Erwin gets it; why does Levi think he keeps making stews and other things from home? This place might be their home now (for now), but Erwin misses their own world sometimes too. More accurately, he misses the people they've left behind, and having things here they would recognise makes it feel like he's sharing this relatively peaceful, magical place with them.

"He's powerful. Not now, but when he gets his alchemy back, he will be." Of course Erwin has an angle; the fact that he genuinely enjoys Kimbley's company helps, but he's incapable of just having friends and knowing people anymore. Everyone is a game piece on Erwin's mental chessboard, and a few months in this place hasn't changed that. "I'd rather have someone with abilities like that on my side than against me."

It's the same reason he fought so hard to get control of Eren from the MPs. If anyone is going to have someone that powerful fighting alongside him, it's going to be Erwin, come hell or high water.

But he can also understand Levi's reluctance to team up with the man. He hopes Levi hasn't heard about the Shou Tucker alchemist and the kinds of things he was doing with his abilities. He hopes, for Tucker's sake and for Levi's mental health, that Tucker never shows up here and never meets Levi.

Erwin gestures at the chair across the table. "Would you like me to put the kettle on?"