Aim, pull the trigger—bang! The bullet fires. Pull the bolt, the casing ejects, the next round chambers. The cycle repeats until all six bullets in the rifle are spent.
Lowering the sniper rifle, Sasha looked at her results with satisfaction. On the target one hundred ters away, there was only a single clean, round bullet hole. But don't misunderstand—it wasn't that Sasha had only hit once. All six of her shots had struck the exact sa spot.
During this period, Yago's companions had all undergone trendous growth and change. If nothing else, each of them had shot up in height one after another.
The most dramatic transformations had to be Connie and Sasha, the famously foolish duo. Connie, once short enough to be called a runt, now shot up after a dose of growth hormones, growing taller by the day. And Sasha as well—she seed to have suddenly transford from a potato-loving glutton into a valiant, spirited female warrior.
Though no one ntioned their changes out loud, whenever Captain Levi ca to train them, standing in front of the group, Levi appeared especially… petite? A closer look would still reveal that faint trace of displeasure and gloom in the Captain's eyes.
Putting away the sniper rifle, Sasha heard applause beside her. Dressed in casual clothes, Koris clapped his hands in praise.
"Truly impressive, Sasha. Your talent is extraordinary. You could say you were born to be a sniper. At this point, you've already surpassed —I have nothing left to teach you."
Sasha raised both hands and cheered.
"Haha! So that ans I'm even better than you!"
Seeing her excitent, Koris smiled as well, feeling like an elder watching a junior grow.
As lunchti arrived, although Sasha appeared far more mature now, her appetite hadn't diminished in the slightest. She was still the first to dash toward the cafeteria.
Koris strolled leisurely toward the Survey Corps' dining hall. So might wonder why, as a Marleyan prisoner, Koris could move about freely within the Survey Corps, even eating together with the soldiers in their cafeteria.
That had to do with Koris' current role.
As a forr outstanding sniper, he was now helping train the Eldian soldiers on Paradis Island to beco familiar with and proficient in using firearms from beyond the island. In addition, Koris had once served as a destroyer captain in the Marleyan navy. His knowledge of navigation and naval warfare was extensive, so he was also assisting in training Paradis Island's future naval soldiers.
As for why Koris had chosen to help the Eldians on Paradis Island, that remained unknown. In truth, it wasn't just Koris. Back during the battle to retake Wall Maria, many Marleyan soldiers captured by the Survey Corps had also voluntarily chosen to assist the Eldians.
However, as he walked toward the dining hall, Koris noticed the glances and pointing from so of the Survey Corps soldiers around him. He had heard the recent rumors as well. The na Eldian Restorationists was not unfamiliar to him—though the Marleyan governnt had supposedly declared years ago that the organization had been eradicated.
In any case, during this period, whether it was forr Marleyan prisoners like Koris, or the Marleyan volunteers helping develop technology and machinery on Paradis Island, they had all faced varying degrees of discussion and hostility.
Koris let out a sigh. There was nothing he could do about the soldiers' gazes but pretend not to notice. And most of the rumors about Marleyans oppressing Eldians were, in fact, true.
...
When Yago returned to the Eldian Third Regint's camp with dozens of wagons loaded full of supplies, the entire camp exploded into commotion. Serena stared wide-eyed as soldiers unloaded crate after crate from the vehicles.
Firearms and ammunition, food and dicine, coats and boots… a dazzling array of goods. Serena stared at Yago in astonishnt, then walked over and asked in a cautious whisper:
"Did you rob a supply depot or sothing? What, couldn't wait any longer? Are we staging an uprising right now?"
Yago shot her a speechless glance.
"What are you saying? These supplies were all generously sponsored by Quartermaster Bagge. Robbery? That sounds so ugly."
Serena chuckled. If she hadn't personally witnessed how Yago had "disciplined" Bagge in front of the camp back then, she might actually have believed him.
But looking at the mountain-like piles of supplies, Serena couldn't help but smile.
There was simply too much.
It could even be said that the batch Yago brought back was enough to fully equip five entire Sixth Regints of Eldian troops. Of course, by Marleyan standards, it would probably only arm three or four regints.
That number was already terrifying. After all, leaving aside paper figures, the supplies for a single Marleyan regint were realistically worth more than two Eldian regints combined.
With so much equipnt and dicine now available, the soldiers of the Eldian Third Regint no longer had to worry about dying from infection over a minor cut on the battlefield. Nor did they have to count bullets before pulling the trigger.
"Speaking of which, Yago," Serena asked, voicing her lingering doubt, "why are we still fighting for the Marleyans? Defeating the Middle Easterners doesn't benefit us Eldians at all. Or is this just to recruit more mbers for the Revival Army?"
Before, they had fought to develop the Eldian Restorationists—there had been no choice. Now they were the Eldian Revival Army, and their objective had changed. Yet they were still participating in war on behalf of the Marleyans?
Yago did not give a complete answer.
But in his heart, he had his considerations.
First of all, the war initiated by the Middle Easterners against the Marleyans was comprehensive and intense. It wasn't as if either side could simply decide to stop fighting. Once two great military powers clashed, the outco was bound to be a fight to the bitter end until a victor erged.
Under such circumstances, it wasn't a question of whether they were fighting for the Marleyans—it was that they couldn't extricate themselves from the conflict between Marley and the Middle East. Whether it was the Eldian Restorationists or the Eldian Revival Army, once discovered by the Marleyans, they would be eliminated first. With the Revival Army's current limited strength, confronting the behemoth that was Marley would be aningless.
If they didn't want to expose themselves, a force of only a few thousand couldn't simply vanish under the Marleyans' watchful eyes. For now, the expedient solution was naturally to continue participating in the war under the identity of Marleyan Eldian troops, while waiting for the right mont.
Secondly, from the mories of older Eren, Yago had seen that the war between Marley and the Middle Easterners would last four years.
Over those four years, the hundreds of thousands of Eldian troops would be nearly wiped out. In the later stages of the war, the red-eyed Marleyans, driven mad, would not only commit their own Marleyan forces, but even capture large numbers of innocent Eldian civilians to carry out the "Wrath of Marley" operation. (See Chapter 220 for details.)
Too many Eldians would die in this war. The Marleyans would also suffer devastating losses. Although Marley would ultimately win, it would be a pyrrhic victory. After the war, Marley would no longer possess the capital to dominate the world. It would be weakened to the extre.
That was why Willy Tybur had later been so eager to redirect the world's attention toward Paradis Island. At that ti, the weakened Marley could no longer withstand challenges from any nation.
As for all this—
Yago had his own plans.
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