I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm

I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm – Chapter 74

"Ahhh~ nothing beats a warm soak before trampling an arrogant brat!"

Such a peaceful sigh sounded from a creature bearing a striking resemblance to a bipedal toad, only differentiated by its human-like size and large green lumps spotted around its body. This Seedling leaned against the side of a large wooden barrel filled with steaming water inside his domain.

"I did such a good job making this bath; it really would be a shame to leave it," the toad muttered to himself as he gazed upon his screen, "Alas, the tadpoles yearn for battle~ would it not be even more of a travesty to leave them waiting?"

Sloshing water onto the domain's floor, the Seedling pulled himself out of the barrel as a similar scene was being displayed on his screen. Just as he exited his bath, thousands of toads were emerging from a seemingly endless swamp and converging onto a massive island jutting out amongst the muddy scenery. Their slow march had a clear destination: a massive stone gateway lighting up the island in a bright red hue.

Now standing at his desk, the Seeding stood squinting at the screen as he scanned through the crowd.

"Now where is that... ah- there he is!"

The Seedling zoomed in on a certain toad holding a large wooden staff amidst this seemingly limitless sea of creatures. Unlike the rest of the toads wearing only a loincloth, this toad stood fully draped in what resembled a cloak woven from some fibrous plant.

Looking at his Oracle, the Seedling grinned as he spoke, "Start the charge once not a single blade of grass remains uncovered by a fighter! You know the plan- we will take them by surprise and overwhelm them with our might, just as before!" 

A confident croak sounded through his screen, to which he gave a ready nod.

As the Seedling said, this was the exact strategy he used in the previous battle phase; his massive toad army simply charged in, taking the opposing defense by surprise and leaving them with no time to defend against their ambush. By the time the defending creatures realized what was happening, the defenses they had prepared and all of the nearby villages were completely flattened and overrun with toads. This set the scene for a complete blitz through the defender's realm, eventually leading to a full Tier 3 victory by the lumpy toads.

"Now we just have to do it again~" the Seedling smugly grinned, reminiscing on his previous win, "Oh, how fun it will be to destroy that brat's realm! If only I could see his face as every pale creature in his is trampled by our charge~"

His grin deepened with every creature that surfaced from the swampy waters and joined in on the now-packed island. Even as he zoomed out on his screen, it only revealed more swarms of toadmen peeking out from the muddy swamp, seemingly extending endlessly.

Under normal circumstances, amassing such a force would have been impossible; such a feat was only feasible thanks to the sheer lack of supplies they had. Rather, it would be more accurate to describe it as a complete absence of supplies. The toads wore no clothing aside from a simple loincloth and carried no weapons despite being ready to charge into battle; the only exception to these trends was the sole Oracle, who wielded a staff and cloak.

With the thoughts of weapons being irrelevant in their swarm and the mentality that supplies would only slow their speed, the Seedling wanted his creatures to loot whatever supplies the defenders were hoarding following their swift initial victory. 

"Now is the perfect time... attacking right when they lower their guard!"

The toad Seedling waited for precisely this moment to attack- six years after the portal opened. For the first five years of the battle phase, he expected the defenders to be on their highest alert. Despite their presumed anxiousness, he intentionally forbade even a single scout from entering through the portal. With no sign of attack even after five years, he figured the defenders would begin to become complacent or even have their numbers thin. They may even start to doubt that an attack is coming. After all, the battle phase lasts for 250 years. In terms of the lifeforms in the realm, the attack could come four generations down the line- why would they want to pointlessly waste their time standing around?

It was at this precise moment when he figured their doubts would be at their highest that he decided to blindly rush in.

With the toads on the island now crammed tightly together, leaving no room to even sway side to side, the Seedling spoke to his Oracle through his screen.

"Send them running through! Do not stop for anything- let them trample whatever petty creatures stand in their way!"

The Oracle's loud croak in response echoed across the island and through the screen. As if waiting for this moment, the swarm of toads rushed into the portal in a manner resembling water draining from a full tub.

"Good! This is perfect! You are up now; let me see the carnage!"

The Seedling egged his Oracle, who neared the portal's entrance, leaning forward against his desk as if trying to get a closer view of his screen. Just as the Oracle was about to enter, however, the crowd's momentum soon came to a stop before suddenly reversing. 

"Huh!? What is going on- why are they coming back!?"

He could only cry in disbelief as he looked at the sight of thousands of toads stampeding back through the portal on his screen, completely clashing with his force that was attempting to charge through it.

In mere moments, his long-awaited offensive had come to a screeching halt- the toads who were about to enter the portal now confusedly encircled the thousands who were collapsed on the ground, shivering after just returning from the other side.

"W-what happened!?" the Seedling zoomed in on the fallen toads in a panic before his mouth gaped in disbelief, "They are not even injured! Are they just cowards afraid of a fight!?"

He bunched his fists in frustration and quickly moved his screen back to his Oracle. 

"Our element of surprise was already wasted- we need to hurry if there is any chance of salvaging this! Quickly, let me see what is through the portal!"

With a croak, the cloaked toad stepped over its fallen comrades- the screen's view changed, coinciding with the moment the creature vanished into the portal's red hue.

"W-what is this!?"

The Seedling was now seeing through the eyes of his Oracle, but what he saw only made him tremble. He had expected to be faced with an unprepared army, yet the only army his Oracle faced was one of snowflakes.

It was an equally terrifying and hopeless sight; the icy expanse seemed to expand endlessly in all directions. His men lacked any equipment, nor did they have any rations to last them until they could reach whatever warmer land that layed somewhere across the snow. Even if they did somehow manage to get across the ice, the enemy would have a minimum of weeks, if not months, to prepare for their arrival.

His entire strategy of a massive surprise attack was impossible from the start.

THUD!

The Seedling collapsed onto his desk- his despair massively outweighing his own anger and frustration.

"... Get back through the portal. We lost this one."

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Ruglace sat on the edge of one of the cliff platforms overlooking the northern mountain passageway, casually kicking his feet.

Chomp!

His mouth was flooded with the sweet taste of grilled corn as the faint sounds of the soldiers training below him echoed off the mountains. Eating in this spot had been his daily routine for years at this point- it was a rare quiet refuge in an area overrun by nearly 30,000 soldiers awaiting the arrival of invaders from the north. Though this number paled in comparison to the remaining 70,000 men spread out along the valley, it was still a number large enough for there to always be some commotion that he had to deal with.

"Hah... this is some routine," The Oracle sighed, gazing down at the sight below him.

It was a sigh dominated more by boredom than by exhaustion. The beautiful stone wall he dedicated years to building had been finished nearly two decades ago by this point. Even his side project of turning a nearby mountain into a massive shelter had been completed.

He was desperately looking for something to do. Despite him wanting to add a fourth floor to the shelter, actually getting these stones out of the mountain from that height became much more trouble than it was worth, so he was forced to abandon that idea. Instead, he made an exact replica of the three-floor shelter in the mountain next to it.

This was enough to comfortably house roughly half of the 30,000 soldiers in this area near the passage, with the rest spread out in a mix of homes and tipis, relishing in their ability to have a comfortable fire. Even this feat only took a few years to complete thanks to the massive number of soldiers joining him, quickly leaving him just as unoccupied as before.

I have even gotten tired of making them homes...

Ruglace had steadily been attempting to replace every last one of their tipis with proper homes, but even the obsessed builder himself could not help but grow weary after making several thousand of them.

Although he wanted to start another big project, he simply couldn't think of one. His only suggestion was to build a second wall with the material piled up from the second mountain shelter, yet the creator of the world turned down his proposal, claiming the wall he already built was more than enough.

His eyes wandered further south, where several massive piles of sorted stone stacked into solid pyramids could be faintly seen in the distance.

This was the only task the creator of the world had given him despite the Oracle's pestering for something to do. He had no idea why he asked him to sort the stone into piles by color, but Ruglace honestly didn't care. It was something to do, after all, yet even this task had been finished before the portal open six years ago. 

Ever since then, he had been left alone with his thoughts- at least when not training with the soldiers. Now, as he finished munching on the corn in his hands, Ruglace was once again contemplating the same things he had been for years.

"Did I really make the right decision?" he muttered out loud.

He had sacrificed everything not wanting to waste even a moment, yet here he was in year six of doing absolutely nothing.

I am glad the creator of the world convinced me to see my mother before she passed... but maybe she would have still remembered me if I went when he first suggested it.

His regret was obvious in his expression- the sight of his mother's eyes looking at him as she would a stranger seemed to still be fresh in his mind despite the interaction happening two decades prior.

Hopefully, she is resting well now.

Another sigh left his lips as he layed back on the platform. The ending of his mother's life only served to heighten his own perspective of his own. Time waits for no one; even if it was a bit kinder to Oracles, his time would come to an end eventually.

Do I really need to spend my life stuck waiting here? The creator of the world says it is possible that they may not invade until even I am old. I wanted to wait to live my life until after the invasion was over, but what will I do if there is little life left when that passes?

It was a scary thought for the Oracle who had already sacrificed so much. His body was already so packed with regret that he doubted he'd be able to withstand much more of it.

How different would things be if I decided to live my life first? Would I instead be panicking trying to build a wall in time or make a mountain shelter to house the soldiers?

He honestly didn't know, but given how long it was taking for the invaders to arrive, he really didn't think so. 

What if I brought Tyra with me on my journey around the world? I was so focused on being an Oracle that I did not even think to bring her along.

His mind thought back to his time with her in Rygard when he first got selected to become an Oracle. Despite how overwhelmed he was, his days there were always fun. Though he was embarrassed to admit it, he even found her expressionless face to be quite cute- it made the rare moments where a smile flickered on her face even more impactful.

Could I have lived a life with her instead? 

The thought was pretty pointless to ponder on; at this point she was practically the same age as his mother when he last saw her. From what Ruglace heard from the creator of the world, even her son who he had met years ago, had children of his own.

If that was my family... what would things be like now?

His sighs were more like groans at this point; it felt a bit painful to even think about. 

No... this had to be the right decision. The weight of this is nothing compared to the weight of the world. I know I will feel better once I finally beat the invaders.

It was the moment he thought this that a voice entered his head.

"Yo, Ruglace! Big news- the invaders just tried crossing into the world, but it looks like they couldn't get through the snow. I think we're safe from an invasion!"

"...Huh?"

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"Pfft- what are you doing, Mr. Flippers?"

I couldn't help but laugh as I watched the penguin start happily doing some cute wiggle-dance on my desk in celebration.

The two of us were in the middle of one of our training sessions when the alarm signifying that invaders entered my realm started blasting. Of course, I immediately froze and looked at my screen- leaving myself completely defenseless against the penguin who sharply pulled one of his ropes in a panic and caused a titanium puppet to headbutt me roughly in my chin.

Still, the soreness on my face was completely numbed by the overwhelming relief I felt after noticing my prediction of their weakness to the cold coming true. It seemed that my realm would be safe for this battle phase!

Was that really that lumpy toad's invasion attempt, though?

A large part of me was skeptical after witnessing the oddly bare toads rush through the portal before immediately scrambling back through it with frigid movements upon noticing the snow. It all happened so fast that I nearly missed it following the hit from the puppet.

It didn't even look like they had any weapons... it's not even like I'm charging them a ten percent fee to bring them into my realm, either. There must be a reason.

I soon fell into contemplation.

Maybe they're brawlers? Or do they usually use magic to fight? Surely, it's not that they haven't invented weapons yet, right?

Although it would be odd, it was a real possibility; if it weren't for the mountain chickens in my realm, I wasn't sure if my realm would've even had the push it needed to invent javelins. It wasn't too crazy to think that a Seedling's realm might not have any real weapons without an incentive to develop them.

No... that can't be it. 

I quickly crossed that off my mental list. The invasions themselves acted as more than enough incentives for developing weapons. Plus, my first interaction with the toad painted a clearer picture.

Didn't I run into him when I tried to claim my prize for beating Ferguson early? He definitely said he just destroyed a Seedling, so it's not like his realm is helpless.

That really only left me with the other two possibilities: either they used hand-to-hand combat or attacked with magic. Regardless of which one it was, it was a great scenario for me.

Even if they somehow come back and try to make it through the snow, which I seriously doubt they'll be able to based on what I just saw, defending against them won't be a problem. Obviously, they can't use much magic in my realm, but the range from my humans' spears and javelins is also the perfect counter for a brawling fighting type.

My smile only deepened as I realized the full extent that my decision to provoke the lumpy Seedling paid off. With this in mind, I happily delivered the news to my Oracle, though his response was one more of shock than of excitement or relief. 

"... Did they actually not make it through the snow?" he asked, completely stunned.

"Yeah, they turned back the second they felt how cold it was," I smiled, "It looks like the world doesn't need to worry about an invasion this time."

Despite my smile, the Oracle's expression remained stiff, his eyes almost shaking.

"Is that really it? Do we all just go back now?"

I went into thought, resting my hand on my chin at his question, only to flinch from the soreness. Ultimately, however, I shook my head.

"No- not exactly."

Ruglace perked up a bit at my answer, so I began to explain in detail.

To put it briefly, I wanted to try a counterattack. I had only attempted one of them so far, which was back in my first ever battle phase with Uunga leading the charge. Rather, it would be more accurate to say that Uunga was the entire force, managing to both singlehandedly defeat Levon's Oracle, along with its army, while also somehow taking his temple and securing a Tier I victory in something that could only be described as a man-made legend.

Man, I miss him...

Even just thinking back to that scene made me tear up a bit. If it wasn't for his sacrifice, it was almost certain that Levon would've tried another invasion in my realm- one that my realm was nowhere near prepared to face at the time. That's not even mentioning how his victory introduced the super-useful torch trees into my realm and allowed me to get some resource points that were vital in some of my preparations against Ferugson.

This will be different, though.

Unlike Uunga's counterattack, which was done out of a desperate plot to slay Levon's Oracle and prevent a devastating second invasion, I was not at all worried about the lumpy toad dude trying another one. I wasn't even aiming to take the dude's temple, though I wouldn't pass on the chance if it seemed reasonably feasible.

I just really want to try to get more lifeforms in my realm!

That's right- I wanted to do a lifeform raid!

The longer I looked around my realm, the more daunting the sheer lack of lifeforms across my realm seemed to become. Despite evolution helping differentiate my original choices and fill in some select niches, I really wanted to try to add some more life to my realm.

Sure, I could gradually get more lifeforms one at a time through prizes, but isn't it just way more efficient stealing a bunch of them at once from other people?

There was no telling what lifeforms layed in that toad's realm, but I figured it was worth an attempt regardless. Besides, I also wanted to give my humans something cool to do so they didn't feel like they wasted all of this time for nothing. A quick looting of the area near the portal's entrance was all I was planning; I wanted my humans to be in and out before any danger would come.

Once I explained all of this to Ruglace, minus everything dealing with the Academy, of course, his expression lightened considerably, and he gave a determined nod, "Okay, I will do it! I will start getting the soldiers ready now!"

"Ah- hang on. I want to wait about three years just to double-check that those guys won't try invading again," I cautioned, "I really doubt that they will, so that will really just give them time to move away from the portal in their world and hopefully make things easier when you guys cross through."

"Oh... okay," Ruglace settled down a bit at my words, laying back down on the cliff's platform.

"Don't worry, I know you've been bored so this will give you some stuff to do," I teased, "You'll need to use that time to prepare; the cold is almost as much of an obstacle for you guys as it is for them- we'll need to make sure the soldiers going with you have warm clothing and fuel for fires."

The Oracle nodded, "That is not too bad. Many of the people here already have clothing made from mountain chicken hide, getting more should not be too difficult."

"Mhm, getting enough food for the trip is gonna be much more difficult."

It was a roughly 2-month hike across barren icy tundra from the mountain passage to the portal. With no food sources aside from fish along the coast, the soldiers would all need to bring enough food to last them the journey.

Seriously, even the invaders will have it easier than we will this time.

This would be a much more difficult journey for my humans than for Ferguson's ogres, for example. Unlike how they only needed to make the journey once, my humans would need to do it twice, back to back. Given my planned lifeform stealing, there would be no time to restock supplies in the toad's realm, if such supplies even existed there to begin with. As such, my humans really needed to prepare four-months worth of supplies to make the trip back.

"I gotta go tell Brung the news, so I'll leave figuring out how to do this to you, Ruglace," I grinned, "I'm sure you'll figure something out."

Before the Oracle could refute, I zoomed back out on my screen and stretched back in my chair.

Things are going pretty well. This should be fun~