A full blue moon blooms in the dark sky outside of a dimly lit office room.
Its glimmering moonlight filtering through the windows lands on a groaning mahogany desk under the weight of countless stacks of papers and files.
Seated behind the desk is an old man with a gray receding hairline.
Wearing the glasses over his tired and deep-sunken eyes, he reads a sheet of paper, while a hot steaming cup of tea rests in his right hand.
"Slurp"
After taking a sip from the cup, the wrinkles caused by age on his face soothed in comfort.
Besides the old man, a map of Paradise Island hangs on a board.
The map consists of three massive walls, encircling each other, with the innermost layer of the wall labeled as Wall Shina, the middle circle of the wall labeled as Wall Rose, and the outermost circle of the wall labeled as Wall Maria, with a red mark crossed on it.
On the wall behind the old man, three flags hung there with distinct symbols printed on them.
One having a shield with two roses on it, the other one having a pair of crossed, light-blue wings, and the last one having a shield with a noble unicorn on it.
"Knock" "knock"
Suddenly, someone knocks on the door.
"Come in," the old man's deep voice laden with authority sounded.
"Click"
The door was carefully opened, and a disciplined-looking person wearing a military uniform entered.
The man arrives in front of the desk and gives a salute to the old man. "Sir Premier, sorry to disturb you so late at night."
The old man, Dhalis Zachary, the commander-in-chief of all three military forces of Paradis Island, looks up from the file he was reading and gives a nod to the military officer and then curiously asks him, "What brings you so late, officer?"
The officer eases his stance and brings out a file from his side, offering it to the premier, Zachary, with both hands.
"Sir"
Looking curiously at the file, Premier Zachary takes it and sees the symbol of the survey corps on it, a pair of crossed, light-blue wings. A frown instantly appeared on his face. "Erwin, has he returned?"
"Yes, sir, he just returned in a hurry, and the moment he arrived, he ordered this file to be instantly sent to you." The officer replied, "And he also requested a meeting with you tomorrow morning."
"Hmph, anything else?" Opening the first page of the file, the premier, Zachary, starts reading.
"Nothing, sir." The officer replies.
"Well, you can leave and inform me if anything of importance happens."
"Yes, sir," saluting, the officer leaves the room.
With the gentle closing sound of the doors, Premier Zachary got immersed in the file; with every turning of a page, the frown on his face deepened.
With the last "swap" of the page, Premier Zachary closed the file.
Removing his glasses and rubbing his sore eyes, he felt the rising headache.
"What a mess."
The file contains the recent expedition of the survey corps, detailing their findings, the absence of titans, the numerous speculations about the possible reappearance of the colossal titan, and the need to take immediate countermeasures.
"The days are going to be busier." Dalius Zachary tiredly looks at the shadow of the moon on the window.
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The next day, as the first rays of the sun shine on the high and mighty walls.
The Royal Assembly court immediately sprang into action.
In the confines of the grand walls of the royal court, a heated discussion starts.
In this particular meeting, many figures of authority and power attend it, attaching great importance to it.
Currently, everyone is sitting on their chair, intently reading the copy of the file, which the commander of the survey corps, Erwin Smith, sent to the Premier Zachary last night.
Erwin Smith, calmly seated in his seat, looks carefully at everyone's facial expression as they read the carefully crafted report by him.
Everyone's face turned tense as they continued to read it.
"Absurd"
Suddenly, a disbelieving voice sounded.
Aurille, one of the noble-origin members of the assembly, looks incredulous while looking at a particular part of the file.
"Oh, I totally agree with you, Chancellor Aurille." The empathetic voice of the Premier Zachary sounded, "The sudden absence of titans indeed seems absurd."
"W-what? That is not what I mean." Chancellor Aurille stammers in annoyance.
"Oho! Then, what do you mean?" The premier, Zachary, looks astonished. "Is there anything more of importance written in the file that I have missed?" The premier, Zachary, curiously opens the file and starts going through it again to see if he had missed anything.
"Y-you." Aurille looks frustratingly at the premier. Knowing the sly old man for many years, Aurille knows that the old man is teasing him.
Aurille stops himself from overreacting and brings his composure back.
Just then, the premier, Zachary, secretly signals to Commander Erwin, who, upon getting the cue, stands up from his seat, instantly gaining everyone's attention.
Erwin Smith begins, "Everyone," his powerful voice reverberated throughout the courtroom, "I think after reading the report, you should all understand the gravity of the situation." Erwin directly chases to the point.
"We don't know when the Colossal Titan may appear again, and we again lost a part of our territory, so, to prevent that, immediate and powerful actions must be taken—otherwise, the consequences will be something that the people inside the walls may not be able to bear."
Silence fell upon the hall, everyone remembering the day when the wall Maria falls.
"Commander Erwin, we all share the same sentiments as you." A calm voice sounded; one of the members of the royal assembly, Deltoff, a person of noble origin, said to Erwin, "We all understand the need for taking the precautions, but what you have suggested doesn't seem to be very appropriate."
"I don't think I have proposed anything that is not in the best interest of humanity." Erwin questioned back.
"I am not questioning your proposal—but there are some inappropriate 'plans' that you have suggested." Deltoff replies.
"Oh—and what might the 'inappropriate' actions be, counselor Deltoff?" This time, Pixis, the commander of the Garrison unit, interjects and asks, Deltoff.
To which Aurille, who was previously silenced, immediately speaks up evidently, "Hmph, the suggestion of letting the people of the outer four districts evacuate inside the wall rose is absurd; if it isn't inappropriate, then what is it?"
"Yeah, counselor Aurille is speaking right; if we suddenly let the people of the outer district leave the place and enter inside Wall Shina, then it will cause unrest, and chaos will readily spread." Daltoff speaks in favor of Aurille, while some others point out their opinion over it.
"Yeah, how can we let them leave the districts? That will surely raise questions about our authority."
Looking at various people rejecting the notion of letting the people of the districts leave the place, Commander Erwin and others secretly noted them down.
Having achieved some of their goals, Premier Zachary suddenly interjects, "I think we can discuss further on this matter, but we should hasten other actions."
To which Aurille replied, "Hmph, the matter regarding the peoples of outer districts evacuating inside the wall is definitely impossible, but yes—we can take the action to reinforce the wall and increase the strength of the military there."
Soon everyone started a heated discussion on what and how to take countermeasures against any possible emergency situation and how to counterattack if the Colossal Titan reappears.
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What is this chapter? Even I am feeling absurd over it.
Ans- The fire inside my brain is diffused by the severe cold, that's why I am not able to properly cook some great ideas, and I'm not able to write properly.
But I will try to write the next chapters with much proficiency and excellence.
So, point out the errors and the areas where I can improve myself.
Thank you.