I'm sorry for the delay but these last few days have been a bit difficult for me.

Me and my mother who were infected with covid recovered without many problems, but my father was fighting for several days and, unfortunately, he did not make it.

So I was pretty bummed out, and apart from that I was busy carrying out the hospital and government paperwork, and preparations to lay off my father's body.

As you can imagine, for all this I had neither time nor much desire to write.
I think things are a little better now. I will try to recover the publication of the chapters as before, but I still ask for a little compression since I cannot say that I am 100%.

Thanks.
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(POV Erwin)
"...there really is no other solution for this?"

“T-This is too cruel…”

“…”

Almost a year had passed since the Maria Wall had fallen because of the titans. People had tried to recover from everything that happened because of that, but… then this happened. Now my team was in charge, together with other people, of "helping" all these people in the work that they were commissioned to do.

...yes, most should know that our job was more to watch for all these people to get out of the second wall! The order had been given for all of them to carry out the task of creating a base of operations in order to recover the 3rd wall.

It certainly sounded like a great task and service to humanity. If successful, surely all these people would be remembered for a long time as heroes of humanity!

The only problem was… was that everyone knew this was nothing more than mass suicide... or maybe it was better to call it mass murder. That is the only truth! These people had been selected to die! Only the fools and gullible would believe everything that the leaders of the city had said!

"…There is no choice. Or at least, this was the only option. There are already some shortages in some resources in the city... if it continues like this, those who die will not only be them.

We've done our best, Erwin… you're a good guy, but you still lack experience in some things… fuuu~”

“…”

The one who answers my question and Hange's complaint was Commander Pixis. He was a man respected by many... but his gaze now looked tired. It was obvious that he himself didn't fully believe that this was the best option… unfortunately, he probably knew that we couldn't do much ourselves either.

…Perhaps those words were an excuse that was said for himself rather than to solve the doubts of all the others who wondered if this was okay. In addition, he also helps himself a bit with the alcohol he drank from a small canteen... I'm not a lover of alcohol, but at the moment I thought it was not a bad time to maybe start drinking.

"But Commander Pixis .. this is-"

“It's enough, Hange. It's true that we can only continue to follow the orders of our superiors... besides, there's no point in complaining if we don't have a better solution for this problem.

The people who refused this have already done their best to give these people a chance…”

I stop Hange who tries to continue arguing with Commander Pixis. She was a good girl, and that's why she couldn't accept all this. The problem was that she was starting to draw some people's attention by continuing to argue about this... following the commander's gaze, I could see several high-ranking men who were watching everything.

If she continued, she might even be assigned to escort and "help" these people to their work… after all, this had already happened before. There were several people who belonged to various militia organizations who previously fervently refused this, and now they were also with the survivors who lived inside the 3rd wall with just as pale faces.

If we wanted to change things, we couldn't die... not in a meaningless way!

“ By the way, Erwin… did you find those people you saw when the 3rd wall fell? ”

“…No, it seems as if they have vanished from this place. There was no trace of them when it came to looking for them."

Commander Pixis suddenly changes the subject, probably to try and lighten things up a bit. What he mentions is something that happened when the 3rd wall fell and the titans entered the city… there were reports of 3 individuals who fought against the titans and helped many people.

The strange thing was that they didn't do it the method taught in the military... instead, several people saw them using fire or some kind of cutting wind to finish off the titans. No doubt this seemed like more wishful thinking that people had for fear of being almost devoured... in fact, many doubted all of this.

The problem was that even some of those who were fighting the titans from the various militia groups also saw this. Some were even saved by them too! Even my team was among those who had witnessed such things!

…the only thing that is known is that they helped many people during that catastrophe. And many saw them escorting a group… a group of children and two adults. Also, one of the adults was a member of the garrison troops and he witnessed that kind of thing up close. No, not only that, it seems that he also interacted with them for quite a while.

It seems that Commander Pixis was also interested in this, and seeing that such kids were here now because it seemed like they had someone they knew who was chosen for this “noble work”, he brings this topic up for discussion.

All those children were interrogated several times... and they always said the same thing, especially the girl among them. That it was an angel who had come to help them… and if it wasn't for them, they would surely have died.

It seemed that they didn't know much about those three either... and, in the end, all of this remained almost like a myth among many people. 

Without being able to find them, none of this could be verified. Without a doubt, everything was very mysterious... according to the testimonies of many, those three stood out a lot. Two very beautiful girls, and a little boy with long red hair. All wearing some strange armor.

So, if they stood out that much, it shouldn't be difficult to try to search for them… or so it was thought, but… when the militia became interested in these rumors, it was as if the three of them had vanished into thin air.

Of course, the fact that the military took an interest in this was not something as simple as wanting to thank them for their help… but because many people took an interest in the abilities that were described. Or some even thought that perhaps they had something to do with this attack of the titans.

…although the latter didn't make much sense for me. Why attack the city and then help? Even if they did it to gain people's recognition, that was meaningless if they just disappeared after that.

"…What do you think about them? You talked to those three, right?"

“No, I just talked to the boy… and the truth is that I'm not entirely clear on his intentions either. But, at least I don't think they were as much of a threat as many think… if they wanted to do something against this city, then the best time to do that would be during the chaos that was generated by the Maria Wall fell.”

Well, I think the guy talked about conquering this place, but... he didn't seem very serious about it. Or how to put it better? ...he didn't seem to be someone that ambitious in that regard. That was the impression he gave me.

“ Umu… I agree.

Fuuu~ It would be nice if they reappeared this time and did some of the miracles that many of the rescued people say…”

“…”

I also wished for the same thing, but... if it really was an angel like that little girl held firmly, then if he came here now, I could only think that it would be to punish us. We were condemning more than 15 thousand people! Yes, it was not a few hundred people, but thousands!!

"It's time for everyone to leave!!"

““…””

Finally, the person who was in command of this entire operation gives the order for these people to move forward. Then, before our eyes and the tears of many who had come to say goodbye to their acquaintances, this large group of people begins to advance through a tunnel while holding torches.

…this was the only thing that could be done to help these people for those who refused all this. For a time, a large tunnel had been dug that allowed progress to a point outside the second wall.

It was first discussed that people could exit while others use cannons to lure titans on one side of the wall while they go out on the opposite side. This way, at least they would have a better chance. But this was denied by the higher-ups.

The reason? It would waste a lot of military resources to do that… those people knew perfectly well that all this trying to create a base was impossible, so they weren't willing to take any more losses.

In fact, if you were paying attention, the food they were given was only for a few days! And this already was probably a huge waste of resources for those people… maybe they just did it to make the 3rd wall survivors believe in this mission a little more.

So, the tunnel was created during the time for the exit of these people to be prepared. There was no complaint about this from the higher-ups, after all, it was these same people who created this.

…strangely enough, as they did so, all I could think about was that they themselves were just digging their own graves...  and not something to have a better chance of survival. In fact, maybe just terrifying them here would be much more humanitarian...

In addition, the night was chosen because it was proven that during this time the titans had less activity. Only if a person got too close to them while they remained motionless, they would react.

It was thought that this was because the titans in fact had a lot of resemblance to plants... they did not eat humans out of hunger, because if so, it was certain that they should have died of starvation long ago. That is why it was believed that they obtained their energy from the sun… just like a plant.

Anyway, this didn't mean much either... the sun would rise sooner or later, and then most likely they would be detected by the titans. More than 15 thousand people moving together would be detected very quickly by them, there's no doubt! Even much smaller groups of the Survey Corps are noticed in a matter of hours at best…minutes if you're unlucky.

And the vast majority knew all this... so it is not strange to see how many advanced while trembling, crying, or simply looking lost as if escaping from reality. Of course, there were also those who blindly… or foolishly believed in everything they had been told. They tried to motivate the others around them... only to most of the time be looked at as if they saw an idiot.

Most people just followed this "plan" because they had no choice. Or because if they weren't the ones advancing through that tunnel, perhaps the one who would take their place would be a loved one.

"Prepare everything to demolish this tunnel in a few minutes"

“E-Eh? B-But… but wouldn't it be used to later send supplies and help after those people created a base in the 3rd wall area? ”

““…””

When the lights of the torches are lost in the darkness of the tunnel, the person in charge of this operation gives such an order. Many are surprised by this.

…well, it seems that there were naive people on this side as well. Perhaps many are just deluded themself thinking that our leaders wouldn't put so many people to death in this way. Because if so, what prevented them make the same decision and then us to take their place if other problems arose in the future?

“…when they achieve the objective, w will support them using the normal gates on the walls. This tunnel doesn't need to continue here and... maybe could cause any future problems”

“I-I see…”

…until now, titans weren't known to do something like burrowing. If they did, we would have had problems a long time ago. But this time I can't say that this is also a single excuse… we knew very little about our enemies.

Until now, we had never seen a titan of such enormous size as the one that broke the wall… also, it suddenly disappeared without anyone noticing it. And more importantly, it was a mystery why this one didn't continue attacking the city.

“…it's better to get this over with, so at least we won't have to think about this anymore. Or what do you think, Erwin?

“…yes, Commander Pixis. After all, we can't do anything... for now."

“…”