Transmigrated as a Ghost

"Is this really necessary? If my presence is going to cause problems, I could just hang back on my own." Quillon said, pulling at the chain connected to the collar he was wearing with a truly disgusted expression on his face.

"Leaving you to your own devices will only lead to potential problems. We must pass through the territory that is controlled by the settlement we are heading to in order to reach my master's domain. Having you go rouge and cause a disturbance will inevitably lead to conflict. I don't believe that you would lose, but I will still need to return to this place in the future and do not wish for my reputation to be degraded."

After listening to Relia's explanation, Quillon let out a long, heavy sigh. It seemed that he had resigned himself to his fate of pretending to by Lyra's property.

Lyra, for her part, looked a bit too enthusiastic about pulling her lover around on what essentially was a leash. Perhaps she had a bit of a sadistic side to her, or she was viewing this as payback for some slight Quillon did not even realize he had committed.

Holding back the urge to tease his friend about his current situation, Marcus instead addressed Realia and asked her about something he had been wondering about.

"So, what sort of people are we going to be dealing with? You said that only women are born to their species, but I don't know of any races like that on the surface."

Of course, Marcus could hardly call himself an expert on the multitude of different types of people that lived on Mirrion. He had mostly been to nations ruled by humans, but in his years on this world, he had encountered dozens of different races that were intelligent and considered to be people.

"Well, you certainly would not encounter them in the world above. At least, not in any civilized manner. Afterall, they are considered monsters." Relia said, looking expectantly at her companions' reactions.

Naturally they were all taken aback a bit, as there weren't really any societies of monsters that were recognized as such on the surface.

Usually when large groups of the same type and similar monsters congregate, they would be wiped out. There was almost no chance that they would be able to interact peacefully with people and any attempts to had ended in failure.

Though, whether this was entirely the monster's fault was highly suspect. It was more likely that both sides had difficulty trying to coexist together.

'Well, it would be hypocritical for me to label all monsters as harmful and unintelligent. I'm technically a sort of monster, and Relia is as well.'

Marcus was the first to accept what Relia had told them, and Lyra and Quillon were quick to follow suit. So long as they could come to an understanding and at the very least avoid antagonizing each other, it should be possible to get along to a degree.

"Good to see that you all can be opened minded. You'll find that a lot of intelligent monsters have congregated in the Darklands. The ones that were smart enough to avoid confrontation with people realized that coexistence would be pretty much impossible. Afterall, most monsters aren't fully cognizant and attack other creatures on sight. Even if a friendly goblin tried to talk to a human, they would likely be killed because of their more violent brethren."

Hearing this Marcus could only nod his head in agreement. If he saw a goblin approaching him, he would certainly attack first and ask questions never.

"Okay, we understand what you wanted to tell us, but you still haven't told us what sort of monster is running the settlement we're heading to." Lyra said, trying to get back to the core of Marcus' question.

"Oh, I suppose I did." Relia said. "We're heading to a town that is primarily populated by Lamias. The other individuals that live there are their slaves. Primarily males they've captured or purchased."

Upon learning the type of monster that they were about to encounter, Marcus grimaced.
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It had been years ago, but he had once gotten into a fierce battle with a Lamia when he and Mrazivý were exploring the crystal caverns.

The monster had nearly killed Mrazivý since she was still just an ordinary human back then.

"I'm going to warn you now not to let a sense of righteousness overtake you. There will be some things that you see in this town that are against your sensibilities. Enslaving men is just part of their culture. Most of them are treated relatively well, but I can't say the same for all of them. Even if you see someone being killed in front of you, don't intervene. I'd like to avoid using force unless it is truly our only option." Relia said, giving a warning to all of them.

She understood that a confrontation honestly would go in their favor. Their group boasted an overwhelming amount of power that few could contend with.

Still, down here, connections were important. If she ended up blacklisted from this town, or if they annihilated it, she would lose a place to both conduct trade with and collect information from.

"Don't worry, we'll be on our best behavior." Marcus said.

The moment he came down here, he already knew that it would be necessary to make certain concessions. Unless something he truly could not accept happened, he would grit his teeth and bear it.

Eventually the tunnel that the four of them had been walking through began to gradually widen before opening up into a large chamber.

In this area there were faintly glowing stones protruding from the ceiling and junglelike vines and moss growing practically everywhere.

However, the most striking feature was the uniform holes in the floor and walls.

It remined Marcus a bit of a meerkat's or prairie dog's colony.

'There's about seven thousand of them in total.'

Using his life sense skill, Marcus accurately counted the number of individuals that were living underground in these burrows.

Most of them did not feel particularly powerful, but there were eight entities that were above level sixty. A pretty high number for a town that only had a population in the four digits.

Marcus could also feel the presence of several Lamia hiding within the burrows' entrances. They were likely guards and ready to strike any threat that encroached on their home.

Before getting close to the nearest hole, Relia stopped and opened up her item box.

From within it she pulled out a small pouch that was filled with magic cores.

"In the Darklands, these are pretty much the only currency that is accepted just about everywhere. Some civilizations might mint their own coins, but those won't be good anywhere else. Other valuable materials like mithril and adamantine, or monster and beast parts can be used to barter with as well, but using magic cores is often easier." Relia said before tossing the bag into the nearest hole a Lamia was lurking in.

Around a minute later, several Lamias clad in armor and wielding weapons emerged from the burrows.

One of them that was wearing higher quality gear approached. She was likely the one in charge here.

Relia stepped up to meet the Lamia and began speaking to her in a langue that Marcus, Lyra, and Quillon did not know.

The two of them conversed for only a dozen seconds before Relia frowned. It seemed that something unexpected had occurred.