Transmigrated as a Ghost

After Gurrom left to fetch Thabon, Marcus figured that now was the perfect time to show Mrazivý and Miguel around the forge's storefront. Unless they were incredibly lucky, Thabon would not stop working on whatever project he was currently engaged in immediately.

Marcus knew the man that taught him the ways of the forge well enough to understand that Thabon would be too engrossed in his craft to put down his hammer until he had reached a satisfactory stopping point or had finished.

Inside the shop that mainly dealt in armor and weapons, Marcus showed his two companions around.

Certainly nothing on display was even close to the quality of the gear they currently had, but it was all impressive work, nonetheless.

"Is there anything on display that you made?" Miguel asked partway through the tour.

"Possibly. But I haven't actually made anything for the storefront in a while. Most of what I have been working on in recent years is direct commissions. It's not like adamantine or even top tier mithril items are put on display. Still, I did make some usual weapons in the past that might be collecting dust in a corner somewhere."

Sensing that Miguel wanted to see something he had personally worked on; Marcus led the young hero around on a quest to find anything he might have forged years ago that still remined in the store.

Thankfully, of all the items he made in the past, one was on display in the uncommon weapon section of the store.

"It is only made of bronze, and I definitely made it towards the beginning of my carrier as a forgemaster, but this is definitely my work." Marcus said, holding up a certain weapon for Miguel.

"The enchantments are pretty decent for bronze. Though, I have never seen this exact weapon before." Miguel said, testing out the item Marcus had handed to him.

"That there is called a Katar. It is sort of like a type of dagger."

Absentmindedly nodding his head when Marcus told him the weapons' name, Miguel looked it over for another few seconds before putting it back. Obviously, he had lost interest once he saw that the item wasn't anything special other than its unique design. Naturally what he really wanted to see was some of Marcus' high-level work.

Once the three of them had finished looking at the items on sale at the storefront, Marcus led them back into the reception area of the forge to wait for Thabon. Luckily, they did not have to wait but another three minutes before Gurrom came out with him.

"Irene, it is good to see you again after all this time. I heard from Gurrom that you encountered quite the monster that managed to break your weapon. Mind if I take a look?"

Thabon had a sparkle in his eyes as he asked Marcus to see the remains of his scythe. He had pretty much skipped over any pleasantries and gone straight to what interested him.

Still, Marcus obliged his master and took out the blade of his scythe which had only a small part of its former handle still attached.

Without any restraint, Thabon reached to grab the damaged weapon, but Marcus swiftly pulled it away. Damaged as the scythe was, the power and instinct of the Doomsday Worm was within the magic core that served as the focal point of the weapon. In anyone's hands other than Marcus', the scythe was liable to become unruly.

"What gives Irene? It is not often even for me to see such an exquisite piece. Even damaged it is still part of a system recognized amethros weapon." Thabon said indignantly.

"Sorry, but if you want to look it over, I need to keep a hand on it. I'll explain more about it later." Marcus replied, his expression serious.

"Okay, as long as I can look it over."

Diligently, Thabon examined the blade of Marcus' broken scythe. He tapped the metal with his fingers and a small hammer, tested the sharpness of the blade and at one point Marcus thought that he might even lick it.

"Hm, as far as I can tell the blade is still in perfect condition despite the handle breaking. It should be an easy enough fix granted you have the right materials." Thabon said, giving his assessment.

"Yeah, that is one of the reasons I am here. Though, I did also come by to show some friends around." Marcus said, pointing towards Mrazivý and Miguel.

Finally noticing their presences, Thabon turned towards Marcus' companions with a look of shock on his face.

"Sorry, I should have greeted you earlier Princess Mrazivý."

Even with her hair color disguised by a magic item Thabon recognized Mrazivý immediately. Even though he did not care much for authority, he still knew to show a minimum level of respect to the royal family.

"There is no need to be so formal, Thabon. I did not come here in any official capacity. Today I am just a normal girl named Mraz that is friends with Irene."

"Sure, if that is what you want." Thabon said, quickly relaxing his speech and posture. He wasn't going to stand on ceremony if the other party did not care.

"And this here is Miguel. Someone I met a few years ago but did not really get to know until recently. We are showing him around the city and figured that the Blazegram Forge had to be a part of the tour." Marcus said, introducing Miguel.

"Nice to meet you, Miguel. Any friend of Irene's is a friend of mind. If you ever need anything relating to the forge, feel free to stop by. Though, since you can just go to Irene, I doubt you will have much need of my services." Thabon said holding out his hand.

Miguel then thanked Thabon for his generosity and shook Thabon's outstretched hand.

"Oh! What do we have here?" Thabon said, noticing the bracer on Miguel's wrist that had been mostly covered by his sleeve.

Losing out to his fascination, Thabon pulled up Miguel's sleeve and began inspecting the bracer without a moment's notice.

At first Miguel instinctively tried to yank his arm away but found that Thabon's iron grip was not so easily broken.

"This is definitely Ivan's work. You must have some connections high up in the adventurers guild to be able to get him to do work for you."

Thabon was able to tell exactly who had made the bracer on Miguel's arm that could transform into his amethros shield after examining it for just a dozen seconds. There weren't many forgemasters that could work with amethros, and as one himself, Thabon knew all of the forgemasters within the adventurer's guild that could.

"Yes, I believe that is the name of the man that made a few pieces of gear for me. I never actually met him since Valerius acted as an intermediary." Miguel said, pulling away from Thabon.

"That makes sense. I could see Valerius doing that for a young talent like yourself." Thabon said, nodding his head. Even though Miguel's status was protected by a magic item, Thabon's vast wealth of experience told him that the young man in front of him was no ordinary individual.

"I can understand your interest Thabon, but if you would not mind saving it for later. I was hoping to repair my scythe with your facility and assistance." Marcus said, drawing his master's attention away from Miguel who was looking distressed.

"Sure, that shouldn't be a problem. Of course, that is as long as you have your own materials and resources. I'm sure that you know how costly it is to run the furnace capable of heating amethros."

"Yeah, I have plenty of high-grade magic cores that can be used as fuel. And as far as materials go I have more than enough of everything. Well expect for celestial platinum. I was hoping I could trade you this for some."

Opening up his item box, Marcus pulled out an adamantine ingot that he had processed from the ore deposit on Haze Island.

Its gleaming green surface caught Thabon's attention, and he happily agreed to the trade. Adamantine was far rarer than celestial platinum after all.

"This is certainly going to be fun. I recently got my skill level to go up for the first time in decades thanks to the motivation you gave me to improve. I wonder what sort of weapon we will create?"

Thabon was clearly pleased by the sudden chance to work with a system recognized amethros weapon. Even in his long career this would be a first.

Yet, before he rushed off to his personal workroom with Marcus in tow, he turned towards Mrazivý.

"I can't believe I forgot up to this point, but would you mind lending me the saber I made for you, Mraz. Now is as good a time as any for me to perform maintenance on it. As what I consider one of my greatest creations, I would be remiss to miss this chance to look over it again."

Expectantly, Thabon waited for Mrazivý to hand over the sword. Yet she made no moves to bring it out. In fact, she instead took a step back and wore a guilty expression on her face.

Seeing this, Thabon's elevation plummeted, and he looked at Mrazivý in disbelief. He could tell that something had happened to the precious weapon he had put his heart and soul into creating.

"Did it break just like Irene's scythe?" Thabon asked with a look of horror in his eyes.

Unfortunately, the answer was far worse than he had been expecting. A broken weapon could still be put back together or in the worst case melted down and repurposed. Mrazivý's amethros saber, however, was lost for good.