This is a Flashback Chapter.
The Day Before the Festival
On a sunny afternoon around one, Erwin Smith and his associates such as Levi Ackerman and Hange Zoe were currently inside Theo Magath's home. Erwin and Hange waited patiently in the living room and sat within individual chairs. Levi, who felt a bit impatient decided to venture towards the Marleyan Commander's pantry and found some expensive liquor in it. Afterwards, he poured a small cup of it.
"You sure that this guy won't mind us breaking in his house like this?" Levi asked Erwin before sitting down in a fancy chair drinking.
"The chances of Theo Magath being upset is really highly. But I will make sure to talk it over with him-so that he won't turn us in." Erwin told Levi.
"How do you know he won't after you
"Because I know people like him." Erwin stated as he thought of Keith Shadis. "We just need to ask him for a favor small favor. And then we'll be on our way."
"Favor? What kind of favor are you trying to ask, after breaking into his house, twice?" Levi stated as he held a glass.
"Invitations." Erwin answered.
"What, is there some kind of party going on?" Levi asked.
"I'm glad you asked. Tonight, there will be a special party being held here in Marley. Many foreign nobles and ambassadors from different countries all around the world will be attending to it. This party is being hosted by an Eldian noble that goes by the name of Willy Tybur." Erwin explained.
Hange gasped as she remembered hearing that name. 'Willy Tybur... Willy Tybur...' Hange had thought for a second. "Oh, yeah! I've heard of him. And if I remember correctly, his family's in possession of the Warhammer Titan. One of the strongest Titans to ever exist." After giving thought, Hange lets out a grin and a small blush as she briefly fantasize of what the Warhammer Titan looks like and what it can do. Her fingers twitched.
'She's lost it.' Levi thought as he stared at Hange's happy facial expression.
"Yes. Rumor has it, despite being an Eldian... Willy Tybur has the ability to sway and win the hearts of thousands."
"I get it. You want us to infiltrate this upcoming party, so we can get a good look at Willy Tybur." Hange guessed.
Erwin smiled. "That's exactly right. If Willy Tybur is whom we hoped to be, then we'll make our next move. We'll simply talk to him. Open discussions and convince him that Eldians whom live on Paradis aren't so terrible."
"And what if Willy Tybur turns out to be like everyone else? What if he hated his own race-especially those who live on Paradis?" Levi asked.
Erwin temporary closed his eyes. "I don't know. All we can do is hope that Willy Tybur isn't one of them."
"This could be our last hope to save Paradis." Hange said as she bend her back forward and placed her hands together.
"Hange is correct. We cannot afford to make anymore mistakes." Erwin told Levi.
Suddenly, Theo Magath walked inside his home and heard a few voices in his home. He walked his living room and found Erwin Smith in it, again. He was shocked seeing Erwin break into his house a second time, but this time with more people. "What the hell are you doing in my house, again, Erwin?"
"Good afternoon, Theo Magath. I have a favor I need to ask of you." Erwin said in a calm manner.
Later That Night
It is eight in the evening and multiple horse carriages had pulled toward a large Mansion. Dozens of nobles and ambassadors entered the building to enjoy the big party-hosted by Willy Tybur.
Erwin Smith, Hange and Levi had been given invitations from Theo Magath to attend the party. They all dressed casually for the party in suits. Erwin wore a full black tuxedo-excluding a white shirt underneath the black jacket. Hange wore a brown skinny suit, black shoes with a black tie and a man's brown casual hat. And Levi wore a white suit with a black tie and black suit. The three Survey Corp. officers walked around the plaza a bit to see a bunch of people chatting with one another and enjoying food.
"Wow, look how big this place is." Hange noted as she stared up at the ceiling and large bright chandeliers.
"There's a shit ton of people, here." Levi said as he glanced around at the party guests.
"Many people from across the world has came to attend this party, because of Willy Tybur."
"It's a good thing Theo Magath lent us these clothes." Hange muttered as she glanced down at the suit that she currently wore.
"I just hope none of these scumbags dirty or stain my new suit. Otherwise, I'd break some bones." Levi muttered so no strangers could here him.
"It's best to not draw attention to ourselves." Hange warned Levi as they walked a bit.
"Hange is correct. Remember. We're only here to discover Willy Tybur. We can enjoy ourselves, but we can't draw attention." Erwin told Levi and Hange.
"Does that mean we can eat the food?" Levi asked.
"Yeah." Erwin said.
"It's a good thing we left the brats back, alone." Levi suddenly thought about his squad back at the Azumabito estate. Such as Mikasa Ackerman, Jean Kierstein, Connie Springer, Floch Forster... and last but not least, Sasha Blouse. Levi is aware of her eating habits and thought about how she would act if she was invited to the party.
Five Minutes Later
Gabi Braun and her friends were dressed as waiters and ordered to do nothing but serve the nobles and ambassadors. They stood side by side and watched the guests party.
"Whoa." Udo gasped.
"I never seen this many people at a party, before." Falco noted as he stared at the guests.
"Stop the small talk." Gabi told both Falco and Udo. "We're only here to do what they trained us to do. We have to serve them and make them feel comfortable..." Gabi suddenly gasped as she spotted an older man set down a glass of wine. "Look! Someone's putting down their empty glass."
Gabi and her friends stood back to back. "Okay, everyone... move out."
In the next five seconds, Gabi served the guests hors d'oeuvres on plates. Zofia would refill glasses of wine to guests, Falco and Udo would gather eaten-off plates from guests. The four candidates worked around the party as fast as they could to try and please their guests.
Erwin Smith carefully watched the four kids work around the party while drinking some wine. He noticed Falco, the boy that he had seen delivering letters. Falco did not notice Erwin when he passed him with a bottle in his hands.
"Would you like some hors d'oeuvres, mister?" Gabi asked while offering Hange an hors d'oeuvre or teo.
"Why, yes. Thank you very much." Hange said in a masculine voice, then took a single hors d'oeuvre.
"My pleasure." Gabi then ran and elsewhere, attempting to ask more guests for hors d'oevres.
Hange quietly stared at Gabi's backside. 'Marleyeans are putting these young Eldians into hard labor. It's kind of sad.'
Meanwhile, Levi is just sipping dark red wine at a lone white table. He watched as the young kids would push themselves to please the guests. 'These brats are pushing themselves to please a bunch of pieces of shits who think of Eldians as pigs.'
Udo was picking up dirty dishes, until he heard some chattering from foreign guests.
"Looks like some filthy devils are eating our crumbs." A man muttered.
"No wonder things started stinking." Another man muttered while glaring at Udo's backside.
After hearing the taunts, Udo had gotten irritated to where he wanted to lash out. But at the same time, he knew he couldn't do that, because he'd get into a lot in trouble. He gulped and tried to swallow his pride and move on. As soon as he took a step and turned to the left, he bumped into a man he had never met. The wine within the glass that Udo was carrying had flown out of the glass and stained itself onto Levi's front tuxedo jacket and a plate from Udo's grasp fell on the ground and broke.
A small number of guests who heard the sound had looked to Udo's direction. This also caught the attention of Hange and Erwin, whom were a few yards away.
Udo gasped as he realized he spilled wine on a person. He looked upwards to see Levi Ackerman staring down at him.
'Not again...' Hange silently gasped.
"Oh no..." Zofia muttered as she stopped serving wine for a moment.
Falco had a look on his face, like they were in trouble.
Udo shuttered. "I-I'm sorr-" Before Udo could finish apologizing, Levi pulled him closer to him and took the glass from Udo's hand.
"Keep your mouth shut, kid." Levi whispered.
A man, who's in charge had walked toward Levi. "Excuse me, sir, but is there a problem?"
Levi turned his head around to see a man asking him a question.
Sweat drops formed on Udo's face, thinking that the older man would reveal the truth.
"No. I was just wondering around, having a little too much wine." Levi raised the couple to his shoulder level. "This kid was trying to stop me from falling."
Udo lightly gasped after hearing Levi lie.
Hange lightly sighed as Erwin gave no reaction.
The older waiter glanced at the less scared Udo. Then he looked at Levi, who was staring at him. "I see..."
"Is there like a bathroom where I can change?" Levi asked the older waiter.
"Yessir. This way." The older waiter then points Levi towards a nearby bathroom.
Levi takes a step towards Udo.
"B-but why, mister?" Udo asked.
Levi quickly moved close to Udo's left ear. "Because there's no telling what these shitheads would've done to you." he said before walking towards a fancy bathroom.
Udo was left speechless after hearing Levi's confession.
"Udo, are you okay?" Falco asked a speechless Udo.
"Yeah. That man. H-he saved me. He knew I was an Eldian..."
"Who is that?" Zofia asked.
"I-I don't know." Udo replied as he watched Levi enter the men's fancy bathroom.
Meanwhile, Hange decided to walk towards and stand next to Erwin Smith who watched the scene.
"Well, that was a close call." Hange whispered.
"Yes. And there's no telling what would've happened to that boy... Luckily, Levi was there to save him." Erwin stated as he looked at Udo, who paused and stood still.
"I've been trying to figure out what Willy Tybur, but I have no clue what he looks like. I've tried asking some other sobered guests, but I had no luck." Hange stated.
"Patients, Hange. We don't know when he'll show up, but what we do know is-"
"Willy!"
"Hm?" Both Hange and Erwin heard the name "Willy", then looked towards the east. They looked to see a small crowd gathering around a man with long blonde hair dressed in a black tuxedo.
"The savior of the descendants!" Ambassador Ogweno chanted as he hugged with Willy Tybur.
"It has been too long, Ambassador Ogweno!" Willy Tybur replied as he happily hugged back.
"Is that him?" Hange asked herself.
Erwin did not replied as he wanted to get a closer look.
Willy Tybur than met Ogweno's wife, Nambia. "Nambia! I haven't seen you since we were kids."
"Remember those times I made you cry, though?" Nambia had joked, which earned some laughs.
Another foreign ambassador had approached Willy Tybur from behind and showed him a scar on his left hand. "Remember this, Willy?"
"Oh yeah. You got that from falling out of a tree, that one time." Willy Tybur guessed.
"That's right."
As Willy Tybur shared laughs with some long foreign friends, Erwin and Hange carefully watched Willy Tybur'smovements.
"Seems to have a lot of friends while growing up." Hange told Erwin.
Erwin's eyes narrowed a bit as he stared at Willy Tybur from yards away.
Suddenly, a Marleyan Ambassador had tapped his glass of wine with a silver spoon, which caught everyone's attention. "Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all for taking the to travel all this way to Liberio. Allow me to greet you all as Marley's Ambassador. A number of days ago, we were slaughtering each other over resources. But you know what they say... yesterday's enemies are also today's enemies, too!"
There was absolute silence within the audience. In the next moment, a few people within the audience begun chatting to one another.
The Marleyan Ambassador then cleared his throat. "I mean... yesterday's enemies are today's best friends!" he noticed the glares that he was getting from the crowd. "So, why don't some of us drunks wash away our hatred for one another in the toilet and start on a new beginning with a toast?" he then raised his glass of wine in the air. "To many years of peace!"
There was no response within the audience, whatsoever. Erwin and Hange kept watching the Marleyan Ambassador until Willy Tybur decided to step in.
"What refined jokes you had, Ambassador. But, I'm afraid that our fellow Ambassadors and nobles couldn't understand our common language." Willy Tybur said, brushing the Marleyan Ambassador to the side.
"Eh?" The Marleyan
Willy Tybur cleared his throat. "Allow me to handle the rest from here."
All of a sudden, different nobles began cheering for Willy Tybur out of the blue.
Hange gasped and shifted her head left and right after hearing claps.
"It's Willy!"
"The savior of humanity!"
'That's strange. That guy Willy hasn't even started his speech and people are clinging onto him, like he's some kind of god.' Hange thought as she stared towards Willy Tybur.
'So, this Willy Tybur's capability.' Erwin thought, then looked around at the nobles who were clapping for Willy Tybur.
Willy Tybur suddenly bowed with a glass of wine in his hand. "Now, as you all know, you have been invited to tomorrow's festival in the Internment Zone. It is a compound filled with devils that tried to destroy our world. Devils that killed many people and destroyed many of our nations. Liberio is the home of the devils, called Eldians." Willy placed a hand on his heart. "A race who's blood runs through my veins, too."
A few looks were given towards Willy Tybur from the crowd.
"Marley, oppressed more than any other race by the devils. Then they use them to oppress every other nation. They only use them to repeat the tragedies that occurred in the past. I'm sure every single one of us in this room at least once thought "If only Eldians had never existed." I do not blame you for it, as I, too, understand the feeling of wanting to terminate all Eldians."
Erwin and Hange had paused and listened to Willy Tybur's speech.
"At times, I would think of an endless question and only came up with a single answer. Tomorrow, I will reveal this answer in front of the whole world." As Willy Tybur said that, he paused for a moment and spotted a certain someone in the crowd within an instant. Afterwards, he raised his glass of wine in the air, toasting to his fellow nobles and ambassadors. "To many years of peace!"
"To many years of peace!" Man nobles and ambassadors had chanted and raised their glassed of wine high in the air. This also included Erwin and Hange, so they could fit in with the crowd.
In the next eleven seconds, Levi had just left the bathroom and approached his two comrades. He was given a new white tuxedo jacket by an older waiter. "Hey. What did I miss now?"
Erwin did not answer Levi as he kept staring towards Willy Tybur.
Thirty Minutes Later
The party had ended and dozens of nobles and ambassadors were leaving the mansion and preparing for tomorrow to come. Erwin, Hange and Levi were roaming the halls, in a group of three with Erwin standing in the center.
"Well, that was a splendid speech." Hange noted.
"Yes. What we had just witnessed was his capability of persuasion." Erwin had told Levi and Hange.
"What, because he gave a speech and raised a glass?" Levi questioned.
"It's not what he said and done, it's how he said it and did it." Hange told Levi.
"Hange is correct. Willy Tybur has the capability of persuading those around him and convincing them to believe in his cause. Most of the nobles and ambassadors who attended the party had taken a liking to him, despite possessing Eldian blood." Erwin had explained, as he remembered seeing Willy Tybur meet with ambassadors, such as Ogweno.
"What does that got to do with anything?" Levi asked as he looked at Erwin.
"Listen, Levi. You weren't there for a short while-so I'll inform you." Hange decided to bring Levi up to speed with her brief story. "Most people from all around the world were taught to believe that all Eldians were devils."
"Yeah, I know that much." Levi said.
Hange then thought about what happened earlier that night. "Earlier tonight, while you were in the bathroom, an ambassador from Marley had attempted to please the crowd with his speech and had little to no reactions, whatsoever. But, when Willy Tybur had taken the stage, all the nobles and ambassadors suddenly changed their attitudes and begun cheering for him. As if they were cheering for a savior or God." Hange said as she remembered seeing people in the party cheer for Willy Tybur.
"So, you're telling saying an Eldian like Willy Tybur has a power to make foreign people like him? Is he a Titan?"
"We don't know if he possess the Warhammer Titan for sure... but if he does, I doubt that'd be his ability." Hange guessed as she placed a hand under her chin and thought of Willy Tybur as a Titan.
"Willy Tybur continues to remain a mystery. What we do know of him is that-"
Before the three Survey Corp. officers could make their way through the front entrance of the mansion, they were suddenly approached by a skinny male butler dressed in a black suit, white shirt and black tie. He had gray hair with a large bald spot in the center of his head. A small and thin black mustache and burgundy eyes.
"Excuse me, sir, sir and madam... but, would you be so kind and follow me?" The Butler asked as he looked at Erwin Smith, Levi and Hange in that order.
Hange paused.
"Where are you taking us?" Levi asked, randomly.
"You three have been requested to see Master Willy Tybur, himself." The Butler had answered.
Hange gasped after hearing Willy Tybur's name.
Levi's eyes widened a tiny bit after hearing Willy Tybur's name.
'So, just as I thought. Willy Tybur must've known we were coming all along.' Erwin thought.
"Come along." The Butler demanded that the Eldians from Paradis follow him.
Five Minutes Later
Erwin Smith, Hange Zoe and Levi Ackerman were being escorted through the long hallway of the mansion, following one of Willy Tybur's personal butlers. While walking behind the butler, Hange looked behind herself to see four Marleyan guards dressed in red marching behind them. This caused Hange to slightly flinch and turn her head forward facing the Butler's backside. As they got closer towards Willy Tybur's office, she noticed Marleyan guards standing by the walls with rifles in their hands. This made her a bit more intimidating as she has no fire power.
Meanwhile, Levi looked around his surroundings and spotted clean walls, portraits of the Tybur Family, vases, head statues and many items. Levi was kind of impressed when he saw a small group of maids and butlers cleaning, trying to make the hallway look spotless. He kind of wished his squad back at the Azumabito Estate would take their cleaning duties, seriously.
Erwin Smith kept staring at the butler from behind as he followed him. Within his mind, he kept thinking of Willy Tybur and what he might do with them. He had put on a face. A face that tells people that he's ready to face judgement. He wasn't intimidate by the guards at all.
The Butler than led them to a double door, which led to Willy Tybur's office. "Master Willy Tybur is waiting for you in this room." The Butler than opened the door, for the three of them. "Best of luck."
A calm Erwin Smith entered the large room first, then a half-intimidated Hange, then finally a serious Levi walked in. Afterwards, the Butler politely closed the door behind them.
"Welcome. Welcome to Marley, soldiers from Paradis." Willy Tybur said as he stood from across a brown fancy desk.
Erwin Smith, Hange Zoe and Levi Ackerman stared at Willy Tybur from across the table, with no words to utter.
This Chapter is how Erwin met Willy Tybur. The next Chapter will be how they get along.