"Mikasa, we owe you all a great deal this time. Get some proper rest now that you're back. You won't have to work so hard anymore," Historia said, looking at Mikasa.
"It was my duty." Mikasa nodded.
"Major General Ackerman, you still need to submit a combat debrief. Also, come to the Cabinet to collect your pay for this quarter," the bald Pixis said, suddenly appearing before Mikasa.
"Now?" Mikasa asked.
"The sooner, the better, of course," Pixis said evenly, pinching his handlebar mustache.
"Understood." Mikasa nodded, turned, and left.
Seeing this, Pixis stole a couple of glances at Historia and Chen Si as they chatted. I have to find a way to get Her Majesty and Chen Si to have a child.
The next day, the cheering across the nation soon died away.
Survey Corps officers and soldiers visited the homes of the fallen one by one, delivering urns of ashes and medals to their families.
Nearly four thousand dead soldiers cast a pall over four thousand families and tens of thousands of people. Grief gripped the residents.
The Cabinet announced that a state funeral would be held for General Chris Winyard.
Blake Ackerman, the leader of the Thunder God's church who almost never appeared in public, attended the state funeral, as did Central Intelligence Agency Director Kenny Ackerman. Chief Minister Zackly, Minister Pixis, Minister Nile, and Minister Draven of the Cabinet, Honorary Earl Patrick, the Rothschild family, and Hizuru's ambassador Tōjin Kiyomi and her guard Tachibana Masao also attended.
Only then did Historia learn that of the five thousand soldiers sent to fight in foreign lands, just twelve hundred had returned. All the rest had died in battle.
Historia, who had only just learned of Chris's death, could not believe it. Her voice trembled. "How could this