My Desertion Would Be Faster Than Heros’ Obsession

"Salvia! Salvia, where are you?!"

“Yes, I’m coming!”

When I first woke up in this world, I found myself in an orphanage.

At the time, I had no idea this world was the setting of a romance fantasy novel. I just thought I’d been reborn into a fantasy-like world and was getting my second shot at life.

Thankfully, I retained some faint memories of the body I’d taken over, which made adjusting to my new environment relatively easy.

In fact, I even felt like my reincarnation might have been a blessing for the original owner of this body. After all, this girl was an orphan who’d grown up in terrible conditions at this very orphanage.

Romance fantasy novels have a strange tendency to paint orphanages as dens of misery, with cruel headmasters who abuse the children, deny them food, and exploit them for labor. I always thought that was a product of the authors’ biases.

But here? That bias was terrifyingly accurate. XX. It was as if this world had triggered every orphanage cliché imaginable.

“Salvia! Didn’t I tell you to bathe Sylvia earlier? What’s taking so long?!”

“Sorry! I was finishing the laundry.”

“Why are you so slow? At your age, you should be done with a simple task like that in no time! It’s because you’re always slacking off that you’re so useless!”

“Sorry…”

The name of this body is Salvia. I’m seventeen years old and basically the orphanage’s go-to errand girl for all the chores nobody else wants to do.

‘Still, I guess it could be worse compared to the others.’

The headmaster would beat the kids whenever she was in a bad mood. But for some reason, I was spared.

The reason wasn’t hard to guess.

‘She’s planning to sell me when I’m old enough.’

The body I’d been reincarnated into, Salvia, was breathtakingly beautiful. Annoyingly so.

Her long, coral-colored hair shimmered like it was woven from sunlight, her golden eyes sparkled brightly, and her pale, flawless skin—despite its slight roughness from hardship—added a delicate touch to her features. She had a face that looked like it belonged to a porcelain doll or a blooming flower.

She was the kind of girl people couldn’t help but stop and stare at when she walked by.

‘And she’s the only one in the orphanage with this hair color.’

Salvia’s appearance alone was enough to convince me that this was some kind of fantasy world, far removed from Earth. The other kids at the orphanage looked strikingly ordinary in comparison.

Brown, blonde, black, and red hair. Brown, blue, green eyes. All natural, all realistic.

The only one with coral-colored hair and golden eyes was Salvia.

‘But in this case, being beautiful and unique isn’t a good thing.’

For an orphan girl with no status or family, beauty wasn’t an advantage. It was a liability. There was no one in this world who could or would protect me.

Honestly, I should’ve been grateful that the headmaster hadn’t sold me off when I was a child. Pretty little orphan girls tend to fetch high prices.

‘Once I’m old enough, I’ll either end up as a noble’s mistress… or worse.’

I should probably start plotting my escape. Although, with this face, surviving alone doesn’t sound all that promising either…

And then there was the other problem: one day, I realized that this body of mine had some… unusual abilities.

While cleaning under a massive dresser, a chore assigned by the headmaster, I suddenly thought:

‘I could probably push this thing if I really tried.’

And then I did.

A massive dresser that even an adult man would have struggled to move, I pushed it aside with ease.

It was disconcerting to say the least—watching this delicate-looking body, which didn’t even seem capable of lifting a spoon, move that dresser as if it weighed nothing.

‘Now that I think about it… this body has never felt tired or weak.’

Something about this was very, very ominous.@@novelbin@@

I wasn’t sure if this ability was a blessing or a curse, but being a “pretty, low-status orphan girl” with “special abilities” didn’t bode well for my future.

So I decided to keep my head down and live as inconspicuously as possible at the orphanage.

“What… is this?”

Until one day, a golden mark appeared on my wrist.

It materialized as if by magic, glowing brightly before spreading up my arm like an intricate vine. My entire arm shimmered with golden light.

‘This… this is definitely bad…’

“Salvia!”

At that moment, the headmaster’s voice startled me. I quickly hid my arm behind my back.

The headmaster’s sharp gaze landed on me, her eyes practically gleaming.

“At last, it’s time!”

“Wh-what time?”

My voice came out weak and confused. I had no idea what she was talking about.

“Time for your enlistment, of course!”

“…Enlistment?”

That was a word I really didn’t want to hear.

“I told you this would happen someday, didn’t I? You’re Other Race. The time for your contract to take effect has come. Now, come with me. I’ll take you there.”

“Where?! Why am I enlisting?!”

Gripping her sleeve, I tried to get answers. But she just assumed I was in denial about my reality.

“Well, we’ll leave tomorrow. You can rest for one more night. The contract magic won’t mind waiting a day.”

With that, she left the room and locked the door behind her.

“Ha! If I report her as conscripted rather than a volunteer, I’ll get a bonus.”

I heard her muttering gleefully on the other side of the door.

“What the hell is going on?!”

I shouted desperately, but no one answered.

A few days later, I found myself dragged into the Border Defense Corps.

It was then that I realized this wasn’t just some random fantasy-like world.

This was the world of Four Madmen Obsessed with Me. XX.

***

The Moment the Headmaster Dragged Me into the Border Defense Corps, Three Things Became Clear

First: Salvia’s impossibly vibrant hair and eye colors were because she belonged to the Other Race.

Second: Her extraordinary physical abilities were also because she was part of the Other Race.

And lastly: Everyone in the orphanage had known Salvia was Other Race, except me.

The kids would sometimes look at me with pity in their eyes. Turns out, they all knew my fate was to be conscripted. Everyone but me knew I was destined for the army.

“Are you Miss Salvia?”

“Yes,” I replied weakly to the man sitting in front of me. He seemed to be some sort of officer managing new recruits, but I knew nothing about military ranks in this world. Staring at his epaulettes wasn’t going to magically enlighten me.

“How’s your arm?”

“Not great…”

Ever since the golden mark had appeared on my wrist, my left arm had been aching. The pain had grown steadily worse, to the point that I’d practically begged the headmaster to take me to someone who could fix it, even though I had no idea where we were going.

The man reached out and placed his hand over my wrist. Then, he began murmuring something in a language I couldn’t understand.

[━━━]

It sounded strange, like a mix between a spell and a curse. The unfamiliar syllables sent a chill down my spine.

As I listened, I suddenly realized… my arm didn’t hurt anymore.

“Huh?”

The golden tattoo, which had been glowing like molten veins across my skin, had shrunk down to a small mark near my wrist. It no longer glowed, and the pain was gone.

“There. The contract has been activated. You won’t feel any more pain. But if you try to desert or act out…”

The man raised his hand and mimed an explosion with his fingers.

I didn’t fully understand what he was implying, but I got the gist: desertion equals death. Got it.

“Um… I have a question.”

The man raised one eyebrow, his sharp gaze cutting into me.

“…I mean, I’d like to ask a question,” I corrected myself hastily.

Damn it, why is asking one simple question so intimidating?

“Go ahead.”

“Why am I being conscripted?”

The man stared at me like I was the dumbest creature he’d ever seen. I felt a wave of indignation, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.

“The magic contract your ancestors signed is passed down through your bloodline. When the time comes, the contract activates. If you refuse to serve in the Border Defense Corps…”

He dragged a finger across his throat in a clear gesture.

‘So, basically, I’m Other Race, and because of some ancient contract, I’m magically bound to compulsory service.’

It was absurdly unfair, but for some reason, it felt eerily familiar.

I decided to shelve my frustration for now and focus on the future.

“When… does the contract end? I mean, when will I be discharged?”

His reply was brutally short.

“Eight years.”

Eight years? Eight years?!

XX. Might as well not have a future at all.

***

Once that man finished explaining everything, I was dragged off to participate in an "enlistment ceremony" alongside other members of the Other Race. It was during this humiliating ritual that I finally realized: this really was the world of Four Madmen Obsessed with Me.

And now, at long last, I had arrived at the unit where I would serve.

When I read FourMad, I skimmed through most of the world-building. I had only paid attention to the romance between the male leads and the female lead. But now that I was living it? This world’s setting was a total disaster. XX.

The Other Race lived in lands teeming with monsters. At first, they were able to fend off the creatures using their superior physical abilities.

But over time, the monster population exploded, surpassing what they could handle. Then, along came the Adolf Empire, a nation armed with advanced technology and magic, which invaded the Other Race’s territory.

The Other Race lost the war and fell under the empire’s control. That’s when they were forced into a magical contract—a kind of slavery disguised as diplomacy. The contract bound them to serve as soldiers in the Border Defense Corps for eight years, once their abilities reached a certain threshold.

That same contract, carried through bloodlines, had finally activated in Salvia—my current body.

‘Still, eight years? That’s just absurd.’

Mark my words: someday I’m going to assassinate this lunatic emperor of the Adolf Empire.

‘I want to desert. I know I can’t because of the contract magic, but I really want to desert.’

While I fantasized about desertion, my feet obediently followed the other recruits as we marched forward.

Before I knew it, we had entered a decrepit building that looked as miserable as my future.