TRANSMIGRATED AS A GHOST

With the Ferris wheel having stopped at the top, Marcus, Mrazivy, and Lilia were able to look out over most of the city and pinpoint where they wanted to go next.

"So, you want to go and check out the performances being held on the stage over there, right Mraz." Marcus asked as he pointed in the direction of the large stage that seemed to have a big crowd gathered around it.

Nodding her head Mrazivy said, "Yeah I have only ever seen performances in the Grand Hall of Arts in the capital, and in all honesty, I find them quite boring, so I am hoping to watch a livelier outdoors performance."

Having decided on their next destination the four of them enjoyed the view from the top of the Ferris wheel and decided on which food stand they should go to.

Soon the Ferris wheel began its decent and Marcus was pretty happy he had bribed the operator to stop it for them.

Back on the ground the first thing they did was head over to one of the foods stands that had been set up and ordered a number of things to eat while they watched the performance.

"We will have two orders of grilled rock eel, three orders of the fruit crepes, and four orders of the steamed dumplings."

After giving out everyone's order to the stand's owner, Marcus then stepped back as the half dozen people working the popular stand got to work on his order.

"Here you go, and your total comes out to twenty-three silvers."

Taking out the money, Marcus passed it over before grabbing the cooked food that smelled quite good and went back over to where the others were waiting.

After handing out everyone's food, they all went over to where the stage was and bought the more expensive tickets that came with seats, since Diana looked like she might throw a fit if they had to stand with the masses.

"I wonder what kind of performance they are going to put on. I am hoping it will be something lighthearted unlike the heavy plays always put on in the capital." Mrazivy said right before stuffing one of the steamed dumplings in her mouth.

Fortunately, the play that was being put on was a comedy, however, it was actually one that Marcus recognized.

'Why am I not surprised that someone from Earth stole this and touted it as their own.'

Watching the paly Marcus very quickly picked up that it was pretty much just Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare.

Of course, some of the elements had been changed like the names of the characters and that bits of magic had been put into the story but for the most part it was the same.

At the end much cheering came from the crowd since the performers were actually really impressive.

However, as Marcus looked over at Mrazivy he could see a sadness in her eyes as if the play had made her remember something upsetting.

"Are you doing okay Mraz, did you not like the play." Marcus asked with a bit of concern in his voice.

Mrazivy noticing that Marcus had seen her looking down, said, "Oh sorry no I am fine it was a good play, and everyone seemed happy at the end."

She then let out a loud fake laugh obviously trying to change the subject and began clapping along with the rest of the crowd.

Shrugging his shoulders Marcus was not sure what had upset Mrazivy but if she did not want to talk about it, he was not going to pry.

After the play was finished their group went around to some of the festival games around and had a bit of fun playing them and winning a few prizes.

"Who thinks themselves strong enough to beat the strongest man in all of Lethallan. Step right up and test your might for the chance to win ten gold for only the price of one silver."

As they were walking around, they came across a short man who was wearing a tall top hat and standing on a box shouting out to advertise his game.

Sitting next to the short man was a bear beast person who was quite large and bulky.

'Hm only level twenty-one. He is not actually very strong, but I suppose not many truly powerful people care about winning ten gold.'

Watching as someone came up and paid the entry fee, Marcus thought that it would be a close match since the guy who had just paid was actually level twenty-three.

Yet as they started the level twenty-three seemed to be in a daze and did not offer any resistance until his hand was nearly pressed against the table.

The man then tried to fight back but he was already in a precarious position, and it was not long before his hand hit the table.

"Oh, too bad for you, the strongest man still reigns. But if you wish to try again you always can." The little man running the arm-wrestling competition said.

'Hm, I think that it is some type of awareness dampening enchantment on the chair. Talk about nasty. Plus, the other guy seemed stronger than he should be, probably some type of strength enhancement being cast on him.'

Deciding that he wanted a closer look at the effects of the enchantments being used to cheat in the arm-wrestling competition, Marcus told the others that he wanted to give it a try and figure out how they were cheating.

"Here I will give it a try." Marcus said as he held out a silver coin to the small man running the show.

With a surprised face the man said, "Are you sure young lady. This man is truly strong, and some people have ended up with broken bones after losing to him."

"Yeah, it is fine, I am going to win anyways." Marcus said confidently as he pushed the coin into the man's hand.

Sitting across form the large bear beast man, Marcus put his arm out and waited for his opponent to do the same.

However, when they locked hands, Marcus felt something incredibly subtle begin to sap away his strength and transfer it to the bear beast man.

Quickly checking his status Marcus found that his strength stat had been lowered by ten, which while not much for him would be detrimental for people of a lower level.

"Okay and begin."

As the short man started the match Marcus felt something try to disrupt his mind but the enchantment was easily repelled by his ghostly nature.

The man having excepted Marcus to go down easy pushed with all his strength thinking he had won, but Marcus held firm like a rock not moving an inch.

"Unfortunately, your little tricks will not work on me."

After saying that Marcus smashed the bear beast man's hand into the table causing it to shatter under the pressure.

Everyone around looked astonished to see what had just happened but when Marcus picked up the chair, he was sitting on they became even more confused.

"The formation is ingenious causing a slight lapse in the electric signals sent from the eyes and ears to the brain. Unfortunately, whoever engraved it onto this chair did it incredibly sloppily, so I doubt the one who created this formation engraved this."

Going into research mode Marcus examined the formation that was engraved under the chair and the small man seeing that his ruse had been discovered tried to run away but tripped over, finding an iron thread tied to his legs.

"Sorry cannot have you running off without my winnings and having some of my questions answered. So would you mind telling me where you got this chair."

Unfortunately, the small man had gotten the chair from a friend of his that used to do a similar scam but had since retired so he did not know who made the formation.

Sighing Marcus took the ten gold coins he had won, but is little stunt soon attracted the attention of the guards.

"Please help me this woman suddenly assaulted me."

Screaming out towards the guards in a desperate attempt to get out of trouble, the small man did his best to look pitiful and garner their sympathy.

Nevertheless, by showing them the rigged chair and getting the cooperation of the surrounding people, Marcus was able to wrap up everything and the guards took the small man and his associate away.

'Maybe Thabon knows something about this formation, I will need to ask him when I get back to the capital.'

After putting the chair into his item box, Marcus made his way back over to Mrazivy, Lilia and Diana, and the four of them continued to enjoy the festival.

Soon the day was coming to an end, and it was time for them to get ready for the viceroy of the city's party.

"See you later Lilia and try not to get into any trouble." Marcus said to Lilia as she went off on her own.

Ultimately, she had decided against going to the viceroy's party and was going to enjoy the rest of the festivities before going back to the Towering Bear Inn.

Once Lilia had gone off, Mrazivy and Diana led Marcus to a fancy store in the middle of town where they had purchased their dresses for the night's party.

However, they somehow got sidetracked at one point and began using Marcus as a dress up doll making him put on dozens of different dresses before ultimately settling on a fairly reveling green dress.

"I already told you that I had something picked out, and I think that this dress it a bit flashier than I would like." Marcus said with distress in his voice.

Yet Mrazivy simply snickered a bit before saying, "No that other dress was too plain and then you would not be fulling you purpose."

Hearing this Marcus wondered what Mrazivy was getting on about. But when he saw the even more reviling and attention-grabbing dress that Diana was wearing, and the very plain and conservative dress Mrazivy was wearing, he realized something.

'I am being used as bait.'