TRANSMIGRATED AS A GHOST

After Marcus and his companions had left the royal capital to go to one of the kingdom's dungeons to train, nine days had since passed and the outline of the walls of a distant city came into view along with a large mountain range behind it.

'That must be the Dungeon City Lethallan. It is bit smaller than I thought it would be, quite a lot smaller than Loursend. Though I suppose that since this city was only built because of the dungeon that makes sense. Loursend may have a dungeon nearby, but it also serves as the kingdom's largest port and the dungeon is more of a bonus. But here this is an unadulterated dungeon city, where the kingdom's strongest adventures congregate.'

Feelings of anticipation began to well up in Marcus as they got closer and closer to the city. Their journey here had been pretty uneventful. It had just been numerous days of straight travel and they were only attacked a handful of times by only the most desperate beasts and monsters.

Most beasts and monster typically had good survival instincts and they could tell it was not in their best interest to attack Blitz who radiated a majestic and powerful aura.

Of course, bandits would normally have thought that a lone carriage with no guards would be an easy mark, but the road from the royal capital to Lethallan was not a major or even minor trade route, and during the winter far fewer bandits were active.

So, their journey had been incredibly peaceful (but also boring), and Marcus was looking forward to some action now that they had made it to their destination.

Traveling along the snow-covered road, Marcus and Lilia came up to a large gate that was guarded by only a couple of guards who were lazing around.

In fact, Marcus was the only one entering into the city and the guards were surprised since outsiders rarely came to the city during this time of year.

Getting up and standing at attention, the guards waited for Marcus to come up to the gate and one of them stepped forward and said, "Welcome to Lethallan, could we see your ID's and then the entry fee is four copper."

Marcus nodded his head towards the guard before taking out his ID and handing it to the guard while Lila was fumbling around trying to pull hers out.

The guard seeing Marcus' ID suddenly went wide eyed since Marcus did not really look like a noble in the casual clothing he was wearing and the fact that he had no guards or servants.

"Excuse my rudeness my Lady, I did not realize you were a noble. For your entry there is of course no need to pay the fee. Oh, and if you would like one of us would be willing to guide you to your destination if you need it."

After realizing Marcus was a noble, the laid-back attitude of the guards changed, and they were now standing upright ready to cater to Marcus' requests.

"Well, we do not need you to lead us anywhere, but if you could tell us where to find an inn near the dungeon's entrance that would be great."

The guard looked strangely when Marcus asked for an inn near the dungeon's entrance and said, "Um my Lady all of the inns near the dungeon are pretty rough and tumble, the only inn in town that would be up to the standards of a noble like yourself is the Crystal Peak, which is located closer to the center of the city on the western side of the lord's castle."

With an exasperated expression Marcus said, "Yeah it really does not matter as long as there is a bed since we will be spending the majority of our time in the dungeon, so it would be better for it to be closer."

With surprise written all over his face the guard looked at Marcus who seemed to be quite delicate and Lilia who was still just a child and said, "Excuse me for my impertinence but to enter the dungeon here you have to be at least a silver rank adventurer or be a part of the kingdom's army. Even for a noble, without the proper qualifications they will not let you inside the dungeon. It is a dangerous place that I recommend you stay away from, many people die in there every year."

Sighing Marcus looked at the guard and thought, 'Well at least he is a nice enough guy to show me this level of concern, but it is misplaced.'

Marcus seeing that the guard had not really looked over his ID and seen his level, took out his guild card that was plated with gold denoting his rank.

The guard seeing this finally realized that Marcus was not some overzealous curious noble looking to have a romanticized adventure in a dungeon like some he had seen before, but a true veteran adventure.

"Sorry you look so young and well not much like a fighter. If you are a looking for an inn near the dungeon the best one is the Towering Bear. The rooms are decent, and the food is really good. If you follow the main road north and then take a left when you are three streets from the wall it will be just down the road. It is only around a ten-minute walk from the guild hall and another five from there to the dungeon's entrance."

With the guard having given him the information he wanted, Marcus thanked him for his help and directed Blitz to head into the city.

Entering inside, Marcus could see that the city was built almost entirely out of sturdy stone and was practically devoid of wood or any kind of vegetation other than a few potted plants in window seals.

'It is different than the other places I have been to, there is almost a heavy atmosphere in the city like a loaded spring is ready to jump into action at any time.'

Continuing to roll down the main street as Marcus got closer to the center of the city, the buildings slowly became nicer though they were all still made of incredibly sturdy materials.

Soon Marcus was approaching the center of the city, where the lord of the city's castle was situated on an artificial lake that was almost perfectly symmetrical.

Passing around it, Marcus found himself in a square that had an open market set up despite the cold and a number of people were milling about buying different things.

"Hello there young lady would you like to buy some of Lethallan's famous rock eel croquettes for you and your companion, only six silver a piece."

One of the cart owners seeing Marcus looking around had taken the opportunity to approach Marcus and hopefully get a sale.

Marcus was about to refuse since the price seemed a bit high when he heard a rumbling noise next to him and saw Lilia staring at the croquette.

Smiling, Marcus told the seller that he would like three of them and handed over eighteen silver before giving one to Lilia and Roxene respectively.

Continuing forward Marcus took a bite of his croquette while steering Blitz towards their destination and found it to taste pretty good.

'Well, I would not say it is as good as puff cow, but I suppose that is to be expected since one is reared specifically for consumption while the other is a dungeon beast.'

Crunching down on the last bite of his croquette Marcus stared at the tall four-story inn that had a sign on it distinguishing it as the Towering Bear.

Parking his carriage on the side of the road Marcus told Lilia and his beast companions to wait here while he made sure that there were rooms available.

Upon walking inside, Marcus immediately noticed a bar situated on one side of the ground floor where a number of rough people were sitting around drinking and eating.

A few of them eyed Marcus with interest though none of them approached him.

Looking around for a few moments Marcus quickly Located the front desk and found a little bell on it. Giving it a quick ring, the bell's noise was soon followed by a gruff yell coming from farther back in the inn saying, "Just a moment I will be right with you."

A few moments later a large man who was easily at least seven feet tall came out from the back of the inn and looked at Marcus with a big smile on his face.

"Hello there, miss, it certainly is rare for us to get a girl as pretty as you coming in here, so what can I do for you today."

"Ah yes I was hoping to get a room with two beds here for a week, and do you have a place where I could store my carriage and beast during my stay here?"

Nodding his head, the big man replied saying, "Yes we have a small area where you can house you carriage and leave your beast, but it will be an additional charge. For a week that will run you three gold for both the room and stabling costs."

Fine with the price Marcus took out three gold and readily handed it over, with which the man stored inside a small box and then brought out a key and handed it to Marcus.

"Your room is on the third floor, the fourth room down the hall on your left. You can take your carriage and beast around behind the main building and you will find a small stable there."

With a place for them now secured Marcus exited the inn and went back over to where his carriage was still parked.

"Welp, we got a room but first we need to put away the carriage and luckily this inn has a place for Blitz too."

After making that announcement Marcus hopped back onto the coachman's stand and led Blitz around to the back of the building, where he found the aforementioned little stable where Marcus was able to leave Blitz and the carriage before heading aback inside the inn with Lilia and Roxene.