Behind the Military Police soldiers, four cloaked soldiers traversed the air with a different air of confidence than the rest.
Noticing this, Levi suspended himself in the air to confirm his suspicions.
As they flew past him, his eyes narrowed.
"Those movements, they're definitely not the Military Police."
Furlan voiced his thoughts.
"Without a doubt, it's them. That Wings of Freedom crest."
"…The Survey Corps."
"Heh, as expected of those who battle Titans, they're different."
With the suspicion confirmed, we began to pick up the pace.
Levi gave one last order before we split up.
"You guys understand, right? What this means regarding the job."
We all nodded.
"Then let's go!"
Gas hissed out as we split up.
I made a sharp right turn, Furlan and Isabel went to the left, and Levi continued ahead.
***
Miche Zacharius.
Also known as humanity's strongest soldier.
He was sent to the Underground along with two others on Section Commander Erwin's order.
Currently, he was chasing Lucian.
'For an Underground thug, he's not half bad with the 3D manoeuvring gear. But not good enough to escape me.'
Manoeuvring from building to building, the gap between the two gradually narrowed.
Despite Lucian's daily training over the last few years, the disparity between the two in the air was evident.
Lucian understood this and landed on the ground, inviting himself to get captured.
"Huh? Looks like you realised it's futile to continue further."
They were face-to-face in a narrow alley.
"No. I just thought I had a better chance on foot."
Lucian attacked first.
He spun through the air with his blades as he lunged forward.
Miche countered instantly, forcing Lucian to retreat.
At that moment, Lucian activated both Enhanced Evasion and Quickstep.
'Seriously?! He's closed the distance that quickly without any gas?!'
Miche's surprised look put a grin on Lucian's face.
However, with his vast experience, he quickly composed himself and launched his own counterattack.
Lucian narrowly avoided the incoming strikes, clashing blades with him.
"Hmph, you're not as bad as you look."
Miche launched his next attack, yet it was swiftly parried.
But that was simply a distraction to grapple with Lucian, putting him into a headlock from behind.
Although something felt peculiar about him.
Those sharp reflexes of Lucian from earlier had disappeared all of a sudden, leaving him full of openings.
'Is he just naturally careless? Or did he allow me to catch him?'
He shook those thoughts off once he heard Lucian's yelling.
"Let go of me!"
"It's over. I'm taking you to Erwin."
He handcuffed Lucian and brought him to the others.
Isabel was screaming whilst restrained.
"Damn it! Let me go!"
Furlan was there as well, calmly observing.
And finally, there was Levi, still engaging in a battle with Erwin and even getting the better of him.
"Miche, you took longer than expected."
"Erwin!"
Miche sprang towards Levi, pushing him away.
Levi deflected him away, leaving the three in a deadlock.
The tense atmosphere broke once Erwin spoke.
"Stop it. Look around you. Your comrades are captured. It's over."
When Erwin mentioned the others, Levi paused, then dropped his knife and conceded defeat.
"You're quick at reading the situation."
He handcuffed Levi and placed him with the others.
With the gang kneeling down, Erwin stared at them.
"I'll ask a few questions. First of all, where did you get the ODM gear?"
"…"
"You guys are quite skilled. Who taught you how to use it?"
With no response, he decided to walk up to Levi.
"You're their leader, right? Were you trained in the military?"
"…"
Miche grew impatient, slamming Levi's face into a murky puddle.
"I'll ask one last time. Where did you learn how to use the ODM gear?"
Furlan finally had enough and answered the question.
"We didn't learn from anyone! We learnt ourselves!"
"Huh? Self-taught, you say? I find it quite hard to believe."
"It's so we can rise even a little in this dirty garbage place! It's something you people who are used to the sunlight wouldn't understand."
"Enough! Just let us go already."
Erwin stopped speaking and knelt in front of Levi.
"My name is Erwin Smith. What's yours?"
"…Levi."
"Why don't we make a deal? I will let your crimes go unpunished. But in return, you must join the Survey Corps."
"And what if I refuse?"
"Then we will hand you over to the Military Police. Considering the crimes of you and your friends, you won't be treated very nicely."
"So what do you say?"
Levi glanced at the others for confirmation.
"… Fine then. We'll do it. We'll join the Survey Corps."
***
Wall Rose - Survey Corps HQ
"Attention all! From today onwards, these four will be fighting alongside you all!"
Keith Shadis, who I was surprised to see with hair, was yelling beside me.
Several dozen Survey Corps soldiers were standing at attention below us.
"Introduce yourselves! You first!"
"Lucian Edelhart!"
When I introduced myself, I could hear the soldiers in front of us murmuring.
"Really? These Underground criminals? What is Erwin thinking?"
It was worsened when Levi introduced himself without even bothering to mention his surname.
"Name's Levi."
"Levi… The first thing you'll need is some damn discipline. Next!"
"Isabel Magnolia! Nice to meet all of ya!"
"Furlan Church!"
Keith Shadis looked into the crowd and locked eyes with a man who was glaring at us earlier during the introductions.
"Flagon, these four will be assigned to your squad! Look after them."
"M-my squad, sir?!"
"Are you dissatisfied with my order?"
"N-no, sir… But shouldn't it be Erwin's responsibility?"
"Erwin is tasked with the soldiers' formation. The new recruits will be your responsibility! Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir!"
After the meeting ended, Flagon took us with a cold sneer on his face while muttering under his breath.
He led us inside a building.
"These are the barracks."
"Yay! We're all in the same room!"
"…Women have a separate section."
"What?! But I wanna stay here with Lucian!"
"Too bad."
"You three men will sleep here."
I looked at the bunk beds he was pointing at. Levi had already begun inspecting them for dust.
"Hmph, you lot have been sleeping in the dumps of the Underground, so don't go around making a mess."
When Levi heard that, he walked up to Flagon with a fierce look.
"W-what's with that look?! How dare you approach a senior officer with such an attitude."
"Ah! Wait!"
Furlan rushed to stand between the two and began to apologise with a fist to his heart.
"Sorry! We'll try our best to keep this place clean."
"Tch! You'll begin training first thing tomorrow. Also your hand is facing the wrong way"
Flagon left, turning on his heel.
"Don't pull any more stunts like that, Levi. We've got enough eyes on us already."
"Did you not hear what that piece of shit was spouting at us with his piece of shit mouth?"
"We weren't caught here by accident. I hope you haven't forgotten why we're here. If we fail to get those documents now, we lose our chance for citizenship on the surface. Isn't that right, Lucian?"
"Oh… yeah."
"What a pain. Fine. I'll go with your plan, but I get to kill the blonde one."
***
"Wake up! It's time for training!"
Barging through the door of my room was Squad Leader Flagon.
We left the barracks and went into the open fields of Trost.
"Wow… They really have all this area to train?"
I couldn't help but be in awe.
When I did, another one of my squad members just scoffed.
"Of course you vagrants wouldn't understand. The Survey Corps are the ones responsible for pushing humanity forward."
His name was Sairam.
I was going to respond, but Isabel interrupted me.
"Whoa! Look at those horses!"
Isabel sprinted ahead and jumped into the horse pen.
"Hey! Where are you going?!"
"Lucian, you try too!"
Reluctantly, I followed her into the horse pen and mounted a horse.
The instructor responsible for the horses guided me.
"Whoa!"
The horse bucked and launched me off.
"Lucian! Are you alright?!"
Isabel knelt next to me, worried.
Watching Isabel move so frantically, the instructor covered her mouth and giggled.
"Hey, you two are awfully close, aren't you? Are you dating?"
"—W-what?! N-no! Lucian saved me from some thugs in the Underground. And he was so cool… And ever since then, I've followed him."
"Oh my… It seems you're quite fond of him."
"N-no, I'm not!"
Flustered, Isabel fled away by hopping on a horse and whipping the reins.
"Is that really her first time riding a horse?"
After the equestrian lesson ended, it was time to move on to Titan combat training.
"Alright, now it's really time to see what you Underground thugs are made of."
Flagon put his hands on his hips with a smug grin.
I ignored his blatant taunt and drew my blades.
***
Flagon Turret was currently in charge of supervising the training of his squad, including two of the Underground thugs that were forced into it.
This test was an opportunity for him to prove to the higher-ups that their decision was wrong in allowing them into the Survey Corps.
So he had a smug grin plastered on his face as they reached the entrance of the forest, where the training takes place .
But that grin faded quickly when Levi held his blades in a reverse grip.
"Those blades weren't designed to be held like that. Do you wanna die the moment you step out of the wall?"
Levi snorted.
"That might just happen to you."
"What did you say?!"
"Anyway, all I have to do is slice a Titan's neck, right? I'll do it my way. Follow me, Lucian."
'Those thugs. Let's see how long their confidence lasts.'
Flagon signalled for the training course to start, and he followed his squad into the forest.
The other member present in the training was a close friend of Flagon and also his close subordinate.
He was in the 97th Training Corps, placing third in the rankings.
With that talent he could've joined the Military Police yet he chose the Survey Corps for his desire to aid humanity.
So when he was the first to slice a Titan dummy, Flagon couldn't help but mentally cheer him on.
'Show them how it's done, Sairam!'
But that enthusiasm didn't last long.
Suddenly, a wooden Titan dummy was hauled up in front of Lucian.
Lucian was startled and caught off guard, fumbling in the air with his blades.
But then, in the blink of an eye, a switch turned on and he twisted through the air brilliantly, perfectly cleaving the nape of the dummy.
'Wha—?! I could've sworn he was going to crash into it! His reflexes are outstanding!'
Next was Levi. Another dummy was hoisted up by a rope.
Surely this one would fail. He isn't even gripping the blades correctly, Flagon thought.
And, of course, it didn't turn out as he expected. Levi rotated his body on an axis becoming a spinning blade that slashed through the cushioning of the nape with an unfathomable force.
At that moment, he couldn't help but concede.
'Looks like Erwin was right… They could really be the wings of freedom. And if they are, how hard will they fly on them?'
When the training concluded, the scores were as follows:
Levi - 12
Lucian - 9
Sairam - 4
Despite not receiving any formal training, they outperformed a top-ranking recruit with ease, earning Flagon's respect.
***
When training concluded, I was completely drained.
I used up all my SP trying to keep up with Levi.
Without Enhanced Evasion, I probably wouldn't have been able to damage a single dummy.
While reflecting on what happened earlier, Furlan suddenly posed a question.
"Lucian, you were a pretty good thief, right? Earlier, I went ahead and searched Erwin's office. But there was no sign of the document anywhere. What do you think?"
I was hesitant to answer because I know the documents are fake anyway, but I couldn't help but just go with the flow of his question.
"It's probably kept on him, right?"
"That's exactly what I thought. We have an expedition in a few months, right? We'll use that to our advantage to take it off him."
Levi couldn't help but furrow his brow.
"You guys haven't even seen a real Titan yet. Are you really sure about this?"
"Of course, there's no other way now."
"If Lucian agrees it's a good plan, then I'll just follow him!"
"…Isabel, are you even capable of thinking for yourself?"
"Huh?! What about you?! Can you even fight? Because last time I remember, it was Furlan and Lucian doing all the hard work planning! All you did was clean!"
"That's enough. I decided. Only Lucian and I will go alone. When it's time for the expedition, you two better come up with an excuse to avoid going."
"Hey! What do you mean?! Are you tryna say you don't trust us?!"
"Yes."
"Lucian, even you?"
"…Honestly? Yes. Titans are more powerful than anything we've fought, and it's too risky."
Furlan suddenly grabbed me by the collar.
"Do you really think we came this far just for you two to do all the work?! We're going whether you like it or not!"
"Yeah! How are you even gonna take care of yourself without me, Lucian!"
"—Sigh, fine then. But only if you convince Levi."
When I said that, they turned to Levi and glared at him.
"Fine… I'll decide to trust you."