Chapter 9

-[Liam]-

He stared at Annie who looked at him like he was the devil himself. All of the titan shifters required energy to transform, energy which she was lacking and would lack for the next 20 minutes.

He could see that it was taking all she had just to stay on her feet. Even if she managed to transform in this state, she'd be killed very quickly.

Either by the fearful soldiers or by Liam himself. He'd admit that he wanted to avoid killing any of the titan shifters until he had a way to make sure that said titan would never emerge again.

If he killed any of them, the titan would go to a random Eldian baby and there was no guarantee that the baby would be born in Paradis.

"W-what do you want? W-what are you?" Her voice shook in fear which was understandable.

"Me? I'm just someone who knows a lot of things. As for what I want…" he let himself trail off, keeping her in suspense for a moment. "You'll know if you live till then."

Annie's eyes widened. In her state, he could easily kill her and she wouldn't be able to do anything.

"H-how did you know?" She managed to ask.

"Which part are you talking about? The part where you three snuck into the walls or the part about Marley wanting to destroy Paradis? I wonder…" Once again, her eyes bulged in place. "Honestly, you three are quite pathetic. Giving your all for a country that doesn't give a damn about you, I've never seen something more stupid in my life."

She held her tongue at his remark, wanting nothing more than to silence him once and for all.

"Though, from I know, I don't think you're convinced by it." He added, causing her fear to take a pause as she took in his words.

"I can see it. Unlike Reiner and Bertholdt, you don't give a damn what happens to Marley, so why? Why go so far for them?" He wondered out loud.

"Shut up. You wouldn't understand." She managed to say, her stoic demeanor returning only for him to snort in amusement.

"It's your father." The girl froze, her eyes making contact with his own.

"How do you know that?" She asked.

"Like I said, I'm someone who knows a lot of things. This is simply one of them." He answered simply, causing the girl to frown at his vague answers.

"What else do you know?"

"I'm very aware that you want to go back home but you're also scared. You're hoping that what you've learnt so far will be enough to satisfy your superiors." He looked around to see that they were still alone.

"You're also afraid that it won't be enough and you'll get eaten, never able to see your father again." Hitting the nail on the head, he watched her stiffen.

"Look me in the eye and tell me I'm wrong." He added as the girl glared, looking anywhere but at him.

"If you know all this then you must know that Paradis doesn't stand a chance of survival when they come." She said, eliciting a genuine laugh from him.

"It's funny that you think Marley will still be standing when I'm done with them. Within the next year, the nation called Marley will be nothing more than a name in history books." He said with full seriousness, his confidence in his word shaking her to the core.

What he said sounded absurd and impossible so why did he sound so confident? These were the thoughts that he could see running through her head.

"Marley is more advanced and they have the power of the titans on their side. Compared to Paradis that doesn't even know that Marley exists, well…" she trailed off, waiting for his response.

"I'm not worried about that, because I'll be doing it alone." Her eyes widened at his words. "I alone will be responsible for the destruction of Marley."

"What the hell are you saying?" She muttered in confusion.

"Did you never wonder, why did I reveal myself to you? If I was as strong as I claim to be, why didn't I just kill you and be done with it?" He spoke.

"The thought crossed my mind for a moment." She admitted.

"It's because unlike Reiner and Bertholdt, you have yet to actually do anything. They were responsible for the breaching of the walls. You simply followed along." He said, removing the glasses and wiping the lens.

"I don't believe you. There's no way in hell you'd go through all that trouble if I didn't have something you want." Annie said firmly.

"That's where you would be wrong. I honestly don't care about you in the slightest. You're just the most convenient means to further my goals. Whether I have you or not doesn't make any difference." He said as he put the glasses back on.

Annie searched his face for any sign of deception and what she found was frightening. She was among the top warriors in Marley and from what she could tell, this person in front of her saw her as nothing more than a minor nuisance.

"As a token of my generosity, I'll let you have one request. What is it that you desire?" He questioned in a grand manner.

She put on a look of thought, many things racing through her mind at the moment. There was the fact that there was no guarantee that he'd be able to fulfil it.

For all she knew, he was a fool who'd been bluffing all this time but given the knowledge he had flaunted so far, it seemed unlikely.

"My father…I want to see my father. If you can do that, you have my loyalty." She said finally, Liam only smirking.

"That's all, consider it done. Though, you'll have to be patient. I have a lot of things to do." He said in response, not denying her request. "Though, I'd advise you not to do anything foolish until then. If you can't do that then consider this agreement cancelled." His eyes turned cold towards the end, sending a shiver down her spine.

"How long do I have to wait?" She asked carefully.

"Give me a month. If I don't fulfil my end, you're free to do whatever you want."

-[Later]-

He smirked as he snuck his way back to the place he was given to work. While he lied a bit, he was mostly telling the truth.

He didn't need Annie at all, having her as an asset was simply more convenient. Out of the three Marley warriors, Bertholdt was the most dangerous and Bertholdt was in love with Annie.

He planned on using those feelings to his advantage. Call him cruel but the world wasn't fair and it certainly wasn't going to be fair to them of all people.

Quickly entering through the window, he found his clone simply sitting there with the ingredients in front of him. He immediately dispelled it, letting it shatter into tiny pieces.

While he could have let it make more potions while he was away, he would lose the chance to level up [Alchemy] seeing as how the clone's memory didn't return to him.

Quality was always better than quantity.

'That's right, I haven't entered the dungeon yet today.' He remembered, casting the required skill to resume his grinding.

-[A Few Days Later]-

Liam spent the next few days in a repetitive cycle of grinding. He would spend the full hour in the dungeon every morning and then spend the rest of the day leveling up [Alchemy].

He was able to gain only six levels due to the zombies being far weaker than he was. He was somewhat missing fighting the titans for the decent EXP they gave compared to the undead.

Apparently he also missed Eren's trial due to Erwin not informing him but he wasn't one bit bothered. He had nothing to add or subtract, therefore, him attending it would have been a complete waste of time.

He already stopped Eren from attacking Mikasa in his titan form. That should have limited the Military Police's demand for Eren's execution. Erwin said it went well and he wasn't bothered to ask more questions.

What bothered him was the fact that he was being made to ride a horse. He'd never had a reason to ride a horse before so he was a complete novice in both lives.

[Horse Riding](Lvl 12/50)

You have some skill in riding a horse.

He glared at the skill that caused him some internal pain before glaring at the horse that was carrying him through the forest.

He didn't know how long it had been but he had already figured out that horses were his least favorite modes of transport.

"If you don't like the horses, you can always walk." Levi suggested, causing Liam to stare at him dryly.

"Thanks for the advice. I'll take it into consideration." He retorted sarcastically. "How much longer to this old castle of yours?"

"We shouldn't be far. We're almost there." Levi answered tersely.

'The sooner we get there, the sooner I can get off this beast.' He thought wryly.

Eren was in front of them, chatting away with the other members of Levi's squad. "Though you can kill titans very well, there's still too much we don't know about them." Levi started speaking suddenly.

"Hange will be in charge of getting you up to speed on what we know about Titans. You're also free to join her in her titan experiments." He added, eliciting a raised brow from Liam.

"Are those your orders or Erwin's?" He asked despite knowing the answer.

Liam reminded Levi of himself before he joined the scouts. He knew himself better than anyone so he was keeping an eye on Liam.

There was a minute twitch of Levi's lips before it disappeared as they made their way to the survey corps' former HQ.