The Conscript Wants to Be Discharged!

The palisade discovered inside the forest was quite discreetly hidden in its location.
Located below a cliff, with dense trees around it, the palisade was built to a height similar to the surrounding trees, and branches with leaves were placed on top to make it as similar as possible to the surrounding environment. It was said that unless you approached closely or climbed a tall tree to look down, its appearance couldn’t be seen clearly.

“We too only realized that a fortress had been built there with a palisade after climbing a tall tree and confirming that there was a gap in the surroundings.”

“Then, did you check the interior as well?”

“Yes, with the rear blocked by the cliff, they built the fortress in a semicircular shape along the cliff. Inside, there was a building that looked like a small warehouse and many tents. The people inside the fortress were armed with proper armor and weapons.”

“How many people were inside?”

“Comparing the number of tents, it’s estimated to be at least 100 to 150 people, and looking at the size of the fortress, it seemed like it could accommodate even more people.”

Having heard the report, I fell into deep thought.

‘As long as those guys have eyes, they must have seen the smoke from us burning the corpses.’

The smoke and smell produced from burning the pile of corpses and the ghoul’s nest discovered by the group I led, and the pile of corpses discovered by the 3rd and 4th teams, must have spread throughout the forest carried by the wind. There’s no way the guys hiding in the fortress couldn’t have noticed it.

‘Besides, a fortress that can accommodate more than 150 people, it would have taken at least months to build such a thing, how could the villagers not have known?’

How could the villagers, who clearly obtain most of the resources they need from this forest, not know that such a thing exists inside the forest? Where did the guys presumed to be rebels get supplies from while building the fortress in the forest for months?

‘No, if the villagers were in cahoots with those guys, why would they come to us asking to exterminate the ghouls? It would be quickest to promise cooperation with them and get help.’

If people had been attacked by ghouls and had to hide in the forest for a long time, it would be an urgent problem from the village’s perspective. The fact that they deliberately came to the distant fortress to ask for help means either they don’t know about their existence, or they were cooperating but had a falling out in the middle and asked for help in the form of informing on them.

‘If they confess that they were in communication with the rebels, the fortress would send troops to exterminate the rebels along with the village that communicated with the enemy, not to help.’

My head feels like it’s going to burst. This isn’t my area of expertise, so I couldn’t come to a clear conclusion.

“For now, we’re returning to the village.”

“…Are we meeting up with the rest of our guys in the village?”

“Yes, we need all of the Hundred-man Unit gathered in one place first. I don’t know which side the villagers are on, but we can’t leave our guys in a dangerous place unnecessarily.”

There’s a team-sized group of subordinates in the village. Although the injured can fight sufficiently with minor wounds, if the villagers launch a surprise attack, it would be difficult for our armed subordinates to face more than ten times their number.

“Let’s return quickly.”

“Yes, returning!”

“Returning! Move quickly!”

The steps of me and my subordinates returning to the village were full of tension, and undisguisable tension hardened the expressions on our faces.

“Hundred-man Captain! You’ve returned!”

As we arrived at the village, the village chief greeted us with a bright face. No worry or wariness was visible in his expression.

“…2nd team leader, 3rd team leader, quietly surround the village. 4th team leader, bring the rest of our guys.”

“Yes.”
“Understood.”

Seeing me not returning the village chief’s greeting and ordering my subordinates to surround the village, fear spread across the chief’s face beyond curiosity.

The sound of my subordinates’ military boots spreading throughout the village echoed across the entire village. I placed my hand on the shoulder of the village chief, who was trembling in fear watching the subordinates suddenly surrounding the village, and whispered in his ear.

“Chief, let’s have a chat for a moment.”

“…Yes.”

Though his face was full of fear, the chief didn’t dare refuse.

We moved to a secluded spot where people’s gazes wouldn’t gather.

“Chief, what was your reason for coming to our fortress to resolve the threat to the village?”

“What? Th-that…”

“I’d like to give you plenty of time to answer, but the situation doesn’t allow it, so please answer quickly.”

As I placed my hand on the hilt of the sword at my waist, seeing this, the chief trembled like an aspen leaf and opened his mouth.

“I-I don’t understand what you mean by what you’re saying now, Hundred-man Captain. P-please explain…”

“Do you really not know? Or are you knowingly deceiving me?”

Even as I narrowed my eyes further and glared at him, he was just afraid. There was no sign of hiding anything, just an appearance of feeling extremely wronged and afraid of the current situation.

‘Does he really not know?’

His trembling eyes only went back and forth between my hand on the sword hilt and my face. I couldn’t read any sign of him hiding other intentions and scanning my body, so I slowly opened my mouth at the chief’s appearance.

“Wouldn’t it have been quicker for you to resolve the problem by seeking help from those living inside the forest, Chief?”

“Those living inside the forest? No one lives inside the forest. Who would dare live in a forest where ghouls run rampant?”

“For example, those living in a fortress built deep in the forest.”

“F-fortress?”

The chief reacted with wide eyes when the word ‘fortress’ came out of my mouth.

‘Yes, you probably didn’t expect us to discover the fortress.’

Now that everything has been revealed, confess your crimes obediently!

“C-could it be that the bandit bastards have returned?!”

‘Bandits? Not rebels?’

The word that came out of his mouth was very different from my expectation.

“Didn’t you say that bandits don’t exist near the village?”

“Yes, after the lords stationed at the fortress, they all disappeared, abandoning even their mountain hideout! Could it be that the ghouls running rampant near the village were because they killed people and dumped them in the forest?!”

According to my subordinates’ report, the people inside the fortress were properly armed. The appearance of the fortress was also built for military use, and the tents inside were neatly arranged, so there’s no way bandit bastards would be stationed there.

“Has the mountain hideout the chief mentioned been there for a long time?”

“Yes, for about 2 years, bandits settled there and carried out their banditry. Even when we reported to the lord, he didn’t exterminate them, so we were having headaches, but when you lords stationed at the fortress, those guys fled in fear. So it was peaceful for a while, but recently the ghouls have been causing problems.”

If a mountain hideout has existed there for 2 years, are those stationed there now using the abandoned mountain hideout renovated into a fortress? The chief thought they were gone now, so he came to us for help.

‘The villagers were innocent.’

While it was a relief that they hadn’t turned against us, a corner of my heart raised feelings of apology for suspecting them.

“I misunderstood.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“We thought the villagers had joined the rebels in the mountains and were deceiving us.”

“R-rebels?!”

Judging by the chief’s reaction, he really didn’t seem to know.

“I apologize for treating you coercively due to a one-sided misunderstanding.”

“N-no, Hundred-man Captain. More importantly, does your saying that rebels are hiding in the forest mean that fighting will break out here?”

“…It’s hard to say it won’t.”

“Oh my…”

At the words that a battle might break out near the village, the chief sat down on the spot.

“Chief, don’t worry too much. We’ll be careful to minimize damage to the village.”

“…Th-thank you.”

I patted the shoulder of the chief who was sitting on the ground and nodding with difficulty a couple of times, then headed towards the Hundred-man Unit waiting for me.

“So, the villagers have no connection with the rebels?”

“That’s right. The chief doesn’t even know rebels exist in the forest, let alone that they built a fortress.”

At my definitive answer, my subordinates showed expressions of relief.

“That’s a relief.”

“Yeah, I thought we’d have to turn the whole village upside down for nothing.”

“That could have been a big problem.”

Looking at the relieved subordinates, I fell into thought again.

‘If the rebel bastards renovated the mountain hideout into a fortress, it makes sense that they built such a fortress in a short time. The corpses abandoned in the forest were probably bandits who returned and were killed, then dumped in the forest to attract ghouls.’

They used ghouls to prevent villagers from approaching the surroundings while they were renovating the mountain hideout into a fortress.

“Hundred-man Captain, isn’t it more likely that they knew about it from the start rather than discovering the mountain hideout?”

“That’s right, there wouldn’t be time to carefully scout the surroundings when infiltrating enemy territory and building a fortress at the risk of their lives.”

The area where Sordan Fortress is currently located was in the territory of traitors who turned against the King’s brother Baudouin in the past. The lords who originally ruled this area all fled north the moment we occupied Sordan Fortress, so among those who fled, someone who knew the location of the mountain hideout from the start must have led soldiers down into enemy territory to build a secret base in the rear of the fortress.

“Since the village chief said that long ago, even when they requested the lord to exterminate the bandits, he ignored it, the lord who ruled this place must have had some connection with them from the start, and thus knew the location of the mountain hideout and infiltrated.”

They probably had backdoor deals, receiving part of the loot, and planned to station a separate force using the bandits’ mountain hideout as a secret base to reclaim their territory.

“The continuous raids from the west were probably diversionary tactics to divert our attention until this place was completed.”

“And when the fortress was completed, they planned to invade fully to pressure us, and use the separate force from behind to cut off our supplies and attack, right?”

“Probably… that’s right.”

This matter would have posed a great danger if the Defense Captain hadn’t paid attention to the village’s request.

‘I hate to admit it, but he’s certainly outstanding.’

In a medieval world where the perception of every man for himself is prevalent, how many people would be able to see such a big picture?

‘If only he didn’t put his subordinates in such dangerous missions, he’d be quite a good person.’

To put it kindly, he’s a superior who trusts his subordinates’ abilities; to put it harshly, he’s too much of a gambler. It’s killing me rolling under such a person.

“For now, we send someone to the fortress to report the current situation and request reinforcements.”

“Yes!”

“And we send those who discovered the fortress back for reconnaissance, to check the enemy’s movements and hide discreetly around the fortress.”

“What?”

“What? Is there a problem?”

At my question, the team leader who expressed doubt cautiously opened his mouth.

“The enemies outnumber us, and they’re hiding in a wooden fortress. Can we handle them with just us?”

The team leader’s opinion was reasonable. The enemies outnumbered us, they had a palisade to block attacks, and siege battles are always more advantageous for the defenders than the attackers, so from the team leader’s perspective, it was questionable.

“I understand what you’re worried about, but I’m not going to order you to charge at the fortress, nor am I going to tell you to climb over the palisade. We’re just preparing for the situation where they might come out of the fortress.”

Unless they’re idiots, if they’re certain their position has been discovered, they’ll know it’s best to abandon the fortress and flee before an extermination force arrives from Sordan Fortress. If we let them escape, there will be an enemy force roaming around in the rear of Sordan Fortress that could pop up anywhere, and if they plunder and destroy nearby villages, our supply network and surrounding public sentiment will be devastated.

So we’ll keep watch to prevent them from roaming freely, and if they come out of the fortress, that’s when we’ll attack them by surprise.

“For now, we’ll keep an eye on their movements and respond according to the situation, understand?”

“Yes, Hundred-man Captain.”

“Then get the guys ready, and let’s move.”

“Yes! Understood!”

I glared in the direction of the rebel bastards’ fortress settled in the forest.

“You bastards, why do you keep causing trouble?”

Those guys are never pleasant to see.