Is it a lie if it is lore accurate?

It appeared that one of the Kobolds carrying an armful of rocks accidentally kicked something, and after thinking it must have been one of its rocks, it reached down and picked it up, only to discover it was…

…and egg…

A Kobold egg.

After a second or two of confusion, the one Kobold raised the egg over its head and called out something, getting the attention of all of its brethren who trotted over, greatly interested.

Then, with what seemed to be the whole village gathered around, the short monsters began to chant something with excitement, and their screechy voices carried over to the hiding spot of Melinda's party.

The word they were chanting was…

"Egg! Egg! Egg! Egg!"

"THEY CAN SPEAK HUMAN COMMON LANGUAGE?!"

The maid's mind seemed to be blown by the little lizard creatures bouncing up and down in joy.

"They can speak a few words in most languages, actually. Fragmentary bloodline knowledge."

Zane glanced at the shocked maid and explained it so casually as if it wasn't a shocking fact.

"Although they seem like just some funny little guys, in this world, Kobolds are a devolved race. The knowledge of it is kept secret by demons and can only be accessed in pieces from research facilities on Rubia Archipelago."

Melinda added, smiling at the excited Kobolds carrying the egg to the widest hut of their settlement, where they seemed to leave it and then return to their own business as if nothing had happened.

"Demons want to get rid of them, or at least keep them stupid. Quite understandable goals considering Kobolds are what's left of the Demonkin greatest adversary, the Ancient Draconids."

"...the… the what…?"

The gold-haired girl revealed, making the maid stare at her in disbelief and mumble with her jaw dropped.

"Right? It's hard to believe. As they are now, the rock munchers aren't fully self-aware and lack some basic instincts, too. We just saw evidence of that. That egg they found was laid by one of them, but the parent hadn't even realized it and was going about their day. They know the egg is important and has to be protected, so they put it into the hatchery, though."

"Fragmentary bloodline knowledge."

Melinda pointed out, and Zane repeated what he already said while nodding his head with a solemn expression.

"They act as if they are spawning like monsters, while actually they reproduce asexually. That's why once a colony of Kobolds is exterminated, that's it. No more Kobolds in the area. The Demons are making sure that other intelligent species treat them like common beasts."

The gold-haired girl continued the explanation while trying to spot the proof of which fraction of Demonkin spread their roots in the quarry.

"M-my lady… I… I've seen how smart you are, so I never questioned your knowledge, but it's too much this time! You've never been to Rubia Archipelago for you to learn from their research facilities! The closest you've been there was when we were on the ship sealing from Braceleton to Chainlink a year ago!"

The maid cried out as the casual exposition went over the limits of her common sense.

"Hnnnnn… Zane told me about it."

Melinda sealed her lips, looking to the side before spouting out the option-like idea that appeared in her mind…

"He did!?"

"...!"

…successfully making the maid shift her attention to the white-haired young man taken by surprise.

"Wait! No! How would he know!? Even being declared as the champion of the goddess Perseverance, neither he nor anyone from his party sailed over there!"

Still, it didn't take long for the maid to shake her head and call with accusation.

"...about that… Well… You know how demon followers are showing up everywhere?"

"...eh…? Y-yes, what about them…?"

Zane let out a tired breath but didn't shrug off the responsibility of covering for his spoiled villainess and asked, confusing the maid into listening to him.

"Well, that isn't the first time they started to pop up. The way I look, mostly, isn't because of my ability. Around eleven years ago, yours truly, as well as a handful of other children, were kidnapped by one of humanity's traitors who earned himself a rank amongst the Demon lord Gore's army. That scum of the earth experimented on us. He was greatly interested in how much demonic energy corruption those with white hair, the ones blessed by the goddess, can withstand."

"...!"

The monstrous man sat down and leaned back, explaining while staring at the clear sky while the speechless maid couldn't take her horrified eyes off him.

"I was amongst the few lucky ones to survive the initial phase. My ability was somehow compatible and mutated, allowing me to survive. A few others tried to fight back and escape. But since they were all heroic, they wanted to let everyone escape. Everyone. That included other experiments. Unfortunately, those other experiments weren't as lucky as we were, and they didn't retain their humanity."

Zane shrugged his shoulders, speaking in a flat voice as he recounted the backstory of his character.

"As the mutated ones, without reason, started to kill their saviors indiscriminately, I got so scared that I escaped and hid in the archives room without putting up any fight. Barricaded the door and all. I have no idea how long I stayed holed up there, but it was enough to read through every research paper they had there. You see, reading would help me forget about thirst and hunger."

The white-haired man lowered his head and played with a strand of his white hair before looking at the maid and giving her an indifferent smile and another shrug.

"That's where I learned about the Kobolds. Of course, I shared this knowledge with the beauty over there."

Zane said what he wanted to say, pointing over at Melinda.

"Y-young Zane, I didn't know... I… I am so sorry…"

"Nah, don't worry about that stuff. Doubting Melinda was completely justified."

The maid bit her lips and clenched her fists on the verge of tears, which quite frankly surprised the white-haired man, who ended up waving his hand dismissively, massively missing the point…

"Adi, you are so sweet…! It's okay. We will help Zane get revenge on that psycho, and no one will have to go through the same thing."

Melinda was much more understanding and considerate, hugging the maid and comforting her.

"Y-yea… that's right…! I promise to help, young Zane!"

The maid sniffled before nodding her head and declaring with a serious expression behind her teary eyes.

"Alright. Since that's settled…"

Zane stood up, dusting off his pants and meaningfully glancing down toward the Kobolds.

"I agree. We have to confirm the Demonic faction has their paws on them. We've checked beforehand, and there were no quests involving the Kobolds, only a reminder for the locals to keep away, so there's a high chance that they are under Lilith. Though we should eliminate every last one of them if they're under Sophia."

Melinda nodded, moving past the maid and joining Zane.