"Levi, I've never heard of you working for someone younger than you. Is it for money? Or for women? Have you fallen into disgrace?"
After saying that, Kenny continued, "A person cannot give up their dignity while living in this world. Didn't I teach you that? You have to walk with your back straight."
Kenny seemed calm, but in reality his body was tense, ready to collapse at any moment.
"Watch your words, Kenny," Levi said, abandoning his courtesy.
"I am Congressman Gale Hawthorne, from the new government." Gale introduced himself to the man he wanted among his subordinates.
"A congressman? Such a young congressman?" Kenny frowned and asked, "Are you messing with me? A boy who doesn't even have a beard? What makes him a congressman? Don't make me laugh!"
"Mr. Kenny." Gale rolled a long bullet in his hand and said, "It seems you doubt where my power and authority come from. Allow me to show you a little of what makes me a congressman."
As he tossed the bullet in his hand into the air, Ymir, who was behind him, stepped forward a few meters and cut the palm of her hand with a knife.
Blood dripped, and in an instant, a golden lightning bolt stirred up a storm, and dust swirled through the air.
Kenny's fedora hat shifted, his collar fluttered in the wind, and he stared fixedly at the ferocious beast with a vacant gaze.
The Jaw Titan, five meters tall, stood imposingly in the street where the crowd had been evacuated beforehand.
A bone mask, bulging muscles that looked ready to burst, a powerful and streamlined body, and eyes beneath the mask that shone with a predatory, hunting light.
The Jaw Titan let out a deep roar, fixing its gaze on Kenny's presence.
Kenny finally understood where that sense of danger came from.
He remembered that afternoon many years ago, when he was entrusted with the task of assassinating the then king of the walls, Uri Reiss.
That man, with those divine eyes, was absolutely invincible. Kenny, who had trained to kill, was a joke in Uri Reiss's eyes.
With his weapons and strength, Kenny was powerless before Uri Reiss, whom he regarded as a god. In front of him, he was like an ant that God could crush with the slightest movement of his finger.
But Uri Reiss did not do that. The man brought him down, then deactivated his partial Titan power, knelt, and begged for his forgiveness.
"I still cannot die. Forgive me for that. Within these narrow walls, I could not bring paradise to completion—I was a fool."
Before that day, Kenny believed in the supremacy of violence. He believed that as long as someone had power, they were right.
Before that day, he had always lived like that, resorting to violence to seize everything he wanted: human lives, food, money…
He lived in this world as a perpetrator, always inflicting violence upon others.
But the day he met Uri Reiss, he could not immediately understand how a king with such power had knelt before someone of humble birth.
And today he remembered that moment in his life when he was violently controlled by others, and the feeling of helplessness as if he were drowning in a bottomless lake.
What he saw before him was the "violence" he had always pursued.
"Forgive my discourtesy from earlier, Congressman Gale." Kenny bent down to pick up the hat that had fallen to the ground, brought it to his chest, and gave a gentleman's bow. "I was too reckless. Age does not define a person."
"It's nothing, Mr. Kenny." Gale picked up the bullet from the ground. Ymir withdrew from her offensive stance, obediently positioning herself behind him.
"Did you bring what we asked for?"
"Yes." Kenny pulled a small, exquisite wooden box from his pocket. When he opened it, there was a syringe inside. The medicine it contained was a transparent silver-white and shimmered with star-like glimmers.
"The cerebrospinal fluid serum, better known as Titan serum, is a liquid that can turn Eldians into Titans, and it is something the Reiss family uses during their succession ceremony."
"But I don't understand… Now that you have mastered the power of the Founding Titan, do you still need it?"
"Mr. Kenny, how much do you know about the power of the King of the Walls?" Gale stepped forward and took the wooden box from Levi, examining the Titan serum.
"It has the power to alter other people's memories, but not those of the Ackermans. Also, it can control Titans." Kenny said everything he knew.
"No, that's not accurate," Gale said, shaking his head. "The power of the Founding Titan can only affect the Subjects of Ymir. It has no effect on other races. For example, the Founder cannot affect the inhabitants of Marley who live across the sea."
"Marley… Then what was published—was it not a lie?"
"I wish it were a lie, but it's true. The extinction of humanity is a lie told by the 145th Eldian king, who led our ancestors to Paradis Island, built walls, and called it Paradise."
"There was no noble reason; it was simply because the king betrayed his people. He wanted to confine us within the walls and let us die slowly."
"What… does that mean?" Kenny was hearing this for the first time.
"Mr. Kenny, you just said that the King of the Walls can control Titans, so why doesn't he release the walls and kill all the Titans outside?"
"This…" Kenny took a deep breath.
This was undoubtedly a question that had intrigued him for many years, but not even the Reiss family knew the answer.
Rod Reiss once told Kenny that he and his brother Uri had the same idea before inheriting their father's power.
Uri had promised his older brother that once he had the power, he would make their people leave the walls.
But everything changed on the day of the ceremony.
From that day on, Uri changed. Rod realized that Uri had become just like their father.
That told him one thing: once someone inherits that power, whoever it is, they become the same.
"Our mission as the Reiss family is simply to perpetuate that existence."
Could it be that… the King of the Walls built the walls so that his people would die?
Kenny had never imagined that this was the reason for everything.
"The king is a coward who avoids war. If we do nothing, our homeland will be destroyed." Gale placed the liquid back into the box and closed it. "I don't want that to happen, so I will seize every opportunity and every moment to move forward."
"I would like to ask you one more question in advance, Mr. Kenny. Lord Rod Reiss—does he know how to prepare the Titan serum?"
"Congressman Gale… what exactly are you planning to do?" Kenny had an idea, and the fact that it might become reality sent a chill down his spine.
"I simply intend to make use of waste." Gale said with a slight smile. "There are many ways to atone for sins: prison, labor camps… the most severe is the death penalty. But once a person dies, they can no longer contribute value to society. So I thought that if someone commits an unforgivable sin, death might not be the best sentence. Rather, it's a waste."
"You… do you intend to use the power of the Founding Titan to control everyone?"
Gale's shadow stretched as the sun set.
"Not everyone. People are free, and we respect each person's life—but only if they also respect others."