It was the juiciest gossip the people of Lamonia had heard in a long while. "What happened here?" A couple of lean men wearing the uniform of the city guards cut through the thick crowd. Their spears were strapped to their backs, a cup of hot tea in their right hand and a still-steaming cream puff in the other. "Now you come? When everything is over?" Frynn snarled in righteous fury, but behind the safety of Lith's back. "We have been…" The oldest man of the two looked embarrassed and wanted to make an excuse, but the powdered sugar on his moustaches and lapels couldn't lie. "Delayed. What's with this bloodbath?" "Yeah, sure." Lith had no desire to argue. "Supreme Magus Verhen. I caught these guys trying to kidnap the young lady here and intervened. They resisted arrest and assaulted me." A mocking expression was forming on the faces of the guards when Lith took his ID and extra eyes out, handing the former to the senior officer. The two city guards choked on their fourth breakfast and prayed to the gods to smite them. Even if the Supreme Magus didn't report the two guards, they would become the joke of the precinct and never hear the end of it. "Before you ask, yes, they didn't recognize me. Just like you did. The rest should be pretty obvious." Lith waved at the broken, whimpering bodies that lay at his feet. "I request a full cleanup, a protective detail for Miss…" "Frynn Aekis." "Miss Frynn Aekis, and Constable Jirni Ernas protocol for these gentlemen." The last request made the guards turn green and their three previous breakfasts seek repatriation with their latest brother. The city guards needed all their skill to stop the escape attempt and bring the riotous food to the holding cells of their stomachs. The Jirni Ernas protocol was the code word for advanced techniques of interrogation (torture) until the prisoner retold their story from conception to arrest. Once the Constable in charge of the investigation was done, the prisoner would be passed on to Constable trainees to hone their interrogation skills. The sentence rarely lasted more than a few weeks, but the entire prison would never forget it. "Sir, yes, sir!" The senior officer handed tea and pastry to his partner and pulled out the service amulet to relay Lith's instructions. "What's going on here?" Kamila rushed to the scene with the stroller after hearing rumors about a Magus being in town. "You're worse than the kids. I can't leave you alone for five minutes without you making a ruckus." "They started it." Lith pointed at the fallen men. "I ended it. Kami, allow me to introduce you to Miss Frynn Aekis. She claims I'm her husband." "Wait, what?" The confusion on Kamila's face was only matched by the embarrassment on Frynn's. "I'm sorry!" The young woman finally let go of Lith's arm and threw it away like it was a hot potato. "I had to do it. I was desperate." "For a husband?" Kamila's question was met by Lith's hilarity. "Let's find a quiet place where we can talk." He said. "Please, Miss, start from the beginning, and I'll pick up from the moment we met." *** Frynn finished several cups of rum spiked with strong tea before she finished her story, while Lith and Kamila drank only chamomile tea. Once Lith was done with his side of the story, Kamila would have had a good laugh if not for the lingering fear she read in Frynn's eyes. 'To me it's a joke, but to her it's a life-scarring event. I don't want to belittle or make a mockery of her feelings.' She thought. "I'm so sorry, you had to go through so much, Miss Aekis." Kamila actually said. "Please, call me Frynn, Lady Magus." "Only if you call me Kamila." She replied. "The only silver lining in your horrible morning is that nothing bad happened to you and those evil men won't ever bother you again." "Are you sure?" Even in the safety of the tea house and warmth of the morning, Frynn couldn't stop shivering. "Very." Lith nodded. "About that." A quick call to the Royals updated them on Lith's recent exploit and his plans to eradicate the Mazark cartel with Call of the Void. "I know you have every right to do it." King Meron sighed. "But must you?" "I never leave loose ends, Your Majesty." Lith nodded in reply. "Besides, had they threatened the Queen's life, what would you do?" "I would laugh." The King replied. "Anyone who has seen Sylpha fight would find the threats of a few street thugs hilarious. Still, I get your point. Lady Verhen is no Sylpha, and if those men posed any danger to my wife, I would remove it. "Permanently. You are cleared for Call of the Void, Magus Verhen. Just coordinate with the local authorities. I don't want mass panic and hysteria. King Meron out." *** On the other side of the call, in the city of Valeron, King Meron Griffon slumped on his chair. "This is ridiculous!" He said. "What is?" Sylpha sat in front of him, behind her own desk, to deal with the paperwork of the day together. "How can no one recognize Verhen? He is famous!" "He and a thousand more nobles." Sylpha replied. "He's been on national broadcasts multiple times!" "Years apart, and they lasted like five minutes each." Sylpha countered soberly. "It's the average attention span of our citizens." "His face is on posters placed in every branch of the army and the Association! They can look at him on the Tablets, for the gods' sake!" "That's why our armed forces recognize him. Most of them. As for the Tablets, they are available only in a few cities yet." Sylpha signed a decree and raised her eyes from the documents. "It still doesn't make sense." Meron grumbled. "Are you sure about that?" Sylpha stood up. "Let me show you something funny." She changed the King into civilian clothes, removed his fancy cologne with darkness magic, and ruffled his hair and beard enough for him not to look out of a noble party. Then, she similarly changed her attire and Warped them both to the dark corner of an alley. "Are you crazy?" Meron said while Sylpha dragged him into a busy road. "Do you want to cause a riot?" "Don't worry and follow me." Sylpha took his arm and showed him the various market stalls. "Good morning, Jala. Can I have two pieces of your jam bread, please?" "Of course, dear Syra." The plump middle-aged woman smiled at the Queen and then stared at the still-flabbergasted King. "Who is this handsome fellow?" Meron's eyes went wide, his brain struggling to decide whether to be more offended that the baker had failed to recognize him or surprised by her familiarity with Sylpha. "He's my husband, Merton." The Queen pouted. "We talked about him many times, Jala. How can you forget?" "Don't worry, she only said good things about you." The baker misunderstood Meron's worried expression. "I didn't forget, dear Syra, I just thought you exaggerated his looks. I wish my old Talso looked so youthful." "And I wish you were as slim as Syra." Talso didn't like the comparison with the King one bit. "Yet we got each other. I guess we both must compromise."