The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch - Chapter 39

“You told her about the collaboration?” A white shadow extended from behind Uris and stood next to the silver-haired girl.

“She was choking me… Ah! I’m sorry, Sis!”

The white shadow balled its fist and pressed it against the silver-haired girl’s head, giving it a firm, twisting motion, causing the girl to wail in pain.

After a moment, the shadow lowered its fist, and Uris returned to her seat on the sofa, speaking to Ciel, “Let’s sit and talk.”

She could sense that the girl in front of her bore no malice. The questions she wanted answers to were all related to the mysterious epidemic.

“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Uris, High Priestess of the Church of the Savior Goddess. May I ask for your name?” Uris turned toward Ciel and asked.

“My name is Ciel. I’m an assistant in the Berren City Police Department’s Investigation Division, but I’m not here on behalf of the department—this is personal,” Ciel introduced herself again.

“Ciel… That’s a good name.” Uris repeated the name, trying to recall if she had heard it before. But no matter how hard she thought, it didn’t ring any bells.

However, this girl named Ciel seemed to know an unusual amount about her.

Ciel was a newly ascended transcendent, inexperienced with her abilities. Yet she knew Uris’s name and even some of her habits and quirks…

It was almost as if they had met before.

“Have we met before?” Uris couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity.

“Yes, in a dream,” Ciel replied directly. “In the dream, you told me I was a saintess of another path and tried to recruit me to the church.”

“Miss Ciel, you must be joking.” Uris smiled and shook her head, but inwardly, she was deeply alarmed.

She wasn’t lying?

Had she really had such a dream?

“Now, may I ask High Priestess Uris to answer my questions?” Ciel asked. She didn’t have much time to waste within the simulation.

“Of course.” Uris nodded.

The “Avenger” before her seemed deeply concerned about the widespread dehydration syndrome. Uris guessed that she might have lost a friend or family member to the illness and was now seeking vengeance.

It fit the modus operandi of “Avengers” quite well.

After carefully choosing her words, Uris began to explain:

“At first… no one realized anything was wrong. About twenty days ago, the church hospital admitted a patient suffering from dehydration. The patient didn’t survive, and the cause of death was acute kidney failure.”

“When I arrived at the Clock Tower Church, the church hospital had already lost five people. Most of them had died from complications brought on by dehydration—seizures, kidney failure, shock, and the like. Even then, the hospital hadn’t realized something was amiss.”

“Fifteen days ago, when four people died of dehydration in a single day, the church finally reported the matter. I started contacting the church to send investigators.”

“But soon, investigating the matter seemed to open a Pandora’s box. The dehydration syndrome began spreading rapidly. The High Priestess sent to investigate was forced to halt the inquiry and report the situation to the Holy See, requesting external assistance…”

At this point, Ciel interrupted, voicing a question that had been on her mind. “Why was the investigation halted? Aren’t you the acting administrator of the Clock Tower Church? Why aren’t you in the Clock Tower District?”

Hearing this, Uris shook her head, a trace of helplessness crossing her face.

“Miss Ciel, you came from the Clock Tower District, didn’t you? Did you notice anything unusual while you were there?” Uris asked in return.

Unusual?

Ciel thought back and realized there indeed had been something. While at home, she had experienced intense ringing in her ears, and her emotions had become unusually heightened.

This sensation had only begun to subside after she left the Clock Tower District.

“Yes—ear ringing and an inexplicable sense of excitement,” Ciel answered truthfully.

“That’s a side effect of the potion,” Uris sighed and continued, “The first-tier ‘Ascetic’ and ‘Avenger’ paths are relatively mild in their sensitivity to pain.”

“But as one ascends higher, the ability to perceive pain becomes increasingly acute. The Clock Tower District has become a place where all forms of suffering converge. If I stay there, I can sense the pain of nearly everyone present. If I don’t leave quickly, I’ll succumb to the torment and lose my sanity.”

“Conversely, those on the ‘Avenger’ path derive greater pleasure from pain and are more prone to losing their sanity. If they fail to resist the murmurs in their ears, ‘Avengers’ will be driven by the endless catalysis of suffering to become butchers.”

So that’s why I was hearing the ringing…

“Is this illness… caused by a transcendent?” Ciel asked.

“Most likely,” Uris nodded. “We suspect this is a meticulously planned Reconstitution Ritual, deliberately conducted in the church’s district to prevent us from intervening. That’s why we had to enlist the Redemption Society to investigate.”

The silver-haired girl behind Uris poked her head out and interjected, “It’s probably the ritual to ascend a ‘Plaguebearer’ to a ‘Source of Cholera’! It’ll require a lot of people to die!”

Plaguebearer? Ascend to Source of Cholera?

Which tier is that? For that matter, how many tiers are there for transcendents?

This was entirely beyond Ciel’s knowledge. She hadn’t yet had the chance to ask Avena about such information, having focused on questions directly related to her immediate safety.

Sensing Ciel’s confusion, Uris asked directly, “Miss Ciel, did you consume the potion and perform the ritual on your own? Is your understanding of transcendence limited to these two notebooks?”

“Pretty much,” Ciel nodded.

“Below the Transcendent level, there are five tiers. The ritual Adele mentioned is for advancing from the second to the third tier,” Uris explained.

“Second tier… how strong is that?” Ciel had no concept of the power hierarchy among transcendents. All she knew was that after her ascension, no ordinary person could match her in combat, though she could still die to a gunshot.

Adele seized the opportunity to jab at Ciel. “Strong enough to take on ten of you!”

“Under equal conditions, a first-tier transcendent has no chance against a second-tier,” Uris said, acknowledging what Adele had said, though she phrased it in a more tactful manner.

“I’ve answered all your questions, Miss Ciel… By the way, are you interested in the Church of the Savior Goddess? I could perform a baptism for you.” Uris looked in Ciel’s direction, her expression softening.

“No, not for now,” Ciel shook her head.

Her mind was consumed by worry.

The opponent was a second-tier transcendent preparing to ascend to the third tier… She was just a newly ascended first-tier. Ciel hadn’t realized the gap would be this vast.

Even if the opponent failed their ascension, Ciel wouldn’t stand a chance against them.

“Have you found the person performing the Reconstitution Ritual?” Ciel asked.

“No, they’ve hidden themselves well,” Uris shook her head.

“Thank you.” Ciel stood, expressing her gratitude, before slinging on her canvas bag and turning to leave.

“Where are you going?” Uris asked curiously.

Ciel didn’t look back, simply waving her hand. “The Clock Tower District.”

“Hey! You’ll die!” Adele couldn’t help but call after her.

But Ciel didn’t stop, walking as though she had already resigned herself to her fate.

When Ciel’s figure disappeared through the doorway and the door closed behind her, Adele reached out and shook Uris’s shoulder. “Sis, why didn’t you try to stop her?”

“‘Avengers’ are like that,” Uris shook her head. “They can’t be stopped.”

Adele leaned on Uris’s shoulder, pursing her lips as though deep in thought. Then, as if struck by realization, she let go and ran after Ciel. “That idiot—how’s she going to get in without a pass?”

Only after Adele shut the door behind her, her footsteps fading down the corridor, did Uris sigh again.

“Sigh… ‘Physicians’ are like that.”