162 It’s Time For Plan B
(Siji’s PoV)
I didn’t know how I should tell Jane that her boyfriend was recruited into the army. He became her long-awaited General, to be precised. I knew for sure that she didn’t know the one she had chosen on the trial day really ended up became her General and that she didn’t really care who would be the one. After the trial ended, she spent her days like usual; training and sleeping.
When the Elders called me to tell me about the result, I left Jane in the middle of her training in strenghtening her spiritual power. She was gifted in this area, yet she said she was still mediocre. If only those Masters out there heard her comment about herself, they might vomit blood.
Anyway, my problem right now was to pick up the General and brought him to the army. Masters didn’t need time to try and be accepted by the army. They were chosen because they had capability. Generals, on the other hand, were selected. It was rare for the Generals to be chosen like the Masters, most of the time they were selected after following series of trials. This time, there was only two trials since the candidates were few. After two main trials, the chosen candidate would spend his or her day with the army.
It was a kind of trial, too, actually. If the army refused the chosen candidate, the second candidate could step up and try to blend in with the army. This step was the most important.
I could only hope that man could live up to Jane’s expectation.
Early in the morning, I brought some men with me and went to where the man was living. Just in time, I saw him coming out of his house with a big bag in his hand. Apparently he was leaving to somewhere. His mother was waving at him, meant I couldn’t act yet.
I gestured the men to stand by and waited for my command. As soon as the man couldn’t see his mother anymore, I nodded and my men surrounded him. He was surprised when he saw the men, but I didn’t reveal myself to him. I doubt he forgot about me.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtIn a second, the men had brought him to our camp near Satu Village, in the place where the men were staying. Sir Ahmad had been waiting for him and as soon as he appeared there, Sir Ahmad had started to welcome him.
.....
He was stunned at first, but then I noticed he was getting more annoyed in every second. Even when Sir Ahmad congratulated him for being chosen, he didn’t show any elated expression. Only annoyance.
It was normal since we interrupted him from going somewhere. I bet he might be heading off to see Jane. If only he wasn’t casted to join the trial, we would not do something so despicable such as jamming the signal so that any calls or texts from him or Jane would not get through. We even messed with the signal from his uncle. It was to prevent both of them to know our plan.
“Well, this is the Adviser of First Army; Siji.” Sir Ahmad introduced me to him.
Being pointed directly made me had no ways to avoid him anymore. I only hoped he was the kind of people who would forget other people’s face easily. When I first met him, my hair was tied in a bun and I was wearing white clothes. This time, however, I let my hair down and I was wearing my grey clothes -it was only a matter of snapping my fingers, after all. Even though it was absurd to think that he would forget me just because of the difference of my hair styling, I was still holding onto that tiny hope.
Why didn’t I want to be recognized? The answer was simple; it was troublesome.
I didn’t want him to think that he could ask for any information about Jane from me. In short, I hated to be a messenger between him and her. Well, even though there was no guarantee that it would really happen, I prefered to be ready when the time came. Better safe than sorry, right?
But, that man named Tom, only glanced at me and nodded once before he turned his head towards Sir Ahmad. I arched my eyebrows, wondering whether he did know me or not.
Ah well, since he didn’t say anything, I wouldn’t pry either. I excused myself and went into my own place. I only needed to watch the proggress from afar. I guessed Sir Ahmad had told him what he needed to do in the camp. After that, both Sir Ahmad and I watched him interacting with the army.
When on duty, those men were like statues with stoic faces, only capable of following orders. But when they were off duty, they were like human soldiers; talking, joking, and playing. Even so, whenever new people entered their camp and tried to communicate with them, they would automatically become aloof again, zipping their mouths tight.
The Elders had said that the new General would spend his time with the army, try to blend in, and get to know the army better. It might take days, weeks, months, even years. Before that goal was achieved, the new General wouldn’t be granted the permission to meet the Master.
In any case before Jane, the Masters couldn’t wait to use the army, that’s why they were so eager to have their own General. Some even used the army without waiting for the General which resulted in their own dead. Therefore, the Generals would sometimes feel that they were more important than the Master in running the army. They didn’t need to worry that they would lose out in action.
However, Jane was different. She could operate the army even without the General. I believed Sir Ahmad had told him about it, that he would lose on some actions if he couldn’t blend with the army fast enough.
We might have asked him to act fast, but... not this fast, right? Both Sir Ahmad and I were stunned as we saw the scene in front of us.
He had been here for what? Around two or three hours, but how did he manage to make the men sing together with him? They looked so close that if someone who didn’t know better would say that he had been with them for long.
After four hours, I could see their cooperation and coordination were superb. They understood him so well that they knew what he would do with just a glance, and he knew how to communicate with them.
“Well, that’s surprising.” Sir Ahmad said calmly even though there was surprise in his voice. “I don’t think we need to use the plan that we have arranged for him. He looks fine to me.”
“Of course, we can’t.” I frowned. “I think it’s time for Plan B.”
“You have Plan B?” Sir Ahmad looked at me in surprise.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm“Of course.” I nodded without adverting my gaze from Tom who was still playing outside. He looked like he was home, as if he was born to do this.
“What is it? Tell me!” Sir Ahmad looked at me expectantly.
“What else? Let him meet the Master. He has done his part of the job, to get to know the men. Now that he already did it, we can’t force him to stay, can we?” I replied casually.
“Are you sure?” Sir Ahmad looked doubtful.
I could understand the meaning behind his question, after all they had been the one that held the selection and train the Generals. And they knew perfectly well how long they would need to get into those men’s good book. Seeing that Tom only needed less than six hours to do that, Sir Ahmad may be feeling a bit skeptical.
“Absolutely. Well, he is heading towards where Master is, after all.” I answered. “Come on, we need to tell him.”
The rest of the process went fast as Tom said goodbye to the men. When I mentioned to him that we were heading to meet the Master, he didn’t say anything. It was clear that he got annoyed for a bit, but he didn’t voice it out.
“After you meet Master, your position as the General of FIrst Army will be engraved into your soul. I must say that the process was a bit painful at first. If you want to back out now, this is your chance.” I reminded him casually.
“As long as it won’t take long, it doesn’t matter. I need to go somewhere after this.” He said coldly.
Yap, he was definitely upset. I had the urge to ask him where he wanted to go, that if he were to see Jane, he might as well stick close to me and I would take him to her through the shortest shortcut.
But, I held back. My hand moved to open the door to our dimension, then another door. In a flash, we had arrived in the front yard of Jane’s house.
“Come on.” I gestured for him to follow me, and he did. Obediently, he walked behind my back and stopped in front of the main door. “Ring the bell, or knock. Whatever.”
I could have brought him inside, but I wanted to see both of their expressions. It must be funny. Only imagining it could make me chuckled.
He didn’t say anything or ask anything. He pushed on the ring bell and waited for any response. It didn’t take long as the front door was pulled open from the inside by someone. Both of their expressions were amusing, but I frowned as I really didn’t like this kind of reaction.