Transmigrated as a Ghost

"Ah, Agustin, you are just in time. We got the thieves and their accomplices, but we really aren't certain what to do with them now." Marcus said.

However, Agustin did not reply immediately. Instead, he continued to stare at twenty-three people that had been tied up.

With just a few glances he could see that all of them were unconscious and were injured to varying different degrees. Yet when he looked closely at Marcus, Mrazivý, Miguel, and Lilia he did not see a scratch on them.

Then he noticed that the oddest thing going on was that Lilia, the smallest of the group, was easily dragging the criminals by herself with one hand.

"Agustin, you there? We want to know what to do with the criminals we captured?" Mrazivý asked, bringing him back to reality.

"Um, I suppose that we should bring them to a guard station. Or perhaps even the city watch's headquarters since there are so many." Austin said, a strained expression on his face. He knew that dragging around such a large number of people was going to draw the wrong kind of attention.

"Okay. We will follow your lead since we don't really know anything about the city." Marcus responded.

After that, they dragged the thieves back out onto the main street and met back up with the rest of their group.

There they could see that a bit of a crowd had gathered and were looking around curiously. Except, the most eyes weren't on the criminals being dragged out of the alleyway, or the shop that had bene robbed, but Aurelia who was using her unique skill Versatile Luminescence to heal that young guard that had been shoved aside.

The dazzling six floating orbs of light were emitting a soft glow that had attracted the attention of the onlookers.

It did not take long for the young man to wake up and jump to his feet in a panic. The last thing he remembered was rushing onto the scene of a crime and being attacked by thieves.

Nevertheless, as he looked around things had drastically changed from the last thing he could recall.

Agustin luckily cleared things up. Apparently, he was fairly famous around the capital because of his vibrant clothing and being a generally good person.

Eventually more guards showed up because of the commotion and took the criminals that had been captured into custody. Saving Marcus and his companions from having to make a trip to the city watch's headquarters.

"The city really is lacking in protectors right now. Those guards all had levels in the single digits other than the captain who was level nineteen and looked like the only one with any experience. Is this city going to be okay?" Mrazivý commented after things had settled down.

Agustin wore a strained expression as he heard Mrazivý's words, but he did not say anything in defense of the state of the city. Clearly, he knew how bad things were.

Of course, the capital had not devolved into complete anarchy. Certainly, there was heightened crime due to the lesser quantity and quality of guards on patrol, but obviously the rulers of the nation were putting at least some effort into keeping order. The guards responded expediently, but they were just too low level and lacking in numbers to deal with all the opportunistic criminals.

"I am sorry that you had to see that. Normally crimes like that would not happen in broad daylight. Unfortunately, the majority of the strongest fighters have already headed off to the Fortress City where His Majesty is personally amassing forces to take back the former capital.

I've have stayed behind to do what I can do help deter criminals, but the money really is too good which is why I am leaving tomorrow with all of you." Agustin said, laying his feelings bear.

Marcus could easily understand where the man was coming from. The payout to participate in the operation for adventures ranked silver and higher was exceptionally generous. Even someone with clearly upstanding morals like Agustin was not going to let this chance pass him by. Everyone needed money for various things, especially adventurers.

Gear was not cheap and there almost never seemed to be enough money.

Now that the incident had been resolved, Agustin began showing them around the city once again. Eventually the sun fell lower in the sky, and he brought Marcus and his companions to the inn they would be staying at for the night.

From the outside it was clear that the large five-story building was well taken care of. There was a fresh coat of paint that had been recently applied and the sign on the front of the building was undoubtedly created by a skilled artisan.

Walking inside, the interior was just as impressive as the exterior. A large hearth had a warm fire burning in it and several seats where guests could relax were set up around it.

'Oh! I can smell several delicious scents. They must have an experienced chef preparing the meals.' Marcus thought as he examined the inn.

If they had more time, he might have tried to make friends with the kitchen staff to share recipes with them, but since they were only staying one night, he knew that there would not be enough time to gain their trust.

With Agustin taking the lead, he spoke to one of the receptionists who seemed to know him and got Marcus' party's accommodations squared away.

Just as Vivi had said, they had four large rooms ready for them and at a heavily discounted price for such a nice inn. Dinner and breakfast were also included in this price, everyone shuffled into the dining hall before even going to see their rooms.

There they were served several local dishes that all tasted phenomenal. Marcus could tell from each dish that the chef was exceptionally skilled. Likely having their cooking skill at level five which was pretty rare.

After dinner the eleven of them split up into their four rooms.

Marcus and Mrazivý took one, Roxene, Blitz, and Inten took another, Lilia, Alaric, Aurelia, and Zarren stayed in the third room, and Eirwen and Miguel took the last room.

"Looks like someone can't sleep." Marcus murmured, noticing a presence stealthy moving through the inn.

Mrazivý had already fallen asleep and was not stirring since the presence was someone that they knew and trusted. Still, Marcus wondered what he was up to and used his ghost form to follow behind him.

Soon the person Marcus was following stopped on the roof of the inn and gazed out on the town with a serious look in his eyes.

"What are you doing up here, Miguel?" Marcus asked, appearing suddenly next to his recently acquired friend.

Startled, Miguel leapt away incredibly swiftly and pulled his sword and shield out in one fluid motion.

"No need to be so jumpy." Marcus said in a friendly voice.

Seeing who it was that had unexpectantly appeared, Miguel let out a sigh of relief and put away his sword and shield.

"I'm pretty sure that anyone would be surprised to suddenly find someone appearing out of thin air next to them. Next time you could at least give me a bit of warning."

"Sorry, but sometimes I have to follow my ghostly instincts and spook people a little. But I'll try to refrain from doing it to you again."

"Thanks, I guess." Miguel responded with a doubtful expression.

The two of them then stood on the roof without saying anything for a couple of minutes. From what Marcus could figure, Miguel was waiting for him to leave.

He wanted to know what his friend was doing up here, though, and broached the subject again.

"Now, are you going to tell me what you were about to do, or are we just going to stay up here all night? I don't need to sleep after all."

"Fine." Miguel said reluctantly. "I was planning on paroling the city. If crime is bad during the day, it must be worse at night. I figured that I could at least do something to help."

"I see. You really are a hero aren't you. Now all we need to do is get you a bat themed costume so that you can strike fear into the hearts of criminals." Marcus said jokingly.

For a moment Miguel was about to shoot back at Marcus about how unnecessary that would be, but stopped himself and instead went along with the joke.

"Fine, but if I am wearing the bat costume, then you with have to put on a red, yellow, and green custom and become my sidekick."

Smiling, Marcus was happy that Miguel had decided to play along. It showed that they were getting just a bit closer.

"I'm not sure if I can pull of those colors. Perhaps I should just switch my form over to Irene and don a similar bat custom and we can be partners instead.

However their banter stopped there, as both of them heard a crashing sound a couple of kilometers away with their keen senses of hearing.

"I don't; think that either of us will have any trouble with the miscreants in this city. How about we split up to cover more ground. I wasn't really planning to do anything tonight anyway and this will serve as a decent form of entertainment for me." Marcus said.

"Sure, do what you want. It's not like I really care what happens in this city. I just don't like criminals getting away with hurting whoever they like."

Their conversation having come to an end, Marcus and Miguel faced different directions and jumped from roof to roof as they hunted down thieves taking advantage of the city's current lack of guards.