Transmigrated as a Ghost

Chapter 1040: Chapter 1040 The Caravan

"That was quite the night. Didn't think I would run into hat many thieves." Marcus muttered as he landed on the roof of the inn, he and his companions were staying at.

He and Miguel had run around the city during the night and dished out some vigilante justice on the criminals running rampant through the city due to most of the experienced guards being away.

Still Marcus had stopped around eighty-seven crimes and apprehended no less than three hundred people that ranged from common pickpockets to murderers.

It had been a busy night, but it was at least a good means to pass the time. Marcus had a bit of fun bounding around the city and it certainly felt good to help out people that were in trouble.

Nevertheless, he would not want to play at being a hero for any long length of time. It was honestly pretty mentally exhausting to keep vigilant over an entire city for an extended period of time.

"Well, I am guessing that between Miguel and I, we probably heavily cut down on the criminal population. This city has millions of people in it, so perhaps only encountering a few hundred criminals is to be expected."

Feeling satisfied with his efforts, Marcus sat down on the roof and watched the sunrise. Soon the orange glow of first light crested over the horizon and the city was enveloped by a soft, beautiful gimmer.

As he sat on the roof another presence appeared and moved directly towards him.

"A lovely morning to gaze at the sunrise, isn't it? Not a cloud in the sky and the rays of light bouncing of the city are quite pretty." Mrazivý said, sitting down next to Marcus.

In her hands she was holding two cups of tea, and she held one out towards Marcus.

With a smile he took it and sipped the tea. It had a nice mint flavor and was ever so slightly sweet. Just the way he liked it.

For a few minutes, the two of them simply sat next to each other looked out onto the horizon as Mirrion's sun slowly rose higher into the sky.

"So, what were you up to all night? You didn't go off to cheat on me, did you?" Mrazivý said teasingly.

"Of course not. I'm honestly afraid of what you might do to me if I ever did something like that. Miguel wanted to suppress some of the crime in the city, so I helped him out since it seemed like it would be a bit fun."

"Oh! You should have invited me. There is no way I could do something like that in Borealia, but here it would have been fine."

"You were already dead asleep by the time Miguel started sneaking around. I didn't want to wake you up. Plus, we are going to being acting as guards today. I know you would be fine even if you missed a week of sleep, but no reason to push yourself."

"I suppose you are right. We could run into a really nasty monster, or perhaps some legendary or mythic grade beasts will attack." Mrazivý said, looking excited at the prospect of encountering dangerous foes.

"That was definitely a big red flag that you just raised." Marcus said with a sigh. "Still, I don't mean to sound conceited, but most things aren't going to prove any threat to us. We may have just dealt with one perilous encounter after the other on Haze Island, but most of the world isn't that dangerous. I imagine that our journey with the caravan will be mostly uneventful."

"Now who is raising red flags. We're probably going to get attacked by a Doomsday Monster now."

"Please don't even joke about that. I never want to deal with one of those living calamites again." Marcus said, a grimace on his face.

After a bit more back and forth banter, Marcus and Mrazivý left the roof and returned to their room. They were expected to meet up with the caravan and head out in less than an hour.

Once everyone had finished up a quick breakfast, Agustin came into the inn to get them. He would be acting as a guide again and taking them to the city's north gate where the caravan was located.

Upon arrival at their destination, Marcus was shocked to see just how many carriages and wagons were gathered. He had figured that there would be somewhere between twenty to fifty, but with a quick count he found that there were over five hundred vehicles.

'Damn, there's enough people here to form a small town.'

Marcus honestly had not expected anywhere near this number of people. Using his life sense skill, he was able to get a fairly accurate count of around two thousand individuals.

"You've noticed it too, right?" Lilia asked.

"Yeah, there is a severe lack of fighters among them. If you don't include our group that joined at the last minute, there are only a bit over forty with any real skill from what I can tell. And maybe another thirty or so that have above average levels but don't have much in the way of combat abilities."

For such a large group there were definitely far too few defenders. Perhaps if this world was more peaceful, they could get away with it, but there would undoubtedly be monsters and beasts along the way that would attack such a large group hoping to pick off any stragglers.

Not to mention that there would always be people attracted to the allure of making a big score by stealing the valuable items the caravan was transporting.

"Well, it really shouldn't matter now. I'm pretty sure that just one of us would be sufficient to make sure they reach Armadura." Alaric said confidently.

Of course, they all agreed with him for the most part. For their levels they were among the strongest in the world. Only something powerful enough to threaten an entire nation would be any real challenge to them.

After a swift survey of the caravan, Agustin led Marcus and his companions towards the front of the group where Vivi's uncle was. He was actually the leader of the caravan thanks to his shop being the largest among those present.

'Level twenty-two and level twenty-six. Both a decently strong for guards being hired by a single shop.' Marcus thought, appraising the two men that were vigilantly watching the area around the front of the caravan.

He was pretty sure that these two were likely fulltime guards that Vivi's uncle was employing. However, the two of them were the only ones around the eleven wagons and carriages at the front of the caravan that looked like fighters.

From what Marcus had gathered from speaking with Vivi, her uncle would usually hire a trusted group as additional security for long trips, but those that he normally hired had already left for Armadura. Leaving him with only his two fulltime guards.

Naturally the two alert guards noticed Marcus and company approaching and tensed as they sized them up.

Thankfully they both relaxed when they saw that Agustin was leading them. Clearly the two of them knew the silver rank adventurer that Vivi had personally enlisted to be Marcus' party's guide.

"Agustin, are we glad to see you." The higher level of the two guards said with a smile. "If you're here, then these people behind you must be the new adventurers that showed up yesterday.

"It's good to see you as well, Manuel. And yeah, these are the adventurers that used the teleportation circle in the guild hall and arrived yesterday. Thanks to Vivi's persistence, they agreed to join the caravan as guards. I'm sure that I don't need to tell you how lucky we are to have them joining us."

"Obviously. I have heard the rumor that only those that are level fifty or higher can become mithril rank adventurers. That would make them as strong as one of the army's generals. With them along, we should have nothing to worry about."

Manuel had a clearly ecstatic expression on his face as he looked at Marcus' party. As one of the guards of a large caravan that was severely lacking protection, having several strong fighters join up was the greatest boon one could ask for.

Thanks in part to the small commotion that Manuel was causing, several of the other members of the caravan cast curious glances towards Marcus and his companions.

Soon a short man that was only a bit taller than one and a half meters made his way directly towards their group.

He walked with an air of importance, and with just a quick look Marcus could see a bit of a resemblance to Vivi.

"Ah, sir! Agustin has brought the adventurers Vivi managed to agree to join the caravan as guards." Manuel said, greeting his boss.

After quickly nodding his head in acknowledgement of his employee, Vivi's uncle approached Marcus who was standing at the front of the party and acting as the leader.

"My name is Louis and as I am sure that you have already figured out, I am Vivi's uncle. It is reassuring to know that we will have such accomplished adventurers coming along with us. I humbly thank you for agreeing to the request. If there is anything that any of you need, I will do my best to be of assistance."

Louis even went so far as to slightly bow his head to Marcus and his party. Something he normally would not do for temporary guards.

Nevertheless, he knew that Marcus and his companions were not like most individuals that needed to travel in a large group as a form of protection. The eleven of them could more swiftly and safely head to their destination on their own. If at any point they felt like abandoning the caravan, there was nothing any of them could do.

"Please go ahead and raise your head. You are technically the one that hired us. We'll be sure to do our jobs and not cause a fuss. We want this journey to be as enjoyable as possible for everyone." Marcus said in a friendly manner.

Hearing his reply, Louis let out a sigh of relief. Sometimes those with great power enjoyed using it to lord over others, and while his niece had told him that they seemed to be an amicable group, he still had his reservations. There was no doubt that they held his and his employees' lives in their hands.

After a series of quick instructions, Marcus asked Louis where he wanted to station them, but the leaders of the caravan did not give them any assignments.

"Oh, that will not be necessary right now. We are still within the city and the other guards are keeping watch. Even if there a plenty of idiots going around taking advantage of the current situation, no one will be stupid enough to try anything here. Not when we are so close to the northern gate which is always well protected." Louis said assuredly.

"Okay. I guess we will go and introduce ourselves to the other members of the caravan then." Marcus said, figuring this would be a good time to get acquainted with some of the people they would be traveling with for the next few days.