Striking Again

"So these are the brats you want to add to the reserve team? They don’t look like much."

Borchart stared wide-eyed at the Hometown Trio, his face full of confusion. However, because of the overwhelming strength Xu Yue had displayed in their earlier match, Borchart merely voiced his doubts and did not argue further.

What a joke. If he got cut down, who would he cry to?

Before he could say anything else, a fierce blonde little girl on the other side had already driven an elbow into Borchart’s vulnerable spot.

Struck hard in such a fragile area, even an elite of the Survey Corps could not help but double over in pain. Then both hands shot straight toward Borchart’s eyes in one fluid motion.

In the end, Xu Yue reached out and caught her, preventing Borchart from suffering further injury.

Hmm, why did this scene feel so familiar?

"She really is talented."

Petra, the soft-hearted girl, watched Borchart stumble into the exact same trap at the hands of another little girl. The corners of her mouth twitched.

"See? I told you so."

After releasing the fierce little girl’s arm and receiving an eye roll and cold snort in return, Xu Yue smiled pleasantly.

"Then I’ve decided that I’ll be involved throughout the upcoming training. None of you have any objections, I presume?"

Xu Yue raised his eyes toward the pair of close friends standing nearby who had remained silent all this time: Corporal Levi and Commander Erwin. His tone was calm, yet impossible to refuse.

"Nothing would please me more."

As the commander of the Survey Corps who had successfully planned a coup, Erwin might not have possessed the greatest combat strength, but his strategic ability was unquestionably among the rare few in the entire Titan world. He understood perfectly well what could be done and what could not.

Clearly, a consultant backed by the royal family and possessing such terrifying abilities was not someone he could confront head-on.

"Commander Erwin."

Seeing the Survey Corps commander cooperate, Xu Yue revealed a strange smile, leaving Erwin somewhat puzzled. Hadn’t he already agreed? What else was there?

"Actually, I agree with your father’s view as well."

After saying that, Xu Yue left the barracks with the three children, leaving Erwin standing there with shock written all over his face.

One of the greatest motivations behind his joining the Survey Corps and struggling to climb to his current position was to prove his father’s words.

His father had been a scholar. Because he had proposed the possibility of a world beyond the walls, he had been arrested and died in prison, consumed by despair. Erwin wanted to clear his father’s name!

Yet now—now this consultant, this consultant who stood with the royal family and should have been the last person willing to acknowledge such a theory, had said that he believed it too?

Could he know something?

In an instant, Erwin’s breathing grew heavy, drawing the puzzled attention of the Corporal beside him, his close friend…

During the Training Corps recruits’ drills, the unrestrained roar of a fierce-looking bald man rang across the entire training ground.

"Remember this! Every last one of you is livestock! You’re all worthless!"

Keith was the bald man’s name. He was Eren’s father’s good friend and the first person he had met, and he had also loved Eren’s mother. He was the previous commander of the Survey Corps.

But at this moment, none of that could be seen from him. All anyone saw was a fierce bald man.

He had quite the knack for training recruits.

He desperately denied the recruits’ pasts, first washing them clean like blank sheets of paper.

This time, however, a handsome figure with a gentle smile stood behind the bald man.

While Keith lectured the recruits, Xu Yue swept his gaze across the members of the Training Corps. When he spotted the faces he wanted, he felt quite satisfied.

Krista—the blonde goddess who ranked tenth in the 104th Training Corps in the original story, and the half-sister of Queen Frieda Reiss.

Because she was an illegitimate daughter, she had never been welcomed. Frieda Reiss had treated her well, often teaching her and playing with her, but for her safety, she used the Founding Titan’s power to alter her memories every time.

Now that she had appeared in the Training Corps, it both maintained the powerful inertia of the original story and made perfect sense!

And since she was here, it was only natural for the freckled, fierce-looking girl beside her, Ymir, to be here as well.

She too came from the same place as Reiner and the others. The difference was that she had been exiled, injected and turned into an ordinary Pure Titan before being abandoned in this "playground." By chance, she encountered Reiner and the others, and while they were not paying attention, she devoured the Jaw Titan among the original group of four, thereby obtaining the Jaw Titan’s power.

She was also one of Xu Yue’s targets in this training…

Crunch, crunch, crunch~

The sound of chewing broke Xu Yue’s train of thought. He and Keith turned with blank expressions toward the girl who was eating a potato amid such a tense atmosphere.

Well, everyone really was here.

There really were people in this world with nerves that thick…

"Huh? More brats? Say, Advisor, don’t tell me you have some kind of special fetish."

Borchart watched Xu Yue lead several people over by the hand and looked at him with an odd expression.

These were the seeds the Advisor had selected from the Training Corps to become reserve members of the Survey Corps.

Hearing Borchart’s words, the blonde little goddess Krista, whose hand Xu Yue was holding, immediately blushed. She seemed to want to pull her small hand away. After Xu Yue let go, he patted her little head and smiled at Borchart.

"Don’t underestimate her. Her identity is very special, and she needs special treatment."

"Huh? Special treatment? Who is she, a princess?"

Borchart lowered his head to look at Krista, his face full of disbelief.

But his offense displeased someone else.

Ymir raised her hand and drove an elbow into Borchart’s vulnerable spot, making him double over in pain. Then she extended her fingers and jabbed toward his lowered eyes.

Xu Yue could only shake his head helplessly as he grabbed Ymir’s wrist.

She was Krista’s fanatical follower. Even though they should have only just met, affinity was truly something impossible to predict.

Looking up at Borchart, who had fallen for the same move three times in a row against three different people, Xu Yue felt that he was probably beyond saving…

"Ymir."

Xu Yue looked down at the freckled girl with the fierce expression, his tone somewhat strange.

"There are a few people from the same place as you. Do you want to meet them…?"

Xu Yue’s next words made Ymir’s expression change drastically, her face faintly turning pale…

The sampling went very smoothly. Compared to the others, Ymir, who had grown up at the bottom of society, was fierce but also knew when to adapt. Her fierceness was merely a survival tactic to protect herself; besides that, she possessed the proper shrewdness.

She was the only Intelligent Titan from whom Xu Yue had not forcibly extracted a sample after subduing her. Once he showed that he understood her identity and brought Reiner and the other two before her, she obediently followed Xu Yue’s instructions.

She was fundamentally different from Annie and Mikasa…

La la la, an eight-day holiday! I’m in a great mood, so there’ll be two updates today~

Also, thanks to classmate Yiqi for the ten-thousand reward… Uh, Integrity-kun’s reflex arc is a little long…