I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm – Chapter 47

I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm – Chapter 47

I stared at my screen with a slight smile on my face.

For the first time in the history of my realm, my priest and Oracle had met face to face!

Sure, it was also the first time that such an event was even possible, but I figured it was still worth a small celebration.

"What do you think, Mr. Flippers? Should we do something to celebrate?" I asked the penguin in my lap.

"...Squawk."

"Fine~," I sighed, "You're right. I did say that I needed to start saving my resource points more, didn't I?"

I had been spending resource points like crazy between setting up my islands, performing small fish-floating ceremonies to build faith, and dealing with the whole incident that happened at my Oracle's old village. Spending more on a celebration was both pretty unneeded and not a great use of resources considering how everyone present already had full belief in me.

While I could do something small like making fish fly, I decided to simply toss the idea. Those performances hardly cost me anything to do, but as there was no telling when I'd get more, I needed to start being stingy with my resource points.

"Squawk!"

"Huh? Oh yeah, look at that- they're looking at your statue!"

"Squawk~"

We decided to listen to their conversation.

"Cagnis en fud pern? Fu tine unn cok?"

"Su oy boni!"

The penguin tilted his head up at the girl's words that came through the screen and stretched his tiny flippers.

Look at him... acting all smug because the girl called him cute.

I couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"Well, she isn't wrong. You are a cute little penguin!"

"... Squawk," the penguin immediately stopped his stretching and hopped off my lap.

"Oi- what do you mean it's gross when I say it!? That's not fair!"

Sadly, the penguin ignored my protests as he retreated back into his ice palace.

"Whatever... I have another cute thing to keep me company anyway," I muttered as I pulled up a picture of a certain elf girl on my phone.

Julia...hopefully things are going better for you this time around.

There were just over 10 years remaining in the realms before the start of the next battle phase. Of course, not all of the rulers would be like Levon who attacked the second the portals opened, but there was still a chance that her Oracle would be fighting soon.

Ten years.

I could feel my heartbeat speed up as I thought about how soon it was. Such an interval would pass in less than 15 minutes if I sped up time in my domain.

Yet as I looked at the state of my realm, it was easy to tell that I was not even close to being ready myself.

A sigh escaped my lips as I put my phone away- replacing it with my notebook instead.

My Oracle was a child, the force that I instructed my priest to set up was still in its infancy, and nearly none of the major preparations that I planned for had even gotten started yet. Sure, I was predicting Ferguson to attack later in the battle phase, but if I was wrong about that judgment and he rushed in, things would not go so well as they were now.

Ten years.

It repeated in my mind once more.

It was both a short time and a long time depending on how one looked at it.

After my numerous gambles and close calls both when first creating my realm and in my previous battle phase, I resolved myself to play things a bit safer from now on.

Although I did wait until fairly late to select my Oracle, I made sure that there would be just enough time to finish my preparations before the start of the battle phase. In order words, despite the situation seeming pretty dire, such a thing was not really the case.

I glanced down at my notebook where I had jotted down a list of goals to meet before the 10 years were up.

Have Rynn develop into a proper OracleGet equipment ready in time for the battle phaseEstablish a camp in the gap between the northern mountain ranges

Oracles do age very slowly, but their mind's development does not change.

Ten years was still ten years. Rynn would still probably look like a young teenager at the start of the battle phase, yet he would hopefully mature a ton mentally in that time.

A major reason why I sent him to the plateau was for just that. Rynn had no parents, and now no siblings. With only a girl the same age as him by his side, my Oracle had no one older than himself to look up to for guidance. I wanted my priest to step into this role for him.

My priest was pretty young himself at roughly 20 years of age, yet I was confident that he would be someone that Rynn could look up to.

Guide him well, baby Angru.

I crossed my first preparation note off my list with hopeful expectations.

The second goal was by far the easiest of the three. Ten years was easily enough time to make the thousands of spears and javelins that my army would need to fend off Ferguson's invasion. I had asked baby Angru to start ramping up their production upon Rynn's arrival to the plateau, so I could also cross this off my list, as well.

Have Rynn develop into a proper OracleGet equipment ready in time for the battle phaseEstablish a camp in the gap between the northern mountain ranges

"The creator of the world!"

"... Is it really you?"

I received two contrasting replies- excitement from my priest and disbelief from my Oracle.

"The creator of the world is talking!?" Ayla jumped up after seeing their reactions.

"Yep, it is me. Tell the girl I said 'hi', baby Angru."

As I was only able to directly communicate with those two, I needed my priest to echo my sentiments for me.

"The creator of the world says hi, Ayla," the priest diligently delivered my words.

Ayla smiled brightly and looked up to the sky, "Hi~!"

That's adorable. It looks like she got that whole sky thing from Rynn-

"Creator of the world, what is the reason for you reaching out?" the priest asked, interrupting my thoughts.

"Ah- right. Before I answer that, what is the progress like for everything I tasked you with?"

The priest wore a proud expression on his face.

"We have roughly 2,500 bundles of javelins and 1,500 bundles of spears stored inside of the temple."

Four thousand bundles... I had them wrap them in groups of 10, so that's forty thousand weapons!

"Wow! You guys did an amazing job!"

It was honest praise. Crafting such a large stockpile of weapons in just six years was extremely impressive.

"We could not have done it without Rynn," my priest acknowledged, "He alone made half of those."

"Half... HE MADE TWENTY THOUSAND OF THEM!?"

I glanced at my Oracle on the screen in shock as he looked at the ground with a reddened face.

My priest smiled at his reaction and added, "He has been making eight per day ever since he arrived."

Eight per day...

It was hard to believe that someone who hated my guts not too long ago was doing so much work on my behalf.

"... You've worked hard. I'm proud of you, Rynn."

Despite him trying to hide it, I could see a faint smile on my Oracle's face at my words.

"Thank you. I-I only carved the tips, though. The other men handled the shafts."

"Don't discredit yourself. You did amazing, Rynn," I paused, "I remember seeing you carving them back at your village. I couldn't believe you were able to make four per day back then, but you've somehow doubled it!"

"It is thanks to the power that you gave me," Rynn sheepishly admitted, "The rocks here being easy to shape also helps."

"Well, that doesn't make what you did any less impressive. Speaking of the power that I gave you, you'll need to put it to use on your next task."

"What do you need us to do?" the priest asked curiously.

"It'll only be a few more years until it becomes possible for the next invasion to happen. Before then, I need you guys to set up a camp closer to where they will invade from. Sadly, there is a massive river to the west that you'll need to find a way to cross to get there. I'll guide you all to the point where such a feat is possible, but just because it is possible, making a pathway across it will not be easy by any means. I know that you can do it, though."

I could see Rynn's grip tighten when I mentioned the invasion.

"It is really happening..."

The priest seemed to fall into thought at my words.

"The river... from what I have heard, it is so wide that you can not even see across it. Is crossing it really possible?"

"It is," I affirmed resolutely, "You two will need to figure out how to, though. By the way, how is the army looking, baby Angru?"

"We have three thousand men near the temple that can be mobilized at any time. There are another fifteen thousand committed elsewhere on the plateau and thousands more outside of it."

"Perfect- you guys did great. Rynn, take one thousand men with you to help out. Would you be okay with heading west a week from now?"

My Oracle nodded, "Yes. That is fine."

"Great! Cross the mighty river that divides my realm in two. The future of my realm depends on you."

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Map of Jacob's Realm: