Transmigrated as a Ghost

Waking up the next day it was time for Marcus and Lilia to leave, as Marcus needed to get back to the capital to participate in the kingdom's tournament and hopefully win the valuable rewards being offered.

"On behalf of the village I thank you once again Irene and Lilia for all you have done for us even when you did not have to." The village chief said with gratitude in his eyes.

"It was no problem; I was just returning your kindness so think nothing of it. Also, should you ever need anything from me, just send a letter to the address I gave you and I will come as fast as I can."

After saying their goodbyes to the entire village Marcus and Lilia climbed up onto their carriage that was being pulled by Blitz, and with one last look at the people gathered to see them off, began their journey back to the kingdom's capital.

Going down the road Marcus turned off once they had gotten about twenty miles away from the village and had everyone get back onto his back after transforming into the form of a caladrius.

Taking to the sky, Marcus wanted to get back to the capital as quickly as possible and while Blitz was quite fast, he just could not compare to flying in a straight line over any obstacle. 

Flying across the kingdom it took them only two and a half days to make the journey that normally would have taken a couple of weeks by cart, and as the kingdom's capital came into view, Marcus found a remote location where no one was around and landed.

He of course had no intention of flying right up to the walls of the kingdom's capital since it was likely he would be shot out of the sky thought to be an invading beast.

Luckily from where they were now it would only take a couple of hours for their carriage pulled by Blitz to make it to the capital's gates.

"Okay it is time for us to make the last leg of the journey back home." Marcus said with excitement in his voice.

He had a lot waiting for him in the capital, and a near infinite number of things he needed to get done with only a finite amount of time.

Soon they made it to the massive walls surrounding the city and the equally large gate that had thousands of people lined up outside trying to get in.

Naturally though with his noble status skipping lines like these was one of Marcus' perks and he quickly went to the front of the line that was especially meant for nobles or high-ranking civil servants.

Getting to the gate's entrance Marcus was happily surprised to find that the same guard who had let him in the first time was actually there since they had gotten to know each other a bit since Marcus often passed in and out of this gate.

"Good day to you Lady Geist, it seems you still enjoy driving the carriage yourself."

Nodding his head Marcus said, "Yep it is nice to feel the cool breeze and this way I have a better view of the sights."

After making a little friendly chatter with the guard Marcus was swiftly allowed entrance into the city and made a beeline for his estate that was situated within the inner wall of the city.

Passing into the inner wall, Marcus was able to say hello to his friends Adrianna and Clarisa who were still in charge of the northern gate of the inner city.

The three of them even set a day when they would go out and get drinks together and celebrate the new post as a knight that Clarisa would be getting after the kingdom's meeting.

Once his friendly chat with them was done Marcus continued on to his home, but when he arrived, he noticed something strange.

Instead of the normal single maid manning the guard station, two of them were there, and in front of the gate there were four armored guards as well.

Checking the levels of the guards Marcus found them to all be over level twenty with one of them even being level twenty-six which was pretty high in comparison to the general population.

Seeing this Marcus was wondering if something bad had happened since the security had been increased.

Driving up to the gate one of the guards stepped forward and said, "Halt this is Lady Baronetess Irene Geist's estate, what business do you have here."

Of course, this guard had never seen Marcus before, so he was unaware that this was in fact his property.

"I feel like I should ask the same thing, what are you doing in front of my property keeping me from entering." 

The guard hearing this closely looked Marcus over and his eyes went wide as he realized that the young girl driving this carriage matched the description of the owner of this estate their employer had told them about.

Luckily for the guard Violet ran over and said, "Lady Irene you have returned. Please come in quickly and Clara will explain the situation for you."

Becoming concerned with what was going on, Marcus could only imagine that something terrible must have happened for Clara to hire extra security of such caliber.

Entering into the estate's grounds Marcus noticed that there were even more guards that were walking the perimeter of the wall.

Following Violet back to the mansion, Marcus wanted to ask her what was going on, but she seemed to not want to talk about it and said that Clara had all of the details.

Coming up to the front entrance Marcus got off the carriage and passed the reins over to Lilia before saying, "Would you mind taking Blitz to the stables and then you can show Aurelia and Zareen around the grounds."

Lilia getting the message that Marcus wanted to talk to Clara alone, nodded her head and began taking Blitz back over to the stable.

Steeling himself for some bad news, Marcus entered into his mansion followed by Violet who led him to where Clara was.

Entering into the room Clara was using as an office, Marcus saw his head maid sitting on a chair looking over a number of documents while seeming completely haggard.

Since he had gotten back everyone seemed on edge and worn out, but Clara appeared to have it worse than the others.

However, as she heard the door open, she began turning around, while saying, "Did I not tell you to knock when you are- Lady Irene!"

Seeing Marcus, Clara rushed to her feet and gave a short bow before coming over to Marcus with a look of fear, sorrow, and relief on her face.

"Lady Irene you do not know how glad I am that you have returned. I am afraid that I have incredibly bad news to tell you, so please take a seat first."

Nodding his head Marcus moved over to the small couch in the room and sat down before saying, "So would you mind explaining what is going on. I have seen that you hired extra security and that everyone is on edge, did we get robbed while I was away?"

Shaking her head Clara said, "No it is much worse, I am afraid to say that Grace and Jenna have been abducted."

Hearing this Marcus' eyes went wide with shock. Someone had abducted two of his maids and it had happened while he was gone. 

He immediately began to feel rage and then regret that he was not here when it happened.

"Continue give me the rest of the details." Marcus said with a deadly serious tone.

Clara then told Marcus everything she knew, about how three weeks ago both Grace and Jenna went missing after going to resupply the estate's groceries. Then after getting in contact with the authorities, they found signs of a struggle but the two of them were still missing. Unfortunately, the city guards soon labeled the investigation as low priority and stopped searching letting the trail go cold.

Apparently afterwards Clara asked Viscountess Tenreion to get a royal investigator on the job since Grace and Jenna were under the protection of Lady Delilah's Academy of Service.

However, even with the pressure put on by the viscountess the investigation did not start up again.

Marcus had a feeling that something fishy was going on, since it made no sense for there not to be a deeper investigation into the disappearance of two maids in the service of a noble and with a connection to a long-standing institution.

'Something is going on here. Now the only question is if it is related to me, the academy, or something about the two of them personally."

Marcus was not sure why exactly they had been targeted, but he knew that he could not just leave them missing, so he planned to do whatever it took to find them.

"Thank you for telling me this Clara and do not worry about he added expenses of the guards, it was the right thing to do. Now first thing tomorrow I will send a letter to the grand archmage and see if she cannot get the investigation going again"

Hearing this Clara's eyes seemed to brighten up and her shoulders seemed to have a weight lifted off of them.

"Thank you Lady Irene, I am sure if such a powerful figure gets involved there is no doubt we will find them."

After that, Marcus told Clara to get some rest and that he would go and get started on that letter right away.