The new information revealed by Annie Leonhart proved to be extremely valuable.

There was a whole world beyond the shores of this island. A world that had changed drastically, over the last one hundred years. And while at first Frieda had been hoping that it wasn't all that bad, the news about the most recent developments were now extremely concerning.

Marley was the global superpower. Its enemies were trembling in fear before its might, which until now was provided by the power of titans. Since the balance of those powers was now in the favour of Paradisians, the young queen was hoping that there was a conventional way of dealing with them.

Yet, it wasn't as easy as she thought it would be.

Even with as much as six of the nine, they still had an entire world against them. The Eldians from the continent had been locked away within the internment zones and even they were often the subjects of all the hate directed towards the islanders. There seemed to be no nation, even remotely friendly with them.

And one thing that Frieda was sure of, was that you cannot survive in a world that hates you.

But she literally had the power of a god on her side. This should have been more than enough. Why couldn't she find a way to use it to her advantage?

"Uhm…"

The voice brought the young queen out of her thoughts. She never noticed it up until now, but she had been so focused on her plans that the woman didn't see when Kenny entered her office.

"What is it?" Frieda asked with a little annoyance in her voice.

The old Ackerman was standing in front of her desk with a puzzled look.

"You sure you're fine?"

Out of all the things that she could possibly expect from him, concern wasn't even in the top one hundred.

"Yes" she responded sternly "what do you want?"

Recently, Frieda was way more reserved and harsher, than usually. Trying to hide it from Historia and Eren proved to be harder than just avoiding them, so she hadn't seen the pair in a long time. And that in turn, made her frustrated beyond reason.

Ever since she had become the queen, she never had any time for herself. Her needs were secondary to anything that came up, regarding the island. And thus, the feeling of emptiness was filling her heart, whenever she thought of her closest ones.

Especially Eren…

Frieda didn't know why, but her fascination with the boy didn't stop once she had been freed from the king's will. If anything, him being the key to her freedom, made her think about him even more. He was growing into a fine young man, and it was getting harder and harder to ignore all those weird thoughts she was having about him.

Realizing that she was still in the middle of a conversation, Frieda banished those emotions into the back of her mind and instead focused on the old Ackerman.

"You asked me to include engineers in the squad" Kenny spoke calmly "what for?"

"Our enemies anchor their ships in the southern harbour" the queen replied "they expect to see their warriors there, one day. We still have some time until they grow anxious and try to move in."

Frieda looked at the man with a serious face.

"Until then, we ought to make a move" she said "we can't be seen anywhere near the southern harbour. Yet, if we want to be able to talk with the outside world, we need an access to some sort of a port."

The old Ackerman looked at her with a sense of confusion and disbelief.

"Wait" he expressed "you want us to build a port? Outside?"

"I believe I was clear."

"How?" Kenny asked with wide eyes "outside of the walls, there are titans!"

She took that into consideration. The queen never actually controlled a titan, but she was sure that such a feat didn't exceed her abilities.

"I'll take care of the titans" she said, "just focus on your task."

"But…" the man responded with even more confusion "…you're sayin' that the enemy is pretty advanced on the sea. Ain't the titans who roam free, only preventing them from stepping onto the land?"

For once, Frieda was actually thankful for his suggestions. It was a risky plan indeed. If the Marleyans saw that the pure titans were acting in an unusual way, they could get suspicious. And that would ruin her plans…

"I guess you're right" the queen said, admitting the mistake "but we desperately need the contact with other nations. Not even that… We need it for the espionage and to catch up with the advancements that had been made during the last one hundred years."

Frieda looked Kenny in the eyes.

"Without this window to the outside world, we're doomed…"

This seemed to have made an impression upon the old captain, and she could already see that he was thinking through all the possibilities.

"Hard one to crack" he said after a moment "but you're almighty! Couldn't you like… create a titan with wings?"

There had never been a shifter who was able to fly. Even though she had godlike powers, none of them enabled her to just lift off and sail through the skies.

"I believe it's impossible" the queen stated dejectedly "unless someone made a boat, capable of riding the clouds…"

All of a sudden, Kenny's face lightened up.

"Not a boat" he said with a hopeful voice "a balloon…"

"What?"

"The Arlerts!" The old Ackerman exclaimed "when we raided their house, we found blueprints of a machine that could fly through the skies, using only hot air."

This was a game changer. If the invention was really capable of flying, then all of their troubles could be easily resolved.

"Tell me they made a prototype…" Frieda asked, expectedly.

"They did, alright" Kenny spoke with a smile.

This was just what she needed right now. Maybe, she wouldn't actually have to worry all that much?

"Tell them immediately to repurpose their company" the queen exclaimed in a joyous tone "I want it flying as quickly as they can make it so."

This didn't automatically solve their problems. They still needed to overcome the world filled to the brim with hate. The Paradisians were still in great danger, yet right now, everything seemed to be going in the right direction.

The invaders had been captured, the intel about their enemies had been gathered, the peace within the walls prevailed. Frieda had achieved so much in such a short amount of time. The way ahead of her was still long and hard, but with all those advantages, she was feeling pretty confident.

What could possibly go wrong?