Didn't the spell shop help?

The spell shop is a poor consolation. Firstly, it offers spells of level 4-5, while Varens desperately needs basic spells (like "haste-slow," "dodge-scatter"). Varens' fate is decided at the entrance to the dwarf hall, and he still has to reach the shop and defeat the guards. Secondly, the spells that appear there are also random (I got "antimagic" and "holy word" - not very encouraging), and considering the cost of removing the barrier, you have to think ten times whether it's worth giving up 15-25 resources. Again, Varens spends almost a month leveling up (reaching something like level 15), so there is a strong need to decide which magic to develop (or go without magic), but he keeps getting one thing or another: neither good for God nor good for the Devil. Fortunately, at least "regeneration" appeared. Varens has a strong specialty; he is quite good even without magic. For him, the speed of advancement is the key to victory. The sooner he arrives at the dwarf castles, the better the balance of power will be in his favor. In this concept, you just need to move "Hotabych" closer to the first castle for easy access. Otherwise, Varens' wings are severely clipped.
A few words about Lorenzo. The option of besieging Horncrest is the author's idea, so what I'm saying is: "forget about it." However, there are 4 heroes appearing from Horncrest, all with large armies, and they are only nominally involved in the further plot; as I see it, there aren't many people who want to control hopeless battles.
Unlike the AI, the player has a chance to defeat the enemy hero.
Why not give the player that tiny chance to turn the tide of history? I would value this one battle won by Lorenzo much more than all the other battles on the map.