Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Age of Titans! Rod Reiss in now in the hands of the ‘Eren for King’ faction. Now it’s only a matter of getting the truth out of him of what the Reiss Family has done to the Eldians for the past century. Proof of Historia’s royal lineage is also necessary to help put Eren on the throne so as to not break the millennia-long royal bloodline that a good portion of the population looks to as a source of stability on Paradis. The Assembly also needs to be outed and their crimes and self-serving interests exposed. But Nile, Pixis, Erwin, and Zackly already have a plan for that.
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So, without further delay, please enjoy.
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Chapter 22 – A Century of Tyranny Ends
One of the most vulnerable times of a person’s life exists in moments of extreme change.
When everything that one has ever known comes crashing down around them suddenly, a person loses the pretenses they hold, the ‘mask’ they wear and show to others, their true nature is laid bare in the face of sudden fear, loss, panic, and unfamiliarity.
But these feelings…don’t last for just that moment. They linger and plague a person for days or weeks, until the mind has enough time to process and adjust to the new reality. Those that have never known hardship and struggle, to be only a single accident or sudden shortage of money away from losing everything, take the longest time to adjust to having nothing. And in that time, with their normal life stripped from them, their comforts removed, their walls broken…they become very honest as everything they once had to separate their inner thoughts from the outside world is gone.
For Rod Reiss, the hidden king of the Walls, he was suffering through just such a time right now. He’d been betrayed by Kenny Ackerman, kidnapped from his home, taken to a small village while blindfolded and a sack put over his head, then handed over to Eren Yeager and the Survey Corps…only to then hear the sound of thunder and the rumbling of the ground as Titans fought the Interior Police and slaughtered them all. He hadn’t had any chance to adjust, nor to even try and talk his way out of things since Kenny had gagged him as soon as he’d been shoved into the carriage. In only a matter of hours everything he’d known, all of his plans, meant nothing any more. He could barley keep up with the changes in location, much less come to terms with the new reality that he wasn’t safe or in-charge any longer.
“What is your name?” Levi Ackermann asked, his tone flat and his eyes cold as he looked at Rod Reiss, the two sitting in chairs across from each other. Their was no table between them, no barrier of any kind for Rod Reiss to cling to…even psychologically.
“Rod…Reiss.” Rod answered, the iron shackles heavy on his wrists, along with the chain connecting them to the floor in front of his wooden chair.
Levi glanced over to the corner of the room where Hange was writing everything down in her notebook. His eyes glanced over at the other corner near the lone door to the room where reporters from the largest newspapers were copying down the interrogation, something that they’d normally never be allowed to do. However, Pixis, Nile, and Zackly all agreed that this was a show of trust from the military to the civilians. A show that they would not hide the truth from the people like the current Monarchy had been doing for the last hundred years. In the corner to Levi’s left stood Erwin, watching over everything with calm expression, but blue eyes that held a mountain of his own questions. In the final corner, behind Rod Reiss’s chair and opposite of Hange, was a cloaked person, their identity hidden.
“Are you the true king of the Walls?” Levi turned his cold eyes back onto Rod. He noticed the slight flinch from Rod as their eyes met and was fairly certain that Kenny had put a great fear into the other man.
Rod nodded once, trying to hang his head and break eye contact with Levi. “Yes…”
Levi wasn’t going to let Rod gain any hint of stability though. “Lift your head and answer clearly.” It was a cold order with a promise of unpleasant things to come if not heeded.
“Yes. The Reiss Family are the true rulers of the Walls.” Rod answered as he straightened up instantly.
“What about the Fritz Family?” Levi questioned, now holding Rod’s gaze again with his sharp and intense eyes. “Are they not the legitimate Royal Bloodline?”
Rod shook slightly but the truth spilled from his mouth without filter because of how addled he was and had been for the last days, never given time to adjust or even calm down. “We are the Fritz Family. We passed the name onto another line when the Walls were made, but ruled in the shadows under the name Reiss…nobles from the countryside of Wall Sina.”
Levi didn’t give Rod any change of expression…another psychological tactic to unnerve a person in a conversation. People used the changes in expression and body language of those they were speaking with to formulate their responses and next words, both consciously and subconsciously. But when given nothing, conversation became a guessing game, stilted and unsettling. Not something that Rod Reiss was used to having used on him in the slightest. The closest memories were trying to talk and reason with his own father after the man had inherited the ‘Power of Titans’ so long ago…which was further unsettling the man.
“You gave the orders? All of them?” Levi asked coolly…his tone betrayed nothing as his eyes nearly bored into Rod’s.
“N-Not everything.” Rod admitted without a chance to filter his response and perhaps word it to strengthen his position. “The Assembly handled most of the day-today matters. The nobles of each territory were allowed to govern mostly as they saw fit too. Those of bloodlines that were not affected by the royal power to alter memories were given positions of power above all others.”
Levi remained still, his expression controlled, even as he wanted to narrow his eyes and sit forward at the admittance to not only allowing the terrible rule of the nobility, but having set it up to directly appease those that could’ve ‘potentially’ caused problems. “And anyone that didn’t fall in line?”
Rod blurted out the answer when Levi still gave him no cues to work with. “The only two clans that refused were the ‘Asian’ clan and the Ackermann clan. They were exiled and persecuted for going against the royal family until they were both on the brink of extinction.”
Outside of the interrogation room, Mikasa’s eyes widened slightly at learning the fate of her mother’s people within the Walls.
‘Both mother and father were being hunted…the whole time…” Mikasa realized why both of her parents had always lived with their heads down, far away from other people in their cabin. A gentle hand softly took hers and Mikasa gave Sasha a tiny smile for the emotional support and reassurance.
Inside the room, Levi could practically feel Erwin’s eyes on him and the question that he wanted answered. “What is this power to alter memories that you mentioned?”
“It’s the royal ‘Power of Titans’ that can only be utilized by our bloodline. With it, the King Fritz that built this walled world removed the people’s memories of the outside world.” Rod nearly babbled as the lack of cues, the upending of the life he’d always known, and even the lack of sleep was keeping him from formulating any lies or half-truths.
“And that’s why the Ackermann’s and the ‘Asian’ clan had to die? Because you couldn’t take away their memories?” Levi pressed without changing his tone, expression, or even moving his body, giving away nothing but bringing up Rod’s own memories of talking to his father in the past, another person that had been little better than talking to a wall for all the interaction they provided to conversation.
Rod nodded and hung his head, only to feel Levi’s cold stare on him and immediately sit up straight again. “Y-Yes.”
The journalists in the corner barely managed to keep their silence—as had been part of the agreement to record this interrogation—but their pencils were almost loud in the room with how quickly they were writing.
“Was it you or the Assembly that ordered over two-hundred-thousand of our people to their deaths in that faux ‘campaign’ to retake Wall Maria?” Levi asked a pointed question that got all of the journalists to still their pencils as the waited for the answer with bated breath.
“The Assembly came up with it to alleviate food shortages from the refugees.” Rod answered, part of him feeling some relief that he could finally place blame on someone else.
The muffled gasps from the journalists and the frantic writing of pencil on paper filled the room.
Levi glanced at Erwin and saw the slight movement of the Commander’s eyes towards the door. That was the signal to ask the question that would move this interrogation along. “You’re supposed to have a family…but no one has seen any of them for years now. Are they alive? Or are you the only one left?”
Rod’s relief at being able to pass the blame onto the Assembly a moment ago crashed and burned. The way that Levi had asked the question made it very clear that they knew Rod had been trying to hide the death of his family. ‘H-How much do they know?! They couldn’t have found out about the chapel! About how the power…was stolen…’ His thoughts came to screeching halt as he realized that Kenny knew his family had died when Grisha Yeager had stolen the power of the Founding Titan. ‘If he told them that…then did he tell them about her too?’ Rod questioned himself, but he was in no condition to make rational judgements…or even filter his own speech. “Historia…I needed her to inherit the power… If she can inherit the power, then everything can go back to how it’s supposed to be…” His addled mind desperately sought a way to return to ‘normalcy’ for its own protection and health.
The door to the room opened and Historia stepped inside, immediately getting everyone’s attention.
“After everything you did and had done…now that you want something from me, suddenly I’m your daughter again?” Historia asked, her normally warm voice gone, replaced with a flat tone that hid bubbling anger beneath it.
“H-Historia…?” Rod looked at his illegitimate daughter in surprise, never having expected her to be here. “I… That wasn’t my decision… When your mother died…”
Historia’s anger bubbled up to the surface, her expression changing as she glared at her father. “Do you mean when she was murdered right in front of my eyes?! While you stood there and did nothing!”
Rod recoiled slightly at the sharp retort. “B-But I saved you!”
“You just didn’t want to lose a potential tool.” Historia rebuked her father harshly. After a few years of being with Eren, Ymir, Mikasa, and Annie in a polycule that loved and supported each other, she’d been able to see what her father’s ‘act of kindness’ had truly been. “That’s all you see other people as…tools. People to take on the hardships and make the sacrifices while you stay safely in the shadows.”
“I… But you…” Rod was not used to being on the receiving end of a verbal lashing like this. He had gotten used to the apathy of his father growing up, had come to terms with Uri’s loss of desire to eliminate the Titans and instead cling to the walled world their ancestor had made upon his renouncement of war. But no one had EVER cut into him like this with their words and in his already addled mind form what had happened to him over the last days, he snapped. “HISTORIA!!!” He jumped to his feet, the iron shackles on his wrists jerking him to a stop as the chain connecting him to the floor went taut. “You’re my child! If you just do as I say, everything will be how it should! The…!”
Historia’s small fist socking her father in the jaw shut up the man’s tirade.
Rod nearly collapsed into his chair, trying to raise his hands to his injured mouth, but unable to because of the shackles. “AAUUGGHH!!! H-Historia… You…have to listen to me…”
“No, I don’t!” Historia said in a louder voice than almost anyone had ever heard her speak before. Her glare was intense as she looked down at her sitting father with rage for all of the pain and loneliness that she’d gone through growing up because of him and the other corrupt nobles that he led. “You played at being king, but never showed your face, or tried to make anything within the Walls better for anyone but yourself and the nobles! You let people die, or sent them to their deaths, or had them killed! Anyone that was inconvenient to you was tossed aside or gotten rid of…whichever was easier!”
The journalists had been writing as swiftly as they could since Historia’s entrance, noting down Rod Reiss’s confirmation that Historia was, indeed, his daughter along with all of the accusations that the hidden king didn’t deny in the slightest.
“Y-You can’t… Historia!” Rod was wide-eyed as he looked up at his daughter, the one that he’d saved that night for the simple fact that she carried royal blood. “We need to protect this paradise that our ancestor created!”
Historia’s look of disbelief was so striking that Rod went silent the instant that he saw it. “Paradise? Here? These Walls aren’t a paradise; they were a cage to keep all of us trapped. Just because the King Fritz that built them wanted to force his self-righteous vow to renounce war upon everyone…whether they agreed with it or not.”
Rod slumped a bit in the wooden chair. “But… My duty… I can’t… Someone else must inherit…”
“No nation should exist that does not care for its people.” The cloaked figure in the corner of the room behind Rod Reiss’s chair spoke up for the first time, reaching up to pull their hood back. “And no man that doesn’t see his people as people, has a right to call himself a king.” Eren looked down into Rod Reiss’s eyes, powerful green boring into almost terrified blue. “The ‘world’ that you’ve built within the Walls shows your failure on both accounts, Rod Reiss.”
“Eren Yeager…” Rod managed to utter out as he stared up at Eren, the younger man towering over him as he sat in the wooden chair. “…you can’t…no…your not of a royal or even noble bloodline! You don’t have the ability! You have no right!” He was working himself back into a frenzy as he knew that only one of the Fritz Bloodline could make full use of the Founding Titan’s power and that same power, above all else, was what had decided the monarch of Eldia since long before the Walls were created.
Eren’s green eyes continued to bore into Rod’s as the hidden king tried to build up into a rant…and the green irises almost seemed to crystallize. Rod’s words died in his throat and he nearly reeled back as if he’d been physically struck. “You, of all people, don’t know what it means to have the right or the ability to be king.”
Rod’s mouth moved, but no words came out. He recognized those eyes…he’d seen them before…but they’d always been purple back then. When the members of his family inherited the Founding Titan’s power…their eyes turned purple to show that they were under the vow to renounce war. Only when they activated their power to change memories or truly pulled on the power while transformed into a Titan did their eyes appear to crystallize like that. “B-But…how?” He managed to breathe out, not heard by anyone but Eren, Levi, and Historia as they were the closest. Eren demonstrated the power that had been stolen from the Reiss Family, and he’d done it at will without using any ability of the Founding Titan.
Eren gave him no answer, only looked into the terrified blue eyes of the hidden king with his crystalline eyes. There was no need for him to explain himself. Rod would surely put the pieces together for himself soon enough. Instead, Eren walked past the shackled man and guided Historia out, the two sharing a soft smile with each other and a physical closeness that wasn’t missed by any of the journalists, though they all only made small notes on it for potential speculation. The interrogation they were being allowed to report on was the actual story that they were all here for.
As the door closed behind Eren and Historia with a heavy thud, Levi got the interrogation back underway.
“Next question…” Levi said with his cool, flat tone…his face still expressionless as he forced Rod’s attention to focus onto him again. Erwin continued to ‘supervise’ from the corner and the journalists all flipped to a new page in their notebooks as the interrogation resumed.
-Mitras ~ Royal Assembly-
The day had come for the Emergency Military Powers to end after not finding a trace of a breach within Wall Rose. Every part of the wall had been searched and every gate to every District inspected for any signs of tampering or damage. Darious Zackly, as Commander-in-Chief, along with Erwin, Nile, and Pixis as the three Branch Commanders, had arrived with their reports compiled and ready to present to the Assembly as they returned power and control to the Monarchy, as was required by the Charter for the Survival of Humanity.
However, all four men knew that the Assembly would have ‘words’ for them after the information that they’d released in the time that they’d held near total power within the Walls. They were not only prepared for it, but the entitled lecture that was sure to come was a cornerstone of their own plan to finally oust the Assembly and the current regime from power with the backing of all the common people.
Just as Zackly and Nile had suspected, a dozen journalists were in the large room where the throne sat on the highest point of a raised dais. On a level three steps down from that were the four cushy chairs that the Assembly sat upon. The ‘king’ on the throne looked completely uninterested in the goings on around him, as always. The Assembly, however, were much more focused, the barely hidden annoyance and agitation on their faces was clear to the four military men.
“As written in the Charter for the Survival of Humanity, the Military has spent the term of Emergency Powers searching Wall Rose for any signs of damage or any further enemy incursion from beyond the Walls. Having found no damage, and with no further attacks having happened, we have compiled our reports and present them to the Assembly.” Zackly spoke formally, as was required when going through this process.
One of the soldiers stationed to act as bodyguards for the Assembly walked over and received the compiled reports from Zackly. Turning on his heel, he proceeded up the two steps to stand upon the dais and stopped before the Assembly, holding out the reports to Gerald, the one that represented the Military on the Assembly.
Gerald took the reports, barely glanced at them for a moment, and then set them on the small side table beside his chair. “I’ll be sure to go over these thoroughly.” He said, his tone tight as he looked at Zackly, Erwin, Pixis, and Nile. “However, there are things that need to be gone over regarding what the military did with their authority while under Emergency Powers.”
“Yes,” Aurille nodded, his glare not even hidden anymore. “Such as the dissemination of information of questionable credibility to the masses.”
“You do realize that many people are worried and near panicked by the things you claim to be true, don’t you?” Deltoff, the representative of the merchants within the Walls, questioned the four military leaders. “Commerce within almost every District has become chaotic as people scramble to try and stock up on supplies while fearing some outside invasion.”
Roderich, representative of the Wall Faithful, nodded solemnly—mostly because the faith/cult was still nearly tearing itself apart—and his glare was filled with a mix of anger and worry. “Even the faithful are in fear and torn amidst your claims of intruders and outside enemies.”
Aurille’s face hardened further as he addressed the four Commanders again. “I think the Assembly needs to reconsider what powers the Military can hold during Emergency Situations in the future.” His gaze focused in on Erwin. “And perhaps there needs to be a reduction of personnel within the Survey Corps, once the lands of Wall Maria have been cleared of Titans.”
Deltoff, Roderich, and Gerald all nodded in agreement.
Erwin raised his hand to speak and waited for the Assembly to grant him permission.
“You have something to say, Erwin?” Gerald asked, prompting the Commander to step forward and speak.
“Yes,” Erwin said as he faced the Assembly and the fake king on the throne. “If the Survey Corps is weakened, then we weaken Humanity’s spear.” The Assembly looked at him with some annoyance, but the journalists in the room wrote down the Erwin’s words almost as fast as he spoke them. “How do you protect yourself from an incoming enemy? Not with a shield. You eliminate the threat with a spear.” Erwin took a breath, his resolve clear and powerful in his expression. “For example, say that Wall Rose was breached by the enemy. The citizens of Wall Rose would take refuge within Wall Sina again…but the food supplies consumed during the previous evacuation have yet to be replenished. That fact is common knowledge. The people of Wall Rose would be forced into a different struggle to stay alive, on that had nothing to do with the Titans. In other words a breach in Wall Rose, at this point in time, would cause a civil wat between two factions…the people of Wall Rose and the people of Wall Sina.”
There were audible gasps form the journalists as they continued writing. Meanwhile, the rest of the military officers and soldiers present in the large room all looked grim at the potential scenario. None of them really doubted Erwin’s words, given that they’d just gotten out of the previous evacuation and the food storages had, indeed, been emptied to feed everyone while they took refuge in Wall Sina. Hunger would drive a person to do just about anything…even more so if the person had children to feed.
Deltoff, Gerald, Aurille, and Roderich all looked at each other for a brief moment.
“And?” Aurille asked, seemingly not understanding what that had to do with the Survey Corps. “Are you trying to say that the existence of the Survey Corps would solve this problem?”
“The Survey Corps job is to charge head first towards the enemy. Nothing will be solved if all we do is shrink back.” Erwin said plainly and clearly. “Unless the Assembly has some secret plan to solve this issue that we haven’t been made aware of.”
The way the faces of all four Assembly members briefly became guarded spoke volumes to those that caught the expressions of the four men. It was practically admittance that whatever plan they may have wouldn’t currently work.
Roderich coughed into his fist once. “I understand your opinion, Commander Erwin.” His tone made it clear that he didn’t actually care about said opinion. “But you must know that while you claim to have captured enemy soldiers from beyond the Walls, no one but the Survey Corps has seen them. You make it very difficult to believe your story when you won’t present these so-called invaders to everyone.”
“Your position is that the Survey Corps has only done its job and it would be not only unjust to reduce its personnel, but that it would harm humanity?” Aurille asked rhetorically, his opinion on the matter clearly different from Erwin’s just by how he spoke. “Yet you refuse to present this ‘threat’ to us to prove your claims.”
“You’ve been saying such things since you took over the Survey Corps some years ago.” Deltoff mentioned with an almost exasperated expression. “But just how much more supplies, food, and money must the people of the Walls spend from their taxes to fund the Survey Corps? It also seems rather convenient that a new threat appears when we discuss reducing the personnel and funding of your branch of the military.” He said, practically accusing the Survey Corps of being a waste of money, even after they’d sealed Shiganshina and were currently planning to retake the lands within in a large military operation. “There is absolutely no reason for humanity to tolerate a group like that inside the Walls.”
Gerald turned to look at Pixis, now that doubt had been sown against the Survey Corps claim of capturing foreign soldiers. Even if that was only necessary because no one had been able to find where the Survey Corps had hidden them away. “Commander Pixis.”
“Hm?” Pixis looked to Gerald, his expression that of a professional soldier, giving nothing away.
“The Garrison and the Survey Corps have much in common. They both risk their lives together on the front lines. You two seem to have built a close relationship.” Gerald said as he looked between Pixis and Erwin. “But surely you do not agree with Erwin’s thoughts on this matter regarding maintaining the Survey Corps, correct?”
Pixis looked at the faces of the Assembly members, seeing them all trying to pressure him with their gazes. “Humans fighting humans must be avoided at all costs. If a spark of war were to be struck in our little world, in no time the blaze would engulf all of Humanity. I said as much to my soldiers during the defense of Trost District where many of them died under my command.” All of the soldiers in the room went quiet at that. While Trost had been their first true victory against the Titans, many had still died before Eren Yeager and the other Titan Soldiers had been able to step in and eliminate the other Titans and seal the Wall. “In any case, I doubt that there would be many humans left in the event of another breach, so we should focus on reclaiming our lands from the Titans.”
Gerald looked a little annoyed at Pixis’s lack of direct condemnation for the Survey Corps, but the well-respected Commander’s words were still sound and could be construed to be inline with the Assembly’s goal of reducing the power of the Survey Corps. “We certainly wouldn’t want that, Commander Pixis.” He agreed with a nod, crossing his arms over his chest.
“If you’re done talking, then let’s end this meeting.” Aurille said with authority. He put on the most impressive air he could as he addressed the gathered journalists. “As the emergency has ended and no evidence of a breach in the Walls has been found, the Emergency Powers of the military are returned to the Monarchy. Going forward things will be as normal.” He almost grinned as the journalists wrote his words down, finally feeling like control was returning to where it was meant to be. “As for the first order…”
His words were interrupted by the large double doors to the room slamming open forcefully.
A female Garrison soldier stood in the doorway, a panicked look on her face before she promptly saluted. “Sirs! Wall Rose has fallen!” She reported loudly so that everyone in the large room heard her clearly. “The Ape-like Titan and the Quadruped Titan from the previous reports of foreign incursion appeared suddenly outside of Stohess District and destroyed both gates! Evacuees are now surging this way from the east!”
“What?” Several of the soldiers and officers present all uttered out at the same time, their eyes wide at the sudden catastrophe.
Aurille shot out of his seat in shock, mouth agape that such a thing had happened. Deltoff, Roderich, and Gerald all looked at each other in confusion and panic. None of them were good with sudden emergencies, and this situation was the absolute worst case scenario.
Pixis raised his voice quickly. “Secure an evacuation route!!! Gather all of the Garrison’s frontline troops in the east section to support the evacuation!!!”
“Return everyone to their stations!” Zackly’s authoritative voice made every soldier begin to move. “Safely evacuating the people is our top priority!”
“NO!!!” Aurille’s sudden yell stopped everyone in their tracks. All eyes turned to look at the representative of the aristocrats in disbelief. “Shut all of the gates to Wall Sina!!! Don’t let a single refugee in!!!” He ordered while pointing at the gathered soldiers and officers.
“B-But sir!” Nile stepped forward, his eyes wide that everything bad he’d thought about the Assembly was not only proven correct, but that they were even worse than his most horrible expectations. “The people of Wall Rose… Do you mean we should just watch as half of mankind is killed?!”
Aurille was already in a small huddle with the other Assembly members. “Just as that man there said…” He vaguely motioned to Erwin. “All letting them in would do is bring about civil war!”
“Why should we deliberately create new enemies?!” Deltoff agreed with a short nod.
All four of the Assembly members were clearly afraid, sweat forming on their faces as they spoke in hushed whispers, ignoring the shocked looks they were getting from every soldier and officer…and the journalists as well that were recording their words.
“B-But…that’s just a theory. There’s no way of knowing…” Nile tried to argue against leaving half of the people of the Walls to die, playing his part almost masterfully.
“What’s important is that it could happen!” Aurille shouted at Nile angrily. “Our authority is absolute! Now hurry up and get moving to seal the gates!”
The four members of the Assembly talked quietly amongst themselves again, The snippets heard where cold and uncaring about the people of Wall Rose. Even a comment about refugees coming into their lands being ‘disgusting’ was heard. The four men made it abundantly clear that what they cared about was keeping themselves, their property, and their own provisions safe while leaving half of the population to die.
“I wish I could say that your response shocked me.” Zackly said as he adjusted his glasses on his face. “But it doesn’t. Not one bit.”
“Zackly?” Gerald questioned as he saw the Command-in Chief raise his right hand.
Click
The sound of every rifle in the room having its hammer cocked back was loud. Every single firearm was now aimed at the Assembly members as they all recoiled in shock and disbelief that the soldiers would dare point their guns towards them.
“W-What is this…?” Roderich stuttered out as he saw the wall of rifles aimed at them.
“The report that was just delivered was in error. Please, calm yourselves.” Zackly said to the soldiers and officers present that weren’t ‘in the know’ about what was going on. “No Titan attacks have been confirmed at this time.”
“You bastard! What’s the meaning of this?!” Aurille damned loudly, nearly screaming at Zackly.
Pixis stepped forward. “If you’re asking who organized this, it was the four of us.” He informed the Assembly as both Nile and Erwin stepped forward to stand beside Zackly, presenting a unified military front against the current corrupt regime.
Gerald’s gaze snapped toward Pixis and Nile. “Pixis?! Nile?!”
“The Interior Police won’t be coming.” Erwin told the Assembly plainly, seeing all four men flinch. “They attempted to extort the Survey Corps and backstab us after handing over the actual king of the Walls, Rod Reiss.” All of the gathered journalists and other soldiers looked confused at that, but the journalists wrote it down as well. “He’s told us the whole truth about the puppet you have sitting on the throne behind you.”
Roderich looked like his legs were about to give out. “W-What…?” He and all four Assembly members were sweating heavily now.
“By prioritizing your personal wealth over the lives of the people, all of you have violated the first clause of the Charter for the Survival of Humanity.” Zackly stated with sharp, steely eyes, his voice almost like thunder in the large room. “You are not fit to rule over the people that you would allow to die.”
Aurielle shakily raised his hand and pointed it at Zackly. “You… Quiet, you fool! Do you think the masses will follow you soldiers just because you’re pointing guns at us?! The people obey the king! No one else!” He yelled out, spit flying from his mouth. “So what if you gain control of the capital?! The rural aristocracy won’t go down without a fight! Your foolish actions will just bring chaos, tragedy, and destruction to these Walls!”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that!” Hange declared with a big smile across her face as she entered the room and handed a front page of the largest newspaper in Wall Sina to Zackly.
“Hm, faster than expected.” Zackly commented after reading the headline and the first paragraph quickly. “It’s an extra edition. A full front page article of the interrogation of Rod Reiss, including his admission of the royal family altering the memories of the citizens to make them forget the outside world and to erase people that got too close to the truth. There’s also confirmation that the ‘Fritz’ sitting on the throne is a puppet, and that the hidden king lived as a rural aristocrat that abandoned his own daughter, Historia Reiss, after letting her mother be murdered in front of her.”
All four Assembly members were sweating profusely now as all of the ugly truths that had been kept hidden for so long came pouring out and into the hands of the people.
“Damn it!” Aurielle cried out as he turned and stomped up the three steps to the throne, kicking it and startling the ‘king’ that sat upon it. “WAKE UP, YOU OLD FOOL!!!”
‘Fritz’ jolted and his eyes opened fully to take in his surroundings, rather than just staring into the middle distance. “Huh? Lunch?”
“DON’T MOVE!!!” Zackly commanded powerfully. “Arrest them all!”
The soldiers moved forward, rifles trained on the four Assembly members, the fake king, and even the bodyguard soldiers that served the Assembly. No one would escape arrest and questioning. The second half of the current regime fell from power then and there as they had their hands shackled behind their backs, their feet shackled together, and were forced out of the room at gunpoint.
As Zackly, Pixis, Nile, and Erwin assumed control of operations for the moment, after first making sure that the Assembly members were securely imprisoned, they slowly managed to make their way towards the front doors of the Royal Assembly Hall while talking amongst themselves.
“With the old regime deposed, we’re in a precarious state.” Nile said as he thought about what needed to be done next.
“A new regime has to have the support of the people. We can only hope that what Eren and Historia have done for the Walls already will be enough to garner the people’s support in ascending the throne.” Erwin replied as he walked forward, Hange following behind him.
Pixis’s aide opened the front doors of the building for the four men.
“Thank you.” Pixis nodded to her with a small smile. “If not, then I’m not sure how long people will accept military rule.” That was a scenario that none of them wanted to imagine, but had to prepare for in case it came to be.
Zackly listened to the crowd as they exited the building and a small grin tugged at his lips after only a moment. “I don’t think that will be an issue.”
“The king on the throne was nothing but a pretender?!”
“The Assembly ordered the campaign to retake Wall Maria because they knew everyone would die and it would alleviate any food shortages for the nobility?!”
“The real king abandoned his daughter after killing her mother in front of her?!”
“It says here that Historia is one of the Titan soldiers that saved Trost and sealed the breach in Shiganshina!”
The people were abuzz with the news that had been handed to them for free. All of the various papers were reporting the same things, even if the articles were written slightly differently. Every single one of them claimed their source as the interrogation of Rod Reiss, which the military hadn’t hidden away, but had allowed journalists to attend so that the truth could be known to the people.
“The true royal bloodline still exists!”
“Historia for Queen!”
“What about Eren Yeager?!”
“The hero of the people deserves the throne!”
“What? Are you crazy?!”
“The royal bloodline has remained unbroken for over a thousand years! Keeping our people together and prosperous! How can we turn our backs on it?!”
“Did you not read what they did?!”
“Yeager should be raised to the throne by the will of the people!”
“Historia is a direct descendant of the Fritz Bloodline! The throne is her birthright!”
Several groups began to argue, making Erwin, Pixis, Nile, and Zackly worry that factions were already starting to form and lines would be drawn.
A young woman, not much older than Historia herself, raised the paper in her hands with a bright grin on her face, showing both arguing groups the second page. “I don’t think there’s anything to fight about!”
On the second page was one journalist’s note of Eren Yeager’s attendance of the interrogation and how close he and Historia seemed to be. There was even a rather good drawing of Eren and Historia side by side and smiling at each other as Eren escorted Historia out of the room.
“I did wonder if one of the journalists would mention that.” Erwin said as a sigh of relief escaped him while both groups began to read the second page of the young woman’s paper or their own if they had the same one.
Hange giggled behind her hand. “I might’ve made sure that one of them was aware that Historia and Eren have been close since their cadet days.” She informed Erwin and the other Commanders with a grin.
“I never thought relationship gossip would be what saved the Walls one day.” Nile admitted as he ran his han through his short black hair.
Pixis pulled out his small flask and took a short sip before capping it and returning it to his pocket. “If that’s all it takes to prevent any more discord than what will already happen with the fall of the old regime, then we should consider it a blessing.”
From the two previously arguing groups, cheer and laughter could now be heard.
“Well, that would work out just fine, wouldn’t it?”
“A royal wedding! A real one for the first time!”
“King Eren and Queen Historia does sound nice!”
Hange nearly burst into laughter as the cheer started spreading throughout the streets like wildfire. “Oh, Historia is going to LOVE this!”
As cheer began to spread, and unrest quietly built up out of sight by people worried what the future would bring, the orchestrators of this—mostly—bloodless coup began to make further plans. There were many, many things that now needed to be done and other things that needed to be started to help Paradis catch up to the world that they’d been separated from for the last century.
-End Chapter-
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And so the old regime falls.
With a century of tyranny making ruling over the people easy, incompetence grew amongst the ruling class and made them only capable of trying to shift blame on each other. Not once did the nobles think that perhaps sharing some of the excess food and materials they’d hoarded for themselves might’ve won them some support from the commonfolk they looked down on.
The truth has come out now, pulled from the shadows and presented to all. Allowing the people to see just WHO their king really was and what their leaders true character was. It’s little surprise that the people of Paradis didn’t like what they learned and what they saw.
But what the people DO seem to like is the idea of the ‘Hero of the People’ Eren Yeager, marrying the last of the Fritz Bloodline, Historia Reiss, and the two becoming King and Queen of the Walls!
As Nile said…who would’ve thought that relationship gossip and a potential royal wedding would bring the people together? Kek!
As Eren and Historia become King and Queen, Paradis is in for a bit of roughness as they move on from the old regime and into the new one. With Marley currently weakened with the loss of the Prime Female, Prime Armor, Prime Jaw, and Prime Colossal Titans…will the Mid-East Alliance War keep them busy long enough for Paradis to modernize a bit and fortify their island?
Keep reading to find out!
Until I get your reviews, later!