Girl in the Box: Please tell me why I was reincarnated as a mimic monster!

Upon hearing the door open, Kanina quickly changed the subject, abruptly interrupting the current conversation, and switched modes.

"Oh, good evening, three guests." Kanina left the counter and walked towards the three sisters. "Hmm...you three look familiar..."

"Hello, Ms. Kanina." Riya greeted Kanina.

"Oh, it's the three of you," Kanina remembered. "You three sisters were the ones who came to stay with that kid Olito last time, right?"

“Yes, you still remember,” Li said with a smile.

"Oh dear, oh dear," Kanina laughed, "It's hard for me to forget three such beautiful children. That's how it is... Sonic, you see, it's time to go back, you'll be in the way of my business."

Kanina's gaze shifted to the blue-haired, spiky-haired youth sitting at the counter drinking. Her magic eye quickly revealed his information: he was an agile young man, and judging from his skill set, he seemed suited to be an assassin who could burst down enemies in one go. Come to think of it, his appearance did indeed give off a sense of déjà vu for that blue sonic hedgehog...

Sonic looked at everyone in silence for a moment, then stood up without a word: "I understand... I'll take my leave for today."

After speaking, Sonic quickly walked past the three and left the inn. He must be the one who had argued with the innkeeper, Ms. Kanina, earlier. The fact that he left so quickly shows he has some ability to judge situations. Watching Sonic leave, Ms. Kanina sighed helplessly, looking utterly exhausted.

"Ha... finally got rid of him." Kanina said with a wry smile, "I'm sorry, you three, for letting you witness this."

“It’s alright,” Ning shook his head. “Compared to that, Miss Kanina, what were you two arguing about just now?”

"Hmm? It's nothing." Kanina was clearly avoiding the topic. "You three are here looking for a place to stay, right? Same as last time, even if you're acquaintances, I won't give you a discount."

"You're acting like a businessman in such a strange place. Please give me a triple room."

"Here you go. It's the last room on the left on the second floor."

With a wry smile, Li handed over enough gold coins to Kanina for a few days' stay. Kanina carefully put away the gold coins and then gave them the key.

“Oh, right.” Li suddenly remembered something. “Um, Miss Kanina, I’m sorry, could you please prepare dinner for us? We’ve been busy all day in the city, so we haven’t had much time to eat.”

"Okay, sure." Kanina readily agreed. "Considering you helped me earlier, this meal is a gift for you~ But don't stay up there too long, food is meant to be eaten while it's hot!"

"Thank you."

After exchanging some instructions, the three sisters used the keys Kanina had given them to enter their room. Xiao went straight to the window, opened it, and let Baoxiang Li in from the outside. Ning closed the door and quickly set up various magic circles, while Li chose a window and cast a portal spell. The three sisters quickly transformed someone else's inn room into their temporary base. Since they would restore it later, they would apologize to the innkeeper downstairs in their hearts for now.

The window frame emitted a faint silver light; the magic had been cast, and this portal was a temporary one connecting to Akihabara. This way, they could contact Akihabara immediately in case of any situation. After completing the establishment of the base, the three left the room and went downstairs, where Miss Kanina was still preparing food.

The enticing aroma wafted over, making the three girls, who hadn't had a proper meal all day, drool. They sat down in front of the counter and patiently waited for Kanina's dish to be ready.

"What?" Kanina turned around after noticing the three of them. "Are you all settled in?"

“Yes,” Li nodded, “we didn’t bring much luggage. In the end, we’re only staying here for a few days. We’ll leave once we’ve finished our business here.”

"Oh, so that's it." Kanina suddenly realized something, "You guys came from outside?"

“Yes,” Xiaoli replied matter-of-factly.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Kanina exclaimed in disbelief.

"……?oh!"

Xiao suddenly realized that she might have said something terrible. For ordinary people, wandering outside the city under the current circumstances was almost impossible, and her casual remark seemed far too astonishing. However, it was too late to take back her words.

“Well…” Kanina said matter-of-factly, “I’ve always felt that the three of you were not simple people, so it’s not surprising that you could do something like this…”

Kanina's unexpected calm acceptance of this fact put the three of them at ease, but whether or not to openly discuss the matter required further observation.

"Okay, that's good~" Kanina put the lid on the pot. "I think you should still remember my signature dish. Although it takes a bit of time to make, let's have something to drink to pass the time."

Kanina wiped her hands with a towel, squatted down, took out four wooden cups from under the counter and placed them on the counter, then found some drinks.

"Is it okay for the little girl to just drink milk?" Kanina confirmed beforehand.

"Yes, and please don't give her any drinks with alcohol," Ning interjected. "Not even a drop. She can't drink alcohol."

"alright, I got it."

Kanina seemed quite happy to have learned about the unexpected event, while Li blushed and couldn't speak. She only gave Ning a slight, reproachful glare, but remembering it was for her own good, she wasn't too angry. However, she hoped Ning wouldn't directly state the reason in the future. After pouring drinks for the three sisters, she took a bottle of wine for herself, poured it, and sat down.

"It's been a while since I've seen you all," Kanina said, taking a sip of her drink. "It's so good to see you're all doing well."

"We're happy to see that the store manager is doing well too," Li said with a smile.

"Is it that kid who's happy?" Kanina saw right through them. "Honestly, if you want to come, come by yourself. What kind of man troubles three girls?"

"I told you it would be obvious soon enough," Ning mocked Li. "It's too obvious."

That's right. The reason they stayed in the kingdom this time was because of a request from Olito, who was struggling in Akihabara and couldn't get away. After learning that the three sisters were going on a trip for a while, he made this request to them, and Ri naturally agreed to check on the shopkeeper's well-being for him.

Olito's pure heart touched Ri, which is why she agreed to his advances. However, this idea seemed to greatly anger Kanina; this shrewd businesswoman had probably met her greatest nemesis and fallen in love with her. Well, one thing at a time, this is Olito's own love affair, and that's all Ri can do; she can only observe from the sidelines.

"Haaah... you've seen through me." Li laughed awkwardly, then honestly admitted, "We did come here because Olito asked us to, but I also wanted to make sure Miss Kanina was alright."

"Heh, I know you three little girls mean well," Kanina snorted. "But seriously, this kid is such a coward. Aren't you all in the Duchy? How did you even get here? This journey is shorter than other countries, but even if you rushed, it would still take several days, wouldn't it? Isn't it dangerous?"

"Um……"

Just as Li was pondering what excuse to use, Ning spoke first.

“We were brought here by adventurers,” Ning explained. “Adventurers have started to travel all over the world recently, and some of them pass through cities, so we asked them to bring us here.”

"Hey..." Kanina squinted, looking half-believing, half-doubting, "I see... that does seem to be the case... You guys have really worked hard, but I still want to complain about this useless guy..."

Faced with Kanina's endless complaints about Olito, the three sisters were helpless and could only laugh awkwardly. It's safe to say that Olito's romantic future is fraught with difficulties...

“Well,” Li explained with a wry smile, “Olitto couldn’t get away from some things, so he asked us to check on the shopkeeper.”

"...Is there something preventing you from getting away?" Kanina paused, then shrugged. "Well, there's nothing I can do about it. If it's convenient, could you tell me what it is?"

“Building a new country,” Ning said without hesitation. “Olitzo is working hard for a brand new country, a more equal, stronger, and more advanced country. That’s where we live now, Akihabara.”

"..."

Kanina stared in disbelief, clearly not understanding what was going on for a moment. It took her a while to come to her senses.

"Oh? Akihabara?" Kanina seemed to understand something. "No wonder, so you're from there. No wonder you look a bit different... That kid is doing something amazing too... Impressive."

Kanina's expression became complicated, and her feelings were equally complicated. She was still a little stunned after hearing such unbelievable news.

“But,” Kanina thought for a moment, “isn’t it dangerous to establish a new country now?”

Her first thought was about national security. Other countries were probably too busy dealing with monster attacks to care about this, but the question was whether a newly established country could withstand these monster attacks.

"There's no need to worry about that," Ryou said with a wry smile. "There are very few things that can threaten the people of Akihabara..."

"Hey, that's really impressive." Kanina praised with a smile, "I believe you can definitely accomplish great things."

"Um..." Ri hesitated for a moment, then mustered her courage to ask, "Excuse me, once we settle down in Akihabara, will Miss Kanina be going to live there?"

"...Who asked that?" Kanina asked.

"No..." Li said somewhat flusteredly, "I just wanted to ask..."

"We'll see how it goes," Kanina waved her hand. "I reckon the food will be ready soon, you guys wait here."

What exactly are Kanina's feelings for Olito? Even now, I still can't figure it out; older women are truly terrifying.

Chapter 42 Church

That day, I chatted with Kanina until very late. We were just talking about girls, and we kept chatting until late at night. Occasionally, Xiao would say something out of the ordinary and start to doze off before they went back to their room.

Meanwhile, during their casual conversation, they could sense that Kanina's business wasn't doing very well; all night had passed, and it seemed like only the three of them were customers. The last time they were here, it was only lively because of Olitó's caravan, and Kanina was the only person working there then…

Since it was already late, Ning, who had originally wanted to go back to Akihabara, had already gone to bed to rest. Anyway, there was no need to worry about Akihabara for the time being, so they should be fine leaving for a few days.

Thinking this way, Li naturally drifted off to sleep and fell into a deep slumber.

But Kanina's night wasn't over yet. As she finished tidying up and was wiping the table, someone else came.

"Miss Kanina."

"Tsk... It's you again."

Upon hearing the sound, Kanina didn't even bother to look up, letting out a sound of utter disgust. Yes, the spiky-haired blue-haired youth, Sonic, was back. Kanina's voice clearly betrayed her resistance. What had happened between them?

“I already told you,” Kanina flung the dirty rag at Sonic’s face, “I don’t care if I say it again, I can say it as many times as I want. I don’t need it, you go back.”

“But,” Sonic said, removing the cloth from his face, looking very troubled, “we need you right now.”

"I need you to get out of here," Kanina snapped angrily. "What you're doing is bad for both of us. It's just a waste of time. If you're so free, why don't you try to find a solution yourself? Why do you have to come and cause me trouble? Honestly, my business isn't doing so well to begin with. Are you deliberately trying to make things difficult for me?"

“No, that’s not it,” Sonic said earnestly. “I just hope that Ms. Kanina can make the right choice.”

"So you're going to keep bothering me like this?" Kanina slumped onto the table, utterly exhausted. "How long are you going to keep bothering me? Do you think this is the right choice? Stop joking around. Go somewhere cool and please, just stop bothering me, okay?"

"I'm sorry..." Sonic lowered his head awkwardly.

Seeing him like this, Kanina couldn't get angry. She sighed helplessly and said, "I've known since the beginning that you're stubborn. You're just too honest. If you could change that, things would be much better."

“Yes… Miss Kanina, you’re right.” Sonic was speechless.

"Go back now," Kanina waved him away, "I'm closing up shop today."

"Yes……"

Sonic silently put down the rag, then left the hotel with his head down. Kanina sat behind the counter for a while longer, then stood up, closed the hotel door, retrieved the rag, threw it into the kitchen sink, and went to her room.

…………

The next morning, after the three sisters got up, they saw Kanina busy opening the door.

"Oh, it's the three of you." Kanina chuckled. "Good morning! I thought you'd be up late since we chatted so late last night."

"It's alright..." Li said, then yawned, "Ah... I just haven't had enough sleep..."

“I thought so too,” Kanina smiled. “Oh, would you like breakfast? I just prepared it. Of course, you’ll have to pay this time.”

"Okay, please give us three portions."

"Ok. Please wait for a moment."

While the three sisters sat at the counter waiting, they also took the opportunity to fix their hair. Once they were almost done, Kanina came out with breakfast: lettuce salad, bread, milk, and baked potatoes—a very ordinary breakfast, affordable, filling, and healthy. Because their schedule was quite tight that day, the three of them quickly began to eat.

To help them wake up quickly, Kanina prepared a cool, damp towel for each of them. After wiping their faces with the towels, they became much more awake.

"How are you?" Kanina asked, leaning against the counter. "Are you more awake now?"

"Yes, much better, thank you," Ning replied politely.

“Me too.” Li folded the towel and put it back. “Miss Kanina’s service is truly excellent.”

"I'm the store manager, after all. What would I do if I couldn't even handle this little thing?" Kanina smiled and then asked, "You guys seem to be in such a hurry. Where are you planning to go today?"

“Well, first we need to go to the church,” Ning said. “Then we need to wander around the city and see what’s going on around here.”

"Oh, I see." Kanina thought for a moment and said, "Although I know that the three of you are not simple, is it really appropriate for the three of you girls to wander around the city so carelessly?"

At this critical juncture, the security situation within the New Kingdom is extremely poor. Most of its fighting force is being used to resist foreign enemies, and various factions are vying for power within the country, making the situation quite dire. Kanina is worried about whether the three girls can protect themselves in this chaotic city; given the current state of affairs, it's truly concerning.

"It's alright," Li said with a smile, reassuring her not to worry. "No one will attack us, and we are not without means to protect ourselves."

“In that case, you should be careful,” Kanina warned them. “Oh, by the way, the three of you should avoid going too far east; that’s the most chaotic place in the country right now.”

"Yes, thank you for reminding us of this."

From her words, Li and Ning could basically deduce that the eastern districts of the New Kingdom were likely the strongholds of various factions. Although they weren't needed now, it was always good to know such information. Who knew if they would need to wipe them out in one fell swoop later? In any case, they should write it down for now. The three of them hurriedly finished their breakfast, said goodbye to Kanina, and quickly ran out of the inn.

Their next destination was the church they had visited before, one of the sources of this series of events. Furthermore, it was the perfect place to investigate anything related to ghosts, because according to information they received from Hale, the church had been where Serik had trained ghosts.

They had already arranged with Alice yesterday to meet at the church today. It was still early, but they wanted to hurry over and try to gather as much useful information as possible. After leaving the secluded street, they quickly returned to the main street. They waved and summoned a carriage.

"Oh?" The uncle in the carriage raised an eyebrow. "It's you three young ladies again?"

"Huh?" Li thought for a moment. "Oh, I remember now, you're the uncle who gave us a ride to church last time, right?"

"Haha, you still remember me!" the uncle chuckled. "So, where are you headed this time?"

"Let's go to church again this time," Li said as he led Ning and Xiao into the carriage.

"The church?" The uncle didn't ask any further questions and urged his horse forward. "It seems the church has been sealed off by Her Majesty the Queen. What are you going to do there?"

"I'm just going to take a look." Ning didn't say much more.

“That’s true,” the uncle nodded in agreement. “Right now, that’s the only place in the kingdom that looks decent. But I don’t know why the Queen sealed it off and disbanded the church. I don’t even know where the hero has gone… Sigh… I’ve felt that the church has been acting strange for a long time.”

The four chatted all the way to the church. The uncle, as always, stopped the carriage before entering the church grounds and said goodbye to the three sisters.

After taking power, Alice had already taken some emergency measures for the church, emptying it out, sealing off the surrounding area, and assigning guard knights to guard it. This building symbolized the rule of Aljaz Seric, and no one knew what Seric had done to it. The only certainty was that this church had changed its nature, and Alice had no choice but to dissolve it to avoid certain risks.

"Halt!" The royal guard knight stopped the three sisters who were about to enter the church's territory. "Who are you? Don't you know this place is off-limits?"

“We are Her Majesty’s messengers.” Ning took out the token given to them by Alice. “This is Her Majesty’s token. You can verify it. We are here to investigate the church at the Queen’s request.”

The Royal Guard Knight listened to her words with a mixture of belief and skepticism, then accepted the token bearing the emblem of the Sanko Workshop. The front of the token displayed the Sanko Workshop's emblem, while the back was engraved with Alice's name. Moreover, in the Royal Guard Knight's memory, only the Sanko Workshop could produce such craftsmanship, so the three individuals' identities should be genuine. Afterward, he used the token to communicate with the other Royal Guard Knights before returning to the three.

"Excuse me, my apologies." The guard knight bowed to the three of them. "We have confirmed your identities, and you may now enter the church."