Transmigrated as a Ghost

After following his link with Inten, Marcus and his companions found themselves standing atop a large pile of rubble that had once been a part of Houten's former royal castle.

"Yep, he's pretty deep down there. I guess his small size is quite useful for navigating stuff like this." Marcus said, staring at the ground in Inten's direction.

While being a bit larger than an average mouse, Inten was still fairly small. Fitting into cramped spaces without disturbing the area was fairly easy for him.

"I could use earth magic to open up a way for us?" Lilia suggested.

"No, that might move whatever Inten is after. I think it would be best for us to wait for him." Miguel said.

Despite wanting to get at whatever valuables the great diamond mouse had detected, Marcus' party waited for their tiny companion to return.

The only one that could safely follow without needing to excavate the area was Marcus, but he wanted to err on the side of caution and stick together as much as possible. It was unlikely that there were any other major threats around, but after two major battles, another would really push them to their limits.

Eventually Inten resurfaced, and the expression on his face was unmistakably cheerful.

"Okay, what'd you find." Mrazivy said so enthusiastically Marcus could envision her eyes turning into giant gems like in a cartoon.

"I'm not exactly sure, but I know that it has to be good." Inten replied after taking on his human form again.

Then he opened up his item box and pulled out a vault that was around eight meters in every dimension. Thanks to being made from adamantine and mithril, it had survived the fierce fights without incurring much damage.

Naturally, it was enchanted to protect whatever contents were sealed within, though it was not something Marcus could not easily get into.

"It looks like it did have countermeasures for incorporeal beings, but they've degraded over time. In fact, a number of its defenses aren't working properly anymore. I should be able to phase through without any difficulties." Marcus explained once he finished examining the vault.

With several sets of expectants eyes on him, he became intangible and walked through the thick adamantine wall with ease.

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Inside he found several chests lined up on shelves in an orderly fashion.

"No one's been in here for a while."

From the thick, undisturbed layer of dust, Marcus felt fairly confident that no one had entered this place for centuries. Perhaps no one was able to get in with the members of the royal family either becoming undead or fleeing.

"After Arriba became a Ghost King there's a very real chance that the protections he had set in place no longer recognized him. And he must not have come back to check on it any time recently to discover that its enchantments had weakened." Marcus surmised.

Of course, this was great news for him. The vault itself was pretty valuable just for the materials it was made out of, but it would have been disappointing to find it empty.

Sadly, most of the chests were devoid of the treasures they once held. Three centuries ago, Houten had been fighting in a bloody war, so even the royal vault had been depleted to fund the war effort.

Still, it was not completely bereft of valuables. There were some rare tomes, stunning pieces of artwork, historical artifacts, skill orbs, materials from epic and legendary grade beasts, and a dozen ingots of adamantine and two ingots of amethros.

"Though, the magic tool that can offer one the title of king is not here."

Marcus did not particularly care about obtaining the special magic tool used for governance for personal use, but he did want it as a bargaining chip.

He could already envision their destruction of the area causing friction with the Houten's leaders. Obtaining the item that their royal family was most desperately searching for would certainly give them an upper hand in any negotiations.

"Well, if things become too difficult, we can just leave and pay whatever fine the guild hits us with for breaking a contract. I doubt that they would do anything more drastic than that, and Houten itself is in no condition to retaliate against us."

Once he had finished taking inventory of what was inside the vault and storing it in his item box, Marcus phased through the door and returned to his companions.

"So, what did you find?"

Mrazivy being the first to react, moved so quickly that it looked like she practically teleported beside Marcus.

Wearing a smile, he told his wife what was inside, and pulled out a few pieces of art and jewelry that he knew she would like.

"Oh, do you only have things for your wife?" Lilia said teasingly.

Chuckling slightly at his little sister's blatant request, Marcus distributed items to every one of his companions. All of them had fought together, so it was only natural that they each received a share of the spoils.

"Inten, do you sense anything else?" Marcus asked.

Nodding his head, the great diamond mouse turned in the direction where he detected the next largest collection of valuables.

With heightened focus and excitement, the eleven of them went off on a treasure hunt around the castle's ruins.

Among their spoils were coins of all denominations, mithril weaponry, deteriorated magic items, and opulent jewelry.

"Found it!" Marcus suddenly exclaimed while Lilia and Alaric were digging out a large golden statue.

Since finding the royal vault, he had spread out his iron threads to cast a wide web to search for the magic tool that granted one the ability to rule.

It was currently located deep underground in a sealed compartment within a bunker.

From what Marcus could gather, this place was likely the workshop of the demon worm that had been the primary craftsman of Arriba's undead scepter.

He was not sure why this precious magic tool was there, but his best guess was that the Zorot had snuck it away to prevent his pawn from accessing its powers.