After the departure, Logan was spending the weeks teaching the company's new faces on how things work around the store. Currently, he was with the majority of their next generation, the children of who fled from the world of Titans; Educating how their adults work in their new environment.
It was essential, given how they lived in their previous world. One of the many causes being the generational fear from that of extreme 'Megalophobia'. It was why he was standing tall, higher than any of the current dwellers in one of the board meeting rooms that was the shop's breakroom. There were certain concoctions that would remedy the size disadvantage, but not the issue itself.
They were in the place where he would acquiesce, when any days were rougher than usual, was the room he would escape to. There were many more not far from it, so it was no issue.
In fact, multiple rooms were in use by them. The one they were in was used for teaching, another for where they could live through their daily lives, and the bathroom was improvised like a communal bath. Many times, he would have to build contraptions for the non-military personnel and kids, like one would do for their pets in order to help access places they couldn't reach.
"And this, children, is what we know as the ocean." Logan spoke, a hand manipulating the view caught within his hands. It was a view straight from a clean and uninhabited beach with a sun rising above the horizon, giving it a warm and vibrant sky with rolling clouds and a flock of seagulls.
The actions and the scenes within brought awe to the studying group of kids. It wasn't just them, however. Many other adults were present, some were parents and others were researchers being taught of the subjects outside of their isolated settlement.
One particular individual was a young lady that rested upon his right shoulder, as they had been for the past few weeks. She was with those military people, if by judging the coat and dress-up they all wore. He didn't know why she was on his shoulders, but beyond the gleeful cackles that she made after he told her to quiet down, she seemed to be having fun.
"As a rule of thumb - meaning I don't intend to make it scientifically accurate - Your world, which we call a 'planet', and many other planets capable of supporting life, have this mass of water. The planet known as Earth, has seventy-percent water and thirty-percent land. This is perhaps the golden ratio for sustaining human life, ninety-percent of the time."
The setting changes, bringing up new images upon the environment. "Because of this, world trade is done through 'large boats' which are what we call 'Ships'. These specifically, the ones known as 'Freighters', are designed and created to haul cargo. They're the most efficient and effective ships that can bring a massive amount of goods to other landmasses called 'Continents'."
Logan then began showing the round globe and its associated landmasses of his home. "This is a template of the most common worlds, barring certain exceptions, this is what you'll be seeing for the foreseeable future. As of currently, the only extreme danger that you'll be facing is when bad weather occurs at least once during a season. Any and all trips the adults signed up on, will make their way back here."
"A majority of the adults, amongst which are your parents, will be mingling with the population of Earth as I get my associates. Getting used to the environment, and networking both big and small."
Putting the hologram away, he looked towards the massive class of children that filled the coffee table. "Does anyone have any questions they want about Earth?"
"Are there really no Titans there?"
Logan shook his head. "There is nothing human-looking that huge and cannibalistic. However, just as I warned your parents and the adults; We do have animals which are carnivores which you may not have seen before. However, since the evolution of this world, many animals have learned not to cross paths with humans. Barring unusual circumstances, it is highly unlikely if you are out in the wilds, and improbable if you're in an urban environment."
"The largest of these creatures are 'Whales'. Specifically, the one we call a 'Sperm Whale'." The changed hologram then depicted the organism in question. Bringing much attention to its high-resolution.
A wave of anxiety washed over the crowd of kids, and a few adults as he brought a hand-up. "Have no fear. They don't rise up on the land, and very rarely do humans come across them in a pod."
He inwardly suppressed a chuckle. 'After all, it's the dolphins that are the evilest.'
It wasn't as bad as it had been before, Logan noted. Especially meeting him for the first time outside the shop where much of its effects and his protection was muted.
"You adults would more or less be confined to the Urban parts of human civilization to do their job."
"Why is that?" Someone asked, by the pitch of their voice, it was a child.
"Since your parents are a part of 'Xer's Shop', that's my company's name on the market, we are under a special rule. To dumb it down for you: It means we're not allowed at the playground."
"Playground?"
The amused emotions that Logan held onto from before was easily melted away. Logan paused, allowing himself to take a deep breath.
"...Alright. We're building a playground when I get my next paycheck." He muttered before continuing on with the show and tell lesson.
The lesson ended an hour later as sweet relief spread throughout Logan's body when he rested on a sofa. Next to him he set a cup filled with iced water for hydration, and a can that was an energy drink.
The last thing he needed was his lunch, but the fridge was a bit aways from his feet that held him up for hours on end…
His thoughts drifted back to the innocent question that could shatter a thousand minds. The pessimism within him was scoffing loudly. His view on the situation, skewed to a point, didn't quite match the seriousness of the event.
'How bad was their living situation that kids don't know what a playground is?'
Before his thoughts could continue, a voice broke him out of his stupor. "Hey, what's wrong, big guy?" Hopping onto the armrest of the sofa was the same lady who was with him from before. Her outfit was the same as the others when they first arrived.
"It's only half an hour of my break before I go back out." Logan spoke with a breath. "What're you doing here? Something you need?"
"Nah-nah." The lady shook her head with a smile. "Just came here to watch you."
"I don't like that while I'm on my down time." He cracked his neck. "This is already my day off."
"Right, right." The woman agreed, nodding. "Speaking of, what's for lunch?"
Logan gave the woman a long glance. "I'm sorry, who were you again?"
"Huh?" The girl in question hummed, before in the same instance a lightbulb lit up above her head.
"Oh, silly me-I'm Hange Zoe." Came the jovial reply of the lady. "I guess I never did introduce myself."
Logan hummed. "Well, nice to meet you Miss Zoe." As he spoke, he felt a nagging feeling within his mind. He believed he heard of her before, but he wasn't all too sure.
Then it all came back to him.
After giving supplies to the small expedition for them to go on their merry way, it was only around an hour for him when he was made aware of their arrival, which surprised him rarely due to the speed.
Compared to the outside of the shop; the passage of time was more a suggestion within, only stopping its main process when a customer enters the establishment.
He did inform them that the store had something of a doorbell that acted as the same function. Not particularly in those words, nor that it helped with their size difference: They didn't exactly know the shop's design of a 'doorbell' or how it worked, he himself didn't know how it affected the laws of reality for how small it was, but the gist of what they got was the same as his. Of that, it would let him know when they arrived.
Just to be sure, he did set up for what it was called exactly outside, so they could ring it. He was pretty sure they could reach it since they came through the keyhole.
Thus, when he went downstairs after looking to change the store's inventory, he didn't expect for the door to burst open, and neither was the guest that he received.
Mangled, dangly, frail-looking, a lack of clothes which reveal no distinctive human organs, a certain ugliness to them, and the way they were looking at him as if he was dinner. No 'chittering' or 'chattering' sound, no groans that would be associated with such a being he had encountered previously.
All previous knowledge, and from his experience outside, that humans here to him were arguably no larger than a few inches in height: That thing was a Titan.
It made a dash toward him.
Shamelessly as a clerk in his boss' store, he tugged and quickly pulled a cage shelf and toppled it, making it fall between him and the Titan's charge. The thing trips over the collapsed shelf as Logan scrambled over the store's countertop, before opening a cabinet door.
He blinked, not finding where he thought he placed his firearm, only finding a note that read: ['The thing that was placed here is dangerous, so I took it to put it in a locker for you! You should really watch where you put these things. -Xer'].
"Damn it, Xer! I told you not to go through my stuff!" He muttered as he continued to sift through the cabinet.
Logan hears the scrapes of the shelf being lifted up, which then hasten his measures.
Now throwing unwanted things out of his way, Logan dug further in until he spotted something else. He grabbed the device just as he glanced up, and he saw the Titan's head peered over the countertop. The gadget turned on within his hand gave off a whirl as he aimed it up at the Titan's face.
Then the air became a spine-chilling breeze as white smoke filled it, washing over the intruder, over the aisles, building up from the countertop and over him…
Logan scowled as he saw his breath become a visible fog that drifted away. His hand crunches the snow on the floor as he goes to stand back up. On the dial of the device, which was shaped like a firearm in a more exotic appearance, he turned the dial from 'Mist' to 'Jet'. That wasn't an accurate description however, it was more like a water gun.
In fact, he could keenly guess that it in fact looked like a water gun, Xer probably didn't give it a second look when he placed his more powerful defending firearm away. It was still a deadly weapon, but compared to his self-defense firearm which can kill all but the most powerful beings: This device is a high-pressure water gun which its psi was strong enough to cut through steel, and a freeze-ray in one which could freeze the sun.
Definitely less powerful, but still more lethal than a conventional bullet; especially for regular humans.
He grabbed a belt with a box and holster and strapped it around his waist, holstering his weapon at his side. He stared at the Titan, which had been turned into a popsicle, encased in ice below absolute zero (which was something not normally possible). It still had that weird grin on its face, frozen in midair when it was in the middle of vaulting over the countertop. It was comparable to a diorama if humans could fly.
"Aw-crap!" Logan lamented as he looked back at the entrance. "Not the door!"
The entrance to the shop was broken. While the door was whole, it was broken off of its hinges. Not only that, but the door frame was blown-inwards. It was an absolute mess of splinters.
Logan couldn't relax just yet. Titans, while strong as evident, were not things that came alone if his experience outside was anything to go by. If there was one, then there was a good chance that there would be another. And he had seen many outside of his fence-
'That's right!'
They were stuck on the outside of the electric fence that protected the shop. And it wasn't shoddy pieces of technology either. One lightning rod has enough energy and output to power a battleship over a hundred-thousand tons nigh-indefinitely, and it is surrounded with a shield.
What could have possibly-?
"Bean!"
Arriving inside was a troupe of those flying soldiers that he had seen again. Accompanying them was a screeching voice emitted by one of their members.
Despite how small they were, he could see the shock on their faces when they entered the shop. Compared to outside, the area where the garden was sterilized, inside the shop was as if winter rolled around. They landed upon the countertop as they stared at the frozen Titan.
Before they could get a word out, Logan spoke first. "Is everything alright outside?"
Perhaps it was the urgent tone that made, but the expedition soldiers looked very apprehensive looking at him. On a second glance, no one among them was someone he could recognize from before.
"It's a talking Titan!" Except for one. She looked more excited to see him, more 'pleased' for the lack of a better word. Her breath was hard and she was hyperventilating.
Before he knew it, she collapsed on her back.
Logan blinked. "What the fuck is going on?"
"I… may have an answer to that…" A familiar voice responded to him.
Turning his head, he could see two individuals, one which just ascended to the ledge on the box. One was the soldier Erwin, judging by his blondeness and eyebrows, but the other was new.
Short as he was like his shortcut hair, in fact, shorter than any one of the group. His face was cold like steel. In fact, if he didn't know any better, he would've guessed his arrival made all the snow that was here now.
"Erwin." Logan greeted, as he tapped a knuckle against the encasing ice. "I assume you were chasing this thing."
"We were." The man nodded. "The restraints around it broke, and it got free. I'm just glad no one else was around it when it happened."
"So, how is there a Titan in my shop then?" He questioned.
The man beside Erwin looked at him as he gestured to the lady that was unconsciously making a snow angel. "That'll be Four-Eye's idea."
"Idea? That's insane…" The situation clicked into place for Logan. "You brought one of these things inside?!"
"Is there more?" Logan stormed off to the shop's entrance.
Logan didn't expect much else: A garden that could take care of itself being possibly ruined was the only thing he was worried about, but even then it wasn't much of a worry. The biggest problem he would have would be the clean-up since the path to the shop wasn't a straight road, he saw how the Titans mindlessly walked into the electric fence with no sense of threat recognition. Yet, when he arrived where the door would be, what he saw was more than just a garden.
With his height, he could see from here to there. How much it took to get there was forty steps. Sitting at the entrance was something weird. There was a lot of movement, akin to something like a colony of ants. At the center of all that movement was a bustling town, with buildings as high as his knees. Big and large enough that it surrounded the entrance of the front gate.
Not like he planned on going out that much anyway, but the way they built their roads and buildings would pretty much get in his way if he does try to travel out.
More than that, halfway between the town and the shop, there was another gathering of buildings. Unlike the town, this stop in-between was more uniform. Clean too, enough to see the wall that was broken down and the shattered metal in what he believed was what kept the Titan captive.
There was another that was binded up as well, looking straight into his direction.
He walked back to the expedition soldiers with a frown. "How in the Hell did you bring it through the gate? That's something you shouldn't be able to open, and neither would you know how to open it either."
"You mean to say that the opening of the Iron Gate wasn't done by you?" The look on Erwin's face was puzzled.
Logan paused before reaching back down into the base cabinet behind the counter, and flipped over Xer's note.
['P.S. I've taken the liberty of upgrading many utilities of their functions over there. Just about everything is now automated, so no need to thank me! -Xer'].
He shook his head. 'Damn you, Xer.'
While it was a year for them, it was only a month for him. It was not strange to think a lot of things could change in that amount of time.
And despite all of that time; Only when they had left did he meet this lady once again.
Hange redoubled her questioning. "So… You're not a Titan…"
"No, I'm not a Titan as I said from introducing myself to everyone. Sorry to disappoint you, because I heard how much you are obsessed with them, but I'm still something that can't do photosynthesis."
"It's fine, it's fine." She shook her head. "Titan or not, you're still so big, so you have my interest."
"By contract, I am your boss. And I would appreciate it if you could let me rest."
"I thought you said today was your day-off?" She coyly replied.
Logan's left eye twitched. "Do you want me to ask you to work overtime when it's supposed to be your day to rest?"
She laughed. "Jokes on you, I can pretty much work all week!"
He shuffled his head over to look at her. "Word of advice: If you have a different kind of boss, you shouldn't say those words."
"Which is why I said it to you." Hange reiterated. "Your face is still human, so it's easy to see that sorrowful look on you, so I know you wouldn't do harm to little old me."
"So, you say." Logan hummed. "Before you joined the company, what exactly did you do beforehand?"
"Studying Titans." Hange beamed, her face being more than just 'passionate'.
"Forget I ever asked." Logan snapped back.
This made Hange gawk with an open mouth. "What? Why?!"
"It's how you said it that I don't want to dive into it further." He reasoned it as such. "That kind of talk is something I don't learn about on my day off."
"...I see." Hange's face, possibly for the first time in an academic talk, turned into consideration. "Then what would you like to talk about then?"
"Hmm?" Logan pondered. "Well, for that…"
Ring~! Ring~! Ring~!*
Logan blinked as he pulled out his phone, its fifteen-minute alarm going off which made Logan sigh.
"My break's over." He informed her as he stood back up. He lamented that he hadn't grabbed his sandwich yet.
As he grabbed and chugged down the rest of his drink, Hange called out to him. "Wait! Didn't you say that you were on your day off?!"
Logan shook his head, hiding a small belch as he placed his cup into the sink. "Not for this job."
"The kids gotta eat before I do." With that, he stepped outside, closing the door to the break room behind him.
["Yes?" Came the question.]
"Hey, can you help me with something?" He answered back.
Logan regretted not trying to snack on that sandwich when he had the chance.
Working on an empty stomach was the worst, and it was a widely undisputed truth that being hungry while trying to do something would make you worse at what you're doing. And how long had he'd been working here?
Coupled with the fact that he was making an extra large full course meal for over half a million, the emptiness inside of him deepened. More of a point that it was for the kids, yes, but he was temporarily a core part in taking care of this many people. The many soldiers, a great majority of them being the known as the 'Scouts' or 'Survey Corps' would cut up the food that he made, and they would redistribute it over to the town living inside of the shop.
As their boss and benefactor, and considering it was he that pitched the idea to take the remnants of a last civilization, those guys were in desperate need of his help. If there was anything good about the situation, it was that due to their status of being the shop's employees that they didn't really need to 'buy' their food per say. In fact, due to them being the shop's employees, they could be considered a 'Mega' corporation now in numbers alone instead of a small business, but he digresses.
Despite them being over half a million, it was only manageable due to their tiny stature. Business was great for Xer's Shop, but nothing that they had was infinite. And as their population grows, as it was natural, so too would the amount of food intake. While he was willing to help, they couldn't just freeload off of him.
Which brings back to the main issue. How the hell were they supposed to work when everything was about ten to a hundred times larger than themselves? The easiest answer was that of construction, machines that could work to help their workload.
That's the second issue. Out of the skills acquired in his line of work, vehicles for construction work was something he didn't learn. But that was the reason why it was a second issue.
He had the books, and not only a particular designed reading glasses that would, but mental-performance enhancing-supplements he requisitioned from the shop's pharmacy segment…
Drugs… He was taking drugs. Magical drugs at that. He was not an addict, and he made sure only to use these things only when necessary. The glasses were helpful in comprehension, but it was only as fast as a person's reading speed. The mental supplements sped up his brain, shooting it into an overdrive state, which made him watch everything become slow, to the point where his body felt sluggish.
Which was why he was cursing himself for not eating beforehand. Combined with the glasses which allowed him to comprehend and understand, the supplements he took was what allowed him to keep all of that knowledge-retention without it being lost. As such, he was working up a sweat in his reading. Forcing the knowledge of motor engines, mechanical workings, and weight displacement alone made it so that he could practically build his own car.
But what was needed was a lot more than just a four-wheeled vehicle, and more complex than just having it just drive - a couple needed treads. It was only during these times where he was in this state, that when his mind veered off where he could see where he was lacking. Out of ninety-days where he was allowed to let the people train, thirty days had already gone by. It was a good haul with knowledge and comprehension, but what he was trying to achieve was too large in that short of a time.
Thus, when he allowed his mind and body to center themselves, he went to call upon an acquaintance.
["Sure, what is it that you need?"] They chirped.
"Are you able to build robots on a small scale, ones that can be piloted by people that can fit in the palm of your hand?" He asked.
["Oddly specific, Logi. Did you take my advice on getting mice as pets?"]
"Not particularly, Cia. I'll tell you-" He was cut off by a giggle on the other end.
["I can already guess why, Logan. I'll be over there in a jiffy."]
"Got it. I'll weaken the barrier. How soon are we talking?"
["Five minutes, at least. I just need to bring over some materials to measure them, and I should be good to go."]
Logan smiled. "That's great! I'll repay you back for your work, Felicia."
["No need, Logi. I'm always happy to help you!"] She refuted. ["See you soon!"]
"See you soon." Logan repeated back as he heard the phone click.
Setting his phone down on the wireless charging stand, and the glasses he held in his other to the surface of his desk; he leaned back into his chair and let out a breath.
When he went to rub his eyes clear free of sand, his calming mood was tumultuously dampened by the growling of his stomach.
It brightened up again, when he remembered the lunch he had previously stowed away. Swinging his seat around, he launched off out of his room before taking strides back to the breakroom.
"The time has come!" He sang as he made his way to the fridge. "I'm gonna eat, my sandwich; I've been waiting all day~"
Logan opened the refrigerator door to only be faced with immense disappointment.
Munch! Munch! …Munch…
What he saw was something that took a lot more time to digest. Sitting at the center of the plate was a young girl who was staring back at him wide-eyed, as if a deer caught in the headlights. He didn't question how such a young girl would have entered the fridge, nor how she was faring so well in its enclosed frigid air, as crunched in her hands were the last remnants of his lunch.
One moment passed, and then another, and the next… One of Logan's eyes twitched.
"U-Um… Uh, this sandwich is delicious-hehe! …Do you want some-"
Logan's hand descended upon her.
"HAAAAAÆEEEE!"
A/N: Brownie points for the one who can guess the reference.