NOVEL WEB I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm – Chapter 14
An invisible force squeezed me from every direction.
"W-what does yellow mean, instructor?" I managed to stutter out despite the pressure.
The force from the sheep instructor lessened a bit, yet she continued to look at me with a strong glare.
"A yellow color means that the Flower Box found a minor violation of the rules," a strained smile appeared on the sheep's face, "You have some nerve, Seedling. You showed up late to our first class, you constantly bring your pet to my lessons... and now you disrespected the Founder by breaking the rules of the competition."
"Mr. Flippers is not my pet. He's a friend- gah!"
"Quiet! I don't want to hear it. If I remember correctly, you did not even bother attending his welcoming ceremony either-"
The pressure coming from the teacher flared to its highest level. An image of a soda can being crushed appeared in my mind as I struggled with all of my power to stay standing.
"After everything the Founder has done for us... all the effort, the pain, the time... even knowing just a fragment of the burden he bares, I will not tolerate anyone who dares to undermine his will!"
"I-I d-didn't-"
I tried to speak, but could barely get any breath out of my mouth. My lungs felt like they were being squeezed, and with all of my energy being exerted to keep standing, there was no way for me to defend myself.
"Every detail of this competition was organized by the Founder. Going against the rules is the very same as going against him." The sheep instructor's glare deepened. "You are lucky Seedling. Your result was still a yellow- not a violation directly, but rather one by a technicality. Had this been red..."
My knees suddenly buckled and a small stream of blood flowed from my lip.
"...Not even the flora of obitus would feast upon your ashes."
The sheep instructor then closed her eyes and all of the overwhelming pressure was suddenly released.
I immediately took a heavy breath and air filled my now-free lungs.
"Haaa... Haaa.."
The sheep began to walk past me towards the exit but paused at my side.
"Go down the hall and take a left. The Flower Box will give you instructions on what to do next," she stated before climbing the stairs and leaving the room- not sparing a single glance towards the other two creatures present.
""...""
No one said a word. Only the sound of my staggered breaths filled the empty lecture hall. My body began to slightly sway as a feeling of extreme lightheadedness washed over me. It was only through pure stubbornness that I was somehow able to keep myself standing upright.
"What in Alghelme just happened?" a female voice muttered from behind me breaking the silence.
I was a bit too exhausted to reply, but I soon felt an arm wrap around my side. I turned my head to see Julia there helping to support me.
"Jacob... are you okay?" she asked quietly with a worried look on her face.
I struggled to nod my head.
That... was a lot tougher than I thought.
"Your lip... it's bleeding..." she whispered.
Confused, I lifted my hand to my mouth, revealing dark red stains on my fingertips when pulled away.
Shoot. I didn't even realize I was biting my lip so hard.
I relaxed my jaw and freed my lip from between my teeth. Although my body was in pretty rough shape, it didn't take long for the bleeding to stop. Julia helped lower me down into a nearby seat while I recovered. Mr. Flippers soon appeared from behind her and promptly layed on my lap.
We sat there for a few minutes as strength gradually returned to my body and eventually I could fully stand on my own again.
I guess being a ruler also boosts my recovery speed. That felt like I was standing inside a black hole... there's no way I would have been able to stand again in a normal body, at least not so soon. Then again, I doubt a normal human could even survive that...
"Hey Julia, would you mind watching Mr. Flippers for a bit? I have to figure out what the heck caused this whole mess."
"I don't mind. I was gonna go to the bathhouse now anyway, so I'll bring him with me. Are you sure you're okay though?" she asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm pretty much fine now. I'll meet you guys there when I'm back!"
"Please be careful!"
"Squawk!"
I headed out of the lecture hall with their goodbyes. Following the sheep instructor's instructions, I went down the hallway to the intersection that has the bathhouse and training ground. Rather than taking a right turn towards them, I made a left.
Julia and I explored all of this during the first day. There's a lot more doors in this direction, but I have no idea what's behind them. Speaking of which, how do I know which room I'm supposed to go through?
My question was quickly answered as I soon stumbled upon a slightly cracked open door.
Guess this is it. Hopefully not all of the instructors have anger issues... I really don't feel like getting almost squished to death again.
*Knock Knock
"Come in!"
I entered the room and was greeted by what looked like an old-fashioned office. The room itself was fairly small and the piles of documents and folders scattered around made it feel even more cramped. A robed figure sat at a wooden desk in the middle of the room illuminated by a flickering flame inside a glass lamp.
"Please take a seat."
The man in the purple robe continued to write something on a piece of parchment as I sat down in a chair across from him. His focus was solely on the paper in front of him, only glancing up to look at a projection of a realm that appeared on an orb on his desk. A strange black fog covered a section of it.
He continued to jot down something for a few minutes longer. Although he paid no mind to me, I was not upset nor stressed. Oddly, it was the opposite. The soft sound of his pen aided by the dim light of the lamp's orange flame created a calming atmosphere in the room. The distinct smell of paper and ink seemed to wash away all thoughts of the events that happened a few moments prior.
Eventually, the scribbling stopped and the robed figure gently placed his feathered pen down on his desk.
"I apologize for the wait- there was something that I needed to finish. My name is Tatton," he introduced, "I assume you are 'Jacob', correct?"
I did my best to hide my shock.
"Yes, that's right. Would you mind if I asked how you knew my name?"
"Not at all. Every inch of the academy is being monitored in some way- I just so happened to be the one tasked with monitoring everything while you had a conversation with that elf. You could imagine my surprise when I heard that you came from a place with no mana... and my stagger upon seeing your realm."
"Was that the reason I was called here? Because I didn't have mana in my realm?"
"No. That is not an issue at all."
The orb changed to now display a map of my realm. It was a cross-sectional view showing the inner layers of the planet.
"It was an extremely bold strategy to invest in gravity instead of mana... this was the first instance of such a decision that I have witnessed in all my time in the Flower Box. Unfortunately, your method of achieving this increased gravitational force was very crude and left your realm in an extremely unstable state... to the point where it would have likely collapsed before the competition could even begin."
"... Was it actually that bad?" I asked with a slight pain in my heart.
The figure nodded his head, "Luckily for you, I noticed this and was able to get approval for emergency aid from the Flower Box, which I used to balance out your realm's mantle."
I let out a sigh of relief.
I didn't even know I was in such a dangerous situation.
"Thank you, Tatton, I really appreciate it. Is this emergency fund something I need to pay back? I don't really think that I have anything to give right now."
"I covered it for you."
"You paid them back for me!? Thank you, but why would you do that? I didn't even know you yet..."
Although I could not see his face under the robe, I had a feeling that he had a small grin.
"There is no need to be suspicious. I meerly helped out for the sake of my research. Not only is your realm the first that I will get to see with no mana, but it is also the first instance of a major gravitational difference between members of the competition! It is a scenario that I can not miss out on witnessing. Also, the loan from the Flower Box was not expensive. I only needed to re-arrange elements in your mantle, so nothing new was created."
"...Well thank you again. I will try not to disappoint your expectations. Was that everything you needed to tell me?"
"Do not be in such a rush. That was not even the reason that you were flagged with a yellow marker."
"... My realm nearly collapsing was not the reason for the flag?"
"It was not." The robed figure zoomed into the north-left of my realm where the octagon connected with the main continent. "One of the rules of the competition is that the invader buffer zone needs to be connected with the main continent to a reasonable degree. Having two sets of mountain ranges without a passage through them can not be considered 'reasonable'."
"Shoot. I thought 'connected' just meant sharing a land border... am I able to fix it?"
"The Flower Box will give you a small amount of Resource Points- just what they considered adequate to make a wide path through the mountain range. Please do so after you leave here or you will risk facing punishment."
I immediately thought back to the sheep instructor's brutality.
"... I really could've used that warning earlier," I muttered.
"Earlier? Ah- right, Sky is in charge of your cycle isn't she..."
Sky? I mean I guess the name kind of fits considering her wings, but it doesn't really sound like a teacher's name.
"She gets a bit defensive over the Founder. I apologize on her behalf." Tatton said as he leaned back on his chair.
"Don't apologize, it's not your fault or anything. Anyway, I should go make that path now- thank you again for all of your help!"
"Good luck, Jacob. I expect to see great things from you."
After nodding my head, I got out of my seat and exited the room. A small sigh escaped my lips when the door closed behind me.
That was... something. How did I not notice that my realm was about to implode? Maybe I was too focused on keeping the continent's shape that I didn't even realize how unstable it was.
I buried my face in my hands before quickly pulling them away and clenching my fist instead.
... I need to be smarter. If I tried to do something like that while people were on the planet and it ended up collapsing, there's no telling how many people would die.
I turned my attention back to the hallway.
There's no time to think about it right now. Julia and Mr. Flippers are waiting for me.
