“Not everything always goes according to plan.” - Old folk saying.

In the end, even with the introduction letters she had, Aideen couldn’t get into the deepest reaches of the Kingdom Down Under. The dwarves still kept the innermost section forbidden to outsiders, which to be fair, was not all that different from how many kingdoms and empires in the world forbid people outside a certain class from entering the innermost areas where they had their residence.

They made it up to a cavern city that was two tunnels away from the deepest region, which was apparently where diplomats from other dwarven nations were entertained. Diplomatic personnel from other non-dwarven nations were typically met with a cavern or two before that, not even allowed to go that deep.

It was a combination of the intimidation that a delegation from the Lichdom inadvertently carried combined with the introduction letters that caused the locals to make the exception for Aideen’s group.

In fact, they had a brief – but fruitful – meeting with the current King Down Under, who expressed his desire to remain on the good side of the Lichdom as well as their other neighbors. Aideen was both surprised yet not that the Bone Lord’s fearsome reputation had apparently been passed down amongst the Royal family of the Kingdom Down Under. Apparently an incident where one of the Royal family members got arrogant in the Bone Lord’s territory, one that took place millennia ago, had the Bone Lord send some “punishment” that scared them so much it was passed down in tales over the generations.

From the meeting Aideen also managed to get a good read of the current King Down Under. The King was more honest than she expected, and arguably too kind an individual, which was part of the reason for his plan to pursue peace and prosperity alongside the kingdom’s neighbors. Such a King could indeed bring such a plan to fruition, but that was on the condition that nobody took their kindness for weakness and worked to undermine them.

Given the nature of the dwarves, chances were good that no such thing would happen now that the King was already enthroned, but Aideen was somewhat concerned whether things would be passed down to the next generation smoothly or not. Dwarven societies rarely had rebellions where the present monarch was overthrown, but they were not shy to make their opinions known by supporting someone very different from the present monarch as the next monarch to be.

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Still, it was ultimately the dwarves’ problem to handle, and it was not like she could meddle with it given the fact that outsiders had no say in the politics of the Kingdom Down Under.

After spending a couple of months in the underground dwarven kingdom, Aideen’s group continued their journey and left, though not through the path they took to get in. Instead, they took different tunnels that lead further north, and emerged near the outskirts of the kingdom’s territory on the north side, not too far from where Aideen and Celia had entered the region for the first time over a century ago.

In fact, the near-perfect circular gap in the mountain range was visible from where they emerged, the one caused by a void mage’s last resort during the failed reclamation of the old capital region back then. From the local dwarves Aideen learned that while the effort failed with all members of the expedition lost, it actually benefited the dwarves in other ways.

The utter annihilation of the region also took most of the monsters that had since made the area their nest along with the land itself, which reduced the frequency with which those monsters crossed over to the present-day Kingdom Down Under. In addition, a lake had since formed in the crater left behind, which fed into a multitude of underground waterways that the dwarves made use for their own needs.

While they already have their own water supply from other sources, the addition of a large and nearby source of water was beneficial to their expansion plans, and indeed, the topside areas of the northern region of the Kingdom Down Under looked more prosperous than when Aideen first visited. For those living there, the disaster was followed closely by a blessing of greater magnitude.

Granted, it got pretty bad during the early days after the incident, since the event drove away many monsters from their homes which caused monster stampedes to happen in many areas in the vicinity. Aideen and Celia were even involved in a few back then since they were going around and helping people in the region.

After things calmed down, however, the new lake and the fact that there were much fewer monsters remaining in the region were nothing more than blessings to the locals who took advantage of the situation to expand their fields.

With fewer monsters to worry about and a convenient source of clean water nearby – the lake was fed by several springs from the nearby mountains – they would be foolish not to do so.

As a result, at the present, where there were once small villages with sparse fields barely enough to support their small population, now stood towns surrounded by fields that cover the land almost as far as the eyes could see. Where maybe a hundred people lived a century ago, now served as home for thousands of people, as the newfound abundance of the region easily supported the increase in population.

Even the lake formed from the crater left behind by the incident became part of the region’s prosperity as well. Where once caravans had to pass through sometimes perilous valleys and mountain passes, in the present they were instead ferried across the lake, which saved the traders time and money, on top of being a safer way to cross the mountain range.

For that purpose, docks were built on both the northern and southern shores of said lake, around which small towns had already begun to sprout, as people flocked to the area and made their living there, taking advantage of the merchantile traffic that passed through the route.