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

For a moment, the surroundings fell silent. Many were stunned by Celia's words, which plunged them into deep thought. The first to act was the child's father, who walked to his family and knelt down. The adventurers stood in a line, kneeling and apologizing to the commoners.

This incident can be considered resolved for now... but the fundamental problem remains...

Mo Yueya squinted at the black knight beside him, lost in thought.

Chapter 21 Bald Wu Ke

"Ha... That's so strange."

Seria walked back as if her previous demeanor was fake, but to be honest, quite a few people applauded what she had just witnessed, and the Black Knight thought so too.

"Seria, well done."

The Black Knight patted her shoulder and then burst into laughter. He had thought the situation would spiral out of control again, but it had turned out this way, temporarily resolving the problem.

"Then what about our things?" Mo Yueya asked, reaching out his hand. "What about our things?"

"Huh?" Seria suddenly remembered something, and an embarrassed expression appeared on her face. "Um... I..."

"Alright, you don't need to say anything more." Mo Yueya shook his head helplessly.

“I’m sorry…” Seria could only lower her head.

She rushed up without thinking too much, leaving her things behind. Now she doesn't remember where they are, and someone might have already stolen them. It's really frustrating, although she can always buy them back.

“Ink isn’t cheap…” Mo Yueya looked up at the sky.

The most pressing issue is the ink, which is what's giving Mo Yueya the biggest headache. He just bought all the ink he had, and it would be extremely embarrassing if he lost it.

"Oh, miss, these are your things, right?"

Suddenly, a bald, middle-aged man stepped out from the crowd. He was very tall and conspicuous. He was holding the things that Seria had just dropped, and he handed the sack containing the items to Seria.

"Ah! It's mine! Thank you!" Seria happily kissed the other person's cheek.

"Oh...I made a profit..." The bald man smiled shyly.

"Ah! Is that you!? Wu Ke!" the Black Knight suddenly shouted excitedly.

"Huh? Oh, it's Black Knight, bro!" Wu Ke exclaimed excitedly upon seeing Black Knight. "Who do we have here? No wonder a girl like that went up to stop these guys. You have good taste in people."

Wu Ke approached the Black Knight, put his hand on his shoulder, and acted like an old acquaintance. The Black Knight didn't seem to mind; instead, he laughed heartily.

"Oh dear, there are all sorts of reasons," the Black Knight said, hooking his arm around Wu Ke's shoulder. "What brings you here? Are you here to join the expedition?"

"Hey! How could I possibly turn down such a lucrative job!"

Seria and Mo Yueya stood to the side, looking bewildered as they watched the Black Knight and Mo Yueya put their arms around each other's shoulders. After noticing his companion's reaction, the Black Knight coughed awkwardly.

"Sorry, my apologies." The Black Knight apologized to the two of them, then pushed Wu Ke in front of him. "Come on, let me introduce you. This is Vanguard, who often teams up with me. Wu Ke, you can also call him Baldy."

"Oh, you two are Black Knight's current partners, right?" Wu Ke extended his hand in a friendly manner. "My name is Wu Ke, and what's yours?"

“Seria…” Seria retreated far away with a twitching smile.

"Mo Yueya." Mo Yueya said her name calmly, reaching out to grasp the other person's hand. "We just left the maze not long ago, and we're not entirely clear about the situation here. Could you tell us about it?"

"Haha, of course!" Wu Ke patted his bald head. "Of course I won't refuse. The Black Knight's friends are my friends. Right, Old Black?"

"Haha, I'm not giving it to you, bald guy!"

There was an indescribable atmosphere between the two, making Celia feel uncomfortable. Perhaps this was what they called male friendship. Her feelings were complicated. Could Mo Yueya be that kind of person too?

"It's getting late, so let's find a place to eat and talk," Wu Ke suggested, glancing at the sky.

"Oh, let's go."

"Hahahaha! Old Black, you can still drink so much!"

"Aren't you bald too? Hahahaha!"

Ah... Anyway, I don't know how it turned out like this. Two big guys suddenly started drinking and seemed to be getting drunk and acting crazy.

Mo Yueya and Seria quietly moved to another table, pretending not to know them.

Celia leaned on the table and took a small sip of the wine in her glass, then continued to watch the two guys at the next table act crazy while drunk. Although she was a little annoyed, watching people act crazy while drunk was actually quite amusing.

She glanced again at Mo Yueya sitting opposite her. He had already retrieved the things he bought today from the Black Knight and then took some of them out.

The table was now covered in parchment, but Mo Yueya hadn't taken out any ink; instead, she was writing directly with magic, which Celia found somewhat incomprehensible. Why buy so much expensive ink when she could simply write with magic?

"Hey, Moon Raven," Seria couldn't help but ask curiously, "Why is your magic so special?"

Mo Yueya's magic is not the formless magic of ordinary people. When he releases his magic, it becomes a mist, and when he uses it, it becomes liquid. The exact reason for this is probably unknown to anyone but Mo Yueya himself.

Moreover, the strange pen he held in his hand also aroused great curiosity.

"...You ask about this?" Mo Yueya stopped writing. "This...is a kind of fear of mine."

“Fear?” Celia took a sip of wine. “I don’t understand what you’re saying at all.”

"It doesn't matter if you don't understand," Mo Yueya said calmly. "I'll resolve this matter sooner or later."

“So,” Celia pointed to the ball of magic in his hand, “why do you need to buy ink when you can use magic like ink? It’s so expensive.”

“Magic cannot maintain its physical form for long,” Mo Yueya casually drew a raven, “because it is part of this world, and once it becomes independent, it will always revert to its original form.”

The crow on the paper struggled to emerge and transformed into a physical Ink Crow—the Ink Moon Crow's forte of magic. The Ink Crow flapped its wings, trying to take flight, but in the blink of an eye, it dissipated into magical energy and vanished.

“It’s something like this,” Mo Yueya explained to her. “If you don’t take care to maintain it, it will dissipate quickly, just like the magic you use. My magic can be recycled and reused, as long as I can take it back before I can’t maintain it anymore, but it’s not unlimited.”

“I see,” Celia nodded. “Indeed, I no longer consciously maintain my spells after they hit the enemy; they disappear as soon as they hit the enemy. I really should have kept them recorded with ink.”

“Compared to that, Wu Ke told us something important.” Mo Yueya’s eyes sharpened.

“Ah, that’s the one…” Seria nodded.

These people were unaware that the hero had companions; in their minds, the only person accompanying the hero was her master. They knew nothing about Seria and her companions, and the hero had been deliberately isolated.

"This doesn't seem right," Mo Yueya wrote in the intelligence report. "Even though we're just a temporary team of adventurers, why are they deliberately targeting us?"

"I don't quite understand..." Seria stared at the purple liquid in the glass. "We are the hero's companions, is there anything that would be disadvantageous for them?"

“This still needs to be investigated…” Mo Yueya said, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Me too,” Seria agreed.

They had already felt just how terrifying the vortex of this event was. Everything was too abnormal, and no one was even organizing these adventurers and civilians. Starting a campaign like this would only increase casualties.

“Seria,” Mo Yueya asked her for the first time, “I need your help with something.”

Chapter 22 People Who Are Here or Not

"Oh, Old Black, is this where you put the stuff?"

"Ah, yes, right here, please take care of it."

"Hahaha, how could we possibly accept that! You are the hero's companions! Helping you is our duty."

"Um, Miss Celia, is there a problem with our magic?"

"This is a huge problem! This is nowhere near the power of a normal 'Raging Wind Hammer'! You guys didn't input enough magic power! And you guys! 'Meteor Fire' isn't for this kind of situation!"

Ah... another kind of noise. Mo Yueya found it irritating, but there was nothing he could do. It was something he had created, so he could only accept it silently.

That night, he and Seria discussed organizing this group under the banner of the Hero's Companions, because based on their observations since arriving here, these people were completely disorganized and had no leader at all.

Such a large-scale battle, yet the kingdom hasn't sent anyone capable of leading it. If the battle continues like this, the outcome is predictable.

Therefore, Mo Yueya planned to become the leader. Of course, he would only work behind the scenes, while Seria and the Black Knight would be the ones truly promoted.

The title of "Hero's Companion" isn't omnipotent, because simply making such a claim lacks credibility, and many people don't believe it. But Mo Yueya is too lazy to care about those people; it's not his concern.

Those who want to do it will do it; all I need to do is survive.

Mo Yueya glanced at the people following Seria and the Black Knight around. The Black Knight and his men were currently taking stock of their battle preparations, while Seria was informing the mages of some details and key points of the battle.

This will be a matter of life and death for them. After all, the enemy is the Dragon King, and we even have to attack his entire labyrinth. The slightest mistake could result in many deaths. Is this how the kingdom intends to operate?

Or……

“Apart from the soldiers, no one else matters to them…?” Mo Yueya thought of a possibility.

The people here are mostly civilians, adventurers, and mercenaries. Soldiers, or knights, are few and far between. So far, the only people they have seen are the two guards at the gate and the 'ghost'.

Logically, if the kingdom had issued a request to gather forces to attack the labyrinth, it should have set an example by sending knights and allocating some of its forces here. The fighting at the front lines wasn't as intense as expected.

But the kingdom did not do that.

"What exactly happened..." Mo Yueya couldn't see the end of this incident.

Depending on the circumstances, Mo Yueya may leave the country to become a wandering adventurer, because the kingdom's anomalies are no longer something that can be ignored with a laugh.

"Moon Raven!" Seria called to Moon Raven, "Come here for a moment."

"What?" Mo Yueya slowly walked over, casting a questioning look at her.

“We’re having a big meeting tonight,” Celia said, inexplicably excited. “At that time, everyone here who is willing to follow our orders will gather, and then we can complete the organization. This way, we can reduce casualties.”

“Is that so?” Mo Yueya looked at those people. “Reducing casualties… it doesn’t feel very real.”

“Don’t say that,” Celia patted his shoulder. “Didn’t you already persuade a group of ordinary people who couldn’t fight to leave? You’ve already saved a lot of people. If I were to go, it would probably turn into an argument.”

"It's good that you know yourself."

"That's hurtful what you're saying..." Celia rolled her eyes at him. "What will you say then?"

"No, you can pretend I don't exist." Mo Yueya stretched out her hand and released a black crow. "What do you intend to say?"

“I’ll just say some inspiring things, something that should have been Xia Que’s job,” Celia thought for a moment. “The Black Knight is all about command and planning, that should have been Hao’er’s job… but…”

"I've found the location of those two," Mo Yueya said calmly.

"Huh? Shall we go find them right now?" Seria asked.

“No need,” Mo Yueya suddenly leaned closer to Seria. “They are being controlled by ‘ghosts’ now. I don’t think those guys will let us get close to them.”

“…?” Seria couldn’t understand what was going on.

“It depends,” Mo Yueya said coldly. “The ‘Kingdom’ might just abandon us.”

"...?!"

Seria suddenly understood something, and just as she was about to question Mo Yueya, Mo Yueya had already walked away.

She thought she would ask him what was going on next time, but she didn't have the chance. There were still a few days before the full-scale attack, and she was so busy that she could only cut back on her rest time. She couldn't find Mo Yueya anywhere.

That night, Celia kept watch at the entrance to the labyrinth, as was agreed upon, to prevent a sudden counterattack from inside the labyrinth.

Other adventurers and civilians were keeping watch with her. These civilians were responsible for protecting the rear support of their raiding party, and the raiding party would give them half of the reward, which they deserved.

"Haa..." Seria couldn't help but yawn.

"Haha, Miss Seria must be sleepy."

“Yes… I’ve been a bit tired these past few days.” Seria stood up and stretched. “The Black Knight probably feels the same way.”

The Black Knight should also be on guard at some entrance at this time.

"Thank you for your hard work, both of you. Your shift will be over soon, please hang in there."

Seria nodded, though she herself was almost at her limit, in a half-asleep, half-awake state, feeling groggy.

"Um……?"

Seria vaguely saw a young man in a white trench coat walking towards the entrance of the maze.

"Excuse me... I'll have to leave for a moment."

Seria stood up unsteadily, wanting to call out to the young man who was heading into the maze, as it was too dangerous for him to go into the maze alone at this time.

"Excuse me, wait a minute," Celia called out to the other person. "Don't go into the maze alone, it's very dangerous now..."

The man noticed someone calling him and slowly turned around. Celia saw his face, but felt that if she looked away, she would forget he was even there.

The other person's presence was so faint that if she hadn't happened to see him, Seria would have had no idea he had arrived here.

"Ah, thank you." The young man smiled. "I was just planning to take a look."

“Let’s wait until the day after tomorrow,” Celia said, trying to sound cheerful. “We’re launching our final offensive the day after tomorrow. It’s not too late to go together then.”

"I'm sorry to trouble you. Thank you, but no need." The young man thanked her first, then added, "However, I have someone I must see; she is waiting for me."

"Huh? Wait...?" Seria paused. "Who was I talking to just now...?"

She looked around, bewildered, searching for the person who had just spoken to her, but had no recollection of them.

The faint light drifted slowly into the depths of the maze, and the young man's figure gradually faded away, like a ghost that appeared and disappeared.