NOVEL WEB I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm – Chapter 2
A creature resembling a bipedal sheep with large silver wings came out from behind the stage immediately following the flower's disappearance. She gracefully approached the front of the stage emitting an aura of professionalism before beginning her speech.
"Welcome Seedlings, I will be your instructor leading up to the competition. As you all have heard from the founder, every one of you has been selected to become a ruler. The basics of what this entails will be explained in part now, but as there is a lot of information to cover, the more in-depth details will be explained throughout the 360 heavenly days leading up to the competition.
Some of you may be wondering why you were chosen for such an occasion, and while I would like to give you all the false sense of pride that you were the best to represent your individual species- that would not necessarily be true. I'll spare you all from the specifics, but while some measures were taken to narrow down the selection to those who were without any unnatural impairments, you were mainly chosen by pure chance from what I believe. Though you may not have much pride in who you were prior to your arrival, there is plenty of dignity in what you all are now. You were all given divinity upon being transferred here- in other words, every one of you is now immortal."
Murmur and mumbles rose from the crowd after hearing that last comment. Suddenly being told such a thing would normally be heard with ears of skepticism. but this is nowhere near a normal setting. Even I felt my heart drop at such a statement- there was too much going on for me to process and the situation seemed to only grow more complicated by the minute.
What the heck did I get myself into?
"Yes, it is a lot to take in, nevertheless it is the truth. Your lives as mortals have ended- I'm sure some of you all have noticed the lack of memories once arriving here. This is should serve as a prevention from any mental anguish about losing your previous lives, while also assuring you will all be in top condition for the competitions down the line."
What the sheep girl said seemed to be true. Though I could remember details about Earth perfectly, I couldn't seem to figure out any personal details about myself prior to what was on my mind at the moment when those beams began aiming for me.
In fact... I can't even seem to remember my own name.
I didn't even have time to lament over such a depressing fact before she resumed her lecture.
"In just a moment we will be leaving this hall and moving to the place where you will all be gathering during these 360 days leading up to the start of the competition. This space is not really fit for such a lecture, after all."
Directly ensuing this declaration, the speaker's silver wings shot up, and the goat-like individual glided over the large crowd, landing in front of two giant and elaborately decorated doors in the rear. She swung open the massive wooden doors seemingly with less effort than it would take to pick up a piece of paper, before beckoning the crowd to follow her.
Left with no other option, the crowd began to do as instructed and began to funnel through the doorway. Of course, I did not follow suit; there was absolutely no way I would leave without Mr. Flippers. While I pushed through the crowd, a large shove was directed toward my side, where a familiar lizard stood with a smug expression on his face. Pretending to pay no mind to the idiot, I casually pushed past him, accidentally stepping extra hard on a certain red tail that was resting on the floor.
"Gah! You little - "
Before the lizard guy could retaliate, he was forcibly caught up in the surge of creatures attempting to leave the room and could only manage to send some menacing glares my way. I blew him a kiss in return, which for some reason the creature did not seem to appreciate much, as he sent an unfortunate bystander flying in an attempt to push back towards me. This attempt was futile, however, and he soon disappeared among the avalanche-like crowd.
The room was nearly empty after the few moments following this exchange, but even with the increased visibility, there was no sign of Mr. Flippers. A slightly high-pitched voice called out from behind me just as I was beginning to worry whether someone had stolen - or possibly ate- him.
"Umm, excuse me. I think you might have been looking for this little guy," the voice called out.
Upon turning around, I was greeted by what looked like a classic elf girl. She was a bit shorter than me- probably around 5'5. Her blonde hair had streaks of green scattered throughout it, which matched very nicely with her green eyes. Aside from that, it appeared she had small brown shorts and a white top, both of which seemed to be pretty revealing. What appeared to be brown high-top sandals climbed up the first half of her leg and in her arms in front of her average-sized chest was an adorable black and white creature who was resting its head back on the girl behind him.
Though the back of my mind had a few suspicions about the cliché development, seeing an elf that would normally be known only in works of fiction caused my brain to freeze for a moment.
"... Oh my god you are so cute" I muttered aloud.
"Wha-!?" the elf girl yelled out in surprise at such a sudden statement.
"I want to hold you in my arms and give you the biggest hug in the world right now" I continued, paying no attention to the other creature present.
"Wait wait wait! We haven't even spoken to each other! Isn't this way too soon to be saying stuff like that!?" she rapidly blurted out in a completely flustered manner.
Unable to bear the temptation anymore, I slowly reached my hand out and snatched Mr. Flippers out of her arms, immediately pulling him in for a massive hug.
"Mr. Flippers! I was so worried, I can't believe you ran off on your own like that!" I exclaimed, while rapidly cuddling with the tiny penguin in my arms, "Please don't run away like that again. There's no telling what those creature things would do with you."
The happy reunion was cut short by an annoyed squawk coming from the little penguin.
"What? Oh right, I completely forgot!" I said while turning back to the elf girl who seemed to be frozen in place with numerous conflicting expressions on her face, "thank you for watching Mr. Flippers for me. He was a bit scared back then."
"... It was no problem. Happy to help..." she managed to force out.
"I'm sure being rescued by a cute girl like you calmed him down, so we both really appreciate it" I added on.
"So you really were directing it towards me!" she shouted in response.
"Huh, what are you saying? Anyway, there's no time to talk. We should really catch up to the group before we get lost in whatever this place is," I replied, changing the topic.
"So you're really just... never mind. I saw them turn towards the right a little up the hall," she stated with a sigh.
"Welp, we better go after them, Elfy"
"... Please don't call me that"
With an energetic squawk from Mr. Flippers, the three of us dashed out of the elaborate audience hall, hopeful that the group didn't move too far away.
