The Hidden Card of Humanity

At least two hours after riding, at around nine in the morning, Takashi and the others arrived at what appeared to be an abandoned castle until recently. The main building here was cleaned yesterday by Levi and his squad. 

Cleaning must be very important and serious, Levi takes it seriously. 

They all dismounted one after another, and the recruits looked at this ancient noble castle with surprise and excitement. Most of the training soldiers were normal civilians. 

Connie was excited: "Is this a castle? It's so grand, the palace where the King lives must be more brilliant, right?" 

Jean snorted, "Why do you ask, don't you regret not going to the military police regiment?" 

Connie scratched her head, "No, I just feel a little excited to live here, it's not that bad considering our situation." 

Takashi said lightly, "Well, this is an amazing place but you won't feel that way after a while." 

Everyone looked at Takashi strangely, so calm, pretending that he didn't mind living in this castle. However, Takashi didn't have time to pay attention to a castle, lately he has been very worried about the female titan and how she was going to act. 

Smiling, Connie jokes, "Well, Takashi, was your house a castle or something?" 

"Well, I lived in a log cabin that is now estimated to have grown grass, for grasshoppers and squirrels, it should be a castle. If I ever decide to return home, I should take you along to help me repair it." 　 

Christa opened her big blue eyes and looked at the very calm Takashi, "Takashi, aren't you curious?" 

Disregarding Christa's lineage that she was re the royal family, but neither Takashi know that, she only knows that she is the illegitimate daughter of a nobleman. 

She didn't live in a castle either. She lived in a mansion as a child and spent her time on the farm. Her mother only read books and never communicated with her. No one at her age wanted to play with her, something that affected her a lot but she always tried to be someone normal. 　　 

Takashi turned to look at the gentle Christa, she told him about her past from the farm, but she seemed worried and didn't reveal her whole identity, but Takashi always felt that these last days someone was watching her! 

"I am curious. But to me, living in a castle means nothing if there are titans still roaming this world, I can't be at ease." 

"It seems you never returned home, the hut your father left you..." 

"The cabin is in the village where Sasha's family lives, someday we'll have to go and I'll show you that house while I'm at it." Takashi said without much thought. 

Ymir looked annoyed, "Hey, I'm warning you, don't play weird games with Christa." 

"I can't forget about my girl Ymir, you little giant." Takashi muttered under his breath with a smirk.  

Looking at the black haired woman with slight disdain, Takashi always made sure she was included in everything. Ymir only seems to want to take care of Christa, but Takashi still has a lot of work to do with her and her story. 

The powers of the titans must be obtained somehow, the enemies come from outside and very possibly there is a way to steal that power.

"I'm a little curious about where you lived, because you don't look anything like Sasha." Christa ignored Ymir's words. 

"It's no big deal to go to that place, there's nothing special. I was just a hunter. After all, he lived alone." Takashi said with a smile, but he didn't mind sharing his past history with the others. 

"Haha, so you still plan to show us where you trained." Jean Kirstein shouted in a loud voice. 

"It's hard to imagine you're just a hunter." Reiner was very interested in Takashi, especially his strength and how he survived Annie's attack. He had to get to the bottom of everything, before he tried to end her life. 

Even though they couldn't rule out the fact that Takashi has the power of another titan, even though she didn't transform when Annie attacked her, there was no other explanation to why she was still breathing now. 

They all had different expressions and obviously their thoughts were in different places. 

After a while, they had all arrived inside the castle. 　　 

Because the Survey Corps recruits will also participate in the expedition a month later, they only have one day to rest and tomorrow they will start the theoretical and training classes to adapt to the expedition outside the wall. 

After the housing was assigned, a squad leader named Ayiz Ranger was responsible for bringing all the recruits to familiarize them with the environment here. She seemed to be very enthusiastic and basically took all the new recruits to visit all the places. She also talked about tomorrow's business and everything that will be done in the next few days. 

After taking the horse to the stable, Takashi was cleaning up with his roommate in the afternoon. This is not the actual headquarters of Survey Corps, and there are many rooms in the castle. 

This time there were rooms for two, Takashi and Connie shared a room. 

Connie wiped the edge of the bed with a cloth and said with interest, "Haha, I didn't expect that someday I could live in a castle that quite possibly once belonged to a nobleman." 

Connie was born in a village south of the Rose Wall, not far from where Sasha and Takashi were.

Connie smiled with excitement, "You know, I actually have a dream of going to the palace to see it, and now it's half realized." 

Takashi mopped the floor with a mop and said, "Well, if we manage to stand out on the front lines, quite possibly we will manage to be decorated with honors at the castle." 

At that moment, Armin entered with a bowl of water, "Eren will also be here, we can see him very soon." 

"Yes, it's been a while since we've looked at him." 

"It's only five or six days, he'll probably miss me already." Takashi wiped the mop in a bucket of water. 

While the room that would be shared between Takashi and Connie was being cleaned, the senior Survey Corps officers were looking at a stack of documents in the conference room. Only Captain Levi was watching Eren so he was not present. 　 

Hange Zoe said excitedly, "Unbelievable, seven of the top ten soldiers from this cycle's training corps joined our corps, the southern group was the best of all." 

The files on the recruiting desk sent by instructor Keith, containing some records of performance over the past three years, as well as various grades and the instructor's evaluation of them. 　 

Captain Mike added, "Counting Eren there are 8, which is a bit odd. In the past, one or two were good results for us." 

Erwin looked carefully at the information in his hand and did not speak: 

Rainer Braun: has a strong physique and willpower, has earned considerable trust from his peers and has an A+ rating. 

Armin Arlet: Although not physically up to the level of an elite soldier, he has extraordinary ideas and has an A+ rating. 

Jean Kirstein: Excellent mobility with three-dimensional maneuvering equipment. Although he has the ability to grasp the situation on the spot, his personality is too sharp and it is easy to get into conflict with others, so he has an A grade. 

All the information about the best soldiers in the South were promising, but Takashi was the best of all even if he was not the best cadet. 

Takashi Ackerman: He trains harder than any other recruit, has a high level of leadership, considers everyone a good teammate and doesn't mind sharing time with everyone. Strong, determined, a natural Warrior, his fighting skills are unmatched.　　 

After Erwin read the file in his hand, he thought silently. Even though he was Levi's nephew, he had to look up what he had done in the past few years and most importantly, what his father did to him. 

"How is the investigation into Takashi's information going?" 

Although many had no doubts about Takashi, everyone had to be investigated for a possible enemy. 

Hange Zoe thought for a moment and said, "No problem, although he was not born in Dauper, he grew up in that place, it seems he has changed his last name for some reason." 

According to the information that came in, his father would have died once he entered the forest at the hands of a bear, Takashi even almost died at the hands of a bear before joining the army, he was a hunter but there was nothing more to it than that. 

"Basically it's safe to trust Takashi, so there's nothing to worry about, Levi said he can be trusted." 

Mike pondered for a while, Private Takashi Ackerman bore a lot of resemblance to the Ackerman girl and Levi was somehow related to them. 

Hange Zoe didn't know what to think and said, "He has a very interesting mentality, I decided to let him join the fourth squadron!" 　

Erwin nodded, just in case, this time he had no intention of revealing the plan to anyone who had joined the Corps for less than 5 years. 

Mike waited for everyone to leave and asked, "Is Takashi related to Captain Levi?" 

"I don't know much, but apparently his story is more complicated than meets the eye, he is his nephew and may be the strongest human humanity has against the titans." Erwin replied without much thought. 

Mike Zacharius was a much older member than him, there was no doubting his loyalty due to the fact that he trusts him so much. 

"Now that's a surprise..." 

...

After leaving the conference room and walking down the castle hallway, Moblt inexplicably asked, "Captain, why are you paying special attention to Takashi?" 

Hange Zoe casually said, "It's none of your business, don't you think our squadron lacks someone to fight?" 

"Captain, you also underestimate us, we are actually strong..." Abel was a little dissatisfied. 

Hange Zoe realized something and scoffed, "Sorry, I was wrong, you're really good at fighting, you and Nifa are really good." 

Too shallow, who would believe it. 

So far, there were only three people who knew Takashi's power, Levi, Erwin and Hange Zoe. Of course, she knew she had to be serious about this top-secret matter. No one could expose Takashi's ability and force him to make use of his power, after all his life would be consumed to death.