Humanity's habitat lay within three walls: the outermost was Wall Maria, the middle was Wall Rose, and the innermost was Wall Sheena.
The area within the walls was roughly 720,000 square kilometers, yet the total population was only a little over a million. With such a low population density, the fact that they would eventually face food shortages only proved one thing: Eldians really didn't know how to farm.
Looking at the vast expanses of wasteland inside Wall Maria, Zenith felt that, as someone from the Celestial Empire, he simply couldn't stand the sight of it.
This world had wheat and potatoes. It was hard to imagine how people could possibly starve.
Time to claim some land. As far as the eye could see, all of this vast territory was his!
Zenith, holding handfuls of gold, thought the nobles inside the walls were idiots. The nobles, taking the money, thought Zenith was the idiot. Both sides were thrilled, each believing they had gotten the better end of the deal.
"They sold me a whole 20,000 square kilometers of land for just two gold bricks. That's bigger than some municipalities."
The refugees flooding into the interior of Wall Maria needed to be settled. They needed housing, food, and jobs.
A medieval level of productivity would undoubtedly be stretched to its breaking point when faced with a sudden, massive influx of refugees, but Zenith was different.
People! He needed lots of people!
The elites of the SPW Foundation already had experience. Thanks to their time in Frieren's world, even with a language barrier, they could easily communicate with these medieval people using simple hand gestures.
Serie had already begun researching a large-scale magic that would allow people to learn otherworldly languages. Once she finished, developing different alternate worlds would undoubtedly become much easier.
"Are the nobles of this world all fools?" Serie asked, looking puzzled as she watched the people toiling away like worker ants. "Every ruler should know that land and population are the indispensable elements for maintaining a nation. How is what they did any different from tacitly crowning you king of your own country?"
"There is a difference. I don't have to pay taxes," Zenith chuckled. His own residence was naturally the first to be built—stacking blocks on top of blocks was incredibly fast. As for the refugees, they would, of course, have to build their new homes with their own two hands.
Zenith provided them with wood, stone, bread, and fresh water. While the food wasn't a feast, it was more than enough to make these displaced people weep with gratitude.
"Now, let's check on the Marleyan squad. It's been so many days; they should have thought things through by now."
In Zenith's basement sat a Beacon with the Regeneration effect activated. One of the conditions for transforming into a Titan was sustaining an injury. Under the Beacon's glow, let alone getting injured, they could snap each other's necks and their health bars would instantly heal back to full.
Reiner and Little Bert were nowhere near as ruthless toward themselves as Annie. This cool, blonde girl had once tried slitting her wrists, biting off her tongue, and frantically slamming herself against the walls in an attempt to trigger her Titan transformation, but nothing worked.
Of course, she had quieted down by now, as if she had finally accepted her fate.
"Look, you eat well and dress warmly in this room, so why can't you just cooperate? I'm not even asking you to do anything, just to refrain from causing destruction."
Annie sneered. Even facing an adult man who towered over her, she showed no fear, instead dropping into a combat stance.
"Eldians really are all devils. You're too arrogant. Just because you knocked me out with a sneak attack doesn't mean you can beat me in a head-on fight."
At this point in time, Annie was far from her mature future self. She had yet to learn that trash-talking before a fight was a massive taboo.
Annie's hand-to-hand combat skills were excellent. She could use her small stature to her advantage, rapidly attacking, dodging, and striking at her opponent's vitals.
Zenith casually swatted away her knee strike, then slapped her so hard she spun like a top.
"A fight is a fight, but going for a low blow is just bad manners."
Anger flared in Little Bert and Reiner's eyes, but they knew their young selves were absolutely no match for Zenith.
Suppressing his rage, Reiner demanded, "What exactly do you want? We will never betray Marley, so you can give up on that right now!"
Setting Reiner and Annie aside for a moment, Little Bert had committed a very real, undeniable crime during this period. If it weren't for Zenith, at least tens of thousands of people would have died because of him.
Ignoring Annie's murderous glare, Zenith sat down in a chair and poured himself a cup of tea.
"Do you really think what you're doing is right? Use your own eyes and look. Are those hardworking people really the Eldian devils that Marley claims they are?"
Zenith brought the three of them outside and pointed at the refugees building houses in the distance.
"They did absolutely nothing wrong. They were just living peaceful, isolated lives. But because of your little kick, these people are now displaced and have lost their homeland."
He let out a deep sigh. Just by looking at their eyes, Zenith could tell they hadn't absorbed a single word.
Or rather, they all believed that as long as they could transform into Titans, they could crush not just one Zenith, but an entire regiment of Zeniths.
These brats were like child soldiers shoved onto a battlefield with guns in their hands. They thought of themselves as warriors, fighting for their country from Marley's standpoint.
Human rights? Innocent civilian lives? The education they had received since childhood taught them that the Eldians living on Paradis Island were all devils.
To sum it up in one sentence: they needed a good thrashing. A sapling won't grow straight without pruning, and Zenith was determined to fix their twisted worldviews today.
An SPW Foundation member suddenly jogged over. "Mr. Zenith, there's a barren mountain over here that's interfering with our city's layout planning. Do you think you could spare a moment to deal with it?"
Talk about perfect timing. Zenith said it was no problem, and then, with a single Explosion spell, he blasted the towering, several-hundred-meter-tall mountain into fine dust.
Behind him, the trio swallowed hard. Little Bert stood dumbfounded for a few seconds before saying, "Mr. Zenith, I think you're right. We were too extreme."
Reiner chimed in, "Indeed, indeed. The power of the Titans should be used to build a better future for humanity."
Annie stammered, "U-uh, b-b-b... you guys already said everything, what am I supposed to say?!"
What was that sound? The sound of a mountain being blown to pieces? No, it was the sound of their worldviews shattering.
A miracle? Magic? Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't something a human could do. Technology couldn't achieve it either; at the very least, the Marleyan Empire's tech tree was nowhere near that level.
At the same time, someone else was equally shocked by this scene: Eren's father, Grisha Yeager.
Too much time had passed, and Zenith didn't remember many of the original plot details very clearly. In reality, the powers of the Attack Titan and the Founding Titan were still currently held by Eren's dad.
Grisha, communicating with the future Eren across vast stretches of time and space, sniffed the air that still carried the heat and scent of sulfur, and asked the future Eren,
"...Are you sure? With someone like this existing in the world, can The Rumbling really serve as a deterrent to achieve peace?"
The future Eren was also dumbfounded. *Wait, this isn't right! This wasn't how my script was written!*
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