I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm

I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm – Chapter 78

Long before the battle phase began, Julia was standing in her domain, focused ahead.

"I should just keep going this way?" a voice asked through Julia's screen.

"Mhm, but you should shift a bit more west," she replied.

The elf turned nearly 90 degrees on her screen, "Like this?"

"That is a bit too much, Elger..."

"Oh," the elf, Elger, pivoted back to where he previously faced, "Is this better?"

"That's the same exact angle you had before!"

"... Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Julia sighed, burying her head in her palms, "Just keep going as you are. I'll let you know when you need to turn."

"Okay!"

He's a prodigy with magic and bows, but his sense of direction is awful. Maybe it was inevitable for him to have some sort of weakness- I should be glad it's something so minor.

Julia fidgeted with one of the runes on her desk; a flat plate carved with directional arrows that allowed her to move the view on her screen. With this, she zoomed out and began scouting the path she wanted her new Oracle to travel.

I would like for him to visit some of the villages over in this area but his navigation struggles make me think that I should maybe have him stick to just the major ones.

She started scanning along the northern pathway of her realm that spanned across the continent in a giant arch. 

He will need to cross over the sea gap since he's going this way. Luckily, they've made basic boats during the development period...

Julia watched as small rowing boats were paddled across the gap. At their rowing speed, it would take at least a day of solid rowing to get across, yet this wasn't anything too crazy.

Once he's on the other side, I'll have him go south of the desert and stop by the village there. He'll definitely need to spend a while recruiting in the northern forest before I have him cross the mountain range, but I just want to find him a good path of villages on the way...

While she was scouting her realm, the blue crystal ball on her desk suddenly glowed.

It's been a while since he last called!

She quickly answered it with a bright expression.

"Yo, Julia! Are you free?" a familiar voice came through the orb the moment she connected.

"Hi, Jacob! I have time, I was just scouting out some places for my Oracle to visit. Did something happen?"

"It's just been a bit since we last talked, so I wanted to check up on you," Jacob paused, putting on a dramatic tone, "Still, I can't believe you didn't tell me you picked an Oracle already! We've been trapped in our domains for so long- I thought for sure you'd tell me the first interesting thing that's happened in like decades."

Ugh, I've really been in here for way too long.

"I was going to tell you! It's only been a few days since I picked him though; I don't have a priest, so I've been super busy giving him instructions," Julia rolled her eyes.

She went on to explain about how she picked her new Oracle. Not only were his archery abilities among the best in her realm, but he was also a prodigy when it came to utilizing mana. Although it was a high expectation, she truly believed he would be able to expand the elves' magic beyond its current plant-based forms and into wind manipulation.

The conversation continued with Jacob speaking.

"That's great! But yeah, I just picked an Oracle, too. He's a builder."

"A builder?" Julia paused her kicking feet and tilted her head.

"Mhm, I got some plans for him. I figured that if the lumpy toad dudes can't make it through the cold, it would be the perfect chance to focus on developing my realm~"

Lucky...

"If only I had that kind of leeway... why didn't you tell me to make a super cold spot in my realm? It's working so well for you that it's basically cheating," Julia whined.

If I had something like that, maybe we could have defeated those antmen in the first battle phase.

Her eyes drifted back to her screen as she reflected on the devastating war that left 42% of her elves slain before they immediately widened upon noticing Elger's position.

Shoot! He's going right past the place!

"Ah- I have to go. My Oracle might pass the village I want him to visit. I'll talk to you soon, Jacob!"

"Alright, good luck, Julia!"

As the light on the crystal ball dimmed, Julia quickly activated the rune that let her speak to her Oracle.

"You're passing it, Elger! Go through the gap between the alternia trees to your left and keep going; you should see the village after a few minutes," she hastily directed.

Julia watched the screen until her Oracle clearly spotted the village, upon which she let out a sigh of relief and spoke again.

"Okay, you know what to do," she recounted, "Spread knowledge, recruit people, and warn them about the upcoming invasion- then we'll continue on to the next village."

"I will do my best!"

Julia grinned at his reply, "Perfect. There is something I need to do, but I'll be back soon. I know you can handle this."

With those words, she zoomed back out to continue mapping his future path after the northern mountain range.

This seems fine- he should be able to loop back to the temple after his first round of recruitment if he goes this way.

Once satisfied with her plan, she absentmindedly fiddled with some of the runes on her desk.

I guess I should try to train more while I wait for Elger to be finished in this village. 

With a groan, Julia tossed the rune back onto her desk and stood up, facing the archery course she designed long ago.

I am already getting so tired of training.

It had been roughly seventy years since she'd been diligently training at mortal time in her domain, as per Jacob's advice. While she had made substantial progress in her abilities during this time, it was getting to the point where her mind was going numb from boredom.

There was not much she could really do in terms of practicing aside from shooting arrows at targets. With the limited size of her domain, it wasn't like she could even aim at distant things. This was frustrating enough on its own, yet mindlessly aiming at stationary boards became repetitive and made it impossible for her to further advance.

Why can't the training grounds be at mortal time? If they want us to train so badly, can't they at least make it like Tatton's laboratory? I'd just train there- at least they have moving targets...

Various grumbles filled her head as she scooped up her bow and looked towards the various small, painted boards she had set up on the opposite side of her domain. Evidently, these boards happened to bear a striking resemblance to the heads of the antmen she faced in her first battle phase.

Julia lifted the bow up to her face with her left hand and casually flattened her right hand, on which two sturdy arrows instantly appeared.  Although making them domain creation originally required some focus, she had done it so many times that it now barely even required a single thought.

With her eyes locked ahead, she lined up the arrows' notches on the bow string and pulled it back until the string was taut.

Whoosh! Thud! Thud!

Both arrows perfectly pierced through an eye on different targets, yet rather than be thrilled at the result, Julia only sighed as if it was expected.

"I could keep working on shooting three at once, but what's the point? Am I just going to keep adding arrows for the next three hundred years!?"

Her frustration escaped the confines of her mind and spilled out of her mouth for her empty domain to hear.

"Ugh. Maybe I should just try working on the runes again?"

Julia had attempted to use runes to make the targets move decades ago, but she was completely clueless on how to do it. She eventually gave up after spending years on trial and error, opting to simply practice on improving her aim while doing things like shooting from unsteady platforms, running around wildly, and, as seen moments ago, shooting multiple arrows at once. Now that she had practically mastered these skills, she was getting desperate enough to attempt this project again.

There's always a chance that Jacob knows some way to make them move without runes or mana, but if we can't figure it out, maybe I could try asking Tatton for advice before the next class? I doubt runes for this sort of thing are anywhere near as complicated as what he was working with.

As she was about to turn back, she paused for a moment.

That call might take a while...  I should probably just wait until after I guide Elger to the next village. He shouldn't be in this one for too long.

With this plan in mind, and with nothing better to do, Julia created three new arrows and knocked them onto her bowstring.

.

..

...

Julia pulled her bowstring, knocked with three arrows; her eyes were focused on the fresh boards ahead.

WOOP! WOOP! WOOP!

"KYAAAH!"

A sudden alarm filled her ears as she startledly released the string; the arrows flew wildly across her domain before shattering against the its wall.

Red, flashing lights filled her vision as the elf hurriedly looked back at the screen in a panic.

Is this the invasion alert!? There's no way- how is that possible!? It's only been a little over an hour or two, hasn't it!?

Her heart skipped a beat as she noticed her realm rapidly shifting between day and night four times a second; the answer to what happened became obvious. 

Julia dashed over to her desk and scooped up the rune she was fiddling with earlier, setting the speed of her domain back down to mortal time, before turning off the alarm.

Did I accidentally set it to heavenly time when I was playing with it before!? 

She wanted to slap herself for being so careless, but she didn't even have time to. In the time it took her just to switch the speed of time, almost a month passed in her realm- the invaders were already active and unmonitored in her realm for that long. 

In a flurry, Julia quickly moved her screen to the invader buffer zone in search of the attackers and was luckily able to quickly find their army near the edge of the octagon. 

"Oh, thank the high heavens they didn't get too far..."

Her tension lessened a bit, seeing that the situation wasn't overly dire despite her stupid mistake. With roughly a month before they reached populated areas, there was still time to take action.

But that depends on whether my elves are even ready to defend against them... please tell me that Elger kept recruiting after I left!

Her thoughts switched to visions of her Oracle getting lost after she left and wandering through the woods for 50 years, but she quickly shook them off and activated a rune that let her track him.

Phew- he's in the middle forest region of my realm.

It was a good sign; this region was one of the most populated in her realm and also the first area that invaders would need to pass through to enter into the rest of her continent. Even so, she wouldn't know for sure what her defensive situation was like until she talked to him.

Julia zoomed in on her Oracle, who was casually eating smoked boar meat inside the truck of a giant aterna tree alongside another elf.

"Elger!"

The Oracle jumped at her sudden shout, nearly dropping his food.

"G-goddess!?" he exclaimed in shock, "That is you, is it not!?"

While the other elf looked at the sight with wide eyes, the Oracle focused on the voice.

Julia sighed, "Yes, it's me, I'm so sorry for being gone for so long- I made a stupid mistake. The invaders have already arrived in my world- I need an update on how you did in my absence."

"It is fine, you did say you had to take care of something. I am just glad to hear from you again," Elger smiled, "We are ready for the invaders if they are here."

She felt her tension lessen a bit at his words, "Really? That is good then... what exactly did you do?"

Elger began recounting his travels. After waiting at the first village for her to return for quite a while, he eventually decided to continue on with his mission before quickly getting lost. Eventually, he found a village where he met the girl who was currently eating with him. Serving as his guide, the two went around the entire realm, warning about the invasion and gathered a considerable force in the main forest where he now resided in wait.

"You said that the invaders will like water and might not be good climbers, so we had all of the villagers that were set up near the water move further inland," he continued, "I was also able to have those skilled at manipulating aterna trees help out the villages who were still set up on the ground."

It was amazing news. Coincidentally, it was also a strategy similar to what her and Jacob came up with before she even started scouting for an Oracle. Julia made the time-setting mistake before she ever got to fully lay out this plan with Elger, however. 

"That is great! It should be really difficult for them to do much, then."

Her earlier panic was quickly fading.

I got lucky... things happened to work out. Still, I can't afford to make such a mistake again.

Julia looked at the duo on her screen.

"Please give the woman who helped you my thanks."

Despite over fifty years having passed since they met, the girl only looked about a decade older than the Oracle. 

This was to be expected; given the biology of her elves. They typically lived for around 150 years on average, though there were occasional cases of them even reaching 200 years of age. In the beginning of their life, they matured fairly quickly, reaching teenage years at about the same time as similar advanced lifeforms like humans. After this point, however, their aging slowed and practically paused completely while in their prime, only to resume again after crossing the 100-year milestone. 

"I gladly will," he grinned once more, "She was also the one who came up with the boar sanctuaries." 

"... The boar sanctuaries?"

"Ah- so we have heard stories passed down from the time of the last invasion. Many elves hid in the trees to avoid the creatures on the ground, only to starve from the invaders eating all of the boars on the forest floor."

Julia flinched a bit, recalling the sights on her screen. There was simply not enough fruit growing on the tratter vines curling up the trees to support the population, leading to thousands of sacrifices to ensure food for those remaining.

"Yes... I remember it well," she muttered.

"To try to prevent it from happening again, Eva had the idea to set up areas far away from the water where boars could be monitored. We used plant manipulation to raise the roots of the aterna trees in the area high enough to make it impossible for the boars to jump over. As long as those sanctuaries are protected, there should not be any food problems."

It was a great strategy and one that Julia herself hadn't even thought of. Rather than needing to defend entire forests, her forces could instead be concentrated on specific areas of importance. 

"Wow... you two did really well!"

Her praise was as genuine as her relief, but rather than relish in her words, the Oracle maintained his focus.

"I was just doing my duty," he nodded, "How should we act now? I completely filled the forest with those ready to defend; should we try to block the invaders from entering?"

"Hmmm..."

That is a good question. Would it be better to face them in battle or only engage them near the sanctuaries?

Unlike the previous battle phases, her elves finally had access to their most apt weapon: bows. This, in combination with their increasingly developed mana-related skills, meant that their combat power was now leagues ahead of where they were before. 

If I have my elves stationed in the trees near the forest's entrance and give them plenty of arrows, we might be able to do some super serious damage. Maybe I should ask Jacob for his opinion, though...

A sudden, uneasy feeling welled up in her chest.

Wait a second... hasn't he been at mortal time!?

A mix of panic and worry instantly returned to her face at the realization as she fumbled for the crystal ball on her desk.

"I will give it some thought and give you directions soon!" she said in a hurry to her Oracle before briefly pausing, "And I really mean soon, this time."

Her Oracle smiled, "I will be awaiting your instructions, goddess."

As he went back to eating and talking to the woman on her screen, Julia quickly activated the crystal ball in her hands.

She watched anxiously as it flashed blue, signaling it was waiting for the person on the other end to answer; after a minute, which felt like an eternity, the glow eventually became stable- the call had connected.

"H-hi... Julia, is it you?"

A soft tone, one she was almost unfamiliar with, came through the crystal ball. If it wasn't for the fact that his voice was the same, the elf girl would've seriously doubted that Jacob was really the one speaking. Nonetheless, she was still extremely relieved upon hearing him answer.

"Yes, it's me! I'm so sorry, Jacob! I accidentally went back to heavenly time after our call and didn't even notice until my invasion alarm went off!" she hurriedly explained.

"... phew."

After a brief pause, all she heard was the sound of air escaping his lungs.

"Jacob? Are you okay?" she hesitantly asked.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. It's just been a while, that's all," he stammered, organizing his thoughts, "You said your invasion alarm went off, didn't you? Is your realm even ready? I mean, the last time we talked, you only just picked an Oracle. If you missed all of this time-"

"My Oracle was able to prepare everything while I was gone... I got lucky," she answered.

"Huh? Seriously? Your Oracle actually was able to do everything solo?" his awe was genuine, seemingly masking his earlier tone, "Don't get me wrong, I love my Oracle, but I don't think even he could've put everything together without any guidance."

Now that he mentions it, it is pretty crazy.

Julia took a breath, "Yeah, I picked a good one. We should still have about a month before we'll need to fight; I wanted to ask you for advice, but I'm sure you're probably busy with your own realm."

"It's fine- I can help out. Things are pretty much done in my realm, anyway."

It was Julia's turn to be surprised, "What? Already!? Did they end up dying from the cold like you thought they would?"

"Well, they kind of just retreated, but we launched a counterattack afterward and stole some of their lifeforms. It was actually kind of scary; the dude had a divine weapon and nearly killed my Oracle with some poison magic."

Huh? All of that happened and he didn't tell me?

Julia's eyes narrowed, "So, you must've gone back to heavenly time too, after all of that?"

"Oh, no. I've been training with Mr. Flippers this whole time like I said I would," he denied.

What!?

"Then why didn't you tell me any of that!?" she finally snapped, "I probably would've noticed I was on heavenly time if I saw the thing glowing!"

"... Oops."

"Don't just say 'oops'! Why didn't you call me!?"

Her head throbbed a bit in anger, yet his next response shifted it into disbelief.

"I was waiting for you to call first. I thought you were busy or something," he muttered.

Huh?

"... You thought I was busy for sixty years?"

"... Yes?"

"WHAT KIND OF ALGHELME REASONING IS THAT!?"

Her fist trembled as she fought the urge to punch the crystal ball.

"I don't know, it was the only reason I could think of for you not calling me!" he defended.

That's so stupid.

Julia released her fist with a sigh, "You know I would've called you if I didn't mess up the time thing."

"... Yeah..."

... Why does he sound so unsure about that?

Her glare wavered a bit at his soft voice.

Maybe it was harder on him than I thought...

Ultimately deciding to let it go, Julia changed the topic with a groan, "Whatever. What do you think I should do about this invasion?"

She quickly gave him a rundown of everything she learned from her Elger, to which Jacob spent a few minutes thinking.

"Your situation honestly seems pretty great. Since they're adapted to the water, I still really doubt that they'll be able to do much against your elves in trees unless they burn them or something."

"I'm not too worried about that. Do you remember when I had that giant forest fire as the punishment for the first battle phase loss? Surprisingly, the trees in that part of my realm have become much harder to burn since then," she noted.

"Really? Well, clearly they adapted some sort of fire resistance, but that's kind of crazy considering it was just a single forest fire. How long did that last for, anyway?"

"A few centuries. It just kept wiping out the forest completely, and then it somehow kept starting again just when it started to regrow... it was horrible."

She shuddered, remembering the pillars of fire and thick. black smoke on her screen. It took quite a while after the fires ended before the elves even dared to re-settle inside that part of her realm.

"That explains it," Jacob nodded, oblivious to the imagery, "Only the trees that could better withstand the flames survived to reproduce. As terrible as it must've been, they shouldn't burn as easily now."

Julia stored that information in the back of her mind. Although she felt a bit of an ominous premonition when she thought about it, she brushed it off and moved on.

"Since fire shouldn't be too big of an issue, what do you think I should do, then?"

Jacob thought for a bit longer.

"I might be misremembering this because it's been so long, but I feel like the sheep instructor mentioned something in class about what happens to invaders that are still inside a realm after the battle phase ends."

"Mhm. She said they get transferred back into their original realm when the battle phase ends... I think you were staring at the little one while she was talking about it, though," Julia confirmed.

"Oh, I do that a lot. Especially when he gets in the way of me seeing your lap."

"... You should be paying attention in class, not looking at me," she muttered, feeling her face redden a bit at the sudden flirting.

"I can't help it," he shrugged, before snapping back to attention, "That's exactly what I thought, though. I think that as long as the sanctuaries and your temple are protected, you probably can just wait out the whole battle phase with the invaders scurrying around randomly. I'd suggest using some guerrilla tactics and having your elves snipe them with arrows from the trees to whittle down their numbers before they reach either of them, just in case. You could probably avoid a full-scale battle if you're careful with everything- assuming their Oracle isn't crazy strong or has a divine weapon or something."

"... Is it really fine to just let them run around for all that time, though?" Julia questioned.

"Well, they'll definitely have the opportunity to steal some of your lifeforms, but they've already been in your realm for a while undisturbed, so I'm sure they've already taken what they wanted to."

"That's true... "

I'm not too happy with them staying in my realm, but I don't know how many lives kicking them out would be worth.

"I'll give it some thought," she decided, glancing at her bow now fallen on the floor, "Actually, there is something else I wanted to ask you about before I forget.

"Hm?"

"I was trying to train, but it's pretty difficult to improve with still targets. Do you know any ways to make them move around?"

"A way to make them move... yeah, I think I have a few ideas."

As Jacob began rambling about things that mostly flew over her head, she gradually began zoning out with one question remaining in her mind.

He seems so normal... so why in Algehelme didn't he call me?

Map of Julia's Realm (Scaling is off a bit, but the general idea is there):

*Note: If you can not see the image, there is a good chance you are not reading this story on it's proper posted site on ScribbleHub