I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm

I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm – Chapter 71

Man, I'm freaking exhausted.

With a groan, I limply flopped back into my chair, seemingly melting into it like a puddle.

"I might be pushing myself a bit too hard with this."

Such a sigh left my lips as I layed waiting to recover a bit of stamina. 

Inspired by Ruglace's brutal yet overwhelmingly effective training in the north, I requested Mr. Flippers go a bit harder on me during our puppet fighting training in my domain. What this essentially boiled down to was doing a mix of unique challenges that put me in increasingly disadvantageous positions. 

The activity that I just finished was a sort of endurance test mixed with sword training. Basically, Mr. Flippers would attempt to tackle me with the four titanium-alloy puppets- my role was to see how long I could avoid them while staying within a small circular range. As an extra challenge, I wasn't allowed to contact them with anything other than my sword- no punching, kicking, or anything else of the sort.

"We should at least make a time limit so there's a chance of me winning," I grumbled, thinking back to the match.

I honestly had no idea how long I lasted before getting spear-tackled by a puppet, but it at least felt like hours. Such a feat would have been impossible without my oddly amazing dodging abilities and the efforts of my swordplay to parry and divert attacks.

No matter how much training I do, my stamina can only keep up with my reflexes for so long.

Despite my internal and external grumblings, I was well aware of how much the training was helping; I struggled to last even a minute against these puppets back when I first started, yet now I could usually last one hundred times that. Even so, I still had a hard time figuring out whether or not the improvement was worth the effort. Since I had no idea what I was training for, it was an impossible question to answer.

Maybe I'll go back to heavenly time once the main battle is over... if there even is one.

Before my motivation wavered too much, I hauled myself up in my chair and changed the view of my screen.

"I guess I should check up on everything," I muttered as I zoomed into my temple, a small grin appeared on my face when I noticed an older man lounging against the small steps below my statue's platform, "Yo, Brung! How do you look older every time I check up on you?"

My priest slowly rose and stretched at my words, "I age, unlike someone. How kind of you to rub in how much of my life I am wasting away in here."

"Oh, hush. You literally spent over a decade vacationing around the world and doing whatever else you wanted after Ruglace was picked. I even offered to let you stay out for a few more years, yet you still came back early on your own."

"I was trying to recruit people to fight while I was traveling, so how could that be a vacation?' he playfully rebutted, "By the way, do you have any idea how hard it is to recruit people without having any sort of target number?"

"... I'm still working on it. There's still about twenty years left before it's possible for the invaders to show up, so I have time to decide."

"You do have some time, but you should not underestimate how long it takes to build an army," the priest sighed, "Even if the people know about the battle, they still need time to prepare."

"I'm keeping that in mind, don't worry."

There was a big reason why I was hesitating to give Brung an estimate for how many soldiers I wanted him to enlist for our defense: I simply had no idea whether or not it was possible for the toad guys to make it through the arctic.

My opponent was an obviously cold-blooded creature, made clear by its striking resemblance to a lumpy toad thing. The whole reason why I baited him into attacking me in the first place was because I sincerely believed it would be an easy win. With that in mind, I felt terrible for recruiting a massive army and forcing these soldiers to throw away years of their lives waiting for invaders that might never cross the snow.

I'd like to just tell him that I don't need an army, but that's not true.

I had to be cautious. Regardless of my confidence in the arctic, there were countless variables at play that I had to consider- there was always the chance that the lumpy toad dudes could use some sort of magic or prize or invention to help them get through the snow, so I needed to be ready just in case.

But if they invade and manage to cross the snow, how many of them would there even be? How many people would I need to beat them?

My realm's population had grown to around 2.25 million people, but I had absolutely no idea what numbers the lumpy toad dude was working with, nor what his recruitment success would be. My two Tier III defense victories coincided with me hardly losing any of my men during the last two battle phases- my realm's population was likely incomparable to a lifeform that suffered a massive defeat.

Let's say he also had 2,250,000 toad dudes. If he somehow got just 10% of them to invade, that'd be 250,000 invaders I'd need to defend against! But that's assuming they all make it through the arctic...

I could feel a headache start to throb in my brain that was still mushy from training.

Screw it, I'll debate it more later.

"Let's just focus on what we already have for now. Do you have any estimates on the 10,000 guys heading over to help Ruglace prepare?" I refocused and asked my priest.

"They should be crossing the river right about now."

"Alright, that's fine. That'll probably hold them up for a while though, but it can't be helped."

While there were plenty of dugout canoes and rafts, which were finally invented sometime after the discovery of rope, there were nowhere near enough ready to get the 10,000 soldiers and builders across in one shot.

"Imagine how long it would take for the actual army to cross when we actually put one together," my priest teased, "I am glad I will not be around to have to deal with that mess."

"You don't think you'll make it to the invasion, Brung? What are you, like fifty-five? Sixty? I think twenty more years is doable for you."

The priest sighed, "Honestly, I have no idea. Time moves differently for me compared to you, or even Ruglace for that matter. That twenty years is a third of my life so far, yet it is probably like a blink of an eye compared to how long you have looked over this world for."

"Well... I have been watching everyone for a long time," I said relaxing in my seat, "But it really doesn't feel that quick- at least not yet. Regardless of the lifespan, twenty years is still twenty years, you know."

"Mmm... I guess you are right," Brung sat back down, leaning against the steps in a way that mirrored my own slouch, "I have not been around long compared to you, but I have noticed how quickly things change. So many things are different even from when I was just a kid. Sometimes, I think how interesting it would be to watch all of these small changes add up. It seems like time brings change, yet it waits for no one to witness it."

"Or maybe just viewing time pulls you along its path," I added, "But for someone being so philosophical all of a sudden, it sure sounds like you'd want to make it these next twenty years."

Brung simply shrugged, "I do not want to die, but if I am working this hard already, I also do not want to deal with the mess during that time."

"You don't think old man Brung would have the energy to manage an army?" I teased.

"Not even the current and strikingly young Brung has the energy for it," he smiled.

"Ha!"

Our laughter faded into a comfortable silence, but after a while, I thanked Brung for his time and began moving my screen to continue my check-in. My next target layed in nearly the complete opposite side of my realm- a small village just south of the southern mountain passageway. Of course, there was only one person I could be checking on.

"Hi, Ruglace~" I called out.

"Mmm... creator of the world? Is that you?" my Oracle stirred awake from the floor inside of a small shelter, "Did something happen?"

"No, I just came to check up on you... I didn't expect you to be sleeping, though. It's barely even late afternoon; why are your eyes practically glued shut?"

"... I may have stayed up all night building this house," he mumbled.

This dude is crazy.

A sigh slipped from my mouth, "How did you even manage that, Ruglace? I know the stars aren't bright enough to let you see that well at night." 

"I just tied some torch tree branches to some wooden poles and stuck them around the area," he explained, "There are a lot more torch trees here than there are across the river for some reason."

"Well, that makes sense, considering how they got here, but putting that aside, you need to get proper sleep, Ruglace. It's really not healthy to be staying up all night building. Honestly, I have no idea how you still have that kind of motivation when you're building the same houses over and over again."

"Hey- they are not all the same! I just spent five summers building with mud and clay; how could I not be excited to finally work with wood and stone again?"

"I guess you have a point there..."

As he said, my Oracle spent roughly five years touring the mudflats in the southeast of my realm. Beyond perfecting his initial clay homes, Ruglace eventually succeeded in developing his proposed mud house, as well.

Although it took a lot of experimenting and inspiration from the region's pottery to get to this point, Ruglace's strategy eventually consisted of mixing the mud with some strands of corn husks for stability before shaping it into even bricks and letting it dry in the hot sun. After a few days, these mud bricks could be used similarly to his clay ones to make whatever builds he had in mind. Their stability was drastically lower than clay, but their weakness was made up for by their ease of making and renuability- both traits that the baked clay bricks heavily lacked. As a bonus, Ruglace eventually found out how great these mud bricks were for insulation after making his first home out of them; it left the home cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

He actually made two variants of these homes: one rectangular, bearing a striking resemblance to his clay homes, while the other was more dome-shaped, almost like a mud igloo. In both cases, the floor and first few layers of brick were actually made purely of clay to prevent any damage or collapse during the area's routine floods. It seemed like it was about 50-50 as for which style the villagers preferred.

"It did feel pretty wasteful making clay bricks just to lay them down for pathways; having stone would have been a lot easier," Ruglace reflected. 

I shrugged, "They have a ton of clay down there, so I'd say it's not too big of a waste. Besides, they loved the pathways- now it's possible for them to walk around the village without getting covered in mud. Well, that's assuming they clean them every once in a while."

"They better. I spent way too long on those paths just for them to sink into the mud after a couple of floods," Ruglace groaned as he rolled sleepily on the floor of his new shelter, "That reminds me, can you check on those chickens for me?"

"Oh, sure. One second-"

I quickly moved my screen back to the mudflat village where he spent most of his time; in its corner sat a small fenced enclosure housing a handful of giant chickens. These creatures were the product of an evolutionary arms race between the chickens and the poisonous mushrooms in the southeast of my realm; the larger chickens had an easier time dealing with the poison allowing them to survive the consumption and pass on their genes. This eventually culminated in these giant chickens with the potential of nearly reaching 4ft in height. Although they underwent some changes, such as an improved digestive track to handle the poison and getting thicker legs to support their weight, these creatures looked practically identical to their smaller ancestors.

Of course, the mushrooms' poison got stronger to counter this gigantification, leading to the current colorful and extremely deadly fungi that have been giving me a headache every time my Oracle visited the region.

Seriously, how much nutrients could those mushrooms possibly offer to make that evolution worth it? I don't even know how they can find enough food to support their size.

Whether made possible by the poisonous mushrooms, the plentiful cherries on the smaller trees, or from the large worms that wiggled beneath the mud, these giant chickens dominated the region for tens of thousands of years. While somewhat admiring their tenacity, I switched back to Ruglace, who appeared on the brink of falling back asleep.

"The chickens are fine- no ones eaten them yet," I reported.

"Good... those were a pain to find. It is much better to eat giant eggs for years than to have chicken meat a single day."

"You said it. If they keep eating every chicken they see, there won't be any left."

Despite their once-dominance in the region, the giant chickens' numbers began to dwindle drastically thanks to the overhunting in the region. Their scarcity in the north of the mudflats had gotten so bad that it took Ruglace days to track down some to put in the enclosure.

It almost feels like a repeat of what happened to the woolly mammoths.

The giant chickens' population was still somewhat stable even after the introduction of humans 12,000 years ago; they kept their survival instincts thanks to the rogue predator chickens that were scattered around the region. Whenever an early human attempted to sneak up and bash them with a stone, they simply ran away, leaving the hunter behind in the sticky mud.

Things began to change a bit upon the humans' invention of pit traps, which left the large creatures helpless upon falling into the hole. Although these marked the start of what seemed like a path toward extinction for the giant chickens, I couldn't fully look at these traps in a negative light; they proved vital in inspiring the defense against Ferguson, after all. 

Are there even any places still using those traps? I doubt they're really needed now that they have javelins, thanks to Rynn's army...

While I was reminiscing on all of this, a sleepy voice sounded from the screen.

"Creator of the world... can I go back to sleep now?"

"Oops, I got distracted- sorry. Before you go to bed, I wanted to let you know that the soldiers are crossing the river right now."

"Already?" Ruglace muttered, "I thought I had more time..."

"Well, you would've had plenty if you didn't stop to build homes in every village on the way here. I can literally track your path just by looking over the villages."

Ruglace looked to the wall of his shelter, unknowingly shifting his gaze away from my screen, "... It was my mission."

"Don't blame your building addiction on me," I sighed, "You already taught enough people how to build before you even crossed the river; now it's up to them to spread the knowledge. Your only mission now is getting ready for the invaders."

I paused for a second after refuting this.

"Actually, there's something I wanted to talk to you about, Ruglace."

The Oracle sat up at my serious tone, "Hm? What is it?"

"It's already been about twenty years since you've become an Oracle and you're about to start a project that'll probably keep you stuck here for another twenty. Some of the people you've met back in the east are getting old... I'm just worried you're going to miss your chance to see them."

Ruglace recoiled at my words, a conflicted expression plastered on his face,

"I still feel the same as when I left... I completely forgot how old everyone must have gotten," he paused, "If people are crossing the river now, they will probably be here in two seasons. There is no time to visit anyone."

"They can wait if you want to take a year or two to go visit people. I'm sure they'll understand."

"No... I can not go," he sighed, "There is just too much work I need to get done- I have not even built a single home for them to live in when they get here."

My eyebrow raised at his questionable argument, "They can camp out or make their own shelters. Rynn's army had eight times the people that you're getting but they managed to do it. You can definitely go if you want to."

The Oracle stayed silent, so I continued with a sigh.

"Listen, Ruglace. I just don't want you to regret not seeing people when you have the chance to. The project can wait a year or two with no problems, but you never know how long a life can hold on for. I really think you should go see your mom at the very least. Didn't you say you'd visit her before the invasion?"

Ruglace fell back into contemplation; it took several minutes of silence before he spoke again.

"... I said that I would try," he eventually answered, "But this is too important. I spent over twenty years now building homes around the world; I can not stop unless I know I have done everything I can to protect them. My mother said it herself, the world needs me. There is no way I can spend years traveling now."

I buried my head in my hands, "Come on, Ruglace, we're not even sure if they'll make it through the snow. I don't want you missing your chance just to prepare for something that might not even happen."

Even with my pestering, the Oracle only shook his head, "I can not risk it. The soldiers will need to spend months building their own shelters; I can at least cut down how much time they need to gather supplies with my strength if I am here. We do not even know what stone thing we will build... I have no idea how long it will take to think of an idea, let alone build it. I can not risk the year or two that it takes me to travel being what prevents us from finishing a project that can save the world."

I could only sigh at his words. Part of me was proud about how seriously he was taking his role as my Oracle, but an equal part of me was worried about his personal neglect.

"Come on, Ruglace. You're more than just an Oracle- you have your own life to live, too."

"I can live my life after the invasion is over," he stated, "That is what Oracle Rynn did."

He actually had a kid before the invasion even started...

Although I wanted to argue, I saw that there was no point- Ruglace was clearly being stubborn about his decision. 

"Alright... but you can still change your mind. Go get some sleep and think about it in the morning, please," I eventually surrendered.

"... Okay."

I stretched back in my chair after zooming back out on my screen.

"Living life after things are over..." I muttered in my seat, "Do I even have a chance to do that? Is there even anything after the Academy?"

As much as I love watching over my humans, it would be nice to just be free and do whatever with Julia and Mr. Flippers, but how would that even work? It's not like I could take them back to Earth. Even if people are still alive on it, it's not like there's anyone waiting for me there...

Another sigh escaped my lips as I grabbed the crystal ball off my desk and rolled it around in my hands. My eyes reflected off its shiny surface.

I have a penguin in the ice palace behind me, an Oracle and priest I can mess with, and 2,250,000 people I can look over... so why do I feel more lonely than I ever have?

I took one last glance at the crystal ball in my hand before placing it back on its stand and grabbing my sword.

Screw it- let's just do another round of training.