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(POV Alfred – Former – resident citizen from inside the 3rd wall)

…after walking for several minutes through a long dark tunnel, we all started to reach the exit. But contrary to the joy and relief that a person would have to be able to get out of a dark humid place and a bit suffocating due to its small size, it did not seem that anyone wanted to take the first step out of here!

People looked at each other as if asking others to be the first to leave... but no one was willing to take that step out of this tunnel. This was normal, although this was not the best place, at least we knew that "they" could not enter here!

Yes, outside of this place there would be titans waiting for us! Although we had been told that during the night they did not move much and thus we had to take advantage of all this time to reach our destination, nobody wanted to check if this was really true!

Although it was several months ago, everyone here remembered seeing how those things devoured people when they breached the 3rd wall of the city! A scene that would be difficult for anyone to forget!!

…many even lost some relatives because of this.

So all of this that happened before was still very present in everyone's minds.

“C-Come on! W-We have to fulfill our mission!”

“Y-Yes, it's for our city. No, it's for all mankind!! ”

"L-Let's get back what the titans have taken from us!!"

After several minutes of silence and not knowing what to do, some people finally step forward and exit the tunnel. Then, the others, even though they hesitate for a few moments, also start walking behind them.

The long line of people in the tunnel begins to move slowly... only the sound of some carts carrying food or to the people that could not move very well or because their resistance was very bad could be heard. And sadly, at least half of this crowd was made up of them.

And the other people who made up this large group were people who only had a few decades to reach such an age… almost everyone here was over 40 years old. I and my wife included were also within this age.

…because of this, it was clear that our leaders simply wanted to just get rid of all these people. How do you give such a group a mission like creating a settlement to later serve as a base of operations to try to reclaim the area inside the 3rd wall? The answer to this was simple, only if the people in charge were stupid… or it was all a big farce from the beginning!

Well, I think it's probably both… our leaders were useless and idiots and this mission also had no meaning. That was more than clear, very few thought the same as those who took the first steps out of the tunnel.

The fact that everyone continued to advance was due to nothing other things than we couldn't go back either... just by looking at the faces of others, you could tell that people didn't have any kind of motivation or hope for this "Mission".

Most of them clenched their teeth or repressed their cries so as not to make much noise... although we knew that only death awaited us, it's not like we were in a hurry for this!

…but maybe getting it over with quickly was better.

“ Haa, can not be... you have also been sent here, little one? W-Why… why all this has to happen to us?”

“…”

As we moved forward, my wife who was walking beside me is suddenly struck by a small figure starting to walk beside us. She can't help but put her hands to her mouth and moan… also, she hugs the little one as if she wanted to comfort him.

She was like that, a good woman. Also, since we could never have our own children, she always took the opportunity to spoil other people's children. The little boy seems surprised by this, but in the end, he says nothing and lets my wife hold him while she vents her own mortifications.

"D-Don't worry boy, surely everything will be fine... w-we'll accomplish our mission, and then we can return to a safe place"

Seeing the scene, I myself can't help but feel sorry for the little guy... the amount in the group of youth people wasn't much, but there were a few like him. His parents probably died in the previous titan attack and he had no one to help him…as a result, he ended up being chosen to join this group.

…truly something very unfortunate. He had his whole life ahead of him, and now this one had to end here. Of course, even though I knew this perfectly well, I couldn't tell him…so, just like my wife, I merely tried to comfort him with lies.

Yes, lies... that was the only thing our words could be.

“…”

The boy turns to me, and under that hood, I can see eyes with golden pupils full of life... I almost felt like I could get lost in that look. Curiously, I couldn't detect fear or discouragement like the others. I thought it was because the little guy was a bit ignorant of his own situation... and his words after looking at me for a few seconds confirmed this.

“It's fine, uncle. Don't worry, we will surely reach a safe place…”

“…y-yes”

“ Un, don't worry little one… aunt and uncle will protect you~! ”

"Ok~"

…well, although I thought maybe he had a bit of the mentality of those deluded people who ran the group, there was something very different about him… unlike them, his words radiated with confidence in what he said as if he was totally sure of what he was declaring.

That surprised me a bit. Anyway, thanks to him, the atmosphere in our place improves a lot. Or at the very least, I could no longer see the same hopeless attitude my wife had before... now it was as if she had made a decision to carry out her words to protect this little guy.

Even I am a bit infected by this courage that arises in her… she would have definitely made a great mother. So, with a much livelier atmosphere, we continue with our trip.

"Y-You see? W-We can do this! ”

"Y-Yes, actually, this is quite easy, isn't it?"

“ T-That's right, maybe the titans left after there were no more people in this place! ”

A few hours go by, and it seems that at least they didn't lie to us about the titans having less activity during the night... besides, maybe our luck wasn't that bad.

...or maybe it was actually very bad and this was just to raise our expectations and then leave us without any hope? Fate had been pretty cruel to us lately, so unfortunately I couldn't rule out that possibility.

“ H-Hahaha, yes, why should we be afraid of those titans? ”

“ I-If they come, I'll take care of them myself! ”

"O- Oouh~! L-Let them come so I can show him my strength!"

Since everything seemed to be going very well, more and more people regain confidence. Now even many thought that they had not lied to us... that we could really do this!

"…Why? Everything was going so well… why do some idiots have to raise some death flags?!! ”

"W-What's up, little one? Do you feel bad? ”

…Unexpectedly, although I thought that the boy would also join those who raised their voices as he would also share such emotions, his reaction was the complete opposite of this! He hits the palm of one of his hands on his face while complaining about what those people were saying.

So, instead of answering my wife who was looking at him with some concern, he turns his head to look in one direction …

[Tun...] [Tun...] [Tun...]

…not long after that, the sound of heavy footsteps echoes throughout the place! Those who notice this first silence those who were speaking in order to hear this better... or simply stop doing it themselves because they feel the slight tremor that accompanied the sound!

“"H-Hiii!!!”"

Finally, within a group of trees, it makes its appearance! A great titan of about 15m begins to walk towards our group!!

"W-Why is a titan coming out of there?!!"

"S-Shouldn't they be motionless right now?!!"

The first to succumb to the fear of seeing the titan, are none other than those who tried to show their value and flaunt this. They are the ones who start the chaos among the group… that's why they say that barking dog does not bite. Full of fear, they begin to push the others to try to get as far away as possible from the titan that was coming towards us.

“N -Noo!!”

“H-Help!!”

"D-Don't come here!!"

The screams of fear spread like fire in dry grass… and the titan was not the only danger now! People push each other, and even violence between each other breaks out in the place. For my part, I could only do my best to protect my wife and the little one we met. If anyone was knocked down, they might meet their death in the footsteps of the crowd… this was as ruthless as the titan himself!!

“ Everyone, calm down! ”

“ I-It's just a titan, we can take care of it!! ”

Then the men on horseback wearing the uniform of some militia group finally raise their voices to try to control the chaos. This works to a certain extent… but, if you looked closely, you could see the fear in their eyes as well… maybe it was a good thing that not everyone had the calm to notice this.

Three of them use their horses to intercept the approaching titan.... and then a fight breaks out between them. Everyone had their hopes pinned on them right now!

“ Haaah!!!”

“N -Nooo!!!”

…and these shatter so quickly! It really seems like fate has been playing tricks on us all this time! Of the 3 men, not long after the fight begins, two are devoured while screaming…it really didn't seem like humans could fight these things!

[Baam!!]

""...""

Then when the chaos was about to return to the crowd, and now with much more force, the titan falls… and it doesn't seem to move anymore. Everyone breathes a big sigh of relief, but no one celebrates this either. Of course, one of the reasons for this was not to attract the attention of one of those things... but there was also another.

“…That's not very efficient, is it? ”

…yes, as the little boy seems to have noticed, the one who had killed the titan was obviously only managed to do it because it was distracted or focused on savoring its “food”! If we have to sacrifice people every time we meet the titans, surely very quickly there will be no more people who make sacrifices... the militia that accompanies us was very small after all.

Of course, there were many other people in the group, but... compared to trained men, we couldn't do much! Probably not even using a thousand people as a distraction could one of us eliminate a single titan.

“ Hyaaa!!!”

Then, as if to break any little hope, the man who had killed the titan and was panting while trying to recover and lamenting the death of his companions, is suddenly picked up by another titan who ran from the same place as the previous one...

“W-Why…”

"I-It 's over ... it's all over!! "

“ No... no, no, noooo!!!”

…and accompanied by this, more also come out. Now it was the terror that was reflected on everyone's face! And some people's teeth begin to chatter as if creating a strange gloomy song that accompanied the sound of their steps!

We all understood that this most likely meant the end for us...

“D-Don't worry, little one, everything will be fine. Y-You'll see that everything is fine…”

“…”

As tears stream down my wife's cheeks while she tries to comfort the little boy…or maybe she was trying to do it for herself too. Her entire body was trembling as she hugged him.

“Well, there aren't that many… still things don't seem to have become as bleak as I had assumed before…”

... The strange thing was that, when I see the little boy's face, he was still as calm as ever since we found him... in fact, he is the one who starts patting my wife to reassure her!

[Fiuuuu~!!!]

Next, he puts two fingers to his lips and makes a fairly loud whistling sound that seems to spread all over the place… many people stop what they were doing to pay attention to the source of the sound. But being as confused as my wife and I are, no one can find an appropriate response to the boy's actions.

“W-what is that?”

“A-Another titan? Now they come from the other side too?!!”

…a minute later, another large figure stands out from the darkness of the night. So when that thing finally gets close enough to make it out, what we see surprises just about everyone. It was what looked like a dog… and a pretty big one! Also, it seemed to be carrying two people on its back!!

…n-no, maybe it wasn't a dog… but something that you could only see in the books that spoke of ancient times and which said that it lived outside the walls. It was similar to a dog, but... it was always said that they were creatures that should be respected because of their demeanor that radiated strength and intelligence. Undoubtedly creatures who were very different from dogs!!

It was probably a wolf!! A big wolf!!