Transmigrated as a Ghost

After waiting around and discussing the intel they had gathered, eventually Eirwen, Zareen, Aurelia, and Alaric returned as well.

"It's fine that neither of you learned anything of importance. I didn't find out anything useful either." Lilia said, comforting her two beast companions.

The two of them really had tried to scope things out, but they just were not meant for stealth. Their humanoid appearances were incredibly striking, and they had attracted attention wherever they went. It was pretty much impossible for them to find things out under the radar, and neither of them had the social skills to use their natural charisma to get intel out of people.

"What about you Eirwen, did you have any success?" Mrazivý asked her beast companion.

"Yes, I did pick up one bit of information that I think is pertinent."

Eirwen went on to explain that he did a bit of digging around in a military archive and found a document listing the types and levels of some of the higher ranking undead found within the former capital.

"There was no mention of a ghost king, but among the strongest monsters encountered in just about every attempt to reclaim that city was a level seventy-seven phantom commander. Since that is another ghostly entity, I think it lends credence to their being a ghost king within Houten's former capital." Eirwen said, a slightly proud smile on his usually expressionless face.

He then passed around the list of notable undead monsters sighted with the city for everyone to see.

"That's a sizable number of powerful monsters. And these are only the ones that Houten has confirmed. We might be in for a tougher time than expected." Mrazivý said once she had finished reading the list.

There were one hundred and sixteen undead in total that had been confirmed to be over level sixty and only twenty-four had been defeated over the last several centuries. This left ninety-two still in the city and these were only the ones that Houten was certain of.

"Well, we knew it wasn't going to be a walk in the park. We came prepared and will have a large army acting as a distraction for us. It will be impossible for the bulk of undead to focus on us." Marcus said to disperse a bit of tension.

The eleven of them continued to discuss the known undead within the city and countermeasures that would be effective against them.

When they finished going down that avenue, Lilia spoke up and asked Alaric what he had found. He was the last one among them to give a report other than Marcus.

"I wanted to figure out what sort of strength the top brass of Houten has, so I broke into a few military offices to eavesdrop and look through some documents." Alaric said, opening his item box and producing several items he had copied.

Everyone else just looked at him with stunned expressions on their faces. Out of all of them Alaric had been the most brazen and done something that could have gotten him into a great deal of trouble. Had he been caught; the punishment would have been severe.

Still, there was no denying the usefulness of the information he had gathered. They now knew who exactly was in charge of just about every part of the army as well as the strongest combatants in Houten.

"This was probably one of the most interesting things I found. The top general of Houten's army, a woman named Xiomara, suddenly began shifting around the top-level personnel and bringing in outside people to take up important positions. Also, I found out that she is the one that brought in the single adamantine rank party that will be participating in the operation.

From what I can tell, while the royal family has definitely thrown their weight behind this, she is the true driving force behind taking back the former capital."

Marcus skimmed over the documents that Alaric had obtained and found them a bit unusual. The personnel shift seemed to have come completely out of nowhere around five days ago. If this Xiomara had several strong combatants she could have called in from the start, it was strange that she was only doing so now.

"It's only the first day, but I would say that this is something to keep an eye on. You never know what could be going on behind the scenes with events this big. This is just speculation, but Houten's top general might be making a move to become this nation's true ruler. If she knows about the magic device that gives a ruler their authority, she could be trying to secure it for herself."

Having learned quite a bit about what was going on in the city and the history surrounding Houten's lost capital, Marcus was pretty satisfied. They had not even been here for three weeks and already they knew more than most people in the country did.

"Okay, you're the only one left that has yet to tell us what you found out. I'm guessing it must be good since you've been holding out until the end." Mrazivý said while elbowing Marcus in the side playfully.

"Yeah, I found some of the same intel as others, though not nearly as detailed. However, there was something bugging me that I managed to learn about. I've been wondering why the undead don't leave the city, and I finally got the answer.

When the undead outbreak originally started, the Great Spirit of Death erected a barrier around the city to prevent the undead from spreading and wreaking havoc across the continent. That means that whatever the past king did to turn himself and his followers into undead monsters posed enough of a threat to get a great spirit involved."

This revelation was shocking to the others. Great spirits only dealt with problems that could have a profound negative effect on the entire world.

"But why didn't the Great Spirit of Death just wipe them out? Surely that would have been easy enough for such a powerful being." Miguel said, finding it strange.

"I'm not sure. The only way to know for certain would be to ask. Perhaps she just didn't want to exert the effort, or maybe she figured that if the people of Houten wanted the city back, they would have to solve the problem that was of their own making."

Unfortunately, Marcus did not have all the answers. He may have been a great spirit himself, but he was a special case. He still did not understand exactly how the others operated.

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