Chapter 4.1 – Deserter Subjugation Request

An assignment from Count Borick to Gaikaku. This time, the mission was to hunt down former regular soldiers who’d turned into bandits.

Their whereabouts were only known in vague terms, and they hadn’t been pinpointed yet.

All we knew were their backgrounds, their equipment—and that they numbered around twenty.

Race: Human

Equipment: iron swords, iron spears, wooden shields, leather armor.

Ability: average

Magic: basic offense, basic defense

Number: twenty

Battlefield: unknown. They’re thought to be moving through sparsely populated areas.

Upon returning to the base, Gaikaku gathered his slaves, shared the information, and began drafting a simple battle plan.

Since this was the first job they’d be taking part in, the Dark Elves and Beastkin were on edge.

They didn’t even know how they were supposed to proceed.

Just as they wondered where to start, the Elves spoke up.

“This time, we don’t need any support bombardment, right?!”
“That’s right.”
“All right!”
“Yes~~!”
“I really don’t want to get that exhausted over mere humans…”
“I’m relieved…”

They wouldn’t be doing a support bombardment this time. Since Gaikaku agreed, the Elves were overjoyed.

The Dark Elves and the Beastkin were taken aback by their enthusiasm.

Seeing how drained the Elves were after expending so much magic on bombardment, it’s easy to imagine just how much they loathed it.

“Since we have no idea where they are, preparing for a bombardment would be impossible.”

The Elves’ bombardment is akin to siege weaponry.

It’s similar in that it can deliver high-powered attacks from afar, but it also shares the drawback of taking a long time to transport and set up.

Both the gun carriages and Siege Towers are bulky, requiring careful planning of transport routes.

It’s truly impractical equipment for transporting while searching for an opponent whose location is completely unknown.

“Since they’re not entrenched in a fortress, we could have the Ogres charge in… but this time marks the Beastkin’s first deployment.”

“So we fight, Chief?”
“That’s right. I’ll leave scouting to the Dark Elves. I’ll supply various tools, so scout during the night.”
“My lord, that’s fine, but…”

Unlike the eager Beastkin, the Dark Elves looked somewhat uneasy.
The reason was, after all, that they regarded themselves as misfits.

“They’re humans; it won’t be that easy.”
“Oh? And why do you say that?”
“In our homeland, we were always warned to be cautious when launching night raids against humans—ordinary humans, not misfits like us.”

Dark Elves are a race that excels at night operations.
It was common knowledge that if you opposed the Dark Elves, they’d launch night raids—yet they still managed to succeed.
Of course they must have been confident, but they still cautioned against underestimating humans.
That was likely a form of respect—and a warning.

“That’s only half the story. If they’ve fallen to banditry, it’s no problem at all. Besides, we aren’t going to do a night raid this time.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah… well, you’ll see for yourself. The strength of humans—and their fragility.”

And Gaikaku—who was, after all, human himself—looked positively delighted at the thought of attacking his own kind.

※

Originally regular army soldiers, these twenty humans had become bandits.

Why they were wanted was simple: dissatisfaction with their treatment.

They had attended a school to enlist in the regular army and acquired many skills there.

It had required significant expense and effort—and as a result, they had become capable soldiers.

But what awaited them in the regular army was too mundane to be called a cruel fact, yet it was still a disappointing reality.

Within the army were Elves, Ogres, Beastkin, and Dwarves.

The non-humans received better treatment than the humans.

It would have been understandable if all the non-human races were elites with the power to leave ordinary humans behind.

But in reality, they were only average performers.

For other ordinary people, they should at least have been treated as equals.

Instead, there was a big gap.

Despite it being a nation of humans, humans were treated poorly.

“This is unacceptable!?”
“But… you know as well as I do that an Elf’s magic is five times a human’s, and an Ogre’s strength is five times a human’s… you know how effective that is?”
“I understand that. But a soldier’s job is not just fighting! What do they do during peacetime?!”
“…Admittedly, it does look like the non-humans don’t work during peacetime.”
“Isn’t that exactly the case?!”
“…But think about it. They’ve come from lands far from home, right? If you treated them poorly, of course they’d go home. Then what would we do?”
“So you’re saying that human regular soldiers can be replaced at will, and that’s why we deserve poor treatment?!”

Human soldiers received lower pay and had more duties.
Of course, some of that was unavoidable.
Elves couldn’t handle heavy labor, and Ogres couldn’t do fine work.
In a sense, it was natural to pay those who traveled from afar more.
But there were aspects of it that were hard to accept.

As a form of protest, they left the fortress without permission.

No matter how strong the non-humans were, humans made up the core of the army.
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They figured that if the twenty of them deserted, it would cause chaos and they’d be hurriedly called back.

They had even crushed the initial pursuing force.

But in reality, that didn’t happen.

Reinforcements of equal quality were promptly sent to the fortress they’d served at.

In addition, they were swiftly declared deserters.

Ironically, the strength of humans was proven all too easily.

Regular soldiers like them were quickly ‘trained’ through the schools, and deserters like them were immediately reported as ‘criminals.’
Could other races do that? Probably not. Humans were, indeed, highly efficient.

They panicked greatly, but it was too late for regrets.

With the weapons they’d taken from the fortress, they had no choice but to turn to banditry.

Apparently, they never considered surrendering peacefully.

That said, the one bit of luck for them was that they weren’t alone.

All twenty—unhappy with non-humans receiving special treatment—had graduated from the academy as regular soldiers.

With their combined skill and numbers, they easily intimidated ordinary folk and comfortably beat other bandits, allowing them to thrive as outlaws.

But that smooth sailing ended quickly.

After all, a mere twenty ordinary people couldn’t expect to keep being bandits for long.

※

The twenty former regular soldiers were currently walking off-trail through the forest.

They were avoiding paths to prevent encountering large groups of soldiers.

Yet there was nothing timid about their movements.

These former army soldiers-turned-bandits bore an air and demeanor more dignified than in their military days, as if they’d spent ten years on the front lines.

It was proof of their regained confidence and awareness that things were going well.

They had now regained the confidence they’d lost.

They believed they were indeed exceptional and irreplaceable—otherwise, they’d have been captured long ago.

That belief made them feel special, certain that even greater achievements awaited.

For now, their comrades-in-arms who’d deserted with them were all they had, but they dreamed of gathering more followers, growing into a band sizable enough to be called an army, and exacting revenge on all who’d mistreated them.

It wasn’t something one could outright dismiss as impossible.

Most uprisings in the world started just like this.

They were the spark—if there was plenty of combustible material in the form of others sharing their grievances, it could ignite in an instant.

And, tragically, there was no shortage of that combustible material in this world.

The powers that be were well aware of this.

For that very reason, they moved to extinguish the problem while it was still a ‘small blaze.’

They ordered their unwitting lackeys into action.

Ahead of them as they pressed through the forest, something flew out forcefully from the gaps in the dense branches.

Even though they were armed soldiers, they couldn’t keep their swords and shields raised in constant vigilance while on the move.

None of them were able to react to the sudden onslaught.

[Wham?!]

It was a surprise attack.

The five men at the front each took a hit.

One was struck in the face, another in the torso, another in the limbs, another on their weapon.

Completely off guard, they crumpled, clutching the parts where they’d been hurt.

There were also those who, though not directly hit, had narrowly avoided it.

Realizing they were under attack, they immediately went into combat stance.

“W-what?! Hey, you okay?!”
“Enemy attack?! Damn… what hit me?!”
“What the…?”

As they watched the direction from which something had flown, the bandits shielded their comrades and looked around to see what had happened.

“Damn… rocks!”
Stones splattered with blood lay scattered where they had struck the soldiers.
They were embedded in the trees and the ground.

Seeing this, the soldiers realized it was a stone-throwing attack.

“It’s up in the trees… someone’s in the trees! They’re throwing stones!”
“What a low-down trick… could be non-humans?!”
“What kind of idiot attacks us like this?!!”

Stone-throwing attack.
It’s one of the most effective attacks since primitive times.
It’s cheap, easy to train for, and can hit the target from afar.