Transmigrated as a Ghost

Soon after Marcus had delivered all of the evidence against Permafrost, the kingdom had put forth a number of task forces to arrest the members and their compatriots.

It was a massive undertaking and numerous knights and mages along with nearly every royal investigator was mobilized to conduct mass arrests.

Of course, Permafrost did not go out without a fight and many of the bases that were hit broke out into massive brawls, and some even spilled out onto the streets of different cites as Permafrost was attacked in mass.

In some instances, even entire city blocks were destroyed and for around a week the entire kingdom was in an uproar as its underbelly was forcefully rooted out.

It could be said that this was the most turmoil the kingdom had experienced since the founding of the kingdom, as Permafrost did not go quietly into the night.

However, even as much as they struggled, in the face of the full might of the kingdom, they stood no chance and nearly all of the highest-ranking members were arrested.

Of course, there were a few that managed to escape either by using rare items to teleport away after getting advance warning, and a few that even fought their way out.

Yet they still had to flee the kingdom as they were now wanted criminals with a bounty placed on their heads.

Another effect that the mass arrest had was that around a fourth of the kingdom's nobles were arrested for being members of Permafrost or heavily involved with them.

Of course, in some way almost every noble had interacted with Permafrost, but some were only minor crimes that only warranted a fine. Though others were not worth mentioning since not all of Permafrost's activities were illegal, and they had their hands in plenty of above the board business.

Luckily the disorder caused by the destruction of Permafrost soon began to lessen as the last bits of resistance waned, and with their hierarchy disrupted Permafrost slowly began to cease to exist.

Naturally this made certain things that they had provided become much scarcer, and the people of the kingdom soon felt the loss of Permafrost.

They had been one of the biggest suppliers of merchants and certain everyday goods, mainly as a means to cover up their illegal activities, but this hurt the overall movement of supplies in the kingdom.

But this stagnation only lasted for a couple of weeks as the kingdom awarded loyal nobles or other prominent members of communities with the legal businesses that Permafrost used to run. And using the numerous resourced they had seized from Permafrost it was not long before the kingdom's economy bounced back as the royal family even used some of their own treasurer to stimulate the wealth.

Soon the loss of Permafrost became a huge boon for the kingdom as a whole, as more money began to circulate through it instead of being horded by the criminal syndicate.

Thus, as the kingdom's annual meeting was getting nearer and the numerous events that came with it, the kingdom began to flourish as the leech that had been draining it was now all but complexly destroyed.

During this time Marcus had stayed at his estate with Lilia to make sure that Permafrost did not make a move against him or anyone he cared about.

Luckily, they had their hands full with the kingdom's systematic attacks so that no one had any time to spare on Marcus.

Though if they had known that he was the one responsible for their downfall, there is a good chance that more assassins than even an unpopular ruler would have to worry about would have descended upon him.

Nevertheless, his involvement was known only to a select few and they had kept it a secret.

Now Marcus was just finishing up his last piece of equipment before heading over to see Thabon.

He had not seen his forging master in quite some time and now that even the slightest threat of Permafrost retaliating against him was gone, it was time for him to get back out into the world.

Gathering up all of the various items he had made since coming back, Marcus called Blitz over and hoped onto his back.

He then began racing towards the Blazegram Forge which he had not been to for months.

When he arrived Marcus received a warm welcome from everyone and some young adults who he had never seen came by and said that they had become new apprentices of the forge.

Many of them asked him if they could receive pointers from Marcus, who as one of Thabon's apprentices was actually pretty famous here.

"Sure, I need to go and see my master first and talk to him, but after that I would be happy to watch you work and give you some advice."

Once he was finished greeting everyone, Marcus made his way back to Thabon's private room, and after knocking on the door heard the sound of something crashing against the wall. A few moments later Thabon opened the door wearing full armor and having a large war hammer resting over his shoulder.

"Irene you are back. Come on in we have much to catch up on. A great deal has happened while you were gone, and I am sure that your journey to the dungeon city was fruitful as well."

Walking into Thabon's room Marcus could see that all of the equipment was put away and the room had been expanded a bit and was covered in mats.

However, this was not all, and imbedded into one of the walls Marcus could see Gurrom who was breathing heavily and sweating profusely.

Marcus was surprised to see this and understood that Thabon had transformed his personal work room into a training area.

"Impressed right. This is actually one of my room's different configurations, and it can change back in under an hour." Thabon said with a proud expression.

Nodding his head Marcus looked around and could see that the room was kitted out with all kinds of training items.

"Gurrom how long are you going to stay there pull yourself together and come and greet Irene." Thabon said yelling at Gurrom.

Unfortunately, after the last hit he had taken from Thabon, Gurrom could not move, and try as he might he was stuck in the wall.

Luckily his saving grace showed up and Marcus quickly cast a healing spell on Gurrom, before pulling him out of the wall and having him drink a stamina recovery potion.

"Ah thank you Irene, you are a life saver. If you had not arrived when you did, I am not sure I would have been able to survive." 

Gurrom then gave Thabon a fearful glance obviously having been put through the ringer by their master.

"Hey, you are the one who said you wanted me to train you up for the tournament that is coming soon. I told you I would be working you to the bone to make you as tough as possible."

Hearing this Marcus now understood why the room had been remodeled and Gurrom had taken up temporary residence inside the wall.

Checking Gurrom's level, Marcus was happy to see that he had reached level forty-seven, which was a few levels higher than he had been before and showed that his training was paying off.

"Well, Gurrom the training seems to be paying off, so keep at it." Marcus said in an encouraging manner.

However, what he heard next made him flinch, as Thabon said, "Actually now that you are here how about you join us. I can see that you managed to get your level up to forty-two so you should be able to go a round or two with me now." 

Quickly thinking up an excuse remembering the spartan like training he had received while learning about the art of the forge from Thabon, and seeing how badly beaten Gurrom was, Marcus said, "No that is fine. Since me and Gurrom are going to be competitors in the tournament it would not be fair for me to see how he fights."

"I understand but we can schedule different training times for the two of you so you can keep your abilities and strategies under wrap." Thabon said not taking no for an answer.

At this point Marcus was kicking himself since he had tweaked his false status skill to show his actual level.

He had done this since it would have seemed unbelievable for a level thirty-five to be as strong as he was and even level forty-two would be farfetched.

Of course, his skills and stats were still changed up a bit, but his level was being proudly displayed at forty-two.

Sighing Marcus agreed to training with Thabon and then the three of them sat down to catch up with each other.

"Color me impressed Irene. To take down a boss that was level fifty-two with only the three of you is quite a feat. Normally bosses are challenged by groups of fifteen or more since their power is well above the norm of beasts and monsters you find around." Thabon said genuinely impressed.

"Yeah, but it is too bad I was not able to get the bar of adamantine. That unique skill orb was just too tempting." Marcus said lamenting a bit.

"Anyone in your position would have made the same decision. Adamantine may be rare but not to the same degree as a unique skill orb. If I could get my hands on one, I would even be willing to trade my prized axe." Gurrom said while looking at Marcus with a bit of jealousy.

Naturally Marcus did not tell them that he had given the orb to Lilia, and after seeing Gurrom's reaction he was certain the guy would blow a gasket if he found out.

"So now that we have all gotten caught up with each other, you said you had something you wanted to discuss with me Irene." Thabon said curiously.

Nodding his head Marcus said, "Yes there are two things actually. The first is that I have made some mithril items I wish to display in the shop, with your approval of course.. And the other is if you could recommend me to one of the auction houses to sell these."