1.3 KMAS: The deeds of Kyros Magnus (From last month)

"Sera? Are you sure this is going to work?"

"Liri, trust me. Kyros himself made this charm. It will work. Put it on." Sera handed the ring over to Liriel, which she reluctantly accepted.

As soon as Liriel put the ring on, the Queen gasped. "By the gods, Liri. You are unrecognizable. Here, look," she said, pointing Liriel towards the mirror.

The woman staring back at her was a stranger to Liriel. She looked like she was in her mid-thirties, at least ten years older than Lady Magnus, and appeared to have led a hard life. The most striking distinction, though, was in the ears. She did not have Liriel's beautiful pointed ears; instead, Liriel was looking at the slightly rounded ears of a half-elf, who were much more common in Meridian.

Liriel had never used an Obfuscation charm before; she never had a need to. And to be honest, the result was kind of disorienting.

"But the charm is not working on your wedding ring," Sera noted.

It was true. While the rest of Liriel looked like a completely different person, the Obfuscation magic was having no effect on the beautiful silver ring or the magnificent deep blue gem in the middle of it."

"It must be that gem. Look at it. So beautiful, so...otherworldly. It looks like an ocean is trapped under that thing. Where did your husband even get it?"

"I don't know. I think he must have picked it up on his travels, maybe in Noxumbra," Liriel lied. "But I think you are right. The ring must be interfering with the charm somehow. Do you think it will be a problem?"

"No, I don't think so. When they see you now, they will just see a half-elf, not Lady Magnus. Don't display it prominently, and I think we will be fine."

Liriel gently touched her ring. "I agree," she said. "Go on, it's your turn now."

The effect became even weirder for Liriel when Sera put on her ring. The woman next to Liriel was no longer her best friend but an older human woman. She did not have the angular cheekbones or quirky demeanor of the Queen but looked like a random woman you could find in any crowd in the city.

"Sera, this ring is too good. If I did not know that it was you under that illusion, I would never have guessed it," Liriel said.

"Right? When I was grounded, I used to use this to sneak out and play with Kyros. My mother used to think that I was one of the palace maids."

"You both sound like terrible menaces. I feel sorry for your mother."

The Queen chuckled. "We definitely were. But now, my dear Liri, it's time to get this show on the road."

The two women now dressed as common merchants walked the streets of Meridian unrecognized by all but the royal guards who were discreetly following them at a distance.

For Liriel, this was another surreal experience. Never once in her life had she not been recognized. Wherever she had gone, everybody had always known Liriel, be it as Liriel Everbloom or as Liriel Magnus. Not being recognized was both slightly shocking and deeply satisfying. With this disguise, she did not have to be Lady Magnus or the business mogul. She could just be a girl having a fun outing with her best friend. Numerous thoughts for mischief and mayhem crossed Liriel's mind, but she quickly dismissed them as being too improper, even under disguise. Just because she was not recognized did not mean that she could go causing chaos and mayhem in the city like Kyros or Sera.

After wandering about Meridian in their disguises and having been satisfied with its efficacy, the two women made their way to the large auditorium in the market district where the monthly meeting of the Kyros Magnus Appreciation Society was being held. There was quite a large queue at the entrance. Many of the attendees were dressed as the Great Mage, with their discount Kyros outfit and red wigs. Others had adorned themselves with blonde hair, pointy ears, and beautiful dresses like Liriel. And a few were cosplaying as Seraphina with her signature armor and sword. Other famous archmages, knights, and villains from history were also to be found. A handful of fans had worn costumes of enemies defeated by Kyros, but the major opinion deemed this to be in poor taste, as the atrocities committed by these villains were still fresh in the memory of the people. Most of the attendees were teenage girls and young women in the twenties. But older women and younger men also formed a good portion of the fandom.

"Where do we get tickets?" Liriel asked Sera.

"I am not sure. Let's check with someone," the Queen said.

They learned from a teenage girl dressed as Liriel that entry was free for everyone and seats were on a first come, first-serve basis.

Lady Magnus and the Queen waited in line with the other participants and managed to get in and get themselves a seat in the back row.

Sera, who had to fight some teenage girls to get those two seats, was not very happy. "Why don't they charge for tickets? I would pay well for a good seat," she complained.

"I think they want everyone to have a chance to get in," observed Liriel.

"Well, that's a bit stupid. How are they going to keep running these things if they don't have any money."

"I am sure they have other sources of income. They probably have membership dues, and the newsletter isn't free."

"Newsletter? How do you know about that, Liri?" asked a suspicious Sera.

Lady Magnus, who was usually prepared for any situation, was caught off guard for a moment. "Umm...Oh, yeah. It's Lyra. She told me about it," she managed to say while trying hard to pretend to be interested in the empty stage.

"Your sister reads the Meridian fan club's newsletter too?"

"Yes. You know how she is, right? She is obsessed with every Kyros fact. She collects the newsletter from the Meridian Appreciation Society and other fan clubs as well. Mainly to critique their inaccuracies."

"Still, I wouldn't have thought that you were informed about..."

"Shh...it's starting," Liriel interrupted. "Let's see what this is about."

The auditorium went quiet as a small plump woman, possibly in her early twenties, took to the stage. She introduced herself as Tilly Butterfield, President of the Meridian Kyros Magnus Appreciation Society, and welcomed everyone to their 54th monthly meeting. There was thunderous applause and numerous cheers for Tilly. The young woman seemed to be quite popular in the fan club. After the introduction Tilly reminded everyone of the complementary lunch, which got another big round of applause and cheers.

Then Tilly went into the agenda for the meeting. The first item on the list was a bulletin regarding the exploits of Kyros Magnus in the previous month, read out by Tilly herself:

"This previous month has mostly been uneventful in terms of the Great Mage's magical exploits," Tilly began.

"On the third day of the previous month, the Great Mage put an end to a prank war between third and fourth year students at the Stormhaven Academy of Magic. According to our report, the students had been rubbing the doorknobs at the Academy dorms with magical extracts that increased the size of rival students' ears and noses to a comical degree. Initially this was limited to the boys dorms, but later the pranks spread to the girls dorms as well. Out of his own initiative, The Great Mage punished the pranksters by enchanting all the doorknobs at the third and fourth year dorms to turn any who touch them temporarily bald and sing rude songs about their grandmothers. Within a day, truce was declared between the third and fourth years."

Sera leaned in close to Liriel and whispered, "I bet you a hundred crowns that one of these idiots definitely tried increasing the size of something else."

Liriel, who had heard all the details from Kyros of a student who had done exactly that, decided that saying nothing would be best.

Tilly continued. "On the tenth day of the previous month, the Great Mage tracked and rescued the cat, Mr. Grumpy, of one Ellen Pembroke, 10 years old, using a newly devised tracking spell of his own making. Ellen later thanked the Great Mage and offered him her ice cream, which he politely declined, as she had already tasted it."

After hearing this story, a collective chorus of "Aww..." went around the auditorium until Tilly shushed everyone to read the next item.

"On the fourteenth day of the previous month the Great Mage delivered a lecture at the Stormhaven Academy of Magic on the topic of 'Resonance convergence is some spells of diameturgical nature.' The lecture was received with great enthusiasm from the faculty, research students, and visiting mages. A paper by the Great Mage on the same topic is set to be published in the Stormhaven Journal of Magic next month."

Most people did not understand what was being said, but they politely clapped anyway.

"Is this the lecture he was stressed about?" Sera asked her friend.

"Yes. He had locked himself in his laboratory for two days, checking and rechecking everything. He was very proud of the result."

"Do you understand what any of it means?" The Queen asked Lady Magnus.

"Not a clue," Liriel replied sheepishly.

On stage, Tilly's bulletin reading continued. "On the nineteenth day of the previous month, at the Gilded Horn tavern in the market district, the Great Mage broke the world record for 'Consecutive string of heads in a coin toss without the use of Levitation Magic.' The Great Mage produced 297 consecutive heads by the local manipulation of laws of probability. The previous record of 78 consecutive heads was held by Ravena Darkstar, the Dark Elven Archmage who lived nearly two hundred years ago."

Tilly's reading of the breaking of a world record was followed by enthusiastic clapping and hooting from the audience. But the story was not yet complete, so Tilly shushed everyone once again and continued.

"The Great Mage did not cross the 300 threshold because Lady Liriel arrived and took him away with her to sober him up."

A chorus of boos followed this revelation.

"Are they booing me?" asked a bewildered Lady Magnus.

"Looks like it," the Queen said, smiling at Liriel and joining in on the boos. "You should have waited at least until he was past 300, Liri," she chided her friend.

"He was really drunk that day," Liriel tried to explain. "Any more time in the tavern and he was going to be a hazard to himself and others."

"Still, think of the world record."

"He already broke the world record, and by a large margin no less. Ugh...everyone's a critic when they don't have to handle a drunk Archmage."

After the boo's quieted down, Tilly read out the last item on the bulletin. "And finally, on the twenty-eighth day of the previous month, Queen Seraphina Stormborn asked the great to look into the Griffon problem plaguing the Ranger's Marsh region. The Great Mage is still in Ranger's Marsh dealing with the issue, and initial reports say that he has taken upon himself the task of building a sanctuary for these endangered creatures. He is also trying to prevent more conflicts between the animals and the natives. We sincerely hope that the Great Mage succeeds in his mission and returns to us safe and sound."

Another round of applause and shouts of "We love you, Great Mage" followed the end of the reading.

Tilly quickly moved on to the next item on the agenda. The Perfect Partner for the Great Mage Contest. Clean sheets of paper were handed to all the participants of the meeting by volunteers and members of the Appreciation Society. Tilly explained that each person attending the meeting can write the name of one individual whom they think is the perfect romantic partner for the Great Mage Kyros Magnus. She also added that this was not to be taken too seriously as it was just a bit of fun and that at the end of the day the Great Mage belonged to Lady Liriel. It was also announced that participants must not write their own names, as it would be annoying for those counting the votes to go through all the random names.

Sera peeked at Liriel's sheet. "Whose name are you writing?"

"Who do you think? Mine, of course."

"But she said that you can't write your own name."

"What else do you want me to write? Should I write that some other woman is better for my husband than me?" said a slightly annoyed Liriel.

Sera chuckled and gently patted her friend on the back. "Are you jealous, Liri?"

"No, I am not. Why would I be jealous?" Liriel pouted. "At the end of the day he is still mine." She stopped writing and looked around at the attendees eagerly writing names on their sheets of paper. "I told you things were going to get weird."

This made Sera laugh even more. "But rules are rules, Lady Magnus. Just because you are Liriel doesn't mean that you can break the rules. As the Queen, I won't allow it."

"Oh, fine. How about this? I will write your name, and you write mine. Then no one is breaking the rules."

"Capital idea," Sera said, still laughing.

Once everyone was done writing their preferred names, the sheets were collected, and Tilly announced that the result would be announced after the panel discussion, which was the third item on the agenda.

The panel discussion was titled, "Triangle? Or something more?" Tilly said that the panel was to discuss the real relationship between The Great Mage, Lady Liriel, and Queen Seraphina.

"This is going to be interesting," Sera said. "I wonder what my real relationship with you guys is."

Liriel groaned. "It's going to be the usual love triangle theory, isn't it?"

"I don't think so. Look, there are four panelists."