Hiss! The Omni-Directional Mobility Gear sounded as Yago landed on a large tree, his expression grave as he scanned his surroundings.
With two rustling swooshes, Mikasa and Annie joined him. Mikasa looked worried. "We still haven't found them."
Annie silently shook her head as well. Yago let out a soft sigh. There really was nothing else they could do right now. Afraid of alerting the enemy, they did not dare fire signal flares at random.
It was nearing noon, and most of Class Two's members were struggling after five hours of nonstop searching. Even Yago was beginning to feel tired.
Yago could only gather everyone to eat some dry rations and take a short rest.
Yago broke off a piece of biscuit and had just put it into his mouth when a green signal flare suddenly shot into the sky from the forest.
Yago reacted immediately, springing to his feet. Thomas checked the map and said, "That direction-that's Odru! Right, if the thieves want to sell the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear, Odru is the only place nearby where they can do it!"
"All right! Let's go take a look. Mark's Class is probably nearby too. Class Two, move out!" Yago pulled the triggers, and the grappling hooks shot from the launchers at his waist. With a swoosh, he flew up into the treetops.
The flare was not too far away, and the rest of Class Two quickly followed. Hoofbeats and the hiss of Omni-Directional Mobility Gear mingled and echoed through the forest.
Meanwhile, Mark's Class was in danger. Eren gritted his teeth, holding his twin blades as four or five muskets pointed at them from the front, with another four or five behind them.
A band of thieves had attacked Mark's Class during the night. At gunpoint, the trainees had no choice but to let them take all their Omni-Directional Mobility Gear. Eren had tried to fight back, but with the muskets trained on them, no one dared resist. In the end, Christa had even been taken hostage.
Armin's plan should have worked perfectly: ambush the thieves on their way to Odru. It had gone well at first, and they had recovered their Omni-Directional Mobility Gear, but Christa was still in the thieves' hands. When they caught up, they discovered that the thieves had people waiting to help them.
Now Eren and the others were in danger, unable to advance or retreat.
A thief with a short beard held a knife against Christa's neck. "Put down your weapons! Otherwise, you'll all die here!"
Another thief snarled, "Why bother talking? Let's just kill these brats!"
"Bullshit! Do you want blood on your hands?" the short-bearded thief snapped, rejecting the suggestion outright. He clearly held some authority over them; at least, the viciousness in the other thieves' eyes faded a little.
The short-bearded thief did not actually want to hurt these trainees. They were only after money. He had taken part in the Wall Maria Reclamation Battle himself, but had fled halfway through. Luckily for him, he had escaped. His entire unit had been wiped out by Titans in less than half a day.
He had always taught his daughter to be honest and decent, yet here he was, doing things like this.
Christa heard his muttering and realized that he was just a father driven to this by hardship.
Among the trainees, Ymir kept her eyes fixed on the thief holding Christa hostage. A small, unsheathed knife had slipped quietly into her hand. She would never let Christa get hurt, even if it meant exposing her identity.
"Damn it!" Eren was furious, but they had no choice but to take off their Omni-Directional Mobility Gear. Jean, whose face was scraped, warned him quietly, "Don't do anything rash! Maddie and Mina have already gone to get help from the Military Police Brigade!"
Armin looked anxious too, beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead as he frantically searched for a solution. But there really was nothing he could do unless the Military Police Brigade arrived right now.
Seeing Eren and the others remove their Omni-Directional Mobility Gear, the short-bearded thief breathed a sigh of relief.
His grip on the knife relaxed a little. Suddenly, in a split second, a gunshot rang out, and blood burst from his knife hand.
Everyone froze at the sudden turn of events, but in the blink of an eye, a figure landed among the thieves.
Yago had already observed everything from the tree. Though he was confident he could handle the thieves, he could not guarantee Christa's safety. Reiner had then recommended Bertholdt, saying he was a crack shot who never missed. They gave Bertholdt the musket they had obtained from the thieves. At a time like this, they could not afford to question his ability; they could only trust their comrade.
Fortunately, Bertholdt did not let them down. The lead ball struck the thief's wrist precisely.
Yago immediately activated his Omni-Directional Mobility Gear and hurtled toward the thieves.
With a blade in each hand, Yago first slashed a musket out of one thief's grip, then slammed into another at close range and knocked him down. Letting go of both blades, he grabbed the muskets held by two more thieves with his bare hands and pulled hard. His immense strength tore the weapons straight out of their hands.
The two thieves recovered, their faces twisting with rage as they moved to teach the brat a lesson.
But Yago sidestepped one thief's punch while kicking the other in the stomach, dropping him. The last thief lost all reason. "Die, you little brat!" He thrust a sharp dagger at Yago, who calmly dodged, caught the dagger-wielding hand with both of his own, and twisted hard.
The thief screamed in pain as Yago pinned him down.
In less than ten seconds, one person had subdued four thieves. Behind Eren and the others, the remaining four thieves had their hands raised high, sharp blades pressed against their necks. Class Two had arrived!
"Eren! Are you all right?" Mikasa rushed over in concern as soon as she saw him. The injuries on his face filled her eyes with pain. Eren felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze. "Mikasa, I'm fine! Stop treating me like a little kid!"
With his knee pressing the thief down, Yago looked at Eren and the others and sighed. "That Eren really doesn't know how good he has it."
Before he could finish lamenting, Annie came over. Her face was expressionless, but the concern in her eyes was plain to see. "Are you hurt?"
Yago smiled. Perhaps there was no need to envy Eren so much. He had someone who cared about him too. "I'm fine."
"Good. As long as you're all right." Annie nodded and said nothing more.
Meanwhile, Ymir kept circling Christa. "Are you all right, Christa? Did they do anything to you? Christa, are you hungry? Christa! Marry me when we get back!"
Reiner hauled up the short-bearded thief who had held Christa hostage. Cold sweat kept pouring off the man, whose hand had been pierced by the bullet. "You bastard! How dare you kidnap Christa!" Reiner was about to teach him a lesson when Christa stopped him. The kindhearted girl understood that the thief was not actually that bad. After all, he could easily have killed her and even her companions just moments earlier.
But the short-bearded thief had chosen not to act. He had once taught his daughter to be a good person, too.
Soon, men from the Garrison Regiment and the Military Police Brigade arrived. They arrested this other band of thieves and obtained information about an even larger gang behind them. The man from the Garrison Regiment was an old acquaintance of Yago's: the squad leader he had sought out the last time he dealt with those two smugglers.
The squad leader recognized Yago too and laughed, saying that Yago really was his lucky star.
Even the Military Police Brigade captain was a little surprised to learn that Yago had taken down four thieves in ten seconds, and gave the trainee a few extra looks.
Armin and Thomas, the two record keepers, huddled together, unsure what to say. This training exercise had certainly been memorable!
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