The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch - Chapter 283

“Then come along.” Ciel walked to the door, opened it, went through the stairs, and headed downstairs. Avena and Ciel walked side-by-side, while Tara fell back a step, following behind Ciel.

This was merely Tara expressing her utmost respect. It wasn’t to catch the faint scent of soap from Ciel’s hair, which wafted backward as she walked, to replenish the mental energy depleted by her work these past days.

Ciel reached the study door and happened to see the maid standing there. The maid, seeing Ciel arrive, subtly stepped aside and said, “Miss Silva is already inside.”

“Thank you.” Ciel subtly nodded to the maid, then pushed open the study door.

As soon as she pushed the door open, Lucy, who was sitting inside, immediately stood up, turned to look at Ciel at the doorway, and smiled.

The current Lucy looked energetic. The wounds on her face had completely healed, and even the scars were gone. Apart from a slight stiffness on one side of her face when she made expressions, there was no sign that her face had once been torn.

Lucy also tied her short hair back, looking even more capable.

“Miss Ciel, Miss Avena, Miss Tara,” Lucy greeted them one by one, then said with a smile, “Long time no see.”

“Long time no see.” Ciel walked to the seat opposite Lucy and sat down. She said, “Sit down. What brings you here?”

“Oh… I heard you weren’t feeling well and left early today, so I wanted to ask if there’s anything I can help you with.” Lucy sat down and asked Ciel with a smile.

She had only just returned a little while ago… Lucy was truly well-informed. She probably rushed to her house the moment she heard the news.

However, Ciel certainly didn’t believe Lucy was merely concerned about her health. She was just using this as an excuse to talk about other matters.

Ciel didn’t expose her. She just smiled and replied, “I’m not unwell. I just wanted to come back and rest. How have you been, Miss Lucy? Is the board very busy?”

“No,” Lucy waved her hand, saying with a weary expression, “Executive Director… there’s too much to manage… It’s not what I imagined. I thought I could just be a hands-off boss and make key decisions when needed.”

Seemingly a complaint, it wasn’t hard to see that Lucy was quite satisfied with her work after her promotion.

“However… there is indeed one thing recently that I think I need to tell you, Miss Ciel.”

“What is it?” Ciel looked at Lucy with some curiosity.

“It’s like this: the high-level directors learned about your appointment as a special consultant and want me to talk to you about giving you a promotion… You see.” Lucy looked at Ciel and said tentatively.

“What’s the purpose?” Avena directly spoke, asking for Ciel.

Anyone could tell that the Deton Group had a request for Ciel.

“This…” Lucy gave Avena an awkward laugh. She knew Ciel liked to be direct, so she looked directly at Ciel and said, “The group hopes to obtain licenses to operate casinos in all of Ansu’s colonies, and they sent me to talk to you.”

Licenses to operate casinos in all colonies?

“This kind of thing should be brought to Charles, not me.” Ciel shook her head.

Hearing Ciel’s words, Lucy was stunned for a moment. She cautiously said, “You don’t agree, Miss Ciel?… The top brass knows that you call the shots in Ansu now.”

“To be frank, it’s thanks to my relationship with you that I’ve so quickly established myself among the high-ranking officials.”

“You call the shots in Ansu now…” What a niche phrase.

In the eyes of other major powers, Ciel had completely replaced Forte’s previous position, and in terms of “taming” these organizations, she had done even better than Forte.

Moreover, because Ciel had been relatively peaceful in all aspects lately, she hadn’t aroused the resentment of these factions at all—however, the Deton Group was somewhat worried that they might be excluded due to not having a good enough relationship with Ciel, which was why they sent Lucy to lobby.

However, the Deton Group’s ambitions were vast… making one begin to suspect their expansion had some hidden motive.

“Let’s hear the conditions.” Ciel didn’t rush to refuse Lucy. Instead, she wanted to hear what conditions the Deton Group was willing to offer.

“The Deton Group owns a large territory in the New World Continent,” Lucy looked at Ciel and said, “If we can obtain the casino operating license, we are willing to donate this enclave to Miss Ciel… or the Ansu government, as Ansu’s overseas enclave in the New World Continent, free of charge.”

An enclave in the New World Continent?

Ever since the New World Continent fired its first shot for independence half a century ago, and until its independence, that place had always been a wound that Ansu, as a nation, could not heal. It could also be called a disgrace.

Conquering the New World Continent was something even Forte couldn’t achieve, and an enclave could lead to so many things…

If it were Forte, he would definitely agree to this request and try to use that enclave as a fulcrum to once again leverage an trans-oceanic war—but unfortunately, the person in charge of making the decision now was Ciel.

She had no interest in expanding Ansu’s territory, nor in instigating wars.

Seemingly sensing Ciel’s disinterest, Lucy immediately presented a second proposal. She looked at Ciel and said, “If you don’t want that territory, the board of directors has another item. I wonder if you would be interested?”

“Tell me.” Ciel subtly nodded.

“A top-secret piece of intelligence.” Lucy subtly lowered her head, seemingly aware that this intelligence was not obtained by honorable means. She said, “I apologize, the board did not intentionally investigate, but Miss Avena’s deliberate and sudden inquiries about something recently made us wonder if this was something you needed.”

Top-secret intelligence? Avena inquired about it?

Could it be that lost path?

Ciel’s emotions were a little strange. She suppressed the urge to frown and asked calmly, “If the intelligence is truly useful, I can consider agreeing to this matter.”

What’s going on?

From the moment she arrived in the simulation, Ciel had an indescribable sense of strangeness.

It was as if… no matter what she wanted to do, it would succeed.

Everything went smoothly. If she felt sleepy, someone would bring a pillow. As soon as a problem arose, the next second someone would knock on the door with information…

The last time Ciel felt this way was with the “Touch of Fate’s Betrayal,” which had “Uniqueness” gears embedded in it and was overlimited.

It wasn’t that Ciel was too sensitive, but… she truly didn’t believe she could have so much good fortune.