The other Royals appeared to be waiting for Princess Alexis to go first, as there was nobody at the desk where the Royal Clerks were waiting anxiously to begin the distribution.
The Princess stepped up, and the Clerk looked relieved. "Your Highness. We have your reward prepared. Please bring your attendants forward."
The Guards pushed Dominic to the front of the line, and the other Royals laughed quietly at what they expected to be the highlight of the evening’s show.
The clerk nodded in confirmation, and set their finger on a line of text.
"Magical recordings of the battle by Aramos Village Guards report six hundred and eight confirmed kills. In addition, a commendation for Rare Grade weapon construction has been added to your payment, as well as your first month’s stipend as a Royal Sorcerer."
The clerk motioned to the man next to him, who dumped out a massive amount of treasure onto a pair of tables pushed together.
"As the rightful share of the battle’s distribution, we present three hundred and four mana cores, ten Gold Coins for the crafter’s reward, five gold for a Royal Sorcerer’s monthly stipend, and twelve Uncommon Grade magical items, randomly selected. Please confirm receipt."
"Confirmed." Dominic quickly noted, while trying to control his breathing.
His heart was pounding in his ears, and he could feel himself becoming dizzy as he collected the items back into the Storage Device that the clerk handed him.
He wasn’t quite sure what happened next, but after a moment, he realized he was sitting on the edge of a planter at the edge of the courtyard.
"Not bad, Lord Sorcerer. We thought for sure you would pass out." One of the Royal Guards joked.
"It was a close thing." Dominic agreed.
"You were definitely on autopilot for a while. But our turn is over now, we can head back. I will escort you to the Smithy area, as even now, you don’t have clearance to be wandering the Secondary Royal Quarters unattended." The guard offered.
"Thanks. Pops is going to freak out when I get back. Hell, with this many Mana Cores, I could likely push straight for Journeyman on my Trade Skill Core."
The Guard laughed. "I wouldn’t recommend that. There is a diminishing return on doing things that way. You’ll want to save it for when you’re close to Journeyman, and then push through right before a review.
Every three months, the tradesmen are considered for promotion. If you get a move to Journeyman in the first placement, it would be a miracle, even if your core was there. First, they would need a position open. But second, there are other Apprentices who have been waiting longer and have accomplishments in the forge as well."
Dominic shrugged. "Being Pops’ apprentice isn’t a bad gig anyhow. Plus, now that the battle is over, we should be able to catch up with the requests for new weapons in a week or two."
The Guard laughed and shook his head. "Were you not listening to the King? They found evidence that Dagos government leaders were behind the attacks. If anything, we’re likely to start ramping up for a full-scale war soon. Not just the Capital, but the whole nation.
Once that starts, there won’t be enough high-quality weapons in the entire world to fill the demand."
As they turned the corner, Dominic recognized the hallways that led to the Master Smith’s quarters, but that was not where the Royal Guard was headed.
Instead, he led Dominic straight to the smithy.
"Check in before you retire for the night. It’s considered standard protocol to let them know that you are back and will be available for tomorrow’s roster." He insisted.
Dominic was going to point out that he literally lived with the Master Weaponsmith who set his schedule, but followed the protocol anyhow.
The moment that they stepped through the doors, a great cheer went up as the forge welcomed him home again.
"Apprentice Dominic! We heard all about your adventure!"
"That grumpy old bastard might finally stop treating us like slaves."
The greetings of the forge workers made Dominic laugh.
"Where is the Weaponsmith?" He asked, not seeing Pops in the Forge.
A hoarse voice came from the corner where the old Armourer always sat to do his ornamental work. "He’s down at the barracks, delivering a load of weapons. We didn’t expect you to be finished with the formalities so fast. But these lazy louts had better get back to work before he really does treat them like slaves. They’re already behind schedule."
That chased the workers back to their stations, and the Royal Guard clapped Dominic on the shoulder as he turned to leave.
"Good luck, Sorcerer. Don’t forget, I’ll drop by in a day or two with the schedule of mandatory events. Actually, I will inform the head maid that you are on the list, and she will take care of making sure that you are ready for them all. Yes, that is much better."
Then, he was off, and Dominic headed for his usual station at the forges.
Everything was right where he had left it, arranged for making war picks.
"Armourer, what are we working on today?" Dominic asked.
"Journeymen are making Officers Sabres, the Masters are making lumber axes. They’ll need them to cut trees for siege weapons, you see." The old man explained.
Dominic looked around, and realized that there were no other apprentices in the forge right now. At least, no other apprentice Weaponsmiths.
"Are the other apprentices off shift?" He asked after doing the mental math, which told him they couldn’t have sent everyone with the reservists.
The old Armourer smiled. "The Weaponsmith got sick of their whining and told them that they could either make the deliveries, or work night shifts, and the journeymen would make the deliveries.
So, we haven’t seen one in here while the sun was up since you left."
Now that he mentioned it, the Journeymen actually appeared to be in a much better mood than usual. Maybe sending away the Apprentices was the right call?
Normally, nobody wanted to work the night shift. It was just for unfinished work and emergency on call duty. Getting all the Apprentices to volunteer to move over was a stroke of genius on Pops’ part, if his goal was to get a quieter forge.