The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch - Chapter 231

After a long time, the Pope’s gaze finally moved away from Ciel’s right hand and looked at Ciel’s eyes. They slowly said, “Before discussing cooperation, I would like to understand one thing… Your Excellency.”

“What is it?”

Ciel withdrew her right hand and asked calmly.

“What is your purpose in exploring the Other Side?”

The Pope spoke, asking directly.

“To regain strength, and make some friends.”

Ciel didn’t hesitate and replied directly.

Using the Other Side to regain the power of “Uniqueness” and make the pocket watch more complete was one of the few useful aspects of the Other Side for Ciel.

As for making some friends… it wasn’t exactly a lie. At least she had met Little Left and the Grim Worm. She could say she had a small network in the Other Side.

“To regain strength, huh…”

The Pope slowly nodded and said, “Your Excellency wishes to see the Other Side node?”

They seemed to accept Ciel’s explanation.

Because the purpose of the Church of the God of Order in exploring the Other Side was also to regain strength, and they had indeed regained some—for example, the Tier 3 and Tier 4 potions, and the method of Artificial Divinity.

“Please follow me.”

The Pope didn’t say any unnecessary words. They just walked towards a certain part of the room, directly opened a hidden door, and walked down the stairs behind the hidden door.

Ciel followed. Others also followed closely behind Ciel to ensure Ciel’s safety.

As they descended the spiral staircase, the closer they got to the bottom, the more Ciel felt a familiar aura—not only Ciel felt this aura, but Little Left on her shoulder felt it too.

Layer by layer, the spiral staircase descended. The further down they went, the colder the temperature became. Although the Pope’s original location was the top floor, their current descent was likely already below ground level, at least around 2 to 3 stories underground, and they still hadn’t reached the bottom.

Besides the oil lamps, there was also a crimson light source at the very bottom. And the further down they walked, the more visible that light became. It was so bright that they didn’t even need any lamps anymore.

It wasn’t until they were almost at the 4th underground level that someone finally couldn’t bear it.

A “Radiant Bishop” stopped his steps and said tremblingly, “Archbishop Tara, I… my potion is showing signs of losing control. I cannot go any further…”

“Stay here.”

Tara slightly frowned and told him not to continue following.

However, in Tara’s eyes, the other party’s faith was not pure enough. Being unable to overcome such a small difficulty meant they were destined not to be someone who could follow the Mother Goddess closely.

But as the layers descended, fewer and fewer people followed. Even Percy had stopped.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to continue going down, but that she had truly started experiencing symptoms of potion loss of control.

Finally, only the Pope, Ciel, Tara, and Henry reached the bottom.

Upon stepping onto the stone bricks of the lowest level, Ciel looked at the crimson light source.

It was a shattered shield floating quietly in mid-air. Under the crimson light, it was impossible to distinguish its original color. Blood threads connected the shield fragments, and within these blood threads and fragments, a blood-red vortex swirled in the very center, as if it would never stop.

This was… a blood ritual array, and the door to the Other Side.

Ciel had seen this scene countless times. It was extremely similar to when she used 【Spiritual Summoning】. But she had never seen a blood ritual array that could last for such a long time…

According to Henry, counting from the end of the Holy War era, this Other Side node had been maintained for at least seven hundred and forty-one years.

One must know that Ciel maintained her blood ritual array by using her own blood and sacrificing transcendent materials and flesh… What kind of thing could maintain this blood ritual array for hundreds of years?

What kind of thing could have such immense energy?

Ciel’s gaze swept over the shield again, recording all the patterns and bloodline paths upon it in her mind. She could replicate it at any time.

Just then, something unexpected happened.

Little Left on Ciel’s shoulder suddenly leaped down, jumped directly into the blood-red vortex, entering the Other Side. And very quickly, Little Left jumped out. As it jumped out, Ciel saw that it seemed to have taken something.

A quill pen that had lost its luster, with black and blue feathers.

Little Left held the quill pen between two fingers, holding it up before Ciel as if presenting a treasure.

Is this… the Touch of Fate’s Betrayal that she had discarded in the Other Side, which had lost its “Uniqueness” blessing?

The quill pen that had caused her so much trouble?

It’s still in the Other Side, and completely undamaged?

Perhaps due to being in the Other Side for too long, the quill pen was also tainted with the aura of the Other Side. The blood-red etchings on it became increasingly twisted. Just looking at it seemed to have an effect.

Ciel had no doubt that anything written with this quill pen would carry the aura and pollution of the Other Side.

Ciel bent down and took the quill pen from Little Left, gently patting the back of the hand.

Little Left, praised, waved its fingers and excitedly spun around in place a few times.

The others clearly also noticed this scene, especially the Pope. At this moment, their gaze was fixed on Ciel. Even though the iron mask on their face seemed about to melt into molten iron and drip down, they did not look away.

The shock in their hearts, and Henry’s, was beyond measure.

Ciel taking something from the Other Side was as easy as eating and drinking… This caused their worldview, especially the Pope’s, to be severely impacted. They felt as if their worldview was about to collapse.

They had even started to question themselves.

What had all their efforts over the years been for?

But quickly, the Pope recovered.

They would do everything possible to get this great being to agree to cooperate with the Church of the God of Order.

At any cost.