The group climbed over the wall and entered the area inside Wall Rose.
The moment they landed, a large contingent of Garrison soldiers poured out, ready for battle, and separated them.
They ordered Arthur to let go of Eren. Naturally, Arthur refused, as did Mikasa and Armin.
Seeing guns trained on Arthur and the others, everyone desperately tried to defend them, but it was no use. To prevent needless casualties, Arthur told everyone to stand down.
Under Christa's worried gaze and the conflicted, angry stares of Jean and the others, the four of them were taken away.
With dozens of guns pointed at them, Arthur, Mikasa, Armin, and the unconscious Eren were escorted to the Garrison's station.
Once inside, they were directed to a corner beneath a wall.
Arthur looked around and realized the Garrison meant business. He saw dozens of muskets, along with dozens of soldiers wearing Omni-Directional Mobility Gear with their blades fitted.
There was even a massive howitzer on a raised platform nearby, aimed straight at the four of them, as though the slightest movement would bring a shell down on them and wipe them out.
Everything about this setup suggested they intended to execute all four of them.
Faced with such tight security, Arthur had no idea how to escape. He did not believe the officers would spare Eren. Their fear of the unknown would surely drive them to kill him.
That was something Arthur, Mikasa, and Armin could never accept.
Two figures appeared on the platform. Arthur knew them both, and he would have recognized one of them even if the man had been reduced to ashes.
"Kitz..." Arthur narrowed his eyes at Kitz on the platform. He had never expected that coward to be here, let alone in charge of dealing with Eren.
The moment Arthur saw Kitz, he abandoned all hope. After all, a coward who had dared abandon Headquarters and run away would hardly hesitate to kill Eren outright.
"Mikasa, be ready to break through at any moment..." Arthur told her in a low voice.
Mikasa nodded lightly, then discreetly reached for her sword hilt. The moment Arthur gave the order, she would attack.
"Arthur, Mikasa, calm down. We don't stand a chance right now," Armin hurriedly urged, holding Eren in his arms.
"I'm worried that even if we stay calm, they won't." Seeing the fear in the soldiers' eyes, Arthur could not agree with Armin.
"Soldiers Arthur Ackerman, Mikasa Ackerman, and Armin Arnold, step away from that monster immediately!" Kitz shouted down at them from the platform.
The three ignored him and said nothing. Trying to reason with a man like him would be like talking to a brick wall.
Kitz's expression darkened when he saw them disregard his words.
The adjutant beside him, a white-haired woman with glasses named Rico, hurriedly tried to reason with him.
"Commander Kitz, please calm down. Arthur Ackerman and Mikasa Ackerman aren't merely the top two graduates of this Training Corps class. Commander Pixis also holds Arthur in very high regard and has personally commended him several times."
"..." Hearing this, Kitz hesitated. Any soldier who had caught Pixis's eye was certainly not someone to take lightly. He also knew some of Arthur's exploits and had heard enough to understand just how much Pixis favored him.
Moreover, the statements he had just taken from the other soldiers had revealed Arthur and Mikasa's strength. Opening fire recklessly would undoubtedly cause tremendous losses.
For these reasons, the situation settled into a standoff.
Then Eren suddenly stirred a few times in Armin's arms.
"Eren!" Armin looked down in delight, only to find that Eren was still unconscious. His brows were furrowed, his face twisted as though he were having a nightmare.
Unbeknownst to them, fragments of memories were what had left Eren in that state.
In those images, Eren's father gripped his arm tightly. Grisha looked almost deranged, and he held a syringe in his hand.
A clear, liquid-like substance sloshed inside the syringe.
"Dad, what are you doing? Don't!" Eren was frightened by his father, who suddenly seemed like a stranger.
"Don't be scared, Eren. Everything will be fine once I give you this shot!" The Grisha in his memories kept trying to comfort him, but it was no use.
"Dad, let go of me!" Eren struggled desperately, but he could not break free of his father's grip.
"Eren, you must remember! You have to return to the basement at home! No matter what happens, you must go back." Grisha pulled out the key hanging against his chest.
The key swung before Eren's eyes, leaving him momentarily distracted.
"Eren, forgive me. Your dad will always love you!" Grisha wept.
A second before driving the needle into Eren's skin, Grisha shouted.
"Eren, you have to stop Ar... You have to stop him! The future must never turn out that way!"
As the needle pierced his skin, the unconscious Eren's eyes snapped open.
"Eren, you're awake!" The moment he woke, Eren heard a familiar voice. He looked up and saw Armin.
"Armin?" Eren was puzzled. Then he saw Arthur and Mikasa standing in front of him, shielding him.
"Where are we?" Eren stared at the soldiers watching them intently and the howitzer aimed at them from the platform, unable to make sense of the situation.
Holding his head, he sat up in Armin's arms. He felt vague fragments flashing through his mind, seemingly about his father.
"Eren, how are you feeling?" Armin asked worriedly as Eren held his head and drifted into thought.
"It's nothing..." Eren shook his head. His memories felt jumbled.
"Eren Yeager, you monster, finally awake! What explanation do you have for turning into a Titan?!" Kitz initially panicked when he saw Eren wake up, but once he realized Eren was not doing anything unusual, he hurriedly questioned him.
"Turning into a Titan?" Eren looked utterly baffled. He had no idea what Kitz meant.
"Eren, don't you remember what just happened?" Arthur frowned at him. He had not expected Eren to forget turning into a Titan. Nor did Eren seem to be pretending-he genuinely did not know.
"What happened? What do you mean?" Eren seemed to have blacked out completely and had no idea what Arthur was talking about.
Arthur fell silent at Eren's bewildered expression. He had not expected Eren to truly lose his memory. This made things troublesome.
"Armin, tell Eren what happened," Arthur requested.
Armin nodded. Under Eren's puzzled gaze, he briefly explained what had happened: Eren had been eaten by a Titan, then transformed into one himself and slaughtered the other Titans before emerging from its nape.
"How is that possible?!" Eren could hardly believe such an outrageous story. He had never imagined that he could turn into a Titan.
"How could I turn into a Titan? That's impossible! I'm a living, breathing human!" Eren struggled to accept it.
"Eren Yeager, I'll ask you again! How did you become a Titan? And when were you planted among humanity?!" Kitz was growing impatient on the platform.
"I'm not a Titan!! My name is Eren Yeager, and I'm a living, breathing human! I'm not one of those disgusting Titans!" Eren retorted furiously.
"Are you playing dumb?! You monster! Are you saying everyone who saw you emerge from that Titan's nape was lying?! If you don't tell us the truth, prepare to be blown to pieces, you monster!" Kitz shouted angrily, forcing himself to appear calm.
"..." Eren had no answer to Kitz's tirade and began doubting himself. Some of his memories had returned. He knew a Titan had bitten off his arm and leg, yet they had now grown back. That meant it had not been a dream, but reality.
Eren pulled out the key hanging against his chest. He remembered his father telling him that, no matter what, he had to return to the basement in Shiganshina District.