June 4, Cape City, the capital of Marley.
Tonight, prominent figures and media outlets from various countries had arrived in the capital.
This was Marley's first public statement since declaring its defeat, and representatives from many nations were closely watching the outcome of this three-year war.
Disguised, Hange blended into the large gathering.
She wore a fedora and a suit, with her short hair neatly trimmed to ear length.
Disguised as a reporter, she disembarked from a cruise ship at the harbor with a camera in hand.
The place was packed with people. Marley's military harbor, once destroyed by the explosion of the Colossal Titan, had been rebuilt.
Marley had transformed it into a gateway for receiving visitors, but the forces stationed around the harbor were no longer Marley's navy—they were the fleet of the Mid-East Allied Forces.
Marley, once a global superpower, had completely lost its dominant position.
The main force of the Mid-East Allied Forces was stationed directly in Marley's capital.
The Mid-East Allied Forces' battleships lined the coastline. Their steel warships, far more advanced than Marley's, with their cannons raised, were a clear display of military might.
Dark-skinned Allied soldiers performed military drills in perfect synchronization on the decks of the battleships, tasked with maintaining order during the press conference.
Today, numerous airships patrolled the skies over the waters near the capital around the clock. Allied soldiers and military vehicles could be seen everywhere throughout the streets.
To prevent a repeat of the total annihilation of the army caused by the Colossal Titan's explosive attack three years earlier, all ships and soldiers had been deployed in a dispersed formation, maintaining considerable distance between each fleet.
Even if the Colossal Titan managed to infiltrate again, it could destroy at most one-tenth of the fleet. The remaining ships and armored vehicles, equipped with anti-Titan cannons, would annihilate any inheritor of the Colossal Titan.
Three years later, the weapons were different. Even the Armored Titan would be pierced through if struck head-on by the Mid-East Allied Forces' anti-Titan cannons.
The role of the Titans in warfare had diminished more and more.
Hange went through immigration inspection. It was her second time in the capital, and unlike the previous visit, she had plenty of time.
Levi Ackerman accompanied her along with a group of elite assassins.
They stood in line, waiting to enter.
Blood tests were conducted on everyone attempting to pass through the harbor.
The purpose was to identify and exclude Eldians. After this war, the Allied Forces' hatred toward Eldians and Titans had reached its peak.
During the early stages of the war, whenever Marley deployed Titan weapons, the soldiers suffered inhuman massacres.
They harbored an indelible hatred toward Titans and Eldians, and even after their victory, that deep resentment remained.
After all, they had been oppressed by Marley through the use of Titans for many years.
"The Devil Race"—that was the name the Allied soldiers used to refer to the Eldians.
Of course, the Allied Forces were not friendly toward the Marleyans either.
The Treaty of Reparations of Marseille, signed after Marley's defeat, not only forced Marley to pay enormous financial reparations, but also granted the Allied Forces a one-hundred-year lease over several major commercial ports, including the capital's harbor, along with territorial concessions near the countries of the Middle East.
Marley had paid a tremendous price for its defeat in this war.
At the harbor, the reporters and media representatives who had rushed to the scene crossed the checkpoint one after another.
Finally, Hange and her group reached the front of the line.
Standing in front of Hange was a black-haired man from Isfar.
The Isfarian passed the inspection without any problems.
Next was Levi, who was attending as Hange's assistant. As an Ackerman, he could not transform into a Titan, and his blood would not react to the Eldian detection agent developed by the Marleyans.
The primary active ingredient in the agent was Titan spinal fluid, combined with several highly potent chemicals, making even the slightest reaction visible to the naked eye.
Finally, it was Hange's turn. She handed her camera to the Allied soldiers for inspection and stepped onto the body inspection platform, where a female soldier thoroughly searched her.
Next came the blood test, which was conducted on a temporary examination platform.
Doctors and nurses sat behind the platform wearing masks and gloves, with a stove burning nearby.
Hange recognized that the stove's fuel was Iceburst Stone. Water was boiling on top of it, with silver needles being sterilized inside.
To prevent blood contamination, they sterilized the needles in boiling water.
People of that era already understood the microscopic world of bacteria and cells, and to prevent cross-contamination, they had set up multiple testing stations staffed by professional medical personnel.
Hange extended her hand, and a nurse gently held her wrist, lightly pricked her index finger, and pressed a cotton swab sterilized with iodine against the wound.
The nurse inserted the reddened silver needle into a special test tube.
No reaction occurred. The test proceeded smoothly.
Hange breathed a sigh of relief. Although she had tested herself before coming and knew there shouldn't be any problems, she was still worried that Marley might have altered the composition of the solution.
To prevent any reaction during her own test, she had applied a special ointment to her finger five minutes beforehand, specifically formulated to counteract the chemical components of the solution.
When the silver needle pierced her skin, her blood mixed with the ointment, and that tiny amount neutralized the chemical reaction within the solution.
In reality, her blood did react with the Titan fluid components, but because the visible bubbling reaction had been neutralized, the remaining microscopic reactions naturally went unnoticed.
After all, with so many people waiting in line at the harbor and efficiency being a priority, it was impossible to examine everyone under a microscope.
"This is your pass. Please keep it safe and don't lose it." The nurse wrote Hange's identity, arrival time, and checkpoint information on a slip of paper, attached it to a wooden badge, and handed it to her.
"Thank you." Hange accepted the pass and stood up to leave.
Levi, dressed in a suit, walked beside her toward the press conference venue.
"What time is it?" Levi asked, his hands in his pockets.
He had changed his appearance, wearing a fake beard and a pair of plain iron-framed glasses.
Hange looked at her watch.
"It's four in the afternoon. The press conference doesn't begin until seven. Let's go take a look at the venue first."
"So we've got three hours left?" Levi muttered as he looked toward the buildings.
"The venue is the former Marley Warrior training grounds. That place was flattened and rebuilt."
"That godforsaken place?" Levi frowned. He recalled some unpleasant memories; during the attack on this city, they had wreaked havoc there.