Arthur and Mikasa soon caught up with Eren.
"Eren, do you want to join the Survey Corps?"
From what Eren had just said, Arthur could already tell that he was a child who yearned for freedom. He would never be content to spend his life inside the walls.
But there was only one legal way to go beyond the walls: join the Survey Corps as a soldier, then leave on a mission.
"..." At Arthur's question, Eren merely gave him a conflicted look without answering.
"You know Aunt Carla would never agree, right?"
Arthur knew that, given Eren's mother Carla's personality, she would never let her son go outside the walls and throw his life away pursuing some unrealistic dream.
"She can't tell me what to do," Eren said rebelliously.
"But you're still scared of Aunt Carla."
Mikasa went straight for the finishing blow.
"Mikasa, you!" Eren wanted to argue, but he didn't know what to say. He knew she was right.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
Suddenly, a continuous peal of bells rang out. Eren's face lit up with excitement, and he immediately sprinted toward the city gate.
Arthur knew why the bells made Eren so excited. They meant the Survey Corps was about to return.
And with Eren idolizing the Survey Corps, how could he not be happy?
"Arthur, Mikasa, hurry up! The Survey Corps is coming back!" Eren called as he ran, waving to Arthur and Mikasa, who were still standing behind him.
"Ugh..." Watching Eren turn into a starstruck fan gave Arthur a headache.
"Come on, Mikasa. Let's go have a look too," Arthur said to Mikasa beside him.
"Okay, big brother." Mikasa nodded obediently and naturally took Arthur's hand.
The two chased after Eren.
Before long, all three reached the city gate, where countless residents had already gathered.
They stood on either side of the street, waiting for the Survey Corps to return.
The great bell in the bell tower kept ringing with a deafening clang, announcing the Survey Corps' imminent return.
Arthur looked at the tightly packed crowd in frustration. Although he was much taller than other children his age, he was still only 1.6 meters tall. Compared with the men and women in front of him, many of whom stood around 1.8 meters, he was still far too short.
That went doubly for Mikasa and Eren, who were even shorter than he was.
Arthur began looking for something they could stand on. Soon, he spotted several tall wooden crates that would give all three of them a clear view.
He pulled the other two over and climbed onto the crates with them.
Once they were on the crates, their view opened up, allowing them to see the returning Survey Corps clearly.
The heavy gates slowly began to open.
Eren gazed eagerly at the advance party of the Survey Corps as it prepared to enter the city.
A moment later, a group appeared at the gate, dressed in military uniforms and green cloaks. It was the Survey Corps.
"Arthur, look! The Survey Corps is back!" Eren pointed excitedly at the soldiers filing into the city and shouted in delight.
"I know! Stop shouting," Arthur said with a nod.
Just then, Arthur noticed a blond man with his hair slicked back. For some reason, his intuition seemed to tell him that this man would accomplish extraordinary things in the future.
Arthur's gaze seemed to draw the man's attention. As though sensing the three children watching him, he looked in their direction.
But when he saw Eren's admiring gaze and the curiosity in Arthur's and Mikasa's eyes, the man awkwardly lowered his head.
It was as though their gazes stabbed him like knives.
"Huh?" Eren, who had been so excited moments before, began to notice something was wrong.
The soldiers following behind the man were missing arms and legs, with thick bandages wrapped around their heads to stop the bleeding. Nearly all of them were battered and torn, as though they had endured a terribly brutal battle.
Every soldier wore a lifeless expression, with none of the confidence they had shown when they set out.
"Wh... what happened?" Eren stared at the scene in disbelief.
"Is it really that dangerous outside the walls?" Looking at the Survey Corps' grievous casualties, Arthur couldn't help feeling both wary of and curious about the outside world.
His curiosity came from wondering just what kind of creatures these Titans were, to inflict such devastating injuries on fully armed soldiers.
But he never imagined that he would soon see the very Titans he was so curious about.
As Mikasa watched the devastated Survey Corps, her grip on Arthur's hand tightened involuntarily. If Arthur and Eren ever wanted to join the Survey Corps, she would have to stop them.
"Moses! Moses! Um... officer, I can't find my son, Moses. Could you please tell me where he is?"
A haggard old woman pushed her way out of the crowd. She scanned the ranks again and again, seemingly searching for someone. After looking through them, she suppressed her anxiety and asked a nearby officer.
"You're Moses's mother... Bring it here."
When the officer heard that the woman before him was Moses's mother, his expression shifted slightly, and he spoke to the soldier beside him.
The soldier nodded and took an object wrapped in bloodstained white cloth out of the bundle behind him.
Moses's mother trembled at the sight of it, as though she had already guessed what it was. Then, bracing herself, she resolutely pulled back the cloth.
What lay before the old woman was a severed human arm.
The old woman recognized the ring on its finger as her son's. Though she desperately tried to control her emotions, she could no longer hold them back.
"Moses..."
The old woman broke down on the spot, sinking helplessly to her knees and sobbing her son's name.
"I'm sorry. This was all we could recover..." The officer looked at the grief-stricken old woman, his face filled with anguish.
"My son's death meant something, didn't it? Even if he didn't achieve anything, his death must have contributed to humanity's fight back, right?"
Overcome with grief, the old woman demanded an answer from the officer.
The officer froze for a moment, then his expression darkened.
"Of course... no. This expedition... we still accomplished nothing! It was all because of my incompetence. I kept sending soldiers to their deaths, yet we couldn't even uncover the truth about the Titans!"
The officer clenched his fists in self-reproach, tears of regret running down his face.
How cruel those words were to a mother. She had let her son join the military because she wanted him to contribute to humanity's survival. Yet now he had sacrificed his life, without even leaving an intact body behind, and it had achieved nothing. He had died for nothing.
Arthur watched in silence, then turned to Mikasa beside him.
I won't let this happen to Mikasa or me, Arthur silently vowed.
When the onlookers heard that this expedition had achieved nothing either, their discontent surged.
They began mocking the Survey Corps, denouncing them as a bunch of useless freeloaders who did nothing but feed themselves to the Titans.
Hearing their insults, Eren, who idolized the Survey Corps, finally snapped. He pulled a stick from the basket on his back and struck the man in front of him over the head.
"Ow!" The man clutched his aching head and turned around furiously to see who had dared hit him.
All he saw was an indignant boy holding a stick.
"You little brat! How dare you hit me!" The man was enraged that a little kid like Eren had dared strike him.
"You deserved it!" Eren raised the stick to hit him again, but Arthur reacted swiftly, stopping him and dragging him into an alley. Mikasa hurried after them.
The three moved so quickly that they soon vanished without a trace. Unable to find Eren, the man he had hit could only give up.
"Arthur, let go!" Eren resisted Arthur's forceful grip, but he couldn't break free.
Arthur dragged Eren into an alley, then hurled him against the wall.
The force of the impact scattered the firewood from Eren's basket across the ground.
Wincing in pain, Eren slowly got up. Seeing the firewood strewn everywhere, he shouted at Arthur in anger and confusion.
"Arthur, what are you doing?!"
"Do you even know what you're doing?!" Arthur demanded, frustrated by Eren's recklessness.
"It's none of your business!" Eren brushed the dust off himself and began silently picking up the firewood.
"If you keep acting so recklessly, forget about going outside the walls or joining the Survey Corps. You'll die out there!"
Eren's retort infuriated Arthur, and he decided to teach him a lesson. He grabbed Eren by the collar and pinned him against the wall.
Eren stared blankly at Arthur's cold expression. He had never seen Arthur so angry with him before.
"Big brother!" Seeing that Arthur was serious, Mikasa hurried to stop him. To her, Eren was family too, a little brother who never seemed to grow up.
Of course she didn't want the two of them to fight.
Arthur glanced at the anxious Mikasa and sighed. He released Eren, then picked up the rest of his firewood for him.
"Think about it! If you really want to join the Survey Corps, you'd better get rid of that rotten habit of yours sooner rather than later."
After lecturing Eren, Arthur took Mikasa's hand and headed home without looking back.
Eren stayed on the ground, thinking about Arthur's words. He bit his lip, then followed the two of them.