Time quietly drew closer to November.
As the troops Soren had dispatched cleared out most of the undead along the South Coast, the refugees gathered near the cities began returning home. The Temple of Agriculture seized the opportunity to expand its following. The Goddess of Agriculture's priests and druids began distributing winter wheat seeds to the refugees free of charge, then settled them on the land around Wind Spear Hills. Since some cities had already been destroyed, Adele-Isabella also suggested that Soren expand his territory. Thus, Wind Spear Hills annexed the lands of three nearby cities, increasing its area by more than five hundred square kilometers. Most of those territories' original nobles had died in the Undead Scourge, and the surviving members of their bloodlines belonged to collateral branches with no right to contest the succession.
Likewise.
With Soren secretly backing her, the Red Dragon Duchess began moving against the nobles within the Duchy of Rosado. The undead had been driven back hundreds of kilometers, close to the borders of the halflings' territory. The necromancers abandoned these lands and began spreading death elsewhere. Their task was to spread death, gathering Death Energy to help the God of Death Naram and the Undead Monarchs advance. After this disaster, the South Coast's population had fallen by roughly half. Almost everyone who remained lived under the protection of the major cities, so they turned their attention elsewhere.
For instance, the Shire region, which had remained largely unaffected from the beginning until now.
The halflings had been well protected by their deities and had suffered little thus far. But the undead had no such reservations. The halflings were their next target.
Meanwhile.
In Port Nyanzaru in the Overseas Islands, City Hall began its third census as the new year approached.
Port Nyanzaru conducted a