The two evacuated several groups of residents in a very short time. They also encountered several Titans that had broken through, though they managed to kill them all.
But both Arthur and Mikasa looked troubled, because the Titans reaching this far meant gaps had already begun to appear on the front line.
They quickened their pace as they carried out their mission, until they brought a father and daughter to the inner gate.
Arthur and Mikasa suddenly noticed that people were packed around the inner gate. Something seemed to have happened, preventing the residents from retreating behind the inner wall in time.
Arthur and Mikasa each set down the person they were carrying and walked toward the crowd, wanting to see what exactly had happened.
When they saw the real culprit preventing the residents from evacuating, both their expressions turned cold. Arthur, in particular, looked ready to kill.
He had never imagined that, at a time like this, these profit-obsessed merchants would dare show such callous disregard for human life.
A wagon carried an enormous load, clearly packed with valuables. Because the cargo was wider than the inner gate, it could not pass through at all.
Yet the potbellied man beside the wagon, the owner of the cargo, stubbornly refused to accept this and insisted on taking all his goods inside.
With their escape route blocked, the residents trying to flee the Titans' clutches were furious and began denouncing the merchant.
But the merchant remained utterly arrogant.
"You lowborn scum! You couldn't earn enough to buy these goods even if you worked for hundreds of years! Shut your mouths!" As he spoke, he pulled a money pouch from inside his coat and shouted again.
"Anyone who can help me get this cargo inside can have this money as a reward!"
But no one around him fell for it. Their lives mattered more than money, after all. They could earn money again if they lost it, but if they lost their lives, they would have nothing left.
"Hey, you're a soldier, aren't you? Aren't you going to do something about him?!" The people grew furious when they saw the Garrison soldier simply standing nearby, doing nothing.
Unable to withstand the crowd's anger, the Garrison soldier was forced to approach the merchant and negotiate.
But the merchant continued shouting with unabated arrogance.
"You idiot! Do you know who pays for the bread you eat?! Without all the taxes I pay, you'd go hungry, you know that?! Get over here and help!"
The merchant's tirade left the soldier speechless, and he could only lower his head and back away.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Arthur stepped forward, his face dark, with Mikasa right behind him.
Neither looked pleased. They were angry-furious. They had never imagined someone would do something so absurd at such a critical moment.
What did that make of the soldiers fighting Titans on the front line?
"It's those two soldiers who were fighting the Titans earlier."
"They're the ones who saved me."
"Thank goodness! We're saved!"
Many people recognized Arthur and Mikasa. Their bravery and skill while killing Titans earlier were still vivid in everyone's minds, and many in the crowd had been personally rescued by them.
"W-what are you going to do?" The merchant recognized the two before him as well. He had never expected these two terrors to intervene.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing...?" Arthur asked, staring him down.
"..." Arthur's stare made the merchant's hair stand on end. He felt as though a Titan had set its sights on him.
"I'll give you one last chance. Move the wagon and let them through." Arthur had already gripped the hilt of his blade, and Mikasa had done the same.
People who treated the lives of civilians and soldiers fighting bloody battles on the front line as worthless insects needed force to teach them a lesson.
"Of course, of course." All his earlier arrogance vanished. The merchant nodded and bowed, then waved at his men to move the wagon out of the way.
The wagon was quickly backed out.
With the wagon no longer blocking the exit, the residents wept with joy. Some were so overcome that they even dropped to their knees to thank Arthur and Mikasa for helping them.
The two quickly helped those kneeling back to their feet.
"This is our duty as soldiers! We promise we'll take Trost District back!" Arthur and Mikasa declared together, then gave the people a crisp military salute.
Seeing their solemn expressions, the people returned their salute with respectful gazes.
"With selfless people like you, we can definitely win!"
"Keep fighting! You have to take Trost District back!"
"Please come back safe, both of you!"
The hope the people had lost seemed to return.
"Yes! We will win!" Arthur and Mikasa exchanged a smile and shouted confidently.