Children of the Forest (Chapter)

Nile Dok lays out the scale of the crisis: more than a hundred soldiers have deserted, freeing Eren and almost certainly murdering Commander-in-Chief Zackly on the way out. Hange explains that these Yeagerists exist for one purpose, bringing Eren and Zeke together, and theorizes that the military's secret scheme to pass the Founding Titan to a loyal soldier provoked the revolt. Acting Commander-in-Chief Pixis cuts through the recriminations with a bitter plan; the military will surrender to Eren without submitting to the brothers, using its knowledge of Zeke's location as its sole bargaining chip, and Zackly's murder will stay off the table entirely.

Kiyomi Azumabito, who witnessed the meeting, urges Mikasa to shelter aboard the Hizuru ship if events turn ugly. Mikasa declines, insisting she will stand and fight as an Eldian, and Kiyomi admits her clan faces ruin if the Rumbling test fails, yet promises to protect Mikasa regardless of politics.

Struck by how many Marleyan prisoners took up restaurant work, Hange brings the surviving 104th veterans to question Niccolo, the cook, just as the Blouse family arrives to dine with Kaya, Falco, and Gabi in tow. Niccolo snatches a Military Police wine bottle out of Jean's reach with startling venom. In the basement, Falco and Gabi tell him they stowed away on the raid airship, and Gabi proudly claims the kill on the female soldier he asks about. Niccolo snaps, swinging the bottle at her; it shatters over Falco's head as he shields her. Dragging both children upstairs, Niccolo exposes their identities to the stunned family and presses a knife on Sasha's father, demanding vengeance for his daughter.

Artur Blouse refuses. He blames himself for sending Sasha out of their forest into a wider one where killing never ends, and declares that leading children out of that forest is the only way the cycle breaks. Mikasa blocks Kaya's furious lunge at Gabi, and a hollowed-out Niccolo begs Hange to rinse the unconscious Falco's mouth, confessing that the wine served to Paradis's officers likely carries Zeke's spinal fluid.

The military tallies the Yeagerist defection and links the movement to Zackly's assassination.

Pixis resolves to negotiate with the Yeagerists, offering Zeke's whereabouts as leverage.

Gabi admits to Niccolo that she shot Sasha, and his retaliation leaves Falco bleeding and unconscious.

Artur Blouse spares Gabi, framing the world as a forest that children must be led out of to end the violence.

Niccolo reveals that the wine poured for Paradis officers is dosed with Zeke's spinal fluid.

Children of the Forest opens volume 28 as chapter 111, published November 9, 2018 in Japan within the War for Paradis arc. Its material spans the anime episodes Guides and Children of the Forest, and the title is widely read as a nod to Game of Thrones, a series Hajime Isayama openly admires. It falls between Counterfeit and Ignorance.