The Conscript Wants to Be Discharged!

For the sake of a happy future with my family, I volunteered to enlist in the royal army and became a conscript of the royal forces.
I signed the documents handed to me by the official managing the royal direct territories, and the salary I was to receive was about 60 francs.
The franc, the currency of this world, is a coin where 1 franc equals 1.5 loaves of bread. So the salary I was to receive for a month was 60 francs, divided by each day, 2 francs per day, equivalent to the value of 3 loaves of bread, for which I would fight.
The unit above the franc is the flin, where 12 francs make 1 flin as a silver coin, and when 20 flins are gathered, it becomes 1 flang as a gold coin.
As a result, I headed to the battlefield with my daily life valued at 3 loaves of bread and a monthly value of 90 loaves of bread.

Two weeks had passed since I was deployed to the battlefield as a conscript.
On the day that marked two weeks of navigating the battlefield with longing for my family and survival instinct, I killed a person for the first time.
As a conscript, I was thrown onto the battlefield with nothing but a familiar axe, without any armor or weapons. After dodging fights here and there, I was finally cornered and had to fight for my life.

“S-shit! Stay still!”
“You crazy bastard, would you stay still if you were me?!”

The opponent had a spear, had a longer weapon range than me, and was wearing a crude but quilted armor called a gambeson.
The opponent’s spear tip aimed for my abdomen and flew in. I barely avoided it, and the fight of maintaining distance continued for a while. Then, I accidentally tripped on a rock on the ground. Seeing me stumble, the opponent immediately thrust his spear into my side.

The spear tip tore through my clothes and skin so easily and dug into my flesh.
As the spear tip, about the depth of one finger joint, entered my abdomen, at first I couldn’t say anything. The foreign sensation of tearing through my skin and digging into my flesh soon felt as hot as if a heated poker had been thrust in. I collapsed to the ground and screamed a tearing scream at the pain I had never experienced before in both my past and present lives.

“Aaaaargh!”

It’s hot, it’s so hot!
At first, I was speechless at the cold foreign sensation, but now the wound felt as if it was burning with tremendous pain that I couldn’t close my mouth.

“He, hehe, die!”
“Ugh!”

I wanted to roll on the dirt ground and writhe in pain from the agony I had never felt before in my life, but the opponent who had stabbed my side with his spear saw me in pain and tried to pull out the spear to stab me again. To survive, I lunged at the opponent amidst the dizzying pain in my head.

Seeing me lunging towards him, the opponent hesitated and momentarily stopped moving. In that moment of hesitation, I miraculously avoided the spear tip and brought down my axe blade on his head.

-Thud!

To me, it sounded like a ripe watermelon bursting. At least as far as I knew, there was no other sound similar to a human head bursting.

“Urgh.”

With my best strike, I collapsed to the ground along with my opponent. My face hit the dirt ground, inhaling all sorts of dust into my respiratory system, but I had no time to think about how dirty it was.

‘It’s futile.’

A human life that ends with just one axe strike felt so futile.

The noise of the battlefield ringing in my ears was like a terrible symphony of screams and shouts mixed together. With my face buried in the dirt, I smelled the earthy scent mixed with the pungent smell of blood and felt that my situation was utterly miserable.

But I couldn’t die. I had to return to my family.

Amidst the dizzying pain in my abdomen, I struggled to get up, tore my top to roughly bind the wound, and then hugged the corpse of the opponent I had killed with my own hands, hiding my body under a suitable rock.

That’s how I survived that day, and gained a spear and a gambeson.

Half a year had passed since I enlisted in the royal army as a conscript.
The front lines had now become deadlocked, and to break this war situation, the commander leading the unit I belonged to came up with a plan.

“Those who will infiltrate the enemy camp with me tonight, raise your hands.”

Infiltrating enemy territory at night, where monsters and enemies could jump out from anywhere at any time, without even flashlights, let alone night vision goggles, was another name for suicide and madness.

But the commander leading us was a madman, and he really proposed a plan to infiltrate (charge into) enemy territory at night and recruited volunteers, but what madman would participate in such an operation?

“Hmm… is there no one?”

Of course, no one raised their hand, and when there were no volunteers, the commander began to call out names of soldiers to go with him.

“Carly, Benjamin, Rob, Tony, and…”

‘Please, please, please don’t call me!’

I desperately prayed to the gods, not wanting to participate in the madman’s insane operation, but.

“Lastly, Yujin, this completes the participants for this operation.”

“…Yes!”

I desperately prayed for there to be another soldier with the same name as me here, but.

“Yujin, why aren’t you answering?”

No matter how much I looked around, there was no other conscript with the same name as me.

“…Understood.”

Abandoned once again by those so-called gods, I was to be deployed in the madman’s insane operation.

And so, as the dark night fell, we, the commander and his subordinate soldiers, crossed the dark forest without torches, using the moonlight gently filtering through the leaves and branches as our light source.

“Shh! We stop here.”

Following the lead of the commander who boldly proposed an ambush as if he had been a ninja in his past life, we finally arrived at the rebels’ encampment.

Our number, including the commander, was 15. But there were at least 50 stationed in the enemy camp. While the soldiers were intimidated by the overwhelming difference in forces, the commander pulled out a strange sphere from his breast.

“Yujin, take one of these.”

“What?”

What the commander handed over was a small purple bead.

“This is a processed magic stone, infused with magical power. It’s small but has enough killing power to be a bomb.”

“B-bomb!”

“Shh!”

What the commander handed me was a small hand grenade!

‘Commander, you had a plan all along!’

The commander, who had seemed completely insane when he said we would break through the dark forest teeming with monsters in this medieval fantasy world, started to look a little less insane.

“The moment you and I infiltrate the enemy camp, throw this where the most enemies are gathered. Handle it carefully, it can explode with even a small impact.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

The commander’s explanation that followed included that it was a very expensive weapon, difficult to obtain, with each one costing a high price.

“Is it alright to entrust such a thing to me?”

“I trust you. I know all the military achievements you’ve made so far. That’s why I’m including you in this operation and entrusting you with a bomb that could explode at any time.”

The commander’s eyes, full of trust, sparkled as they caught the gentle moonlight, and looking at him, I nodded while thinking to myself.

‘You bastard, I don’t need such trust.’

Even if this madman who came up with the plan from his crazy head sends me a trusting look after forcing me to participate and putting an object like a time bomb that could explode at any time in my hand, how could that resonate with me?

“Commander, isn’t this a bomb that makes a loud noise?”

“That’s right, explosions are always accompanied by noise.”

“Then, what if enemy reinforcements come after hearing the noise?”

At my question, the commander thought for a moment and then…

“We’ll think about that when the time comes.”

“What? You crazy bastard? (What kind of nonsense is that?)”

My true feelings slipped out without me realizing, but the commander pretended not to hear and turned his head.

“Well then, I wish you luck.”

“What?”

“Everyone! Charge!!!”

The commander wished us luck and then charged into enemy territory with the order to attack, throwing the magic stone bomb. Soon, a loud noise echoed through the enemy camp.

-Bang!
-Aaaagh!
-We’re under attack! Enemy attack!

“This crazy bastard really did it!”

Following the reckless charge of the lunatic commander, I too rushed out of the bushes towards the enemy camp, throwing the magic stone bomb where the most enemies were gathered.

-Bang!
-Aaaaargh!
-Shit! There’s another one! No, there are several!

Along with my charge, my comrades also jumped into the chaotic enemy camp.
In the dark night, a melee broke out centered around the large bonfire illuminating the encampment.

“Damn it! You filthy bastards, an ambush, don’t you know chivalry!”
“A rebel bastard talking about chivalry, you’re the crazy one!”

I blocked the sword strike of my opponent who engaged me in single combat with my spear shaft, and kicked him in the abdomen, but due to his armor being better than I expected, I couldn’t inflict a meaningful blow.

“…”
“…”

The flickering bonfire light dyed our figures red as we glared at each other in silence. As ash scattered in all directions, kicked up by someone’s military boots, spreading an acrid smell across the battlefield.
I was the one who took the initiative to attack first.

“Die!”

My attack aiming for the opponent’s lower body was blocked by his sword, and after successfully defending against my attack, he swung his sword in the same motion, aiming for my neck.

“Ugh!”

As I tilted my head back to avoid the attack, the opponent’s sword strike grazed the tip of my nose, causing a stinging pain in my injured nose tip. The opponent, noticing his attack had missed, took two steps away from me.

“Ha!”
“Shit!”

The opponent who had moved away from me kicked up the ash at his feet, trying to obscure my vision. I, who had already noticed the ash at his feet, reflexively turned my head to avoid the flying ash while simultaneously dodging his attack, and tripped him with my spear shaft.

“Really, die!”

I kicked away the hand holding the weapon of the fallen opponent, sending the weapon flying far away, and then I flipped my spear around and stabbed the blade into the opponent’s neck.

“Gurgle…”

As I was pulling out the spear blade, looking down at the opponent dying while spitting out bloody foam, I was suddenly startled by another enemy’s attack coming from the side.

“You bastard! Die!”
“?!”

I reflexively blocked the opponent’s attack with my spear shaft, but the enemy’s weapon, an axe blade, cut my spear shaft in two, and I fell to the ground.

“Aah!”

Seeing the opponent’s axe raised high above me as I lay fallen, I desperately kicked at his ankle. He fell on top of me, and seeing this, I thrust the part of the broken spear shaft with the blade.

-Squelch!

A chilling sensation was felt in my hand as the spear blade penetrated the opponent’s armor, pierced through with the combined weight of his body and armor as he fell on top of me, and pierced his lungs.

“Phew…”

After defeating two enemies like this, I got up, and standing on both feet, I looked around to see my comrades and the commander who had cleared out the rebel camp in an instant with the sudden ambush and the firepower of the magic stone bombs.

“Damn, we really succeeded?”

Surprisingly, we successfully dealt with enemies more than three times our number, and fortunately, no enemy reinforcements came. The next day, we successfully occupied the camp with royal army troops, successfully completing the commander’s insane operation.

Afterwards, the commander was recognized for his merits and became the captain of the royal army’s vanguard.

-Clap clap clap clap clap!

“Congratulations! Commander, no, Vanguard Captain.”
“Hahaha! Thank you, Yujin.”
“It’s time to say goodbye now, it’s really regrettable.”

As I was about to bid a regretful farewell to the commander who had become the vanguard captain…

“Hm? What do you mean?”
“Pardon?”
“You’re coming with me too.”
“W-where to?”
“To the vanguard, of course. Where else would you go when you’re going with the vanguard captain?”
“Are you crazy! Why should I go there?!”
“Hahahaha! You’re coming with me!”

I couldn’t say goodbye after all.
The vanguard captain, who had taken a liking to me, decided to take me to the vanguard he was assigned to, and I was placed in the vanguard regardless of my will, running around enemy territory like mad.

And so, three years passed since I enlisted in the royal army as a conscript.
Having caught the eye of that madman, I was assigned to the vanguard and deployed to all sorts of dangerous battlefields.

We, the vanguard, an infantry unit and not knights, charged into enemy territory to break through the enemy’s center.
We also made surprise attacks on large-scale enemy encampments to rescue isolated friendly forces.
We crossed through dark forests once again to strike the enemy’s supply lines to cut off the rebels’ supply routes.
While advancing north, when the lords of the east bordering the north suddenly changed sides, we ran around like mad in the eastern region that had become enemy territory, and even had to retreat to friendly lines.

The unit led by that madman acted not as a vanguard but like a special forces unit, and as we achieved meaningful results, our vanguard unit was promoted to an independent unit called the Thousand-man Unit.

Four years after I enlisted in the royal army as a conscript, under the command of the madman who had been promoted to Thousand-man Captain, Franz Beringer, we participated in a siege to capture a fortress taken by traitors in the northeast.

-Flutter! Flutter!

On the battlefield where biting cold winds blew, close to the north, the military flag with the royal crest fluttered violently in the fierce wind.

“Everyone, listen well!”

And riding on the fierce wind, the voice of the Thousand-man Captain, Franz Beringer, pierced the ears of the thousand or so soldiers lined up.

“Today! We will recapture the fortress that has fallen to the traitors, and establish a forward base to exert influence on this eastern front!”

“Woooaah!”

There was a powerful force in the voices of the soldiers. As if to show that even the biting wind couldn’t stop them, the soldiers shouted at the top of their lungs.

“However, that is only a subsidiary goal.”

Franz’s words were strange. What could be more important than recapturing a fortress taken by traitors and creating a forward base to advance into enemy heartland?

But the soldiers knew what kind of person their captain was.

“Our ultimate goal is! To avenge our comrades who were buried in unnamed places in the east by the traitors! To appease their resentment, we must recapture that fortress!”

-Oh gods! Grant us victory!
-Glory of victory to the rightful owner of the kingdom!
-Peace to the souls of our fallen comrades!

Among the comrades shouting victory cries and steeling their resolve.

“You bastards, help us this time.”
-We pray earnestly, glory of victory to the fragile souls.

I too prayed for victory in this battle, for the fallen comrades and acquaintances from my hometown.

“Let’s go! Warriors! For victory!”
“For victory!!”

With the Thousand-man Captain Franz’s order to charge, heavy rocks were launched into the air from the prepared catapults.

“Uwaaaaah! Let’s go!”

Breaking through the battlefield where arrows and rocks rained down, and occasional explosions from mages’ magic occurred.
Letting my body move to the rhythm of the symphony of bloody smell and frenzied shouts, navigating the battlefield where death lurked.

I was the first to climb the castle wall at the vanguard of the Thousand-man Unit, beheading a rebel knight and achieving the most glorious military exploit in this battle.

Thus, our Thousand-man Unit succeeded in occupying the fortress, and Thousand-man Captain Franz Beringer became the defense captain overseeing the fortress. And I, who had achieved the military exploit of being the first to climb the castle wall and behead an enemy knight, received the position of Hundred-man Captain.

That day, we made the fortress walls vibrate with our victory cries.

Four months passed since then.
I, who had enlisted in the royal army as a conscript, still hadn’t been discharged.

“Please let me go home now!!!”

Conscript Yujin, 5th year of military service.
I still hadn’t been able to return home.