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

This Serena seems to be the one in this team who's responsible for making sarcastic remarks...

The hero's party consists of 1 male and 3 females. Wow, the gender ratio is seriously unbalanced! Could this be a harem anime? A emotionless gothic loli, a seductive vampire princess, and a witty fairy—this is the real standard compared to the other hero!

He's actually quite handsome from the side. It looks a bit odd that he's dressed entirely in black, but he's really handsome!

Uh... cough cough! Be serious, be serious, we're in a standoff with the enemy!

Just as the black-haired girl was about to say something, Xuanze put his hand on her shoulder, his wet hand getting the cute dress wet, and the girl looked disgusted.

“Do me a favor,” Xuanze whispered in her ear, “I will give you what you want.”

"…!" The girl shuddered, then glared at him. "I really don't like you."

"Then trouble you."

Xuanze seemed to tacitly agree that she would help him, so he jumped out of the ice coffin and burned his magic once more. The girl turned around and transformed, black feathers fluttering in the rain, and the purple light finally transformed into an ancient book that landed in Xuanze's hand.

...Is that a magic book?

bake--!

The magical flames burned fiercely, even generating heat that evaporated all the rain before it fell. As expected of a hero, his magical power is comparable to mine.

"Begin, The Path of All Principles."

The grimoire suddenly floated into the air, opened automatically, and flipped through the pages at high speed. Countless runes and words flew out of the book, forming a huge magical circle.

Aye grabbed Sleina, held her in his hand, and they climbed off the ice coffin together. Then he snapped his fingers, causing the ice coffin to open.

Huhuhu——!

Freezing air surged from the ice coffin, stretching towards Haul like a white ribbon. Haul immediately conjured a golden dagger to disperse the freezing air, but it seemed to have little effect. These ribbons seemed intent on grabbing him; once caught, he would be pulled into the ice coffin.

"So things have turned around." Xuanze opened his palms upwards. "So? Are you going to run now, or fight to the death and eliminate me?"

Hao Er gripped his spear and looked around. The situation was overwhelmingly unfavorable to him. One against three? The fairy didn't seem to have much fighting power. The black-haired girl had transformed into a magic book to help. Xuan Ze was fighting an army all by himself, and he also needed the help of the vampire Aye. This situation was really hard to reverse.

Me? I'll remain neutral for now... There's no need for them to deal with the priests. Besides, do they even need my help now?

Hao'er was silent for a moment, then said, "Even if I wanted to leave, you probably wouldn't just stand by and watch me go, would you?"

“Of course.” Xuanze pulled out a sword from somewhere and pointed it at him. “You asked for this, you imposter priest.”

"I think so too."

Hao'er smiled, then suddenly started running. He chose to escape without hesitation, running as fast as he could.

"Black Feather!" Xuanze grabbed the magic circle in his hand. "Here's the magic power! Attack together!"

"Huh!? Wait, —?!"

Xuanze suddenly infused the magic book with immeasurable magical power, and the enormous magic circle instantly shone brightly, beginning to operate under his guidance.

Ding Ding Ding-!

Countless magical circles appeared in the dark clouds. These magical circles were all high-level magic, and there were even some magics that I didn't know about. In that case, Haul had nowhere to escape.

Wow... Is this guy a real demon king? He shows absolutely no mercy! What did this priest do to make the hero go to such lengths to deal with him?

He was the one who indirectly killed Relfa, of course I remember that, but I can't just fight like that. Revenge and all that, it's not like something an earthling would do, is it? Besides... we're all human.

“Deep Freeze Arrow”.

Aye used magic to create a bow and arrow in her hand, then nocked the arrow, drew the bowstring taut, aimed at the fleeing Hale, and fired the arrow.

"Pray to 'break the demon'!"

Hale offered only one prayer before hastily turning back to deflect the ice arrow with his dagger. However, he did not expect the ice arrow to explode before the dagger hit him, turning into several ice spikes that pinned him firmly to the ground.

He narrowly avoided death by dodging the ice spikes to his vital parts, but many spikes still pierced his body, pinning him to the ground and preventing him from escaping.

"Come on, Kuroba! The show is about to begin!"

Xuanze changed his hand gestures, using them to guide the magic to completion, and then released it all at once. The enormous magic circle exploded, and a wave of magical power swept away.

Ritual magic—'Thunderous Applause'!

Rumble, rumble—!

All the dark clouds transformed into golden thunderclouds, and just as its magical name suggested, countless thunderbolts surged forth, roaring with cheers before sweeping across the battlefield. The entire battlefield turned golden.

Seeing this magic, I felt that Hale was beyond saving... The attack range of this magic was almost the entire battlefield, and with the weather conducting the lightning, he was already trapped.

We had already used defensive magic to block the lightning, but then another person appeared... another ghost.

Click—clang!

I only heard a melodious sound of a sword being drawn, and a cold light suddenly cleaved the thundercloud in two, causing the ritual magic to collapse instantly. The magic power, having lost its physical form, dissipated into the sky, and the rain stopped at that moment.

"It looks awful, Hale."

The ghost in the green hat and white clothes stood beside Hale, squatted down as if mocking him, and pulled down his hood.

“…Lycia?” Hale lay sprawled on the ground, looking disheveled.

“His Majesty the King sent me to meet you.” Lycia reached out and pulled out an ice spike. “How pitiful.”

She glanced at the blood-dripping ice spike on her hand, then suddenly plunged it back into Hao'er's wound, twisting the spike forcefully. Hao'er simply watched her coldly.

“Oh dear,” Lycia smiled beautifully, “It would have been so much better if you had just turned back into the ‘ghost’ you, then you wouldn’t be in such a sorry state.”

"...You don't need to tell me."

“Hmph…” Lycia pulled out the ice spikes, tossed them aside, then helped him up and prepared to leave.

"Aren't you going to stop them?" I asked telepathically. "Such a good opportunity."

“…We can’t chase them.” Xuanze withdrew his magic. “With the people here now, we can’t stop the two of them.”

"...Aren't you from Earth? Don't talk nonsense..."

I really wanted to tilt my head to express my confusion, but unfortunately, my head is my body.

Xuanze didn't answer, but turned and left. Was he just going to let him go so easily? What a strange fellow.

“There’s a reason why the Demon King didn’t pursue them,” Aye said, walking up to me. “Because the person who just arrived has the ‘Holy Sword’ on him.”

I see, I see...

and many more……?

"Holy Sword"...?

end

"That's probably what happened."

Li sat on the sofa and took a sip of tea. She then recounted in detail what had happened to Baoxiang Li during their break.

The one who led the demons to attack humans was Xuanze, a hero from Earth, while at the same time, there was also a hero named Xiaque on the side of the kingdom.

According to past experience and the world's records, there can only be one hero, but now two heroes have appeared at the same time, which is really puzzling.

"Have things gotten complicated..." Ning absentmindedly took a sip of tea. "Two heroes... three 'Holy Swords'?"

"That's what the Demon King told me," Li shook his head. "But I haven't confirmed whether it's true or not. According to them, the girl who suddenly appeared was carrying a holy sword. But before I could see it, she had already disappeared."

It's infuriating to think about it. She was carrying an injured person, yet she managed to leave the scene so quickly, letting them get away so easily.

The Holy Sword has no fixed form. If one cannot determine what the Holy Sword the other party is holding, one cannot use the Mystic Eye to verify it.

"This is really troublesome." Ning glanced at her indifferently. "What do you plan to do? Get involved in this?"

"do not know……"

Ultimately, the war and conflict between humans and demons did not cause them any real harm, and they had no reason to get involved.

Ning left the decision to Li; she didn't have any particular thoughts on these matters. Li had said she wouldn't interfere in the hero's affairs after leaving the labyrinth, but now it seemed she couldn't ignore it... What should she do?

"Ugh...you always push these troublesome decisions onto me." Rin rubbed his head, feeling a headache coming on.

"How dare you say that to me?" Ning put down her cup. "You're the one who brought this trouble back, aren't you?"

I don't know what she's gotten herself into, but she's a walking collection of troubles, always attracting all sorts of problems. Putting that aside, she's also plunging headlong into these troubles herself. There's a limit to how good a person can be.

However, Ning doesn't dislike this aspect; after all, it's more like her.

However, it must be said that this decision is very important because it may affect the final outcome of this world. Right now, Li is also bound by various things and can no longer make decisions as casually as he did in the labyrinth.

The world is currently in turmoil, and Li doesn't yet understand what will happen next. The answer can only be considered after hearing the Demon King's detailed explanation.

“Speaking of which,” Li Xiang said, “what about Xiao? And Xia Ling? Where did they go?”

The house, which is usually a bit noisy, was very quiet now. Only then did Li realize that neither of her two children were home, and even her cat, Shuangyue, was not home.

"Hmm, ah...they." Ning smiled with relief. "Xiao has made friends."

"Is that so..." Rie's expression relaxed as well. "Have you made any friends... Have some fun!"

Because they were worried that Xiao would attract too much attention, they usually had her and Xia Ling look after the house together unless there was something else going on.

Therefore, Xiao has very few opportunities to contact the outside world, and she usually doesn't leave the vicinity of the Chamber of Commerce when she goes out. Li is worried about whether she can make friends, since it may affect her future growth, so he has to consider these issues.

They had this in mind when they invited Xia Ling, but the two seemed to have had little interaction lately. Just when Li started to worry, it seemed that their problems had already been resolved.

"Xiao is very happy," Ning said with a smile. "She went out with Xia Ling and they were talking about being friends."

“…Hmm.” Li nodded. “Maybe we really will have to get involved in this kind of troublesome thing.”

The demons, led by the hero Xuanze, have begun their attack on humanity. Although it's unknown when, the principality will likely be drawn into the war soon.

When that time comes, will this comfortable life continue?

To protect this life, to protect Xiao's smile, there's nothing else we can do.

"Ugh...cough cough."

Hale woke up.

He looked around in a daze and found himself in an abandoned hunter's hut in the forest. It was a bit dilapidated, but it was still enough to shelter him from the rain.

Someone had lit a fire inside the house, which relieved the damp chill of the rainy day and warmed Hao'er's somewhat cold body.

Ah, I remember now, the assassination failed, didn't it...?

Hale remembered what happened before he fell into a coma. He was assigned by the king to assassinate the demon king. He originally wanted to refuse, but he received an unexpected piece of information from an old friend.

The eleventh hero is still alive.

That's right, the eleventh hero, who is now the Demon King. Although he didn't know how that hero survived, he knew that if this matter reached the king, Xia Que would be in danger.

In order to protect Xia Que, he had to accept this almost impossible task, and he kept wondering if he was doing the right thing.

In order for the assassination to succeed, the kingdom assigned him an accomplice, namely Lycia, the leader of the "Ghosts".

The person who told him this was none other than Lycia. He refused to cooperate with Lycia and went to assassinate her alone, which led to his current state.

"...I was still saved by that person."

"Yes, how are you going to thank me?"

"—?!"

Lycia had somehow gotten to him. She squatted down next to Holl, watching him with interest. A military knife, her new toy, hung at her waist.

“Hey, Hale.” Lycia grabbed his collar and climbed on top of him. “Why did you leave ‘The Ghost’? You’re invincible with me. Why did you have to become a useless priest? Hale…”

Her voice was seductive, but Hale knew it was deadly poison. He didn't answer, he just looked into her eyes.

After a while, Lycia suddenly grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.

"Hey? Hao'er?" She stroked Hao'er's chest. "Why won't you answer me? Ah, I know, it's that girl, right? She's bothering you, right? You'll come back as soon as you get rid of her, right?"

"No—!" Bang!

The positions of the two were reversed. Hao grabbed her clothes and pushed her to the ground. After a while, he realized what he had done, hurriedly let go, and moved away from her.

“This has nothing to do with that ‘hero’,” Hale said, head down. “It’s just that I’ve become weaker. It has nothing to do with her. Lycia, don’t do anything stupid.”

“…I see.” Lycia believed him, smiling as she hugged him. “You really are still my ‘Hol.’ Then, let’s go hunting, like those ten heroes you’ve slain…”

Kill him/her.

Extra Chapter: The Daily Life of a Certain Younger Sister

Early in the morning, before dawn, Xia Ling had already gotten up. This was a small thing that a servant should do; she now had to get up early to work every day.

Xia Ling suffers from magic allergy. She is prone to allergic reactions in places with abundant magic, even if it is just a little bit.