Transmigrated as a Ghost

After Marcus asked his question about any new things happening in Lethallan he should be aware of, both Jarek and Dahlia gave each other knowing looks and nodded their heads.

"If you would not mind going with Jarek he will explain a few things that have happened since you were last here. He knows more about what is going on than I do, since I spend most of my time in this office." Dahlia said with a complicated expression on her face.

Judging from their demeanors Marcus figured that there was both good and bad news that they wanted to tell him.

'Well, if whatever is wrong is something I can help with, I will see what I can do.' Marcus thought.

Jarek then got up and beckoned for them to follow them to another room. Though as soon as they left and the door was shut they could hear Ange start to cry again.

"Is Dahlia going to be okay alone?" Marcus asked as they began walking away.

He certainly did not have much experience with children himself, but he did have Irene's memories of taking care of Lilia when she was around the same age as Ange.

"Yeah, she can manage on her own. It will probably just take her a few minutes to calm Ange down. Anyway, as much as I would love to just keep speaking about my daughter, there are other things that I need to inform you about." Jarek said as he led Marcus and Alaric into another room.

It was a small meeting room that only had a few pieces of furniture in it, but it was more than sufficient for their purposes.

Once they had sat down and Jarek had served both Marcus and Alaric a glass of water to drink, he got started one explaining some new developments that had happened in Lethallan.

"First, I should mention that Tesia is not here anymore. She did not die or anything, but she left Borealia around nine months ago. I am not sure exactly where she went, but I do know she used the teleportation circle in the capital to go to somewhere on the continent to the west of here." Jarek said with a slight frown on his face.

Likewise, when he heard this Marcus felt a bit of sadness, as he had been hoping to greet another one of his old friends.

Still, Tesia was an adventurer and was fairly high leveled. She was probably to the point where she wanted to go out and explore new areas and find other challenges to overcome.

"Now I am sure you heard about what happened to Loursend a few months ago, correct?" Jarek asked.

Nodding his head Marcus knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Yes, I was actually in the vicinity when it happened, doing some work for the royal family. I am not sure what you heard about the monster that practically destroyed the Great Gome Woods and Loursend, but I can tell you that it was likely far worse than you can imagine."

Eyes going wide, Jarek had never expected that Marcus had firsthand experience with the doomsday class monster that had appeared and caused havoc in Borealia before being defeated.

Wanting to know more Jarek pressed Marcus for details, but he avoided most of the questions since he already knew that he guild's higher ups were suspicious that his two identities were one and the same person.

"So, what does this have to do with Lethallan? This city is fairly far away from where the Doomsday Worm appeared, and I did not see any sort of damage to the walls of buildings."

"No, the city did not experience any sort of problems in that regards other than having a few fleeing monsters and beasts attack the walls, but they were easily dispatched. However, around a month or two afterwards the city received quite a bit of migration from Loursend, mostly adventures coming here now that their previous base is wrecked." Jarek explained.

He began telling Marcus of the new platinum and mithril rank adventures that had popped up and about how the dynamics within the guild had changed a bit.

"And along with the influx of adventurers the city lost a lot of its soldiers and skilled guards who were sent to Loursend to help rebuild and keep order. As a consequence, the city itself has got a bit more dangerous and unruly and a lot of lower rank adventurers are honestly begin hired out as guards instead of doing what is more typical of our profession." Jarek explained.

Though after this his expression became more intense and the air around him heavier.

It was clear he was about to give Marcus the bad news he had been expecting.

"Along with the influx of adventurers also came a group of unsavory individuals. They call themselves Dungeon Marauders, and right after the dungeon's configuration changed and it was at its least guarded, they charged in and entered illegally. Now they have set up multiple bases deep in the dungeon in dangerous areas that are hard to get to, but easy enough to flee from. They also are not averse to causing monster or beast outbreaks which can cause quite the trouble. They go around targeting adventurers and even units of soldiers that are training in the dungeon to steal their equipment and spoils. We tried gathering up our forces to wipe them out, but some of their members are level fifty and above, plus they have set up in a difficult to attack location as I said. We lost quite a number of people when we tired assaulting them." Jarek said with a grim look.

He continued to explain that the soldiers in Lethallan who were already short staffed also could not deal with them as they did not have even close to the necessary level of power.

Both the guild and viceroy had already requested reinforcements from the capital, but with the recent demon attack, the tensions still around the borders in Tralenstein, and the recent emergence of the Dread Burrower, referments strong enough to make a difference had not arrived yet.

"They have been making the dungeon an even more dangerous place than it used to be, and anyone you do not already know could be an enemy. And while I am sure you will be fine with how strong you are Irene, the boy Alaric here who you are training could easily be put in danger." Jarek warned.

Hearing that there were criminals now inhabiting the dungeon Marcus asked Jarek for every detail that he could give him.

"That is certainly very disconcerting, but I will see what I can do about it." Marcus said with a determined expression.

"Don't be rash Irene. I know you are strong, but these people are not to be trifled with. Even with a group of veteran mithril and platinum adventurers we were not able to get rid of them. On your own you will not be able to deal with them."

"No need to be so worried, I do not plan on doing anything that is beyond me. I was just going to call in a favor or two from my connections in the royal capital. If I really stress it, I should be able to get Aria the Grand Archmage to come and blow them away."