Attack on Titan: The Harsh Mistress of the City, Part 1 is a light novel based on the Attack on Titan manga. It is written by Ryō Kawakami and illustrated by Range Murata.
Plot: In this first of two parts, Wall Maria, humanity's outermost defense, has just been breached, and Titans roam what had once been the interior. Situated along the Wall like the fallen Shiganshina District, the town of Quinta finds itself surrounded on all sides by the monstrosities and severed from the rest of humankind's last bastion. A stand-alone side story to the mega-hit comics franchise, this novel tells of the increasingly harrowing travails of Rita Iglehaut, a Garrison soldier trapped in Quinta, and her well-to-do childhood friend Mathias Kramer, who managed to flee the district in time only to face challenges for which he seems ill-suited.
Summary: On the day after Wall Maria is breached, Garrison recruit Rita Iglehaut tries to help with the chaos as the remaining half of the population of Quinta District is escorted to Wall Rose. She tries to help the citizens escape and finds a young child who she then saves, joining her comrade Wilco as they are ordered to retreat into Quinta. Arriving at Quinta, Wilco is killed in an accident during the Garrison's attempts to ward off the approaching Titans, and Rita hands the girl over to a middle-aged woman upon their arrival.
Source: Attack on Titan: The Harsh Mistress of the City, Part 1, available under CC BY-SA 3.0.