I just barely got out of the guild plaza when a notification appeared in front of me.

Alert!

Marcus the Magnificent has sent you a friend request.

Accept Y/N?

At least I kind of knew who he was, unlike the last one, so I accepted. I did have my doubts, but I figured he owed me. I was pretty sure he messed up the orb thing, so it was his fault that I wouldn't be able to keep a low profile.

The moment I accepted the friend request he appeared in front of me.

"Hey, um, so that was cool." He looked around before continuing, "You're not really a princess, are you?"

"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure someone would have told me, but what did you do, and how can I, or you, fix it? And how did you appear?"

"Oh, that." He started running his hands through his hair, "once a day friend teleport, and the other things was just a simple illusion spell to make the orb think your magical signature was something other than what it was. I happened to notice that you don't have an aura like everyone else, and from what I can figure that's either because you aren't real, or there's something blocking it." He paused to take a breath. "And that is why I was able to place an illusion of an aura in the external layer where your aura energy should be radiating. The illusion was only supposed to portray a form of you that would be acceptable for your stay in this city, and after getting to know you I'd make one that was more fitting for what you wanted."

"So, your spell thinks I'm supposed to be a princess?"

"No, well yes, but not really. It's complicated."

"I'm not stupid, explain it." I crossed my arms and tried to look imposing.

"Well, it might have just seen that your father was some kind of leader, and translated that to royalty. He wouldn't even need to be if your, um, presence was strong enough. He could just be a caravan leader, and that combined with you somehow got translated to princess."

"You'll have to fix this."

"What? You don't want to be a princess?" He actually looked surprised.

"No! Of course not. I can't pretend to be a princess, anyone could figure it out pretty quick when they realize I have no money, or servants, or fancy clothes. It's an obvious lie."

"I could help you pretend. I'm an illusionist so I can make it seem like you're a normal princess. Plus you could just be a princess looking to learn about the world by travelling, so only having one, or two servants and guards would be fine. I can be your servant."

Alert!

Marcus the Magnificent would like to be your servant.

Current servants 0/4

Accept Y/N?

I paused for a moment, a very short moment, before I accepted. I figured this was a normal thing, and Marcus owed me, so I had no problem with gaining a servant. I just wasn't sure I wanted Marcus as a servant. I mean, he had caused the problem in the first place, and he seemed to be a little showy for my plans. Or my idea of my plans, I hadn't really gotten around to planning them yet. But I figured I could just fire him if I wanted to, so I accepted, and watched him become stunned.

His mouth and eyes widened a little, and he just froze. For a while. I finally decided that I needed to wake him up, so I gently pushed him, and he fell over. Well, more like he completely collapsed. I had no idea what was wrong, so I just poked him, until he finally looked at me.

"Y-y-y-you! Are. You?" His eyes looked around my face like he was searching for something.

"I am me? If that's what your asking." I offered a hand to help him up.

"Yes, you. Can I?" He gestured to my hand.

"Yeah? I was offering it?"

He gently took my hand, like he was handling glass, and pulled himself up. Then he just stood there and stared for a few seconds before he just started walking off. I watched him go until he turned down a street, and I realized that he was supposed to be my servant, so I took off running to catch up with him.

Around the corner I saw him knocking on a door. Continuously. Until finally a girl openned the door. She was probably about four feet tall, had bright pink hair, pointed ears, and tanned looking skin. When she spoke her voice sounded like a little bell. Literally like a bell. I couldn't understand anything she said. It was all ring ring RIIING? Then he just muttered some things and walked inside.

She saw me standing there staring and spoke with some more ringing before she realized I couldn't understand her. She frowned for a moment then spoke without moving her mouth.

"Did you break him?" Her mind voice was quiet but full of force.

"No. He did that to himself. After I, uh, accepted him as my servant."

She frowned again, "Why would that cause him to... Why don't you come in. I might need your help to fix him."

I sighed, "And I needed him to fix something for me."

"We can talk about that later, but do not worry, he is a good man. He will repay you."

She let me into the house, which was mostly made of stone, but inside it looked like it had wooden walls. There wasn't much for furniture, but what was there was fairly functional. The first room had a wooden table and four wooden chairs, and attached to that room was a simple kitchen. Marcus was pacing back and forth beside the table, muttering to himself.

"Oh, by the way, I am called Lily. You seem to have met Marcus, but there is also another man who lives here. He is somewhat big, and can be scary looking, but he is soft on the inside. He is called Bjorn."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Bwyd, I just recently got here, so I have no idea what's going on."

Lily laughed, it was kind of like what little bells would sound like if they could laugh. Then she said some things in rings again, before she remembered to switch to telepathy. "Why does that not work with you?"

"I have no idea, what is it?"

Before she could answer Marcus finally stopped pacing, and instead stared at a corner of the room. Very intently. Both Lily and I started watching him as he just stared, and stared. Finally, after what felt like forever, he raised his hands and said, "Arise. Arise. Arise!"

Nothing happened.

Unless you count Lily's bell laughter, my quiet snort, and a deep friendly laughter that came from behind me.