The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch - Chapter 69

“I… I plan to…”

A bead of sweat rolled down Kitty’s forehead, gathered at her chin, and finally dripped onto the carpet.

Not only had she failed the plan, but she also hadn’t even captured Avena, the main saboteur. All she had managed to bring back was a single transcendent who had frequently interacted with Avena after the incident—one of Sherlon’s students.

Kitty’s mind raced frantically. She had to come up with a convincing plan before the Bishop grew angry.

“Your Excellency, Bishop! The plan… the plan isn’t completely ruined yet!”

Kitty quickly spoke, getting the words out first while simultaneously refining her thoughts.

“Hmm?”

Ciel’s voice rose slightly, filled with skepticism.

“I secretly captured a transcendent involved in sabotaging the plan. Although we didn’t get the mastermind… we did capture Sherlon’s former student, Adele.”

Kitty said.

“The mastermind?”

Ciel’s tone was displeased. “What’s the point of capturing Sherlon’s student?”

“The mastermind is Avena Roswell. Before we could kill her, her ‘Crown Guard’ rescued her… We didn’t have time to brainwash her.”

Kitty hastily explained. “But we captured Adele, someone closely connected to her.”

“From Adele’s mouth, I learned something that Sherlon had hidden from us.”

Kitty paused before continuing. “Sherlon… was never going to succeed in the Reconstitution Ritual—his virus, and even his former status as a ‘Plague Doctor,’ were achievements that his student Adele had secured for him.”

“Sherlon was never the right candidate. Instead, Adele—she is the one who would be most valuable to our church! She is the true genius of the ‘Physician’ path!”

“She was caught just as she was preparing her Reconstitution Ritual. Now, we can guide her into the related ‘Plague Bearer’ path. When she drinks the potion, we can lead her to embrace the Mother Goddess… and then have her develop something even more powerful than dehydration syndrome!”

Kitty laid out her entire plan in one breath, keeping her head down and eyes shut, her heart pounding violently.

She was sure that this reasoning had a good chance of persuading the Bishop.

Sherlon’s talent had always been mediocre. It was only through his frequent research publications that he had caught Kitty’s attention. Combined with his willingness to reach out to the Divine Advent Church, Kitty had, with her Bishop’s help, orchestrated this entire plan.

Had it succeeded, she would have been transferred out of Berren City and sent to Ansu… becoming a real Bishop was well within reach.

Unfortunately, the mission had failed—but it had never been a mission destined for success in the first place!

Now, she had found someone far superior to Sherlon—a prodigy of the ‘Physician’ path. If she could make use of her, she might be able to redeem herself!

“And how do you know Sherlon’s research was fabricated?”

Ciel asked calmly.

“Your Excellency! Adele admitted it herself! I interrogated her personally! I can tell if she’s lying!”

The expected praise didn’t come, and Kitty immediately began to panic.

“You can tell?”

Ciel let out a mocking laugh. “If I told you that I was the mastermind who sabotaged the plan… that I was the one who killed Sherlon—would you be able to tell if I was lying?”

Kitty’s face instantly froze.

When the Bishop first arrived, she had accidentally glimpsed something unspeakable, which caused the potion in her body to boil and her mind to become unstable.

But after licking the Bishop’s shoes for a while, her mind had gradually settled, allowing her to secretly analyze the Bishop’s every word.

Just now, she had detected no trace of falsehood in the Bishop’s words…

The Bishop wasn’t lying.

Even something as absurd as this, when spoken by the Bishop, contained no deception.

Perhaps there were other sealed artifacts on the Bishop’s body—ones Kitty had never encountered before.

“Y-You must be joking, Your Excellency. She could never compare to you… I checked her thoroughly—she has no sealed artifacts on her…”

Kitty spoke, but even she began to question her ability to discern lies.

“Take me to see her.”

Ciel cut her off.

“Understood, allow me to lead the way.”

Kitty immediately bowed her head and stood up, feeling a weight lift off her shoulders.

The Bishop had stopped pursuing the failed mission and instead fixated on Adele. This was a good thing.

At the very least, it meant that her hastily proposed plan had convinced the Bishop that it was worth considering.

Kitty kept her gaze on her feet, noticing from the corner of her eye that the Bishop slowly raised a hand and snapped her fingers.

Two flashes of silver light erupted—the letter and insignia on the ground, as well as the sealed artifact at the Bishop’s waist, all vanished completely. Kitty could no longer sense their presence.

What the—?!

Just how many sealed artifacts does this Bishop have?! Does she not care about side effects at all?!

No wonder she seemed so physically frail—it turned out she was carrying a whole arsenal of artifacts.

Kitty suppressed her thoughts, no longer attempting to gauge the Bishop’s true strength. She walked past Ciel toward the bookshelves behind her desk and whispered,

“She’s being held in the underground dungeon. I will take you to her now.”

Two pale shadows emerged from Kitty’s own shadow, gripping the bookshelf and slowly pulling it apart.

The massive bookshelf split in two, revealing a narrow stone corridor built from gray bricks.

One of the white shadows pressed a hidden switch, and a series of oil lamps illuminated the passage.

Ciel followed Kitty at a distance of about seven steps, descending the spiral path downward.

The deeper she went, the colder the air became—so cold that even breathing sent a chill through her lungs.

Fortunately, she had already put away the Deadly Blood Laurel, allowing her body to gradually warm up. This level of cold wasn’t enough to cause her any real discomfort.

After descending what felt like the height of five floors, they finally emerged into a spacious underground chamber.

The area was roughly the same size as the hall used for Death Roulette, with three massive pillars supporting the circular stone hall.

It wasn’t as dark and damp as she had expected. Aside from the ominous blood-drawn symbols on the floor, there was nothing particularly strange about the place.

Ciel noticed that, aside from Kitty’s entrance, two other spiral staircases led down to the underground chamber.

This was likely where they conducted worship or sacrificial rituals.

The white shadows led the way toward a wooden door on the side of the chamber—its structure was eerily similar to that of the Clock Tower Church.

Ciel followed as Kitty stopped in front of one of the rooms. Kitty reached out, opened the wooden door, and stepped inside.

“Your Excellency, this is Sherlon’s student, Adele.”

Kitty gestured toward the iron cage inside.

Ciel stepped into the room and turned her gaze toward the direction Kitty was pointing—her pupils contracted slightly.

At the center of the room stood a half-circle iron frame with a thick wooden pillar planted firmly into the ground. It resembled a grotesque version of a crucifix.

Thin wires dangled from above, each ending in a row of silver barbs that hooked into a woman’s arms, stretching them open and pinning her against the wooden cross.

Thicker ropes, blackened with dried blood, hung from the upper corners of the cage. Heavy iron hooks pierced through the woman’s cheeks and lips, securing her to the cross.

The woman bound to the cross—was Adele.