Rodd paced impatiently from one side of the royal hall to the next, his advisors watching nervously.
"Your majesty, they will be here soon, you should-"
"I want to see what Kenny has to report before I make any decisions, gentlemen." the true king replied, unaware of how much like a growl his voice had come off as.
The men fell silent, as the main door opened up and a very calm Kenny Ackerman walked into the hall.
"What happened?" Rodd asked nervously.
"Bah, the idiots were more than glad to be relieved, and the strange men in black had kept their cool for the most part. Seeing them, I think they are human. But I didn't see their face. Because they wear masks."
Rodd sighed, more than a little relieved himself given the fact that he had avoided a major catastrophe should his soldiers have attacked these strange men, but still, he couldn't allow them to disrupt the perfect peace his lineage had created, so with a quick breath, he spoke up.
"You will ask a few questions other than how they got here and what they plan to do, I will be hiding in the wall near the left exit, listening in. If you have doubts, look to Kenny, I will tap twice for yes, once for no, and he will discreetly show two or one fingers accordingly. Don't let them think they own the place, don't let them do anything outside Wall Maria, don't let them encourage anything we have deemed dangerous. Understood?!"
Kenny hid his annoyance at the job while the other men nodded, unquestioning in their devotion to their physical god.
Even if he was just a stand-in until they could regain the true founder.
...
SS awkwardly opened the door to the Imperial politician, the blonde woman sighed as her security escorted her into the large building.
The building was deathly silent. The many guards of the Military Police simply stood there, staring at her and her people as if shadow demons had materialized in the hall.
"We are here to speak with the king and his council," Erwin said, startling the woman.
The guards nodded, leading them up the stairs and to the main room.
The doors had opened to reveal an incredibly tired and bored-looking old man and several other stone-faced old men who were glaring at the people entering.
"Your majesty, I am certain you have heard already, but in case you haven't, wall Maria has been sealed and operations to exterminate the titans within it can commence at your discretion!"
The old man sitting on the throne didn't even nod, it was one of the fatter advisors who leaned forward slightly before saying "Yes, commander, and while that is certainly fantastic news we... are very concerned about the means through which you did it... as well as the phenomenon occurring within the lost territory." He said slowly, carefully even.
Shouldn't they be happier about this?
Was fear that big a deterrent from them celebrating?
Had they just celebrated before?
Paranoia was understandable given the situation, but why would titans or humans who were in favor of the destruction of mankind within the walls want to help them in any way?
It just didn't feel like the paranoia was warranted.
"Well, sir, the best way to explain it is that a sort of doorway has opened between our world and theirs."
All the men standing by the king stared in a shocked silence.
"A-another world..." one of them mumbled, the insanity of the statement apparent but also undeniable.
Instead of appearing interested, the king's men gave worried glances at one another.
In their eyes, this was not something good at all. Oh, sure, wall Maria had been sealed, off, but this was opening up a whole new threat to the land.
"So... excuse us but... why would... you... come here?" the question was directed at the Imperials who had been standing silently behind the scouts.
The representative took a breath and spoke up "Well, sir, our intentions are simple, to secure the opening between our two worlds. W-"
"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU SIMPLY SEAL IT?! WHY ARE YOU HERE?!" a shrilled yell interrupted the Imperial representative.
Everyone turned to look at the oldest man amongst the advisors, his face red with misguided anger. If he could see King Reiss behind his hiding spot he would find the middle-aged man covering his face in abject frustration.
"Please forgive Deltoff, ever since Wall Maria was attacked he has been paranoid of... everything. He was the one who misguidedly sent the MPs earlier..." The fat man said, exasperated.
"I'm not paranoid! Why on earth would they come here?! What's in it for us?! What's in it for them?! Huh?!"
"E-excuse me, sir, but... you sent that brigade of Military Police to intercept us, yes?"
"Yes! What of it?!"
Here we go...
"Well, if I may, they were rather unprepared... they decided to intercept us just outside the building instead of at the main entry, which would be a bottleneck for an army without 3D maneuver gear. I believe one benefit would be that the Imperials could send better trainers to boost security around the walls."
It had been the plan to have her suggest the idea a little later, but it seemed that the situation called for it then.
The old man raised an eyebrow.
"That... answers one question...but what exactly is in it for them?" he growled back, sounding like a lion despite his old age.
"Sir, we would like to establish trade, be allowed to bring in explorers, scientists, people that can help you out while also benefitting us; businesses, innovation, stuff everyone can benefit from. We believe we can eliminate the titan threat not just within the walls, but outside as well. You can't retake the world alone, sir, and we could help you out with that, benefitting ourselves in the process- a sort of... mutually beneficial alliance." The Imperial representative stated calmly, suspicion written in her eyes.
Something was off here...
That seemed to calm the man down slightly.
In fact, the mood seemed to lighten as the advisors looked at each other, smiled and one of them calmly answered.
"No."
...
Rod wanted to scream in his hiding spot.
Those bastards decided without my approval! Damn them! Kenny!
"Kenny! Give them a heads-up! Now!" he hissed
The interior police officer sighed and did the required signal with his hands, sliding a finger across his neck as if he was scratching an itch.
One of the advisors noticed and quickly interrupted the other man who was explaining some made-up garbage about how preserving their way of life was important.
"Of course, we would genuinely appreciate the help... as long as certain conditions are met."
Erwin and the Imperials collectively raised their eyebrows but never commented on the odd switch of pace.
Rod sighed in silent relief. The destruction of the Titans took him back to a time long forgotten now.
"What exactly would those conditions be, if I may?" Commander Erwin managed to ask while the imperial representative was still trying to understand the last pair of statements.
Rod narrowed his eyes from his hiding place.
The commander was a... problematic man. It was very unfortunate he had been the one to make the first contact. It would have been preferable if the men from somewhere else had simply marched into the capital instead of meeting Erwin.
But now they had met the leader of the Survey Corps, and from the looks of it, certainly seemed to trust him more than they trusted the nobles that served him. And that was always assuming Erwin hadn't fed them some lies about the government, assuming he was still loyal to the king, assuming these men were peaceful and not out to conquer... things that Rod did not want to leave up to chance.
Now he had to hope his men knew enough to explain themselves to these... visitors from somewhere else.
"Well... for starters, use of flying machines is prohibited."
Rod nodded in his hiding spot. It was one thing to explore the lands beyond the walls on foot or on horseback, or even whatever land-roving vehicles these men had brought with them, but to fly and explore? Unacceptable, too dangerous to allow, one of the few constants with the other kings, though one he never quite understood.
"But Flying machines is so useful "
He whispered to Kenny, who rolled his eyes and made another gesture with his hands.
"You, please tell us why you need your... flying machines." The man who noticed asked.
General Con blinked, uncertain as to how exactly he could explain this to someone who didn't see the use of an air force in an age when they could easily benefit from it.
Unless they don't want their people to develop...
"Well, sir, in our world, wars amongst people are partly won by controlling the skies. You can attack your enemy without them being able to shoot back, doing maximum damage. Titans don't have any air power and with coordinated efforts, air power alone could easily wipe them out both within the walls and outside of them."
"Yes, but is it necessary?"
What the hell is up with these guys?!
"Well, our tanks have proven very effective at annihilating them, but we still need the air power to locate Titans before they locate us. It would save lives."
The men glanced at each other, some seemingly looking past one another before they all nodded.
"Well, we suppose you can you use air power to destroy the titans within Wall Maria, however, exploration beyond the walls must be limited to ground travel. It is just the law of the land here, and we believe it is less risky."
Con nodded simply, not wanting to argue right there and then.
Erwin was used to the nature of the nobles, so he remained silent.
"What exactly do you call these machines, anyway?" the older man asked, seemingly out of nowhere.
Before anyone could answer, Erwin stated "Helicopters."
"...ah, I see. These heli-copters are to only be used in destroying the Titans, but not in exploring or assisting the Survey Corps when they go beyond the walls. Is the matter settled?"
The small group of outsiders nodded.
The man grinned, satisfied with himself, completely unaware of the reason why Erwin had been the one who had answered, not the general. Like most people in that room who weren't in the Survey Corps or had come from another world, he didn't know that there existed more than one type of flying machine.
General Con was not about to let the man dwell on it too much, and neither was the representative.
"If I may, are there any other conditions you would like us to meet in order to continue operating in this land?"
The men looked at one another again before one asked "What exactly would you like to do here?"
The imperial representative took a breath and began her explanation.
"Well, sirs, like we said, we would like to share some of our technology with your people. We have improved medicine, healthier ways of preparing food, plus electricity and weapons are just some of the things we can offer." She said, showing the men a simple flashlight, and flicking it on.
The fat man that had spoken plenty stared at the light on it.
"This is... impressive." He said, studying the odd invention from his seat.
"That's just the tip of what we can offer you, sir. Better communication is something we can give you almost immediately if you allow it. You could contact someone in wall Maria form this very room and have a conversation with them with ease without having to travel there."
"You can just do that?"
"Sir, where we're from, you can talk to someone across the world without traveling there." The representative said, smiling.
"And what do you want in return? Specifically." the older man asked, calm now but an edge remained on his voice.
Oh boy, here we go...
"Well, for starters, the land we are already on... we need a base of operations and we could appreciate it if we could buy it from you."
The men glanced at each other, suspicious of the Imperials, but seeing no reason to deny them... so far.
"Acceptable, but surely that isn't all you want."
"We need another Forward Operating Base in order to launch attacks on the titans beyond Wall Maria..." the representative paused, allowing for anyone who objected to the idea to speak.
None did.
"So, our generals believe that control of the Shiganshina district could prove beneficial to us all. A good portion of it is destroyed already, so we could work on fixing it while your people work on other parts of the wall that weren't as damaged by the Titan invasion. That way we can both preserve the residential areas while establishing a base for ourselves, if that's alright with you." she finished, leaving out the fact that more bases would inevitably be needed if they wanted to expand.
The men looked at each other again.
It most certainly wasn't an unfair idea, they helped reclaim it after all, and they couldn't imagine how much damage there was to clean, and it was better to keep both of these bases as far away from the capital as possible. They weren't even asking for a district that hadn't been damaged, they were asking for the one that suffered the most damage once Wall Maria fell. All the cleaner and more attractive districts that were abandoned could be sold off to any rich person they could benefit from... many possibilities...
There was no fathomable reason to say no.
Let them keep it.
However, at the same time, a launching-off point for further exploration could be... very problematic in the long term. It gave them everything they needed to launch both offensives into the land of the Titans sure, but also scouting operations. The scouts, limited by their supplies and speed, would soon be able to travel further and faster... and if the Imperials lent them their destructive weapons, casualties would never mount as high as they usually did, and public opinion would be easily swayed in the favor of the scouts and against them.
Against the will of the founder, the will of a god!
Unacceptable...
But it would take them a while to get to that point... hopefully long enough for them to think of something... they could work with.
"Well, as long as you focus on destroying the Titans first, we see no reason to object. Not many survivors from Shiganshina either, so you may even have the entire district for your own use."
Erwin almost gawked at the statement.
Had this... truly happened? The Survey Corps had its forts and bases for operating and managing supplies, but from what the Imperials were saying, most if not the entire Shiganshina district would now serve as a launching point for future operations! The commander felt a knot in his throat, something he easily pushed away for dealing with later.
"Is that all?" the old man asked, interrupting Erwin's train of thought.
"One more thing, we would also like to begin training some soldiers with our own weapons, that way you can begin to better equip your army in order to fight against the Titans yourselves." The Imperial representative said.
"We allow it, contact the commander of the garrisons for recommendations of... let's just stick to one regiment for now. Is that all?"
"Actually sir, we were wondering where the other military commanders were. We kind of expected them to be here." General Con said.
"No, they have yet to arrive, which works for us, since we can interview you without their endless questions. Ah yes, once they arrive, they may want to see a demonstration of your weapons. There is a field not too far from the capital that should work for you all to show off your weapons or whatever you soldiers do. Anything else?" it was the old man who answered, looking far more relaxed than before, friendly even.
"I... believe that is all?" General Con mumbled, turning to the representative who nodded before speaking up.
"We look forward to working with you all. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship! I can bring some formal papers for you to examine and to make our alliance official!" The imperial representative said cheerfully, offering to shake the hand of the king.
The king had fallen asleep.
"I do apologize; the years have been very hard on him. You are free to go. And thank you for your time." The fat man said, nodding for the MPs to open the heavy doors.
...
"Never seen someone so ungrateful in my entire life..." Imperial representative said
"The nobility here is very protective of their way of life. I am frankly amazed they conceded as much as they did." Erwin said.
"Still, something was way off about them, though. The king didn't even say anything."
"He rarely does," Erwin replied calmly.
"Well, to be fair, I suppose they are just trying to preserve their way of life. At least we got something out of this." The Imperial representative replied.
"And I should add that it was much, much more than anything I could have ever strong-armed from them," Erwin replied courtly.
"Well, we aren't fully restricted from using aircraft, and your quick thinking also technically gave us access to use drones in order to assist in your scouting operations. As long as they don't find out..."
"Once we fully clear the wall Maria of course," Erwin replied, no longer able to hide the smile on his face.
...
Everyone was not happy with the deal, especially King Reiss. Once again, the middle-aged man was pacing from one end of the room to the other as his advisors remained silent.
"We cannot allow them to bring any weapons into the capital, period! Some rich prick like you might get the bright idea to sell those things on the black market, and the next thing we know my head has been turned into a fine powder by some moron from the underground!" he yelled.
Kenny silently laughed at that.
"Why the hell did you allow them to show them off within the capital?!" he yelled again.
His advisors remained silent, and he knew why. It was a military matter, and Pixis and Zackly weren't exactly going to travel for a full day on end in order to meet some men only to have to travel all the way back to Wall Sina to test some new weapons when a perfectly good military field was well within range. Might as well get the demonstrations over with quickly and then ask them to head back to Wall Maria. Rod knew this, but it still infuriated him how absolutely helpless he was to stop anything.
"Look... obviously we can't stop them from changing our society to some extent..." he sighed, regaining control over his emotions as he sat down on a wooden chair.
"No, not really..." Kenny murmured; a smug grin on his face.
"What we can do is limit it. Prohibit them from bringing their weapons in here; keep them as far away from the population as we can... how many people would be resettling into Wall Maria once they clear it?"
Kenny read him a rough estimate, which put the resettling population in the low hundreds to a few thousands.
Exact records had always been sketchy...
"Right... as for ultimately dealing with the problem of the Imperials, we are going to need The Founder back. Only The Founder can decide how we move from here." Rodd said solemnly.
Kenny rolled his eyes.
Deltoffe caught this action and immediately stood up.
"I don't believe this Ackerman is very helpful to our cause, Your Majesty." He protested.
"Ah? Can you find someone better?" Kenny replied, somewhat, though not entirely, confused by the man's sudden hostility.
"Maybe we should! I bet you would gladly start to work with these people against the king!"
"And how would that help them? From what I heard, they could conquer us in a few days with little problem." The member of the interior police sighed back, hiding his growing irritation with the old man.
"You doubt the power of The Founder?!"
"The one you all lost?"
Deltoffe had had enough. Nothing had been going their way since the Titans broke through Wall Maria, and he did not need a lowly Ackerman talking back to him!
Deltoffe went to strike the man when Kenny simply grabbed the old man's arm and twisted it, dropping the man to the floor and jabbing the tip of a knife on the very edge of his mouth.
"Look here, maybe I am just some lowly servant, but I think I know enough to tell you that power can be taken away with incredible ease, Deltoffe. Humanity was the dominant species until the Titans ripped that from us, the founder was a god to you all, until some man from the outer wall stole it from you all. I may be subordinate to you, but if I wanted to jab this knife down your throat, you couldn't even delay it. I suggest you all think very carefully about what you do next."
Rod watched in silence; Kenny was a valuable tool to keeping order within the walls, but he had always been a... sort of loose cannon now that his brother was gone, his soul stolen along with the founding titan, as well as the soul of his daughter.
They had searched everywhere they could but there was no sign of the doctor that had robbed them of the true founder and its memories of why humanity was within the walls.
Only the founder could lead in this dark time, and though they had a replacement ready, they still needed the founder in order to continue the line.
That said, Kenny's outburst made a point that he needed to consider.
"Deltoffe, please refrain from biting the hand that guards you. And Kenny, I think we need more members trained in using the anti-personnel gear."
The man dropped the still angry Deltoffe and glanced at the king, asking "You want me to get more recruits?"
"No, I want you to assign three good leaders to train new recruits while I assign commanders to them all. I want four more regiments ready. I want the Interior Police ready to confront these Imperials, these forces from beyond the walls, should the need arise."
Kenny winced at that, saying "Hold on, they haven't done anything to-"
"It is a precaution and a way of keeping order. Anyone tries smuggling illegal technology in here, I want their bodies to never even be found. Not a trace left. And sooner or later we will find The Founder, and when we do, she will ultimately decide what the fate of the Imperials will be. Maybe she will allow them to stay, but if she says we should get rid of them..."
All Kenny could do was nod.
But deep within the confines of his tired mind, a possibility he had been pondering ever since the previous king had passed his soul reared its complicated little head.
He would have to change things, of course, but...
Soon after, the meeting concluded and Rod began to make his way back to his secret home away from the capital, maintaining the façade of being a regular old somewhat rich noble barely related to the royal bloodline.
Kenny left him with two of the men most loyal to the king, Rod reminding him of his task, "Make sure they are loyal to the true king, Kenny, I will be interviewing them myself."
Kenny nodded as the carriage left through the less-seen rear of the government building.
That had been a warning...
None of my loyal men, his loyal men...
On its own, that left plenty of options, but would certainly complicate things for him.
He glanced at the sun, still hanging high up in the sky.
Maybe it was finally time for he should pay a long overdue visit to his beloved nephew.
...
"What about the one in the pink dress?" Dave asked.
"Hmm... five, bordering on six," Mark replied, seemingly bored.
"Really? I call that a solid seven."
"I call that an eight back home," Andro mumbled.
"That's just her figure; you guys gotta look at a woman's face before her body."
"Ohh..." both of the younger soldiers replied thoughtfully, conceding the woman was too far way to see the details on her face properly.
"Are you boys calculating otherworldly math equations or something?" a certain girl with goggles asked, eyebrow raised as the Humvee crew turned to give her a sideways glance, not really caring about her eccentric nature and bizarre ability to pop up wherever and whenever something she was unfamiliar with was happening.
"What?" Hanji asked.
"Miss, no offense, but do we really look like we're the smartest in the bunch? Or do we really just look like we're pondering mathematics to ya'll?"
Hanji scoffed at Mark's question, saying "Well, if I knew I wouldn't be asking, now would I? Seriously, why the number's game?"
"I take it the booklets don't talk about that, huh?" Dave mumbled.
"Pretty sure they're basing the number on how pretty a girl looks." A calm Eld said before Hanji could ask again, walking past her with a small pile of hay under his arm.
"Yeah, what he said," Andro said, grinning.
Unimpressed, Hanji angled her head so that sunlight reflected from her goggles, perfectly blocking her eyes from the view of the soldiers.
"Is that really all you men do in your off time?"
"No, but there really isn't much more to do right now, especially when the benefit of having a Humvee is that you don't really have to prep it too much for a simple demonstration... Unlike our poor mechanics over there." Mark said, tilting his head slightly towards the SS and other Army personnel who were still working on ensuring their heavier vehicles worked perfectly.
"You men are so bizarre. If I was in another world I would be looking every which way, exploring, trying to see everything! Aren't you at least curious about this city?"
The three Imperial looked around.
"Huh-?"
"Commander Erwin's back!" Moblit called, as the Commander returned alongside the Imperial team sent to talk to the reigning monarch and his heads of government.
"Whelp- I take it officer duty calls, right, miss-?" Mark shut up as Hanji had run off, almost leaving a cloud of dust behind her.
....
Levi sipped the small amount of water before placing some coins on the counter as payment.
The interior had some very fresh and clean water, and he didn't mind taking advantage of it as he made an order for some supplies to give the corps and its horses; simple business really.
He did, however, mind the loud partying that had broken out in the nearby bar, and despite the sun still being at its highest point of the day, several men had already gotten drunk and passed out.
He was in no mood for dealing with any of this and began to head back to the area near the main government building where the corps was still loitering about, waiting for the other military officers to show up.
The news was not just good, it was excellent.
Once the titans within Wall Maria were dealt with, scouting operations could begin anew, and with assistance from the technologically superior soldiers from another world... casualties would not only drastically drop, but much larger distances could be travelled with ease. He didn't even care that much about the odd restrictions on flying machines.
It was as if all of their efforts and the efforts of those who had died were finally being rewarded.
Despite his mind focusing on the good news, he did not relax his senses enough not to detect that he was being followed.
He turned ever so subtly and immediately stopped walking.
The man trailing him noticed and smiled.
"Yo, Levi! Still a squirt, huh?" an annoyingly cheerful voice came from the scratchy throat of the man who had raised him so long ago.
The Survey Corps captain didn't speak.
He thought one of the MPs that had cleared them to enter the capital looked familiar, but now...
"Nope! Guess not..." the man said, grinning as he walked over.
"Kenny, I thought the Military Police had slit your throat long ago... or at the very least tossed you in a hole and thrown away the key." The captain said; an unreadable tone in his voice that most would classify as unimpressed but to the trained ear, it could easily be resentment.
"Nah, you can't get rid of me that easily, squirt!"
"You seem to have gotten rid of yourself all on your own last we met..."
Definitely resentment...
"Geez. There you go with the silent anger, no hi or where've you been, huh?"
"You working with the people you used to murder?" Levi asked, noticing the slightly more disciplined air coming from the man, confirming his suspicions.
"Sort of, you enjoy seeing how huge the world is?"
Levi didn't say anything.
"Look, kiddo I won't take up much of your busy time, but be sure you will be seeing me around. And before you ask, no, it isn't a threat."
Levi cocked his head slightly, wordlessly asking what the man meant.
"Your new friends spooked people in high places, squirt... you may not have to worry about me, but be sure to keep an eye out. Watch your back at all times."
Levi frowned, asking "Assuming you're being truthful here, what exactly do you get out of this?"
"Hah?"
"Don't screw around, Kenny, you want something from me or the people I know. What is it?"
The old man grinned.
"Nothing, nothing at all. You don't even have to tell them about how tense things are getting up there. But, when we see each other again, I hope to actually have information worth bargaining something for. See you around, Levi! Count on it."
The stoic man watched him leave.
Questions popped up in his mind, and he wondered what suddenly brought someone he hadn't seen in years to come out of hiding in order to talk to him, seemingly warn him about something.
Figuring he would learn more at a later date, the Captain shoved a hand in his pocket and continued walking back, debating whether Erwin should be made aware of this or not.
...
Anka Rheinberger wasn't sure what steps she should take to wake up her commander, which was actually a somewhat new experience for her. Oh, she had seen him this drunk a few times before, but for once the old man was attempting (and failing) to stay conscious.
It had been fifteen minutes since he had last opened his eyes in the carriage, and she gave a worried glance at her partner who simply returned it.
"Maybe we should dunk him in the river, legs first, wake him up that way?" he asked.
She sighed, knowing that they had no time to stop by any nearby rivers.
A messenger from the scouts had caught up to them and informed them that the so-called "men from somewhere else" had finished their talks with the king and were ordered to leave the capital in order to demonstrate the titan killing weapons to the military commanders.
New weapons and titan killing methods were all well and good, but the scout had been adamant that Commander Pyxis not only be present but that it was vital that he arrived early as these...Imperial... had some things to discuss with him and the head of the military, premiere Zachary.
None of that could effectively be accomplished with the commander sleeping calmly in the carriage.
Anka started formulating a plan in her mind of carrying the old man into the meeting when the carriage promptly stopped near some tents in an almost empty field.
"Alright... Gustav, maybe if we carry him out the-"
As if jolted awake by electricity, the old man got up and calmly walked out of the carriage and in a straight line towards the largest tent, startling his subordinates.
The two of them sighed and chased after their enigma of a commander. Just how he was able to down so much alcohol and still function was a mystery as great as the origin of the Titans and one they still weren't accustomed to.
The tent was fairly empty aside from the table with a few men standing around it.
One she recognized as the both popular and unpopular Erwin Smith, commander of the Survey Corps.
Premiere Zachary was standing next to him, a well-built man with white hair and glasses, staring at the table as the other men pointed at different highlighted pictures on a large paper.
The other men were in a getup she hadn't seen before, the vest with strange devices and tools she didn't recognize, the black uniform, and while the leader had it removed, the men had strange helmets that blended with their uniforms well, two armed with dark colored rifles that were completely different to what she was used to.
She assumed that these were the men from another world.
"...done by this time next month, I hope... uh..." the strange man stopped talking and began staring in their direction.
Anka winced and looked at her commander who was eyeing the other men suspiciously.
"Hmm... I still worried the stories were complete fabrications, but you are as real as I! A pleasure to meet you, uh..."
The man stood straight, saying "Con, General Con; Imperial Ground Forces."
"Dot Pyxis... Fascinating... you and your boys really are from another... place."
The man nodded.
Anka expected to be more surprised at her commander not slurring his words but at this point she was more interested in understanding those... maps.
They seemed to be... drawings... incredibly detailed drawings of parts of Wall Maria she recognized somewhat, the smaller drawings were placed above a map of the walls, some areas highlighted.
"Very detailed drawings you have there..." her commander mumbled as he looked at one of the incredibly detailed pictures.
She recognized the curiosity in his voice, though.
"They are actually photographs, Commander. They utilize light reflecting off the surface of objects to capture an image." Erwin said, recalling the explanation a fascinated Hanji had given him while greeting the man.
It was Zachary who was quiet.
"Regardless, I was explaining how we may be able to eliminate the threat of titans within your outer wall."
"Ah, yes, these... flying machines of yours... I must say, I'm very interested in seeing how those work."
Again, Zachary seemed rather bored.
"We also wanted to discuss a new training curriculum for one regiment of your soldiers. At least to show them how to handle new weapons." the general said.
"Ah, yes... a trainee regiment, preferably one not too fresh but not too experienced, yes?"
"Whichever you think is best, commander."
"Well, there are quite a few regiments still in training to my knowledge, Anka, be a dear and bring me that list."
Anka wasn't sure what to make of the grandfatherly voice her commander used but did as told.
Pixis eyes the map, asking "You're planning on retaking Wall Maria from the Titans. Is this your plan?"
The Imperial nodded, saying "Yes, commander. We recently brought several long-range recon drone aircraft- and we have been trying to locate the areas where titans have a larger presence. So far, we have found a few areas near the wall with somewhat high concentrations, but we also know plenty of titans have just sort of stuck around random areas within Wall Maria, so we need help in order to locate them- guides, maps, really any information available."
Pyxis nodded.
"The Survey Corps is already providing assistance in that field, what will ultimately be needed, however, is a new generation of soldiers for humanity," Erwin stated.
Pyxis glanced at the fellow officer while maintaining a pleasant expression.
Deep down, he thought getting cozy with the new faces rather quickly there, Erwin... suspiciously so.
"Pyxis, do you think you can provide us with a regiment of trainees that haven't graduated yet but have most of the basics down?" Zachary asked before Pixis could continue wondering about the Survey Corps officer.
"I believe you mentioned the Shiganshina district will become a sort of launching off point for incursions into Titan territory once they are cleared from Wall Maria, yes?"
The men nodded.
"I recently met a trainee regiment that has a few survivors of the attack on Shiganshina four years ago. Mostly still kids, eager, hardworking, and they have one hell of a cook..." the old man grinned, smiling at the memory.
"Alright? Well, let us know then, I think we could send a messenger ahead of time. Give them a heads up while we start working some other details out." The general mumbled.
"Sure, sure... now... about your titan killing weapons..."
...