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

"You've worked hard, my friend." Olitto patted Natsuki on the shoulder. "Go back and get some rest. Also, go see your sister and tell her about that. I think if it were them, they might be able to cure your sister's illness."

“Hmm…” Natsuki nodded. “Thank you, Olito.”

Xia Shu hurried away from the business association, heading home to accomplish something. Perhaps, he would soon be able to fulfill one of his wishes.

"Mi~"

The adorable meows reached Olito's ears. Judging from the sound, it must have been coming from nearby. He looked around and finally spotted the kitten at his feet.

"Oh...it's you, little guy."

Olito smiled and crouched down to play with the kitten. The cute little guy rubbed against his hand, meowing softly, looking very comfortable.

"She's really not shy at all."

The three sisters came up from downstairs. Come to think of it, they probably wouldn't let the kitten run around on its own now.

"I'm a little worried it might run away with someone," Li said with some concern.

"You're worrying too much," Ning retorted.

"Xiao will keep a close eye on it!" Xiao said energetically.

Olitto carefully handed the kitten to Xiao, saying, "The three of you are still as energetic as ever."

“You look rather sloppy.” Ning showed no mercy to Olitto. “Hurry up and tidy yourself up. We’ll wait for you in the reception room.”

"Haha, I got it. I won't keep you waiting too long."

Olitto waved his hand and quickly walked down the stairs to use the staff lounge, but judging from his appearance, it would probably take him a while.

"Ning, that's so rude!" Li reached out and tapped Ning on the head. "They're our business partners, after all."

"Is that so?" Ning glanced at her. "In my opinion, the Dragon King's verbal guarantee is not as reassuring as a contract."

"Hmm...that does seem to be the case..."

Li vaguely remembered that Olitó and Rielfa had only made a verbal agreement, and such an agreement was absolutely valid while Rielfa was still alive. That was the value of Rielfa's name.

But now that Lerfa is gone, the three sisters are more like homeless people who have come to Olito, with whom they had a past relationship, for help.

Li is now a Dragon King, but only a newly born one; his title and strength do not yet match the name. There are ways to deal with her, though.

"Ugh, how come I didn't think of this blind spot..." she exclaimed in frustration, as if it were perfectly understandable.

“Calm down, I’ve already revised the contract.” Ning Meng tapped her head. “I already revised the contract with him when I explained it to him yesterday.”

“Ning…that’s wonderful,” Li said, hugging him with emotion.

"Hey, hey? What are you doing, you stupid box?"

"Ah! Xiao wants a hug too!"

Ning hurriedly hugged Li, not understanding for a moment why Li had started crying or why she was hugging her. Xiao, though unaware of what had happened, also hugged her, her face beaming with happiness.

The kitten finally managed to peek out from Xiao's arms, meowing twice. It must have been very excited.

Every time Li missed something or couldn't do something, Ning would make up for it. Li was deeply moved, but after thinking it over, she could only express her feelings with a hug. She felt that she couldn't live without Ning anymore.

"Ning, promise me." Li loosened his grip slightly, looking into Ning's eyes. "Don't leave me, stay with me!"

"Huh? Huh?!"

Ning blushed! Smoke billowed from Ning's hair! She froze!

The amount of information was too much for Ning to process at once, and the topics Li had discussed were too disjointed, causing her to freeze. Staring blankly at the sky, she kept repeating "together," probably not coming back anytime soon...

She only returned to her original state when they were leaving, but for some reason, she refused to look Li in the eye, always avoiding his gaze. On the carriage, she simply kept reading her book, ignoring them.

"Did you two have a fight?" Olito asked with a wry smile.

To outsiders, they just seemed to be arguing, something that happens between sisters all the time.

As for Xiao, she was sitting in the driver's seat with the driver, holding a kitten and looking at the scenery outside.

They were on their way to the last house, which was located in the suburbs, so they needed to take a carriage to leave the city. Riding in a carriage and seeing the scenery was quite an experience… Wait! Now is not the time for that.

"How should I know..." Li also looked puzzled. "We didn't argue. But she's been ignoring me and not saying a word since just now."

She glanced at Ning sitting next to her. Ning kept looking out the window, as if he hadn't heard anything and was oblivious to everything.

In this situation, no matter how we try to talk to her, she ignores us. As for directly using a taxi to attract her attention, none of us here have the courage to do that.

Olitto was also puzzled by Ning's reaction, so he simply changed the subject.

“We should be there soon,” Olitto said. “This house should meet your requirements, right? Although it’s a bit smaller than the other two, it has an extra storage room and plenty of space for you to modify it yourself.”

"Hey...this feels pretty good..."

Li briefly imagined the scene; it had a manor-like feel, and being in the suburbs, there would be fewer people, allowing for more freedom. If it were surrounded by dense forest, that would be even better; perhaps they could even plant the Perseus Tree there.

It seemed as if the gods had heard Li's little wish, and the Goddess of Waste seemed to have finally shown her power, as the carriage gradually drove into a dense forest. After entering the forest, it felt like returning to the narrow space of a maze, and Li felt a faint sense of peace.

Chapter 24

This environment is just right for them—secret and safe, they probably won't be discovered no matter what they do...

"arrive."

Olitto pointed to the white roof that suddenly appeared in the dense forest; that must be the roof of the house. Olitto led them out of the carriage, told the driver to wait there, and then followed a barely noticeable path into the forest.

After a while, they arrived at a wide-open space. On one side of the space stood a two-story Western-style villa with a white base. Vines of some kind had climbed up one of the walls, turning it green without feeling jarring; rather, they were pleasing to the eye.

“This is a really nice place.” Ning, who had been silent for a while, suddenly spoke up. “Let’s not talk about the house for now. There are dense forests on all sides to act as obstacles, so the seclusion is guaranteed to a certain extent. The open space is not big but not small either, and there is still some room for modification. The concentration of magic energy around is also very high, so installing a few electrical boxes will not be a problem.”

“It’s all about practicality,” Olitto nodded. “That’s why I said this is probably the best house for you.”

"What about the warehouse?" Ning asked.

“Look, it’s over there.” Olito pointed to a spot not far from the villa. “It’s been sitting unused for a while now and might need some repairs.”

"Is that so? It does look like it needs some repairs before it can be used. You're such a wasteful person."

“I can’t deny it…” Olitto couldn’t refute it. “We usually live in the guild’s premises, and these are used by other guilds to pay off debts. It’s just right for you to use them now.”

"Wow, it's huge!"

Xiao put the kitten down and played on the grass, thinking about whether she should install some recreational facilities in the future... a swing... a seesaw... Ugh, how come I seem to have accidentally started treating myself like a child?

"Let the two of them play here." Li walked towards the villa. "Let's go take a look first."

Although they said they wanted to consider Xiao's thoughts, judging from Xiao's personality, she probably only thought it was amazing and wonderful, and that wasn't her opinion...

Let's forget about the treasure chest theory... anyway, it's all based on the Little Garden Theory that's in control.

Olitzo walked to the door first. There was no lock or anything like that on the white door; instead, there was a jewel embedded in the doorknob.

“This spell is for verifying identity, right…” Ning frowned and said, “It’s too simple. If it’s just using magic fluctuations as the verification standard, it can be unlocked after a simulation.”

"Ha, that's something ordinary people can't do..." Olito said with a wry smile, placing his identity card in front of the orb.

A magical circle lit up from within the orb, then passed through the identity card and dissipated into the air. The three heard a click; the lock had opened, and Olito pushed the door open.

"Ugh... so much dust."

Upon entering the room, they saw a lot of dust piled up on the furniture, thankfully all of which were covered with white cloths. The room was well-lit and more spacious than they had imagined, fitting their expectations perfectly.

"There's even furniture?" Olitto said with a surprised expression.

"You didn't even come to see it?!" Li retorted.

“I have so much work to do, I don’t have time to come all this way.” Olito brushed some dust off his face. “Besides, I don’t plan to live this far away.”

He casually lifted a white cloth, revealing furniture underneath. The furniture looked brand new, and there was nothing wrong with it; it wouldn't be a problem to move in right away.

Ning went straight upstairs and went to check out the three rooms by herself.

"Hmm...would you like to stay in this room?"

"—?! It's you... You scared me."

"I thought you knew I was coming up..."

"..."

As Ning was carefully observing the room, Li suddenly spoke to her at the door, startling her. She wasn't on guard against Li and the others, so she didn't notice Li was already at the door.

Li walked to the wooden window and opened it, letting the sunlight and the outside breeze into the room. She leaned against the window, enjoying the tranquility, and her appearance became radiant in the sunlight.

"We've finally found it." Rin looked out the window at Akatsuki playing. "Our home."

“...Yes, that’s true.” Ning walked to her side. “It’s our home.”

“It’s going to start here.” Li looked toward the principality’s capital city. “This is something we’ve been preparing for.”

“I don’t mean to discourage you,” Ning said calmly, “but we still have a lot to do. The furniture here isn’t all complete, and there are still many things to buy. Plus, there’s the matter of opening the shop, so we don’t have time to rest.”

"Ugh... I'm so busy... Please don't discourage me..." Li suddenly lost her motivation.

As Ning said, although the house has been chosen and the furniture is there, it doesn't seem complete, and a lot of things still need to be bought.

Afterwards, this place needs to be renovated, the open space outside needs to be modified, and the Perseus Tree needs to be planted here. We need to discuss cooperation with Olitzo, open a shop in Akihabara, and find reliable production partners.

The tasks were piling up like mountains, a far cry from the leisurely life in the maze. There was almost no chance to slack off. In addition, only Li and Ning were doing these tasks, as Xiao was too young and didn't understand, so she wasn't counted as part of the workforce.

"Ugh... I can't think about it anymore!" Li quickly shook her head, trying to clear her mind of all thoughts.

She had a premonition that if she continued thinking like this, there would be even more things to do, so she should focus on the things at hand first.

"Speaking of which, why did you ignore me just now?" Li changed the subject.

“…Don’t you really understand?” Ning stared at her.

"What do you mean, 'understand' or 'don't understand'?" Li tilted his head.

Ning was silent for a moment, then approached her forcefully. Li was slightly frightened and was forced back against the wall step by step by Ning, until she had no way to retreat.

"Ning... Ning...?" Li had already lost her composure. "Um... what's wrong?"

Ning's face revealed an extremely oppressive smile. She kept pushing Li closer to the corner, blocking all her paths with her hands on the wall.

"Oh, speaking of which, you two want a shop in Akihabara, right? I happen to have one..."

At this moment, Olito, the savior, walked in without anyone noticing. He was stunned for a moment before realizing that he seemed to have done something irreversible.

"Uh..." Olitto gave an awkward but polite smile. "Sorry to bother you."

He waved his hand and slipped out of the room as if sliding. Ning and Li remained awkwardly in their original positions, their faces burning red. Finally, Ning couldn't hold on any longer.

"I...I'm going to find Olyto!"

Ning pushed open the door and ran downstairs to chase after Olito, who had already almost escaped into the dense forest.

After Ning left, Li remained in the same position for a while before kneeling down and burying her face between her legs.

What exactly happened...? I just...

Chapter 25

A few days later, they finally moved into their new home.

"Haha! That's so high!"

"Xiao, don't jump too high."

After Li and Ning led Xiao to her room, she ran onto the soft bed and started jumping on it. It wasn't an earthly spring bed, of course; it was just filled with something called SpongeBob SquarePants.

Ah... don't complain about the name. At first, I also found it hard to believe, but after taking a look with my magic eye, it really is called SpongeBob.

It wasn't that yellow sponge, but rather a colored, transparent sphere that expands when it gets wet. In this world, it seems to be a very elastic material, several times larger than the kind found on Earth, and not as fragile.

That's why Xiao can jump around on this bed as she pleases. Although I'm not worried about the bed, I am worried that she might jump too high and hit the ceiling.

Thump! "Whoa!?"

You actually crashed it?!

Xiao jumped too high because she was too excited and hit her head, landing on the bed. Li muttered a complaint to himself and then immediately went to the bedside to check if she was alright.

"Oh, Sister Li, Xiao is alright."

"You said you were fine, but you have a bump on your head."

"Xiao is incredibly stubborn!"

"Who taught you all these memes anyway...?"

Xiao always manages to come up with some references from Earth time, things that Li never told her, and since she doesn't understand these things either, she always manages to subtly use them in the right places.