The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch - Chapter 154

A chessboard with the Society of Merriment as the player, Berren City as the board, and the Grain Import and Export Association, Berren City workers, the Orlando Republican Army, the Church of the Savior Goddess, and Ansu’s higher-ups as pieces, was laid out before Ciel.

Moreover, the Society of Merriment, as the player, had no opponent to play against. They were completely invincible.

Because they were not acting driven by any interest.

Everyone on the chessboard was a sacrifice. The most deeply affected was the Church of the Savior Goddess. Their foundation in Ansu was already crumbling. If there were no major reversals later, the Church of the Savior Goddess being kicked out by Ansu’s higher-ups was almost a certainty.

What would the Church of the Savior Goddess do then? Would they abandon this parish and believers they had nurtured for several hundred years? Leave directly, or simply truly resist?

The latter, perhaps, was the truly disruptive situation the Society of Merriment wanted to see.

For the remaining ten-odd hours, Ciel wasn’t idle either.

Since there was nothing to lose anyway, she directly increased the intensity of the Divine Advent Church’s actions.

Even Uris from the Church of the Savior Goddess was helping Ciel, mobilizing believers, nuns, and priests still in Berren City to start searching for members of the Orlando Republican Army and the Society of Merriment, including potential nobles involved.

The entire Berren City seemed to have become a large witch hunt ground. Even the military was temporarily under the Divine Advent Church’s control, clearing out every corner of the city, compiling lists of Republican Army members, reporting them layer by layer, and submitting them to Ciel.

Such terrifying actions directly alarmed the capital, Ansu. The Queen’s Sword had already begun assembling troops to sweep Berren City for cultists. Even within the Divine Advent Church, people were being sent to settle accounts with Tara.

But at least within today, Ciel was the absolute, unquestionable authority and leader in Berren City.

Large quantities of information were compiled into paper books, continuously submitted to Ciel. For the remaining ten-odd hours, she spent almost all of her time reading various pieces of information.

This was a completely unreasonable method of information gathering, but even so, it failed to uncover the members of the Society of Merriment. Ciel was not surprised by this result.

Berren City’s resident population was previously just over 230,000, but during this period, it experienced significant expansion, with many new immigrant and refugee populations.

Ciel’s cult strength was only a little over ten people. She could only assign each of them to search one area, but the brainwashed cultists carrying out the actual searches were basically not transcendents.

These people, even if they found members of the Society of Merriment, would likely only search in the dream, resulting in a “no anomaly” outcome.

Conversely, many members of the Orlando Republican Army were indeed found.

And so, until the simulation time ended, silver light flashed before Ciel’s eyes. She appeared in a purely silver space.

Her shark-toothed self stood opposite, smiling at her. From this third-person perspective, Ciel realized that her smile after drinking the “Butcher” potion was slightly unsettling.

And in this space, the potion’s influence on Ciel disappeared. She also perceived the personality changes her “Butcher” potion-influenced self had.

Among all the potions, the “Butcher” potion was, so far, the most emotionally stable one besides the “Assassin” potion. She didn’t know if this was due to good digestion and fusion.

Besides the strange quirk of turning people into food for others to taste, there were almost no downsides… Although this was already sufficiently anti-human, in the simulation, it was actually manageable.

After saving the “Butcher” save file to No. 6, Ciel left this silver space.

The silver before her eyes gradually faded.

…

【Reality】

【Holy Year 741, July 2nd, 00:11】

【Evaluation: Why heads? Why heads? Why heads? Why heads?】

【I had the title all ready. You rolled heads and avoided danger?】

【Right… Think about it, could the reason you didn’t directly handle the Society of Merriment be that your imagination is too limited? Perhaps, you should try a save file with a bizarre mindset ^^】

【Take it. You deserve this based on your performance.】

【Reward: Fate Points ×46, 【Nemesis Lv.2】, 【Omniscient Lv.1】】

【Fate Points: 199】

The system’s comment, tinged with slight unwillingness and sarcasm, appeared before Ciel’s eyes, but she didn’t pay much attention to it, and directly closed the screen.

Compared to the cold and oppressive underground prison where she was upon entering the simulation, Ciel, whose consciousness had just returned to reality, felt the warmth of the quilt, and the soft body she was holding in her arms.

Ciel slightly tightened her grip, holding the person in her arms a little closer.

Besides the dizziness from leaving the simulation, Ciel’s right arm also felt a slight tingling sensation, as if it had been pressed for too long.

Slightly opening her eyes, Ciel saw Avena, facing her, her head resting on her arm.

Ciel remembered that before she entered the simulation, Avena was facing away from her… Avena thought she was asleep, so she quietly changed to a more affectionate position?

She wondered how this awkward personality was developed.

Ciel looked at Avena’s peaceful sleeping face. What came to her mind was the horrific state of Avena, burned by the explosion, even missing a significant amount of muscle and skin.

Ciel slightly lowered her head. Their noses gently touched. Feeling Avena’s breath, she slightly turned her face and kissed her.

In the darkness, the soft touch on her lips gradually calmed Ciel’s heart.

Fortunately, none of it had happened yet.

Even in the next simulation, Ciel, who knew everything beforehand, wouldn’t let any of it happen again.

Ciel’s movement seemed to wake Avena, who had just fallen asleep not long ago, but she didn’t seem fully awake yet.

“Ciel…” Avena called out something groggily.

But Avena, who had dealt with things all day and drank quite a bit during socializing, didn’t open her eyes. She just draped her right leg over Ciel’s waist, shifted her body slightly closer, and settled into a more comfortable position before falling back into a deep sleep.