TEXT Vol. 06 Nifaâs Coaster
âExcuse me⊠Youâre with the Survey Corpsâ Fourth Squad, are you not?â
Stohess District, inside Wall Sheena.
Nifa and the others had found themselves with a short respite as top members of the Survey Corps and their aides attended a meeting, and so theyâd gone to a bar.
âIâve been asked to give you these drinks.â
The storeowner had read the soldiersâ affiliation off of their chests and now offered them an amber liquid with red fruit on the side.
âWhoâs it from?â
âIâm unsure of that. They wore a cap low over their eyes, and I couldnât make out their body from under their jacketâŠâ
A paper coaster sat underneath the glass, and when one of Nifaâs fellow corpsmen noticed the words written on it, his eyes grew wide.
âHold on, is this a roundabout advance or something?!â
âDonât be ridiculous⊠Thereâs no way.â
âąâąâąâąâąâą
[Sheenaâs protection ticks on. At the feet of earth and fire, the grass-eating horses draw a triangle of two and five. Whisper to them a beautiful snow.]
Cage, another member of the Fourth, looked at the words on the coaster and scowled.
ââŠI donât get it.â
âItâs like a poem or something, butâŠâ
The rest of the Fourth looked at it, just as confused.
When Nifa happened to notice that some words on the coaster were intentionally thin, while others were thick and powerful, she sighed.
ââŠSorry, but this doesnât seem to be what any of you think.â
Cage furrowed his brow at this.
âThen could it beâŠâ
âA message from Hange. Straight back to work after this drink.â
The group gave a resigned shrug as they put down the drinks theyâd just been so lucky to receive.
âąâąâąâąâąâą
âYou know⊠I guess I should check this.â
Here and there, ink had seeped through the coaster to become visible on the other side. When Nifa connected these dots, she found a message to be deciphered.
[Receive 1800]
âI knew itâŠâ
âHange is in that meeting with the brass right now, so they must not be able to receive this order.â
âVice Captain Moblit must have suggested that we take a break at a bar so that he could send us on an errandâŠâ
Nifaâs fellow squad members looked around at each other as they realized that even this precious breather was all a part of a job.
âCommander-in-Chief Zackly and royal government officials were in that meeting⊠these are probably materials for some new weapon.â
âAnd the location is hidden in this poem?â
Cage let out another sigh as he turned the coaster back over. Everyone nodded, then looked at the clock.
âąâąâąâąâąâą
âWhat do you want?â
They had come to one of the many stables lined up underneath the brick clocktower. A man likely sent by a merchant who wore the near-exact shade of amber as their drink stood there at the specified time, eating a red fruit.
âSheenaâs protection ticking onâ must have meant âa clocktower in Stohess District,â while âearth and fireâ meant it would be built from bricks of baked earth. âGrass-eating horsesâ referred to the location, the stables found underneath. All that was left wasâŠ
âA beautiful snow.â
âFollow me.â
The password was as the poem said, word-for-word.
The individual there showed no sign of suspicion toward Nifa and the rest of her squad who had changed out of their military uniform to disguise themselves. He only showed them to a horse cart with a cargo wagon attached.
âI bet the experiments will begin as soon as we take this back to our quartersâŠâ
âHeh⊠Yeah, they do know how to work us hard.â
Even so, this was just an average day for soldiers under Hange. They joked as they quietly boarded the cart and brought it back to their quarters.
SOURCE: Attack on Titan: Short Stories 3
TRANSLATION: Ko Ransom

















