The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch - Chapter 285

“You smile so sweetly, and… I don’t eat seafood, thank you…”

While on the stairs, Ciel heard chatter mingled with light laughter coming from downstairs.

Ciel went downstairs and saw a woman wearing a dark deerstalker hat, with long wine-red hair. She was smiling and chatting cheerfully with the maid before her. Her skin was slightly darker than wheat-colored, looking like she was of mixed heritage.

However, what Ciel paid more attention to was the necklace worn around her neck. The bottom of the necklace was tucked into her clothes, so the pendant couldn’t be seen, but for a moment, Ciel seemed to detect a faint aura from the Other Side…

Ciel was extremely sensitive to the aura of the Other Side. She didn’t believe she was mistaken.

Seemingly noticing Ciel’s gaze, the woman slowly looked up and met Ciel’s eyes.

Her ethereal gray-blue pupils seemed to have no focus, but Ciel could clearly sense that she was looking at her.

And what Ciel could sense even more clearly… the other party had not been affected by Nemesis even once.

Did the numerous massacres in the West District during previous simulations, and even the virus that later infected the entire city, fail to harm her in the slightest?

She was a Tier 4. If she insisted on avoiding battle, this could indeed be achieved.

“Cora Blood-Chip.” The woman took off her hat, held it to her chest, and smiled at Ciel, “I’ve finally met you, Miss Ciel.”

“Ciel.” Ciel also showed a faint smile in response, “Lucy often speaks of you, saying you’re the coolest boss she’s ever met.”

“Silva, is it? Hahaha,” Cora let out a hearty laugh, “The Deton Group hasn’t had such capable people in a long time. She’s ambitious.”

“Please come in.” Ciel gestured, inviting her to the dining room with her.

The maid who had just been speaking with Cora went towards the kitchen, instructing the chef not to bring out anything Cora didn’t eat.

“How nostalgic.” Cora, walking into the dining room, sat directly opposite the main seat and scanned her surroundings with a hint of sentimentality.

“Have you been here before?” Ciel sat in the main seat, looking at Cora and asking.

This was Deton Group’s property, so it wasn’t strange for Cora to have been here.

“No, this was won from someone else,” Cora shook her head with a smile, “I’m just thinking of an old friend.”

Won, was it…?

Indeed, very much in the style of the Deton Group.

“I’m a little curious why the Deton Group is named ‘Deton’…”

As the maids served dinner, Ciel began to find topics and chatted with Cora.

Cora seemed a little nervous at first, but soon, after Ciel started the conversation, she gradually resumed her talkative nature. She could quickly pick up on any topic, express her opinions on any field, and was both knowledgeable and humorous in conversation.

This made Ciel feel a little more at ease… Cora seemed quite easy to talk to, and a normal person.

However, Ciel also noticed something unusual… Cora’s potion backlash.

This was a common affliction for most Tier 4s, with signs first appearing at Tier 3. However, Cora’s backlash seemed very minor; Ciel hadn’t even noticed it at first.

Her skin tone was not dark.

On the contrary, her skin was very fair, especially when her finger joints bent, one could see white skin stretched over the bones even more clearly.

And the reason her skin appeared darker than wheat-colored… was her blood and flesh.

Cora’s flesh beneath her skin had probably long ceased to be the normal red of a human.

However… normally, if skin is fair and blood is black, the manifestation should be similar to that of a poisoned corpse…

At this point, all the maids had withdrawn, and only Ciel and Cora remained in the dining room.

“Very curious about this, are you?” Cora raised her right hand, turning the back of it towards Ciel, and lightly pulled her own skin with her left hand.

Her skin was slowly pulled open like rubber losing its elasticity, forming a thin layer that could almost cover half her face. Through that translucent, cicada-wing-thin skin, Ciel could see deep red, almost black muscles inside.

Snap——

Cora let go, and her skin sprang back onto her arm. After rippling for a moment, it gradually settled.

“These changes already appeared in my body when I was a ‘Fate Defier’,” Cora said with some relief, “Fortunately, after advancing to ‘Limit Breaker’, the situation didn’t worsen further.”

Fate defying… limit breaking… it was quite similar to Ciel’s conjecture. The subsequent paths of “Adventurer” were all related to defying fate.

“This is my first time seeing a Tier 4 ‘Adventurer’.” Ciel stated frankly.

“The first time you’ve seen one?” Cora was slightly startled. She picked up the wine glass before her and took a small sip. After she put the glass down, she shook her head with a smile, “To be honest, I was a little nervous before I came.”

“Nervous?” Ciel asked, “Why?”

Ciel felt that she was far more nervous than the other party.

“I didn’t expect you to be so easy to talk to,” Cora said with a smile, “I thought this meeting would be more… serious, more formal.”

“I don’t particularly like serious or formal occasions.” Ciel shook her head and said, “This is fine.”

“Indeed…”

At this moment, Ciel began to feel a slight unease.

Was Cora being overly respectful towards her?

She hadn’t been an object of Nemesis for her, nor did she have any vested interests with her. No matter how much trouble the Church of the Savior Goddess and the Society of Merriment caused, it wouldn’t affect Deton’s ability to open casinos and auction houses worldwide and make money.

Just for the casino operating license in the colonies?

This kind of thing wasn’t enough to make the dignified CEO of the Deton Group so deferential towards her. To be frank, more casinos would just mean more money for Cora, and not opening them wouldn’t affect her much…

On the contrary, it was even she who was asking for something from the other party… after all, Ciel was genuinely curious about that top-secret intelligence.

Now, it was time to get to the main point.

Ciel wanted to see what exactly the other party was up to.

“Let’s talk about the transaction.” Ciel’s gaze moved past the delicious dishes on the dining table and fixed on Cora, who was sitting opposite her.

“Transaction?” Cora was stunned for a moment, then shook her head repeatedly and said, “Isn’t the transaction already underway?… Lord Ciel—I can call you that, right?”

“Or rather, should I address you directly as I do during my usual prayers…”

“‘Sadhana’?”

Sadhana?

The moment that word appeared, Ciel felt her heart almost skip a beat.

But Cora seemed not to notice Ciel’s reaction. She spoke without pausing, “I have made everything you wish to do proceed unimpeded, according to your requests. Of course, most of this is due to your own great power…”

Cora continued to speak, but Ciel, sitting opposite her, felt more and more cold sweat trickle down her back the more she listened.

What Cora was recounting made it seem as if she had truly conversed with ‘Sadhana,’ yet she clearly bore no ‘Sadhana Mark,’ otherwise Tara would have identified her long ago.

She was not a worshipper of Sadhana…

But she had communicated with an entity claiming to be “Sadhana”…

Sadhana actually exists?

Shouldn’t They be a fictional deity? Shouldn’t They be sleeping?

If Sadhana were truly awake, wouldn’t They be able to use the Sadhana Mark to intrude upon others’ perceptions, just as she could contact Little Left and the Pure White Knight through the mark?

“Lord Ciel? Lord Ciel?”

Seemingly realizing that Ciel was not paying attention to her, Cora tried calling her twice, then shook her head and said with a smile, “To be honest, I was a little surprised to learn that you truly have a human form walking the earth, but it’s not hard to investigate. One only needs to know who the Church of the Savior Goddess and the Divine Advent Church have been obeying recently…”

“Oh, and about the ‘Uniqueness’ matter you promised…”

Cora’s facial expression suddenly froze. She looked up in surprise, scanning left and right, as if she had heard something.

Gradually, Cora’s expression began to show a hint of shock, followed immediately by panic. She suddenly looked at Ciel before her, her pupils trembling violently.

“You… are not Sadhana…” Cora suddenly stood up. The violent movement caused the dining table to be pushed aside slightly. The wine glasses on it toppled over, and wine stained the tablecloth.