My thoughts kinda came to a crashing halt, resulting in a barrage of rather inane questions. Why? Because a loli with long, fiery orange twintails and covered in a bunch of ribbons while drenched in liquid chocolate - judging by the colour and sweet smell at least - sat inside the chest. She was pouting cutely. I tried to turn around again because unlike me she was even more naked. I at least had my three spots covered... if only in minimal fashion.

"Yes I am, and yes it is. I'm a chocolate mimic." She grinned. "Wanna try it? Today I mixed some strawberries in. The taste is to DIE for."

For a few seconds, I had no answer, but well...

"No thanks, but no. I don't want to die yet. So uhm... I'll just leave now."

For another few moments it was her turn to say nothing. She was clearly taken aback by my dismissal.

"Wait, waiiit! That's just an expression, a joke. I promise it won't harm you! *Sniff* P-Please don't leave me..."

Her sudden sad tone gave me pause. I did feel hungry and weak after all this, and usually mimics are fast eaters so if she planned to kill me anyway, at least I could request her to be quick about it.

"*Sigh* Alright, fine. But if you do want to kill me after all, at least please be quick."

"Wha-? No, no! No killing you, really. I just want to talk."

Welp. How could I say no to such a cutie?

~~~~~

As a token of good faith, the mimic girl - Mimissa - gave me a bar of chocolate with strawberry and yoghurt filling. Apparently she could decide once per day to switch to any real flavour of chocolate that existed somewhere... or just leave it as it was.

"So, Mimissa was it?" She nodded. "What did you want to talk about?"

I sat on the floor, slightly further than an arm's reach away, leaned against the wall. The chocolate on Mimissa's body somehow managed to flow up and down as if alive in a way. Sometimes she scooped some of it and licked it off her fingers in what I thought was a strangely-erotic manner.

"Anything, really. But well, first I was wondering why you're here. Are you a succubus in training or something?"

The way she looked at me, head propped up on her palms and those orange eyes now literally glowing with interest, made me uncomfortable. Especially when she had her tongue out just a little.

I considered what to tell her. The truth would be easiest, but potentially a bad idea; she was a dungeon monster after all. But I'd always hated lying and was not any good at it anyway.

"Being a succubus in training at least sounds interesting, but no. I was actually summoned literally yesterday and sent in here to-"

She suddenly recoiled. By which I mean not just her human body recoiled, but her entire chest pushed away from me with a loud screech.

"You're a heroine! An aesir! I should've noticed from your ears!"

Speaking of ears, hers were pointed and slightly longer than mine; longer than those of the succubus in any case which looked nearly just like human ones. If there were elves they'd probably have the longest ears. More importantly, her face was a mixture of fear and anger, continually shifting between the two.

The dark spots on the ground stirred in unison with the chocolaty soup inside her chest.

(Oh damn, she's angry! Think, Czara, think!)

I held up my hands in an attempt to pacify her.

"Wait, wait! Please calm down! I don't want to hurt civilians!"

She looked at me funny, head tilted.

"...What's a civilian?"

"Uhhh... okay, bad word choice. What I meant was, if you don't harm people then I've got no reason to harm you either."

"I'm a mimic! OF COURSE I harm people! I need to eat, you know!?"

(Oh shit!)

"W-Well... even then, I couldn't harm you. I'm unarmed and weak. Can I at least know how many people you've eaten before me?"

She started losing courage and trembled for a bit. I was confused at first, but then realised I must have dealt some mental damage. Something she did not enjoy admitting, based on how she looked down and to the side.

"T-"

"'T'?"

"Two! Two whole people! Old people who actually wanted to die! Yes, you may laugh now..."

I facepalmed.

(Seriously, two people who wanted to end their lives and nobody else? By monster standards, it's rather pathetic actually. No wonder she wanted some company. Maybe she even wanted to ask for tips later.)

I got up and stepped closer, hands open to seem non-threatening. She first motioned to move back again, but restrained herself.

"If that's really all, I think I can forgive it."

My words must have been more convincing than I thought, because she actually calmed down.

"Aah... ahahahaaah... y-you mean it?" The way she looked aside again and held her hands against her face made her look even cuter. "Y-You aren't going to hurt me over this?"

"If you refrain from eating me, sure. Want to be friends?"

She nodded a little over-enthusiastically. Honestly, her fear of me made me believe I did have some power inside of me, if 'aesirs' are so fearsome.

"Good. Is there anything you want? I myself would like some more chocolate if that's okay?"

I half-regretted saying that because she made a rather outrageous deal out of it. Her sudden smug face was quite adorable, after all.

She leaned back and dangled one leg over the lid of her chest - the wooden one, of course. Her other chest was still bare and visible due to her torso sticking out of the chocolate. Yes, it was actually filled almost to the brim with chocolate soup.

"W-W-W-Would you lick it o-off my foot and leg...? Please..." She went pretty quiet there towards the end.

I looked at her face to see if she was serious. She was blushing and clearly not as smug as she intended, looking to the side.

I wanted to call her out, but held it in. I did feel quite weak from lack of food, and while it was something of an act of submission towards her, I really needed some help. A friend, ideally, but at least an ally. And dammit, if someone as ridiculously cute as Mimissa asks you for a favour like that, there isn't much reason to hesitate anyway.

I kneeled down and started with her big toe. The cute gasp and her unbelieving face behind her hands crossed over her mouth as I started licking and sucking made it completely worth it.

~~~~~

"I-I'm sorry... I said I'm sorry!" Mimissa clearly regretted her momentary lapse into smug domination... not that she managed to be smug for more than a few seconds. Though that wasn't the only issue.

I had really outdone myself, carefully yet diligently licking all the chocolate off her foot and leg up to the knee. She then totally panicked and kicked me in the face for my trouble. I ended up on the floor and grimaced in pain - monster girl, remember? - and then spent some time pouting in anger.

Besides, it ended up making no difference. As soon as Mimissa pulled her leg back into the chest, it was perfectly covered in chocolate again, like some sort of infinite food cheat.

"I'll forgive you if you tell me how your chocolate even works. Where does it come from? Also, what's with the ribbons?"

Mimissa had sunk neck-deep into her chest, and when she emerged again she was at least no longer topless. That part had bothered me the most, really.

"The ribbons were a gift, but putting them in my hair didn't work, so I tied them around my neck and wrist. I also have a third tied around my left ankle. As for the chocolate... I honestly don't know. I do somehow know I'm a 'chocolate mimic', so it's just something I produce? It never overflows from the chest though..."

"And how do you eat people?"

"Like all mimics the fluids... the chocolate in my case can be made to dissolve things. But I have to want that and it's only the chocolate still in contact with my body or very close by. Here, take this."

She threw me another bar of chocolate.

"At the distance you're sitting I already can't control that anymore."

(So around 2 metres is already safe.)

"But if that bar was already meant to dissolve, it would stay that way."

I got up and started walking in a circle. I needed to think.

(Guess she's some sort of mutated mimic that produces edible chocolate instead of having acidic goo or tentacles... but she can make it acidic at will or not, provided it's within arms length or so. Does she make it from magic? Mana, if it's called that?)

I needed to test a few things to know her limits. I went closer and dipped my hand into the chocolaty soup. It was warm, only slightly below body temperature. After pulling out again, I noticed how weirdly uniform the covering was. I held the hand in front of Mimissa's face, and she started licking it clean.

"Now we're even."

I wondered what would happen if I flipped the chest over. Would it produce an infinite chocolate avalanche? If I got into the chest, would I drown? Mimissa seemed to be sitting inside of it, but the fact she could dangle her legs over the edge made it seem like she sat on something higher than the bottom... actually, she had started sitting on top of the fluid, her legs slightly spread.

(Mimissa, are you tempting me in a different way now!? Your pu- your crotch's totally visible, you know?)

I was honestly getting horny. Yeah, that's another thing I don't mind admitting, at least to myself. I pulled on my white not!band-aids and-

*Ding* [Equipment 'Pasties Bikini of the Succubus' is cursed. Cursed equipment cannot be removed.]

(...Of course it would be curse- wait, that was some strange system notification, spoken by a slightly robotic woman's voice! I had something of a hunch before, but dismissed it. Now though...)

"[Identify]! [Identify: Self]! [Identify: Constanze]! ...Uh, [Menu]! [Menu: Constanze]! ...C'mon, give me something? [Identity]? [Status]? [Skills]...? Nothing's working..."

Naturally, nothing happened. That would have been too easy, after all.

"What're you trying to do?"

"Uhm, well, I was hoping I could have a sheet or something that tells me how strong I am and what I know..."

Her face lit up.

"Try 'Statistics: Constanze' or 'Stats'."

"Thank you. [Stats]! ...Right, [Stats: Constanze]?"

That finally did it. A transparent black sheet, about the size of an A2 paper, showed in front of me. Mimissa seemed unable to see it. Oddly enough, all it listed was my name, that I had 13/20 HP, and... literally nothing else.

"What does it say?"

"Name: Constanze Czarina. No family name, strangely. I also have 13/20 HP, which is hardly a surprise. Annnd that's all."

"Weird. What does it look like?"

"Black, transparent. No ornaments or anything."

"Hmmm... mine is a very dark red and it has silver ornaments around the edges depicting orbs. They might match the dungeon core?"

We pondered the oddity for a moment, but frankly I was getting sick of standing or sitting on the cold stone floor. I was really starting to feel chilly.

"Mimissa?"

"Yes?"

"Would you... mind if I get into the chest with you? I'm really starting to feel cold here."

She blushed at that, a little, while smiling.

(Why're you blushing?)

"Not at all. Just be careful you don't slip."

She held out her hand, and taking it I carefully stepped into the chest. Despite that, it still did not overflow. I sat down on something, the chest being oddly more spacious than it looked.

"Make sure all your hair is inside."

I did as she said. Then she lay on top of me. She smelled so incredibly good.

"Now you're my friend for real."

The lid snapped shut! The interior was only lit by her reddish-orange eyes, and before I knew it her lips were on mine! Was I shocked? Strangely, only a little, since my thoughts were suddenly much more occupied with the kiss of the naked girl on top of me. I even dared to grab her butt.

*Ding* [𝟰𝟴𝟳𝟱𝟲Đ𝟲𝟭𝟲Ɇ 'Constanze Czarina 𝟰฿𝟲𝟭𝟳𝟮𝟲𝟱𝟲Ɇ𝟲𝟵𝟲Ɇ𝟲𝟭' has been registered as a dungeon monster for 'NULL']

I heard the system message and wondered... had I already messed up?