Transmigrated as a Ghost

Stopping in front of the village chief's house, Marcus and Lilia got down from their carriage and went inside so that they could talk with him without the crowd they had gathered.

As they entered Marcus quickly spotted Marianna who was currently setting the table, with what looked to be finer dining utensils than he had seen the last time he was here.

"Ah father have our esteemed guests arri- Irene and Lilia?!" 

Turning around to talk to her father and greet who she thought was going to be a noble that had come to their village, she instead saw Marcus and Lilia who were far from what she was expecting.

When her father told her that a fancy carriage was approaching, she thought maybe the lord who ruled their territory had come for a visit, or maybe a noble had gotten lost which had happened once in the past, but it was actually Marcus and Lilia.

Putting the plates in her hands down, Marianna walked up to Marcus and Lilia and said, "It is good to see that you are safe, and that you found Lilia.

She then gave each of them a hug, before going back to setting up the table and allowing her father to talk with their guests.

Sitting down on a couch across from the village chief, Marcus waited for the village chief to begin speaking since he looked like he had something he wanted to say.

"It really is good to see the two of you again and in good health, but last I heard from Janice she said that you were dead, and that Lilia had been abducted by some noble." The village chief said with a curious expression.

He had honestly believed that he would never see either of them again, but here they were together almost a year since the incident happened.

However, hearing the village chief's questioning, Marcus realized the mistake he had made. He had given Lilia the ashes of Irene's body, so of course the people she had been traveling with learned of Irene's death. But Marcus had once again taken up her identity, so he was going to need to come up for some excuse.

Then there was the other problem which was that as far as everyone else from the community knew, Lilia had been abducted by Wade and was never seen again.

Of course, Marcus had just went and  picked her up afterwards, but it was not like he had informed anyone from this village or the survivors from Lilia and Irene's community that he had gotten her.

Trying to think of a way out of this, Marcus quickly came up with a story about how he as Irene had gotten sick in Loursend, and his partner had left him in a hospital, but some records got turned around and his partner thought he had died.

Of course, there was no partner and Marcus was both Irene and himself, but this seemed like the most plausible way for him to have Irene come back to life miraculously.

"I see so you did not actually die, that is good. So how did you meet back up with Lilia, and you seem to be quite well off with a nice carriage and a powerful looking magical beast. What all has exactly happened to you since you left this village."

With his death as Irene cleared up Marcus told the village chief that the noble who had abducted Lilia was actually a friend of his and he had asked him to look after her during the ice ant outbreak.

Of course, Wade had actually abducted Lilia without his knowledge, but since he had treated her well and she was back with him now so all's well that ends well.

Yet hearing about the ice ants, the village chief scowled. He then told Marcus about how they had been forced to flee their village when the ice ants came down from the north, and they had lost most of the livestock in the process. 

At the very least their homes were mostly undamaged when they came back, and the kingdom did give them some assistance and even put up a new sturdy fence for them.

"I see so that is why I saw so few of the goats than you had before. I am sorry, I should have come to help you all out afterwards, but I got wrapped up in some other stuff and when I reunited with Lilia taking care of her became my first priority."

Waving his hand and shacking his head the village chief said, "No you had your own problems to worry about and we got through just fine for the most part. We are lucky that no one died and only around a dozen people were permanently injured. I heard from some of the other surrounding villages that they lost many people during that crisis."

With sympathetic expression Marcus said, "I am sorry that you had such a hard time, but if you want, I can probably help you out with getting your livestock replenished and healing the injured."

The village chief looked surprised to hear this, but he just shook his head and said, "No it is fine, we will get by. You have your own life to live so we could not take your money. And I am afraid that the injured are far beyond the point of healing. Restoring lost body parts is something that only nobles or those with a lot of money could afford."

However, Marcus was not willing to give up on helping them so easily. The people of this village had shown him a great deal of kindness, and he was willing to return what they had given to him now that he could.

"I am afraid that I cannot just do nothing. You and this village helped me to save Lilia and without your help I would have been lost and never found her. So, everything I have earned originated from your generosity. Anyway, it will cost me nothing but my time and a bit of energy to heal the villagers since I have become well versed in healing magic. And you will at least allow me to pay you back for the money you lent me."

Seeing that Marcus was not going to take no for an answer, the village chief held out his hand expecting Marcus to give him back the same number of copper coins he had given way back when. But instead, Marcus dropped a pouch containing a thirty gold coins into his hands.

The village chief looked at the bag in disbelief, since this was more than the entire village had by a lot.

"Sorry I cannot offer you anymore, that is pretty much all I have on me right now." Marcus said looking sad as if what he had just given was only a pittance.

"There is no way we can accept this. It must have taken you and your sister months of hard work to earn this much." 

The village chief then tried to hand the pouch of money back to Marcus, but he just refused it saying, "No please take it. I did not mention this yet, but I have actually been given a noble title for helping during the ice ant attack. In the capital I can earn more that this in a week so feel free to keep it. Money goes a lot farther out here than the capital, so do not be bothered, it will not make much of a difference to me."

After hearing this the village chief just sat there astounded. At first, he thought Marcus was lying to make him feel better about taking the money, but when he pulled out the silver plate ID the village chief could no longer deny it.

Marcus then told him about everything that had happened to him and Lilia since he had left, albeit leaving out and changing certain things that were unbelievable or would expose him as a ghost.

"It sounds like you certainly went through a lot over this past year, but to think you could make such progress in only a year. Not to mention becoming a noble and a high-ranking adventurer. It almost hard to believe, but I am glad that everything has worked out for you." The village chief said with a proud expression.

After chatting a bit more with the chief and his daughter, Marcus asked if he could round up those that had been injured so that he could heal them.

The chief nodded his head and then got up. He still was only half convinced that Marcus could use healing magic that would recovery lost body parts, but he did not have anything to lose by trying.

Of course, he was right to think this way since Marcus' healing magic could not regenerate lost body parts, but his new specter power in theory could.

Exiting the village chief's house, Marcus saw that an even larger crowd had formed with many people pointing and looking at Blitz with a few of the fearless children trying to go up and touch him just to be pulled back by the nearby adults.

"Okay if you would lead me to those who are injured, I will do my best." 

The village chief nodded his head and told some of the villager to get the injured rounded up before leading Marcus to the couple of people that had lost or heavily injured both legs and could not move.

However, before Marcus followed, he noticed Lilia looking at some of the children who had also been looking at her.

"Lilia, you do not need to come with me. Feel free to go and catch up and play with your friends. Just mind your strength since you are a lot stronger now than any of them."

Lilia's face then brightened up before she ran over to her friends that she had not seen in a long time to tell them about the amazing adventures she had been on.

With a bright smile Marcus took one last look at his little sister before following the village chief to heal the injured.