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

"Yes, I heard about that from Miss Ning and the Demon King." The man nodded in agreement. "Oh dear, the country is like a big family. I'm already exhausted just taking care of my own family. You kings and queens must have it really tough... Oh, by the way, the Demon King and Miss Ning are waiting for you at that hotel. I won't take up any more of your time. Let's chat another time. Bye-bye."

After his remark, the man gave the two a heads-up, then continued directing the dragon to pull the cargo-laden wagon forward. Alice and Senno exchanged glances before heading towards the inn.

As they passed other people on the way, everyone smiled or nodded silently. Since they were all acquaintances, there was no need to go up and ask them anything. The two naturally arrived at the entrance of Kanina's hotel, pushed open the door, and went inside.

In the lobby on the first floor of the inn, there were almost the same people as the night before, some from Akihabara and some adventurers who had gone to Akihabara. Alice quickly found Ning and her companion sitting at the counter, explaining something to the innkeeper, Ms. Kanina. Sitting next to them were Akatsuki and the Demon King, who were drinking beverages.

"Is everything settled?" Alice casually found a seat and sat down, with Senno sitting next to her.

"Ah, Alice, you're here." Li turned around and greeted her. "I fainted yesterday and couldn't be of much help, sorry..."

“It’s nothing,” Alice said with a wry smile. “I had a vague feeling that it was you who did it… Thank you so much. Without your intervention, the consequences would probably have been much more serious than I imagined.”

If that unexpected event hadn't happened, Alice wouldn't have dared to think any further. Although she had vaguely sensed that this was due to Reason's interference, she was still quite surprised to hear it in person—it really was her doing. Just how many secrets and powers did this girl possess...? Alice wondered to herself.

"I don't understand what you're talking about... but could you at least explain the situation to me?"

The shopkeeper, Miss Kanina, interrupted from behind the counter, clearly displeased. Although it was unclear what was going on, it was obvious that she was very angry. Kanina had also sought refuge last night, but since everything seemed fine after the siege of the elves ended, she hurriedly returned this morning.

Chapter 3 Reopening the Dungeon

When Kanina saw the three figures, she had a vague feeling that the large number of people in her inn was definitely related to these three. The three little girls hurriedly explained the situation to her, briefly saying that…

They had previously discussed time-space magic with Kanina, specifically the special method of travel using time-space magic, which they had already set up in their room when the three sisters moved in. After what happened last night, the three sisters deemed the situation urgent and used a portal to bring people from other countries directly here using these special methods.

And that group of people were the heroes from Akihabara.

However, to be honest, Kanina was extremely annoyed that the three sisters had altered her private property without her permission. That's why the scene just now unfolded; the three sisters were explaining to Kanina and repeatedly apologizing.

"Um... Miss Kanina, I'm so sorry," Li said apologetically, "I've altered your hotel without permission and taken up so many rooms..."

"I'm truly sorry." Ning also showed a rare moment of weakness. "Because of the urgency of the situation, and considering that similar things might happen again, we did this. If Miss Kanina needs compensation, we will do everything we can to make it up to you."

Alice was surprised to hear this, not only by Ning's apparent vulnerability, but also by the fact that the two of them would make such a promise. Their words were vague, leaving room for others to make a big deal out of it, so Kanina could easily make difficult demands.

Although I know these two people are full of potential, no matter what, their confident proposal of such compensation means that if things don't go smoothly, they'll be the ones in trouble. Making such a hasty statement doesn't seem like them at all.

“Ha…” Kanina sighed, “I didn’t mean to make things difficult for you, it’s just that anyone would feel upset about encountering so many messy things without any preparation…”

"Yes, if it were me, I would definitely kick you out without hesitation."

Xuanze, who had been acting as if it were none of his business, suddenly interjected. Judging from his personality, he was indeed the kind of person who would do that. And not just Xuanze, but probably everyone else would do the same.

"Forget it, forget it." Kanina waved her hand. "Let's just let it go this time. I don't want to make things difficult for others either. We can talk about compensation later. I understand that the situation is critical, and I won't be so insensitive as to do something that would damage my character."

"I'm so sorry..." Li apologized to her again.

"Alright, alright, I'm not the kind of person who doesn't understand things," Kanina said with a wry smile. "I know the situation is urgent this time. If we can get supplies and manpower from Akihabara, that would be a good thing. It would be even better if it could help. But please don't secretly renovate other people's houses like this next time."

"Yes, yes, I won't do it again next time." Li nodded vigorously.

“So, Her Majesty the Queen is here too, she must have something to say, right?” Kanina glanced at Alice sitting next to her. “Then I’ll go see if there’s anything else I can help with.”

Kanina wisely chose to leave temporarily. The people gathered here at this moment are all leaders of the existing forces. In addition, given what happened last night, Kanina could easily guess what they were planning to do.

After Kanina left, Xuanze immediately teased, "That's really strange. It's not surprising that the Box Spirit would show weakness and compromise, but why did you, Ning, follow along?"

"Ha...you probably don't know, do you?" Ning glanced at him. "Do you know Olyto from Akihabara?"

“Oh…” Xuanze recalled for a moment, “You mean that man with the green hair? I vaguely remember him, I think he was a businessman…”

Before a battle, Xuanze would often wander around to avoid various matters, so unlike Li, this elusive demon king was almost omnipresent before the battle. As for Li, although she was mysterious, as long as Ning was found, Li's whereabouts could be found quickly, and even if she couldn't be found, she would at least know what she was doing.

“Yes, that businessman.” Ning explained, “Well, I don’t know if he can still be considered a businessman now. I only know that he is currently serving as our Minister of Finance in Akihabara.”

"What does this have to do with the shop owner?" Xuanze's gaze shifted to Kanina, who was helping out nearby.

“Oh…” Alice suddenly thought of something.

“Ah…” Senno also noticed something.

"What are you two trying to say with all those 'oh oh ah ah' sounds?" Xuanze looked at them, completely bewildered.

“So,” Elise said with a wry smile, “you, the Demon King, are very quick-witted when it comes to other things, but you don’t seem to be so perceptive when it comes to emotions.”

“…Huh?” Xuanze frowned. “What do you mean?”

Xuanze was slightly displeased because he considered himself to be quite perceptive in matters of the heart and to be able to detect the psychological state of his subordinates. He was ready to retort after being told what Alice said.

"Can't you tell?" Lian Ning thought so too. "Sigh, are all people from your world like this? Olito is interested in that shop owner."

"?????????" Xuanze's head was filled with question marks. "No??? What the heck??? Is this what you're talking about??? I don't know anything about that merchant??? And where did you guys find out about this???"

Xuanze was truly at a loss for words. His relationship with Olito was at best one of exchanging greetings when they met. He only had a general understanding of Olito's affairs and had no intention of delving into his personal life. Therefore, it was normal that he was unaware of Olito's interest in Kanina, as he had not obtained a single relevant clue.

Li and Ning only learned about this when they met Kanina during their last visit. Although neither of them explicitly stated it, they had both pieced together the answer from the clues surrounding the two. Li and Ning didn't know what had actually happened between them; they only knew that Olyto's romantic life was currently quite complicated… Could it be related to that green hair…?

Oh dear, you can't think like that...

Li immediately shook her head to banish the rude thought from her mind. No matter how close they were to Olitto, such an association was still too hurtful.

“Let’s get down to business,” Li changed the subject. “Ning gave me a general overview of the situation. I’m sorry… I couldn’t save more people.”

“It’s alright…” Alice said gratefully. “I was prepared for the New Kingdom to be destroyed. But, Li, you saved the New Kingdom, and I will always remember this kindness. As long as the New Kingdom exists, we still have a chance to turn things around.”

"How optimistic!" Li smiled.

“I learned this in Akihabara,” Elise chuckled. “By the way, you’ve already opened a portal here, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.” Li nodded. “There are several portals leading to Akihabara in our room. Everyone came here through those portals.”

“Is that so…” Alice thought for a moment and said, “If possible, I hope to transfer some of the people to your Akihabara area within the next few days.”

"You feel that the new kingdom is not very safe right now, right?" Ning asked.

“Yes,” Elise nodded, “It’s not just not very safe, it’s extremely unsafe. Despite your help, you’ve seen what those elves look like and how powerful they are. I hope that if there’s another battle, most of the people in our city will be able to move to another safe place.”

“That’s right,” Xuanze agreed. “We all know how difficult these elves are to deal with, and we can’t rule out the possibility that they will attack the New Kingdom again. The most urgent task now is to gather these humans scattered all over the world as soon as possible.”

The world is now teetering on the brink of collapse, and humanity's time is running out. How long can humanity survive the carnage inflicted by these primitive monsters? Even if the world were to recover, it would take a very long time. How long exactly? Nobody knows, but Xuanze knows that it is definitely not a time that humanity can survive.

Unless, of course, humans are domesticated by these primitive monsters.

Of course, Xuanze sealed this path away. If he couldn't handle it, he might as well transform into a demon king, destroy everything, and start over.

What kind of ridiculous plot twist is this? From the moment Seric appeared, this world has gone completely off track.

"The Demon King..."

Everyone cast surprised glances at the Demon King.

"...? Damn it, what do you guys mean by this???" Xuanze raised an eyebrow.

"Oh no," Li waved his hand, "I'm just surprised."

“Mmm, mmm, mmm.” Elise nodded. “This arrogant, self-proclaimed Demon King actually does something like saving humanity honestly…”

"Are you really the Demon King?" Senno asked.

"Tsk, fine." Xuanze slammed his hand on the table. "If you guys aren't going to do it, then I'm too lazy to bother with it."

"Don't be foolish," Ning stopped him. "We're thinking about the same thing. This isn't just a human issue; the demon race has been affected to some extent too, hasn't it?"

Since these elves have appeared in various places, and Xuanze has even encountered them, it proves that not only humans are being interfered with by the elves, but even the demon race has been drawn into this group of crazed elves. Therefore, this is no longer a simple question: why are the elves taking such drastic action?

"Tch." Xuanze clicked his tongue. "You women are really making a fuss."

"I'm sorry..." Li apologized with a wry smile, "It turned out like that by accident... I'll be more careful next time, I hope you don't mind."

"Heh...who knows?" Xuanze remained noncommittal. "Continuing our previous topic, Li, how are you recovering?"

"Huh?" Li Meng paused for a moment. "What does my recovery have to do with what we were just talking about...?"

"Are you stupid?" Xuanze coldly retorted.

Li frowned, then pondered for a moment, connecting the dots.

"Ah...you don't mean I should open portals all over the world like last time, do you?" Li asked somewhat fearfully.

"Is there any other way?" Xuanze asked in return.

The last time the two were referring to was one of the things their alliance did after learning of Aljaz Seric's plan—opening a portal.

Back then, Li spent a whole night having Treasure Chest Li use time-space magic to run all over the world opening portals. During that period, nearly a thousand portals were opened. These portals were used to wage guerrilla warfare against the kingdom and were used very frequently, mostly for surprise attacks and evacuations, although in the end, not many people were actually saved.

Most of these portals were abandoned after the battle, for a variety of reasons.

The first reason is that due to changes in the world's geography, these portals have become misplaced or ended up in some strange place. To be honest, in this case, I really don't dare to use these portals, because you have no idea where they will teleport the user.

The second possibility is that many portals have been destroyed. These portals consist of a starting point, an ending point, a spell, a vessel, and magic power. If any one of these elements is missing, the portal cannot be formed. Each starting point and ending point will open a portal, and if one of them is destroyed, the entire group of portals will be rendered useless.

The third scenario is a more serious one. Although the portal is still functioning normally, the internal space has become chaotic or collapsed. Simply put, the portal has become a spacetime rift. Once inside, one will be swept into the turbulent flow of spacetime, and whether one can get out is still a question.

Fortunately, most of these portals originated from their family's studio. After that, Li instructed Xiao to dispose of all the portals, rendering them inoperable. Keeping these portals around would only cause harm, so it was better to destroy them to prevent a large number of future victims.

As for what Xuanze mentioned, she had considered it. Therefore, she and Ning Xiao left Akihabara to re-record the geography of this world and enter it into the Demon Eye, so that it would be convenient for their subsequent work.

Chapter 4 This is probably a bit difficult

“I understand what you’re saying…” Li said somewhat awkwardly, “but I’m afraid it’s a bit difficult now.”

"What's wrong?" Xuanze asked.

“Because the map records no longer match,” Li said helplessly. “My spacetime magic is based on my mastery of time and space. I can only use spacetime magic to intervene within the known scope. The map of this world is different now. I can’t just use spacetime magic to open a portal. It’s too dangerous.”

"There's such a setting... "

Xuanze glanced at Li, whose sincere gaze didn't seem to indicate a lie, so he had no choice but to give up. After all, he was just a Demon King/Hero, and he didn't really understand the power/authority that could interfere with this world; that power belonged to the Dragon Kings.

Only those who possess these powers can truly understand them. Since that's the case, Xuanze doesn't intend to say anything more.

"That's why we travel around the world on foot," Li explained. "Only in this way can we record the map of this world again, and only in this way can I maximize the effects of my spacetime magic."

"But, this happened along the way, right?" Xuanze nodded. "It's not your fault. Not to mention Akihabara, I've basically been living a stable life in the Demon Realm these past few days."

Xuanze could understand, because after such a disaster, most forces were working to restore or stabilize their power. Akihabara was practically being built from scratch, which required the two of them to be present to direct the work, so it was certain that they hadn't gone far.

"So, now only Sevier doesn't know about this yet, right?" Alice asked.

“According to the news brought back by the adventurers,” Senno continued, “the situation in the duchy is currently stable, but because the journey is too long, few adventurers usually go there.”

“We’ll go back and ask that old man from the guild for clarification later,” Xuanze said. “Right now, the most urgent thing is to establish contact with other countries as soon as possible. Although this is just my speculation, I think there must be something going on behind this.”

"A ghost..."

The expressions on everyone's faces darkened slightly. Ghosts, these dangerous elements still active in the shadows, are among the most dangerous beings in the world today. It can be said that the threat they pose is equal to that of elves.

The numerous primitive monsters and demons that have appeared on the continent can be resisted to some extent by the united human race. Elves are quite troublesome due to their immortality. And ghosts are the enemies they least want to face.

This group is more intelligent and cunning than monsters, demons, and elves. Their values ​​are warped; they act solely on their desires, and most are a collection of scum—arguably humanity's worst adversary. How they will attack humanity, and what organization they will form, remains to be seen.

Moreover, even if Xuanze didn't say it, everyone could more or less guess whose masterpiece this was.

“If we follow this line of thinking,” Ning raised his own question, “then here’s a problem. How do ghosts induce elves to cooperate with their actions? Or rather, why do elves do this?”

"Heh, I'd like to find out what's going on here too." Xuanze picked up the wooden cup and drank the beverage in one gulp, then looked at Li. "But unfortunately, we know absolutely nothing about elves."

"So... the key to breaking through this incident is the elves..." Rin thought to himself.

Yes, most of what has happened recently has revolved around the elves, and there may be some interference from ghosts. Now, what they need to understand is the elves' motives.

Is communication even possible?

Li recalled their two encounters with the elves. Both times, it ended in immediate combat, with no room for communication; the only dialogue they exchanged was mutual intimidation. Was communication truly possible? Li wasn't sure.

However, if the problem could truly be solved through communication alone, she hoped to communicate with the elves. Perhaps the elves were not afraid of death, nor were those who bravely resisted their attacks. But the meaning of life was heavy, and humanity could not withstand any greater blows. Ideally, we should try our best to avoid more casualties.

However, this was an unrealistic idea. They had no leverage to stop the elves; they had no choice but to fight. It was truly frustrating; every path they took led straight to the worst possible outcome. She carefully searched her mind for a breakthrough. Xin Ge might have told her about the elves, but all she could remember was how he had once defeated these high-ranking elves.

Whether it was the memories of the first hero, the memories of the Time Dragon King Laelfa, or the knowledge imparted by Saintess Nao, Li found nothing more about elves. Furthermore, she used her magical power to search through the books preserved within her body, but still couldn't find any books about elves among these numerous volumes.

This is a real headache... This is probably what it feels like to be stuck on a main quest and missing a crucial item...

Thinking this, Li pressed his temples.

"What's wrong?" Ning patted her shoulder. "It's rare to see you like this, actually getting lost in thought."

"I have a brain too, okay?" She rolled her eyes at her. "Even if it's not as sharp as yours, it's still better than not thinking at all, right? I'm wondering if I've heard about elves somewhere before..."

"Alright, stop thinking about it," Ning said with a wry smile. "Let's move on to the next topic."

"Oh, I see... Sorry." Ritsu realized she'd unknowingly become absorbed in her own world. "What were you guys talking about just now?"

“We were just talking about how to contact Savi.” Alice waved her hand to indicate that it was alright. “Most of our surviving forces are gathered here now and have learned about the current situation. However, Savi and the others are unaware of this yet, and it will take quite a while to get there.”

"Hmm...I understand."

Li nodded. Even according to the original world map, the distance between the New Kingdom and the Duchy was quite long. For an ordinary person to travel at a brisk pace, it would take almost a week. However, considering the significant changes to the world map, it was much more complicated. Adventurers should know the specific directions to some extent, but the distance was said to have increased dramatically.