Author's note: sorry that this chapter was short. hopefully the next chapter will be a bit longer. I also made one minor edit in chapter 2. also the squad leader who's a friend of the absent leader james smith, will appear in the next chapter. next quarter is gonna start soon, so updates to this story may be a bit slower.
He dragged me out of the house, and Hanji followed us from behind. Not sure where Molbit went to though since he was no where to be seen while we headed towards the meeting place. Levi continued to keep his hold on my wrist for several more minutes.
"Um, you didn't have to drag me like that." He responded by simply letting go of my wrist. Hanji and I continued to follow behind him towards the main HQ building. When we reached the entrance, a tall man with bushy eyebrows, waved at us from the front porch of the building waved at us with his only usable hand since one of his arms got amputated. I know I've seen him before I just can't remember his name. We all waved back at him, then walked towards him.
"I see you got Berta here with you, so it's true the king allowed Berta to stay with you, Levi."
"Yes Commander Erwin, the king entrusted me to her but I'm not sure why though. I've decided to bring her to this meeting with me." Oh so that's his name.
"Come inside, other squad leaders are waiting." He opened the door, leading us inside. We went to a room with a large table and many seats. Most of the seats were already taken. I didn't recognize any of the people sitting in the room. Levi and I sat next to each not far from where Erwin sat. Hanji sat a few seats over from us. Right after we got seated, two more people entered the room in the last two remaining seats. The majority of the people in the room were male but I spotted three other females besides Hanji and I.
"Ahem, Since everyone is here , we can now start the meeting."
A guy in the back stood up from his chair and called out, "Commander Erwin Sir! Squad leader James Smith caught the stomach flu and couldn't come to the meeting today. So I'll report the details of this meeting to him later, Sir!" He sat right back down on his chair.
"Let's get this meeting started then," Erwin continued, "There's many things we need to discuss. First of all, the King was generous enough to allow us to keep our titan shifter Berta as least for a little while longer. In fact, she's here with us as well sitting next to Levi." Everyone in the room looked in my direction.
"Also, in case our plan to put Historia Reiss on the throne fails, we need to come up with a backup plan,which is what this meeting is about. If our plan fails, besides the fact some of scouting legion members could possibly die, the government would most likely choose someone else who would do their bidding to take over as king. Maybe we could overthrow the government and replace it with a better one."
A man raised his hand and asked, "May I have permission to speak sir?" Erwin nodded his head in response.
"The problem with trying to overthrow the government is that many people could possibly die from that and what if we fail in overthrowing them. What if they decide to cut of trade with wall rose or blockade it, which could cause a lot of people to starve to death. We've lost a lot of people when Wall Maria fell, we can't afford to lose thousands of more lives."
"Sometimes making sacrifices for the great good is necessary."
"Well we can only make so many sacrifices. Too many sacrifices is no good." Some people in the room vocalized their agreement. Then those who disagreed with that squad leader started to argue with those who agreed with him. They continued to argue for another good two to three minutes. That all ended when I heard a loud banging sound nearby me. I looked to my left and saw that it was Levi who banged the table with one of his fists.
"Shut the fuck up with this goddamn arguing! It's not like we have much of a choice the way things are going right now anyway. We should at least prepare ourselves for when that day comes."
"Got any ideas, smart ass?" Levi glared at the man who said that.
"Stop it you two! Last thing I need is to see you two get into another fist fight." Erwin Shouted. "Let's get started with brainstorming ideas about the subject at hand. Anyone of you wanna go first?"
Levi stood up from his chair and spoke, "I have a few ideas. First of all we could gain more support by telling more of the average citizens about how bad the government. We also need to recruit more troops and figure out a way to train them quickly. We should help develop more farmland, and help the citizens become less dependent on food supplies from Wall Sina."
"Those are some good ideas Levi, but I think we should also prepare for any potential refugees. Sometimes corrupt governments send out troops to terrorize their own cities, so in case they decide to do that."
"That's a good idea Berta." Erwin responded. Some whispers could be heard. I'm not sure if they were agreeing or disagreeing with me.
"I think that both Levi and Berta have some good ideas, but next time you have an idea you want to share, you should stand up first." The same man who told Commander Erwin that one squad leader would be absent for this meeting, stood up and blurted out. The man to his left whispered something into his ear which apparently embarrassed him. After that man whispered, a woman sitting nearby elbowed him. Now I actually kind of wonder what he was saying now. I felt a hand lightly grip onto my waist. I looked down and saw it was Levi's hand. Afterwards, we all discussed for hours on more ideas, and how to put the plans we decided on into action. I don't know how long Levi had his hand on my waist but his hand must have been there for at least a little while. I wonder what's up with Levi, since he's not affectionate type. He seems to be acting a little different since this morning. Maybe he has mood swings. This meeting was both interesting and boring at the same time. After a few hours, I put my head down on the table and fell asleep.