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

"Hmm~ Please pay one gold coin. Thank you~ Oh, I really owe you all a debt of gratitude. Without you, I wouldn't know how to get back."

"Isn't Miss a member of the kingdom?"

"Ah, right, I'm from the Duchy~"

"Huh?! From the Duchy? That's really tough... Did you encounter any monsters?"

"Ugh! That's it! It's so infuriating!"

I listened carefully to the conversation between Laura and a customer and found that the conversation seemed to be heading in a certain direction, with a kind of leading feeling. What was she doing?

“I hired some adventurers at the labyrinth to bring me here, but I didn’t expect to encounter ‘Substitute Death’ on the way. No one escaped except me,” Raelfa said, feigning tears. “I had nothing on me except these things, and I had to drag this heavy box to the royal city. It took me three whole days.”

"What the hell?! It couldn't have been three hours! And why are people who've been gone for three days still so clean?!"

"Shut up!"

I couldn't help but verbally complain a couple of times, which Rielfa overheard, and she snapped at me. I was just stating a fact, why are you yelling at me... I feel so wronged. Besides, your acting isn't great either.

"All I want now is to sell all this stuff here and earn some money for my trip back home." Tears welled up in Rielfa's eyes. "So please, have mercy and buy more, okay?"

"Woo..."

A beautiful young woman with teary eyes pleaded with a customer. If you were there, I think you would have emptied your wallet by now, although I don't think paper money is of any use here... Ah, that customer immediately added five more items. Wow, almost a complete set!

"These are all I want! I hope we'll meet again someday!"

"Ah~ Goodbye 'Tch'."

Huh... if I heard correctly, Rielfa clicked her tongue when she said goodbye to him... what's going on...?

"Did you just 'cut' it?" I asked her.

"Yeah...didn't get the information I wanted...let's move on to the next one..."

Relfa replied to me telepathically, then went back to her work. The scene was quite different from before; there were fewer people. But there were more and more perverts gathering around, their gazes were incredibly blatant.

After seeing an adventurer walking towards them, Rielfa once again revealed her predatory expression. Ah... when will these people realize they've been tricked...?

Are these items really worth a single gold coin...?

I used my magic eye to look at one of the pieces of equipment, to see if I could see its estimated value.

'Burning Dog-Head Hammer (Cursed), Type: Blunt Weapon, Quality: Rare (Cursed), Requirements: Lv.70, Strength 135.'

Hey... that's not what I wanted to see... actually, this weapon is pretty powerful...

"Additionally, this weapon has a curse effect, causing all dogs to attack the weapon's wielder upon sight. Curse strength: Strong."

I knew it would be like this! Can you please be serious about curses and such?! This kind of setting is way too casual!

Estimated value: Ten gold coins.

What a huge loss!

I never imagined that the cursed items we got from killing undead monsters not long ago would be so valuable. To be honest, since I came to this other world, my income so far is only about ten gold coins, and I've already eaten five gold coins' worth of food...

Seriously... what a huge loss.

If Rielfa can't give me a plausible reason, I'm afraid I'll have to run away from home... Waaah...

“Ah! Welcome, what would you like to order, sir?” Rielfa asked.

"Let me see... I'll take this one."

The customer quickly selected what he needed, tossed a bag of silver coins containing enough for one gold coin to Rielfa, and then picked up the breastplate he had chosen to examine it carefully.

“Speaking of which…” Rielfa suddenly spoke to him, “Why are there so few people? Usually, you should see a lot of adventurers, but now I mostly see merchants…”

That's right. I looked around and found that most of the people there looked like merchants, but I didn't see any adventurers. According to what Rielfa just said, there should be quite a few adventurers passing through here normally, right?

The merchants kept watching us but didn't do anything. Some caravans that were about to leave stopped when they saw us, staring at us menacingly. We felt very uncomfortable.

"Oh, you're not from around here, are you?" The man chuckled, tapping the breastplate on his hand. "You probably don't know what's been going on lately. Ah, this is truly gratifying."

"Huh...?" Rielfa showed a somewhat impolite expression.

“It was Prince Peller, that infamous fellow,” he leaned close to Relfa and whispered in her ear, “He died in the labyrinth.”

"Eh? That Prince Peller?" Rielfa looked surprised.

Actually, she wasn't surprised at all, and neither was I... because I was the one who indirectly killed Peller's mimic, while Laelfa was the one who directly killed Peller. Come to think of it, I didn't expect that scumbag was a prince. No wonder he's so infamous.

"Hey, tell me more, okay?" Rielfa blinked. "I also want to know some things about this place. Can you tell me? I'll give you fanservice, you know?"

Chapter 10 Obtaining Intelligence

"I see... cough cough." The person's gaze drifted to Relfa's chest. "Well... I'll tell you then."

"Ah! Thank you! You're a good person!" Rielfa expressed her gratitude to him.

Ah… well… you've already been friend-zoned, so there's no chance for you… don't bother watching. Besides, I don't think Rielfa's so-called "fanservice" is anything serious…

I said this to the guest in my mind, but such whispered words would never reach his mind, and I wouldn't speak aloud. I'm still young... I don't want to die...

"That's it, the thing that killed Peller, supposedly a dragon." The man said in a serious tone, "According to rumors, it's the Labyrinth Lord, Raelfa, the 'Dragon King of Time.' Raelfa has been turned into an evil dragon due to being controlled by the Demon King, and will attack anyone who enters the labyrinth indiscriminately. In order to prevent further victims like Peller, the King issued a royal commission, tasking them with defeating the 'Dragon King of Time.'"

"Isn't this too hasty?" Rielfa frowned, and I could tell that she wasn't expressing doubt, but rather anger.

me too.

"What... what is this?! It was Peller who was chasing us and hacking at us! He even killed several of our companions, you bastard!! Didn't you all hate this guy?! Then why are you helping him get revenge?! This is so illogical!! Although it's true! But isn't it satisfying that Rielfa killed a villain?! But why label Rielfa an evil dragon based on just this one thing?!"

"Reasonable! Calm down!"

I couldn't help but shout it out in my head. Everyone around me froze for a moment, then looked around. Oh no, I've messed up! I bet everyone here heard me!

"Did I just hear something? It sounds like someone is yelling at me...?" The person looked around.

"No, right?" Rielfa tilted her head. "I didn't hear that sound."

"But everyone around seems to have heard it! Hey? You heard it too, right?"

"Ah... if you mean that roar, I heard it."

"Tsk..."

Leifel clicked her tongue inwardly, but she didn't show any displeasure or look at me. However, I knew I had messed up this time. Mingming hadn't made any mistakes, yet I had made such a serious error.

"Calm down, Li," Rielfa's telepathic voice suddenly came through. "I don't mean to blame you, I just think it's too early to talk about this. I appreciate you standing up for me and correcting them, but don't act rashly now. I have my own plan."

"...I'm sorry, I understand." I replied guiltily.

If we follow the kingdom's lead, most of the people now tend to believe that Raelfa is an evil dragon. But now I'm irresponsibly coming out to prove Raelfa, which makes me seem like the most outlier of all.

However, their reaction surprised me.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what the child said,” the person being questioned said.

“Ah, I think so too, and it makes perfect sense.” The person who bought the equipment nodded. “To attack the labyrinth and defeat the Dragon King based on such a reason is far-fetched.”

“Indeed,” another person chimed in. “To be honest, I don’t quite understand why the kingdom would offer such a huge reward just to defeat the ‘Dragon King of Time.’ Isn’t that a bit too extravagant? It’s practically one gold coin per person! Does the kingdom even have that many gold coins in its treasury?”

“That’s true. Every participant gets at least five hundred silver coins. Almost everyone I know has gone to participate in the expedition,” the guest said. “Oh, by the way, is there anything else you’d like to know, little sister?”

"Ah... no, that's all." Lost in thought, Lelfa suddenly snapped out of it and hurriedly replied, "Thank you... um... if you want some fanservice, then this is for you..."

As Relfa reached into her chest, the men watching stared wide-eyed. "Ugh, disgusting! I just want to rush up and knock them all out!"

"Ah, I found it."

What Rielfa took out from her bosom was a necklace, adorned with a sparkling, faceted gemstone. What was that...?

'The Reverse Scale of the Time Dragon King (Blessing), Type: Accessory, Quality: Unique, Requirement: Lv.1. Item Description: This accessory is made from the reverse scale of the Time Dragon King, Rielfa. In crucial moments, it can slow the flow of time for everything within a one-meter radius except the wearer.'

Hey hey hey hey—?! Isn't this an incredibly powerful item?! Rielfa just gave it away so easily?!

"Huh!? This is a very important thing, right?" The customer looked hesitant. "Can you just give it to me like this?"

"Oh, it's alright." She smiled. "It is important, that's true. But it's something I don't usually use, so it's better to give it to those who can."

"Don't give it to me!!"

Ah, I mean it, I really want that, in every sense of the word, but more importantly, I don't want to give something so important to Rielfa to someone else. And, in a way, wouldn't it be seen as a token of love?

I will not allow this to develop!

"You won't need this." Rielfa's telepathic voice carried a hint of helplessness. "Besides, things like 'Reverse Scale' can only be used once."

"Eh... isn't the so-called reverse scale the only weakness on a dragon's body?" I realized that this seemed to be a little different from what I had imagined the reverse scale to be.

"Huh? That's your version of events..." Rielfa explained to me, "This so-called 'reverse scale' is actually a scale that grows periodically on the Dragon King's body. These scales, concentrated with excess magic power, possess a portion of the Dragon King's abilities. That guy can tell my reverse scale is important, but he can't figure out what it is."

"Does that mean there are many?"

"Yes... I can give it to you later if you want."

As expected of another world... this is the real Achilles' heel.

"Ah! Sister Rielfa! I want that sparkly stone too!"

Xiao suddenly interrupted, and after a long silence, I thought she had fallen asleep...

"Then, please accept it." Rielfa forcefully shoved the Reverse Scale into the other party's hands.

"I am extremely grateful!"

The customer hurriedly accepted the rebellious scale and left in a panic. Others began to come over to continue trading with Relfa. The "garbage" I had spat out was almost sold out, and we had also obtained quite a bit of information. So we came here to collect information, not to dump garbage...

My heart aches just thinking about it; we've lost so much!

Chapter 11: Asking for a beating!

"Haa~"

With her work temporarily done, Rielfa stretched, revealing her alluring curves. No one was really looking at her now. But more and more people were staring at me…

Have I been exposed? No, no, no, that can't be, right? They must think I'm a pet... but why are they staring at me like that?

I don't know why these people suddenly focused their attention on me. Lelfa just told me telepathically that it was best not to move because someone was already watching us, but they haven't made a move yet.

Wow... why am I being targeted just because I came out and didn't do anything?

"Well... it's about time we went back... right?"

As Lerfa was about to get up from the blanket, her gaze was already fixed on a group of people walking towards us. To put it simply, they were a bunch of guys who looked like school thugs.

"Oh? You're leaving so soon, young lady?"

The scarred-face leader rudely approached Reilfa and leaned in to scrutinize her. Suddenly, these people surrounded us, creating an atmosphere of no escape. Wow, am I back in school?

The people around gradually moved away, clearly not wanting to get involved. That's probably what human relationships are like. But we're monsters...

Reilfa looked at the other party without changing her expression, and did not make any move. Since she did not make any move, I don’t need to either… Speaking of which, I almost forgot that she is the Dragon King… This group is probably going to be doomed here.

"Wow...this is really good equipment." Scarface looked at the equipment on the carpet. "It's just a bit expensive."

Those people picked up the equipment and looked at it. Instead of asking any questions, they put it on themselves. While there was nothing wrong with doing that, they probably didn't know what kind of equipment it was.

"Yeah, boss, look at this helmet. You can't see anything at all once you put it on."

"Oh, and this too, look, it's already broken."

"This one too!"

Are these people deliberately coming here to cause trouble?

I was furious. I never expected to see such a déjà vu scene in another world. I guess what's next is either robbery or something else...

“Oh dear, young lady,” the scarred man snatched a piece of equipment from his henchman’s hand and tapped it, saying, “Look at this equipment, how can you bear to sell it for a single gold coin? Doesn’t your conscience hurt? Let me touch it for you?”

After saying that, the scarred man reached out to touch Rielfa's chest. Rielfa leisurely leaned to the side, avoiding his hand, and picked up the money bag, which contained the gold coins they had earned that day.

“I’m sorry, we were about to leave,” Rielfa said tactfully. “We need to retrieve the equipment now.”

"Huh? You don't want to do business anymore?"

Bang!

Scarface kicked the equipment lying on the carpet, then pulled a knife from his waist. The knife was not only dull but also rusty; this guy definitely hadn't taken good care of it.

"Why are you in such a hurry to leave? Give us brothers an explanation," Scarface said with a lewd grin, brandishing his knife. "If it's inconvenient, we can go to the city and find an inn to talk things over properly. Your equipment is actually not bad, but I don't think it's worth the price."

As he spoke, his accomplices continued to tighten the encirclement. These people weren't just after the equipment, but also Rielfa and the bag of gold coins in her hand—these scumbags…!

"You're planning to buy it, aren't you?" Rielfa asked with a cold expression. "Well then, how much do you think it's worth?"

“Hey, that’s more like it.” Scarface chuckled and tossed out a coin. “I think all of these together are worth about this much.”