Ideally, the two teams would rendezvous at markers farther away, each retrieve their token, then return along the other's route to achieve the best training results.
—But after actually making the expedition, just how much would the ideal outcome diverge from reality... that could only be proven through actual field experience.
"This isn't some competition to decide a winner. Only idiots would rush along in such a hurry—we'll take it slow while keeping an eye on the situation."
Jean Kirstein said with a curl of his lip. His lazy, trouble-averse nature was simply worlds apart from Eren's hot-blooded personality. In Jean's view, since it was not a competition, there was naturally no problem with their team moving a little slower.
"I don't care whether there's a winner or not. I'll give it my all anyway. If you want to take your time, Jean, go ahead. I'm going to hurry on."
Sure enough, Eren immediately refuted Jean's completely unmotivated remark. He flicked his reins and surged ahead of Jean in an instant.
"But, Eren, you can't ignore team discipline..." Little angel Armin stepped between the two people who could never get along and quietly tried to persuade him.
After a year of soldier training, Eren was no longer the sort of person who would disregard everything once his blood was up. Besides, Armin had a point.
Noticing the faint gaze cast back at him by the person leading the group ahead, Eren could only press down on his reins and slow his horse.
—Big brother is watching you!
"Tsk..." Lianye clicked his tongue as though he found it regrettable. Jean and Eren immediately fell silent and kept their mouths shut.
If Eren had charged ahead a little more recklessly, Lianye would have had an excuse, in his capacity as captain, to beat up that undisciplined fool and pin him to the ground for a good thrashing.
He usually had no excuse to put these two troublemakers in their place, and Lianye's hands had already started itching.
"Haah~~~~"
Eren quickly quieted down with good sense, and Jean no longer dared to stir up trouble. That only made Lianye let out an extremely bored sigh.
It would have been great if the two of them had caused more trouble. Then he could have beaten them up in the name of the captain's punishment. Otherwise, if they merely traded a few casual barbs along the road, there was no way to pass much of the boredom.
According to the prior arrangements, Lianye was the leader of this Expeditionary Team, responsible for leading all team members and handling unexpected situations. Little angel Armin was the recorder, responsible for documenting significant events worth recording along the way and reporting them to Keith, the instructor and commander of the Training Corps.
Besides Lianye, Armin, Eren, and Jean, this Expeditionary Team also included Marco, Jean's best friend, Krista, Connie, and several unimportant rookie extras—put another way, cannon fodder who could only survive three episodes in a world like Attack on Titan.
The other Expeditionary Team, meanwhile, had Mikasa, Reiner, Hoover, Annie, and a whole group of major fighting forces. According to the original story's progression, those four happened to correspond to the top four recruits of the original 104th class, known as the Training Corps' "Four Heavenly Kings."
So no matter how one looked at it, this member allocation was utterly unreliable. The instructors had probably gotten water in their brains and thrown it together carelessly.
However, with Lianye holding down this expedition team, the scales of combat power immediately tipped. It was no exaggeration to say that he alone could match the combined fighting strength of those four, the Four Heavenly Kings.
End of Chapter
Nightfall
Within the deep passage of the valley, the expedition team advanced in staggered ranks, one behind another.
Their pace was neither fast nor slow—far quicker than an ordinary person running at full speed, but still nowhere near the top speed of military horses.
Ordinary mules and horses were far inferior to military horses in speed, endurance, and explosive power. Specially bred military horses could maintain high-speed running for long periods, moving far faster than ordinary lumbering Titans. This was one of the key factors ensuring soldiers' survival rates.
Of course, if the Survey Corps encountered an extremely fast Abnormal Titan in the Outside Wall Area, or even special Titans such as the Armored Giant, then they could only pray for their own luck. A horse alone could not save their lives.
Monotonous, lifeless bare rocks covered the narrow valley, and the entire route was barren wilderness, making it unbearably dull. Although the largest area, the region between Wall of Rose and Wall of Maria, had already fallen, the central region was indeed still quite vast.
Yet compared to the vast world beyond the walls, humanity confined within the walls was ultimately like birds imprisoned in a cage.
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