The two made a shabby shack of a room their home in the underground city. It was cramped, only half the size of Kuklo’s shed. A good half of the room was taken up by the beds, while the other half was occupied by a table and other furniture.
“Hup!” Waking from a shallow sleep, Kuklo raised his body. He moved his limbs, checking how he felt, then put his hand over his now-darkened right eye. “Kuklops, eh…”
It was half a year ago that he’d tumbled into the underground city to have his eye extracted. He suffered from poor health for a long time after the procedure, but he had finally recovered.
However, he was not exactly satisfied with his post-surgery appearance. He was now one-eyed and a Titan’s son, or in other words, a Cyclops.
Adjusting his appearance in front of a mirror was not something Kuklo was used to doing, but since Sharle lived with him, they did at least have a hand mirror in the room. He would occasionally see himself while walking the city too. While he couldn’t but feel conscious of the Titan’s son, only he seemed to care. Word of him was not widespread in society as it turned out.
Sharle was nowhere to be found in the room, and her bed had already grown cold. Perhaps she had gone out shopping.
I need to do something, too…
The idle time Kuklo spent in the underground city was a true luxury to him. He quite liked it. He had also taken a liking to keeping up his personal appearance, and though clothes once felt foreign on his body, he was beginning to get used to them. A soft bed still didn’t suit him and he frequently slept on the floor, but he did feel as though he was now able to act in a more human way. His ability to communicate was growing, too, as he began to speak to more people than Sharle.
But I’m still tied down.
Kuklo focused on his wrists. While he had removed his shackles soon after coming to the underground city, he yet felt them vividly, to the point of hearing chains clang. His body was now free, but his mind was still a prisoner to the Titans. His unresolved feelings about them twisted around his body as unseen chains as it were.
I have to meet a Titan.
It was the only way to break the bonds of fate. It was his goal from the time he decided to escape, but his physical condition had held him back. That concern out of the way, he felt that the time had come to face a Titan so he could be truly free.
Fortunately for Kuklo, there were talks of expeditions being resumed. An unconfirmed rumor was lately the talk of the underground city: a newly reformed Survey Corps, commanded by Carlo Piquer, would survey the area beyond the walls.
The source of this rumor was unknown, and its veracity uncertain, but this was the underground city. A rumor probably meant that someone in the military or the royal government had flapped his mouth. There was other evidence suggesting the Survey Corps might be reformed. A plot had brought about the downfall of the conservative faction’s vanguard, Bruno Baumeister, and the reformers had made a political comeback.
Sharle was right to leave home.
Even if the raid by the cultists had never happened, Sharle would have ended up unhappy. Dario’s choice of the Baumeister family had been off the mark. Then again, perhaps Dario’s judgment had been off the mark from the moment he purchased Kuklo.
In any case, an excellent chance to encounter a Titan had offered itself. The only problem was that there were extremely few ways of leaving the walls. Climb over Wall Maria, or slip through the gate─but climbing over was essentially impossible. Even if Kuklo managed to elude the Garrison’s watchful gaze to reach the top, its fifty-meter height ruled out a safe descent, and touching down served no purpose if he couldn’t make it back.
In other words, sneaking through the gate was his only option.
The Survey Corps’ resumption of expeditions after fifteen years was like a godsend to Kuklo. If he could find some way to tag along, he could stroll straight through the main gate─though his way would have to be illegal… Moreover, he might just get eaten by a Titan, but surely the Survey Corps didn’t mean to be slaughtered.
One thing that troubled Kuklo was that the Survey Corps had gone so long without actual experience on the battlefield. Even if they did have the know-how, applying it when it mattered was a wholly different issue. Still, they had the confidence to embark on an expedition, so perhaps his worries were misplaced.
The problem is…
As Kuklo scratched his head wildly, Sharle returned to the room holding a large bag. She grinned at him, then briskly began unpacking her purchases. She had grown handy at housework, her spoiled ways gone without a trace.
“I heard something about my brother…” Having tidied up, Sharle sat on the edge of her bed, which doubled as a chair. “It sounds like he joined the Training Corps like he planned.”
“Where did you hear that?”
“An information dealer.”
Kuklo nodded. “I see. Xavi would make a good soldier.”
“I agree.”
In light of his callousness─he’d unflinchingly skewered a believer─there were few other paths for him to take. The question was what Xavi would do next. As long as he was in the Training Corps, he was unlikely to meddle with Kuklo’s or Sharle’s affairs. But having been knocked out by Kuklo, Xavi’s pride had to be in tatters. It had done Kuklo good to avenge his months of resentment, but Xavi was no doubt stuck with feelings of rage. The outrages he’d try to perpetrate if they ever met again weren’t hard to imagine. Then again, they’d probably never meet…
What worried Kuklo and Sharle more than Xavi’s actions were those of the Military Police Brigade. Between the death of Dario, a man close to the royal government, and the raid by Titan-worshipping cultists, there was more than enough reason for the Brigade to claim the case.
“I just hope they give up soon…”
Kuklo felt the same way, but the Military Police would probably not give up easily with the believers involved. Standing above the Survey Corps and the Garrison, the Brigade was comprised of around a thousand members and was responsible for administering and overseeing the military as well as commanding the police and fire duties in each town. There was yet another side to the group. It acted as a secret police that exposed wrongdoing within the military and by antiestablishment organizations. Not only did they have power in military affairs, their authority stretched into internal politics. In other words, the Military Police were the elite among the elite, and they would never allow any entity that threatened the security of the country to run amok.
Fifteen years ago, none other than the Brigade had investigated the breaching incident and driven the believers’ organization to near-extinction. That a Titan’s son had occasioned the raid on the Ino-cencio home must have been established before long. It was a thorny situation where Kuklo was liable to be treated as the culprit just for being the Titan’s son.
While running from the scene had been the right choice, it only fanned suspicion, especially because he’d left with Sharle.
There was much reason to feel anxious, but the problem Kuklo had to solve for the time being was a separate one.
“I’m thinking of going to Shiganshina District.”
As soon as the words left Kuklo’s mouth, Sharle froze in place. Then she let out a long sigh. “I was wondering if you’d say that… You want to see a Titan, right?”
“So you’d figured it out.”
“It wasn’t hard to notice.”
“Are you against it, Sharle?”
“Of course I am.” She put her hands on her hips and glared at Kuklo. “If I told you not to go, would you give up?”
“Well…”
“Then it doesn’t matter if I’m for or against it.”
Kuklo scratched his head. “Will you come, too?”
“Would you take no for an answer?”
Kuklo scratched his head again.
That means saying goodbye to this place… While Kuklo had never felt attached to possessions or places, this was the first time he had a space he could call his own. The thought of clearing out gave him pause.
Not only that, staying in the underground city meant his safety was assured. There was no need to defy danger and leave. He could tell, though, that until he saw a Titan for himself, the desire would linger in him. If he wanted to put a quick end to the problem, he had to make contact.
What do I want to do by meeting a Titan? He didn’t think that communication was possible with a Titan. His being a “Titan’s son” didn’t mean they’d see him as one of their own. What he himself might think or do upon encountering a Titan wasn’t something he felt he could predict. I’ll find out soon enough.
The talk of restarting expeditions was just a rumor. It seemed to be a reliable one, whose authenticity would be verified soon, but that did not mean today or tomorrow.
We can leave the room after that, Kuklo persuaded himself. Then, he began to kick around his plan to meet a Titan.