"Glug, glug, glug."
Tilting his head back, Rayan finished drinking the water and casually tossed the empty canteen off the platform. His eyes followed its arc as it landed on the sandy ground, then he looked away. He lay back on the stone platform, gazing up at the clear sky and drifting clouds.
Three days had passed.
Now, he was the only one left on the ship. He had thrown all the other bodies overboard, offering them as food for the titans.
It was not just for revenge. If the corpses stayed on the ship and started a plague, the unlucky one would be the living Rayan himself.
"What am I going to do..." he muttered.
Propping his head up with one hand, he looked sideways toward the interior of the island. As far as his eyes could see, there were no more titans. But that was only because titans naturally moved toward human presence. On the edge of the island, it was normal for no titans to linger.
Even so, he did not dare go down from the platform. If he encountered an abnormal titan, with his current strength... well, forget strength. He had none at all.
For now, he could only stay on the ship and think of a way out.
He did not need to worry about supplies in the short term. The ship had food and water rations meant for dozens of people, including the Marleyan soldiers and Eldian prisoners. There were more than twenty barrels of bread alone, with seventy or eighty loaves in each. Plus, several barrels of canned meat. Even if he tried, Rayan would not finish it all in three months.
However, although he did not have to worry about starving, how could he break this deadlock?
The danger from Marley was not over either. Once the port noticed that this ship had not returned for a long time, they would definitely send another vessel to investigate. When that happened, Rayan would have no peace.
If he could not think of a way to cross the plain before that warship arrived, he was doomed.
Still, it was better than being in the internment camp. He never wanted to experience that life worse than death again.
"Stay optimistic, stay optimistic," Rayan muttered, rubbing his temples to calm himself.
After all, being alone for a long time could really drive a person crazy. This was not Earth. There was no internet, no games, no way to pass the time. The only two newspapers on the ship had been read word for word, and the only other entertainment was a deck of playing cards.
"Martin Martin, every morning you wake up. Martin Martin, a role is waiting. Turning into a dragon is so cute, so cute, turning into a primitive man is not handsome, not handsome..."
Rayan hummed an old song, wishing that when he woke up tomorrow morning, he would become a dragon, fly over the plain, and land safely inside the walls. That would solve everything.
"Face reality," he said, slapping his face with wet hands. He dried them with a towel, left the washroom, and started wandering around the ship.
Over these three days, he had gathered all the supplies into one place. But to be honest, there was nothing particularly useful. Most of it was daily necessities, like soap, razor blades, salted fish, spicy strips, and the like.
None of that would help him travel. If only there were a motorcycle... but then again, who would put a motorcycle on a ship?
Of course, even if there was one, Rayan would not know how to ride it. This otaku had barely even ridden an electric bike, let alone a motorcycle. He would probably break his legs.
Besides, the overall technology of this world was not very advanced. The most developed countries were roughly equivalent to late nineteenth century Earth or World War One era technology, and in some aspects, even lagging behind.
As for Paradis Island, it was even worse, still basically an agrarian civilization. Most people had never even had their minds "enlightened" and had no desire to learn about the world. And the thirst for knowledge was always essential for the rise of a great civilization.
Speaking of which, the ship itself was a massive treasure, filled with technological wonders. If Hange Zoe of the Survey Corps found it, she would probably be so excited she would faint and never bother playing with the two titans she captured again.
But that was almost impossible.
"What year is it now anyway? How far has the story progressed?" Rayan wondered.
He had no idea. But seeing that there were still titans roaming the island, he knew the story had not reached the later stages yet. Later, once the Survey Corps gained power, they had managed to drive the titans off the island and had started building coastal defenses against the Marleyan Empire.
At this point, that future was still a distant dream.
In this situation, the Survey Corps could not even get close to this place, let alone find this ship.
Glancing at the pile of firearms next to him, Rayan thought that automatic rifles might help him when it came time to cross the plain.
Right now, the islanders still used old flintlock guns. Their power was pitiful. A single shot did almost nothing. Only volley fire could manage any real damage. Compared to automatic rifles, they were practically toys.
But then again...
If guns could easily defeat titans, the countries on the continent would not have been conquered by Marley through the power of titans.
"Forget it... no matter what, let's fill my stomach first," Rayan sighed.
He headed down to the storage room, grabbed two loaves of bread and a can of meat, and came back up to eat.
Although the bread tasted terrible compared to the cream bread, chocolate bread, and fruit breads of Earth, it was still refined grain. Much better than coarse rice cakes. The canned meat was not delicious either, but it was meat, and his body needed nourishment. Otherwise, staying short would be a pain in the ass later.
Rayan definitely did not want to be shorter than Willy Tybur in the future. Would he really let that guy look down on him? No way. That guy had to be the shortest.
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