Five days passed as the citizens of Bristol celebrated the historic events their tiny city experienced in the same day, all while the City Lord made sure to pay both the soldiers, who received bonuses to their regular wages, and the guild members, who took on the emergency quest, a rare event in and of itself, and received compensation equal to the highest contributor of the general crowd, a pretty penny indeed since it matched the annual salary of the soldiers. Commander Zachariah, Adventurers Vice Guildmaster Lydia and Mages Guildmaster Austin Nicholas all declined their rewards, instead insisting that it was better put to other things than giving money to those who had no need for it at present. Of course, to those who lost family members, soldiers' families received five years worth of salary, plus double the bonus that the survivors received, and adventurers' families received double the compensation of the survivors. On top of that, they were exempted from taxes for the following two years, during which time the City Lord Dominic had insisted that he would pay for their compensations out of his own pockets, as it was his order that cost them their family members. In total, he gladly paid a grand total of 13wg (White Gold), most of which was paid for by himself as the compensations and bonuses, while the emergency quest rewards were paid by the city due to its ruling figures being the ones to call for the expedition.
Of course, the one who received the most was Luca, the little hero of the expedition. While he thoroughly declined monetary payment for the same reasons as the three leading expeditionary members, he received a surprising boost to his status and his repertoire. Though he had only taken on a single quest and only achieved a single act during the said quest, he was considered the lynchpin of the operation as a whole. Taking an emergency quest is comparable to 5 regular B-grade quests, meaning several adventurers ranked up one or two times, but Luca achieved the impossible, jumping straight from E-rank, right over D-rank and directly into C-rank. The reason he was given a pass on the rank-up exam for D-rank was because of his capability of communication with party members, specifically with the scout squad. While he wasn't able to use their codes, he made sure to pay attention to everything that was reported and reported back in kind. The test centred on communication with party members, and, due to him proving to be capable of it, he was boosted right over it. As for how he went straight to C-rank, he took the rank-up test two days after the battle, acing the knowledge portion, the combat portion and the negotiation portion with flying colours.
Of course, he had received a personal title and an adventurer party title, the first being the Little Dragonborn and the second being Twin Dragons. Though Arcturus was currently incapable of human speech, he was more than capable of holding some form of conversation, through gestures and sounds. Because of this, and because dragons both outclass humans in terms of intelligence and are eventually capable of human transformation and speech, Arcturus was considered his own independent person despite him also being Luca's familiar, even becoming somewhat of a local mascot. That said, he was also given a guild card that, by extension, matched the boy's own due to our special partnership. The two of them in combat together proved capable of outmatching Lydia, albeit with her restraining herself to what would be considered peak C-rank power, though they fell short even after going close to all-out against her using the minimum B-rank strength. Thus, with the Little Dragonborn and the Young Dragon, the Twin Dragons party was formed.
While he did thoroughly decline money, though he did desire it, Luca received a new robe from Austin along with clothes that were happily crafted by the tailors of the city some old D-grade leather gear from the Adventurers Guild after it was refitted to his size. After he mentioned that, as a Magecrafter himself, he could later rework it to fit him as he grew, the smithies refitted it with less disgruntled looked than before. He looked midway between adorable and cool with his new getup, even if it also made him feel slightly corny.
It wasn't until about noon on the fifth day following their return that Luca was summoned back to speak with Dominic. He'd been more-or-less freeloading in the city lord's manor, so they met regularly, but this was the first time it'd been a true summons. As he arrived in Dominic's office, he denoted the slight frown that the city lord, seated at his desk, had as he looked over a letter. Paper was very common in Andor, so letters were the most common method of long-distance communication without magic. Gerald Sheridan only used a scroll because most of their paper had been burned up during the bandit raid after one of the rooms of the keep had their windows set ablaze. The fire was contained and smothered, but the paper was beyond saving, along with anything else. That said, the wax seal, along with the odd shimmer, of the envelope indicated its importance if it was sealed in a magic envelope for protection.
"It must be quite serious if you have a look like that, Sir Dominic. The last time I saw that look was six days ago." Luca was not exaggerating in the slightest, as the city lord wore the same expression during the emergency meeting before the expedition.
The man sighed as he peered up from the letter, "I'm not sure if this should exceed that operation's severity or not." Setting the letter aside, he tilted the envelope towards the boy and asked a simple question, "Do you recognize this seal, by any chance?" While small, the seal consisted of a shield bearing a crest of two swords and a crown, a very familiar symbol to both Light and Dark beings.
"Is that a trick question? Of course, I do, that's the Valarion Royal Family's seal... Oh, I see what you mean..." If it came from the royal family directly, there was no doubt that it was of some importance. "Is it about the expedition?"
"That takes up most of the letter, yes, but it is not the core of the message. No, what it's really about is a summons." The city lord looked the white-haired lad in the eyes as he gravely said, "The king himself has summoned you to the palace."