บท 72: The Sword

On the third day after the titans entered the Trost district, the sun came out as usual, the sky was clear and cloudless.

Every day the weather was good, but not every day there is a good mood within the walls. When it is time to clean up the battlefield, to put it in an ugly way, the corpses of the comrades who died in this bitter war for humanity must be picked up.

Early in the morning, the newly graduated soldiers from the South gathered in an open space under the Rose Wall.

Five years after humanity suffered an attack on humanity, the colossal titan attacked again and this time knocking down the Trost district gate, after the operation evacuation of civilians on the first day and the reconquest in the afternoon were difficult times.

Not to mention the elimination operation, only no more than 160 soldiers were left out of the originally graduated 227, a very high mortality rate. On the second day of war, only Takashi participated in the battle to eliminate the remaining titans and ensure that the dead did not increase.

A soldier from the garrison troops shouted to all the remaining soldiers who had just graduated. "We have good news, yesterday we cleared out the remaining titans from the Trost district and successfully regained the territory lost to the titans." 　　

"Great, we were finally able to win!" Shouted someone full of joy.

"Franz Kefka, did you get a good look at him? We won." Hannah covered her face and burst into tears with mixed feelings.

"Those damn titans have finally been eliminated!" Jean Kirstein said, there was still no word from Marco, he was anxious and refused to believe he had been injured.　　

Many of the newly graduated soldiers had tears in their eyes. These last two days have been too difficult and even sleeping was a difficult task.

After saying that announcement, the face of the soldier of the garrison troops turned grim and he remarked, "Although we won this time, we also lost many good soldiers. Two days have passed and the remains of the dead must be collected immediately!"

"Your task this time is mandatory, if you recognize someone who has not yet been identified, remember to report the name of the deceased and some other information you know, we need to create a list of the casualties."

Suddenly, the slight joy fell silent and everyone in the place could not hide their sadness. Some of the people who had trained together for years, even if they had a good or bad relationship, were still in the cold streets of the city without being able to reunite with their loved ones.

A group of soldiers from the garrison troops wore masks and entered the Trost district through the Rose Wall gate. Now the people are still positioned behind the Rose Wall.

The whole Trost district looks a bit desolate and in ruins, some houses collapsed and others just damaged. Blood stains can be seen all over the buildings and remains of debris can be found everywhere, it is not uncommon to find body parts killed by the titans.

"I'm sure old Aldous took my sword in the evacuation of the civilians, what bad luck."

Takashi, who was wearing a white mask and special gloves, was walking in the street in silence. From time to time, he could see some personnel passing by with the bodies of soldiers on stretchers.

Today he was just passing by the street where Aldous' blacksmith shop was located. After handing him the sword to increase its sharpness, he didn't have time to pass by again. After the titans invaded the city, he heard nothing more about the old man and his sword.

On the way, he saw Hannah, sobbing as she watched Franz's corpse being laid out.

She cried and told Franz's identity information, while the medical staff holding a notebook was jotting down the information. Takashi recalls that two days ago, when he was covering the civilian retreat, he came across Hannah, who was shocked and the only thing he could do at that moment was to place Franz's body in a safe place.

Takashi did not go ahead to comfort her, he was not feeling well after all, wandering down the lonely street, he arrived at Aldous' blacksmith shop only to see an empty store, apparently he had escaped with the others.

Just as he was about to leave the store, he found a small note behind the door. Takashi took the note and read it silently.

"Dear customer! I am sure you are looking for your sword, if you read this and I haven't given you your sword yet, it means I have died. Right now the titans have invaded the city, I am on my way to look for you to give you this very special sword. If I fail to personally deliver this sword to you, you must seek me out and take care of burying my body."

"The sword was the first sword that a Warrior who was nicknamed the son of a titan had, this sword is strong and will be able to help you in many battles, thank you for trusting me and letting me touch such a famous sword."

Takashi's hands shook, he felt an electric shock go through his entire spine and in a matter of seconds he ran out of the smithy.

At great speed, he ran through all the streets and not far away he found some soldiers from the garrison corps pulling up an old man wearing a worn suit with a long sheath between his hands.

Every step Takashi took, he felt something inexplicable move inside him. He didn't want to see the old man's face, but the evidence was more than enough to know who that person was.

"Stop!" shouted Takashi in a hoarse voice.

"What's wrong, do you recognize this person? It's still unbelievable that with the evacuation operation, he didn't have time to retreat." Said a soldier in a flat voice.

"I just..." Takashi walked over and uncovered the old man's face, only to look at old Aldous with a slight smile on his cold face.

Removing the mask from his face, Takashi looked sadly at old Aldous on the gurney.

"Hey soldier! Don't take off your mask, it's dangerous, don't you know how many diseases he can get just by breathing in this place?"

The other soldier slapped his partner to calm him down, after looking at Takashi's face, they knew what it was about the strongest recruit who faced numerous titans.

"Old man, why did you go looking for me just to give me my sword?" Takashi held the sword in his hands and then took a necklace that was on the neck of Aldous' corpse.

"His name is Aldous..." Takashi said slowly.

"Aldous? Okay, I'll write it down." Said the soldier attentively.

"Okay then..." Takashi got up from the ground and put his mask back on. Now, every step he took felt heavier.

"We'll take care of carrying him, thank you for your help cadet." Said the soldier in a calm voice.

Takashi walked aimlessly, then he met Annie on the street, and at her feet was the corpse of a girl. Mina Carolina, a black haired girl who liked to tie her hair in a pair of pigtails, but she also died here.

Annie had a guilty, pained expression on her face. She kept thinking of words of apology. The wall was shattered by Bertholdt's kick. Though not by her hands, she was just as guilty as the rest. 　

Sensing someone approaching, Annie fell silent.

Takashi approached and saw Mina's body on the ground, her face was cold as frost. According to Armin, she died along with her whole squad, her death was by fall.

"Takashi, please help me."

"Call me Captain Takashi and I'll help you down."

Takashi looked at Annie, who was equally at a loss, their eyes met for a few seconds. 　　

"I rarely see you like this." Takashi hugged Mina's body. In his impression, Annie always had an expression of indifference towards anything.

"I'm not as indifferent as you think." The blonde-haired girl lowered her head, unable to see his face clearly.

"You know, I thought I could save everyone, I had this false dream that just by being strong, I could save everyone. I didn't feel deplorable until I picked up the corpses of everyone I knew." Takashi said with a cold expression.

Annie said, "At least you know you're giving your all, you mustn't forget that."

After a while of silence, Takashi hugged Mina and walked away.

"All I know is that from now on I will see many of my friends die without me being able to do anything." 　　

Annie looked at Takashi's back, she herself tried to kill him, but strangely he survived, looking at his white hands she looked at Marco and Mina's blood on her hands.

"Don't forget, Takashi will cut them to pieces and someday we will get revenge." 　

Annie sat on the lonely street, her face was full of tears, she finally understood why Reiner and Bertholdt were so fake playing the soldier game, maybe it's the only way to forget everything temporarily!" 　　

She had ridiculed Reiner before, but thinking about it now, he was only consoling himself.

At this point, Annie has decided that by joining the military police, she will try to capture Eren. There is no value in staying in this place if there is no sign of the founding titan.

After putting Mina's body in place, Takashi saw Armin, who was holding another body.

Unconsciously, Takashi, who was a bit dazed, walked towards a big ball of flesh wrapped in transparent yellow jelly, and Sasha was pale at the corpse mixed inside that thing.

Sasha's voice trembled and he asked with a pale face, "What is this?"

"Titans don't have digestive organs, whoever eats to fill their stomach will spit it out to eat humans again." Said a soldier.

Takashi also felt a little nauseous, the human remains in the ball spat out by the titan were tangled together and could not be identified at all.

He patted Sasha on the shoulder, "Come on, if you want to eat something tonight without giving it back."

"Ouch!" Sasha vomited directly.

Takashi sighed and helped Sasha away, not recovering until some time later.

"Cough, Takashi, why do you look so calm, are you feeling sick?" Dasha asked weakly, covering her mouth with her hands.　　

"Well, I guess I stopped feeling normal since the cleaning started." Takashi looked at Sasha expressionlessly.

Sasha was surprised, "This is hell, I thought it was dangerous to fight yesterday, but now I think there's no escape."

Takashi leaned against the wall, "Really? In fact, I can't understand your obsession with food."

After a moment of silence, Sasha said, "You should know that I joined the army just to eat enough food."

"Now that we've graduated, if it weren't for the titan attack that knocked down the gate, we would have made a regimental selection by now. Now we'll pick a regiment in a few days. Where are you going?" Takashi asked.

Sasha's face was a little blank, "I don't know, I really want to go home!"

"It seems like you haven't been home for three years. If you get a chance you should go back and take a look around, your father should be worried."

Without another word, Takashi turned and left. Now he felt the real pain of belonging to this world. He had no family but he suffered just like anyone else in this place. As for his Uncle Levi, Takashi knew it would be best for both of them if their relationship slowly grew closer.

Now all he will do is move on, fight for what he couldn't save.

There were many dead around, corpses that could not be made whole at all.　

Jean found his friend, many others only found a hand or a foot. If Eren and Takashi didn't have special abilities, both would have died.

Who knew that those who wanted to eliminate all titans survived only by inhuman powers.

The work of collecting the remains went on for a whole day, and soon they will be cremated in batches to those who have not been identified, many others will also be cremated in the same way.

They can only say one thing, may the warriors who gave their lives for a noble act rest in peace.