(MC POV)
The princess had to change to another set of clothes for the reception so it ended up with just me entering the reception hall with my disciples in tow.
The guests were already engaging each other in conversation while standing around the hall, most of them with some kind of drink or food in hand.
"Master Lin and his disciples, I bid you welcome," The servant at the door greeted us with a bow. "Please enjoy the refreshments, the Royal Family will join the festivities soon."
"Oh, Master! There's some nice things there! May I see?" Eris squealed, pointing at one of the buffet tables while pulling my sleeve.
Heh, I did get her interested in cooking after all, so she would definitely be interested in opportunities to learn other recipes.
"Hahaha, of course, enjoy yourselves. All of you deserve it," I laughed. "Why don't you guys go ahead? I'll just go to the washroom for a bit."
Diao Chan gave me a sultry smile, "Does Master need help with relieving himself? Master can use me as relief whenever you want~"
I flicked her on the forehead, "Don't say such things in front of others. Now go, don't need to wait for me. I'll join you all afterwards."
"Yes, Master."
I left them and got directions to the nearest washroom from a passing servant, making my way through the winding corridors of the palace. Not sure why they put the toilet so far away from the banquet hall though.
I managed to find the place without much trouble, though it was quite curious that the entire place was deserted. Not really in a mind to care too much, I quickly finished my business without any issues.
When I left, however, a rather mature looking woman was standing outside waiting for me.
She was dressed in a tight fitting purple gown that hugged her curves with a rather wide brimmed hat that covered half her face nestled on top of her head.
The woman smiled when she saw me, showing me two rows of perfect, white teeth, "Ah Divine One, good day. I was looking for you."
I raised an eyebrow at her, "Sorry, I think you got the wrong person."
Her smile widened, "Do not worry Divine One, I made sure no one was around before approaching you. I bear a message from the two foxes."
Foxes? Wait a minute. She called me Divine One didn't she? There's only one group of people I know that will call me that and I don't remember her being part of it. Unless…
I focused my eyes and the face of the mature woman began fading away, leaving a skeleton behind that was somehow wearing the dress. I released my concentration and the same woman appeared again.
"Lich?"
She nodded, "Yes, Divine One. I was the only one who possessed a skill to infiltrate humans so I was sent by them to give you this."
She dug out an orb from within her dress, I recognised it as the sealing orb from the Dark Sect. It seems like they have repaired it?
"You're giving me the sealing orb I broke?"
"Yes and no, we made some changes to it, Divine One."
I picked it up from her hands, inspecting it with my eyes, "What sort of changes?"
"We linked it to all of us that have chosen to serve you, Divine One. If you ever require our aid in any way, all you need to do is to say the word and we will appear by your side through the orb. If needed, you can also use any of us as an anchor point to send one of us to them as well."
"So basically a mobile two-way teleporter?"
She bowed her head, "For you to discern its function so easily, as expected of the Divine One."
Is it really that hard to guess? Seems pretty obvious to me.
"Would you like to try it?" She suggested.
"Alright, how does it work?"
"It's really simple, you just need to think about any one of us with the will to summon and we will appear before you."
I raised an eyebrow, "Through the orb?"
She nodded.
"I don't even need to ask them before doing it?"
She nodded again.
"Huh… Won't that inconvenience you guys though?"
She smiled, "For the Divine One who we owe our lives too, there is nothing more important to us than the Divine One himself."
Great… How the hell did this idea get to them? Oh whatever, as long as it helps me with my easy life then I wouldn't mind. They are helping me keep the monster population low after all.
Right, so let's try this out.
I held the orb in my hand and thought of… Well… Who should I think of?
The first ones that come to mind are the fox sisters but I doubt anyone would appreciate me summoning a giant fox in the middle of the palace and destroying the entire place.
Ok, maybe some wouldn't mind since the fluff would be worth it but let's not risk it.
I guess the next best choice would be the squid head guy? Yeah, let's go with him.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, a ball of light shot out from the orb to hit the ground in front of me. It quickly formed into the shape of a humanoid and the squid guy was now standing in front of me.
"You called, Divine One?" He asked with a tilt of his head.
"Oh, just er… Testing the orb you guys gave me out."
He turned behind to face the Lich, "Ah, Stephanie. I see you've managed to deliver it without any issues."
Woah… A Lich named Stephanie. I think I've seen it all now.
The Lich smirked at him, "Yes, Benjamin. I told you I would."
Ok, I take that back. Did these guys flip through some kind of random name list and pick these names for themselves?
And if that eyeball thing is called Jack, I swear I'll kill someone.
"Allow me to elaborate on its functions, Divine One," The squid, I mean Benjamin, gestured towards it. "We have all volunteered our souls into it and thus you are able to recall us from anywhere to your side and send us back to wherever we were before, or even to each other if it pleases you."
"Wait… Your souls are here? Doesn't this mean this becomes your soul anchor?" I gasped. True enough, I could see the faint transparent line of their Soul Link stretching out from their chest and pointing towards the orb.
Benjamin's eyes gleamed, "As expected of the Divine One to know about this. That is correct. I will admit it was not easy to do but after spending so many decades within that orb, both Stephanie and I had uncovered quite a lot of its secrets. How it kept us alive in there was one of them."
Damn… That means that as long as this orb remains intact, these guys won't die if they are killed. They will just return to the orb, reform and come back out again, good as new.
This one's different from my own Soul Link back then since mine was temporary, and it was anchored to a 'location', not an 'object'.
The fact they managed to do this on their own is quite impressive but…
"Doesn't that mean if the orb is destroyed, you guys will die too?"
Both of them smiled, or at least I can obviously tell that Stephanie is smiling from her illusion but I just guessed that Benjamin was as well since his eyes squinted slightly.
"Divine One… I don't think anyone here on this Plane is able to destroy a Sealing Orb except you," Stephanie pointed out. "Besides, there is nowhere else safer than you, Divine One."
"Fair enough," I admitted. "How do I send you back then?"
"Just will me back through the orb to where I had come from. The orb should have dropped a marker at my previous location," Benjamin stated like it was incredibly easy.
Well then, if he says so.
I simply thought about him going back into the orb and in an instant, he transformed into a blob of light and reentered the Sealing Orb with no indication that he had been there before.
Well, I must say this is quite neat.
I turned my head back to the Lich, "So that's it? You infiltrated into the princess's coming of age celebration to pass me this?"
She nodded, "That was all I came for, yes. Unless Divine One has something else in mind? A message for me to relay back to them perhaps?"
Huh… Either she has extremely good skills to be able to slip through the Royal Family's security or their security was already that bad to begin with.
I'm pretty sure they have experts of their own stationed around the place, that's why the princess could go around without much worry for her safety.
I shook my head, "No, it's fine. I'll come and check up on you guys when I'm free. How is everyone actually?"
"Everyone is doing well Divine One, the foxes have been managing everyone in your stead and everyone is happy. We have also followed your directions in dealing with the monsters around our new home, it is now a completely safe area."
"That is good to hear. Give my regards to everyone there then."
She bowed, "It shall be done, Divine One. If it is not too much to ask, could you teleport me back?"
I obliged and sent her to where Benjamin had gone before leaving to rejoin my disciples.
Hopefully they left me some nice food.