It all happened after the debris settled and the group of humans and Kobolds left the safety of the tunnel.
The gold-haired girl asked a favor of the others, and soon everyone spread out in search of a certain item.
Said item, a green orb with a fitting name of Silva Core ended up being found by an excited gray-scaled Kobold who raised it as high as she could before rushing over to Melinda so she could offer it to her.
"Gya-ufhh…!"
The gray-scaled Kobold was so focused on the gold-haired girl smiling at her with approval that she ended up tripping on the everpresent rocks, letting out a pitiful screech as she dropped the orb…
*THUMP*
That's when something unexpected happened—upon hitting the ground, Silva Core released a flash of green light, akin to a light shockwave, that washed over the area of the Kobolds' quarry, including the mountains surrounding it.
At first, nothing happened, and Melinda hurried over to the clumsy Kobold. Stepping over the green orb, she helped her get up and took out a handkerchief she used to brush off the dirt from Kobold's scaly face.
"Adiii… It will be a bit of a chore, but would you mind if we stayed around for a while and helped out? At least until they build some basic shelters?"
"If that is your wish, my lady, I'll help you see it done."
The gold-haired girl asked like the spoiled noble lady she was, making the maid breathe out before nodding in agreement.
"Your Highness, Zane, sorry for the trouble."
Melinda added, turning to the green and white-haired men who ended up looking equally confused.
"Hold up. Why do you say it as if I am supposed to go somewhere? If you're helping out Kobolds, I'm staying and helping them out, too."
Zane straightened his back and declared.
"I would also like to help out. Although for a much more selfish reason."
"...?"
Ace cleared his throat and pointed out, gathering the curious looks of other humans.
"I would like to hear more about the information you have on Veto Rex."
The green-haired monarch added a bit unsure how come others didn't consider that to be the case.
"Thank you~ In that case, if there are no objections, we could get to work immediately. Oh, although deciding whether to build the shelters in the open or use the tunnels instead comes first, doesn't it? It's your choice. How would you all like it?"
Melinda hummed, standing up and looking around, wondering out loud, and motioning with her chin towards all the Kobolds looking up at her.
"Build…? Construction!? We will do construction?!"
At her words, one of the Kobolds gasped, pushing herself to the front of the group with her eyes gleaming with excitement.
"Oho~! It seems it will be easier than I expected."
Seeing that reaction caused the gold-haired girl to chuckle and smile.
Well about that…
Having a Kobold who carried the knowledge of construction ended up turning out to be a double-edged sword.
The first structure she oversaw was a simple stone dwelling, only a step above a cave.
But the thing was that during the process she remembered a lot more and the next dwelling turned into a building from carefully carved interconnected blocks, with functional doors, windows - although without the panes of glass of course - and tiled roof.
"No! No! All wrong! Why here?! Road! We must have a road! Building with no purpose is bad! What was I thinking?! All must go! Starting from the beginning!"
The more she recalled, the social engineer Kobold became more annoyed at herself.
"...nwaaa…! What a cutie! I just want to hug her so much….!"
A gold-haired girl responsible for cutting the stones into building blocks let out an awestruck voice, melting over the exasperated Kobold.
"..."
The Kobold seemed to hear her, too, because she suddenly turned to her and trotted over.
"Yes? Did the measurements change? How do you want me to cut it?"
Melinda straightened her back and asked attentively, halting her bare hand over a boulder half her size.
"Not about that…"
*gyuun*
"Ohoh~!"
For a moment, the Kobold fidgeted nervously before giving the girl a short hug that made her let out a happy gasp.
"Okay. Me… I'm calm again! This and this need to be taken apart! Let's make preparations for the road!"
"We're taking those apart? Good. I know how to make better hinges and wanted to test it!"
The social engineer Kobold pulled away, nodding to herself with a face of commitment before turning around and giving instructions to the other workers, while being approached by another Kobold carrying a handful of shining metal parts.
"That was so adorableeeeee…!"
Melinda swooned, gasping under her breath, before lightly moving her fingernail across the boulder. This action ended up slicing it apart so easily that it seemed as if it had never been a single piece in the first place.
Not too far from Melinda's spot, Ace was giving magic lessons to the group of starry-eyes Kobolds.
"...here. Once you sense mana gathering, you can give it shape and use incantation to bend it to your will and give it shape."
"~!"
Since the showcase didn't seem to work when he did it on himself, the green-haired youngster leaned down and pressed his index and middle finger against one of the Kobold's solar plexus, making her fidget completely focused on him instead of his instructions.
"Okay? Like this. Ember."
Ace, completely engrossed in his role as the teacher, moved his hand to the side and cast a simple spell that created a flickering red flame dancing atop his palm for all the Kobolds to see.
"Oh! Oh! Me! Look!'
A brownish-red Kobold next to Ace raised her arm, jumping up and down to get his attention, and once he looked her way, she put her hands in front of her face and…
"Haaaaaaaa!"
*whooooo*
"...!"
…breathed fire between them, leaving Ace stunned and wide-eyed…
"This… counts?"
"That was so much more advanced! Incredible!"
The brownish-red Kobold cleared her throat and asked, sending bashful upward glances at the green-haired man, who ended up calling out in amazement.
"Ehehe~!"
He immediately stepped over to her to pat her scaly head which made the Kobold screech cutely.
"..."
A maid walking with a monstrous white-haired man, both of them finishing clearing up the debris and now bringing boulders for Melinda to cut up, stared coldly at the group before turning her head the other way and pointing at them.
"...I thought that our lady said that Kobolds don't need males…"
The maid grumbled, pouting so much her cheeks looked as if they were about to burst.
"For reproduction, yeah. They reproduce asexually, but that doesn't mean they are aromantic."
"..."
Zane pointed out in amusement, which earned him a death glare from the maid.
"You're making up words now, aren't you, young Zane?"
She scoffed.
"All words are made up. You could come up with a few to say to that playboy yourself instead of marinating in jealousy from the sidelines."
"!!!"
Zane shrugged his shoulders and pointed out, continuing to walk and leaving the stunned, bright-red-faced girl behind.
With the Kobolds' seemingly ever-improving skills, from an outsider's perspective, the reconstruction of their quarry turned it into a fully developed town.
Houses, workshops, even a town hall, everything was there, made out of the very stone from the mountains…
"Hey, umm… correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this kind of like the whole place is now made of your food…?"
Melinda took a few steps back to see Kobold's town square, with an empty fountain as a centerpiece, in full view and pointed out.
"...in a way…?"
The gray-scaled Kobold by her side tilted her head and partially agreed.
"We eat stones that have mana in them."
"Then, potentially, you would be able to eat plants and maybe even monsters?"
Kobold explained, giving more things for Melinda to consider.
"I mean… mana underground is different from other mana. If… if the mana in plants or monsters would make itself more similar to mana underground… ummm… into a crystal… then we could eat it."
The short, scaly humanoid answered after a lot of thinking.
"Then what we need are plants that can grow mana crystals, preferably ones that can exist in a rocky environment and would not simply suck out the mana from the ground."
The gold-haired girl nodded to herself, looking around at all the buildings she had helped create.
"Y-yes. If that kind of plant existed, it would be the best."
The gray-scaled Kobold shifted her weight from one leg to the other as she screeched with confirmation.
"Adiiii~!"
"...!?"
Without any additional warning, Melinda looked over her shoulder and loudly called out, causing the Kobold to flinch.
"You called, my lady?"
"!!!"
The short, scaly humanoid flinched again when a human girl dressed in a maid's uniform suddenly appeared out of thin air and curtsied towards the unbothered Melinda.
"Adi, could you bring me the SIlva core? I want to try something."
"...sure…"
The gold-haired girl asked, and the maid agreed, although not without a rather apparent suspicion about her lady's motives.
"In game… I mean, a while back, I thought about this item as useless, but now I'll show you something good~"
"Eh…? Umm… Okay!"
As the maid left, Melinda cleared her throat and announced, making the Kobold gasp.