TRANSMIGRATED AS A GHOST

With his weeklong training session with Thabon completed along with a swath of new knowledge, Marcus was feeling more confident than ever in his forging skills.

'Now I should head home first and see how things are going there, and then after that I will go see Adrianna.'

With a rough plan of what he was going to do next in his mind, Marcus left the Blazegram forge and began heading back to his estate.

Upon arriving Marcus was quickly let in by the maid that was manning the gate and was given a letter that was a response from Duchess Ophiria.

Quickly opening up the letter and reading through it Marcus found that the Duchess wished to meet at her estate in a week and six days and discuss possible business propositions.

'Does she want me to make some weapons or armor. I mean my skills have increased but there are still plenty of people more experienced than me, and as a duchess she should be able to get just about anyone. Maybe it has something to do with Wade as well, though I guess I will not know until I talk to her.'

Folding the letter and putting it away into his item box, Marcus put the meeting he had with Wade's mother to the back of his mind and headed up to his manor.

Walking inside Marcus was greeted by a number of the maids, before finding Lilia sitting in the library reading a book about the royalty of the kingdom.

"Hey Lilia doing some studying or did you really just want to know about the kingdom's royalty."

"Marcus you are back. And yeah, in the kingdom's history class I am taking we are going to have a test on the notable royal figures throughout the kingdom's history the day after tomorrow. But what about you how did your training with your master go."

Marcus remembering his training grimaced a little, but a small smile cracked on his face since he had learned a lot.

"It was difficult, but I have gained a number of new techniques and a deeper understanding of how to make magic items. Ah and I have something to give to you."

Taking out the bracelet that he had made using the techniques Thabon had taught him, Marcus placed it on Lilia's wrist.

"This bracelet has a healing spell sealed within it that will continuously heal you for five minutes so if you ever get hurt go ahead and use it. It will work twelve times a day so do not worry about holding back, although with the amount of mana you have activating it once will still probably take around half of what you have."

Lilia looked at the bracelet on her wrist and then at Marcus and said, "Are you sure, would this not be worth a small fortune, I already have the protection item Wade gave me along with a few of the items you have already given me."

Seeing the slight concern in Lilia's eyes, Marcus just smiled softly at her and said, "Right now we have plenty of money and in fact I have three commissions I will need to get to soon so do not worry about anything like that. Your health and safety is what is most important to me so I will feel a lot better if you have that bracelet."

Nodding her head, Lilia held the bracelet with her other hand and looked at it lovingly before remembering something and whispering into Marcus' ear.

"So, your friend is having a birthday next month and you want me to make him something. Okay no problem I can handle that."

Marcus gave Lilia who was blushing slightly a mischievous smirk before heading out of the library and leaving Lilia to her studies.

'Puppy love huh. She really does have a crush on that boy. I guess I should prioritize meeting his family, though it will have to wait until after my meeting with the duchess.'

Having checked in with Lilia and Clara and dealing with the business he needed to, Marcus took out the two other letters he had gotten at the forge asking for commissions and decided to read them.

'So, Sir Karter wants me to make his son a spear since he was quite pleased with the sword I made him. And Joy from the platinum adventuring party Vicious Cold wants me to make her three dozen enchanted arrows. Okay the spear should be easy, but I do not have the materials needed for all of the arrows she wants, but I will get in contact with both of them and work something out.'

After having finished reading the two-commission requests, Marcus decided it was time to get some sleep since it had been nearly ten days since the last time he had rested, and he felt his mind starting to dull just ever so slightly.

Waking up the next day after a peaceful rest, Marcus decided to spend the beginning of the day spending time with Lilia before heading out to see Adrianna during the afternoon.

Going downstairs, Marcus ate another hearty breakfast with Lilia before the two of them went into the main living area and began playing a few games of chess which had been "created" and popularized by the first king.

Playing three games, Marcus came out he victor every time since he had played a bit back when he was on Earth, but he noticed that Lilia had vastly improved since the last time they had played.

'She must be playing with her friends at school since before I was able to when without much focus but in that last game, she managed to take my queen for just a bishop because I let my guard down. I need to be careful or soon she is going to be way out of my league.'

With their few chess games complete Marcus and Lilia then went outside to play around with Blitz a bit before it was time for Marcus to go and visit Adrianna.

"I will be back latter tonight and see you off tomorrow when you go back to school."

Marcus after giving Lilia a big hug hopped onto Blitz and made his way towards the northern gate of the inner wall where Adrianna was posted.

Bounding down the streets it was not long before the tall inner wall came into view and Marcus directed Blitz towards the guard station by the gate.

Trotting up slowly with Blitz, the guard sitting in front of the station saw Marcus approaching and came up and said, "Yes how may I help."

"I am looking for Adri- I mean Dame Harthen, is she currently here. Ah I forgot I am her friend Irene Geist and she left me a letter asking to meet with me so if you could tell her I am here I would be appreciative."

The guard after hearing what Marcus has said, quickly stood up straighter and a bead of sweat began to trickle down his head even though it was relatively cold out.

Of course, the guard had not realized that Marcus was a noble since they rarely traveled alone, and while he had not been disrespectful some nobles can be pretty moody if you do not act completely subservient.

But while these were factors for this guards fear the main reason was that Marcus nearly called his boss by her first name showing that they were quite close.

And this guard had seen Dame Harthen be pretty brutal to guards that had gotten on her nerves even getting some of the ones that had been slacking fined along with fined.

Nervously the guard after taking a second to get over his fear said, "Yes Dame Harthen is here. I believe she is currently inspecting the fortifications on top of the wall. If you want, I can take her to you, I mean bring you to her, or you can wait in the guard station, and I will tell her you are here."

Marcus seeing the nervous demeanor of the guard gave him a friendly smile trying to lower his anxiety and said, "Thanks, if you would not mind taking me to her, I would be appreciative, oh and if you would not mind can I tie Blitz here up in the stable real quick."

Unfortunately, the guard was still nervous and nodded his head robotically before showing Marcus to the stable next to the guard station and help Marcus to tie off Blitz.

With that done the guard began leading Marcus up the wall soon arriving on top where a number of guards could be seen keeping watch and looking further down Marcus could see two familiar people inspecting a mana cannon.

Walking up to them Marcus waved and called out saying, "Adrianna, Clarisa."

The two of them looking up saw Marcus walking towards them while waving his hand and while Clarisa had a confused expression on her face Adrianna simply smiled.

Adrianna then looked towards Clarisa and said, "I need to have quick chat about some business with Irene, so you continue with the inspection without me and when you have finished you can come join us."

Clarisa with a slightly sad expression since she also wanted to catch up with Marcus, nodded her head and got back to the inspections giving it her best to finish up early.

Approaching Adrianna, Marcus said, "I got your letter, so you want me to make something for you. I know you already have a good weapon so did you want some armor or maybe an accessory of some kind?"

Shacking her head Adrianna subtly nodded towards Clarisa and said, "Actually it is something else that I would like to discuss in private."

Understanding that she wanted to discuss something regarding Clarisa, Marcus said, "Sure lead the way then."

Marcus following behind Clarisa and soon the two of them came to the guard station on top of the wall and went inside.

The two of them then at down at the table in the room and began talking.

"So, what did you want me to do for you."

Clearing her throat and with a serious expression Adrianna responded saying, "I know it may be an inconvenience for you but there are actually two things I was hoping you could do for me."