[Jacob’s POV, Governor of Roheb]

"What is it?”

“We don’t know! It looks like a dungeon entrance, but…"

Dungeon entrance? Did a new dungeon appear? That would actually be very lucky. I grab my sword. “Lead me there.”

Ten minutes later, I’m in a back-alley in the slum part of the town. There’s indeed something strange there. I feel a bit of ambient mana there, but nothing else. That would coincide with it being a dungeon.

“Call guards here.”

“How many?” The officer asks. “We need to guard the dungeon. Who knows what the warlock will do?”

“That entrance is well fortified. This one is not. We need people here. Call half of them. Call Nicolas too. Maybe he will know something I don’t.”

Half an hour later, my small council observes the phenomenon.

“Seems like a dungeon,” Nicolas says with a shrug.

“Anything else? What are the chances that two dungeons appear in the same place?”

“Quite high, actually. Dungeons usually appear in historically significant places and recreate a moment in history. One place can have a few such moments, and usually does.”

I frown. “I never heard of this.”

He shrugs. “You know how it is. I can’t tell you this unless it’s required for my work.”

That’s good, but there’s something else that doesn’t let me rest. “Could this have a connection to the warlock in the other dungeon?”

“Maybe? I don’t know.”

If this is connected… dangerous. “Dominic. Build some fortifications and defenses. Building a proper containment room will take a while, but I want this place to be defensible.” He nods and start ordering his subordinates.

Nicolas starts doing some experiments on the phenomenon. I don’t get it, but it seems like he is just testing it with various mana types. Not like this guy has a lot. I stay and oversee the preparations. Half an hour later, the magical film stabilizes. Everyone stops and takes a look. The fortifications are nowhere done. Just some stacks of logs to hide behind.

A goblin comes out of the exit. He looks around. Nobody moves. “Kill it.” I order. Another dungeon with goblins? Dominic orders guards to form a circle around the entrance.

Someone shoots the goblin. It falls down on its face. We observe the entrance, as there will likely be more monsters.

A volley of arrows flies through the film. Shit! I duck, but not everyone manages to do it in time. Arrows explode with fire.

“Move back! Behind the logs!” Dominic shouts. Another volley shoots from the film, though fewer people die now.

A hobgoblin woman walks out of the dungeon, wielding a large ax. An orc follows after her. I recognize him. The boss of the dungeon. This isn’t a new dungeon. But how?

The hobgoblins start to charge from the entrance.

“Archers! Fire!” Dominic orders, and arrows fall on the goblins. Some blocks, some ducks, cousing the arrows to strike the next hobgoblins who hadn’t even seen it. Some arrows hit. My guards move forward and engage in melee.

“Consecrate Ground!” The head priest uses his skill. Lucky for me, he is just around.

“Dark Conquest!” One of the hobgoblins shouts. The holy spell breaks. That’s a dark priest, and he seems to be strong enough to at least break our priest spells.

“You.” I point to the new guild master. “Fetch adventurers. We need all of them now!” Wait! “You,” I point at a guard, “sound the horn!”

“Wait!” The head priest shouts. “On the way back, go to the temple. He is weaker than me. With a few more priests, we will overpower him.”

A loud sound of horn drowns out the sounds of the battlefield for a moment. Two times. The town is under attack.

I grab my own sword and check who I can engage. I move forward and attack a random hobgoblin. I don’t have armor on me, and I’m rusty, but I can help a bit. I just need to not overextend. Obviously, I don’t want to die. Even if that wasn’t the case, my death would break morale.

Regular goblins start to emerge. It’s a full-dungeon break. How could this happen so quickly? I can only blame warlock’s tricks. I plunge my sword into the hobgoblin’s chest and kill him. I look around. We are losing. My guards concentrate on the orc, but I quickly notice that the unbothered hobgoblin woman kills a lot more people. I look back at the orc. His wounds are mending. Damn. Dominic seems to notice it as well.

“Give up on the orc. You three, just keep it occupied and don’t die!”

The shaman is likely transferring life force from his minions to the orc. A strike that would kill a regular goblin may only be a shallow wound on an orc, due to his higher Endurance. Very clever and cruel strategy. Can I kill him? I look around and find him near the dark priest. I should have expected that. They are both in the back, and both carry shields. Killing them is going to be fucking hard. It is certainly too hard for me. I need more men.

I still have half the guards at the old entrance. Wait! That’s it! They blocked the entrance. Nobody does that, because the dungeon will create a new one. The monsters will never do it; rather, they will prevent it. To do it, you need knowledge, and the dungeon must be in a late phase of breaking, so monsters won't interfere. I totally didn’t expect that from the warlock. It seems I underestimated him.

I grab another guard and pull him back. "Run to the entrance of the dungeon. Tell everyone they are to abandon it and come here. They are to leave just two people to keep watch on it. Go!”

No more goblins are leaving the dungeon, but we are still losing and falling back. The unfinished fortification helps a bit, especially when goblins don’t have a mage with highly destructive spells. Five minutes pass while fighting rages. Losses are similar on both sides, though that’s bad for us. I notice a few adventurers have arrived, but they have yet to join the fight. Cowards!

Goblin shaman shouts something, and two detachments leave to the sides. I grimace. We will need to fall back to avoid being encircled. This means leaving fortifications behind. Hopefully, reinforcements will arrive soon.

A sound of horn in the distance. That’s from the wall. Once again. I scowl. Am I surrounded by idiots? Guards are going to go to the walls now—at least part of them. Wait! Do we have a traitor?

Well played… I grit my teeth. “Sound the horn again!” I shout. This way, we will hopefully still get the majority of reinforcements.

“Fall back! Fighting retreat!” Dominic shouts after briefly disengaging the female hobgoblin. She immediately steps in his direction and forces Dominic to block. Dominic’s fighting skills are a bit better, but she is way stronger and faster. His armor is equalizing the fight a bit, but he is still losing. There are a few trails of blood on his armor. The rest of the goblins are weaker. I check the battlefield. Most regular goblins are in the back.

I smile. If we can kill enough hobs, then killing the rest will not be a problem. Hopefully, reinforcements will arrive soon and hit them from the side. That should be enough.

We abandon fortifications and move back. A few arrows fly our way, some of them hitting shields, some blocked, and some finding flesh.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“You!” I heard a shout from behind me. “It’s time for you to die!” It’s a trio of adventurers who lost their mage. It seems they are keen on revenge. I smile. Hopefully, that would pull in others waiting on the sides.

Two groups of goblins run from the streets on our sides. Two adventurers split and attack the groups, while the archer join our ranks. “Back! Back!” Dominic shouts, as one of the guards falls to the ground. He could be helped, but we would need to advance. Goblins kill him. Many look over. I sigh. This is the reality of war.

Several more adventurers join us. The goblins on flanks die, even though the witch keeps firing arrows to help them. The adventurers are too fast, and move erratically. A few arrows hit them, but not straight enough to pierce their armor.

A large group moves to our rear. Reinforcements! I laugh. They form a line and prepare to fire a volley of arrows. Good! Why are they so poorly clothed? Adventurers? Doesn't matter.

The arrows fly. Right into my men. What? I pull an arrow from my back. It’s my first injury, so my 3rd tier vitality will heal it alright. However, a third of my men are dead.

“Another!” Someone shouts. I look over. I recognize him. It’s Adam. One of the leaders of refugee camps.

“Traitor!” I shout and move toward them. “How dare you! Do you think monsters will spare you?”

“Monster, humans. Who cares? We want to eat well! We want to sleep in solid homes! Get rid of them, and the town is ours!” He shouts, and his people roar.

“Fight me!” Maybe I can stall him until my men arrive. I would rather not fight, but I’m with my back to the wall. Goblins will kill us, for sure. Now, we can’t even retreat. “Let’s see if you have the strength to rule the town!”

The man smirks, but I see apprehension in his eyes. He is just 2nd tier warrior. Unless he is a genius, he won’t win a one-on-one duel. He still steps forward. Good, I just need to stall until my reinforcements arrive. After that, this mob will be cut down, and we will regroup and take on goblins. Losses will be great, but we can still win it.

Something pierces my back. I look down. A sword is sticking out of my chest. The apprehension changed into a glint in his eyes. He didn’t expect that. Goblins! They kept an assassin in reserve. Adam walks close and raises his sword to decapitate me. I fall down on my knees. Unless a healer helps me right now, I won’t live long with a pierced heart.

“Only…” I cough blood. “Only monsters will profit from this. Don’t do this.”

The sword falls down. What an idiot.

[Smag’s POV]

The war is not going as well as I hoped. The small group at the entrance gives me hope we will kill them fast, but it seems that group is rather elite. I already considered grabbing Axi and running out of here two times.

Then came Adam and his people. The second horn must have been them. It’s obvious they are helping me to an extent, though it’s also possible they are only using me to soften the town and then kill me as well. Regardless, now that Asaru killed the governor, the town’s forces are crumbling. We nearly completely lost two detachments, but Adam’s barrage killed enough guards that their formation broke.

Axi was able to slowly push her opponent, and now that guy is fighting her and two more hobs. Two seconds later, Axi chops off his arm. His head follows a second later. The priest runs away, and falls down with an arrow sticking out of his chest. We have won.

“I have taken the head of the governor! Surrender now, and I will spare your lives!” Adam shouts, and many drop their weapons and run to him. My goblins don’t care and cut them down.

What’s now? Looting the town is going to be very problematic with Adam’s forces around, plus it’s not like those were all guards and adventurers in the town. It’s best to just leave, as originally planned, but…

“Kill them!” Rike’grak shouts.

“Wait!” Axi counters.

Adam grabs two figures and pushes them towards us. Some goblins prepare to fight them, but I stop them. “Wait! Those two are mine!”

“Lies!” Rike’grak shouts.

“Shut up, or I will chop off your head!” Axi shouts while looking at the figures of Samantha and Nancy. “What are you two doing here?”

“Adam says that he wants to ally with you. He hopes that you will let him take the town, and then he will share the loot with you. Women too.”

Axi frowns. “Smag.” I walk forward, Asaru appears on her own and walks to Axi. Rike’grak and shaman approach as well. “What do you think?”

“The situation is volatile and chaotic. The town doesn’t have anything valuable to offer. I say we should agree. Even if Adam betrays us, he won’t be able to stop us when we are beyond the town’s walls.”

“Bullshit! We need to kill humans and show them our superiority! Your shaman is a coward!” Rike’grak gives his opinion. Dealing with internal squabbling is annoying, but I let it be for now. I can't fight Rike'grak right now, as that would absolutely screw us over. We need to leave the town first.

Besides, the moment orcs start appearing in my tribe, they are going to plot. Green-skinned politics are no different from human ones. Many modern countries on Earth have elections, with the winners being leaders. Goblins choose their leaders by fighting for the chieftain position.

However, is the person who won elections always the ruling one? The one who rules, is the one that people listen to. Plots and schemes are useful among goblins as much as among humans. I need some practice. This is not to say I'm going to tolerate them, but I would rather seek a soft solution that will allow me to keep control over the tribe than go for a civil war.

“Dark Gods demand the blood of the enlightened! We need to desecrate and burn their temple!” The shaman tries to preach.

“Asaru?” Axi asks.

She looks around and then sighs. “I’m fine either way.”

The shaman scowls.

“We will retreat, then.” Axi decides. “Come with us.” She motions to two human girls. They walk closer and then run over to Anastasia.

“We will get out of town for now. You should know what’s good for your health.” I shout at the opposing force. Many of them squirm while looking at us, not knowing what to do.

Adam bows lightly. “Don’t worry, Lord Smag! You can trust in me!”

I roll my eyes. Whatever.

At that moment, another group of fighters comes from around a corner. Most of them are guards, with some adventurers added to the mix.

“Goblins! Form ranks!”

My goblins stop pillaging fallen guards and try to prepare for another fight. Some fell over as they got cought with their pants down. Literally. They tried to put on human armor. Why not give us another minute so we can get out of here?

“Stop!” Adam moves forward and grabs the governor’s head. “Your governor is dead! The town belongs to me now! Goblins are my allies. You can fight them, but you will perish against both our armies. Surrender and live!”

“Traitor! How dare you ally with monsters? Where’s the head priest?” One of the priests looks around, then spots the head priest dead on the ground. His face goes pale.

I move to the shaman. “Can you screw Adam’s army with your holy magic?”

He scowls at me. “Yes, obviously.”

I raise my eyebrow. “All of them?” I know priests are powerful, but they should have a limit.

“Enough of them that it doesn’t matter.”

I sigh. I can't rely on this idiot.

I spot the three powerful adventurers among the new group. Seems they managed to escape. The warrior with decay magic steps forward.

“You there!” He points at Rike’grak. “Are you going to ally humans? Are you even a true goblin?!”

I frown. It's quite a clever strategy. Did they observe us?

“Cowardly human! Come and die to my hammer!” I smile. It seems Rike’grak is not as stupid as I thought.

“We surrender!” The leader of the group drops his sword.

“Traitor!” A woman behind him stabs him with a sword. “Better death than a goblin sex slave!”

“Charge!” Adam runs at the group, and his warband follows. Some guards start to fight each other while the rest escape, including all the adventurers.

“We are leaving!” I shout. Axi repeats that, and we leave the ongoing fight. After a few minutes, I move closer to Asaru. “How’s the outside world?”

“I’m not sure. I only see the human dwelling.”

I nod. “Right. Don’t worry. You will see the forest soon.”

“Do you really want to ally with a human?”

I shrug. “Why not?”

“They kept killing us for so long. So many goblins died. How can I forget?”

“Don’t. It doesn’t matter.” She stares at me. “Look, if you want to hold a grudge, it’s fine. But, as one of the leaders of this tribe, I can’t make decisions based on the past. That’s for idiots. A good leader makes decisions based on the future. Do I want revenge? Sure. But I want my tribe to be strong and prosperous even more, and I’m going to pick options that move things in that direction.”

I care more for myself, but it’s true in principle. If allying with an enemy is more profitable, then why not do it? I suppose only emotions are in the way, but I’m not very passionate about revenge. I didn’t spend my whole life in the dungeon. Adam’s people are not even the ones that attacked me in there.

“Look at Anastasia. Was she the one that kept killing your children? She isn’t the target of your revenge. Only some humans are, and they are very powerful. The three adventurers managed to escape again. I don’t know if they lurk around, hoping to ambush us. Maybe they returned to reinforce the town's main force. Regardless, they are strong. I don’t think revenge is worth dying over.”

Asaru looks forward. She is thinking. We encounter minimal resistance on our way out. Some of the of the town's people try to fight us, but most just hide in their homes. We leave the town, and I contemplate just leaving. We don’t have much food. Who knows what happens next?

[Adam’s POV]

With some guards on my side, convincing the rest should be easier. I split my forces. I leave Gent with half of them and tell him to bother the adventurers. I don’t care that much for them. Most of them will leave the town anyway, as they are not local.

I move on the keep. We meet more guards trying to reinforce battles that have already ended. I convince most of them to surrender, though I bet some are just waiting for an opportunity to flip the table. The gates of the keep are closed, but without many defenders, it’s going to be easy. We throw hooks and ropes. A few guards are trying to shoot us, but our bows keep their heads down. After our people get on the walls, the defenders surrender. I find the governor's family inside. What should I do with them? I throw them into prison for now.

After that, I meet with Gent. Adventurers didn’t protest too much, just as expected. In an open fight, we would have lost. Terribly. Obviously, the strategy was not to fight one big battle. We attacked immediately after the initial horn had been blown. Using enemy confusion, we managed to subdue guards on the walls, before joining the main battle to kill the governor. Frankly, that went better than expected. I initially wanted to join Smag and fight with him, but the presence of the governor changed things.

“We won!”

I smile. “Don’t be so happy just yet. We have a powerful warlock just behind the walls.” The battle is won, but our army has been a coalition of all refugee camps. Two leaders mysteriously died to a stray arrow, but the rest of them will want to use the situation for their own gains. “Who will go with me?”

I smirk. As I thought, nobody wants to. This only reinforces my importance. “How about you?” I ask the man kneeling on the ground, his name, Nicolas.

“I’m not sure how a highly educated mage like me can help with negotiating with goblins, but I will do as you ask.”

“Their leader is a warlock. That’s magical enough for me.”

“Very well.” He numbly nods. This guy is a coward, but if he is even a quarter as competent as he claims, then he will be useful.

“I will go.” Lucas volunteers. On one hand, the opinion of someone old and experienced is valuable. On the other hand, I’m a bit afraid that he is smart enough to out-speak me.

“I will make sure you are not going to screw us.” John steps forward as well. Too bad I didn’t manage to kill him. He will obviously go against me, given our past outright hostility. I can’t just forbid him from going with us, though. That would look bad.

I sigh. Smag’s subordinates seem somehow more competent. I suppose he just had more time to cultivate his inner circle. I guess that would give him an edge in negotiations.

Without the deal, it will be hard to stop the approaching famine. We need to farm, and to do that, we need to get rid of riders. In a way, it’s not that big of a deal for me. I already have a castle. But… I’m a little more ambitious than that.