The Conscript Wants to Be Discharged!

Boris Begtawen seemed more skilled in swordsmanship than expected.
Blocking the sword flying horizontally, quickly wrapping his sword and thrusting at the opponent. He responded quickly as if he had experienced many one-on-one situations like sparring, if not actual combat.
-Ching!
While deflecting Boris’s sword thrusting towards my chest with the flat of my blade, I swung my sword around once above my head, aiming for his head.
-Cha-ching!
Raising his sword diagonally, as our swords clashed, he quickly let it slide down. Red sparks flew in all directions as the blades rubbed against each other, glinting between our intervals.
He deflects attacks falling from above by raising his sword diagonally, pushes away thrusts coming straight on, and blocks attacks slashing diagonally upward from below with a cross guard while pulling his weight back.
‘Textbook swordsmanship.’
Boris’s swordsmanship is the stable and highly versatile kingdom-style swordsmanship that can sometimes be seen when clashing with knights or properly trained soldiers.
Defend solidly, attack elegantly.
Basic and solid swordsmanship where offense and defense flow smoothly and continuously, creating openings in the opponent.
‘Such swordsmanship responds well to sudden situations, but its strengths disappear the moment the posture collapses.’
Because it’s upright and stable, if the posture collapses, fatal gaps appear in the interval of the next movement.
In the rapid exchange of offense and defense, I analyzed Boris’s movements one by one.
When an attack aims for the neck, he defends by raising his sword, then follows up with a cross guard to deflect the sword and aim for the head.
-Swish!
My sword, raised diagonally with its edge, flew quickly towards Boris’s chin where the leather strap securing his helmet was located, swung like the wind.
-Ching!
“Ugh!”
Boris, who had defended against the attack aimed at his neck by raising his sword, lifted his sword, using the cross guard to deflect my sword, and then swung the sword raised above his head down diagonally.
‘Good, the attack and counterattack continue within a predictable range.’
It’s swordsmanship I’ve clashed with and broken down countless times over five years. It’s easier than blocking blades flying from unknown directions in a chaotic melee where life and death hang in the balance, so if I gradually lead the opponent’s attacks, I can finish them off with one fatal blow at the right timing.
Avoiding Boris’s attacks, I pressed him fiercely.
I thrust my sword at joints he couldn’t cover in time. With attacks that seemed avoidable or blockable, I broke Boris’s posture and gradually widened the gap between attack and defense.
“Urgh! Damn it!”
Boris felt death approaching as Yujin’s irregular attacks continued.
‘Can he see through all my movements, where and how I’ll move?’

Not only does he block and avoid all my thrusts, but the way he reverses my counterattacks sends chills down my spine.
It’s hard to block, and attacks don’t hit. I’m just being pulled around like a puppet on strings as he wishes. I need to abandon orthodox swordsmanship and show irregular attacks myself to break his flow.
“Hah!”
After deflecting Yujin’s sword, Boris stepped forward, trying to close the distance and pressure him more by swinging his sword more aggressively with his body close.
“What?”
Boris, who had swung his sword fiercely to break Yujin’s irregular flow, saw a sticky smile appearing on Yujin’s lips, whose face was fully exposed in his helmet.
“Got you.”
Yujin avoided Boris’s attack by a hair’s breadth. Not paying attention to the sword tip grazing his nose tip dangerously, he fixed his gaze on Boris as if not to miss even the slightest movement.
Yujin raised his sword high. His posture was firm, and the distance between them was less than a step, so even if he stepped back, he couldn’t avoid it.
Boris hurriedly raised his sword to take a defensive posture, and that was Yujin’s aim.

I put more strength into my hand gripping the sword, seeing Boris hurriedly raising his sword to defend.
‘Urgent breathing, quickly rising sword, unconsciously retreating footsteps.’
Perfect.
Seeing Boris raising his blade horizontally to block the sword falling towards his head, instead of swinging my sword, I struck down on his helmet with the pommel of the handle.
-Clang!
“Agh!”
A clear tin-like sound rang out in the dark space. The colliding pommel and helmet separated with bright sparks flying, and I planted a knee kick into Boris’s abdomen as he staggered from the skull-rattling impact.
I raised my sword diagonally, slashing to knock Boris’s sword out of his hand. Swinging my sword around above my head, I struck towards his right temple, and planted my fist into his staggering face.
-Thud.
I quickly mounted the fallen Boris and continued swinging my fist until the face guard, dented from the punch, became even more grotesquely deformed.
Boris, who had been struggling to push me off, finally stopped moving after his helmet’s face guard was damaged to the point where its shape was hard to recognize.
“Huff, huff, huh.”
The duel between me, who was cooling down the heat rising to my throat while exhaling rough breaths, and Boris, whose fingertips occasionally twitched indicating he was still alive, ended like that.
It wasn’t flashy or cool, nor was it long-winded or touching, but that’s how the fight of Boris Begtawen, the man who stepped forward with a sword for those who followed him, ended.
“There are truly many stars.”
Boris muttered so, looking up at the sky through the dented eye holes.
‘This much should be enough, right? I should have become a slightly better coward than just a coward?’
-Creeak, creeak!
As Yujin forcefully twisted and tore off the dented face guard, Boris felt the musty smell of earth and the cold night wind.
“It was a good fight.”
“You were damn strong.”
“I’m just good at tricks, that’s all.”
“And I’m worse than that?”
“Ah…”
Taking Yujin’s outstretched hand with a slightly embarrassed expression, Boris couldn’t help but laugh.
“I lost. I was completely defeated.”
One eye was hard to open, there was a fishy taste of blood in his mouth, and his beaten head was still ringing, but it didn’t feel bad.
At least he had protected those who followed him.

“Come on, weapons here! Armor here! Stack them neatly.”
“Hey! You there, I saw you hiding that dagger behind your butt just now? Don’t cause trouble and put it here.”
“This is a keepsake from my father.”
“S-still, it’s not allowed. I’ll return it later, so put it here for now.”
After defeating Boris and disarming his subordinates, we entered the fortress that the rebel separate force had built to station themselves.
Inside the fortress where they hadn’t even taken down the tents in their hurry to leave, we tied up and gathered the captured prisoners in a few moderately sized tents and told our subordinates to guard them. Then I entered the tent Boris had been using, along with him.
“Is it alright not to take my sword from me?”
“Well, what problem could there be? It’s out of respect for you, Lord Begtawen, so just keep wearing it.”
All his soldiers had their armor and weapons taken away and were tied up and put in tents, but for Boris, a noble, we only took his armor and allowed him to keep his sword on his waist.
“Thank you, to show such courtesy even to a mere defeated general.”
“It’s nothing… By the way, is this the right place?”
“Hmm, certainly. If we remove the carpet laid on the floor here…”
Entering the commander’s tent with Boris, when we removed the carpet laid under his desk, a hole covered with wooden boards appeared underneath.
“Huh, if you hide it in a place like this, it’ll all be discovered later. Why did you hide it here?”
“After being defeated by you, we fled north and stayed under Baudouin’s forces for a while, where we had quite a hard time. Just, well, on our way out… to give them a taste of their own medicine.”
“Hahaha!”
Boris says that before abandoning the fortress and fleeing, to give a big ‘fuck you’ to the northern nobles who had insulted them, he left important documents with operation plans and maps marking supply routes and infiltration paths in their usual storage place.
“This level of information will be a great help. I’ll make sure to report to the higher-ups about Lord Begtawen’s assistance.”
“…Thank you.”
Although it’s questionable whether Boris can get his former territory back or receive treatment as a noble of the kingdom, given that he has a record of turning his back on the royal family and siding with the rebel Baudouin’s forces, at least he should be able to avoid being beheaded.
As we sorted and packed the supplies left in the fortress, the two teams that had been divided for reconnaissance and decoy returned to the vicinity of the fortress, and we brought the prisoners they had captured and the spoils into the fortress, spending the end of a tiring day in the occupied fortress.

“Salute! Hundred-man Captain Yujin of Sordan Fortress, royal army affiliate, returning now.”
The next day, I quickly returned to the fortress, sent my subordinates to the barracks, and reported to Defense Captain Franz Beringer about the results of the civilian support mission and the rebel base hidden in the forest.
“Yesterday, following the Defense Captain’s order to carry out a civilian support mission, we exterminated ghouls in a village behind Sordan Fortress and destroyed their nest. During the mission, we discovered and occupied a rebel wooden fortress, acquired supplies and important information from inside, and captured and brought to the fortress the commander in charge of the fortress and his subordinates.”
As the morning sun rose, we packed the supplies from inside the fortress and the weapons and armor taken from the rebel soldiers, separately classified Boris Begtawen and his subordinates and the northern soldiers, tied them with ropes, left the fortress, and returned to Sordan Fortress via the village that was the destination of our civilian support mission.
“On the way back, we explained the situation to the support unit we encountered, marked the fortress’s location on the map, then marked the rebels’ infiltration routes and supply line locations on the map as well, and conveyed other points to note.”
A reserve force of 200 men led by a knight from Sordan Fortress was stationed in the village due to my request for support, and we delivered the necessary information when we arrived at the village while returning to Sordan Fortress.
“They say the enemy comes in from here, here, and here.”
“Hmm, then we’ll station ourselves at the fortress and intercept when they try to infiltrate. Hundred-man Captain Yujin, please report this to the Defense Captain along with your report when you return to the fortress.”
“Understood.”
A unit of 200 men including several knights and a mage decided to station at the wooden fortress, and I agreed to report their movement along with my report in their stead.
“Good, very good Yujin. It was the right decision to send you.”
“Not at all.”
“And I’ll try to be as lenient as possible with Boris Begtawen and his subordinates you mentioned. If we behead the northern soldiers and send word to the village, they’ll be satisfied too.”
The village that suffered damage from ghouls will be informed that the case has been resolved by showing them the heads of the northern rebel culprits. The soldiers of eastern origin will be given two choices: either be taken to the mines as prisoners sentenced to labor, or serve as reserve forces for Sordan Fortress. As for Boris Begtawen… well? I can’t predict the laws for nobles.
“Yes, I’ll definitely guarantee rest for you who have achieved great merit. And I’ll give you high-quality armor and weapons from the spoils. And I’ll personally grant you one wish.”
“A wish, you say?”
“Yes, anything I can grant.”
“Anything!”
Defense Captain Franz smiled faintly at my excited reaction.
“Now, tell me Yujin, your wish.”
My heart is beating like crazy. I can’t contain my excitement to the point where my breathing becomes rapid and my hands and feet tremble.
‘Is it really possible? The wish I’ve held in my heart for 5 years?’
Yes, it should be possible. With the military achievements I’ve built up so far and the merit of occupying a hidden rebel fortress with 100 subordinates, it should be possible!
“Defense Captain!”
“Yes.”
The face of the Defense Captain, which had always irritated me whenever I saw it, seemed to be radiating a halo from behind.
“I want to be discharged! Please discharge me!”
“What?”
“With your authority as Defense Captain, you can discharge me for medical reasons or unfitness, can’t you? I really want to be discharged!”
The Defense Captain, hearing my wish, froze for a moment and then started laughing.
“Ha, haha, hahahaha!”
I laughed along with the Defense Captain’s hearty laughter.
“Hahaha!”
“Hahahaha!”
“Hahahaha!”
“Hahahahaha!”
After a good laugh, the Defense Captain wiped the tears from his eyes with his finger and opened his mouth with a face full of smiles.
“Bullshit, you’ve lost it.”
“What?”
“Do you think that’s possible?”
“Huh?”
The Defense Captain turned around and picked up a piece of paper from his desk.
“After you left for your mission, I sent a messenger bird to the royal court.”
“…”
“And just as you arrived, the reply came back.”
I’m anxious, to the point where I have the illusion that the Defense Captain’s gaze is turning into daggers stabbing my chest.
“Congratulations Yujin, as of today, you have officially become a soldier of the royal army with the rank of medium infantry and Hundred-man Captain.”
I froze like a stone at the cursed words that sprang from the Defense Captain’s mouth.
“I look forward to your continued dedication. Keep up the good work for the Kingdom of Flanders.”
The Defense Captain approached me, who had frozen, forcibly took my hand and shook it up and down, then stuffed a letter sealed with wax bearing the royal crest into my clothes and patted my shoulder.
“Now, get out.”
That day, Yujin’s world crumbled along with his hope for discharge.