Laughter echoed in the mess hall as the older officers spilled their alcohol as they drank and young women quickly ran to clean up the mess. Expectedly, the older men made crude remarks at the women when they knelt down. In other parts of the room, there were men cleaning up the tables and glaring at the officers, but they did nothing. Nearby you could hear the younger cadets murmur in disapproval

"It feels so strange to have people clean for us after we'd been taught to do all that ourselves back in training"

"Yeah I think so too… I feel especially bad for the girls, they have to put up with those old drunkards"

"I heard they're celebrating because they got promoted to work in the Military Police force now" a unanimous sigh could be heard from the gossiping group

"Like they need another reason to get drunk in the middle of the day"

Turning away, Levi placed his finished plates on the counter with the other used dishes. As he turned to walk away, some cadets stood aside and saluted him while he passed. Levi paid no attention to them as he made his way down the hall towards his room. While it was indeed more lively at the base, it really was a mystery as to how so many civilians were hired to work as servants for the military.

Men and women ranging from young adults to middle ages bustled around, carrying blankets and buckets of water, making the Captain wonder if they really intended to clean rooms despite being so unprepared.

As usual, Levi headed towards his room only to find that it was unlocked. Irked, he opened the door to find a young woman fixing her headdress with one hand, and another on her cleaning supplies.

"What is this" Levi demanded, annoyance clear in his voice

"O-oh! Good afternoon sir. I just finished cleaning your quarters and I-"

"Tch, is that supposed to be some sort of joke? You call this clean?" He walked over to his desk and knelt down, running his hand along the underside of it and feeling dust mites collect on his fingertips. "This is a disgrace... " He muttered loud enough for the young woman to hear.

He turned his head to look at the woman over his shoulder to see her with a strange expression on her face. It seemed to be a mix of shock and… relief? Whatever, it didn't matter to him.

"Leave those supplies here. I'll-"

"I'll be happy to clean the room again for you sir! Please forgive my incompetence. I'll redo the whole procedure to your liking no matter how long it takes!"

Before Levi could even protest, the young woman immediately grabbed hold of the bucket and rag and nearly sprinted to the window, happy to clean them again. Her demeanor was incredibly strange. She was all too eager to stay longer. And while she was cleaning again, she was doing it rather slow.

"What's your goal? Why stay longer?" He questioned her.

The girl looked at Levi as if surprised he was still there. "My goal? Um… just to make sure everything is to your standards sir!"

"Don't you have other rooms to clean?"

"No, your room is actually last on my list" The girl refused to face Levi while she spoke but was loud and clear enough for him to hear her across the room.

"...Fine but if you're late then that's your own problem" He waved his hand dismissively as he grabbed the chair by his desk and pulled it beside his bed to sit

"Of course! Um… are you just going to wait there?" The girl finally paused in her duties long enough to look at Levi, as if his being there was making her nervous.

"I don't have any other business to attend to today, and while I'd much rather be relaxing in the privacy of my own room, I suppose this time is better spent making sure a newbie is capable of cleaning properly instead of half-assing things and running away"

With nothing else to say, and with that girl blocking the window, Levi sat back in his chair and crossed his legs. Making sure that it was out of her view, he pulled out his pocket knife and began twiddling it between his fingers while he lost himself in this thoughts.

"All done Captain!" The girl announced as she threw the rag in the bucket.

She scurried to the other end of the room as Levi got up and began his daily inspection. Tables were clean from the top to the bottom of the legs, as was the chair. The lamp was properly polished and with new oil in its reserves. His bed was well made with no wrinkle in sight and even the pillow was properly fluffed.

"Hm. It's an improvement over the last few weeks I suppose" Levi said as he noticed the floors could still use an extra buffing.

The girl nodded her head in understanding as he waved his hand in dismissal. Levi went back to his seat and turned his head towards the window, but watched the girl from the corner of his eyes. Everyday for almost a month she would come and clean his room as the sunset, and everytime she would miss something.

Forgetting to clean behind the door, or sweep underneath the bed, or to open the windows and clean the underside of the pane.

But everytime she was happy to fix her mistakes, but she didn't stop there. She would re-clean the entire room seemingly at a leisurely pace. There would be some times where Levi had to leave the room to attend to other matters and she would still be there when he returned. Everyday she would announce when she finished for Levi to come and "grade" her work. Regardless of his answer, she would accept it and get her supplies ready to leave. And when she did, she wore the most anxious and tired look on her face.

It was a curious matter, but not interesting enough for Levi to poke and prod her for answers. She did her job, and she was quiet unless spoken to. No reason to go digging.

That evening, a meeting was scheduled for an exhibition outside the walls again. This time with more newbies and in a less populated but more dangerous area. Levi would have to attend to assure the safety of the others.

As he returned from the meeting, he heard shouting and clattering coming from the mess hall. Irritated someone would be trying to steal food when supplies were so low, he went to investigate only to find no one present, but the shouting even louder. As he searched the area, he found a hidden door in the floor of the kitchen. Underneath was a staircase that led to the storage room for vegetables, however at the moment there was something else there.

In the storage room, the new "servants" were all lined up as if they were in training camp with the newly promoted Lieutenant Artur at the front. Instead of the usual clothes all the servants wore, now they were in rags that seemed to be made out of potato sacks. One by one all the servants gave a report of what happened in the day.

Any positive reports the men made, they were given a nod of approval. Any negative, they were punched in the stomach hard enough for them to fall to their knees. As for the women, regardless of their report, they were touched or fondled. The only difference was if they had a negative report, they were assaulted more aggressively.

At the end of the line, Levi noticed the girl that had been coming to clean his room. She too was wearing a pathetic excuse for clothing made out of rags. With her head down, all Levi could make out was that she was visibly shaking and sweating. When the Lieutenant finally got to her, he already put his hand under her chin to tilt her head up to look at him.

"And what about you Galina? I didn't see you cleaning up at the mess hall after dinner, again. Do we need to have another… chat?" Artur moved his hands down to her waist as he said the word "chat". Even Levi could feel his stomach churning at this vulgarity.

"My deepest apologies sir, I had to stay late again to finish cleaning the quarters. You know how Captain Levi likes to have his room proper. If my being late is keeping the duties from being finished, maybe you could talk to him about letting me go earlier?"

Everything clicked in place at once. This girl, Galina, had been purposely staying longer every day to clean Levi's room to avoid Artur.

The Lieutenant scowled and removed his hands from Galina's body. "No… no let's not go bother the Captain with such trivial business. Afterall, you know what would happen if anyone were to find out about this. All of you dismissed, get back to the barn"

All the servants responded and began heading towards the stairs. Levi had already exited his hiding spot and was back in the main hall. Instead of going out through the main entrance, the servants were heading out through the back room with only the sound of their footsteps audible. Even the Lieutenant himself was going the long route back to his room, avoiding main entrances.

Looking out the window, Levi could see all the servants stumbling in the darkness seemingly making their way to the barn as instructed. At the end of the line, Levi could make out Galina's silhouette through the moonlight. While she stood properly when spoke to or cleaning, her posture was always slightly hunched over with her hands together in front of her chest. As if she was a child twiddling their fingers while being scolded by their parents. A couple of other people fell in line beside her and they began conversing. All while Galina wore the same pained and tired look on her face.

Turning away, Levi started down the hall towards his room. He wasn't going to lose any sleep over this discovery, and he had his own schedule to attend to tomorrow with the exhibition coming up.

As he entered his room, he went to his desk and pulled out some paper and a quill. He scribbled down some quick notes about the events he witnessed and carefully stowed the paper away. Levi would make sure to bring this up with Erwin after the exhibition.

Hanji energetically waved goodbye while Levi promptly turned and left. He had gone to the equipment facility with Hanji and some others going on the exhibition to check their 3D Maneuver Gear and make sure it was in proper condition. While it was a standard procedure, it irked Levi to have to do this despite the mission being delayed an extra two weeks. Erwin had been abruptly called away to go to the innermost wall for a meeting and another interrogation, leaving the called upon troops with another few days to enjoy peace.

As Levi walked down the hall towards his room, he realized that he hadn't seen Galina since discovering the servants' dark secret. Should he bring it up to her, or just go about things as usual?

These thoughts that swirled in his mind momentarily were stopped when Levi opened the door to find his room empty. Untouched since this morning when he left, and absent of any evidence that Galina was here.

The sun had begun to set already, whether she stayed or not, Galina was normally here. During this time is when other servants would be finishing up their last tasks. Levi caught one of the male servants around his age exiting another nearby room.

"Where's the girl that normally cleans my room? She hasn't done it today" he questioned.

A frown quickly appeared on the man's face as he looked at Levi. "Oh her… The Lieutenant… had a different task for her today" He muttered the words as if carefully choosing them while he spoke.

"I see"

"Uh, would you like me to clean your room instead?" the servant awkwardly asked as he gestured towards the cleaning supplies still in hand.

"No, you'll just make it even dirtier. That'll be all"

And with that, Levi left the servant standing in the hall annoyed at having his cleaning skills insulted.

Levi didn't normally roam the base at these hours. A meal would usually be delivered to his room for lunchtime. After eating, he would take his plates to the mess hall where the dishes were piled up. Then he would retreat back to his private quarters to relax before sundown. In the evening, he would go to eat dinner and then out to patrol before bed.

Before sunset, the base was rather lively with cadets and servants. However today he noticed that there were more female servants conversing with each other in hushed worried tones. Levi grew more tense with every step he took as he heard bits and pieces of the conversations between the servants.

"The Lieutenant's doing that again isn't he?"

"I'm so glad today isn't my turn..."

"Yeah but it's not any better for someone else to endure it is it?"

"Better her than me… I'm not going anywhere near the washroom"

"I feel so bad for the girls, I wish I could do something"

"We shouldn't have to go through this, we may be criminals but we're still humans!"

"Human? Anyone in the Military Police already isn't human themselves, why would they treat us like that?"

Unfortunately, when Levi reached Artur's room and threw the door open, he was nowhere to be found. As he stood there, unsure of where else to look, he heard voices coming from down the hall.

The washroom

Water splashing and struggling groans could be heard from inside. Kicking down the locked doorknob, Levi entered the washroom only to feel an urge to throw up his lunch.

Lieutenant Artur was stark naked, sitting on the edge of the bathtub. In his arms, he was forcibly holding Galina, attempting to strip her clothes off. In her hands, Galina was holding a washrag and a sponge, making Levi cringe at the thought of what she was being forced to do.

"C-Captain Levi!" Artur's grip on Galina weakened after being surprised by Levi's sudden appearance.

Galina quickly escaped his grasp and ran behind Levi as she fixed her wet clothes.

"What's going on here" Levi demanded, stepping to the side slightly to stand in front of Galina.

Artur reached for a towel to wrap around his waist as he stood up to address the Captain innocently, as if he wasn't just caught assaulting a woman.

"You know it's rude to walk in on someone while they're in the bath"

"You know it's disgusting to force your fetishes on those weaker than you" Levi spat out in disgust. Behind him, Galina stood in her usual hunched over pose, shivering and quietly whimpering.

"Oh come now, these women are my slaves! As are those men but we all know the ladies are more fun to play with hehe"

"What do you mean slaves?"

"I mean, these people have all committed crimes. They were brought here from the Underground City and sold as slaves. Now they work for me until they've repaid their debt to society, and I figure what better use for slaves than to have them help around the military base?"

Upon hearing mention of the Underground City, Levi felt his hate for this man growing. "Working for you is punishment enough. Do you think the higher-ups will be okay with knowing that civilians are working as slaves in these conditions?"

"Hah! 'Civilians'? Anyone from the Underground City is no more than trash. Maybe if you put 10 of them together they could count as one normal civilian"

Seemingly proud of what he's done, Artur began heartily laughing after unveiling this scheme that had been going on at the base for almost 2 months now.

"So what Levi? Are you going to report me? Tattle to your beloved Commander Erwin?" Artur taunted.

Before Levi could even think of a response he was cut off by a loud scream as well as something touching him from behind. In an instant, blood flew into the air as Artur fell to the floor howling in pain. Galina stood above him seething with anger, holding Levi's pocket knife in her hands. She hadn't been shivering in fear, she'd been shaking with rage.

On the floor, blood mixed with spilled bathwater as Artur clutched his manhood in pain.

"I've had enough, we've all had enough of you controlling us with our past mistakes! And we've especially had enough of you forcing different women in this room every day and waving that disgusting thing in our face!" Galina screamed at the top of her lungs.

On the other side of the doorway, Levi could hear people running around. Cadets screaming to find another superior and servants either cheering with joy or gasping in horror.

"You will not touch me with that thing again!" Galina lunged for Artur, knife in hand before Levi grabbed her forearm and pulled her back.

"That's enough!"

"No! He deserves to die! Let me go!"

Levi struggled to calm Galina down as she thrashed in his arms waving his own knife at him. She was seemingly broken out of her enraged trance when other servants and cadets ran in with medical supplies to see how badly injured Artur was. Galina dropped the knife and went limp enough for Levi to let her go without worries of another outburst. She leaned against the doorway, looking at the scene before her and flexing her hands covered in water and blood.

One of the cadets approached Captain Levi and reported that while not life threatening, Artur was experiencing large amounts of blood-loss and seemed to have lost feeling in one of his legs. This all from where Galina had stabbed and sliced him. Levi reassured the soldier that he would make a formal report of what happened, and that they only need worry about making sure Artur doesn't die. With that taken care of, Levi grabbed Galina by her arm and led her away from the scene.

The two of them walked in silence towards the medical ward. The room was empty most likely due to personnel being needed back at the washroom. Levi began looking through cabinets for towels and some sort of change of clothes.

"You're an idiot"

"..." Galina sat in silence, her head down as always.

"You had a perfect chance to out him, get him punished or even jailed, free you and your friends. But you ruined it all when you attacked him. Now even though this will all be brought to light, you and your friends may not be freed because you'll be seen as dangerous"

Levi threw a towel across the room, landing on Galina's head and a change of clothes in her lap. He went across the room and pulled the curtains and turned his back so he couldn't see her.

"That is, unless someone reports exactly what happened." Galina let out a small noise, like a confused cat. "That you were being assaulted and in a freak accident as you tried to escape, things were knocked over and Artur injured himself on his own weapon he left in his pocket. You and your friends will be freed and Artur will most likely be jailed after he heals"

"But…"

"I didn't see what happened, and I can only report what I know. Now hurry up and get changed. You're not going to clean my room while you're soaking wet"

There was a short pause before Levi heard shuffling on the other side of the curtain. Once she was done, Galina pulled the curtain open and cleaned up the medical ward. Quickly, she ran to get her usual cleaning supplies and walked back to Levi's room with him. While she did her usual duties, Levi wrote out his report of the 'accident' today.

As usual, Galina made a mistake and forgot to clean something and stayed longer to clean everything again. The usual silence was comforting, nothing but faint sounds of sweeping and scribbles of the quill on paper. Feeling eyes on him, Levi decided to speak up.

"You got something to say?"

"No… I'm almost done" Galina hesitated before responding. Instead of her usual expression, this time she had a small smile on her face.

"Then feel free to leave whenever. I'm heading out"

Levi stood up, rolling up his finished report and tucking it into his jacket. Once again he could feel Galina's eyes following him as he walked towards the door. Before he stepped over the threshold, this time she spoke up.

"Um, thank you Captain Levi"

Unsure of what to say, Levi waved his hand dismissively as he always did before closing the door behind him.