PROLOGUE
The high-pitched bell rang out against a dark gray sky. Liberty Bell─a name familiar to every resident of Shiganshina District. The bronze bell that hung over the impressively solid, fifty-meter-tall Wall Maria was a town symbol. While it was originally made for use in emergencies and disasters, it had, fortunately, never been used a single time for that purpose.
Though it was not particularly bright out, Angel Aaltonen shaded his eyes with his hand as he looked up to the towering, cliff-like Wall Maria. While you could never forget about its incredible size, being close to it only made its enormity more prominent. The Wall had such an overwhelming presence that it could even inspire awe to the point where it was deified by some. In a world devoid of a god to pray to, the Wall was the only existence that one could take solace in.
Of course, when Wall Maria was first built, it was not in order to be a religious object. Its reason for existing was clear: to protect against outside enemies. In other words, a menace that threatened mankind existed outside the Wall. Terrifying monsters that necessitated a gigantic wall.
“Eh. Who knows if they really even exist or not.”
Angel scowled, slightly distorting his slender face as he violently scratched his head, disheveled hair and all. While his hair would shine gold if he were to take care of it, its color was hopelessly dull, perhaps because of his thoroughly hands-off approach. It was not just his hair, either─his life of shutting himself inside his workshop and spending all day creating military equipment seemed to have made his face pale to the point where his colleagues openly called him “pasty.”
Though he looked unhealthy, and while it was true that he lived an unhealthy life, Angel’s body was surprisingly robust. That much was clear even when he had his work clothes on. His body had been forged through the natural course of his work. The vitality that pervaded his body was befitting of an eighteen-year-old male such as himself.
“If only that wall were a little lower…”
“You’d be able to peek over it?”
Angel didn’t even turn as he smirked at the quiet voice behind him.
“If something’s hidden from you, it makes you want to peek.”
“Is that how men are?”
“That’s just curiosity.”
As he mumbled, Angel glanced at the profile of the woman who now stood beside him.
The woman coolly gazing at Wall Maria was known as Maria Carlstedt. Her dignified, elegant figure seemed impeccable, an impression only reinforced by the soldier’s uniform she managed to wear with style. An emblem of a rose, the sign of the Garrison, was drawn on her khaki jacket, and one could see in her a pride and confidence she held for her job. Her shining, tied black hair served as a sign of her resolve.
“Don’t do anything that’ll make you stand out. It’ll be a pain if the Military Police Brigade sets their eyes on you.”
“Are you warning me as a soldier?”
“I’m advising you as your childhood friend.”
It had started to become a taboo to have an interest in the outside world. Any conspicuous actions could mark you as a suspicious individual in the eyes of the Military Police Brigade.
They ought to just release the information.
While interest would surely fade if the royal government made public the information they held about what was outside the Wall, there must have been some group out there who profited from this ignorance and thus kept the truth a secret.
“You know, I’m running into trouble at work because of that thing.”
“We wouldn’t even be able to live our lives without the Walls, though,” reminded Maria.
Her face was full of pride as she looked up at the wall. For her, a member of the Garrison, Wall Maria was, without question, a special structure. The Garrison’s primary duties involved addressing the needs of the walled cities, as well as reinforcing and repairing the Walls, mankind’s most vital military installation.
But unlike Maria, Angel did not hold any special attachment for the Walls.
A wall is a wall.
Angel’s conclusion came from the fact that his livelihood involved developing and manufacturing arms to be sold to the military corps.
The best defense is a good offense.
He did not voice his thoughts, though. He doubted that Maria would agree with him if he were to, and he could see that any argument with her would never reach a conclusion. In fact, they had talked about the subject more than once in the past, and Angel had been left with the bitter experience of being harshly argued into a corner every time.
“And by the way, what’s with your hair?” Maria sighed as she used her hands to comb through Angel’s unkempt head.
“H-Hey! I’m not a kid, cut it out.”
Angel became flustered, concerned about what those around him would think, but Maria utterly ignored him.
“If you’re not a kid, then don’t give me so much trouble.”
“Okay, okay.”
“And don’t forget to shave.”
Having fixed his hair to her liking, Maria began to circle around Angel, checking his appearance, then gave a single, satisfied nod.
“Shouldn’t you be working, by the way?”
“I’m just off the night shift. Listen, I’m not skipping work.” Maria scowled at Angel, almost as if to add an unlike you.
“Oh, so you’re here to see Solm back. Looks like you two are getting along.”
“Same with you, right?”
“I don’t remember ever getting engaged to Solm,” Angel mumbled.
Maria wordlessly scowled, then said, “Allow me to rephrase. I guess you two are best friends of sorts.”
As Angel and Maria were busy chatting, the area around Wall Maria’s main gate began to bustle with activity. Soon, the space was jammed full of people. Perhaps they had assembled because they heard the sound of the bell. A quick glance showed there to be around three hundred people. Young and old, male and female, they were all gathered there for the same reason as Angel. Soon, the Survey Corps would return from an expedition outside the Wall. They would be passing through the main gate and returning to their barracks riding northward on one of the avenues, but the scene, thanks to the soldiers’ brave figures, made their return seem almost like a celebratory parade. As the residents of Shiganshina District had little to amuse themselves with, the return had become somewhat of a special event.
Or I guess that’s how it was in the past…
While it looked as though many people were present on first glance, it was actually little more than a local gathering. Considering that Shiganshina District’s population was a little over thirty thousand, one might conclude that the Survey Corps’ return was not a matter of interest to the district’s residents. What’s more, over half of the crowd consisted of hecklers. Other than the soldiers’ relatives, few had any emotional attachment to their return.
Then again, the residents’ cold response was only natural.
They don’t release their information. They can’t show their results. And despite that, their expeditions are funded by tax money…
It seemed as though some sort of political decision was the only thing keeping the Survey Corps alive in spite of the people’s dissatisfaction. Many parts of the Survey Corps’ expeditions were opaque, and the residents had absolutely no way of knowing anything about the back-room politics that went on.
“It’s about time for our heroes to make their grand return.”
While the Wall kept them from being able to see the heroic figure cut by the Survey Corps, they could hear a rhythmical sound coming from the other side. It was the beat made by dozens of galloping warhorses. The soldiers’ movements seemed to grow more hurried as they heard the noise. Perhaps it was their regular training, but they made no wasted movements, working in a systematic, almost mechanical way. This systematic approach was exactly what was needed, as the gate had to be opened and closed quickly.
“I just hope it went well,” Maria said nervously.
“Are you talking about their mission?”
“What else is there?”
“It’s not like their results are what really matters to you.”
“That’s not true,” Maria said nonchalantly, though there was no way she was being honest. She had to have been worried about the safety of Solm, her fiancée. The Survey Corps’ mission could mean little to her.
Of course, I guess I’m the same way.
The life of his best friend was a far larger concern to Angel than the results of a mission clouded in mystery.
“Aren’t you straight-laced.”
“Yeah, when I have this uniform on.”
As Angel and Maria traded barbs, the Survey Corps closed in on their destination. With numerous horses kicking at the ground, the earth faintly shook.
The soldier standing atop the lookout post gave the command. “Open the gate! Open the gate!” Moments later, the giant gate, nearly ten meters in height, began to open with a deafening roar. Angel squinted and bent forward, focusing his vision on the world he could see beyond the gate.
All I can make out is barren earth.
Though he searched, Angel could find nothing worth special mention. Then, before he had a chance for any further observation, the outside world was covered in dirt kicked up by the horses.
Too bad there aren’t any of those monsters that you hear about.
Rather than monsters, all Angel could see was a pack of horses. Riding them were hooded cavalry who wore cloaks emblazoned with wings─Survey Corps soldiers.
Putting aside their reputation, they do look the part.
The cavalry passing through the gate one after another made a stunning impression.
“Close the gate! Close the gate!”
As soon as the Survey Corps had passed through, the gate was briskly shut. It was an admirably quick job. The gate had been open for a minute at most, showing the Garrison’s firm resolve to keep any outside enemies from invading. Maria looked faintly proud.
But while the Garrison had carried out its duties perfectly, the Survey Corps seemed sullen.
“They lost a lot of men…”
About fifty soldiers had returned. A force of almost eighty had left for the half-day expedition, but despite the mission’s short length, they had suffered major losses. Nor did the surviving soldiers return unharmed. Most of them only had minor wounds, but some had lost limbs. Others returned as corpses.
I don’t know what their goal was, but it looks like another failed expedition.
He could tell by the extent of the losses, as well as the soldiers’ dour looks. It seemed as though the residents may have thought the same, as there were few cheers. The mood of the scene was hardly celebratory, but at the same time, there was no sense of disappointment. The people must not have expected anything from the Survey Corps to begin with.
I guess the best way to not be let down is to have low expectations from the outset.
Sighing, Angel checked the faces of each of the returning soldiers. Every one of the valiant Survey Corps soldiers wore a fearless expression. Among them was a handsome man whom he recognized.
Solm Hume. He was a young, rising star in the Survey Corps as well as Angel’s childhood friend.
He’s really turned into a lady-killer, huh.
Solm’s face was dirty with soot and dust, but he didn’t seem to be injured. His sharp gaze was focused straight ahead as he walked his horse, skillfully controlling its reins in his hands.
“I guess he wouldn’t die off that easily.”
“Of course not. He can’t leave me as a widow before we’re even married.”
“You should really get him to request a change of assignment soon. We might not be laughing about this for long.”
“Maybe if he was the kind of person who listened to others…”
“True,” Angel laughed bitterly. “For now, then, let’s just be happy that he made a safe return.”
Though Angel and Maria were celebrating Solm’s return, the families of the soldiers who didn’t make it back were overwhelmed with grief. There was always the possibility that a soldier would never return from an expedition. Soldiers knew this when they chose to go on one, as well as their families.
Still, they must not have thought that they would really die.
That much was clear from their confusion and panic. In particular, a woman wearing maternity clothes drew Angel’s attention. She looked to be around twenty years old. She was fair-skinned and delicate, and seemed so wan that she might fall over without any support.
Maria looked on with concern at the woman who wandered from place to place like a ghost.
“Someone you know?”
“Yes. That’s Elena Mansell. Her husband is Team Leader Heath.”
“Solm’s superior, then.”
Angel had never met the man before, so the name brought no face to mind. Nevertheless, if he was a team leader, he had to have been a talented soldier even among the Survey Corps.
“So Team Leader Heath didn’t make it back. Poor thing, they just got married…” Maria said with a pained look.
I see, could be you tomorrow…
Elena was approaching soldiers with her faltering steps to ask each of them if her now-departed husband was “safe.” Her eyes were blank and unfocused.
“The royal government’s going to take care of her, right?”
“She shouldn’t have any trouble making ends meet.”
“You can’t replace a husband with money alone, though.”
“I just wish there was something I could do.”
“Yeah…”
Anything they could do, though, would be of little importance.
Never mind the money, all she’d want is her husband back.
No matter what they did, they wouldn’t be able to help Elena.
I guess time is the only cure…
As Angel was thinking, an explosion roared out above his head like a clap of thunder. The air shook slightly from the impact. Instinctively, Angel flinched, but he saw no signs of lightning around him.
“What just happened?!”
As if to answer, the faint smell of chemicals wafted in the air, carried by the south wind.
“That’s…”
As Angel’s nose twitched, it picked up the traces of the chemical ingredients that tinged the air around him.
Saltpeter, charcoal, sulfur, aluminum…
In other words, gunpowder.
“Did they fire off a cannon?”
He couldn’t see from his position on the street, but he was certain, and for a simple reason.
So that’s where they put the cannons I made, up there on the wall.
Angel had created ten cannons after receiving an order from the military corps, but he was never told how they would be used. After hearing the explosion overhead, though, he knew that they had been put atop Wall Maria.
“What was that bombardment?”
“Probably a warning shot.”
“So those Titans we’ve heard so much about have decided to pay us a visit.”
“Titan” was the generic name given to the monsters that preyed upon humans. Mankind had been forced to construct giant walls and to live inside of them in order to escape the threat posed by the Titans. It must have been the Titans that inflicted the massive losses on the Survey Corps during its expedition.
I wish I could see them once, though. Just for future reference.
While it was easy to imagine the Titans as terrible monstrosities, Angel was not particularly scared of them. He couldn’t be frightened by something that he only knew of conceptually. To Angel, Titans were like formless ghosts.
“But what an awful sound…”
Angel scowled at the echoes of the cannons firing in succession as he covered both ears with his hands.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they ordered suppressors next.
The sound of a tenth cannon shot ripped through the air right as Angel smiled wryly, but that was the end of the bombardment.
“Did they kill them?”
Angel timidly took his hands off his ears as he looked at Maria.
“It’d be nice if they did, but I doubt it.”
“You do, huh…” Angel mumbled as he focused his sight on Wall Maria. If they had fired ten whole shots, it wouldn’t matter if they had landed a direct hit on any of the Titans. There would be a sea of fire around them. No living creature could survive in it.
Anything that was alive down there is sure to have died instantly.
No matter how unexpectedly monstrous the Titans were, the cannons still had enough firepower to take them out.
One roasted Titan, hot and ready.
But then, as if to crush Angel’s pride, footfalls began to close in from the other side of the Wall.
“You can’t be serious…”
“The Titans probably got too close to the Wall,” Maria coolly explained to Angel while his mouth hung agape.
“So that’s why they stopped firing.”
Wall Maria, sometimes called indestructible, had yet to allow the Titans in. It was thick enough to deflect any of the Titans’ strikes, and tall enough to be too high to scale.
“The way you’re talking, it sounds like you knew that this would happen.”
“Better that than to mess up and accidentally damage the Wall.”
“As the person who made those cannons, though, I’m a little conflicted…”
Angel clenched his fist.
Still, if that’s what their footsteps sound like…
Angel doubted his own ears. The roaring sound of the steadily approaching footfalls in no way resembled human steps. It was like the sound of an earthquake, and in truth, the ground faintly rumbled. It was proof of the Titans’ unbelievably large size.
They’re like walking disasters.
As soon as he compared them to natural threats, the once vague, ghost-like Titans suddenly seemed more real. Titans weren’t imaginary monsters. They were real dangers to mankind. Angel’s personal definition of the Titans was quickly rewritten, but as soon as it was, a shiver ran through his body. A cold sweat ran down his back, he broke out in goose bumps, and deep inside his chest, he felt his heart begin to pound. His instincts were sounding a warning.
Step by step, the Titan continued to approach, accompanied by a quaking sound. Despite the sluggish cow-like pace, the distance between Angel and the Titan shrank slowly but surely.
The Titan’s footsteps suddenly stopped. Perhaps the Wall had gotten in its path.
It’s about to attack.
Angel steeled himself and focused his senses on the Titan’s movements but picked up close to nothing.
“It’s not doing anything?” Angel furrowed his brow. “I was sure it was going to try to break down the Wall.”
This belief, however, was probably nothing more than the result of an ignorant bias, and Angel must have projected his own images of how a Titan would act onto the one on the other side of the Wall.
I suppose if they really were smart enough to be able to do something to the Wall, mankind would already be extinct.
Angel looked up at the towering Wall Maria.
“Thanks be to Wall Maria, I see.”
“Have you started to get a better idea of why this is here?”
“A better idea than I had wanted.”
“Do you still think that the best defense is a good offense?”
“Aren’t you a mean one.”
“Yeah, sometimes.”
Angel shrugged his shoulders at Maria as she grinned. His nerves had calmed a bit, perhaps due to their exchange. The people of the town, too, had started to recover from the shock of the sudden bombardment. Some may have even mistook it as celebrating the Survey Corps’ return.
“Why don’t we go see Solm.”
Right as Maria spoke, a single drop of rain hit Angel’s cheek. He wiped his face with the back of his hand and looked up at the sky. It was covered in thick clouds that seemed ready to burst.
“So it really does rain when people are grieving.”
“Looks like we might get some showers…”
Blocking out the sun’s rays with her hand, Maria looked at the gray sky. It had started to sprinkle. At this rate, there would be a downpour soon.
We should probably get moving.
Right as Angel thought this, a black, round object entered his field of vision.
“A bird?” Angel thought for a moment, but he immediately changed his mind. No bird was that round.
“Dodge!!”
The sudden voice that shouted down from above froze Angel’s body. The shout had come from a Garrison soldier on top of the wall.
Dodge?!
He must have been referring to the black, spherical mass, but Angel couldn’t tell what kind of dangerous object it could have been. Even if he could, he didn’t have enough time to react. The mass fell toward, then crashed into the stone pavement a few meters in front of him.
“Take cover!!”
Angel and Maria both flattened themselves on the ground. While it still could have been some sort of bomb, the mass splattered like a ripened fruit, spraying the area with whatever unknown substance was inside.
“That’s…”
It had been flattened by the impact, but they could tell what the fallen object was.
“It’s…a head…”
While it barely resembled its original shape, it was still clear. Its eye sockets were sunken in, its nose had been sliced off, and its mouth was still visible despite having no lower jaw. Its hair must have made it look black as it flew through the air, and the substance that had come from it was some sort of mixture of brains, bone fragments, and bodily fluids. The unbearably gruesome sight caused the contents of Angel’s stomach to climb back into his throat. The moment his stomach juices spread across his mouth, Angel covered it with his hand and retched, though he somehow managed to keep from vomiting.
“What… What’s going on?”
As he stood confused, a woman approached him with an unsteady gait. It was Elena.
“Oh, so this is where you were dawdling?”
Elena walked up to the severed head and crouched down with no regard for the filth that would get on her dress. She peeled the head off of the ground it clung to, then held it to her bosom.
“No wonder you were late.”
Elena let out a grotesque cackle.
“Is that…her husband’s?”
“I’d have to check to make sure, but I’m pretty sure it is…”
Elena continued to mumble toward the hunk of flesh, apparently unable to register his death.
But why would a head come from the sky?
When Angel looked up, searching for an answer, he saw something that made his eyes grow wide. Countless severed heads were flying through the sky like shooting stars. One distorted flower after another bloomed on the ground as the heads flew in from outside the Wall. As this happened, screams started to come from all around.
“Are Titans throwing the heads over?”
It was strange, but the bizarre situation would then make sense.
“But why heads…”
“There’s no reason.”
“What do you mean?”
“They eat because they want to. They throw away what they don’t like. That’s it.”
“But then─”
Angel was about to continue, “They’re no different from humans,” but he swallowed his words. He couldn’t allow himself to admit something like that. As he struggled to deepen his understanding of the Titans’ actions, more heads continued to rain down.
“Damn it! Do they think they’re playing horseshoes or something?!” Angel cursed as he spit each word out.
Fortunately, no one was hurt by the heads, but the ground and nearby structures were now filthy, stained with splattered brains, bodily fluids, and chunks of meat. The scene was so repulsive that it felt otherworldly.
The hellish image must have struck fear in the people. The crowd that had assembled to celebrate the Survey Corps’ return was now scattering in confusion, screaming. It was a natural reaction to an event as unimaginable as human heads raining from the sky.
The heads eventually stopped, either out of choice or because there were none left to throw. Still, the people had been gripped by fear, and it was only a matter of time before they would be in a state of panic.
You think you can just do whatever you want?
Even Angel wasn’t able to keep calm, but there was one group that could and did. The Survey Corps. They stood firm and unflinching despite the horrifying spectacle that was taking place before them. It was proof of their intense training, as well as of the many other difficulties even crueler than this that they had overcome.
But even among these courageous soldiers, one man stood especially tall.
Jorge Piquer.
The statuesque, majestic man was a squad leader in the Survey Corps. Jorge grabbed a flare gun from his waist, pointed it to the sky, then pulled the trigger without hesitation. A flash of light shot out from the muzzle, accompanied by a report. A bright light like the sun itself came from the shot as it exploded in mid-air.
“A White Star…”
The charge that had been loaded into the flare gun was known as a White Star. While it was normally used for illumination at night and as a signal to other soldiers, it was now being used to draw the attention of the panicking city residents. They stopped in place, all looking up to the light in the sky.
For a moment, everything around was quiet. Jorge jumped on this opportunity and went into action.
“Calm down! Calm down!!”
His voice, even louder than the flare gun’s report, spread through the people to incredible effect. One after another, they began to come back to their senses, as if he had exorcised them of a demon. For a man used to commanding groups of brave soldiers, striking sense into regular citizens must have been a simple feat. While the scene had turned into an unexpected display of the Survey Corps’ prowess, now was hardly the time or place for a celebration of their return.
The dripping rain gradually began coming down harder, surely to help wash away the scattered brains.