"Hmph, don't expect this goddess to babysit you. Unless you try something that is going to cost your life, I won't interfere." Luna said, narrowing her eyes.
"That's perfect since I can try to learn things in my own way instead of being spoon-fed." Ban lightly chuckled.
"Good. Now till the next week, you should cultivate your ethereal energy. I will be sleeping till the start of the next week." Saying this, Luna disappeared into the Shard Of Essence.
'Wow, all she does is sleep. What a lazy goddess.' Ban sarcastically chuckled inwardly.
—
Four days passed…
It was the morning of the new week as Ban got up from his bed. He had been cultivating till yesterday night and already broke through to the second level of the Initial Ethereal Realm.
'Hmm...I have already broken through to the second level, but I still don't know any ethereal techniques. Well, Luna did promise to teach me a soul technique to absorb souls, but that is not exactly a technique which can be used to fight.'
*knock* *knock*
Suddenly, Ban heard a knock on his door. He was startled for a bit, wondering who was knocking. But he suddenly realized that one whole week had already passed since he came to this place.
As he was busy cultivating, he had lost track of time and sometimes even forgot to have a sustenance pill.
He went towards the door and opened it to see a maid whose mouth turned agape when her eyes caught sight of Ban.
Seeing that she was simply staring at him as if he was an alien, Ban cleared his throat, "Ahem...is there anything I can help you with?"
"Ah,no...yes—-I mean, the Court Master asks for your presence. I was ordered to escort you to the study room."
The young maid was startled as she didn't expect a servant to look so charming and dashing. And his bearing and demeanor didn't seem to belong to a servant at all.
'Hmm, finally, it seems like today is the day I find out what they are going to do with me. Well, since Luna seems to know their motive and didn't comment anything about it, I guess it's not detrimental to me.'
Ban gave a light smile, "Sure, please lead the way."
'How handsome!' The young girl exclaimed in awe inwardly, wondering whether he was some hidden illegitimate prince staying in the servant's quarters no matter how illogical it seemed.
They passed through the palace halls while some maids paused their gaze on Ban for a while before looking away.
While walking, Ban asked Luna through his soul link, "Hey Luna, won't they realize that I am not a cripple now?"
Luna's melodious voice sounded in his head, "No, they won't unless they try to forcefully probe you and find it suspicious that they couldn't see through you. If they don't, you will just appear like a crippled mortal without any cultivation. Since they already know you are crippled, they won't bother to probe you, and even if they casually extended their spiritual perception, you will just appear as a mortal."
"Wow, so using your Shard Of Essence, you can mask my ethereal aura?" Ban asked as he was impressed by her ability.
"Of course, it is not a big deal to mask your ethereal aura or even your soul aura." She replied in a prideful tone.
Soon enough, they reached the door of the study room.
"You can enter inside. The Court Master is already in the room. I will take my leave now." The maid stole a quick glance at Ban before turning away. She left with a slightly hurried pace as if she might have some unnecessary thoughts if she stayed any longer.
Ban lightly chuckled, seeing the young maid's actions. He shook his head and knocked on the door.
"You can come in." An amiable voice sounded.
Ban entered the door and was surprised to see Lily dressed in a dignified and elegant violet attire, which made her look befitting the title of 'Celestial Princess'.
She was sitting on a chair while the two court masters sat on chairs placed opposite her with a table between them.
It seemed as if they were already having some discussion before Ban entered.
The princess's gaze became glued on to Ban for a moment when his face entered her vision. This was the first time she saw his face properly. And his new hair cut seemed to suit him and make him look more attractive.
She quickly cleared her thoughts and gave a friendly smile, "Hello, Ban. I believe you must be feeling better now, seeing that you even managed to cut your hair."
Ban still hadn't removed the bandages on his right forearm, even though it almost healed already.
Ban gave a light smile, "Well, it's all thanks to the potent medicine you gave me, Lily. It won't be long before I am fully healed."
"Insolence! How dare you address Her Highness by her name!" Nestor Rong turned his head towards Ban as his eyes bulged, glaring at him.
Lily raised her palm gracefully, "It's fine, Vice Court Master. We are the only ones here, and I had told Ban it was okay to call me by my name when nobody else is around."
'Wow...she is even covering up for me. What is exactly up with her?'
Ban pondered as he had addressed her by her name on purpose to see what kind of reaction she would have; so that he would be able to get some cues on what she was planning.
Lily gestured towards a seat placed on her left side, "Please take a seat, Ban. I have some things to discuss with you."
Lily was surprised seeing Ban's bright and fresh face, which contrasted with his gloomy and angry expressions the day she rescued him.
Ban didn't bother with any formalities and directly sat on the seat.
"I wonder what the imperial princess would want to discuss with a cripple like me?" Ban asked with a slight smile.
Lily gave a light chuckle, "Well, Ban, even though you are a cripple, I was really interested in your swordsmanship. And as you know, it's because of my misunderstanding that you ended up here. So, the only thing left to do was let you go on your way since we don't have any suitable job for you. But then it would also be a waste to let you leave like that since it was certainly not cheap to rescue you, and you wouldn't have anywhere to go to anyway."
Ban narrowed his eyes, "What do you want from me exactly?"
'Couldn't she just come to the point, instead of playing the roundabout way?'
Lily paused for a moment before saying, "I want you to teach me swordsmanship." She stared into Ban's eyes as she finished saying what was in her mind for over a week.
'Huh? What the heck? She wants me to teach her swordsmanship? Is this princess crazy or what? What is she exactly planning?' Ban was puzzled when he heard her request.
Why would an imperial princess request a cripple to teach her swordsmanship when she can get first-class experts to teach her?
Ban had an amused expression on his face, "Princess, I don't know if I heard you right. But did you just say that you want me to teach you swordsmanship when you can have several experts train you in the same?"
"I know it might sound absurd. But trust me when I say that your swordsmanship is actually top-notch, and I have never seen anything like it before...even from those first-class experts you are talking about." Lily said with her gaze focused.
'Don't tell me this world doesn't even have legitimate sword experts? Shouldn't a cultivation world be filled with experts of all kinds? Or are they bad at swordsmanship even with the immense power they hold?'
Lots of confounding questions were going through Ban's mind.
"Actually, I also practice swordsmanship, and I have trained in it for the majority of my life. That, too, trained by these so-called first-class sword experts. But when I saw your sword mastery, I actually felt a bit enlightened that I thought you might be coming from some prominent family or the Lancaster Empire where most of the sword experts reside." Lily said as her eyes gleamed.
'Wow, so is she saying my swordsmanship is top class even in the whole empire?' Ban mused as he didn't expect the Rong Empire not to have experts with high attainments in swordsmanship.
Ban knows that he is pretty skillful with the sword such that in his previous life if he claimed to be the second most expert in swordsmanship, nobody would claim to be the first.
Ban nodded his head slightly as if he was coming to a decision, "Okay, fine. I will teach you swordsmanship. But in return, you should fulfill some of my conditions." Ban said as a sly grin formed on his face.