Dario Inocencio

Dario cuts a heavyset figure, his cropped dark hair merging seamlessly into the thick beard and mustache that ring his face. Dress announces his station: tailored suits and neckties for business, and for travel a long flowing cape trimmed at the collar with dark fur, paired with a dark hat banded in pale cloth.

Avarice governs every choice Dario makes. People register to him as instruments, family included; a son is an investment, a daughter a bargaining chip, and a slave boy a consumable training tool. He watches Kuklo take beatings with open pride, and the moment the boy stops being useful, selling him becomes the obvious next step.

Dario heads the Inocencio household, raising his children Xavi and Sharle after losing his wife under unknown circumstances and hunting constantly for ways to climb higher in society. Hearing rumors of a Titan Child born from a woman devoured during the invasion, he inspects the imprisoned boy, initially scoffs at the sight, then buys Kuklo as a slave and hands the boy over to Xavi as a present, framing the purchase as an investment in his son's strength. For years afterward, guests are paraded past the chained boy to gawk and jeer. Dario also leads both children up Wall Maria so they grasp the danger the Titans pose firsthand, and when Xavi humiliates Abel Diekmeier in a duel, the merchant scolds the temper but privately admires the spirit, dreaming of his son one day commanding the Military Police Brigade.

The plan appears to bear fruit when Xavi earns entry into the Training Corps two years later. With his heir bound for the military and unable to keep possessions, Dario resolves to sell Kuklo to one of many interested buyers and turns to arranging Sharle's marriage for political gain, brushing aside her visible unhappiness. Days later, members of the Titan Cult free Kuklo from his cell and remark that his captors are receiving fitting punishment. Racing into the main house, Kuklo discovers the merchant's corpse in the master bedroom, a sword driven through his chest.