Soo-Hyun did not expect Jin to act like so. She stopped him after a moment by resisting to his pulling. She asked him: "What's wrong?" to which Jin answered: "We're going to ditch our Twenty-Two Suns Sect robes, hurry up" She couldn't quite understand what he meant so she didn't budge: "Why?" He turned and glared at her and she glared back.
She was a stubborn mule, if he managed to anger again, she would likely do whatever she wanted. Jin calmed down at once and silently, gently, told her: "Soo-Hyun, this guy is going to lead those guys to their deaths. The vanguard always have the highest amount of death. Do you want to die, Soo-Hyun" She answered him: "Of course not. But I'm strong so it should be fine"
She was an idiot sometimes... Still, Jin had to remain calm if he wanted her to do what he had planned. And his plan didn't count going to the frontlines. So, he said: "You can beat someone of your level? True. Can you beat a dozen at once? Because that's what the front line is about, Soo-Hyun. If you want to have good duels, you have to stay on the defense team, ok?"
She looked at him with an inquisitive look. She doubted him. But he did come here solely to protect her so...She could probably give him that, right? In the end, she relented, nodded and agreed to follow him. They found a ditch in the middle of the sea of people and Jin took out two robes. Turned out Soo-Hyun had one extra too so he wouldn't need to give him one.
He stripped down without hesitation and changed into a new battle robe. It was a fiery red robe with a golden dragon dancing on the right side. It looked very good. As for attracting attention...It wouldn't matter if they stayed in the castle. Soo-Hyun had yet to change though.
"Why aren't you changing?" he asked and was answered by a glaring teenage girl who retorted: "Why do you think? Get out!" It hit him only at that time. And so, he went out and stayed at the entrance making sure no one would come. Well, it was in the middle of people. But no one cared about their antics. After all, it was now that the 'generals' were picking their troops.
Of course, they weren't calling every single group, only the most prominent ones. As for the mercenaries or wandering cultivators... Who would waste their time calling their names? Especially since those were the ones at the bottom, being at body refinement stages.
Soo-Hyun didn't take long to change. The fact that it was in the middle of the crowd, the protection offered by the ditch not that impressive, probably helped. She was now in a cute yellow battle robe with flower motives. Totally different from who she was. It did suit her...as long as you didn't know her. Jin found it a little weird to see this little devil wearing flowers. But when she asked him how she looked, he could only answer with a 'beautiful' else he received a slap or two.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
It didn't take that long for the four generals to finish picking their forces. Of course, the first to pick had the advantage. But was it really so? In the end, it was Prince Geon-U who decided to stay for defense and while he didn't pick the greatest forces, he had picked the most. Additionnally, he made sure to finish his speech by welcoming all those that wouldn't be picked and could pick themselves who to follow.
That's right. Those who weren't orally selected by the generals were free to choose. To the generals, they didn't matter. But for them, it was a great benefit. Instead of being forced to follow someone that would lead them to death, they could pick their leaders and tasks. Or even go solo. Though that would likely be suicide... They might even be killed by their own camps were they, fameless, to go out alone.
And that was the crux of Jin's plan. Since going with the other disciples to the frontlines was, in his opinion, suicide, he would just fake being a wandering cultivator and stay with the defenders. As he talked about to Soo-Hyun, while she was unhappy about staying to defend, she had to admit that this idiot did think things through. The whole plan was based on the fact that there were too many people. As such, forget a rollcall. It would already be good if friendly fires were kept on the downside.
After mere moments, the different forces moved to their respective new factions. Three left the castle grounds in different directions and only one stayed. It was Geon-U's. Jin and Soo-Hyun had successfully infiltrated this faction and ditched their own.
Was it traitorous? Maybe. Was it ugly? Maybe. But was it worth it? Definitely. To Jin, a good life was a life still going. As long as you were alive, all was good. And he surely had no plans to go die at the frontlines for nothing. His goal was to turtle it out in the safety of the castle grounds.
Though it was only far into the night that he and Soo-Hyun were allowed in. They were stopped one by one at the entrance, forced to give their names. They were also given a plate with three marks on it, prooving their belonging to the faction. At least, with that, friendly fire would be relatively low. It was a good idea. And it was likely that all corps would do the same.
Especially since they had settle camps outside the castle but not that far from it yet. They probably planned to move out the next day after settling most of their affairs. Didn't matter to Jin.
All warriors were allowed to pick a room in the many houses of the castle city. Jin wasn't very interested in being closest to the castle itself but would rather not be closest to the walls either. In the end, he settled for a house in the lower-middle of the city. There were three rooms and the duo would likely end up with one random roommate but it wasn't bad.
After settling in and Jin reminding Soo-Hyun not to speak about the sect, they both went to sleep.