The royal residence, the backyard, beside the lake.
"Historia, does Gale still not plan on getting married?" Mikasa, sitting beside the stone pavilion, exclaimed, "And then? What did he say?"
"The same thing, that once the war is over we could travel around the world." Historia stared at the calm lake.
"What did you tell him?" Mikasa asked curiously.
"That I understood, I understand very well. His concerns are great considering that everyone on the island is considered a demon."
Historia picked up a small stone and forcefully threw it into the lake, creating ripples.
"Then he left, saying he had work to do and that he needed to go, telling me to stay in the capital and that he would come back to see me when he had time."
"What did you tell him?" Mikasa leaned closer. "Did you stand your ground and tell him that if he left today, then he shouldn't come back!"
Mikasa punched the air.
Historia said nothing, silently throwing stones into the lake.
After a while, someone called for her; she had an event to attend today.
What could she do? She went to her room, changed clothes, put on makeup, smiled at herself in the mirror to make sure she looked fine, and then followed the instructions and left.
She did not know whether her waiting would be worthwhile, but she would wait for Gale anyway. Though she felt that the wars of the outside world would always exist.
Outside Wall Maria, Gale and several soldiers rode on the vehicle mounted on the Jaw Titan's back.
The wind was strong and the ride was rough.
He wore goggles and tried to find the way.
"According to the report, I think it should be around here…" Gale recalled the location. "Ymir, after crossing that prairie, head toward the hill. There are three orange trees there!"
"Understood," replied Ymir in her Jaw Titan form, and after spotting the hill and the orange trees, she quickly turned right.
The Jaw Titan's powerful limbs left marks across the ground.
When Ymir ran at full speed, she could reach around 200 kilometers per hour.
However, even Ymir could not maintain that speed for long.
Ever since her Titan form evolved into the complete Jaw Titan form, the strength and ferocity of her limbs had reached their limit, but her endurance had significantly decreased.
At that speed, she could only maintain it for a maximum of an hour and a half.
Fortunately, the starting point was not far from their destination.
They took a steam train to Wall Maria and reached their destination in only half an hour.
It was a long and narrow canyon.
A few scattered tents dotted the outside area, while giants waited in the mining zone. The sea stretched out beyond the canyon.
Gale saw Armin waiting at the site.
Ymir stopped outside the canyon, and Gale dismounted from her back, brushed off the dust, and immediately met up with the exploration team.
"Take me to the place where you found the material," Gale said, not even bothering to fix his messy hair.
"This way." Armin quickly led Gale into the canyon, pointing toward an exposed rock.
Gale looked around. The canyon did not appear to have formed naturally; it seemed as though it had been created by something, perhaps a meteor crater.
He took Armin's discovery: a pitch-black stone sealed inside a glass box, glowing with vivid colors.
It was pitchblende, without a doubt!
It possessed an attractive shine, but it contained dangerous radioactive elements. Even sealed inside a box, it could not be handled for too long. To extract it, radiation protection suits made of lead were necessary.
Lead is a metal capable of effectively blocking the radiation emitted by unrefined uranium ore.
However, it was unclear whether this radiation would affect Titans; it was probably ineffective, and even if it were effective, it would be impossible to provide them with radiation suits.
"How much have you found so far?" Gale asked, fascinated.
"We've extracted everything within a five-kilometer radius," Armin said excitedly. "The estimated uranium ore reserves exceed 100,000 tons. It's an open-pit mine."
"Measure it more precisely. If it really is 100,000 tons, then we won't need to search for other uranium sources for now!"
He joined the exploration team, and during the following days, they surveyed the true reserves of this mineral source.
Dressed in radiation protection suits, they directed the Titans to dig underground within a ten-kilometer radius using hardened shovels and pickaxes.
They dug to depths of over one hundred meters. The ore here was quite abundant.
The uranium ore near the canyon was high-grade ore with a distinctive shine, while the surrounding area contained medium-grade ore with moderate content. There was no low-grade ore.
The reserves undoubtedly exceeded 100,000 tons, more than enough. They could use this uranium ore to refine the raw materials for nuclear bombs!
So only one difficulty remained: nuclear centrifuges.
…
Royal Capital, Marley Prisoner-of-War Camp.
The prisoners' tour had ended; they could no longer wander around Paradis Island like tourists.
Now, as prisoners, they were confined to a small camp, their movements restricted to a tiny area.
Pieck realized that her and Zeke's situation among the prisoners of war had become extremely awkward and delicate.
Because she and Zeke were Eldians, before their capture they had been warriors, but now they had lost their warrior powers, retaining only their "Eldian" identity.
Paradis Island was the Eldian stronghold.
The Marleyan prisoners of war deliberately distanced themselves from Pieck and Zeke, and both were treated with suspicion.
If this continued, the prisoners of war who would eventually be repatriated to Marley would surely report everything to their superiors.
Just as that man had said, once war broke out, Marley, after losing a large number of Intelligent Titans, would undoubtedly suffer a series of defeats, and at that point only despair would await Pieck's father.
At the end of October, at the close of the second month since Pieck had become a prisoner of war, the people of Paradis Island sent out the first list of those who would be repatriated to Marley.
The people of Paradis Island told them that the Marleyans who chose repatriation and the prisoners of war who decided to stay would be controlled in two different camps.
The deportees would receive education in quarantine camps and would be given photographs taken during their trip as proof to bring back to Marley.
Pieck understood that Paradis Island was using them as an excuse to display part of its military strength and intimidate Marley.
She was anxious; that old commander was on the deportation list.
He was an absolute anti-Eldian extremist; if he returned, he would surely accuse Pieck of betraying Marley.
Her father might not even be able to wait until the war began before being taken to a prisoner camp.
After weighing the pros and cons for an entire month, she finally made a decision: defect to Paradis Island along with her father.
Marley's fate was already sealed; Paradis Island possessed the Founding Titan, and it no longer seemed bound by the vow renouncing war. Therefore, the Rumbling could become the means to preserve Paradis Island.
She decided to swear loyalty to Paradis Island, and late at night, when no one was around, she contacted the soldiers guarding the gate.
All prisoners of war were forbidden from going outside at night and remained locked inside their rooms, but Pieck's room was different; it was open, giving her a second option.
There will be more tonight; I'll update again around midnight after finishing writing this.