You find yourself drawn in by the sound of laughter, a familiar looking young man is standing at a small plaza, seemingly occupied with entertaining the audience that is listening to every word he says. Curiosity draws you closer, and soon your eyes meet as he smiled knowingly at you.

"Today's story is going to be something special~" The young man gestures with a playful wag of his finger as he explains further, a smirk appearing on his lips. "You see, the story that is about to be told is courtesy of a certain Doctor. Who? No, not Doctor Who, that guy is a bit too expensive to tell stories about, not to mention I don't want this to be my last story~"

The crowd chuckles in amusement as he hums softly.

It all began when a certain doctor, whose name we shall not mention today sought aid with a certain experiment. Risky jobs often come with nice rewards. How many jewels? A fair amount, but to a troublemaker entertainment is the true reward of a job like this. I still remember as if it was yesterday, or actually... maybe it was yesterday?

I was walking down the streets of Oak when I spotted a small cloaked figure standing near a wall, looking at two parchments while muttering to herself.

Did you know that they say that curiosity is the number one reason cats tend to lose their nine lives faster than a dwarf can finish his ale? Good thing that I'm neither a dwarf or a cat!

Either way, being the curious bard that I am, I approached the lass and asked her what troubled her, upon which she looked up at me and I froze on the spot. Was it because underneath that cloak there was a face belonging to a bullroarer frog? Or did she look like something that would put even a hag to shame? Far from it...

A pure and innocent-looking maiden looked at me, her bright red eyes that would make even a ruby feel like a mere rock gazed at me as she asked in a soft tone if I liked playing games.

What did I say? OF COURSE, I DO! What self-respecting man would not have enjoyed playing games? Even in my childhood, I tended to play all sorts of games with my friends, but it seemed the girl was not looking to play a game of hide and seek or tag, because gods know that if she was a bit older I wouldn't have minded tagging her.

Either way, it seemed she had been given two pieces of paper, each containing a phrase on it that would cause some sort of effect when read while thinking about someone.

The game she suggested was simple: each of us had till dusk to cause the funniest situation possible to happen with the magical spell cast upon those papers. Of course, I picked the first choice that came to mind, and with the confidence of the legendary Zade who could make even the angels swoon for him on the battlefield I set out on my mission.

WC: 522

The two of us sought our targets, and as mentioned before I went first. I found a young man busily flirting with not one, nor two but three maidens at the same time!

Don't ask me how he did it, but as a gentleman, I was infuriated! One does not simply flirt with multiple women at the same time!

And so I whispered the magical world while thinking some nasty thoughts about the playboy.

What happened afterward? He suddenly went on his knees for them! Sounds romantic, right? Not when you consider the fact the three of them were all wearing short dresses!

While we secretly laughed our asses off, and I felt myself confident of my victory, I noticed the girl was having a rather bold idea in mind, and only later did I realize just how crazy the lass truly was.

You see, it was during that time a delegation sent by the king himself, may Illumin warm his seat on the throne had arrived in town. That smile that emerged on her lips spoke book parts, and while a part of me wanted to stop her, knowing that at best we'll be hanged for such insolence, the prankster in me wanted to encourage her and watched her speak her phrase.

What happened afterward? Well... You see, the delegation's leader, an important man was meant to take a tour around the town, but due to the magical spell, he suddenly started to feel quite uncomfortable in his stiff clothes.

Ever had that moment when you're having an important meeting and you suddenly got this itch on your back that makes you want to start scratching it, but you're too ashamed to do it in public? Retreating was not an option for him, so instead, he endured, if he had that itch it might explain the weird movements, for it looked like he was doing some sort of weird tribal dance!

Of course, everyone in the town didn't want to offend such an important man, so they tried to mimic his behavior. The end result? By the time dusk arrived an entire parade of people were doing this weird dance in the town while the girl was giggling her butt off in the shadows.

I had to admit, the sight was so hilarious that she had delivered me a coup de grace and defeated me at her game. Still, the way she thanked me so innocently for playing along as she left the scene was surprisingly endearing.

As the story reached its ending some of the children in the crowd are still laughing and making weird dance-like motions, but for some reason, you can't help but hear a soft girlish giggle in the shadows.

Even after turning around in search of the sound you notice nothing out of ordinary, and yet you can't help but think back to the earlier story. Could it be that there had been more truth to this story than one might have possibly imagined?

"May we meet again~" The bard hums with a smile as he walks away.

WC: 514
Total WC: 1036/1000