That country was called Klos.
Roger had once looked through its history and found that it had never had a record of launching foreign invasions or expansion in the past. Moreover, because it treated its neighbors with exceptional friendliness, its international reputation had always remained high—so high, in fact, that in many major international incidents it often served as the most objective arbitration nation.
Whenever nearby countries started wars, they would even notify Klos in advance so it could take precautions and avoid being swept up by the flames.
A nation both virtuous and capable like that was admired by the whole world, with practically no enemies—
Except Eldia.
Eldia being the enemy of the entire world was beyond doubt.
To this day, aside from Hizuru—which came for profit—they had no allies at all.
And yet, precisely because of the Titans, they possessed the power to destroy the entire world.
As long as Roger gave the order, people everywhere would be wiped out in an instant, crushed beneath the Titans' feet.
The fate of the world was tied to Roger's conscience. The day he decided to overturn that conscience, the whole world would be trampled into collapse by the Rumbling.
And that was exactly why Klos had no intention of handing over the Colossal Titan and the Cart Titan in its possession—delivering them to Eldia, the strongest power of all.
The fact that these two Titans had appeared in such a remote country made Roger intensely curious. But once he finally uncovered the reason, it wasn't strange at all.
The Colossal Titan and the Cart Titan originally should have been born only in Marley or Eldia.
However, after Marley collapsed, countless Eldians who had been imprisoned there were kidnapped at will by certain people—sold to countries around the world like slaves being trafficked.
Klos, having recognized that Roger posed an extreme threat to the world, bought all those Eldian slaves into its own borders and granted them official resident status.
And because they could live prosperous lives in this country, they felt no attachment to Eldia at all, nor did they want to flee to the homeland that was supposedly "theirs."
Here, they enjoyed privileges ordinary people could never reach—and could do things they'd never even dared to dream of in their lives.
Klos's president treated them exceptionally well. Whenever they faced incidents of humiliation, he would be the first to step in and stand up for them.
They believed only in this country could they taste true freedom.
Perhaps it was because of that emotion that the Colossal Titan and the Cart Titan chose this place to be born.
As if deliberately opposing the Founding Titan, they were unwilling to submit to the Founder's rule from the moment they came into the world.
Roger had learned of this before.
Back when Marley still had Titan Warriors, there were many cases where Titans died due to certain mishaps.
At the time, many Marleyans were terrified, thinking those Titans might be reborn in Eldia.
But what puzzled them was that no matter how many times such mishaps occurred, the Titan always reappeared in Marley in the end.
In their eyes, that was proof of the Titans' own choice—and it only strengthened their belief that only Marley could lead the world toward true prosperity and strength.
The Colossal Titan and the Cart Titan being born in this remote country now was the same kind of phenomenon.
Even if they were currently only parasitizing infants, once those infants grew into adults, their power would ultimately be used for vengeance against the Founder.
Roger would not give them that chance.
But right now, he had run into something that even as the Founder, he simply couldn't do.
He threatened them with the Rumbling and issued a notice to Klos, demanding they hand over the Colossal Titan and the Cart Titan—only to be ignored.
The people of that nation were very clever. They knew Roger had no way to command Titans that were living inside other people, so they issued a notice in return, telling Roger:
"If you truly had the ability, these Titans wouldn't still be in my hands right now—securely kept by us. Clearly, you don't have that ability. So we will keep them hidden forever. Even if you destroy our entire country, they will be secretly transferred to other nations and preserved that way—endlessly, for all time."
After delivering that communiqué, they were immensely proud, believing they had finally found a way to put a leash on the devil's nose and lead him around.
But Roger's next words left them terrified:
"What you said is indeed correct. Even though I am the Founding Titan, I cannot issue commands to these two Titans. They can still transmit their flesh through their own Paths. If I want them to be unable to use their power, I must completely destroy the Titan power itself. But what if I don't care? If you want to hide them across the world, then hide them. I will bring thousands of Colossal Titans to find them—until the end of the world—until I drag them out."
A naked, brutal threat—one that filled every nation on the planet with fear.
They didn't want Marley's tragedy to repeat itself upon them, so they all urged Klos to return those two Titans to Roger.
Yet the people of that nation had such resolve that even with the Rumbling hanging over their heads, they still didn't waver in the slightest. With a do-or-die conviction, they told Roger:
"We will never give these two Titans to you. If you want to destroy the entire world—then come!"
After saying that, they began active war preparations.
But what they didn't expect was that on the very next day after issuing that notice, nearly every country in the world drew a clear line with Klos, swearing to oppose it to the bitter end—unwilling to let disaster be dragged onto their own soil.
Seeing this, Roger laughed instead.
So that's how it was. In this world, there could only be one great figure—there would never be a second.
Watching the ugly faces of the world's major powers, Roger felt nothing but disgust, and instead found himself almost admiring Klos.
Of course, he wouldn't use the Rumbling to trample the world and kill everyone. That would be meaningless—a reversal of history.
What he had intended from the start was to devour the power of those two Titans, strengthen the world's source, and use it to protect the entire world—so he would never completely destroy it with Titans.
But seeing Klos stake its life on its stance, Roger felt he needed a more reliable approach.
Only, the enemy wouldn't give him more time.
While he was still thinking, Lailian opened a full-scale gateway, summoning his enormous legion into the Titan world!