I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm

I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm – Chapter 62

Tatton squinted his eyes under the hood of his purple robe as he skillfully etched a magic rune into a small plate at his desk. 

He had long lost track of how many times he did this, with each iteration undergoing small changes that made the previous model useful only in self-reflection. Still, despite the tedious work of precisely hand carving these plates with details down to the millimeter, he was not frustrated in the slightest. After all, his work was being rewarded with results; it was only a matter of time before he would find the right combination of patterns to achieve perfection in his newest communicator model.

Tatton lifted his carving tool and glanced over at the small creature aiding him in this endeavor who was currently busy dissecting one of their previous models to re-use some parts, using the long, mechanical arms sprouting from a box strapped to its back.

It's such a fascinating creature. 

This small, black-and-white creature, who was currently letting out a small squawk in satisfaction after successfully dislodging a piece of wire, had been the subject of Tatton's personal wonder ever since its entry to the Academy.

The fact that this creature is even here to begin with is odd enough...

Although it wasn't uncommon for Seedlings to bring objects with them when first being transported into the Academy, it was practically unheard of for other living creatures to be transported along with them. Things like clothing were bound to be brought, along with anything that the potential Seedling had been gripping tightly, but the beams should not have targeted anyone holding another creature.

"Are you almost done getting parts?"

"Squawk!"

"... I thought so."

I have no idea what it is saying.

This was the second thing that initially baffled the researcher. The creature itself is a moderate lifeform; the translation abilities granted to the Seedlings were unable to fully work on it, leaving it in a state where it could understand others yet not be understood by them.

At least, this should have been the case, but there was one exception to this trend: the Seedling who brought him here. For some reason, Jacob was able to perfectly interpret what the creature was trying to say, almost as if he was hearing its words directly. Tatton himself initially figured Jacob had simply been guessing or playing some kind of weird joke at first, but after numerous examples of proper communication between the two, he had no choice but to accept the reality before him.

Clearly, their divinity being linked is allowing for this communication.

He finally solved the answer to this mystery at the end of the first battle phase... or rather it slapped him in the face. With prizes and punishments being linked to specific Seedlings through divinity, the creature opening the chest for Jacob was the most blatant proof of this shared divinity that one could get. Of course, this answer only yielded dozens more questions, including how this divinity link was possible.

Maybe Jacob could tell me about his situation before he got sent here? His short-term memory should have preserved at least some of what happened before he became a Seedling.

"Squawk!"

"Hm?"

Tatton turned toward the small creature who was staring up at him. After a few seconds of awkward staring, the penguin used one of his arms to point toward a small device on the floor resembling a blue crystal ball the size of a snowball which was resting on a raised metallic disc.

"The telephone we're working on? What about it?"

"Squawk!"

Two more arms sprung into action, each pointing a finger: one pointed toward a small square opening on the side of the disc and the other pointed up at Tatton.

"Ah- right! The plate!" the researcher looked back down at the small plate he was carving and picked up his tool, "I got a bit distracted, I'll be finished soon."

"... Squawk~"

With a squawk of impatience, the arms withdrew into the box and the creature waddled off into the lab presumably to find something to occupy himself. 

For a moderate lifeform, that thing really has quite a brain. Is that also due to the divinity link with the Seedling?

He honestly didn't think he'd ever get an answer to that, but he was blown away by the progress the two of them had made together. The proof was on the desk beside him- a prototype nearly identical to the one the creature had been pointing to except much larger, having roughly a 1.5ft diameter. 

It was the product of roughly 4 years of experimentation. Despite that seeming like a long time on the surface, the speed could only be described as blazing fast for a researcher like himself. With Jacob's well-described fundamental principles behind the device, all he needed to do was fill in some gaps, modify the structure, and replicate it himself. The successful prototype on his desk was actually fully functional; their work since then had simply been making the communicator more efficient and shrinking down the size.

Such a process was much easier said than done, however, and the hundreds of discarded plates piling up beside him was proof of that.

This one should work... I think I've perfected it by now.

By the time he finished carving, the small creature had returned from wherever it wandered off to, now playing with some random materials on the ground.

"I've finished on my end. How about we do a test run?"

"Squawk!"

The creature excitedly snatched the finished plate and plopped it into the slot on the side of the crystal ball's disc-shaped stand. After pressing a button on the side of it, the crystal ball began to emit a faint glow.

""Squawk!""

The squawk from the creature sounded from both its beak and the large prototype on the desk at nearly identical times.

"Perfect- they seemed to have linked without error and the time delay between the two seems to be minimal. Of course, this distance is far too small for the wave-boosting function to activate," Tatton spoke as he noted things down in a journal he carried, "Should we move on to the domain boundary test?"

"Squawk~"

"I will consider that as a 'yes'."

Tatton stood over the large crystal ball on the desk and made a triangle with his hands. After a few seconds of injecting mana, a black film flashing with small bolts of light seemed to appear in the opening between his fingers which he then shifted into a square-like shape by tilting one hand. Tatton then expanded his arms apart, stretching this black film until it was large enough to encapsulate the crystal ball. Tatton stepped back from the desk with a satisfied nod once this was done on all 6 sides and the crystal ball was fully inside a black cube,

"Like last time, the prototype is now fully inside an area made purely from mana tied to my divinity signature. This should be the same thing making up the domain boundary in the Seedlings' realms," Tatton announced as he reached inside the film and placed a different small orb inside, "Since this is my divinity signature, I can freely travel in and out of it. The recording orb I placed inside will let us know whether your voice comes through the domain boundary or not. You can start when you are ready."

"Squawk! Squawk squawk squawk~"

Like the previous test, the small creature pressed a button on the side of the crystal ball's stand and began squawking into it. After a few squawks, he waddled aside and looked up at the robed figure.

"That should be fine," Tatton nodded and pulled out the small recording orc from inside the black cube.

After activating the orb and hearing small squawks being repeated, the researcher nodded with a satisfied expression.

"It looks like the newest model was a success!"

"Squawk!"

"We made some great progress, but there is still much room for improvement-"

Beep! Beep!

A sudden beeping noise cut off Tatton mid-sentence and he quickly took out a small red ord from inside his robe before quickly letting out a sigh.

"Squawk?"

"Sky apparently went on a rampage again and threw two Seedlings out of the lecture hall. I had a feeling this would happen after I noticed two prizes being withheld, so I alerted the Flower Box in advance after seeing their violation," Tatton groaned, "I know how she gets when Seedlings break the rules, but she is lucky we had members nearby to heal them or there would have been an even bigger headache. It looks like she went overboard this time- if they were exposed to her pressure for even ten seconds longer, they would have been crushed into piles of dust."

"Squawk!?"

"It is not your two friends if that's what you're worried about," Tatton reassured the creature as he waved his hand and dispelled the black film around the large crystal ball, "Even so, it looks like I'll need to be on standby for the remainder of their class in case she loses control. We'll need to stay in my office."

"... Squawk."

Despite the penguin's sulking, the two of them had no choice but to return to the main Academy and wait for Jacob's class to end. 

.

..

...

Knock Knock knock!

"Ah- it looks like they're finally here," Tatton sat up at his desk, putting down the plate he was carving, "You two can come inside."

Slam!

As the door swung open, Jacob immediately scanned the room like a beast searching for prey before swiftly locking eyes with the penguin sitting on a chair with some random materials in hand.

"There you are, Mr. Flippers!"

"Squawk!?"

In what looked like a flash, Jacob ran over and picked up the penguin, scattering papers in the process.

"I missed you so much! I could barely even focus in class because I was so worried! How were things here!? I don't even know how long-", Jacob's face suddenly paled as he stopped squeezing the penguin, "... You remember me, don't you!? Julia was just joking- there's no way you were in here for so long that you forgot all about me, right!? I'm Jacob! Me! That's my name! Mr. Flippers, don't tell me you forgot all about us!"

"I... *ahem*"

Tatton attempted to correct whatever weird misunderstanding Jacob was under, but only ended up letting out an uncomfortable cough. This cough only succeeded in grabbing Jacob's attention who turned his almost spiteful and teary-eyed expression toward him.

"How long did you keep my baby in there!? He doesn't even recognize me!" Jacob looked back at the penguin in his arms whose own expression shifted from confusion to grumpiness, "Mr. Flippers, don't you remember all the time we spent together!? You know, like when we worked on the ice palace and made our realm and took baths together? There was even that intimate moment we shared under the bed-"

"Squawk!?"

"What in Algehelm are you talking about!?"

It was the elf's turn to shout as she quickly rushed over and snatched the creature out of Jacob's hands.

As the room filled with Jacob's defenses over whatever the last thing he said was referring to, Tatton quickly tried to jump-start his brain.

... I should intervene before this mess gets worse.

"I'm unsure about whatever assumptions you are making, but less than ten years passed while we were inside my laboratory."

"... Oh," Jacob looked down at the penguin with an innocent smile, "I guess you weren't in there for as long as I thought~"

"Squawk!"

"Ow! You have all of those arms yet you're still pecking me!?"

Seedlings have so much energy.

Tatton rose from his seat as they bickered, "You are wasting a lot of time. The battle preparation phase has already started, so follow me to my laboratory before you miss more of it. I'll give you the device we came up with once we're there."

Jacob's eyes widened, "You actually managed to make it!?"

"Squawk~"

"No way, that's amazing!"

"Save your admiration for after we are in the laboratory," Tatton said while injecting mana into the doorway.

Hummm!

The group swiftly entered the time airlock whose doors opened with an ominous hum and it was not long before they spilled out into Tatton's lab. 

"We were able to make a working prototype which we have since improved and condensed into what is seen here," Tatton pointed at the two crystal balls on his desk; one was the large prototype and the other was the smaller and most recent one, "'I'm planning to further reduce their size while you are conducting your battle phase, however, this smaller one should be fine to bring back with you. I only have one ready, but I can quickly put together another since I already made a rune while waiting for your class to end."

"That's amazing..." Jacob approached the two crystal balls as Tatton began putting together some materials, "So radio waves really were able to get through that domain boundary thing?"

Tatton nodded, "Indeed. Thanks to your idea, I was able to discover that some forms of energy can pass through the boundary. With that being said, I'm still trying to figure out ways to make use of the discovery outside of this telephone we developed."

While Jacob seemed to slip into thought, Julia chimed in as she watched the researcher work, "Did you actually go to your domain to test it?"

"... No I did not, but I made something similar in this laboratory to test it. I was unable to simulate the large distance between the two of your domains, but I do not think it should be a problem with the system I developed." 

"You're saying the distance is irrelevant?" Jacob asked, snapping back to attention, "If there's a big distance between the two phone things, wouldn't there be some crazy distortion even if the thing generating the radio waves is super powerful?"

"Normally, yes, but I came up with a solution," Tatton walked over to his chalkboard and drew a wavy line, "I was able to combine your science with some magic techniques that I'm familiar with to preserve its structure. In a similar manner, mana could be used to make the radio waves travel much faster than they normally could, allowing it to beat light to its destination."

Jacob's eyes widened before quickly narrowing, "So you're saying you were able to use magic to make these radio waves travel faster than light? Mana is so freaking broken- I can practically hear Einstien crying in his grave over your sins against physics."

"Right... anyway, there was a problem once this mana was added to the radio waves. Since the domain boundary repels mana, the wave disappears upon making contact, but I was able to come up with a countermeasure," Tatton explained as he drew a horizontal line over the wave, sticking out in front of it, "I separated the mana connected to the wave into segments, with the first overhanging the front edge of the wave. Once this makes contact with the domain boundary it will dissipate, signally to the rest of the mana to unbind with the wave. Once the wave is free from the mana, it can then pass into the domain with no issues."

"So the mana basically delivers it to the outside of the domain and then the wave itself goes inside?" Julia finally spoke up and summarized. 

"Precisely!"

Jacob smiled at Julia who stood proudly after her input.

"I know pretty much nothing about magic, but that sounds pretty impressive. You did good, Tatton! Thanks for working so hard on this."

"Yes, yes. I gained a lot from this, so please spare your thanks," Tatton waved his hand dismissively, "Although there are some things I'd like to ask you, I would prefer you not miss your battle preparation phase, so I'll save them for another time. I'll get started on making the second small communicator now. Feel free to use this time to say your usual goodbyes."

"... You've really been spying on everything, haven't you?"

"... My job is to observe," Tatton let out an awkward cough before calling out to the penguin fiddling with materials on the floor, "Come help me so we can get you out of here faster."

"Squawk~"

.

..

...

"There we go- this should be good," Tatton nodded in satisfaction after seeing his second small crystal communicator pass the last of his tests.

After gathering it up, the researcher turned toward the two Seedlings who were currently embraced in a tight hug.

"I'll talk to you soon, okay? Your elves should have bows now, so I know you're gonna do amazing."

"Thank you, Jacob. You'll do great like usual, too," Julia's grip grew slightly tighter, "Even if we're able to talk this time, I'm still going to miss you."

"I know... It never gets easier leaving you. I had a lot of fun, though."

"Me too..."

Seedlings... even though they're supposed to all be fighting, there's always a few who get along a bit too well.

As the two reluctantly separated, Tatton finally approached and handed them each a crystal ball.

"Here you two go. Remember, you'll need to have your domain time set to a matching speed or else there will be some heavy distortion."

"Got it, thank you again, Tatton," Jacob smiled as he picked up Mr. Flippers from off the ground, "I guess we'll get going then."

With one last hug from the elf girl beside him, the two Seedlings disappeared from his laboratory, retreating back to their domains.

Tatton stood in his now quiet laboratory, staring at the spot where they vanished as a glow from the prototype on his desk behind him reflected off the back of his robe.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Meanwhile, back when Jacob was still soaking in the bathhouse, his realm was still adjusting to its new corn inhabitants.

A village near the continent's eastern gulf had recently finished a full harvest of their corn field. Although the corn itself had been put into storage, the village could not figure out a way to put most of the remaining plant to use. All of the stalks, leaves, and husks were simply tossed into massive piles to use as fuel for fires throughout the year.

Bored while waiting for dinner to be finished, a young girl approached the pile, staring at the husks dampened from a recent rain shower with a small feathery creature by her side.

"Dinner takes so long to cook. I bet you are hungry too, Mister Chicken."

"Cluck."

Not understanding her words, the chicken mindlessly trotted over to the pile and began pecking at the stalks.

"Are you looking for worms in there? You are lucky that you find them yummy... I have to wait for my mom to finish cooking before I can eat. I think she is cooking one of the eggs you gave us!"

The girl lightly grabbed one of the husks and began tearing it into strips- something that she found to be oddly satisfying. Within a few minutes, a small pile of roughly evenly sized strips of husk layed at her feet.

A small groan escaped her lips as she looked back at the tipis near the center of her village.

"How is she not done yet!?"

The young girl flopped onto the mossy ground in a pout with her arms spread wide, but she soon turned her head to the strips of corn husk laying next to her. Wordlessly, the girl began twisting some of the strips together between her fingers, gradually adding more and more strips every time she reached the end of one. Once all of the strips next to her were added, the girl tied both ends in a simple knot and looked curiously at the odd material in her hands.

Tug! Tug!

Even when she pulled on both ends of the tied husk with all of her might, it didn't show any signs of tearing or breaking.

"Wow! I made something cool!"

The strength of the twisted husk she put together was much stronger than the plain husk she could tear without much thought. Although she found it interesting, the girl had no idea what to do with her creation, so she simply tied it around her wrist as decoration.

"So pretty~"

It was a neat accessory for someone who owned very little. With glowing eyes, the girl looked over to her chicken friend still sifting through the pile of plants.

As a smile grew on her face, the young girl began tearing more husks into strips. By the time she heard her mom's call for dinner, both the girl and the chicken had small bracelets to show off to her family.

Unbeknownst to her, the girl's discovery would soon be used for far more than simple accessories. These strands got exponentially stronger the more husk strips were added to them. For the first time, the humans had a method to strongly bind objects together; rope had been introduced to the realm!

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