42 A Sword and Freedom

Takashi walked through the streets of the Trost district with a cold expression, this whole place would be in ruins and he could do nothing. 

At first he thought about it, he wanted to somehow find commander Pixis and tell him that the wall of the Trost district would be torn down by some shape shifting titans. However, he had no way of explaining how he knew, he was not even sure if everything would go according to the original plot. 

This time, Thomas Wagner intended to join the Survey Corps, unlike in the anime, where his fear and respect for the titans encouraged him to stay as far away from them as possible. 

Everything could change and it's not like he knew that much about the future either, there was no way to do anything about it this time. Arriving at the door that would shortly be knocked down, Takashi stood in silence. 

Surrounding, inside and outside the gate were large wooden poles as suggested to Commander Pixis some time ago. However, could this make a difference? Takashi didn't know, all he knew was that he would fight with everything he had to save these people.

"Takashi Ackerman, what are you doing in this place so far away from the base?" At that moment, Annie approached Takashi with a calm look. 

Surprised that someone named him, Takashi turned around and watched Annie walk towards him. "Annie, I'm patrolling the streets and ended up in this place." 

"I'm doing the same thing too, do you think it does any good?" Annie, who didn't talk much, inexplicably took the initiative to converse with Takashi. 

"The wooden poles?" Takashi turned his gaze towards the Trost district gate to the south and said, "Well, it might make a change if the titans from that time show up again with intentions to break down the gate." 

After saying that, Takashi smiled slightly and said, "At least this time we will be prepared, even if they knock down the gate we will defend this place even if we die." 

Annie looked surprised and said with an apathetic tone, "What do you think about the titans? I heard you wanted to eliminate them all, although your purpose is the same as Eren's, it seems to be driven by something else." 

"They are enemies and we are the ones affected, just that.... I don't hate them but I do respect them, I will defend humanity and take it upon myself to fight for a better future." Takashi smiled and walked back towards the base of the corps. 

"I understand, your cause is noble but it would be smarter if you decided to go to the military police." Annie said with a slight smile. 

"Hmm, if I had a family maybe I would consider it. But now I'm an orphan in society, I have no one and most likely I'll die alone if I don't continue the battle." Takashi felt calm, now he could stop his internal struggle. 

"Well, that's your choice and I respect your decisions." Just as Annie was about to continue her talk, Reiner approached from across the street. 

"Guys, I didn't think you'd be out patrolling the streets together." Reiner said with a friendly smile. 

"Today seems to be an interesting day, I ran into a lot of fellow corpsmen." Takashi said as he greeted Reiner. 

"I need help with a task the garrison corps left me, can you help me Annie?" Reiner asked lightly. 

"What's up buddy, are you about to confess your love for Annie?" Takashi was slightly surprised. 

"I didn't think that being one of the best in our group you would need help." Annie replied coolly. 

"Well, I'll leave you..." Takashi flashed a sly smile and said to Reiner, "Good luck, though I think the outcome is foreseen." 

"Huh?" Reiner was surprised and didn't know what happened. 

When Takashi left, Annie looked at Reiner coolly and asked, "What's going on?" 

"We need to talk about the rest of the plan, Bertholdt and I think Takashi needs to be taken out in attack." Reiner said in a cold voice.

"What?" Annie looked agitated and said, "Have they lost their minds? That's not our objective, it would be too risky and we could be discovered." 

"No argument, if you don't do it I'll take care of it myself, he is an amazing soldier with a much deeper mind, I found out he was the one who suggested placing improvements on the walls defense and he was also the one who mentioned in a class about the difference of the titans attacking the Mary wall." 

"We can't let an excellent Warrior fully develop, it could hinder our mission." Reiner said, "He's very observant, it only took him training alongside us to discover that we had trained rigorously before entering the training corps." 

"I'm not going to deviate from the real objective of the mission, you can do whatever you want." Annie left Reiner without giving him an answer. 

"No matter how guilty you feel, we can't let him find us out." Reiner said with a determined look. 

He knew Takashi was a very special and important person, his prowess in physical combat characterizes him as one of the best within the training corps. His way of leading, showing concern and seeing things that have not yet happened long before they happen is just one of his many skills. 

After walking away from Annie and Reiner, Takashi walked through the streets and stopped at a blacksmith shop. Usually, there weren't many blacksmith shops around the Trost district and this might be the only one he could find in the whole city. 

"Ding! Dong!" 

As Takashi entered, a discreet chime sounded. Inside, Takashi looked at a lonely store that only had a small counter and a few display cases with different tools. 

Just as he was about to call out to the owner, an old man with a white cloth on his head slowly stepped out from the door behind the counter. 

"A soldier? No, you're just a recruit, what is a recruit looking for in my place?" Asked the old man in an apathetic voice. 

"You can take a look at my sword." When Takashi said that, he unsheathed his sword that was on his back with relative ease. 

The long length of time he held the sword made the maneuver of drawing the weapon easier. Takashi then approached the old man and showed him his sword, it had been given to him when he was in the training corps after he consulted with instructor Keith. 

"Wow... What do we have here?" The Blacksmith was surprised to see the sword being carried by an army recruit. Indescribably he thought of someone similar to him, who also carried a sword along with the three-dimensional maneuvering equipment. 

"I found it at the base where I used to train, it was given to me by an instructor and now I am looking for a suitable place to see if I can somehow increase the edge of the blade." Takashi said without much preamble.

After training with that sword for a long time, he found out that its edge was not as desired and if he wanted to use it against titans, he would have to at least look for a way to increase its edge. 

"I understand, this sword is composed of a material similar to the blades of your equipment, very few people now are qualified to work this material." The Blacksmith said, "I am Aldous, what is your name, young man?" 

"I am Takashi." Takashi said lightly as he looked at old Aldous. 

"Hmm, many years ago it was said that there was a warrior who fought titans with a sword. He was referred to as the titan's son, after he was born inside some sort of titan vomit." Aldous said without caring much. 

"That person also used a sword?" Takashi was surprised to hear that, and even more surprised at the title he had.  

"Who was that person?" He thought to himself and said, "So, is there a chance to increase the sharpness of this sword? I don't have much money, so if the price is higher than what I have now, I won't be able to hire you for this job."

"You seem to have used it a lot, you can come for it later." Aldous said without saying anything to Takashi about the price. 

"About the money... Huh?" Takashi stopped and watched the old man disappear from the store with the sword in his hands. 

"You don't want to steal my sword?" 

Without paying much attention to him, he left the store some time later with a somewhat confused expression. The Blacksmith named Aldous didn't look at him more than once before accepting the sword and speaking a few words about someone who also used a sword. 

To the naked eye, there were many strange people everywhere. Takashi memorized the face of that Blacksmith in case he ran away with his sword. 

"Look nothing else, he's just a recruit and he's already wasting his time." An old woman looked at Takashi and shouted.

"How?" Takashi looked sideways only to know that the old woman's words were directed at him. 

"Is something wrong old woman?" Takashi asked in bewilderment. 

"Old? I'm younger than your mother, learn to talk to people, what a rude recruit." The old lady went crazy in an instant.

"I'm sorry." Takashi bowed slightly before leaving the place. 

"Did you insult me? You fucking bastard." Shouted the old woman angrily. 

"He did the same thing again." 

"Yes, it seems his situation became more serious." 

"What a disaster, his son died in an expedition outside the walls." 

The people in the vicinity began to murmur about the old woman who had just cursed Takashi.