The Conscript Wants to Be Discharged!

I certainly don’t think that violence solves all problems.
Humans are animals that live in groups, adjusting opinions between each other, and I too, as such a social animal, think it’s better to solve problems through mutual dialogue.

‘But that only applies when dealing with someone who can communicate.’

Attempting one-sided communication when proper dialogue isn’t possible with the other party makes both sides tired and wastes time. And for smooth communication with someone who unilaterally refuses dialogue, adding ‘a little’ ‘necessary’ violence can be the first word of medieval-style conversation.

For example, the ongoing fight between Prince Robert and King’s brother Baudouin is also a case of employing violence as a means to have a conversation from a slightly advantageous position for each side.

Even in modern times where the idea of rule of law has developed, military force has been a good means of dialogue. In this barbaric medieval era, it could be seen as ‘common sense’ behavior in a way.

‘Yes, the reason I had to use violence is not because I’m a madman trapped in the omnipotence of violence, but because I’m a victim of a barbaric era who had no choice but to exercise a little violence to have a non-violent conversation.’

Having convinced myself thus, I told the young man’s mother, who was apologizing to me with an expression that looked like she might burst into tears at any moment, that it was okay.

“I-I’m sorry, Hundred-man Captain.”
“No, I completely understand your actions, madam.”

How could a parent not be angry seeing someone slap their mentally distressed child’s cheek, saying it’s for smooth conversation? It’s not unreasonable that the woman, who must be very mentally exhausted due to her son who’s not in his right mind, didn’t realize that my actions were very gentlemanly.

“If my child’s face has doubled in size, it would be strange if he were in his right mind.”

I heard the village chief’s voice muttering quietly behind me, but I proudly ignored it, letting it go in one ear and out the other.

“Well then, shall we continue with the important conversation?”
“…Yes.”

The young man who answered clumsily after opening his mouth. He had come to his senses due to my unavoidable violence, the slap, and sat up straight, waiting for our conversation.

“That day, we went into the forest to gather wood, thinking there would be no problems as usual.”
“Weren’t ghouls said to be roaming the forest near the village?”
“The place where we went to gather wood was quite far from where the ghouls were appearing, so we thought it would be okay. And we needed firewood for the next day, so even though we were scared of ghouls appearing, we had no choice but to go.”

The young men had fears that ghouls might appear, but they had no choice but to enter the forest for their livelihood, and seeing wild animals roaming around, they thought that area was safe and started cutting wood there.

“We thought there would be no ghouls nearby since animals were roaming around. In fact, until the sun was high in the sky and gradually tilting to the east, they didn’t appear.”
“So, you’re saying ghouls didn’t appear where you were logging. Then where did the villagers who entered the forest with you get attacked by ghouls?”
“…After gathering enough wood to use for about a week, we were about to head back. We were packing up our axes and tying up the cut wood with ropes.”

The young man, speaking up to there, trembled in fear as he forcibly recalled memories he didn’t want to remember.

“Th-that guy, Bob, that guy suddenly said he smelled blood from somewhere! In a forest where there was nothing!”
“Then he said there must be a dead animal nearby and suggested we go look for it!”
“W-we were stupid! We believed his words that there would be an animal carcass and moved towards where the bloody smell was coming from.”
“Like idiots, excited by the thought of taking the carcass home to eat meat, we… we should have turned back then! We should have gone home!”

The young man’s eyes, swallowed by fear, lost focus, and he started biting his nails, bringing his hands to his mouth.

“Augh, uuugh!”
“Hey? Hey!”

Seeing the young man falling back into the swamp of fear and terror, unable to return, I once again used the medieval conversation method.

-Slap!
“Aah!”
“How about now? Are you back to your senses?”
“Y-yes.”

The young man, having finished his physical therapy, continued his story.

“…The smell of blood carried by the wind grew stronger. A sticky, fishy, disgusting smell of corpses.”
“As we got closer to the source, we became more anxious. The smell of blood was too strong to be coming from just one animal carcass.”
“It was too late to turn back. The moment we thought something was wrong, we heard a sound like scratching throats, like gurgling phlegm.”
“And when we heard that sound, we saw it. The identity of the corpses emitting the smell of blood.”

“What… was the identity of the corpses?”

The young man, who had been breathing tremblingly with his eyes tightly shut in fear, slowly opened his eyes and met my gaze.
In his trembling eyes, there was a deep and dark fear, so much that it created an illusion of the shock and fear from that day still rippling alive.

“Corpses, they were corpses. Of people.”

“…This is really driving me crazy.”

It seems this civilian support mission is going to have a lot of problems.

The young man said that on that day, there were human corpses abandoned in the forest, and ghouls were feeding on those corpses.
The young men who discovered the corpses and ghouls immediately turned and ran away from the shocking and disgusting sight. But the ghouls were faster at chasing them than people running on two legs through the forest. The young man said he didn’t even dare to think of saving those who disappeared beside him with terrible screams one by one, and he just ran and ran, miraculously escaping from the forest.

“Whew~ Shit. Is it not that I suffered working under Franz, but that I’m just terribly unlucky?”

Coming out of the surviving young man’s house, I sighed deeply while looking at the incredibly clear sky.
…No, it’s because that man assigned me this mission that things have become so complicated.
Everything is the Defense Captain’s fault, and I have no problems at all.

‘Hmm, good.’

Having comforted myself that my mistakes are the Defense Captain’s fault and that things have become so complicated is all the Defense Captain’s fault, I turned my head to look at the young man’s house I had just left.

The young man couldn’t remember the number or appearance of the corpses, but he roughly told us the location where they had been gathering wood, and then hugged his legs again, curling up in fear. Whether he can overcome his trauma and return to his ordinary daily life is uncertain, but I pray that he doesn’t make any bad choices consumed by fear. I asked the village chief, who came out of the young man’s house with me, about the corpses found in the forest.

“Chief, has anyone died near the village recently?”
“No, the most recent incident was… only those eaten by the ghouls.”

The chief whispered in a small voice, worried that the young man might hear, and I asked various questions while walking through the village with him.

“Then have there been any incidents of bandits’ lairs or thieves appearing nearby?”
“Since the royal flag was raised at the fortress and soldiers were stationed, we haven’t even seen the shadow of such guys.”
“Has there been any plague in neighboring villages?”
“There are no other villages within at least a day’s distance from our village. We haven’t seen any slash-and-burn farmers either.”

I’m getting more and more confused. If there are no thieves, no villages, and no slash-and-burn farmers nearby, I can’t think of anything other than the corpses walking into the forest on their own feet.

‘If the dead were walking around, at least they wouldn’t have been bleeding.’

It takes a long time for a person to die and for that corpse to rise again on two feet due to curses and dark magic. That’s why walking dead, so-called zombies, all have rotten flesh and emit a very foul smell. They wouldn’t smell of blood, nor would they be lying on the ground.

‘Even if a necromancer was hiding in the forest, it’s strange.’

Given the characteristics of necromancers, unless they’re working as gravekeepers in cemeteries owned by the kingdom and nobles, they’re all suspicious characters who wouldn’t leave their corpses unprotected in the forest, and they certainly wouldn’t hide near a fortress where the army is stationed.

“Then it means someone deliberately dumped the corpses.”

What kind of bastards would illegally dump corpses in the forest and disappear? And what’s the reason for that?

No matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn’t solve this question, and soon the chief and I arrived at the place where the Hundred-man Unit was stationed.

“It seems the reason for the ghouls’ appearance is related to something more dangerous than we thought. Chief, please make sure to tell the villagers not to enter the forest carelessly.”
“Yes, I’ll do as you say, Hundred-man Captain. Please, I beg you to resolve this threat to our village.”
“I’ll try my best.”

After sending off the chief who bowed his head asking me to resolve this matter, I gathered my Hundred-man Unit.

“Let’s try to unravel this, to see what’s at the end of this matter.”

From the gathered Hundred-man Unit, I left behind the injured and those who would repair the deficient parts of the village, and moved to the location where the young man said he had discovered the corpses.

The wind blowing from the forest seemed to carry a faint smell of blood.