Third retainer

I bought a third retainer from the Mog Store but now we are given a third retainer for free. Does the retainer I bought change over to a free one (because when I tried to get the free one it said I had my allotted number) or would I have to stop paying for it? But if I stop paying for it can I grab it as my free one from retainer recruitment? I don't want to lose all my progress on the retainer but I don't need a fourth one either.

What free retainer?

I heard nothing about players getting a third free retainer, this is news to me (I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere - usually that sort of thing is announced on the Lodestone). Are you mistaking the inventory/Armoury Chest increase for 'free storage space'? (Retainer inventories are still the same size and have not been increased either).

I didn't hear of this either. To test that out, I just talked to a Retainer Vocate. I do not get a third retainer - my limit remains two. As such, it's either bogus information, or it's a future patch update.

The 3rd free retainer was for the Chinese version of the game. No mention of it for any other region.

You high OP?