As Arthur watched everyone react in fear to Eren emerging from the Titan's nape, he even caught faint traces of murderous intent in some of their eyes.
He knew there was no way to keep this hidden now. If it had only been Jean and the others, he could have asked them to keep quiet, but there were plenty of other soldiers here too.
Someone was bound to report what had happened to Eren to their superiors for personal gain.
Those higher-ups, who cowered like mice at the sight of Titans, would certainly fear Eren and use every means at their disposal to eliminate him.
Arthur felt troubled. He had no idea how to get Eren somewhere safe. This was far too difficult to deal with.
"Hey! What are you doing here?! Didn't you hear the signal to withdraw?!" What he feared had come to pass. Several soldiers with two roses emblazoned on their backs-members of the Garrison-used their Omni-Directional Mobility Gear to land on the rooftop where everyone stood.
They were a rescue squad sent to check for soldiers who couldn't make it back to the wall.
"Didn't you hear the bells?" demanded the soldier at their head, evidently their squad leader.
No one answered the squad leader. They simply stared at the unconscious Eren in silence.
"Are you deaf?!" Annoyed at being ignored, the squad leader grabbed a nearby soldier by the collar.
"What the hell are you doing?!" he demanded of the soldier in his grip.
The soldier first cast a conflicted glance at Eren, then recounted everything he had just seen and heard.
The squad leader looked incredulous at the soldier's account, then turned the same frightened gaze on Eren.
"Is what you're saying true?" the squad leader demanded again.
"You can ask the others. They saw it too!" the soldier replied with a nod.
The squad leader turned a questioning gaze on several male and female soldiers. When they all nodded, cold sweat began pouring down his face.
His hand even went to the hilt of his blade. Everything he thought he knew had been shattered. He had never imagined that a human could turn into a Titan, let alone that such a person was among them.
"Sigh... They found out after all." Seeing the squad leader's terrified expression, Arthur knew this wasn't going to blow over easily.
"Surround them!" The squad leader pointed at Arthur and the others near Eren as he ordered his squadmates.
"What?" His squadmates hadn't caught on yet.
Seeing their baffled faces, the squad leader hurriedly explained. Once the Garrison soldiers learned the truth, they panicked too. Two even took the muskets off their backs and aimed them at Arthur and the others.
The situation grew tense in an instant.
"What are you doing?!" Jean stared in disbelief as the Garrison soldiers aimed their guns at Arthur, Eren, and Mikasa.
"Soldier, stand back!" the squad leader barked at Jean.
"How could this happen?!" Connie, Sasha, and Christa also looked utterly incredulous. They had never imagined Arthur and the others would end up at gunpoint.
"No!" Without a moment's hesitation, Christa stepped in front of Arthur and spread her arms.
"Christa, get away! It's too dangerous!" Seeing Christa put herself in danger, Arthur hurried to pull her aside.
"Soldier, what are you doing?! Get out of the way right now!" Furious that someone dared to help them, the squad leader shouted at her.
With Arthur, Mikasa, Christa, and Eren's lives under threat, Armin couldn't simply stand by. He spread his arms too, placing himself in front of them as a human shield.
"Armin!" Seeing the formerly timid Armin bravely stand in front of them, Arthur felt both touched and worried.
He looked at the Garrison soldiers, who could barely hold their guns steady, and feared they might accidentally fire.
"Soldier, you-!" Seeing yet another person block their guns, the squad leader grew even angrier, but it also made him increasingly reluctant to make the decision himself.
Now that other soldiers had intervened, opening fire recklessly would cause serious trouble. He didn't want to face a court-martial over this.
But the longer he looked at the unconscious Eren, the more he saw a lurking threat, and he wanted nothing more than to eliminate him immediately.
Just as the squad leader was weighing whether to open fire,
Ymir, who had seen Christa step forward, followed without hesitation and stood in front of Arthur and the others.
"Ymir..." Christa gave Ymir a touched look as she came to support her.
Ymir smiled back, then turned to Arthur and spoke disdainfully.
"I'm only doing this for my Christa. Don't get the wrong idea, you demon king."
"..." This time, Arthur didn't argue with her. He simply nodded his thanks.
"Seriously, how did things end up like this?" Jean looked troubled, but he too stood in front of Arthur and the others.
"Arthur saved us. I'm not going to repay his kindness with betrayal!" Sasha cast a contemptuous glance at the people behind her who had survived thanks to Arthur, then stepped forward to block the guns as well.
"If I die, I die! Damn it!" Connie muttered, then joined them.
After them, Marco, Reiner, Annie, and Bertolt all stepped in front of Arthur and the others without hesitation, blocking the Garrison's guns.
"You... all of you!" The squad leader's face went livid with anger as more and more people joined them.
With so many people there, ordering his men to fire was even further out of the question.
Just as the situation settled into a standoff, another group of Garrison soldiers flew in from the distance using their Omni-Directional Mobility Gear.
There were roughly a dozen of them.
"Norton, what are you doing?! Why haven't you taken these soldiers back to the wall yet?" A middle-aged soldier landed on the rooftop with his men. Seeing guns aimed toward Arthur and a crowd shielding him, he was baffled, unaware of what had happened.
"Here's what happened, Captain..." Overjoyed to see his captain arrive, Norton hurriedly gave him a brief account.
"What?!" The captain was shocked as well. He cast a conflicted glance at Arthur and the others, struggling to accept the truth.
"This needs careful consideration. Everyone, return to the wall first!" Seeing how complicated the situation had become, the captain knew he couldn't make a decision lightly, so he decided to head back to the wall first.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at the captain's words. At least Arthur and the others' lives were no longer under immediate threat.
Arthur let out a relieved breath too, though he knew more trouble awaited them soon. For now, their only option was to return to the wall and work out what to do next.
If all else failed, he would have no choice but to turn his blades on the Garrison. He certainly wasn't going to let these fools execute Eren for nothing.
"Mikasa, put your blades away," Arthur told Mikasa beside him, who was already prepared to cut a bloody path out at any moment.
"Okay." Mikasa nodded and slid her blades back into their sheaths.
Under the captain's lead, Arthur carried Eren on his back and climbed onto the wall with Mikasa, Armin, Christa, and the others.
Worry weighed on every face. They all knew this would never end so easily.