"So this is Wall Maria? It's so magnificent!" Yago stared at the towering wall before him, fifty meters high, utterly dumbfounded. Even the Great Wall from his vague memories seemed less grand than this one. Was this really something human hands could build?
Dong! Dong! Dong! The heavy toll of bells rang out, signaling the return of the Survey Corps. Yet every face was grim and downcast.
Yago poked Scott, who shared the same horse with him. Scott had brown hair and usually liked to keep his eyes half-closed, wearing the look of an easygoing, good-natured man, but now his head was lowered as well, his expression dark.
"Uncle Scott, everyone… what's going on…?"
Scott forced a smile and said, "It's nothing, little Yago. Sacrifices are inevitable. We won't give up."
Yago nodded and glanced behind him. On many of the horse-drawn wagons were loaded the bodies and wounded of the Survey Corps, including Uncle Vige. Yago seemed to understand something and pulled Vige's cloak tighter around himself.
The gates of the Shiganshina District slowly opened. The scattered Titans wandering outside had long since been cleared away by the cannons of the Garrison Regiment.
The convoy of the Survey Corps slowly entered. Inside the gate, many civilians were already gathered, watching them with looks of either expectation or contempt. The buzzing discussions reached the ears of the Survey Corps soldiers.
"Looks like the Survey Corps lost a lot of people again."
"Why did so few come back this time? Didn't they go out with two hundred?"
"I really don't know what they're doing. Going out to die?"
"Did they even discover anything this time?"
"Why insist on going outside? Isn't it safe enough inside the walls? These people really bring trouble on themselves—this Survey Corps should just be disbanded."
"Move aside, has anyone seen my son?"
"Why is there a child in the Survey Corps?"
(Butterfly effect: the Survey Corps returned to the walls a bit earlier.)
The murmurs of the civilians made the Survey Corps members lower their heads even more. Yago sensed something and looked to the side. Two children about his own age were staring at the Survey Corps. The brown-haired boy's eyes were filled with longing and confusion, as if wondering why the powerful Survey Corps looked so miserable. The black-haired girl wrapped in a red scarf looked at the boy with concern.
At that moment, an elderly woman rushed into the convoy, eyes wide, asking in panic,
"Where's Moses? Have you seen my son Moses? He's also a soldier in the Survey Corps—why haven't I seen him?"
One Survey Corps soldier glanced at the wounded soldier beside him and said heavily,
"Bring it over. This is Moses's mother."
Moses's mother froze, as if she understood something. When the soldier handed her the only thing left of her son—one arm—she collapsed, fell to her knees, and wailed loudly, her cries tugging at everyone's heart.
"But did my son help at all?" Moses's mother asked through her grief. "Even if he didn't earn any merit, did he die fighting for humanity's future? Did he contribute to humanity's counterattack?" She hoped her son's life had been exchanged for a good outcome for humanity's future.
The soldier was stunned, seemingly unsure what to say, and answered instinctively, "Of course!"
But then, as if unable to bear deceiving this pitiful mother, he suddenly knelt down, tears streaming from his eyes.
"I'm sorry! But this time, in the expedition beyond the walls, we still gained nothing! Many young soldiers gave their precious lives, yet we still couldn't figure out the origin of those things! I'm truly sorry!!"
It was real and it was cruel. The Survey Corps left—under the concerned or accusing gazes of the people. In such a suffocating atmosphere, even Yago seemed affected. For some time afterward, he felt dazed and muddled, until Scott led him in a fog to a residential house in the Shiganshina District.
On the wagon lay Uncle Vige's body. Holding Yago's hand, Scott knocked on the door.
"Please wait a moment! I'm coming right away!" A hurried voice answered. The door opened, revealing a woman in an apron, a spoon still in one hand, a sheen of sweat on her face—clearly she had been cooking.
Seeing Scott in a Survey Corps uniform, the woman said warmly,
"You're a soldier of the Survey Corps? Then you must be Vige's colleague. That's wonderful—please stay and eat with us. I know he's coming back today, so I made a lot of good dishes. You must try my cooking. Oh? And who is this little child?"
Scott didn't dare meet her eyes and said, "Mrs. Lucia… Squad Leader Vige, he… was killed in action."
Clang—the metal spoon fell to the floor. Lucia's eyes went blank.
"What did you say? Vige… Vige, he…?"
Scott turned around. On the wagon, Vige's body was covered with a white cloth. Lucia stumbled toward the wagon, gently lifted the cloth, and saw her beloved of former days, eyes tightly closed, never to open them again.
Lucia covered her mouth as tears poured out unceasingly, her sobs breaking again and again. Scenes like this were playing out in many families…
...
"Yago, could you help me go buy a few eggs?"
"Today I'll make some cakes for you. Later, you can take some to Eren and Mikasa as well."
"Okay, Aunt Lucia!" Yago, wearing a short shirt, took the few coins Lucia handed him and went out.
"If there's extra money, you can buy yourself some candy," Aunt Lucia's voice called from behind him.
Warmth filled Yago's heart. After learning that Yago was an orphan saved by Vige, Lucia agreed to adopt him. After all, the Survey Corps couldn't take care of a child, could they?
In Yago's eyes, Aunt Lucia was very strong. Although she had lost her husband, she wasn't crushed by sorrow. She and Vige had been married for many years without children, and Yago's arrival perfectly filled that void. Aunt Lucia treated Yago as her own, pouring almost all her motherly love into him, allowing Yago to truly experience what maternal love was.
This made Yago both happy and guilty—happy because he seemed to lack familial affection so deeply, and guilty because Uncle Vige had sacrificed himself because of him.
But after learning of Vige's actions, Aunt Lucia wasn't surprised at all. Instead, she gently stroked Yago's head and said,
"I'm not surprised in the least. Vige was always like that—always willing to help others, like a kindly old man every day. Yago, don't burden yourself with guilt. What your Uncle Vige did was right. He didn't sacrifice himself in vain—he saved you, didn't he? So, Yago, carry on Vige's wish and live well."
Yago's heart trembled. A feeling he had never known before surged through him. At that moment, Yago felt with incomparable intensity that he must protect Aunt Lucia, protect everything Uncle Vige had once wanted to protect!