Parliament

This is an absolutely secretive room, completely sealed off, with only the light emanating from Gas light bulb recently installed on the wall. It is said that this type of light bulb was obtained from technology that was once blocked by the Central Military Police, and is now widely used inside the Walls.

There were only five people in the room: Historia wearing a crown, Zackly with his fingers interlaced, Pixis who was unusually free of the smell of alcohol, Erwin sitting upright, and Yago tapping his fingers incessantly on the table.

Zackly glanced at the people around him and couldn't help but break the silence, "Ahem, everyone, you all know the purpose of this meeting today, right?"

Pixis instinctively reached for his breast pocket, but then hesitated, clearly realizing that drinking in this situation was highly inappropriate.

"Two questions. First, regarding the implementation of the Parliament system, Commander Pixis, President Zackly, what are your opinions?" Erwin looked at the two men.

Zackly and Pixis exchanged a glance, each realizing that the other represented a different faction.

Although Zackly is currently the commander-in-chief of the army, since purging the major Nobility of the old Royal Government, the remaining minor Nobility and representatives of emerging forces have all sided with Zackly. Zackly also has his own ambitions, so Zackly now actually represents the emerging Nobility forces.

Unlike the Old Nobility, for the emerging Nobility forces, the existence of the king was an obstacle to their acquisition of power. Therefore, when the Parliament was proposed, Zackly immediately saw its advantages for them.

The massive military would naturally not overlook this huge pie of power, and the highly respected Pixis represented the military behind him this time.

Erwin, who was present, was fully aware of the intentions of both men. However, the fact that either of them held the majority of power would cause dissatisfaction among the other party.

Power itself contains countless contradictions, and only by achieving a delicate balance can these contradictions be resolved.

So, the three sheets of paper were pushed in front of Pixis, Zackly, and Historia, respectively.

Zackly frowned and muttered, "The Parliamentarian of the Lower House are elected by the people? The Upper House is composed of Nobility? The Lower House has the power to elect the Prime Minister?" (This is not a constitutional monarchy; you can understand it as a republic that weakens both the Nobility and the monarch.)

Zackly was very surprised because the system was very different from what he had imagined. The rights of the Nobility were reduced to the weakest possible level, and of course, the king's rights were also reduced to a very small extent. However, the Prime Minister Parliamentarian, who was elected by the people to serve as members of parliament and then elected by the Parliamentarian, had a great deal of power.

Zackly was both surprised and enlightened, because this Prime Minister did not represent the Nobility or any faction; he was elected purely by the people. He held the highest position not only in name but also in terms of power. Although he had a five-year term limit, it was very much in line with Zackly's ideas.

In fact, Zackly didn't like Nobility. His treatment of the Old Nobility Royal Government nobles showed that he had no affection for Nobility. He was only reluctantly representing the emerging Nobility this time. Now it seemed that he didn't need to pay any attention to these lowly Nobility, so Zackly was very satisfied.

Although Pixis represents the military, it doesn't mean that Pixis is keen on fighting for power on behalf of the military. On the contrary, Pixis himself does not like excessive power, and in the current system, the military is more like an independent entity.

Most importantly, if the military leadership intends to participate in the election, they must relinquish all influence within the military, minimizing the possibility of armed interference in politics. The military should be placed in the position of protecting the people and the country.

Yago looked at Historia. This system was probably very unfair to Historia, because the king's power was almost completely reduced invisibly, leaving him with only nominal decision-making authority.

However, Historia didn't react much; in fact, she was a little pleased, because the clause stipulated that the king had absolute freedom as long as he didn't interfere with the operation of the country. Simply put, the king could do whatever he wanted.

The rough Parliament was thus temporarily settled, and more details will be gradually revised over time and with opportunities later.

"The second question concerns communication with the outside world. Let Yago answer that."

Yago nodded, then took out a world map that he had prepared beforehand (seized from the Marleyan), and the entire world appeared before everyone for the first time.

Yago pointed to one of the areas and said, "This is Paradis Island, where we live. And outside Paradis Island, there are hundreds of countries. Unfortunately, almost all of them harbor deep prejudice and hatred towards us Eldians."

Pixis and Zackly were seeing a world map for the first time. Although they had prepared themselves, they were still taken aback by the sheer size of the world. What they considered a vast landmass was less than one percent the size of the entire world map.

The conversation taking place in the secret room went unnoticed.

Outside the secret room, Levi leaned against the wall, his eyes closed as if resting. Suddenly, there seemed to be some movement in the dark corner.

With a swift movement, the rat, its body severed in two, lay twitching on the ground.

Levi frowned and wiped the blood off the Blades with obvious disgust.

Levi looked up at the numerous fully armed Soldiers around him and shook his head. "What on earth are they talking about? Why such tight security?"

The Survey Corps had just returned victorious when Erwin hurriedly left with Yago, leading to the current situation.

Yago said a lot, but also kept many secrets. He revealed his cooperation with Zeke, but did not mention Zeke's Euthanasia Plan. He mentioned the existence of the Founding Titan Power, but did not reveal any more information about Founding Titan Power.

Yago had his own considerations.

"The question is, why would Zeke request cooperation? If countries like Marley are full of hostility towards us, why didn't they use their advanced technology to launch a forceful attack?"

Yago seemed to have anticipated this, stomping his foot on the ground and uttering two words, "The Rumbling."

(I managed to squeeze in Shinichi chapter, so my thoughts are a bit scattered (┯_┯). To ensure quality, Muzi and the day after. I'd rather have nothing than something mediocre. Please forgive me, everyone.)