I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm

I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm – Chapter 57

"Squawk!"

"Ow! Dangit!"

A usual flash of light marked our entrance into the Academy.

"Squawk~"

"I know. I'm sorry, Mister Flippers, I forgot to remind you to close your eyes," I apologized as I rubbed my own burning eyes, "I'm so used to us coming back after a battle phase that it didn't even cross my mind."

As I waited for my eyes to adjust to the sudden change in light level, I noticed what looked like a blurry figure approaching me.

"Jacob!"

"... Julia?"

"Yes, it's me! Why do you sound so unsure!?"

"I'm used to you being cute, not being bright."

"Huh!? What is that supposed to mean!?"

I quickly hopped back, barely noticing a blurry fist flying toward my shoulder between my squinted eyes.

"Whoa! You're trying to hit a blind guy! The Julia I know would never do something so cruel! Who are you- what did you do to my elf girl!?"

"... I don't know why you're pretending to be blind, but the Julia you know would definitely hit someone who called her stupid."

As she pouted, my vision gradually returned and I was able to finally admire the elf girl in front of me.

"Stupid? Oh, I didn't mean bright like that. The Academy is just way brighter than our domain, right, Mr. Flippers?"

"Squawk~"

Julia tilted her head as I lightly placed the penguin onto the audience hall floor, but before she could speak, I quickly pulled her in for a hug.

"I missed you, Julia."

Her pouty face gradually vanished, and I soon felt her arms wrap around me in return. 

"... I missed you too, Jacob."

Although we stayed like that for a couple minutes, we were eventually forced to let go following an impatient squawk from the penguin beside us.

"Fine, fine- you can say hi," I mumbled jokingly as I picked up the tiny creature and placed him in Julia's arms.

"Squawk!"

"Hello, little one! Have you been good for Jacob?"

"... Squawk."

"... You took a long time to answer that," Julia wryly smiled as her eyes shifted over to meet mine, "You better be nice to Jacob- maybe your misbehaving is what caused him to be blind."

"Squawk!"

"Oh, speaking of blind- did you see the board yet?" Julia asked, turning to me.

"The board? Do you mean the scoreboard?" I quickly looked past the crowd of creatures near the stage where the massive scoreboard was overlooking, "I haven't had a chance yet. Wait- is that a 'one' next to your picture!?"

I immediately snapped my eyes to the elf girl who was standing next to me who was nodding with a smug expression on her face.

"Yep, I - kyahh!"

"Squawk!?"

Unable to contain myself, I snatched up the elf girl and lifted her off the ground in a hug, accidentally squishing the unfortunate penguin between us in the process.

"You got a win this early!? I thought you said it would take another battle phase before your elves learned enough magic to defend!? You must've found a super-strong Oracle, right? She must've blasted away whatever thing tried to invade you! Or maybe you just thought of a really good strategy? Either way, I'm so proud of you!!"

I excitedly spun Julia in a circle as I rapid-fired questions at her.

"W-wait! Jacob! Everyone's watching us!"

"Huh?"

I stopped spinning the elf girl whose face was now beat red and looked back at the crowd of creatures. Sure enough, most of them were looking at the two of us with curious gazes.

"Ah... sorry," I apologized as I gently lowered Julia onto her feet, "I got a little excited."

"I think that's more than just a little," Julia muttered embarrassedly as she plopped Mr. Flippers down next to her, "But yes, I won! Maybe we should go somewhere else while I tell you about it... someone put a lot of attention on us here."

"A-ah. I wonder who that was..." I avoided the elf's tiny glare, "Do you want to go to the bathhouse? It's probably pretty empty with everyone being in line here."

"Sure!"

"Great, then let's go!"

I couldn't help but smile as Julia grabbed onto my outstretched hand, but just as we began to walk, I heard an odd noise behind us.

"Squawww~"

Thud!

"Pffft-"

The dizzy penguin fell over with spinny eyes.

.

..

...

"Training, huh?"

I couldn't help but look at myself in the mirror after changing into a towel in one of the changing rooms.

My muscles are already pretty decent... does Tatton want me to look like a meatball?

An image of a certain ogre flashed in my mind, but I quickly shook my head to dispel the thought. 

"Whatever. Now's not the time to really think about that," I turned to the tiny penguin who still had a few bubbles on him after the quick bath I gave him, "You ready to go swimming?"

"Squawk~"

"Perfect, me too."

As I creaked open the door to the stall, I was surprised to see the person we were planning to meet up with already standing before us.

"Hi, Julia! Did we keep you waiting? It feels like it's been forever since I've seen you in that massive towel," I teased.

"... What's wrong with my towel?" The elf girl pouted as she looked down at the towel that spanned from her chest to her ankles,

"There's nothing wrong with it, but I mean it covers more of you than the shorts you usually wear, so-"

"It's different..." Julia looked away embarrassedly. 

Although I waited a second for her to elaborate, it didn't seem like any explanation would be given.

"Right... should we go to the baths now?"

"..."

"... Julia?"

Tilting my head at the odd silence, I followed the elf girl's stare until I noticed her eyes locked onto my exposed torso.

"... Pervert," I teased.

"W-what!?" Julia seemed to snap out of whatever trance-like state she was in and flusteredly waved her hands, "I-I wasn't looking at your abs!"

"Pffft-"

"S-stop laughing! I-I wasn't looking!"

I couldn't help but laugh as the now-red elf girl's panic.

If I can get more reactions like that, maybe becoming a meatball wouldn't be so bad, after all.

"You can look all you want while we're in the bath, so let's head over before Mr. Flippers gets mad," I winked.

"... Okay. I wasn't looking though..."

"Squawk~"

As we walked out of the changing area and headed toward the baths, I couldn't help but admire the giant fountain in the center of the bathhouse. Odd but vibrant plants grew all over the fountain in a way that resembled a miniature, lush hanging garden-basking in the Academy's sole source of sunlight, which poured through the glass roof over top of them.

It never gets old no matter how many times I see it.

There was something so beautiful about seeing sunlight other than from through a screen. Although part of me wanted to climb up the fountain to feel it on my skin, I had a feeling that such an action wouldn't end well.

Keeping these thoughts to myself, our group of three quickly arrived at the three baths.

"Squawk!"

Splash!

Mr. Flippers immediately dove into the cold bath the second we arrived, splashing us with water in the process.

"... He missed this more than I thought," I muttered with a wry smile, "This might be the first time I've gotten splashed when he jumped in."

"Is it cold? I didn't feel anything."

"It's pretty cold. You just didn't feel it because your massive towel blocked all the water~"

"Why are you picking on my towel so much!?"

"It's just fun to see your reactions~"

I ignored Julia's pouts as the two of us watched the penguin swim happily swim around the cold bath in a circle.

"What do you think? Should we hop in, too?"

"Hop in the cold bath?"

"I meant the warm one; Mr, Flippers should be fine here on his own," I shrugged.

Although we had been at the Academy for over a year, I had yet to see a creature aside from the penguin go in the cold bath.

Honestly, I'm wondering what the point of even having it is. If no one's using it, it might've been better to just get rid of it and make the warm and hot baths bigger.

Mr. Flippers would probably cry if he heard my thoughts, so I kept them to myself as Julia and I stepped into the warm bath.

"You were right... it's not crowded at all!"

"I told you~"

The warm bath was usually the most packed out of the three forcing Julia and I to come at awkward times just to avoid being cramped with odd creatures. With most of the Seedlings still waiting to get their prizes or punishments from the previous battle phase, however, the two of us were able to find a comfortable seat away from the other creatures in the bath. 

"Ah~ this feels nice," I leaned back and lowered myself into the warm water.

"... You sound like an old man."

"Well, I feel like one. I watched a baby get gray hair and start grunting every time he picked up a spear in my temple," I sighed, "I might even be 1,000 years older next time you see me."

Julia looked at me in confusion, "Why would you be one thousand years older?"

I lowered myself further into the water at her question; with my mouth barely above the surface of the warm water, I spoke in a whisper. 

"I was talking to Tatton earlier and he told me that I should start training as much as possible. He told me I should use the time difference in my domain to my advantage."

"He actually said that!?" Julia matched my whisper with wide eyes, "Did he tell you why?"

I shook my head, "No, he said he wasn't allowed to. I'm gonna go to his office before our class to try to squeeze out more info if you'd want to come with me."

"Sure, I'll join you."

"Perfect! I really didn't feel like skipping on meeting with him," I smiled.

"... You weren't going to go if I didn't go with you?"

"Well, I'd just join him after you go back to your domain," I shrugged, "Since I know I'll be on defense, I don't really have to rush back to my domain after class. I doubt I'd really need to use the full battle preparation phase if the toad guy I was messing with attacks me."

Julia sighed, "You're really still doing that? I thought you said you'd quit antagonizing people."

"It works so there's no reason for me to stop~"

As we were talking, I noticed a small hand next to me through the shimmering water. Without hesitating, I gently placed my hand on top of it, causing Julia to tilt her head.

"I just felt like it," I explained, "Anyway, can I hear about your battle phase now? The curiosity is killing me~"

Julia smiled at my beaming eyes, "Sure, but I really only won because I got lucky-"

 Surprisingly, Julia got paired against one of the few quadruped Seedlings in the Academy.

I've seen the guy sitting, or I guess standing, in the front of the class. The thing looks like a bear had a baby with a coffee table. Honestly, I don't really understand how it was chosen as a Seedling... it seems more like a weird animal to me.

Although I only saw him from afar, I was able to get a better understanding based on what Julia was describing.

The invading creatures were pretty long with relatively flat backs covered in a layer of bone acting as a sort of exoskeleton. Though thinner, this exoskeleton extended over the back of the creature's neck and over its head before thinning out and ending on the bridge of its nose between its two eyes.

The more I thought of it, the more the creature confused me. It attacked just as a bear would; by slashing its sharp claws and chomping with its jagged teeth. This was fine and all but there was something that weirded me out beyond belief.

"You said they burrowed?"

"Mhm," Julia nodded, "They started digging into the ground every time they were setting up a camp. My Oracle was able to seal some of them underground using her plant-controlling magic because of it. Some of their camps got pretty deep though."

"A freaking bear-table-mole crossbreed... there really are some interesting people we'll have to fight against."

I really want to know what caused it to evolve like that...

It may have been an odd opponent, but surprisingly the odds landed in Julia's favor this time. Though they were great borrowers, they were utterly useless when it came to climbing trees which the elves were adept at using to their advantage. Their low stature and four-legged stance also left them much more vulnerable to the plant-based magic that was now becoming wide-spread in her realm.

Even with these advantages, the battle phase was far from easy.

The table bears invaded with massive numbers and were formationed in small but deadly attack groups. Even with Julia's elves becoming more skilled at using plant-magic, they still weren't at the point where they could terraform the giant alternea trees that elves on Julia's original planet used as homes. As such, most elves still lived in huts on the forest floor and were vulnerable to the invaders.

"Every battle was tough," Julia recounted with a sigh, "The spears we used to hunt boars weren't able to do much against the invader's tough back. They also used mana to make their claws extra sharp and were able to cut apart some of the vines my elves tangled them in."

I couldn't help but grimace when I thought of the battles her elves must've gone through, "That's honestly kind of terrifying. You were able to get a Tier I prize against them, but it couldn't have been easy..."

"We lost about twenty-three percent," Julia admitted somberly, "It's much better than the forty-two percent I lost last time, but I can't say it's a good feeling."

My free hand subconsciously tightened into a fist as I processed the number.

"I'm sorry, Julia," I paused as I matched my gaze with her green eyes that seemed to glisten from the reflections of the water we sat in, "Are you okay?"

The elf girl gave a small nod, "My elves are getting stronger. I can only hope that next time another twenty percent less of them are lost."

I could only give a sad smile in response, "You're really strong, Julia. I bet the reason they're getting so strong is because they're taking after you."

"Thank you, Jacob," Although it was slight, I could see her melancholy expression lighten a bit at my words, "I might've felt a bit better if we had been able to come away with the Tier II prize."

"Oh, right- it's under twenty percent for a Tier II victory, isn't it!? You were so close!"

"I was," Julia groaned, "I thought I was going to win at 18%, but his Oracle went on a rampage and managed to get into the northern part of my realm and my elves were caught off guard. My Oracle followed, of course, but there was not much she could do to get through its back. By the time she was able to take it down, my losses were already at 23%."

"That's screwed up..."

Julia nodded and raised her fist with an evil glint in her eyes, "I'm going to have to give him a super-serious punch next time I see him."

I couldn't help but smile at her display despite the tragic topic.

"Believe me, I'd love to give him a punch- or maybe several- of my own, but I don't think the sheep instructor would be too happy if we were to start fighting in class," I cautioned with a forced smile.

Julia shrugged, "I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to fight. I was looking at the scoreboard and there were some pretty crazy changes! Even Ferguson somehow got a Tier III defeat! I really didn't think anyone would be able to win against him, let alone beat him that badly!"  

"Y-yeah... that really is crazy!"

"Right?" Julia leaned back against the wall of the bath as if calming herself down after the depressing talk, "It's your turn to tell me about how things went for you. You were able to get a Tier III win so..."

Julia trailed off as she noticed me avoiding her line of sight.

"What are you doing, Jacob?" she pouted.

"W-well... I may have been the one to beat Ferguson..."

"... Huh? YOU WERE THE ONE WHO BEAT HIM!?"

The elf girl shot up, splashing me with warm water in the process.

"Mhm," I nodded at her finger pointed in front of my face.

"How did you even beat him!? No- why did you even provoke him in the first place!? Out of everyone in the Academy, you picked a fight with Ferguson!?"

"It wasn't my fault! I didn't even provoke him... at least not recently," I defended myself, "The lizard probably asked him to attack me or something; don't start blaming the victim!"

"... It's hard to really call you the victim when you got a Tier III prize out of it," Julia sighed, "What exactly happened?"

We continued soaking in the warm bath as I gave her a summary of everything that happened starting from when Ferguson first announced that he would be invading me after Julia went back to her domain outside the classroom. I told her the story of Rathok and Rynn, which she seemed oddly emotional about, and gave her a rundown of how my humans turned the mountain passage into a death trap.

"Wow... you actually managed to beat him," Julia said in disbelief.

"Oi- why are you still so surprised!? I feel like I should be offended at this point!"

"Well, he's just so... you know?" Julia muttered as she flexed her arms as if mimicking a bodybuilder.

"Are you saying that I don't have muscles!? You were just staring at my abs like 10 minutes ago!"

"I didn't say that!" the elf girl defended while waving her hands, "And I wasn't staring!"

"You know what? I've decided... I'm spending the one thousand years working out!"

"You don't have to!"

I know Ferguson is a meatball, but I'm proud of my muscles!

The two of us continued bickering for a bit as I did my best jealous girlfriend act. We eventually settled down as my pouting subsided.

"Anyway, enough talking about how you think I'm super weak and have no muscles. Could you tell me what prize you ended up getting?"

"I never said... hah," Julia started to argue but ended up just sighing after I stuck my tongue out at her, "I got a bow."

"A bow?

Julia nodded, "Mhm. I checked back in my domain and I was able to place a few bows in my temple. I could only make ten of them though."

"Huh... I didn't really expect that would be a prize we could win," I thought aloud with my hand on my chin, "There wasn't anything special about the bows? Like they weren't made of metal or shoot like some insane arrows or anything?"

"No- they were just normal bows from what I could tell, but it was a really good prize! It definitely would have taken my elves at least another battle phase before they could've figured out how to make them; the bows in the temple gave them a huge hint on how to do it!"

I thought she had something like Ferguson's hammer for a second. It's definitely not on that level, but it's honestly a really great prize. Not even my humans have bows yet; it pretty much just set her realm's weaponry an entire battle phase ahead!

"What about you, Jacob?" Julia asked, cutting off my thoughts, "I told you what I got, so you have to tell me your prize!"

"Oh, I got to choose a basic lifeform."

Julia tilted her head, "A basic lifeform? They didn't give you a moderate lifeform for getting a Tier III victory against Ferguson?"

"I guess not," I shrugged, "I'm not complaining, though. I was able to get corn because of it~"

Although I said this, Julia's gaze looked unsatisfied. 

"It's this super yummy plant," I explained as I stood up in the bath, "We've been in here for a while, so I think most of the other Seedlings have already gotten their prizes by now. The bathhouse will probably be crowded soon, too. How about we go stop by Tatton's office and I'll tell you about corn on the way?"

"Sure, that's fine with me," Julia said as she stood up with me.

"Sweet! Let's go get the penguin and head out."

As the two of us went to grab the penguin from the cold bath, I couldn't help but slip into thought.

If the other Seedlings are done getting their prizes, that means Ferguson must've gotten his punishment too. I wonder what kind of thing he got stuck with...

"Squawk!"

My thoughts were once again cut off, but this time by a penguin who swam up to the edge of the bath as Julia and I approached it.

"Hi, Mr. Flippers. Did you have fun?" I asked as I reached down into the bath and lifted him out of the cold water.

"Squawk~ squawk?"

"Of course I'm strong enough to pick you up! Screw you!"

"Pffft-"

Fixed Realm Map (Potential for more changes):