I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm

I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm – Chapter 37

SLAM!

"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING!?"

Levon's fist slammed into his desk as he watched the injured human sleeping in his temple.

"JUST GET HIM ALREADY!"

Despite his angry pleas, not a single one of his lifeforms made any attempt to approach the being whom they had just witnessed massacring their comrades.

Who do these wimps belong to!? They clearly are not mine!

His anger had already reached new heights after witnessing the failed evasion, thwarted ambush, and the death of Scar. Seeing his lifeforms refuse to slaughter the Oracle who had been the source of all of those defeats was nearly enough to make him go numb.

Yet, whether it was due to a false hope that one of the lizards would get the courage to murder the human or that it would succumb to its wounds, Levon continued watching the screen until the Oracle had fully escaped his realm.

"... What a joke," he spat.

The aftermath of the first battle phase had been worse than he ever could have imagined. His Oracle and over 60,000 of his best life forms had been killed, most of the capital city surrounding his temple had been reduced to ashes, and worst of all, he had endured both a Tier III and a Tier I defeat.

Rather than be terrified of what the punishments for such a result would be, only pure anger flared through his brain.

"Transport to the academy"

Levon squinted his eyes as his surroundings changed to the bright audience hall of the Academy. 

"... What is all of this?"

Upon coming to his senses, the lizard noticed an odd arrangement on the audience hall's stage, featuring two chests, a desk, and a massive scoreboard. With nothing better to do, Levon began approaching the stage when a robed figure hastily entered the room.

"You arrived here faster than I expected," the figure spoke.

"... Who are you?"

"You know, that race to your temple was quite entertaining. It was a bit impressive how your Oracle managed to convince those nearby settlements to defend your temple when he was in that condition. I mean, the place was half empty after you sent most of the population to die by your Oracle's own hands. Well... it's not like it mattered in the end," the figure recounted while ignoring the Seedling.

The lizard glared as the robed figure walked passed him and climbed onto the stage, before sitting down at the desk.

"It looks like you were watching," Levon grumbled.

"That is my job," the figure pulled a small, spherical crystal out of his robe and placed it onto the desk, "A job that you interrupted by showing up so early. Eager to get your punishments, are you?"

The lizard did not reply- his only response was a scowl, leading to the robed figure continuing.

"Normally, you would need to wait until the battle phase was completely over to receive the punishment, but the conditions were met for an early completion. Both Oracles were slain, there are no foreign advanced lifeforms on either realm, and neither Seedling shows any signs of continuing-"

"His Oracle is dead?" Levon interrupted to which the robbed figure gave a slight nod.

The livid expression on the lizard's face lightened a bit at the news.

"It's odd seeing someone who's about to receive two punishments be so relieved."

As the robed figure spoke, the scoreboard behind him changed: a '4' appeared next to a picture of Jacob. Levon's score remained at zero.

"It looks like the early completion request was accepted," the figure pointed to the chest on the right of the stage, "How about we see what you'll endure."

While ignoring the small image of the human out of the corner of his eye, Levon approached the chest before lifting it open.

Ssssssk!

With a hissing sound, a thick cloud of heavy black smoke oozed out of the chest. Bits of glowing, bright red shards could be seen scattered throughout the fumes, causing Levon to step back reflexively.

"Now that's a Tier III punishment!"

Levon glared at the figure in the purple robe.

"What is your problem!?" he shouted.

"Calm down, no need to erupt at me. You'll have enough of those to deal with, yourself."

"What do you-"

"Enough talking. Go ahead and get your Tier I punishment so that I can focus on these realms," the figure interrupted.

While clenching his fist to hold back his anger, Levon closed and reopened the chest. A now-familiar black fog diffused out of the open chest, though at a much lower concentration than before. Dust seemed to be scattered in the fog.

"Ah-"

"What is it?" Levon finally asked at the figure's reaction.

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"It's just a small drought," he answered half-heartedly, "It might be a blessing in disguise considering you won't have to worry about much acid rain....or snow."

"Snow!? Why would there be-"

"You'll figure it out soon enough," the figure interrupted again and turned his attention back to the crystal on the desk, "Now let me get back to my work. Either head back to your domain and watch the punishments happen, or go train so you don't get crushed as easily next time."

Although Levon wanted to argue, it was clear doing so would be pointless. After shooting another sharp glare toward the purple-robed figure, the lizard stomped over to the training ground in a silent rage.

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

Ferguson strolled into the training ground to find Alishia sitting on a barrel staring into the melee area.

"What are you-"

"Shhh!" the golden and red lamia hushed the confused ogre and pointed inside.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! HOW DOES IT FEEL TO GET CRUSHED BY YOUR OWN STUPID STICK!?"

Inside the melee area of the training ground was a familiar red lizard bashing a humanoid torso with a wooden club.

"... How long has-"

"No idea, but I've been watching for about twenty minutes."

"HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH YET!? YOU HAD THE GALL TO SLEEP IN MY TEMPLE YET HERE YOU ARE CRYING LIKE A LITTLE B-"

"... I am going to stop this," Ferguson announced.

"Boooo~"

Ferguson walked into the melee area and approached the screaming lizard.

"BEGGING FOR MERCY!? WELL- WHAT!?" the lizard sharply turned upon feeling a large hand touch his shoulder, "Oh... hello, Ferguson."

"Hello."

The lizard looked past the giant ogre and noticed the lamia sitting with an amused smile.

"... How long were you two watching for?"

"Long enough," Alishia answered with a smirk.

"It was needed," Levon let out a sigh and tossed the club back into the barrel that he grabbed it from.

The ogre continued to stare at the lizard who was acting as though he wasn't just torturing a training dummy mere seconds ago.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I lost... badly," Levon answered as he flipped over an empty barrel and sat near Alishia.

"I saw your score. 'Badly' might be an understatement!" Alishia chimed in to which Levon adverted his gaze.

"His score? Is zero bad?"

"You can't just look at Levon's score since you can't get less than zero points. Jacob had 4 points, so that means Levon-"

"Ah," Ferguson turned to the lizard once he realized his mistake and gave him a stern look, "You did bad."

"IT WAS NOT MY FAULT!"

The two creatures looked at Levon with expressions of pity.

"Awww~ are you okay? How could that human be so mean to you?"

"It really was not my fault! That coward used some cheap trick!" Levon defended while brushing off Alishia's teasing.

"... I told you the human is tricky," Ferguson grumbled.

"I know! But how could I expect him to put his portal in a place buried in snow!?"

"Snow?"

"YES SNOW! My army froze to death before they could even do anything!"

"Well that explains the three points... but Jacob got four, so-"

The two creatures turned to each other.

"Wait wait wait. Let's review this," Alishia began recounting, "For people attacking, a Tier I victory is killing 33% or conquering a temple, a Tier II victory is killing 50%, and a Tier III victory is killing 66%."

"Yes," Ferguson nodded in confirmation.

"And for people defending, a Tier I victory is losing less than 33% of their lifeforms, a Tier II victory is losing less than 20%, and a Tier III victory is losing less than 15%. Losing their temple would be an automatic Tier I loss, but to counter that, the invader must kill more than they lose for these results to count."

"Right."

"Then the only way he could've got the fourth point is if-"

"He counter-attacked," Levon finally answered, drawing their attention back to him.

"So when you were screaming about someone sleeping in your temple, you were serious!?" Alishia said in shock.

"... You are weaker than I thought," Ferguson mumbled disappointedly.

"Shut up! I'm not weak! That coward's stupid trick just left me with half an Oracle to defend with."

""...""

"Why are you two staring at me like that!?"

"Well... I just didn't think you'd lose so badly," Alishia admitted, "Didn't you spend the last like 6 months talking about how easily you'd 'crush that scaleless wimp'?"

"If it wasn't for his trick-"

"You make a lot of excuses for your own failures," Ferguson interrupted.

"What!?"

"You let him take your temple. That was not from his trick," the ogre continued.

"Ferguson has a point!" Alishia chimed in.

"... If you two think it is so easy, how about one of you try attacking him next?"

"That is not a bad idea."

The ogre who had been standing over the two creatures finally flipped over a large barrel and sat with Levon and Alishia.

"I need information," he stated while staring at the lizard.

"Fine. The portal where you enter his realm leads to a cold wasteland with nothing but snow. It is completely disconnected from the rest of his continent other than a small passageway to the east."

"How far east?"

"About a month-long march from the portal to the passage. The snow will slow you down a bit."

"... A month might be a bit much for me. I don't think I'll be able to attack him for now," Alishia said with a sigh, "My people can't handle the cold very well."

"Can you not use fire magic?"

"That is me," Levon corrected the ogre, "But it was not working when we invaded. It must have been too cold."

"Too cold?"

The lizard nodded.

"Even my Oracle's flames went out immediately."

"Oh, speaking of magic, isn't it annoying how we can't use it here? I tried to test a seduction spell on Jacob-"

Levon and Ferguson's conversation instantly came to a halt as their heads snapped toward Alishia.

"You tried to what!? Why would you even try that!?" Levon asked in disbelief.

"It was a while back," she answered nonchalantly, "I happened to see him in the bathhouse, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to test it out."

"... Did it work?" Ferguson asked curiously.

"Not really. The spell couldn't form properly, but..."

"But?"

"It seems he's a bit weak to seduction," Alishia said with a sly wink.

"Disgusting," Levon spat.

"Oh hush- it's good information! If I ever find a way for my people to get through the snow, conquering his realm should be a breeze."

"We can handle the cold and we can use fire," Ferguson spoke, "I will attack the human next."

A grin appeared on Levon's face after hearing those words.

"Aren't you worried about him pulling another trick?" Alishia asked.

"He can not do much without getting punished. Even if he found a way-"

Ferguson stopped mid-sentence and took out a large club.

Slam!

A huge dent appeared on the front of the humanoid training dummy.

"-We can beat small tricks with strength," he finished.

"Make him pay for his insolence, Ferguson."

"... Avenge your own loss. Do not use my strength to cover your own."

"Believe me, I will slice that twerp's neck once my realm regains its strength."

"That's odd," Alishia teased, "The last time you mentioned slicing Jacob's neck, his Oracle took a nap in your temple,"

Levon shot the lamia a small glare before turning back to Ferguson when he spoke.

"Tell me about your attack."

"Fine. My Oracle went in with an army of 50,000-"

The time quickly passed as Levon recounted the events of the previous battle phase.