Lando and the others were riding toward the formation.
"Oh, yeah! There should be orders to retreat soon!" Reiner said.
"Still, turning back not even an hour after leaving the wall…." Jean said. "Things look grimmer than I thought. Plus, she's headed away from the lead command for some reason."
"She?" Christa said.
Then green smoke from all over shot up in the sky.
"Green smoke flares?!" Jean said.
"It sounds like the plan is to change course but otherwise continue the operation," Armin said.
"Oh, no! They're not ordering us to retreat?!" Christa said.
"What the hell is Commander Erwin thinking?!" Jean said.
"He wants to prove Eren's worth I think," Lando said. "During the trial, if this operation fails Eren will be given to the MPs."
"Is Eren really worth all this?" Jean asked.
"Not even close," Lando said. "Erwin is a gambling man from what I've seen, he sees this as a gamble."
"So he sees us as pawns basically," Reiner said.
"He sees us more than just pawns, I know it!" Christa said
"No he sees us as paws," Lando said. "Erwin is such a successful Commander because he can make the hard choices. He will sacrifice us all if he believes the sacrifice will progress humanity. In this scenario, Eren is the jackpot, and were the betting chips, he's going all in."
"All soldiers have the authority to decide if the operation can't continue…." Reiner said. "Have the signals reached the command squad?!"
"Whether or not they know, we only have one option in this situation: defer to their judgment," Armin said then shot up a green flare.
"I trust Erwin," Lando said.
"Doesn't sound like it." Jean said.
"Never said I liked him, he stole one of the most important things to me," Lando said. "But he knows what he is doing."
"What did he steal?" Christa asked.
"You guys don't need to know," Lando said.
The five of them continued in the formation until they reached the forest and were riding just outside of it.
"Hey now," Jean said. "What are we doing at this sightseeing attraction?! Now we're really straying from our original destination and return point!"
"I don't know…." Armin said. "But this is what Commander Erwin decided. He seems to have some plan in mind but…."
"Plan? Are you kidding me? What, is he gonna throw a welcome party for us, rookies, at this tourist spot?"
"No, I don't think so," Armin said.
"That was a joke," Jean said. "Either way, we got that giant broad after us. Regardless of what plan he has, we can't afford to stop here. My guess is we're passing through here on our way to somewhere else."
Lando was being quiet like normal but he was thinking why they were here until it hit him.
"Trap. Erwin wants to trap the Titan while using the trees." Lando thought.
Lando wasn't going to tell them, Erwin probably wants it to be a secret since he hasn't told the rest of us what he is doing.
"All soldiers, halt!" A soldier yelled.
"All right! Listen up, rookies! We're going to take up intercept positions! Unseathe and wait in the trees! If any Titans try to enter the forest stop them with full force!" The soldier yelled.
"Huh?" Jean asked. "Umm, sir? Why would we need to-"
"Shut up and follow orders!" The soldier yelled.
The soldier then used his ODM gear to get up into the trees, Lando followed him.
Lando was quite happy with things right now he got to sit in a tree and chill while the others do the heavy lifting, he has earned a break.
After about 30 minutes everyone got into position.
"This is insane…." Jean says. "First we abandon our original plan of establishing a logistics base…Then, instead of running home with our tails between our legs like we should, we go on a daring sight seeing tour ...And if that wasn't enough now we're supposed to stand here and keep Titans out of the forest? Him and his idiotic orders…."
"He could hear you…" Armin says.
"And he doesn't even explain anything. That's a new one to me. But I doubt he's all that calm on the inside either." Jean says.
"What do you mean?" Armin asked.
"Sometimes leaders get deemed incompetent by their men in extreme situations and end up dying from a mysterious wound to the back. It's not all that rare, is all I'm saying." Jean says.
"Jean…What are you thinking of doing?" Armin asked.
"Relax, will you?" Jean says. "I'm just a little irritated at this whole situation. I'm going to follow orders, of course. Keeping Titans out of the forest…. You agree that's what we should do too, right?" Jean asks Armin.
"You look like you know something," Jean says.
"Erwin is trying to trap the Titan," Lando says, seeing Armin figure some of it out.
Then the captain in charge of all of them yelled.
"5-meter Titan approaching!" The captain yelled.
Lando watched as the Titan approached and on the horizon, a horde of Titan was now running, walking, crawling toward all of them. Eventually, they were all underneath the trees trying to climb up them.
"Armin, Lando," Jean says. "Our orders are to keep the Titans out of the forest right?"
"Yes, it is," Lando said.
"In other words….We don't actually need to fight them….right?" Jean said.
"No, we don't but I think we could if it called for it. There are too many scouts in the trees for them to get by," Lando said. "I can widdle down the horde there but I will run out of gas, and be stuck in the trees if we have to relocate."
"You could but you are too valuable if we need to make a quick escape and need to cut through Titans on the way out." Armin said.
"Thank you glad you think of me that way," Lando said. "And I'm all for lazing around. I think we have earned it."
Lando then sat down looked at the Titans then took out his journal drawing the scene.
"How are you so calm?!" Jean asked. "I always thought you were just trying to be cool or something."
"Look at every here they are scared," Lando said.
"Not everyone look at Mikasa or Annie," Jean said.
"Look at Annie's eyes," Lando said.
Jean looks before saying "They are darting around all over the place."
"That's her way of showing that she is scared her blank face is always a farce," Lando says.
"Look at Mikasa now." Lando says.
Jean looks but can't notice anything.
"I don't notice anything," Jean says.
"Her scarf," Lando says.
"It's covering her face," Jean says.
"Exactly, she hides behind it," Lando says. "She is scared of losing Eren."
"It's always Eren with her doesn't she get tired of him?!" Jean says.
"Because she has abandonment issues," Lando says. "As soon as she is close to someone she will latch on like a parasite. And do you know how to get rid of a parasite?"
"By killing it or the host…" Armin says.
"Exactly," Lando says.
Lando tuned everyone out while he drew and moved up the tree when the Titans got too close. Then they all heard loud booms all over.
"The trap has gone off, wonder if they caught it?" Lando thought but Jean yelled something that caught his attention.
"Let's move right away Armin, Lando!" Jean yelled.
"Right!" Armin yelled.
Lando looked around and saw a Titan barely managing to climb a tree.
"Looks like the bastards got the hang of it," Jean says. "It's gotten better and better at tree climbing!"
"The scary thing is that this means they can learn!" Armin said.
"Titans are more like humans than we thought…" Lando said.
"I'm sure each Titan is different," Armin said.
"Armin, Lando," Jean says. "They seem to be up to something inside the forest."
"Remember when I said they were trying to trap the Titan?" Lando says.
"Oh yeah! you were cut off by the Captain so I forgot about it," Armin says.
"Why would they try to capture it?" Jean says.
"The human inside it," Lando says. "That's what they are after."
"That was Commander Erwin's goal from the very start…."Jean says.
"You are correct," Lando says. "A gamble within a gamble… let's hope he is on a hot streak."
"But why all the misdirection?" Lando said.
Armin gasped before saying "Spy!"
"You think so too, right?" Jean says. "That there's someone in the regiment…."
Armin gulped. " I think there is."
"I have my suspicion of a couple of people but I won't say who until I'm 100% sure," Lando said.
"Do you think the Commander is wrong..?" Armin asked.
"He wasn't in the right, I'll tell you that," Jean said. "If we'd actually been told that a Titan had inside info, we would've handled things differently."
"No, it wasn't wrong," Armin said.
"Huh?!" Jean said. "How can you say that? Do you know how many soldiers have needlessly died?!"
"Jean," Armin said. "In hindsight, it's easy to say what should've been done. But….No one can tell how things will turn out. Yet, at some point, you have to make a choice. The lives of a hundred comrades….or the lives of everyone inside the walls. The Commander chose. He chose to throw away the lives of a hundred comrades. I don't have much life experience yet….but I do know one thing. If there's anyone who can bring about change, it's someone capable of giving up what matters most. In particular, people who are capable of abandoning their humanity when forced to rise above monsters. Those who can't abundant anything ... .can't change anything."
"Armin is right," Lando said. "You gotta kill your humanity out here. You have gotta kill your sanity to survive."
Then a horrific yell was heard all throughout the forest. Then the Titans all started to ignore them and sprint further into the forest.
"They are ignoring us…"Jean said.
As a Titan ran by them Lando jumped off the tree spinning and slicing its nape then using his ODM gear got back up to where Armin and Jean were.
"There are going after the captured Titan," Lando said.
Then blue smoke was seen flying into the sky.
"Looks like we are ordered to withdraw," Jean says.
Jean and Armin withdrew but Lando was ordered to withdraw after they did. The reason was that someone would have to stay behind and Lando was the best soldier there between the three of them. Lando was waiting before hearing a Titan roar.
"That was Eren's Titan." Lando thought.
Out of the corner of Lando's eye, he saw Mikasa race after the roar.
"Time to play hero again…" Lando sighed before chasing after Mikasa.
End of Chapter 27.
What's your favorite anime? Mine is Vinland Saga.