The gnoll invasion of the Genoa Peninsula had lasted a full month and a half. The long, narrow peninsula had once prided itself on being the most prosperous place in the world, yet when faced with a real war, it fell at a speed that beggared belief.
The Bonechewer Clan's army had swept through the region as if playing a game, capturing city after city. A month and a half had been just enough time for Huggerson's forces to cross the Filthy Swamp and fight the battle over the Maginot Line, but it had already been more than enough for Lord German Bonechewer to seize most of the Genoa Peninsula.
By now, his forces had completely captured the road south to the Misty Sea. Chardo Port was the only place still holding out; every other city, large or small, had fallen into gnoll hands. Their advance north was slower, mainly because the lands near Lake Shuerpus had all been designated a military defense zone by the Pioneer Legion.
Loren, the short-statured man, clearly had no intention of hiding in the Cato region and waiting for a grueling battle against the gnolls.
With King Louis's permission, tens of thousands of the Pioneer Legion's elite troops crossed the Genoa Peninsula's border and began defensive operations along several halfling border cities.
They had arrived just in time.
While the battle over the Maginot Line was raging, the Pioneer Legion and the Wolfsbane Clan in the Cato region had already begun taking in refugees. By now, most of the residents of the northern Genoa Peninsula had been resettled in the Cato region.
Although the course of the war had played a part in this, King Louis's keen foresight was also plain to see.
This single wave of refugees taken in at the border, combined