My Kingdom Building Done Right!

’This should be the place...’ Leone glanced at the dunes around him.

Based on the memories Lord Azar had directly planted inside his mind, he could be sure that he was indeed at the right place. It was just a little disorienting, for the scenery in front of him and the one in his head were vastly different.

For example, a small temple should’ve been standing right next to an oasis in the memory he saw. But now, only the ever-expanding desert ‌remained.

’After the oasis dried up, the desert must’ve swallowed up this place,’ Leone mused. ’The magic circle is inside the temple... so perhaps it’s buried under the sand.’

Since he couldn’t see it with his own eyes, he asked Daedalus to check for any structure buried under the sand.

A minute later, the grimoire confirmed Leone’s suspicions. Indeed, there was a structure buried fifty meters underneath the sand.

However, he also made a different kind of discovery.

’There’s a Giant Antlion right beside the temple,’ Daedalus reported. ’It’s at least Rank 5.’

’...Is that a freebie?’ Leone blinked.

’Since when are Giant Antlions considered a freebie?’ Daedalus tilted its body in confusion.

’I mean... it can dig, right?’

’I guess?’

’So why don’t we catch it and send it into Grimjaw Mountain to help us dig faster?’

Daedalus couldn’t help but find Leone’s obsession amusing. Whatever the situation, he could always think about using the monsters he saw, regardless whether they could dig or not, as free manpower to help with their digging project.

’Leone, this Giant Antlion only specializes in digging through sand,’ Daedalus stated.

’No problem,’ Leone replied. ’After all, that’s what the Beast Synthesis is for.’

’...’ Daedalus was speechless. It couldn’t refute the fact that it was indeed possible to synthesize the Giant Antlion, which was at least ten meters long, to dig through the hard rocks of Grimjaw Mountain.

’Well, can we use it or not?’ Leone blinked.

’We... can,’ Daedalus replied. ’But how are we going to transport it? We still have to go and check the Dragon’s nest. We can’t bring it with us.’

’But you can put a tracker on it, can’t you?’ Leone smirked. ’We just need something that can last for a day or two. We can catch it after we finish our business in the dragon nest.’

Since Brann and Boris were with them, it wouldn’t be too hard for them to catch a Rank 5 Monster as long as they worked together.

Because of that, Daedalus almost pitied the Giant Antlion. The poor creature would soon become another one of Leone’s slave—errr, volunteer workers.

’Very well. I’ll put a tracker on it,’ Daedalus stated. ’However, it will only last for a day.’

’That’s more than enough.’ Leone nodded.

After they successfully put a tracker on the unsuspecting Giant Antlion, Leone ordered Boris to scare it away by unleashing a Fire Breath on the sand where it was hiding.

Boris obeyed and did as it was told. The moment it sprayed blazing flames over the sand, superheating it, the Giant Antlion emerged and sprayed sand everywhere.

It then hurriedly tried to escape by moving in reverse, traversing across the sand as if its entire body were on fire.

Then again, it technically was.

It reminded Leone of the Frillcrest Lizard in the Aslan Tribe that Daedalus had named Fohrest.

"Run, Fohrest, run!"

That was something Daedalus often said whenever he saw the Frillcrest Lizard running away from the children who wanted to play with it.

Everyone else, except Leone and Daedalus, was shocked to see that a monster was actually hiding under the sand.

Seeing how deadly it looked made them feel relieved that none of them had landed on the ground just now.

Now that the pest was away, Leone gestured toward the ground with his hand.

The sand then rumbled as if something was forcing its way upward. Since Leone didn’t want to destroy the temple, he was using Building Mode to reconstruct its foundation, making it rise higher through the sand.

Soon, the sand shifted as the temple showed itself to everyone, just like a whale that had decided to poke its head from the surface of the sea to breathe some air.

Daedalus once told Leone that once he mastered his Kingdom Building powers, he would be able to accomplish many things.

"Builders don’t move mountains, Leone. They move foundations."

Back then, he truly didn’t understand what the grimoire had meant by these words. But now, he did.

He was moving the foundations of the temple, allowing it to see the light of day once more.

"This temple..." Otto frowned. "It’s a temple that worships the Forgotten Goddess of New Beginnings, Eostre."

"Goddess of New Beginnings?" Leone asked. "Is she no longer worshiped by anyone?"

"I don’t know." Otto shook his head. "The barbarians might have worshiped her hundreds of years ago. However, we treat the Earth Mother as our main Goddess now."

Leone looked at the temple, feeling a little sad.

The face of the Goddess that had been sculpted was already worn out beyond recognition.

The passage of time had not been kind to it.

Daedalus didn’t say anything.

It knew a lot about Gods and Goddesses.

It also knew about the fate that befell the Gods who had been forgotten.

"After we head to the Dragon’s nest, we will take this temple with us," Leone declared.

His words were firm, enough to tell everyone that he had already made up his mind.

Daedalus could store the temple within its pages. It wasn’t even difficult, for the place did not even have a single shred of Divinity to stop it from doing so.

Although it was a temple meant for a Goddess, without Divinity, it was nothing more than a pile of stones that could be stored as resources.

With that, Leone urged Arion to land in front of the temple so that he could offer a silent prayer to the Forgotten Goddess.

Soon, the others followed their chieftain and did the same.

Since they had their eyes closed, they didn’t see that the statue of the Goddess had shed a single tear, which disappeared as soon as it hit the sand.

Only Daedalus was caught off guard by it, making it wonder if what it saw was real or just its imagination playing tricks on it.