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

"Hmm... well~" Lisa stuck out her tongue, "Let's go find out a little about it, that Dragon King might taste pretty delicious..."

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but lick her lips. She had never tried to seduce a Dragon King before, but this time, the Time-Space Dragon King had successfully caught her attention. If she could win her over and take her power under her control, then her plan could be executed more smoothly.

"Let's go back and check first." Lisa jumped off the hill without the slightest hesitation.

If she needed to investigate them, she would have to return to the city and reunite with her forces. But after this catastrophe, how much of her power remained in the city? Well… that was true for everyone. The underground forces had certainly suffered a severe blow because of this incident, and Alice's new kingdom was probably in no better shape.

However, this actually benefits Alice and her group, because their power wasn't particularly strong to begin with, while the underground forces were excessively powerful. Now, with the elves doing this, it's a powerful reshuffling of the various factions within the New Kingdom of Alyas, essentially wiping out everyone involved.

Lisa was a little annoyed because the effect she wanted hadn't materialized; instead, she had given Alice and the others a huge gift. How could she not be annoyed?

Everything was meticulously planned and prepared, and finally triggered. Who could have imagined such a sudden turn of events?

At this moment, in Alice's hand, there are: the Demon King and his army, the three sisters, and, having heard from nobles, alliances with other countries. Therefore, the newly established Akihabara and the Duchy are also part of her hand. Compared to her, Lisa currently has practically nothing but her skills.

She didn't know how much her power had been damaged. It would be best if nothing serious happened; she had originally planned to discard it after using it up, but now it seemed there was no surplus. The difficulty of overthrowing the new kingdom of Alyas was rising sharply, and the danger was also constantly increasing. The Demon King was a very intuitive and dangerous person, and that Ning, whose true identity was unknown, was also a dangerous individual.

Faced with such a threat, Lisa was not particularly flustered. On the contrary, she seemed to be enjoying it, with an undisguised smile on her lips. What was she happy about? No one but her knew the answer.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"One! Two! Three! Four!"

"One! Two! Three! Four!!"

"Don't waste your energy shouting!! Use that energy in your fight! Instead of shouting, use your strength! Don't drag out those words!"

"One! Two! Three! Four!"

"Great! That's starting to look better! Keep it up!! Don't stop!!!"

It was early morning in Akihabara, and the guards were training under the command of their three captains on a newly cleared area. Leon was among them, as Li and Ning had specifically instructed the three to take special care of him. However, it seemed that he didn't have anything particularly outstanding about him, which was a real headache for Seria and the others.

For some reason, Akihabara has been unusually peaceful lately, and East also sensed that something was amiss. Because of this, the newly recruited members are somewhat lacking in combat experience, and they need a real battle to confirm Leon's situation…

Just as they were fretting, the King of the Children brought news that the three sisters in the kingdom were in danger.

Chapter 1 The Dawn of the New Kingdom

The city walls look somewhat historic, the buildings inside the city are bustling, and there is an incredibly tall building that seems to rival even a royal palace.

But this seemingly bustling city is eerily silent, as if it were deserted. Yet, once inside, one discovers that people still live there, though they all wear mournful faces, saying nothing, their eyes filled with a sorrow that seems to flow like a river.

As for why this city, which was bustling yesterday, is now eerily quiet, everything will be explained at the press conference originally scheduled for today. Alice believes that even with this situation, she must make everything public and convey hope to her people.

The kingdom now needs a hope, a hope strong enough to sustain them and keep them alive.

Even if they no longer belong to the new kingdom of Alyas, at least now Elise hopes they can continue to live, which is humanity's last and only hope.

The chaos that erupted overnight has shaken the nation. Not only have the combatants suffered heavy casualties, but most of the civilians have also perished in the attack. Alice could only smile helplessly at these tragedies. The world is unpredictable; perhaps it was simply that the new kingdom of Alyas was born at the wrong time. Perhaps this country truly had to perish along with Seric.

“I think so too.” Xuanze nodded and said, “This kingdom should have collapsed long ago. In the end, it’s just that it’s been maintaining peace for a long time by relying on Seric’s power. This kind of chaotic country will collapse sooner or later because of the disappearance of this restraining force. You don’t need to care so much. Rather than taking over this mess from Seric, you might as well learn from the stupid box and rebuild a country yourself.”

“Don’t assume everyone is right,” Alice said with a wry smile as they walked. “She’s someone who has achieved everything—the right time, the right place, and the right people. I always felt that her existence wasn’t a coincidence, you know what I mean?”

“Ah, I get it.” Xuanze laughed. “You’re talking about those bugged characters that only appear in light novels, right? The protagonist is supposed to be that kind of person, but in reality, this supporting character is the real protagonist. Although it’s very popular right now, to be honest, I still don’t really like those kinds of plots.”

“…emmmm,” Alice looked troubled, “Although I don’t know what you’re talking about, I think I can understand your feelings a little bit…Speaking of which, this feels so familiar. Is this how you see things? You’re basically making yourself the protagonist of the story, aren’t you?”

"Shouldn't it be me?" Xuanze laughed arrogantly. "If things were to proceed normally, I should be the protagonist of this story, and then go on adventures with you guys, defeat the Demon King of this world and all that."

"What you're saying makes sense..."

Alice couldn't refute it, because what Xuanze said was true. If everything they had experienced was considered a story, under normal circumstances, Xuanze, as the hero, should have led the country's elites on adventures around the world, overcoming all sorts of difficulties, encountering all kinds of people, and eventually becoming stronger step by step, defeating the Demon King and so on...

However, none of this was possible, because Seric's existence ruined the story, forcing Xuanze to become the Demon King of the Demon Clan. Finally, according to them, fate brought forth a treasure chest monster named Li, making her the one who guided the world back to the right path...

Wow, just thinking about it makes me envious. In terms of the story's excitement, it might not be inferior to those old-fashioned but thrilling legends, because it's a very novel setting. A supporting character who doesn't become the protagonist is the most outstanding in the story, and his role is even more important than the protagonist's. Naturally, the uniquely thoughtful Alice would be even more curious about this person's story.

Because she also wants to become that kind of person, but the process is full of all sorts of hardships, just like the things she is facing now...

"Heh, it's not something we should envy." Xuanze shrugged. "She's a very special case. You just said yourself, we can't compare to her. So there's no need to make ourselves upset. Speaking of which, are you really planning to go there dressed like that?"

At this moment, Alice was still wearing the same clothes she had worn the night before. The clothes had become tattered in the chaos. She hadn't thought much last night, she was just doing her best to save as many people as possible. When she came to her senses, she found herself in this foolish state.

"Ha... I can't help it." Alice smiled wryly. "I don't have the energy to do that kind of thing right now. I was almost exhausted last night. Please spare me the trouble of changing clothes. I really don't want to do anything unnecessary. By the way, how do I look now?"

“Hmm… how should I put it…” Xuanze thought for a while, “I don’t know how to evaluate this kind of thing, but I can be sure that if your subordinates saw it, they would definitely give you a good scolding.”

"Uh……"

Senno wasn't with Alice at the moment, as Alice had sent her to organize the crowd for her briefing, so she wasn't there. And now, Alice was going to the meeting looking rather disheveled—her hair was messy, her clothes were tattered, and she really did look rather indecent.

Although Xuanze didn't directly comment, his words made Alice panic. Going out looking like this seemed inappropriate, so she hurriedly started packing her things, occasionally asking Xuanze how she looked. However, she didn't look her best no matter how she looked at it; at least her hair looked much better after it was fixed.

“There’s no use doing this now,” Xuanze said sarcastically. “You can only go up now.”

At the end of the corridor they were walking down was the door to the venue, and it was almost time, as Ellis had mentioned. If she were to go back and redo things now, it would probably take quite a while, and it wouldn't be right to go back now.

“Fine…” Alice gave up. “That’s the only way… I’ll do my best to gain everyone’s trust…”

"You don't have to work that hard." Xuanze waved his hand and left.

Even now, the kingdom remains wary of their demon race, as many citizens are unaware of the situation. To put their minds at ease, Elise had no choice but to temporarily remove the demons who had helped them from the kingdom. She felt guilty towards this true hero, believing he shouldn't be subjected to such scrutiny as a hero.

Although adventurers have been spreading the word that demons aren't bad people, the idea that demons are evil is deeply ingrained, likely a product of Seric's machinations. In any case, whether to compensate him or for future plans, she must settle these scores and make the people understand this fact.

Now, in her eyes, this somewhat inexplicable Demon Lord, despite his unpleasant behavior, is actually a decent man. He's passionate, idealistic, and proactive, willing to sacrifice for his subordinates and friends; overall, he's a fairly satisfactory person. It would be much better if his personality weren't so regrettable…

"What am I thinking right now..." Alice patted her face, interrupting her thoughts, her face filled with barely concealed tension. She exhaled a breath of stale air, "Hoo..."

This is, after all, a matter of life and death, and considering what has happened recently, she now feels extremely sorry for her people. It's normal for them to be angry and to scold her, but she is still nervous. Even though she is seen as a flawless and talented woman in the eyes of the public, she is ultimately just an ordinary girl.

Faced with these rumors and gossip, all she could do was try her best to prove herself and her country. So, she stood here at this moment, ready to face whatever lay ahead.

"Haa... Let's start anew from today..."

Alice took a deep breath, composed herself, and strolled outside. She was in the palace's back garden, which was temporarily being used as a refugee camp for the citizens. A balcony led there, and Alice stood on it so that everyone gathered there could see her.

After Alice appeared, the noisy refugee camp gradually quieted down, and everyone's eyes were focused on her. Everyone stopped what they were doing and waited quietly for Alice to speak.

“Ahem…” Alice cleared her throat. “My people who have suffered so much… As Queen, I must apologize to you all. It is my dereliction of duty that has caused you such suffering… My subordinates have done their best to follow my orders and commands. They have done their jobs well, so please do not blame them. They have been conscientious and some have even paid with their lives… Among these people are your family members… I am so sorry to have made them do such dangerous things.”

The new kingdom of Alyas suffered heavy casualties; even the royal guards had few survivors. Among those fighting on the front lines, only the adventurers suffered relatively few casualties—the dead were not numerous, but the number of wounded was beyond imagination. In the short term, the Adventurers' Guild would likely be unable to provide any substantial assistance.

"Not only them, but also everyone here." As she spoke, Alice bowed again. "Your family, friends, or neighbors, more or less, perished in this attack… On behalf of the New Kingdom of Alyas, I offer my deepest apologies. But please don't worry, as I promised before, I will now recount the entire incident, the aftermath, and our future plans. I will not hide anything from you. I know you all harbor extreme distrust of the New Kingdom of Alyas and wish to leave for safety. However, I still hope you will listen to this, because these events will undoubtedly help you with your future plans."

Then, Elise recounted everything about the heroes, including the fact that more than ten heroes died tragically in the conspiracy of the former king, the corruption and depravity of the church, the truth about the Demon King, the whereabouts of Xia Que, who was caught up in the incident, and the location of the Holy Sword.

"The Demon King who came to our aid was originally the hero we summoned. Due to persecution by the former King Seric, he was forced to go to the land of the demons and became the Demon King. To the demons, he is their hero. As for the hero Xia Que who was caught up in the incident, he is currently with the Dragon Kings and the Holy Sword, so please don't worry. I promise everyone that such a situation will not happen again, and the Holy Sword, which is kept by the Dragon Kings, will never fall into the hands of these terrorists again."

Both the Holy Sword and the Summer Sparrow were currently under the protection of the Dragon Kings. The Holy Sword was in Li's hands, while the Summer Sparrow was in Akihabara. The ten Holy Swords were quickly recovered by the people of Akihabara afterward and were eventually handed over to Li for safekeeping. Putting everything else aside, as long as Li didn't intend to take them out, no one could forcibly take the Holy Swords from her.

The summer sparrow is the same; it is personally protected by the Dragon Kings, which is probably the most reliable protection in this world.

"At the same time, considering our country's current situation, I have decided to form an alliance with other countries." Alice took a deep breath. "You may have already heard of Akihabara. Yes, they are the heroes of this war, and they also possess a group of geniuses even more outstanding than me and my Sanko Workshop. From now on, we will ally with them to overcome this current difficulty. Of course, our alliance is not only with Akihabara, but also with other survivors. After experiencing this incident, I understand even more clearly that the current situation is no longer one where we can rely on our own strength to overcome hardships. We must unite with other survivors to get through this ordeal."

“You might ask how we can contact the other survivors,” Elise explained. “In this chaotic situation, only adventurers can travel the world based on their extensive experience. But we won’t rely on that. As for how we will establish contact with other countries, please allow me to keep that a secret for now. Once these preparations are complete… you can all move to other safe places. Does anyone have any questions or anything else they want to know? Raise your hand so I can answer.”

Chapter 2 Behind the Scenes

No one asked questions, and no one raised their hand; the briefing ended just like that. After Alice returned to a place out of sight of the people, her face expressionless, the heavy burden on her shoulders was lifted, and her legs could no longer support her body, so she slumped down.

"Ha ha…………"

Alice looked at her still trembling hands.

Although she initially appeared very optimistic and remained calm throughout her explanation, she became afraid when faced with the gazes of the crowd.

Yes, she was scared.

She couldn't discern what the people were thinking. Suppressing her unease and anxiety, she continued her explanation. After finishing, worried that some might not understand or have questions, she asked them, but no one did. Everyone stared at her expressionlessly, which, for her, was the most agonizing thing.

Their gazes, like torture, relentlessly lashed at Alice's heart, an interrogation that lasted the entire briefing. There were no accusations, no rebukes, no questions—nothing at all. It was precisely this that made the ordeal all the more agonizing.

"I'm sorry... I'm really sorry..."

The girl's helpless voice melted into the air as she begged for forgiveness from the deceased and from everyone else.

Her body trembled uncontrollably as she spoke those words, truly terrified. Everything that had happened in the new kingdom of Alyas so far had been enough to make the people distrust her. When she went up to explain, she had mentally prepared herself for anything to happen, but she hadn't expected things to turn out this way.

Rather than remain silent, Alice hoped they would say something, though this was perhaps just wishful thinking on her part. The path to building the new kingdom was fraught with difficulties, and after a series of setbacks, Alice gradually lost confidence, beginning to believe it was an insurmountable task.

She leaned against the wall, supporting herself as she slowly stood up. Perhaps she had already given up, but at least she couldn't let down those who had always believed in her. Supporting her frail body, she walked step by step away from there, heading towards the place she was about to visit.

"Miss Alice!!"

————! ?

Just moments before, Alice had been looking dejected, but upon hearing the call, she instinctively straightened her back. To be honest, she didn't dare look in the direction of the voice, because another nightmare of hers was there, and she couldn't wait to leave.

Where do you want to go?

Please don't talk like that! It's terrifying!

Who else could it be but Senno who caught up with her? Xuanze had already warned her that if Senno saw her like this during the briefing, she would definitely get a severe scolding. Now it seems she doesn't even have a chance to run away. How could this person move so fast... What should she do? She needs to quickly think of an excuse to get away with this...

"Miss Elise~?"

"Whoa!?!"

Just as Alice was trying to come up with an excuse to deceive Senno, her hand slowly crept up from behind her to her shoulder and gripped it tightly. Alice couldn't escape...

“Why won’t you answer me?” Senno asked.

"Huh? Ah... Senno, you're here~" Alice wiped the cold sweat from her face. "Perfect timing, I was just looking for you."

"Yes, I was looking for you too." Senno gave a friendly smile.

Afterwards, Senno gave Alice a stern lecture about her attire for the entire morning. By the time she changed her clothes, fixed her makeup, and left the palace, it was already afternoon. During this time, Alice also had to take care of other matters, such as arranging the refugee camp and preparing for the next attack.

Because of a shortage of manpower, she only took Senno with her this time; the others were busy with other things. Following their memories from the previous night, Alice and Senno groped their way back to that secluded alley.

After the elven attack, the city streets returned to the quiet they had been during the war waged by Seric. Although a few scattered figures could still be seen in the houses lining the streets, everyone was busy packing their belongings. Some were heading to the palace, while others, carrying their luggage, were heading elsewhere…

At this moment, they had only two options: one was to leave the protection of the new kingdom and find a safer place to live; the other was to accept the protection of the new kingdom and go to the safer palace for centralized protection.

This was no longer something Alice could interfere with; it was their freedom. Whether they stayed or left was for their own reasons, and Alice respected their choices. However, seeing some preparing to leave still left her feeling somewhat disappointed. She composed herself and walked step by step toward her destination.

Her destination was the hotel run by Miss Kanina. After that, the three sisters had moved here. It was said that Miss Kanina was also safe and sound, which made her a little happy. At least most of the people she knew had only suffered minor injuries and were not seriously hurt.

But somehow, the closer we got to our destination, the noisier it became.

At first, Alice and Senno both thought they had misheard, but then the sounds grew louder and more numerous, and they began to wonder... who could be gathering in such a place...?

When they reached a point where they could see the hotel, they saw a large group of people from Akihabara who shouldn't have been there, possessing an unusually enthusiastic demeanor. These people from Akihabara were resting, packing their belongings and weapons; however, since returning to their homes in Akihabara would only take a few minutes, they hadn't brought much.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, could you please move aside?"

"Eh? Oh...oh."

A voice behind them asked them to make way. The two agreed and moved aside to let them pass. What they saw next was a wagon loaded with supplies, and the all-too-familiar mecha dragon. But what surprised Alice and the others the most was the large amount of supplies on the wagon. Logically, their situation should have been similar to that of the other remaining countries after returning to the labyrinth.

The wagon, pulled by the dragon, slowly made its way to a place where more supplies were piled up: clothes, food, medicine, and a whole host of other necessities in the current situation. Although Alice had essentially abandoned the city, these supplies would certainly be of great help to them.

But... if Alice remembered correctly, the labyrinth had already been looted during the kingdom's punitive expedition. So where did these supplies come from? Although she understood that Akihabara, led by Risso, was a magical place, no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't believe that these things couldn't have come from nowhere.

However, in reality, these supplies did indeed appear out of thin air.

The skill of reasoning – gathering treasures.

I haven't paid much attention to it since leaving the maze; it's a skill that's like a bug.

The effect is to periodically produce a random number of random items, with the rarity of the items varying based on the amount of food consumed. This skill is unique to the Mimic; it works by simply living and eating normally, and then automatically producing items from Earth at a certain time.

Well, the main difference is that the treasure chest monsters don't eat food, but rather gold, silver, or bronze coins. Ryuou Riku usually eats normal food, which is for a psychological need, while Treasure Chest Monsters eat gold coins, which is for a physiological need. The normal food Ryuou Riku eats cannot trigger the Treasure Gathering skill; only the gold coins consumed by Treasure Chest Monsters can trigger it.

Since being reincarnated as twins, both of them can actually eat gold coins. For them, gold coins are actually quite delicious, but using gold coins to eat seems a bit wasteful...

Normally, Dragon King Li doesn't eat gold coins; that kind of work is done by Treasure Chest Li. Because she has two bodies, she's very efficient. Due to limitations in space-time magic, Treasure Chest Li usually spends her time wandering around, fighting monsters, and leveling up.

.

Fortunately, after obtaining the Dragon King's power, Riku also gained the ability to suppress most monsters head-on, so leveling up again was just a piece of cake. During this time, Riku collected a lot of materials and items, as well as a large amount of gold and silver coins, various rare items and treasures, through a lot of monster hunting. Half of the gold coins she obtained were eaten as food.

It is because of this half of the gold coins that we have accumulated enough resources to support the operation of a small country, and even to help other countries.

Although Li hasn't fully mastered the operating mechanism of this skill, the things she does every day have already accumulated a fortune that rivals that of a nation. Gold coins are only a small part of it; what truly has value is the large amount of resources from Earth that are stored in her body in her treasure chest.

"Oh? Isn't this Miss Alice?"

The person directing the mecha dragons to move things spotted her when they passed by Alice. That person had dealt with Sanko Workshop back in Akihabara, so he had a deep impression of her and recognized her immediately.

"Good afternoon," Alice greeted first.

"Good afternoon, Miss Alice." The man put down his work and stopped to speak with the two of them. "It's been a long time. You look much more haggard."

“Haha…because a lot has happened recently…” Alice said with a wry smile.