NOVEL NEXT I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm – Chapter 50
"You did a good job back there. I seriously don't know what I would've done if you actually ate that poisonous mushroom like they wanted you to."
"That mushroom killed a chicken who barely took a small bite... there is no way I would eat that," Rynn smiled in disbelief while recounting the scene, "I honestly do not understand it. I just finished telling them about how I am needed to save the world and they wanted to test me by trying to kill me?"
"That village was... a bit interesting to put it lightly."
The Oracle sighed at my comment, "I might use a different word, but yes. I am glad to be back, though."
Roughly 30 minutes in my domain, about equivalent to 22 years in my realm, had passed since the battle phase officially started. As I predicted, Ferguson made no signs of movement even after the portals opened.
A lot had happened since Rynn finished his path across the massive river and stepped foot on the western half of my realm. For starters, the two camps we had planned for were immediately set up: one at the lake between the two mountain ranges and the other near the southern mountain passageway.
Given how they were positioned there indefinitely, many of the soldiers brought their families with them to the area. To prevent any chaos when Ferguson inevitably attacked, the families were required to stay at the southern camp; the camp between the mountain ranges was strictly kept for soldiers who would alternate between the two at different times of the year.
It is hard to even call them camps at this point; they are closer to cities with how many people there are.
Over one hundred thousand people crossed into the western half of the continent following the path's completion- the vast majority of them being either the families of the soldiers or the soldiers themselves. I estimated that there were nearly 60,000 soldiers between the two camps and around 30,000 non-combatants, which were made up of women, children, and soldiers who had grown too old to fight over the two decades since the camps were constructed. Even though they would not be fighting, these people were still doing their best to contribute by crafting weapons, gathering food, and making clothing.
These were not all of the people committed to joining the fight, however; around another 20,000 soldiers stationed in various villages not too far from the passage had also pledged to join once the time came.
I am just glad I prepared well enough to feed all of them.
It just so happened that this area was in a prime location for taking advantage of all the food options available in my realm. Not only was there an abundance of chickens and cherry trees, but the large amount of mountain-induced rain caused mushrooms to flourish, as well. These factors, in addition to the nearby coast and various small streams which allowed for fishing to be both easy and accessible, made food abundant enough to support such a large amount of people.
After I heard Julia's choices, I figured I might've gone a bit overkill with the food options, but I'm glad to see I made the right choice.
I couldn't help but smile when thinking about it.
My choices back then allowed my fighters to have an abundance of food and their family nearby in the current time.
It is because of this that the soldiers' morale was extremely high despite their upcoming march into a bloody battle. This ease was especially evident in the southern camp where the soldiers began to expand their families and children could be seen playing between the tipis.
Rynn, who was just returning to this camp after traveling the southern mudflats, was not an exception to this.
"Rynn! You are finally back!"
"Dad!"
Rynn brightly smiled as the two figures stood up to greet him.
"Hi, you two."
I watched the heartwarming scene of Rynn embracing Ayla and his son in a hug with a smile on my face.
It was inevitable, wasn't it?
Although it took some time, the two childhood friends had gotten together in the end.
"I missed you, Rynn," Ayla muttered with her head buried in his chest.
"I missed you both too. Sorry for being gone for so long."
Ayla was now 43 years old. Despite Rynn being around the same, he still looked to be in his mid-twenties thanks to his Oracle status.
"You better make it up to me~"
"I... will do my best."
"Ew."'
The two grinned as their son backed away; Rynn embarrassedly, and Ayla with an evil glint in her eye.
"You have grown a bit since the last time I saw you, Rathok," Rynn said, stopping his retreat.
The child nodded proudly, "I did! Mom had to make me new clothes last month because of it."
"I think they turned out pretty great," Ayla grinned, "I would have made some for you too, Rynn, but you have not grown in years~"
Rynn rolled his eyes at her teasing, "Obviously. I already need to look down to see you. I would hurt my neck if I grew any more."
The Oracle, once relentlessly teased for being short, had since reached the famed height of six feet.
It was hilarious watching her smugness crumble as Rynn grew taller than her.
When Ayla gave birth to their son 11 years ago, there was no question what his name would be. As heartwarming as it was seeing the couple through over the years, the feeling was a bit bittersweet; I found myself looking at pictures of a certain elf girl on my phone countless times because of it.
"Does it hurt when you look at me, Dad?"
Rynn smiled at his kid's innocent question and ruffled his hair.
"Not at all. Only your mom."
"Hey! How is that fair!?"
Ignoring Ayla's pouts behind him, Rynn took notice of something black in Rathok's hand, which the kid immediately hid behind his back.
Before Rynn could ask about the object, Ayla spoke behind him.
"Rathok has been working hard to make you a present while you were gone~"
"Really!?"
The kid nodded, "It is not finished yet, though."
"Should I go back to the south to give you more time?"
"No! I-I will just work on it while you are here... you do not have to go."
The two parents smiled at his reaction.
"He really is just like you were when you were his age, Rynn~"
"... Hopefully that is a good thing," Rynn sighed.
"It is!"
Rynn grinned at the kid's response.
"How about I tell you two about some of the things that happened during this trip to the south?"
"Sure!"
"Yes, please!"
While Rynn recounted a tale of nearly being force-fed a poisonous mushroom, I took the time to look over the western side of the continent.
With it being isolated from the eastern half of my realm by the river, I hadn't really taken the time to inspect it too closely up until recently. The people there were as unknown to me as I was to them. As the path from the landslide had washed away long before my priest was selected, and because Uunga rushed straight to the north to fight Levon's Oracle, neither got the chance to spread the word of my existence in this side of my realm.
Rectifying this issue was one of the main reasons why I sent Rynn on a tour around this side of the continent. In most cases, him lifting up a tree was enough proof to back up his claims, but I did occasionally need to step in by making a spear fly to convince others. This was usually enough to get people to believe, yet there were a few particularly stubborn people who wanted to test the Oracle in their own way, which is how Rynn nearly ended up eating a highly poisonous mushroom.
The two of us actually learned a ton about the humans here while on the trip- the biggest surprise being that they had yet to invent spears and javelins.
It was surprising, but it does make sense. Those weapons were invented in the east to defend against mountain chickens, but they don't exist in the western part of the continent. The closest thing they have are predator chickens which are not as big of a threat since they usually hunt solo.
The absence of mountain chickens also allowed for a large population of chickens who retained their signature white feathers, as the need for green or brown feathers like those in the east was not as dire.
Despite not yet inventing javelins or spears, it was not as though the people in the west had been stagnant over the past 1,000 years. The humans living in the south's mudflats had actually gotten fairly skilled in setting up traps for the big chickens who feasted on poisonous mushrooms.
Having lost their ability to fly thanks to their size, the humans started digging holes into the soft mud and covering them with leaves and branches. After being baited by either a mushroom or earthworm resting on top, these giant chickens would fall into the hole without any way of escaping and become an easy meal.
Neither Rynn nor I missed how revolutionary such a concept was for the realm and the Oracle immediately began recruiting these people to help defend from Ferguson. After Rynn modified the design by making the traps deeper and placing shallow spears upright inside them to make the traps more lethal, the recruits were quickly put to work laying these traps in the northern mountain passageway
It was a lot of work, especially because of how much harder the ground was compared to the mudflats, but I expected them to eventually cover the middle of the passage.
I should probably check the progress of that.
After waiting for Rynn to finish catching up with his family, I spoke through the screen.
"Hey, Rynn. Do you know how many of the spike traps are finished?"
"Before I left for the south, they had a few thousand of them. There should be a bit more by now, though," he answered.
A few thousand... it's a good start, but not nearly enough for our defense plan.
"How about the other preparations?" I asked.
The Oracle nodded, "We have at least three spears for every human and more javelins than we should need."
"Perfect! Would you mind helping a bit with the digging next time you're up there then?"
"Sure. I do not mind," Rynn paused for a second, "Do you really think the plan will work against them, though?"
"It should. At the very least, I don't see it working against us even if we're wrong."
Back when I was first forced to form the mile-wide mountain passages, I used a bit of malicious compliance and created platforms high up on both sides that could only be accessed through a slope in the valley. What this meant was that there would be humans stationed thousands of feet above the invading force. Any non-flying creature would have to make it through the passage and climb up the slopes to even have a chance to attack them.
This was the crutch of the plan.
After loading the middle of the passageway with traps, the ogres would naturally begin to move to the sides of the passageway- right in the range of javelins and stones being thrown down at them from the humans above. No matter how muscular these creatures were, they would not fare well against a 50lb rock falling on their head from 2,000ft in the air.
The ogres would be pretty much screwed either way. Either they continue occupying the middle of the passage and suffer thousands of casualties from the spear traps or hug the sides of the mountains and risk being crushed to death by falling rocks.
I have no idea how big Ferguson's army will be when he eventually attacks, but I want to whittle down his army as much as possible before my humans actually start full combat.
Having gone up against an ogre, I knew how physically strong they were. Every ogre impaled, crushed, or squished could mean one to five fewer human deaths.
Beep! Beep!
While I was thinking those thoughts, a sudden alarm sounded on one of my monitors.
Someone came through the portal?
It was an alarm I had heard many times by now. When the portal first opened, there had been more than a few curious ogres who must've come across the gateway and wondered inside. Of course, they immediately ran back after seeing the frozen wasteland, so it wasn't anything I had to worry about.
It has been a while since that last happened though.
Out of both curiosity and precaution, I decided to move my screen to the portal where I was greeted by a small group of ogres looking around and striking odd poses.
"Squawk!"
I looked up at the penguin watching the screen from the ice palace's balcony behind me.
"You think those are stances?"
The penguin nodded at my question, "Squawk! Squawk?"
"Well, whatever their magic is, it won't work in our realm, so I don't think we'll need to worry about anything crazy."
The fact that someone as strong as Ferguson could also use magic sent shivers down my spine.
I am so glad I went the no-mana route.
"...Squawk?"
"No. Ferguson finding out isn't a big deal or anything. I mean, if Levon told him about the cold, I'm sure he'd tell him about not having mana."
If he starts spreading that fact around the Academy, I might cry though.
Although I wasn't sure how big of a deal it would be, people finding out that my realm has no mana might dissuade them from attacking. Since I needed to stay on the defensive until my humans could get some better weapons, not having an opponent could potentially set me back extremely far.
I was able to do so much with the rewards from the last battle phase... skipping one wouldn't be the end of my realm or anything, but I really want that Tier III prize.
The small group of ogres continued walking around as our conversation continued.
"Hey, Mister Flippers, do you think Ferguson sent them in as scouts? They seem a bit too organized to be random ogres."
"... Squawk."
"That doesn't mean an army is about to run through. He could just be checking to see the situation for himself before he actually starts making his force."
"Squawk."
"Well, yeah, but isn't it a bit too early for that? I mean, it hasn't even been close to an hour since the portal opened," I narrowed my eyes while watching the screen, "Then again, I guess there's nothing stopping him from invading now, but I seriously figured he'd be cautious and wait longer."
I'm glad I started the battle preparations so early. If he really is about to attack, we'll be ready.
Before long, the group of ogres retreated back through the portal, leaving me to release a sigh of relief.
"See? It was probably nothing. It would be one thing if the Oracle was with-"
"Squawk!?"
Right as I was speaking, a massive oak tree flew through the portal, crashing into the piles of snow around it.
"... Mister Flippers?"
"... Squawk?"
"It looks like the Oracle was with them."
"Squawk!"
"I know, I know!"
I could feel my heart racing as I clicked my Oracle's icon on the monitor.
"Hey, Rynn. The invasion might be happening sooner than we thought."
The Oracle shot up from around a fire where he sat with his family.
"Dad?
"Rynn? Are you okay?"
"Are you sure?" He asked, ignoring the two voices behind him.
"Not exactly, but I've definitely seen signs of the enemy Oracle. We're going to need to start step one. I'll send the signal to the other villages, so I need you to bring the soldiers to the northern camp and have them start digging spike traps. Send the others at the southern camp to the nearby villages until we get a better idea of what to expect."
"... Got it."
The Oracle sat back down and looked at his family.
"It may be time," he whispered, "I need you guys to travel to the plateau. Old man Angru will take care of you there."
"But Dad-"
"Will do," Ayla interrupted Rathok's plea, her face wearing an expression more serious than either boy had seen her have before.
"No, but-"
"Come on," Ayla grabbed Rathok by the hand, "Help me get us ready to go."
"Dad!" Rathok looked to his dad for help, only to be greeted by an equally serious expression.
"You will be okay," Rynn said forcing a smile, "If it turns out we are wrong, you can come back soon. Go help your mom for now so you can head out in the morning."
Rynn kneeled down and gave his worried kid a hug.
"I am the Oracle, but I am also your dad. I will make sure I save this world and return to your side, so stay strong and look after your mom until then, okay?"
After feeling his kid's nod on his chest, Rynn stood up and gazed around the camp.
"I need to let the others know. I will be back to say goodbye before you two go."
With those parting words, the Oracle stood up and started his announcement.
