Frieda leaned back in her chair with a smile. The last few days may have been the most intense, important and life-changing days within her entire life.

She was finally free.

The young queen ascended the throne and so far, the reaction of the public was mostly positive. The survey corps had not been too pleased with them being the last officials to get informed of the new development, however, their opinion didn't matter much in the grand scheme of things.

More important than anything else, the king's will had been beaten. The vow to renounce the war no longer bound her powers nor her own will. The attack titan has done its job and got rid of the passive self-righteousness of the king.

But along with that, another question arose. What was she supposed to do now?

Frieda knew about the wall titans. Possessing such a powerful deterrent, left by Karl Fritz himself, provided her people with a chance of a true peace. If their enemies ever took another action against this island, they would surely be crushed under the soles of her greatest weapon.

Of course, she could never fully activate the rumbling. But still. A showcase of power could sometimes be enough to keep everyone else at bay.

However, with that thought, an insecurity creeped into her mind. The island of Paradis had been isolated from the rest of the world for over a hundred years. A lot of things ought to have changed during that time. Not only that, but Eldia's greatest enemy, Marley, currently possessed six of the nine. Frieda wasn't the person to underestimate her foes.

Sure, at least two of those titans were currently residing here, looking for a chance to take her down. This provided the young queen with a little edge. They expected her not to be active and didn't know about her regaining control. Right now, they were easy targets.

However, as long as the colossal titan and armoured titan remained at large, Eldians of Paradis were in constant danger. Frieda didn't know their identities or whereabouts, so no one could truly know if they would destroy the other walls in the near future. This disadvantage wasn't entirely solved by the queen stepping into the light, so some measures had to be taken.

"Come in" the queen spoke, when she heard a knock on the door to her office.

Kenny Ackerman walked in, holding his hands in his pockets.

"You wanted me" he said, looking to the side.

"Yes" Frieda responded, "how is the investigation going?"

The rogue man wasn't looking quite the same way as two years ago. Being so close to the royal court wasn't his thing and he really began feeling the weight of all his tasks.

"None of the recruits seem to be matching your description" he stated "I don't know why you even bother us with something like this. Until the training is complete, there is no way of identifying them…"

"I know that the original plan was to wait for them until they reach the ranks of the military police, but essentially, we don't have much time" the queen explained.

"Much time…?" Kenny grunted as he looked at her with wide eyes.

"I'll grant you the manpower you need" Frieda continued "you will form a special unit. One that is particularly designed to fight humans. After you find the intruders, this squad will be vital in our future battles..."

"Future battles…?"

"The invaders are among the new recruits, I'm sure of that. You won't have much trouble with this many people, so you will…"

"Hey, hey!" The man cried out, stopping her train of thought.

The dark-haired female looked him in the eyes.

"Is something the matter?" She asked, mustering up all of her usual coldness and authority.

"First of all," Kenny spoke with a little apprehension "I never asked to be your right-hand man…"

"That's okay" Frieda responded quickly "when the time comes, my sister will take over this role."

This didn't seem to roll too well with the old Ackerman.

"This isn't the point!" the man yelled "aren't you simply throwing away everything that Uri stood for?!"

When exactly did she stop believing in this holy peace? Sure, she broke the king's will, but ever since she was born, all that her parents would teach her was about the importance of Karl Fritz's ideology. Could it be that she always despised such a thing?

"It wasn't his idea to begin with" Frieda spoke slowly "actually, call the entire council for a meeting. We are changing the course…"

"Wait!" Kenny interjected "so we aren't supposed to die anymore?"

The young queen looked at him with cold eyes.

"I am free…" was the only thing she said.

This answer didn't seem to satiate the man's curiosity. Closing her eyes, she elaborated.

"My people don't want to die, you don't want to die and neither do I. Right now, the most important thing is to catch the invaders and save ourselves from the danger looming over our heads. We simply have to keep moving forward."

The old Ackerman stood quiet. While Frieda had known of his secret goal, she also knew how much the man could cling to life. Nothing aside from his dream was worth dying for, so the only rational choice he could make was to simply comply.

"O-okay" the man stuttered "but what will we do after all that?"

What could they do, really? Negotiate with the rest of the world that they aren't just monsters in disguise? Frieda couldn't realistically see any of it working out, so what could they do?

But yet, she felt peace within herself. She was the god of her people. And just like a god, she would tackle this problem when it finally came to it.

"For now, I want you to focus solely on finding the intruders" the young queen spoke "none of the things we'll do further into the future will hold any meaning if you don't find them out."

At least, they could be clear on that. His loyalty wouldn't falter as long as she was alive. And as much as Frieda wanted to keep him around after that point, the man could potentially be a huge liability for Historia. Entrusting him with a squad of his own was already a huge risk, but it was one she needed to take.

"Go" the queen said, looking back to her papers, yet again "do your duty…"

"Just one thing" the man added, as he opened the door to walk away "you may not know this, but with how you've been handling things, there could be an oversight you wouldn't expect…"

"Had Levi Ackerman not joined the survey corps?"

Although, her question seemed to be out of the blue, the two knew exactly what power Frieda was referring to.

"He joined…"

"Then there is no oversight" the queen stated, still not looking up "unless there is some other Ackerman within the walls."

If Frieda bothered to look at Kenny's face, she would've seen a drop of sweat falling down his forehead.

"Yea…" the man responded "I guess…"