Most of the journey back to Bristol was uneventful, save for a handful of moments where soldiers or adventurers cheered or brought up their heroic little Dragonborn, which in turn led to more cheering. The coalition marched back to the provincial capital, the residents of which had been having trouble maintaining their regular day-to-day behaviour with the sudden expeditionary event, the likes of which hadn't appeared in Grens Province for a century-and-a-half, during the extermination of the Ghost Clan as ordered by the king. When the army and company appeared in the city-dwellers' eyes, there was a collective sigh of relief, though a feeling of dread still pervaded the air, as one could see less returning men than what had set out.
As the group walked through town from the north gate towards the city's central plaza, husbands, wives and children constantly came forward to embrace their returning family members. This happened despite the natural fear towards Arcturus, who walked beside Luca, who sat astride Thunder next to the leading members of the company of combatants as they made their way through. Arcturus, and Luca by extension, were given looks of apprehension and confusion by those watching, and while the latter calmly ignored them, since players were often given looks like that in the game when they had suspicious or unlucky reputations, Arcturus was very self-conscious and nervous, making him behave like he was attempting to shrink down until he disappeared. Luca could only do so much to calm the young dragon down, after all.
The procession eventually ended when Luca, Arcturus and the three commanding officers arrived in the plaza. Most of the coalition couldn't fit into the area, let alone the civilians, so upon arrival, Zachariah had given approval for everyone to disperse at will. Therefore, there ended up being more civilians than expeditionary members in the plaza as the Provincial Army Commander loudly proclaimed to the entire city of their successful extermination of the Mammoth Bandits. The entire city erupted in a chorus of cheers and applause, a sound that was heard by City Lord Dominic as he arrived on the scene later than he'd expected.
"The terror of the Oakwind Strath has fallen to the might of our army, greatly aided by our comrades in arms, the adventurers and the mages of the Guilds! The three remaining vice leaders of the Mammoth Bandits were felled by the hands of Vice Guildmaster Lydia and two of our Lieutenants, Sterben and Dante, bringing a swift end to their three strongest fighters after Vincent himself! Though many men and women alike fell today, not a single bandit remains alive from our forces thanks to their brave sacrifice!" Zachariah, as one would expect of someone capable of reaching the highest rank of the provincial army, had a knack for speech, especially when it came to raising morale and inspiring the people. While he did make sure to emphasize the total annihilation of the Mammoth Bandits, he did not gloss over their losses of close to 300 soldiers and 40-some adventurers. "However, the greatest merit of the battle does not go to any of us who set out in force. Instead, it goes to a small young hero that brought us the victory!" He waved to Luca from his place atop his steed, to which the boy steered Thunder over toward him. "This brave lad here single-handedly turned the tides in our favour with one swift move, but that is not all he did!"
Luca did his best to maintain a straight face, but the countless eyes on him made it quite difficult as Zachariah continued loudly to the people, "Our expedition could not have happened if not for his arrival with critical information that provided us with the Mammoth Bandits location, information he gained through bringing an end to Gadric the Bear, the fourth vice leader of the criminal gang, and carried to us in just over two days journey! That alone was already a huge contribution, but he did not stop there, as he went ahead of the army with the scout troupe to prepare for our arrival! At the climax of the battle, he shot down Vincent of Bloody Gold himself with one strike from afar, killing the leader of the bandits who had just broken through to become a Lv. 5 Warrior as he prepared to join the fight!" This statement drew gasps of surprise from the crowd, not to mention Dominic, who had only just arrived to hear this himself. "The battle came to a swift end after his death, and we won the day, though still at a great cost." He then leaned over to pat the boy on the back with a grin, "All those who died today will be remembered, and those who remain will tell their stories. For those who have lost someone today, remember that they brought an end to a threat to our livelihood, and they did it at the side of a courageous young dragon and a Dragonborn!"
Catching the hint, Luca revealed his new form, as they had spoken of it before arriving that, in order to make it less of a rumour and more official, along with spreading hope through the citizens' grief, he would reveal his identity as a Dragonborn to give some modicum of comfort to those left behind. The sudden appearance of the boy's shiny wings and tail, along with the word Dragonborn made waves through the crowd as they witnessed a follow-up to a monumental event. The beautiful image of a white-haired lad with glassy draconic attributes was firmly engraved in their memories from that moment forward. Of course, his lacking attire contrasted greatly to his majestic visage, making it half-comical and half-heroic.
"Be proud of those lost today, proud of our brave men and women that fought and died with honour so that others may return, and be proud of this young man here, the first Dragonborn in 300 years, and our very own Bristol's greatest hero!" Zachariah jabbed his fist to the sky as he roared out the last of his brief yet emotionally exhilarating speech, to which all those present, whether consciously or not, responded in kind, making the city shake with the collective voices of its residents as the expeditionary journey came to an end.