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Also, here's a reply to your review: you're NOT ready for what's to come XDD)

Episode 8: Stones And Bread

力はただの痛みですか？

Walking down the unfamiliar streets of Stohess District, the cadets strolled cautiously through the marketplace, wearing regular clothes, absorbing every detail in sight. They watched the shapes of the houses - very different from the ones back home. The roofs were built differently, and the stones used to build the buildings were different too.

"It's almost as if you can pierce through two stones of that house with some kind of a metal," Armin remarked, and Jean looked at him.

"How can you say that?" Jean questioned the blonde.

Armin shrugged, a faint vision of the ODM gear's strings piercing through the stones coming into mind. He could almost hear the thin noise of the strings shooting out of the gear.

"I don't know."

Levi turned to look at Erwin, "What should we do now, Erwin?"

"Just walk," Erwin replied, staring ahead, examining the scene before them, "There's no threat as of now. Nobody to act suspicious. Be as normal as you can possibly be."

"Yeah, like Jean is around his two hundred crushes," Connie snickered.

"Excuse me?!" Jean shrieked.

"Don't lie! I've seen you get nervous and-" before Connie could finish, Jean slammed a hand on his mouth.

"Mmmf!" Connie struggled to get out of his stone-like grip, and Hange started laughing loudly at the two.

"So much for acting normal," Levi clicked his tongue.

That's when some people with rifles - what seemed to be some kind of guards - rushed through the streets, settling in panic within the passersby. Hange stared at one of the guards, who perhaps was the commanding one in the group of the ten guards.

"They look like elite guards," Hange spoke, and that's when they heard some people on the sidelines murmur, "Aren't they the palace guards? What are they doing here?"

"Palace guards, huh?" Mikasa mumbled, "It seems like there's some disarray within the palace. What could have possibly happened?"

"We need to find out," Armin spoke, and gave Sasha a heads-up. She nodded, and walked over to a guard, "Um, excuse me?"

"Yeah?" the guard hastily replied, his eyes not even landing on the girl.

"What is this commotion about?" she pretended to be one of the residents of the district.

The guards hesitated slightly before whispering, "This is confidential."

"I won't spread the news, sir."

The guard sighed and lowly spoke, "The princess is missing."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Don't let this news spread," and with that, the guard scurried off further.

Sasha returned to the group and explained, "He said that the princess is missing. What do we do now?"

Everyone looked at Erwin, who seemed deep in thought. After all, if they couldn't kill the heiress of the throne, then what was the point of them coming to Paradis Island?

"Alright," he finally decided, "We stay concealed for as long as possible, and learn about the island for the time being, until the princess is found. Hange and Armin, you two are free to research about the island until the next order. As of now, we find some shelter within the district."

"Yes!" the group nodded, lowly letting out an agreement, and explored the district further.

Minutes later, Sasha groaned, "I'm starving- wait, is that bread?"

She sprinted towards a girl carrying a bundle on her shoulder, and a few pieces of bread in her arms. Her face was covered with a hood and her blonde hair peeked from under her hood.

Sasha sprinted to her, and happily chirped, "Hey!"

The girl's blue eyes shone crystal clear under the sun, and she drew her hood downwards, "Yes?"

"Could you please lend me a piece of bread?" Sasha pleaded, and behind her, Connie and Jean facepalmed.

"Uh, s-sure!" the girl passed a loaf of bread to her, and as she ate, she hummed in delight.

"Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome… wait, you don't seem like you're from around here," the hooded girl remarked.

"Uh, um…" Sasha nervously laughed, inwardly going through all the names of the districts of the island she had learned, "I'm from, uh, Trost."

"Oh, makes sense," the girl nodded, her hood bouncing with her nods.

"What's your name?" Sasha friendlily questioned.

"Kristina."