Transmigrated as a Ghost

The prince's advisor looked stunned by the way things were developing, but there was little he could do now.

His muscle, one of the Cerdo's guard knights, was still being held back by Novak. And it was clear that neither Marcus nor Mrazivý cared about the prince's status. They did not live in Houten, and being mithril rank adventurers, the two of them could easily leave the nation whenever they wanted.

"How dare you insult his highness in such a manner!" The guard knight yelled.

He then attempted to shake Novak off, but to no avail. His strength stat wasn't even half of what Novak's was.

"Why don't you take a nap."

Moving incredibly quickly, Novak brought his free hand up to the knight's head and flicked him.

The force of the strike rattled the man's brain and despite his training and relatively high level he was unable to remain conscious.

"What are you doing?!" The advisor said in shock.

"I'm saving this man's life. You do not want to mess with those two. It will only end badly for you." Novak warned.

In fact, he had intervened from the start to protect the guard knight. It was easy to see how things would have ended had he not from the murderous glint in Marcus' eyes.

With everything going against him, the advisor concluded that his best bet of action was to beat a hasty retreat. He could see that the other female adventuers had turned away the people the prince had sent to persuade them to meet with him. None of them were the usual doe eyed young girls hoping to curry the prince's favor nor were any of them afraid of his status.

In utter defeat everyone the prince sent out to pick up women for him returned to him.

Naturally a self-centered prick like him was furious despite him being in the wrong, and when he discovered that one of his guard knights was knocked unconscious, he became livid.

'Yeah, I figured that this was how things were going to go down.' Marcus thought seeing the prince glaring over towards him, Mrazivý, and Novak.

"Should I just preemptively deal with the problem?" Marcus asked Mrazivý with a hushed voice.

For a few moments she thought about it, but ultimately shook her head.

"No, it will be more fun to just embarrass him. He can come air his grievances all he wants; I've got a couple trump cards to play. Just back me up and we should get through this easily enough. Though if it comes to it, go ahead and do whatever you need to."

Mrazivý was not afraid of any reprisal from the prince. She and Marcus alone were strong enough to fight their way out of the castle, and it was clear that just about every other adventurer present was on their side. There was simply no way that the entire kingdom would side with Cerdo just to save his pride when it would mean costing them the ire of every adventurer present.

Not when it would mean costing them an incredibly powerful force necessary for reclaiming their lost capital.

Unrestrained anger and irritation on his face, Cerdo approached Marcus, Mrazivý, and Novak with his entire retinue in tow.

"You three! Do you know what you have done?! Attacking a royal guard knight is an offense worthy of execution!"

The prince continued to rant at them, but none of them took him particularly seriously. Marcus was actually having a hard time not bursting out into laughter since he could only imagine the prince as a tiny, yappy dog trying to seem intimidating by barking loudly.

"If you three kneel and beg for forgiveness I may not have you punished! Especially if you personally apologize to me!" The prince said haughtily and pointed at Mrazivý. It appeared that he still had not given up on his original sickening objective.

Still, this was well within Marcus and Mrazivý's expectations. While the prince had several knights by his side none of them were all that strong.

As for the military officers of Houten, not a single one of them looked likely to interfere unless something drastic occurred. Undoubtedly, they did not have a particularly high opinion of Cerdo either.

The prince was almost certainly used to getting his way, but this time he had vastly overestimated himself.

"I believe that it is you that owes us an apology. You do not seem to know who it is that you have been insulting. This is Mrazivý Borealia, thirteenth princess of Borealia. Unless you wish to start a war, I recommend that you beg us for forgiveness. For someone of your station, your actions have been disgraceful. We're here as your nation's guest and are lending you our power and expertise.

Yet here you are trying to coerce several women into your bed. I wonder if the guild would stay associated with your kingdom if it knew how the royal family treats its high-ranking adventurers."

Without resistant Marcus berated Houten's third prince. He already knew that he and Mrazivý held pretty much every card.

For several moments Cerdo was stunned with his mouth agape. However, when he looked around and saw that hundreds of adventurers were snickering at him, his fury overtook his shame.

"Y-you dare speak to me that way! I'll have your heads mounted on spikes!" Cerdo yelled.

Yet before he gave the order for his knights to attack, his closest aide grabbed his shoulder and whispered into his liege's ear. When Houten had joined the adventurers guild, he had made sure to familiarize himself with the other nations aligned with the guild.

"Your highness, I do not believe that they are bluffing. That woman likely is a member of another country's royal family. Borealia is a powerful kingdom on the continent west of ours. She bears the deep blue hair that is seen as a symbol of their royals. We do not want to cause any unnecessary trouble at this time. Please consider backing off for now."

The advisor wore a fearful expression as he tried to convince Cerdo to cease antagonizing Marcus and Mrazivý. If things escalated the prince could bring about ruin for Houten. Just looking around it was evident that the other mithril rank adventurers were ready to intervene at any moment.

Unfortunately, Cerdo was not one to listen to sound council in the first place, and certainly not when he was this infuriated.

"Knights, seize them. If they resist, kill them." Cerdo said, a sadistic smile on his face.

At once the prince's loyal knights drew their weapons, but before things could escalate further, a single man stepped in between the two groups to put an end to things.

"I believe that is enough. This is hardly the time or place for something like this. A banquet is mean to be enjoyed."

Sato Tachibana stood in front of both Marcus, Mrazivý, and Novak, as well as Cerdo and his followers.

The imposing aura he was emitting stopped everyone in their tracks and a heavy tension spread throughout the entire Great Hall.

Except there was one person too dense to grasp the severity of the situation.

"Sir Sato! As your commander, I order you to assist in capturing these criminals that dared to insult me!"

Cerdo's lips bent upwards into a confident grin now that he believed a powerful ally had shown up to assist him.

Yet instead of following the entitled prince's command, Sato gave him a bone chilling glare.

"Shut up. I'm trying to prevent any bloodshed. If things escalate any further, I will have to side with my fellow adventurers."

Sato then turned his full attention towards Marcus and Mrazivý. He could see that they were on edge, but neither of them showed any fear towards him. There was no doubt in his mind that out of everyone here, they were the only ones in the same league as his own party. To fight them in a populated area would be a catastrophe.

The prince looked shocked that he had just bene told off by someone he expected to listen to him, but this time he did not snap back. Unlike with Marcus and Mrazivý, he knew how powerful Sato was and was terrified of having the man as his enemy.

"I understand that you have your grievances, but could I ask you both to stand down. I'll personally ask General Xiomara to confer with Houten's King so that Prince Cerdo is suitably punished." Sato said to appease Marcus and Mrazivý.

"Sure, that is fine. I don't care to think about him for another second. Just keep him away from us and there will be no problems." Mrazivý replied. She had wanted to put Cedro in his place since he reminded her of her detestable former brother. And while events had not proceeded exactly as expected, this was an acceptable outcome.

Seeing that the situation had calmed down, Sato motioned for the prince to leave, and despite normally being obstinate, he did as he was told. Fear was a powerful motivator and Cerdo hastily left the Great Hall like he was running away from an especially nasty monster.

"Thank you for your assistance. If possible, I would like to show you my appreciation later, Tachibana Sato." Marcus said, wearing a knowing smile.

It was only for a moment, but a look of astonishment appeared on his face. It had been a very long time since anyone had addressed him with his family name first like he had been during his first life. Only someone from Earth with at least a little familiarity with his former home would know to do so.

"Yes, I would like that. Actually, if it is fine with you, we can speak right now?" Sato responded, an intense fervor in his eyes.