You might wonder where we are going or what we are doing or even what direction we are traveling? Though I haven't explained the reason, I have already told you where we are going. We are off to see the dwarves, meaning Bhan Dhorul since that is the only actual dwarven settlement that I know the location of.

Bhan Dhorul is located on the far side of the Break mountain range which, if you recall, had a horde of goblinoids two thousand kilometers away from it and closing. Or at least, it did 8 months ago. Shocking as it may be, that army wasn't kind enough to stop and wait for me. The goblinoid army moved rather slowly but even so, they fell upon the dwarves of Bhan Dhorul about 5 months ago. The city of Diamond Lake alerted them to the upcoming threat, and they fortified extensively in the months of warning that they had.

As they are a primarily Dwarven settlement, they have quite a lot of narrow, easily defended tunnels, going deeply into and below the mountains. To my knowledge most goblinoids also live underground, and unsurprisingly they are also known as proficient tunnelers, but the difference in ability is alleged to be significant. The dwarves are masters of their crafts. Dwarves don't just dig simple tunnels; they create complex traps, notoriously difficult to notice, famously lethal. They rig tunnels to collapse, create decoys, and much more besides. In short, once they have dug in, pardon the pun, they are infamously difficult to dislodge.

None of that should be enough, though. There is no reason, whatsoever, that the goblinoid army would not have won this siege if they wanted to. As I mentioned to you before, battles do not take long in this world. The goblinoids, despite being limited by the same sort of racial class restrictions as the Lizardfolk, and often to a greater degree, could certainly break through the dwarven traps if they put in a concerted effort.

After breaking through their defenses and reaching the city proper, it should become a simple matter to continue on to wipe them out of the mountain chain once they have cleared a route of traps. That's what I would expect at least, and those I've spoken with on the subject tend to feel the same way.

According to the mayor of Diamond Lake, there should be near to 100,000 goblinoids of various races; while the dwarven settlement should be less than 10,000 strong, many of whom would make poor combatants. Dwarves are militant compared to humans, but they aren't as militant as Lizardfolk or Orcs. Their true strength is in their dedicated crafters, who tend to be less fearsome in battle. The same should hold true for their children as well. Even with the dwarves ensuring that everyone has some combat training, there should be many who have either been away from combat for so long that they cannot be expected to perform well, or they simply have not been fully trained yet.

Prior to the arrival of the goblinoid horde, the city of Diamond Lake offered to form an alliance with Bhan Dhorul, contingent on negotiating a more favorable trade deal, but the dwarves rejected the alliance offer on the basis that they believed a group of goblinoids should be no match for them, along with the claim that the terms of the new trade agreement were overly generous.

Although I do not know the details on whether or not that original proposal was lopsided to the extent that the dwarves of Bhan Dhorul claimed, once the goblinoids arrived, communication between the two cities became rather difficult. Not impossible of course, there remain a few options such as wizards teleporting people from here to there and back, but difficult. Those powerful enough to be called wizards, the ones powerful enough to teleport, they are not common, and they tend to feel that they have more important things to do than play chauffeur. So, despite there being options for communication, communication is still somewhat limited and comparatively infrequent.

Although leading up to this point Bhan Dhorul had dismissed the goblinoid threat, once the goblinoids arrived, Bhan Dhorul soon clarified that they would like to establish an alliance after all… But it took the arrival of the goblinoids. Once the extent of the goblinoid forces were recognized, they realized that they shouldn't have taken the threat lightly. And yet, they are dwarves through and through. Apparently even now they are sticking on some of the additional concessions, insisting that it is too much. Due to their situation they are definitely wanting to negotiate further despite this stated belief, but I find it shocking that even now they seem more focused on making a profit than on survival. With an outlook like it, it's remarkable they aren't already extinct… Unfortunately for them, by this point Diamond Lake was also able to determine the actual size of the goblinoid force, and since that discovery no longer considered the original trade concessions they sought, which they claimed to be a limited quantity of minor concessions, sufficient incentive to intervene.

All of this did lead me to wonder: Why have the goblinoids not attacked? Yes, many goblinoids are very weak, and that would comprise most of their army. But their army would still be able to easily crush the dwarves even if there were nothing but the weakest of goblinoid races. The bulk of their forces are comprised of weak species, certainly, but this army does include representation for some of their stronger races, too.

I do not have the answer, I do not know. But I have a guess. I am guessing that the extensive disruption of their scouts has resulted in a degree of decision paralysis. That guess is contingent on the first set of interrogation results having been accurate, that they were fleeing something. Goblinoids are definitely willing to flee when they feel the situation merits it, but for the most part even while they are fleeing, they prefer to do so with swords drawn, sacking villages along the way when they have the numbers to do it. Bhan Dhorul is not an easy target, just one that they can win against.

So, my guess is that they are wanting to decide whether or not they have run far enough, and whether or not there is a better place to settle prior to committing so many lives. If I am correct, then that means the dwarves are still standing because Diamond Lake has been continuously harassing and destroying their scouting forces, ruining their attempts at gathering intelligence further south. Not that the dwarves will appreciate it, but maintaining the fog of war is my best guess on why they haven't fully committed.

Which brings me to the current state. You may ask, why oh why would I be traveling to a settlement that is currently besieged by an army of hostile goblinoids? Well, it is because the diamond mine that serves as the namesake for Diamond Lake dried up long ago, and extremely high-quality diamonds are required for all the spells that bring people back to life. Meaning that, for my plan to resurrect the rest of the group to succeed, I need diamonds.

I have not been able to locate Diamonds of the required size and quality locally, I even tried to use my manufacturing spell to turn coal into diamonds, though unsurprisingly that did not succeed. Lab grown diamonds might be a thing in my world, but apparently they do not count as something you can craft from materials here. In much the same way that if I were to attempt to turn a dead cow into a suit of leather armor, I could expect the manufacture attempt to successfully execute, but for the spell to have no actual effect, because leather must be treated prior to being turned into armor. The difference in chemical composition is not something that can be ignored.

Based on what Regina was able to learn from local clergy, at a minimum we can expect anyone who is casting the actual spell that we want on our behalf to require that all the materials be present. So without Diamonds to purchase, and without the ability to make my own, I must rely on trade. The regions largest trade partner for this particular resource is 1 angry Orcs decision away from getting wiped out.

I have earned enough gold over the last year to bring everyone in the group back to life twice over. In the last month alone, I earned and spent enough to bring one of them back. But to cast a resurrection spell myself is beyond my current abilities: the only version I would be able to cast right now would require that they'd only just died and not yet passed on to the afterlife… and even that one requires Diamonds, just smaller and cheaper variants. More than that I and all but the most powerful of priests would also still need a part of the body of the deceased, and of course since the people I would want to bring back have all long ago passed on, I would also need a priest powerful enough to cast the spell.

Now, I do not currently have enough money to buy the diamonds. But as I have said before, war is profitable. I can just go there and make the required money. If I find the dwarves to be irredeemably intransigent, I could even try and make money off of the goblinoids. They might not have the diamonds I need right away, but if they are successful in their endeavor that should change.

Granted, Goblinoids do tend towards killing people on sight, but a full army is a completely different animal than a small war camp. They need weapon and armor smiths, and they should have enough intelligent creatures to recognize that other races have better crafters than regular goblins do.

Could I go to a different city? Yes, but the only places that I truly know about that might have sufficiently high-quality diamonds are somewhere far, far to the north, thousands of kilometers away and likely only accessible via ship, or alternately to the south, at the trade city of Riverwind, but the reputation there is poor, and there is a very real chance that if I tried to get valuable diamonds from them, I would soon find that either the diamonds were somehow faked, overvalued and incapable of being used for resurrection, or I might just get mugged and possibly murdered. Regardless, I think that my odds of both surviving and achieving my objective is higher by risking the attention of a horde of goblinoids.

The reason Regina is still traveling with me despite a clear intention to retire? I told her that I was planning to bring our companions back to life sooner rather than later, and that all I would need was a piece of Jim, a bit more time in the shop to set up a strong income stream, and currently the most difficult thing to achieve, Diamonds of a sufficiently high quality, one for each person we are to bring back.

Even now Diamond Lake and Bhan Dhorul are not working together directly despite my assumption that Diamond Lake is the largest reason that Bhan Dhorul has not yet been wiped off the map. As arrogant and proud as dwarves are, they probably think that the giant horde of goblinoids are afraid of them… Yes, based on their reputation dwarves really can be so deluded as to believe that an enemy that outnumbers you 10 to 1 will be afraid of you. When it comes down to it, they might be less arrogant than the elves, but that is not for lack of ego. They are merely limited to centuries of living in a bubble to reinforce their delusions, rather than millennia.

The reason I met the mayor of Diamond Lake? To make him a preliminary offer, one which would bring active communication back onto the table and much more besides. I offered to bring an updated trade offer to the dwarves of Bhan Dhorul, as well as an initial offer to my home village of Metro, if he agrees to pay for the assistance of a priest of sufficient level to perform the resurrections I would like to do. I also include that if we are unable to do so, he will need to locate a priest willing to cast the spell for each of my former party members, though I will be willing to provide the required diamonds after visiting Bhan Dhorul.

Up to this point, this was the offer I made to get an appointment with the Mayor. The mayor would normally not be the least bit interested in some random lizard offering to carry some documents. Nor, for that matter, would he be likely to be interested in trading with a lizardfolk village. But considering how difficult it is to get people in and out of Bhan Dhorul right now, and that Diamond Lake wants to help them but cannot justify doing so against such a powerful force without some form of future benefit to show for it? We're at the right time and the right place to get an appointment. Once the appointment arrived? At that point I did something absolutely outrageous.

Mayor Gustavan is a heavy-set fellow, not fat by any stretch of the imagination, but heavy. Big bones, big frame, small bulge at the midsection probably owing more to his age than to his level of fitness. His hair is mostly grey, though some greys are darker, and there are still a few patches of dark color holding out in a final, noble defense of his aged crown. His face is not yet heavily wrinkled except around his eyes, though a few are becoming noticeable along his forehead as well. His complexion is dark, I expect that to be primarily caused by a lifetime of exposure to the sun, and his hands are rough, heavily calloused and scarred.

The mayor of a city like Diamond Lake would not be an ordinary fighter. Perhaps in the empire you can find leaders of men who are soft and flabby, but not out here in the frontier. His voice is… Surprisingly mellifluous, measured and smooth and pleasing to the ear. I could be mistaken, but I suspect that the good mayor has multiple classes, a mix of a variant of a fighter class, and some form of skald or bard. It would certainly explain his unexpectedly high charisma.

To Mayor Gustavan I explained that the original proposal I presented to his subordinates is legitimate, that I can carry their newest iteration of the support and trade agreements to Bhan Dhorul with me, and that I am interested in access to a priests time and magical energy to perform resurrections. But I know, just as he knows, that there are more expeditious approaches to take. I explain that while I will happily do so, it is not my ultimate goal. Instead, I tell him that I can offer him something he would also prefer over whatever the current iteration of the trade deal would be, should he be inclined to hear it.

What I want is for Diamond Lake to bear all the costs of the resurrections, including the diamonds, as well as to provide me the assistance of the Archmagi Marzan, and to provide tens of thousands of gold worth of rare materials. When I explained the details of my second offer, he was more than skeptical. He lost his cool, even going so far as to call me a liar and a cheat, suggesting that I was using a special method to defeat a truth detection spell that was active in his office, reminding me that he could have me hanged, and so on. But he did not kick me out, and when the guards at his door poked their heads in due to his bellowing, he ended up waving them off and telling them that he would call them to kick me out in a few minutes. Our meeting ran long, and he eventually pushed back several others in its place.

There is a reason that the meeting was so long; I was asking for an absurd investment, as well as for the help of the single most powerful human anyone in this region even knows the name of. One who had been a full-fledged Archmagi, the pinnacle of the mages of this era, for centuries and perhaps longer. The request was impudent and unbelievable and, most of all, far too attractive a prospect for the Mayor to actually kick me out.

After our very long discussion, we came to a tentative agreement. But it all started with me making it to the dwarves, and delivering the current iteration of the proposed cooperation between the two cities while I was at it. In the meantime, the mayor would reach out to Marzan, and see if he were interested in cooperating with me on my next project. The archmagi is one person who is truly beyond the authority of the Mayor, but if it turned out that I had been telling the truth, Mayor Gustavan was fully aware that Marzan would likely be even more interested than he was.