The Conscript Wants to Be Discharged!

The sun hanging on the mountain ridge is gradually hiding its appearance, bringing darkness to the world.
The forest full of dense trees quickly cast shadows of darkness, hiding our figures, and as we watched the enemy’s movements while crouching even more under those shadows, one team leader came to me and asked a question.

“Hundred-man Captain, may I ask one thing?”

“What is it?”

The team leader approached my side and crouched down in the bushes where I was hiding, then pointed to the faint light from the hearth fire flowing through small gaps in the palisade and opened his mouth.

“The interior of the enemy’s fortress is all made of wood and tent structures, isn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

“Then, if we enter from their front to block the entrance and draw their attention, and the other divided teams take advantage of their dispersed attention to throw torches inside, wouldn’t we win easily?”

“Is that what you think?”

“I think there’s sufficient possibility.”

Looking at the face of the team leader who had conveyed his opinion to me after long deliberation, I smiled slightly at his face, which was now not properly visible in the darkness.

“Would that work, you idiot?”

“Eh.”

At my answer, which clearly showed that he was quite hurt, I gave him a light knock on the head.

“It hurts.”

“I hit you so it would hurt.”

To the team leader who was exaggerating even though it probably didn’t hurt that much since he was wearing a helmet anyway, I explained why his strategy wouldn’t work.

“What if the fire on the palisade spreads to the forest? How would you put that out?”

“Ah…”

Fire tactics are much more difficult to utilize than what you see in various media. It’s not like in novels or historical dramas where you just shoot a few flaming arrows and things immediately catch fire. You need to prepare piles of wood soaked in oil or leather and cloth in advance where the enemy is expected to appear, and set them on fire when the enemy falls into the trap. Above all, the aftermath of a successful fire tactic is very difficult to deal with, and if you’re not careful, there’s a risk of roasting your own troops along with the enemy.

“And it would be a shame if the treasures hidden inside the fortress burned up.”

“Treasures?”

“Maps showing their supply routes, documents with plans they’ve made while staring at our asses, commanders who know useful information, even their supplies are valuable.”

Not knowing what the rebel bastards are plotting right now, the documents carefully stored inside the fortress and living storage disks have enormous value.

“Makes my mouth water.”

The fortress before our eyes is a high-risk, high-return treasure chest with the enemy lurking inside and sweet rewards contained within.

After glaring for a long time at the reddish light twinkling through the small gaps in the palisade, the team leader who was still hiding his body next to me cautiously opened his mouth.

“…Will they really come out?”

“Who knows? I’m not certain, but there’s a high probability they will.”

“How do you think so?”

“Because they’ll be insanely curious about us hiding outside the palisade.”

People have defense mechanisms. Unable to maintain rational thinking due to wanting to confirm and affirm their own safety, the desire to be certain of their safety unconsciously manifests, and the impulse to identify and eliminate potential threats to maintain psychological stability will arise.

“Unlike us who are certain that reinforcements will come from our camp the next day, the rebel bastards’ camp might not know if reinforcements can come, and if they have functioning brains, they should be able to think that if we’re certain of their location, our reinforcements will come the next day to surround them.”

If they decide to hold out trusting the palisade surrounding the fortress, they’ll be starved out, and if they choose to flee risking their lives, they’ll be continuously attacked while being pursued by the royal army until they reach the rebel camp by some miracle.

“Right now, those guys must be extremely nervous. If the person in charge of the fortress fails to control the internal situation, factions will split inside due to anxiety, and someone might act impulsively.”

The team leader, who seemed moved by my kind briefing, sparkled his eyes (I can’t see it, but I think so).

“When did you think of all that?”

“Why? Is it really cool? Does it make you gain faith that wasn’t there before?”

“Anyway, Hundred-man Captain, your mouth is the problem. You always say one word too many.”

“You little bastard, you want to die?”

As I slightly raised my fist, the team leader hurriedly pulled his head back.

“Anyway, sometimes when I look at you, Hundred-man Captain, you don’t seem like a commoner.”

“What?”

“You seem to think differently from us. Could it be that you’re actually something like an illegitimate child of a noble?”

“…What?”

‘What did this bastard just say? Did he just say I seem like an illegitimate child?’

I understand to some extent what the team leader is saying. I get that he’s trying to say that the angle from which I view things is different from theirs. But the reason I can’t just let his words slide is because…

‘Are you saying my mother committed adultery?!’

It might be an exaggeration, but I, Yujin, as a true Confucian boy, could not tolerate the insult to my beloved parents.

“You have insulted me.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“And you’ve insulted my beloved parents. Prepare for a one-on-one duel with me when this is over.”

My parents are known throughout the village for their good marital relationship. Having thrown the turd of NTR and adultery at such a family, I, as their child, will prove their innocence with a sword for the sake of my parents’ honor, as is my filial duty.

“In-insult? No, that’s not it! You misunderstand!”

The team leader, who had received a challenge for a one-on-one duel with me due to his careless mouth, turned pale and tried to explain that it wasn’t like that, but his excuses couldn’t continue.

“Hundred-man Captain, the gate in the palisade has opened.”

“Everyone, battle formation.”

The rebel bastards hiding in the wooden fortress have started to move, and our hunt has begun.

“We need to go out right now, kill those hiding and escape!”

“The moment we go out, we’ll surely be ambushed by those hiding in the forest. How can you speak so thoughtlessly!”

“It’s not thoughtless, I’m telling you the plan to escape from the imminent danger!”

“It’s obvious that royal army soldiers will be hiding in the darkness, why are you trying to rush into the beast’s jaws!”

Inside the fortress, factions had split and were engaged in a heated argument.

“To think we can’t go out because we’re afraid of mere conscripts, our northern men are different from the rabbit-like eastern men who hide in caves afraid of such bastards!”

Hendrik, the northern knight, and the northern soldiers following him wanted to go out, deal with the royal army forces surrounding the fortress, and move west to return to the northern forces.

“Haven’t I told you repeatedly! They are not opponents you can take lightly! They are wolves! Wolves, I tell you. The moment you go outside, they’ll bite your necks in the darkness!”

Boris and his private soldiers, who wanted to trust the palisade even if the fortress was surrounded and wait for reinforcements to come, then deal with the royal army together with them and advance on Sordan Fortress, were divided into two in the fortress, glaring at each other.

“Rather than waiting for reinforcements that might never come and withering away, it’s right to fight and create an opportunity.”

“There are sufficient supplies inside the fortress. Unless they plan to burn down this entire forest, the palisade won’t easily collapse, and given the nature of defense, we can hold out even against enemies more than twice our number. And even if we do go out, we should leave at least during the day when we can detect ambushes in advance.”

“You’ve been saying you’re afraid of them since earlier. How can we survive fighting the enemy if you’re so cowardly? Are there only cowards in the east?”

“You keep dividing east and north, but you, a northern man, don’t trust the support that will be sent by your fellow northerners? Your thinking is no different from barbarians.”

At Boris’s words, Hendrik’s face reddened and he turned around with an angry expression.

“Fine! I can’t let His Majesty Baudouin’s soldiers be put in danger by dancing to your tune, Begtawen. From now on, I’ll lead the soldiers!”

“Are you betraying us now!”

“Betrayal? No, the traitors would be you eastern bastards! You’re probably thinking of communicating with the royal army, handing us over as prisoners, and getting your territory back. You’ve betrayed once, can’t you do it twice?”

“Eek!”

Hendrik slandered Boris without even using honorifics, and as tension with murderous intent flowed between the northern and eastern soldiers, Boris, who had clenched his teeth so hard they might break, opened his mouth.

“Fine! Then open the gate and go out. But you can’t take any supplies from here.”

“What?”

Hendrik, with an expression full of bewilderment and anger, put his hand on his sword hilt to draw it, but.

-Ching ching ching chang!

Before that, Begtawen’s soldiers had drawn their swords and surrounded the northern soldiers.

“Will you go out, or will you shed blood with us?”

At Boris’s ominous question, Hendrik lowered his hand trembling with anger from the hilt and turned towards the palisade entrance.

“Remember this, Boris Begtawen. Northern men don’t forget insults. If we safely return to our camp, you’ll become undisputed traitors.”

“Do you think the likes of you can return alive? You’ll become wolf food and leave your bones here.”

The palisade gate opened and the angry northern men left.

“Lord Begtawen, what should we do now?”

A soldier who had quickly closed the gate after Hendrik’s group slipped through the slightly opened palisade came and asked.

“They’ll make good bait.”

“Bait?”

“Yes, when they draw the royal army’s attention, we’ll also assess the situation and go out.”

Now that the northern soldiers provided as support by Baudouin’s faction have gone out, it’s uncertain whether reinforcements will help us even if they come.

‘They were provided to monitor us, so if they’re gone, they’ll suspect us. If that happens, even if we break the encirclement and survive, the future isn’t guaranteed.’

If Hendrik’s group is annihilated in battle with the royal army and draws their attention and time, the best move is to simply pack up and flee west.

“Even the hot-blooded northern idiot is helpful in his own way.”

Looking up at the dark sky, Boris muttered bleakly.

-Aaaagh! Enemy attack!
-Kill them! Men of the north, show them our spirit!

After briefly looking at the stars in the night sky, as time passed since Hendrik’s group left, faint screams and shouts could be heard from the forest.

“Quickly pack your things. When the screams from outside stop, we’ll move out too.”

“Understood, Lord Begtawen.”

At Boris’s order, the soldiers swiftly packed their military gear, and shortly after, when no more screams could be heard from beyond the palisade, Boris slightly opened the palisade gate and looked outside.

“There shouldn’t be anyone, right?”

The dark forest filled Boris with unknown terror.
The wind carried the smell of blood.
The small animal and insect sounds usually heard at night were absent.
Under the black shadows of the forest, he had the illusion of seeing wolves’ bright yellow eyes glinting.

‘Please let there be no one.’

Overwhelmed by fear, Boris swallowed an unspoken prayer to an unknown recipient and led his soldiers.

“…Let’s go.”

They packed minimal luggage and quietly slipped out of the palisade, moving forward.
After all his following soldiers had left the palisade and moved silently in the opposite direction from where Hendrik had gone for a while.

-Kill them all!!

When they had moved several hundred paces away from the fortress, a voice like the grim reaper slashing Boris’s heart echoed throughout the dark forest.

-Uwaaaaah!
-Kill the rebels!
-Death to Baudouin the traitor’s dogs!

At the royal army’s battle cries filling the surroundings, Boris cursed out loud.

“Fuck! Fuuuck!!!”

He saw soldiers rising from under the shadows and running towards them.

“Form ranks! Close the gaps! Don’t let them break through!”

As the proud Begtawen soldiers quickly formed ranks, someone jumped in between them.

“You damn bastards! It’s because of you that I can’t get discharged!”

“Aaaagh! He’s crazy!”

“Block him! Don’t let him break through!”

Boris doubted his ears.

“This voice… It can’t be?!”

As someone’s voice stuck in his mind, a sudden memory surfaced – a voice he had heard when he was standing with the eastern knights on the walls of Sordan Fortress to block the royal army.

-You filthy traitors! I’ll kill you, avenge my comrades, and get discharged!

Although he couldn’t use Aura, it was the voice of the madman who had beheaded Sir Valendis, said to be the best among the eastern knights, and had broken deep into their lines, frantically beheading their allies!

“The Executioner!”

The terror of Sordan Fortress had come for him.