I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm

I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm – Chapter 51

"The time has finally come," Erik muttered after watching the last soldier disappear into the red portal before him.

Nearly six months had passed since the first set of scouts ventured through the portal. Although they had sent a few more since then with the goal of finding where the snow ends, none had returned. Whether this was due to the distance being over the two months they had predicted or because the scouts had been slain, it was impossible to know.

With their force now through the portal, such a thing was irrelevant, anyway.

"What are you waiting for? Do not just stand there after rushing me."

Erik scoffed at the chieftain's voice in his head, "I am going. I was admiring the sight, that is all." 

Over 52,000 ogres donning thick pelts and large clubs had marched through the gateway with squads hauling supplies joining behind them.

As much as I hated the wait, the chieftain was right.

Creating the additional extensions had proved to be a great success; their current force was much larger than the 38,000 that they originally planned to attack with.

In only half a year, their army was able to grow by 37% and ample supplies such as firewood had been procured. His men had already entered enemy territory and would soon be on their way to conquer a world.

Now it was time for him to join them.

Just as Erik was about to step through the portal with empty hands, a familiar voice spoke in his head.

"Wait. You have it, right?"

"Of course," the Oracle patted his pelt covering something hiding on his chest, "I am not careless enough to leave it behind."

With those words, the ogre finished his step.

In an instant, the lush and warm forest vanished; in its place was a snowy and barren wasteland spreading out as far as the eye could see.

Cold.

This was the first word that came to mind as a frigid gust of wind blew over him.

When the ogre attempted to put up his hand to stop the snow from blowing into his eyes, a new word entered his head.

Heavy.

It was exactly as the scouts had described. Although it was not anything major as he only noticed the weight upon moving his body, the fact that the weight affected him at all was a scary thought.

If I can feel it with my power...

The Oracle glanced over at his army who were lined in formation with bent knees. Those leaning on their clubs to stand were numerous and many more wore snow-covered pelts signaling their previous falls into the powder.

"Two months," Erik muttered as another blast of arctic wind blew into him, "We need to deal with this for two months."

In reality, this was simply an estimate. Not only was the distance following the connection to the mainland unknown, but given the snow and the weight the army would need to deal with, there was no telling how long the march could take.

Yet the army was focused on this two-month window. It was as though the distance, the snow, nor the weight would change this timeline; they would arrive for battle in two months.

They had to.

The food will only last two months. As this army's leader, I will get them there in time.

With these thoughts resolute in his mind, Ferguson took a breath of cold air and addressed his men.

"Listen up!"

The ogres turned at his words.

"This world is harsh. It may be cold. It may be windy. The world itself may be pressing down on us," The Oracle paused, a fierce grin appearing on his face, "But does that not make conquest even more exciting?"

Muttering could be heard between the ogres. 

"Those before us had it easy," he continued, "They simply walked through the portal and squashed the insects waiting for them on the other side in warm sun. Does this harsh greeting not make our battle more honorable? We only need two months to reach better land. What are two months compared to an eternity in legend!?"

""Huahhh!!"" A reinvigorated battle cry sounded out among the ogres as if their suffering moments before had been a facade.

Good.

The Oracle nodded in satisfaction at their reaction, "Then march! Two months may be nothing, but let us not turn it into three."

With these words, the ogre army began their trek through the snow.

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I couldn't help but let out a groan as I looked at my screen.

"Squawk!"

"I know, I know."

There are way too many of them.

Just from a quick glance, I could tell that Ferguson brought just as big, if not a larger, force than Levon.

It was a terrifying sight.

Not only were the ogres much physically stronger than the lizards, but they were also clearly more prepared.

Where Levon's army had scales, they had fat and wore pelts. While Levon's army had claws, they wielded clubs. While Levon's force arrived starved, Ferguson's seemed to bring enough food and firewood to last the walk.

"I knew it before, but this is really gonna be tough," I muttered.

"Squawk."

"You can say that again"

"...Squawk?"

"No, I- nevermind."

Although our opponent was tough, it was not as though my humans had been doing nothing since the last battle phase. Unlike previously where Uunga had been left to fend off the invasion by himself, there was a massive army waiting behind my Oracle to fight against the ogres with weapons leagues ahead of what they wielded one thousand years prior.

My humans were ready.

Preparations had only ramped up in the half a year since Ferguson sent his scouts to my realm. Not only was the entire northern passage nearly covered in traps, but we were able to recruit thousands more soldiers and increase our already-overflowing stockpile of weapons.

"I guess I should send the signal, huh?"

"Squawk!"

Depending on how fast they marched, it would likely take 2-3 months for Ferguson's army to reach the passage. With that in mind, despite most of my soldiers being located between the two camps, there were still a large amount in villages outside of them. As long as they were close enough to reach the northern mountain passage within two months, Rynn and I were fine with letting them spread out a bit.

This leniency was only possible because of the resource points that Uunga got for me.

Sending a messenger would take a lot of time and cut the area these soldiers could live in half, so I made a system that could eliminate the need for such a process.

In every village with committed soldiers, I would make a spear fly when it was time to mobilize to the north. Since there were a ton of non-combatants at these villages, I also had the option to raise a fish instead, which I planned to do if Ferguson still hadn't attacked over a year after the scouts were sent. This was pretty much just a message saying they could return to the southern camp; there was no point keeping the soldiers from their families if Ferguson wouldn't attack for another decade.

Sadly, it looks like they won't get to see the fish fly this time.

With a sigh, I began going through the nearby villages and raising the spears one by one.

"Squawk!"

"Huh? Oh yeah- I guess they were staying in this village."

While I was raising the spear in a village near the two-month boundary, we spotted Ayla and Rathok on the screen.

Sorry guys. It looks like you'll need to visit baby Angru after all.

With one last look at the two, I moved the screen away to finish up the signals.

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"Come on, come on!"

"We need to leave, Rathok... you saw the spear fly."

"Wait a second, Mom! I am almost done!" The kid called out as he attached the last black stone to the weapon he had been fiddling with.

"You can finish making that on our way to the plateau; Old man Angru has been waiting to meet you!"

Rathok held up the weapon, carefully examining the black stones lining its side, "He can meet me after we win the battle. I need to get this to Dad first."

"I know you want to give it to your dad, but it is too dangerous to go there now," Ayla sighed, "You can give it to him after everything is over to celebrate him winning- I am sure he will love it."

"There is no point in giving it to him after the fight. I need to get it to him now so he can use it to fight those things!" 

With an expression of pity on her face, Ayla sat next to her son.

"Do you remember the story of what happened to Rynn's dad... your grandfather?" she asked.

The kid nodded hesitantly, "Dad made him a spear, but it broke."

"Exactly," Ayla sighed, "I know you have been working very hard, but making weapons is not easy. The people here might not even get there in time for the battle... if you can not get it to him in time anyway, why not wait and spend the time perfecting it? I think Rynn would be very sad if something you worked so hard on broke so quickly."

Rathok glanced down at the weapon in his hands.

The weapon itself had a long shaft made from a thick branch of a cherry tree, even wider than both his fists curled together. Attached in two rows on opposite sides of this pole were shiny black stones with small gaps between them.

He had first come across these shiny black rocks when exploring a stream near the southern camp that seemed to unearth it from the layers of soil covering the ground. Although initially attracted to the shine, a small cut on his finger he suffered when attempting to pick one up revealed the stones' sharp properties.

It would be perfect for Dad! He can cut a beast in half with this stone!

Such thoughts filled the kid's mind upon thinking of how the sharp stone could be used to make an amazing slicing weapon. It wasn't until he went back to share his idea with his mother that the kid learned about an eerily similar situation paralleled by his own father.

To prevent such an incident from occurring, Rathok shaped the thickest shaft possible that could still fit in his father's hands for the weapon. He also used tens of small stones to make the sharp edges of the weapon to ensure that the breakage of one section would not make the entire row useless. Aside from this, he also arranged a backup row of stones on the opposite side of the weapon in case one side somehow became unusable.

Although Rathok was about to argue this, the resolute expression on his mom's face made him confident that it would be pointless.

"... Fine."

Ayla smiled, "Thank you, Rathok. We will leave for the plateau in the morning, so please help me get ready."

With a small nod, the kid put down his weapon and walked over to their tipi to begin making preparations for their travel.

Once night came, Rathok stood over his sleeping mother with an expression equally as resolute as the one she showed to him.

"I am sorry, Mom," he muttered, "There is no way my weapon will break."

With those quiet words, the kid picked up his weapon and a small pouch of supplies he had thrown together during the day before exiting the tipi and the village alike. By the time Ayla woke in the morning, Rathok was nowhere to be found.

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"Lift!"

""Rahhhh!""

The group of soldiers worked together to lift a large stone at the Oracle's signal.

"Try to match my pace. We break at the next marking!"

Rynn had lost track of how many times he had led the soldiers up the mountain slope over the past few weeks. With the spear traps nearly completed, they had decided to switch focus to stocking up the ledges on the sides of the passageway with stones to throw down at the invaders when they inevitably marched through the area.

"Hah... that guy is crazy."

"H-how can he even do that?"

"Oracles are way too strong..."

Rynn paid no attention to the muttering from the soldiers behind him who marveled at him effortlessly lifting a stone over his head five times the size of what the three of them worked together to carry.

Hearing stories of the Oracle's strength was a lot different than witnessing it first-hand.

I figured they would be used to this by now.

Although Rynn tried to ignore them, it was a bit embarrassing having so much attention on himself; it was something he had not grown used to ever since its beginnings during his construction of the pathway over the river.

Being modest would only slow their progress, however, so the Oracle would need to endure the discomfort.

"We will take a minute break here," Rynn spoke after the group arrived at the first marking, placing the large stone down onto the slope.

""Yes!""

Rynn stared past the soldiers who were massaging their arms after lowering their stone and looked toward the southern mountain range.

I heard Rathok and Ayla were waiting to cross the river until after the invaders come. Hopefully, they are doing alright...

"Hey, Rynn! It's time!"

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden voice in his head.

"The invaders..." Rynn could feel his heartbeat increase at his words, "They are really here?"

The group fell quiet at the Oracle's words.

His words directed toward the sky could only mean one thing.

"The creator of the world?"

"Did he say the invaders are here!?"

"Quiet! Do not distract him!"

"How many are there?" Rynn asked as he distanced himself from the soldiers to avoid their mutterings.

"It looks like there's a bit over 50,000 of them," the creator of the world answered, "We will be in for a tough fight..."

"Fifty thousand..."

It was a number that was unmistakenly huge, but it was notably less than the roughly 85,000 men they had ready to face them.

"The traps you guys made should hopefully widdle down their numbers a ton before you guys actually need to fight them. You've been doing an amazing job leading them, Rynn."

"Thank you," the Oracle smiled embarrassedly at the honest praise, "Did you send the signal to the camps?"

"I raised the spears in all of them except for the northern camp- I'll let you do the honors there. Prepare them to be ready in two months; have them set up a temporary camp near the bottom of the slope."

The Oracle nodded at the order.

His whole life had been leading up to this moment; he would carry the world over his shoulders just as he did the stone.

"I will save this world..."

Rynn took one more glance toward the south.

... I will protect you two.

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