Transmigrated as a Ghost

'Looks like they're finally here.'

Gazing in between the tress, Marcus could see a few groups of terrified looking men dashing through the forest like their lives depended on it.

There was no doubt these were the brigands he had sicked Roxene on.

Still, he was a bit surprised to see how few of them were left. The man they had captured had told them that his group consisted of around two hundred fifty individuals. However, there were only around sixty that were currently making their way towards the caravan.

'Roxene must have really torn them apart. There's not as many of them as I was expecting, but I guess it will have to do.'

Marcus wanted to make another big show of protecting the members of the caravan so that they would loosen their lips and be willing to tell him and his companions the information they wanted. So far, they had gotten some of the intel they wanted, but clearly some people were holding things back.

Nevertheless, after his party's showing protecting the caravan from two major threats, Marcus was certain that almost everyone would feel incredibly grateful to them and open up a bit more.

"Brigands! Were under attack!" one of the caravan's guards shouted when the men running towards them came into view.

Of course, Marcus and his companions had noticed the incoming people far before anyone else but felt no need to alert the caravan when the threat was still so far away.

Though, if anyone looked closely, they would notice that the brigands did not have a shred of hostility in their eyes. They were far too focused on running for their lives from Roxene to think about looting the caravan, which had been their original objective.

"We'll take them on. The rest of you stay back just in case." Marcus said commandingly to the rest of the guards.

None of them had to do as he said, but naturally they fell in line after watching him dash around in the air and slaughter powerful trolls.

He and his companions, minus Roxene, stood in front of the caravan and waited for the brigands to arrive.

When they finally did burst onto the road, it was easy enough for the ten of them to detain the fleeing brigands.

"Wow. They barely put up any fight at all. Roxene must have really terrified them." Lilia commented once they had the sixty-three surviving brigands tied up.

Even now that they were immobilized, some of the still conscious brigands were shaking and muttering about the forest's reaper.

Neither Marcus nor any of his companions knew what they were talking about, but when Manuel, who had come to check on the situation, heard what the brigands were saying, he turned ghastly pale.

"Do you know something about this 'reaper'?" Marcus asked when he saw the man's reaction.

"Y-yes. It is said to be a terrifying creature that whisks people and livestock away without even showing itself. Occurrences of it taking people happen every few years for as far back as the kingdom's history goes from what I have heard.

Still, it only rarely appears and all attempts to find and kill it have only seen the forces hunting it vanishing without a trace, so it is largely considered the same as a natural disaster that cannot be dealt with. For it to be nearby is a bad omen though. We can only hope that it got its fill taking the brigands that had set their sights on us."

Manuel looked truly terrified as he relayed this information to Marcus. It seemed that the forest's reaper was like a sort of boogeyman to the people of Houten that even just mentioning was taboo.

However, Marcus knew that even if this "reaper" was a real creature living in this forest, it had not been the one to attack the brigands. Roxen was the one who had heard them towards the caravan after all.

'Um, does this mean that the forest's reaper is going to be considered a giant wolf from now on. Manuel said it had never actually bene spotted, but Roxene definitely showed herself to these guys.'

A part of Marcus wanted to clear up the misunderstanding to prevent the spread of rumors and panic, but doing so would mean revealing Roxene's true identity. Telling everyone that they had a mythic grade beast traveling with them was likely not going to help them calm down.

"I'm sure things will work themselves out." Mrazivý said reassuringly.

"Yeah, I suppose so."

With nothing else to do but let things play out, Marcus shrugged his shoulders and helped drag the captured brigands over to the caravan.

Normally they would have just killed all of the men that were undoubtedly some of the worst criminals around, but some of the merchants in the caravan asked them to spare their lives. While most types of slavery were outlawed in nations affiliated with the adventurers guild, criminal slavery was still allowed.

These brigands had trampled on other people's lives for their own ill-gotten gains and were going to lose their human rights as punishment.

Being higher level than average and decently skilled fighters, they were going to be forced to serve on the frontlines during the operation to retake the former capital.

Perhaps their fate was a bit cruel, but Marcus was not going to go out of his way to defend or show pity to a bunch of murdering scumbags. Their plan to wipe out everyone in the caravan did include him and his companions. Even if their attack never posed any threat to them.

"Lilia, are you okay with this?" Marcus asked, remembering her past experience.

"Yeah, it's fine. This is completely different from what happened to me. These guys deserve what is coming to them. I'm sure all the people they've killed in the past will rest easier knowing they are getting punished for their crimes."

Lilia looked a bit tense as she responded to Marcus, but he could tell that she meant what she had said. It was not like these brigands had been suddenly abducted like her, they chose a life of crime for their own gain and were paying for it now.

Marcus and his companions swiftly brought the surviving brigands over to the group of merchants that would be transporting them the rest of the way to Armadura.

Yet, as they were being loaded onboard, one of the brigands suddenly disappeared.

It had come completely out of nowhere and the magic had been so subtle that even Marcus and the members of his party had not noticed until it had already occurred.

'No way!'

They had just heard about this forest's so-called reaper from Manuel, but what had really attacked the brigands was Roxene. Except, what had just happened was clearly not the work of Marcus' beast companion or any of the other members of his party.

While extending his life sense skill to find where the attacker was located, one of the nearby horses vanished as well.

Another brigand was taken shortly after the horse, and Marcus finally got a read on the creature that was attacking them unseen.

Except, as he was about to alert everyone to its presence, he felt a thin thread of mana touch his body and he was forcefully warped away as well.