”
Traute struck Ellie’s shoulder with a wooden stick.
Then, she put away the wooden stick, looked down condescendingly at the little girl rubbing her shoulder on the ground, and frowned as she said
“Miss Reiss, I don’t understand.”
“Your eyes can always look ahead to the direction of my attack in advance, which means you completely saw through my movements, since your brain has already made a clear judgment, why can’t you still dodge my attack?”
Ellie patted the dust off her body and got up with a grimace.
“Cough cough, my body is still too weak…
Even if my brain can react, my strength and speed can’t keep up.”
Traute looked at the little bean who only reached her waist before her, unable to help finding it somewhat amusing, this was an aristocratic illegitimate daughter hidden in the estate, well-fed and clothed, what was there that she needed to train for?
But for some reason, looking at the girl’s eyes filled with determination, Traute quietly restrained her attitude, which had originally carried a bit of perfunctoriness and contempt.
Traute snorted coldly, but then threw the wooden stick in her hand to Ellie, saying sternly:
“Since you know your body can’t keep up, practice those fancy moves less, starting today, we only practice movements, endurance, and reaction speed!”
“Yes!
Instructor Caven!”
Ellie immediately gripped the wooden stick with both hands and assumed a defensive posture once more but amidst sweat and beatings, Ellie also gradually realized an even more severe problem.
The memories related to the original work in her mind were not omnipotent.
Although she indeed knew major main plot events like the Colossal Titan breaking the wall, some trivial details were things she couldn’t remember no matter what.
For instance, on that day in the year 845, after Bertholdt broke the wall, which side of the wall would he specifically evacuate from?
On that day, could the elevator in Shiganshina District still be used?
What was the patrol route of the Garrison?
If she managed to infiltrate there with great difficulty, only to watch a weakened Bertholdt taken away by Marley’s comrades because she didn’t know the way, then wouldn’t all her busy work over these four years have been completely in vain?!
“Almost forgot, one cannot underestimate the impact brought by these things!”
Ellie sounded the alarm for herself in her heart and amidst her intensive preparations, time quietly slipped away.
Year 845 of the Wall calendar, early spring.
Ten-year-old Ellie’s height finally shot up a notch, and she was no longer that little bean who panted as soon as she ran because of good nutrition, her cheeks even carried a bit of baby fat!
But at this time, a thin layer of calluses had already grown on the hands she used to grip the short blade, now, she was already able to ride a tall steed all by herself, shuttling freely through the woodlands near the estate.
Facing Traute’s surprise attack, she also could rely on her skills to nimbly dodge and make a decent counterattack and most importantly, she could already fluently read most of the Ancient Eldian characters and had figured out the terrain inside the walls.
Late at night, Ellie sat alone in front of her desk, observing a parchment map by the dim candlelight.
“The Colossal Titan appearing in Shiganshina will be my only chance.”
Ellie gently rubbed the red circle on the map with the pad of her finger, her gaze appearing exceptionally deep under the flickering candlelight.
Four years of preparation—physical fitness, route recognition, self-defense, intelligence gathering—were all progressing methodically.
All preparations were complete, save for the final crucial piece.
“However…”
Ellie’s gaze slowly moved upward, looking at the chapel beneath the floorboards under her feet.
“Where on earth is the syringe of spinal fluid to transform into a Pure Titan hidden in the chapel?”
Without the syringe, even if she tied up Bertholdt, she couldn’t take away his Power of the Titans.
“It seems it’s time to take a trip to the chapel.”