33 Response to the King's Letter

"King Arthur Valar sent a personal invitation to me? It must be because of my unique identity. There's no other reason." Luca was far from stupid, immediately identifying the core of the summons' intent. "That being said, the journey from here to the royal capital requires crossing about two full provinces and half of two others, those being the central Valour Province and the remaining distance from here to the border of Grens Province. Barring unforeseen circumstances, it would require more than two months to cross that distance just for one short meeting."

Dominic grunted as he listened to Luca's to-the-point explanation of the situation, "I thoroughly agree with you, however, ignoring the king's summons is a criminal offence. Still, there is an exception to this, and, thankfully, we happen to have something capable of skipping most of that travel. The Mages Guilds all have a single-person transfer array directly connecting them to the Mages Guild Headquarters in Valour City. While the magic mirror method has been the most popular and prevalent for long-distance communication, a decision was made for these arrays to be made in case of a calamity, such as rampaging dragons or a supernaturally large beast wave from the northern Death Forest. At the Headquarters, there is a major transfer array that can send one to any Mages Guild branch in the kingdom. In the case of emergencies, mages and adventurers can use the array to head to the capital before being sent directly to the city that called for aid, thus drastically shortening the time needed for a response."

Luca knew all of this already, as it was also a core part of the game he'd played. All branch arrays were only accessible to the player upon visitation, but it remained the fastest and most reliable method of long-distance transportation. The downside was the cost, which varied depending on the distance. For example, in order to power up the array enough to send Luca over a three-province distance in one go would require no less than a white gold coin, which would pay for the replacement of the enchanted gems and beast cores needed for it to operate. Having a high status did not give discounts to the users of the arrays either. Even the king himself would have to pay the full price to use it.

"We haven't had a need to use the array in thirty-some years so there is, thankfully, a backlog of the required catalysts for the array in the Mages Guild and in the city treasury, though more than two-thirds of the entire economic revenue was spent for the emergency quest and consolations. Thankfully, very little of the recipients live elsewhere, so it will quickly return to circulation. That said, it will still be a long time before the city treasury catches up to its previous status. We do, however, have enough to afford the array a single time without going over our newly reformed budget." Dominic knocked his knuckles against his desk subconsciously as he pondered aloud, "I'll need to send another letter to your old mentor, who I'm sure will be worried yet proud of his last student's exceptional achievements."

The boy bowed to the city lord, "Thank you very much. It was only for a week, but he is still my mentor. With his advancing age, I think he'll be proud enough for the rest of his life that his last student turned out to be a new Dragonborn." Few mages only had a single mentor through their entire lives, but the first was always the one with the biggest impression. Ysmir's old but kindly demeanour, coupled with his old-man-style discipline methods, left smiles on Luca's face despite the short time they spent together. That and his help with explaining how magic works, at least in Andor, helped Luca expand the System's database.

After a quick chuckle, Dominic agreed, "Greenfield Town will be a famous name soon enough so that I have no doubt of, and Ysmir will certainly enjoy that too." He laid the letter aside and laced his fingers as he leaned back in his chair, "I'm assuming that you can un-summon your partner, so the single-person array should be enough for both of you to travel to the capital. As for getting back, we don't have an extra white gold coin to give you to pay for a return trip. I have a feeling you won't need it, though. The report we sent to the capital also included the list of fees paid to those involved in the quest, along with those who declined. This letter also stated that the royal family will reimburse us for the cost of the expedition and its subsequent aftermath. I'm reasonably certain that you'll be rewarded by King Endrin III."

The white-coiffed dragonkin lad had assumed such earlier but had refrained from questioning it, as he figured Dominic would explain it. "When can we get the array up and running? It's already well past midday, so maybe it would be best to do it around evening time. That way, I can spend the night at the Mages Guild Headquarters and visit His Majesty the following morning."

"From what Austin has told me, it's always ready to be used, all it needs is for someone to activate it. That said, I do agree with your choice of waiting until morning for an audience. It will give His Majesty and the palace servants at least some time to prepare." Tapping his finger on the table as he searched his desk for something he'd misplaced, he hmmed upon finding a small silver ring with an insignia carved onto its face, "This is a token from the royal family. As long as you hold this, you will be treated like a visiting high-ranking statesman. Austin expressed that he was going to write out a letter for you to hand to the Head Guildmaster once you arrive so that you can temporarily lodge there."

Luca took the ring and casually slipped it onto his middle finger, as his ring finger was too small to fit it. After a few more words between the pair, the boy thanked Dominic and headed to the Adventurers Guild to notify Lydia of his departure before making his way to the Mages Guild.