The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch - Chapter 70

As Ciel stepped out of the cell and into the stone hall, she saw three maids wearing red chip masks standing silently on either side, heads bowed, as if awaiting her arrival.

“Your Excellency, Bishop.”

Upon hearing Ciel’s footsteps, they simultaneously bowed deeply, greeting her.

Two of the maids stepped slightly aside. One of them spoke, “Your Excellency, the Administrator has instructed us to tend to our new sister.”

“Go.”

Only after receiving Ciel’s permission did the two cultists cautiously move past her, keeping their heads lowered and bodies angled toward her until they were behind her, before finally turning and heading toward Adele’s cell.

Ciel turned her attention to the remaining maid, waiting for her to speak.

“Your Excellency, Bishop, the Administrator has assigned me to serve you.”

The maid kept her head bowed respectfully. “If there is anywhere you wish to inspect, I can guide you.”

“Good.”

Ciel nodded slightly. “Show me around.”

This was exactly the situation Ciel had hoped for.

She currently lacked information about the Divine Advent Church’s internal workings. The more she learned, the more convincing her disguise would become.

“Please follow me.”

For the next period, the maid guided Ciel through the underground complex. Kitty had apparently ordered a temporary lockdown, as no other cultists disturbed Ciel’s “inspection.”

The nave, side aisles, transept, altar, apse… The entire layout of the underground Divine Advent Church was almost a perfect replica of the Church of the Savior Goddess in Berren City.

Recalling the layout of the Clock Tower Church from a previous simulation, Ciel found the location where Uris had taken her to the small chapel—and discovered an almost identical room here.

Aside from the faceless idol and altered religious symbols, it was practically an exact replica of a Church of the Savior Goddess chapel.

It truly showed its origins as a breakaway faction.

Finally, Ciel stopped in the scriptorium.

Numerous religious texts and research notes were stored here. On the central writing desk, Ciel recognized seven or eight familiar notebooks.

Spirituality journals.

It seemed the Divine Advent Church had even adopted the practice of keeping spirituality journals from the Church of the Savior Goddess. Ciel walked to the desk, picked up one of the notebooks, and began flipping through it.

Her actions didn’t seem strange to the maid. Checking the spirituality journals of lower-ranking members was a routine task for higher-ups in the church hierarchy.

The maid stood about four or five meters behind Ciel and explained, “These are the journals of the transcendent brothers and sisters here at Deton Manor. The Administrator’s journal is not kept here; we won’t know its location until she returns.”

Perhaps due to her own “Sadhana Mark,” Ciel could browse these journals freely, unhindered by any spiritual imprints.

She went through them one by one. Most began only after the writer’s conversion, offering little detail about the process itself, but they did record many events that followed.

The earliest conversion dated back two years, while the most recent had occurred just yesterday.

Through the patterns in their entries, Ciel confirmed her earlier suspicion: the Divine Advent Church used two primary methods to implant their mark.

The first was during the initial consumption of a potion, when the mind was most vulnerable to whispers. The second was when a transcendent, having consumed a potion long ago, could no longer resist the whispers and their body began to be assimilated by the potion’s power.

Interestingly, some individuals who were on the verge of failing their potion digestion or suffering severe backlash actually found their mental state stabilized after receiving the Divine Advent mark.

Perhaps they had been bombarded by multiple whispers before, but the mark filtered everything down to only the whispers of “Sadhana.”

Of course, for ordinary people like the maids, Kitty’s “Missionary” abilities were sufficient for brainwashing, requiring no potion assistance.

Was Sadhana truly a god? If not, how could she block out other whispers?

Ciel put down the journals and turned her attention to the other texts on the shelves.

After briefly skimming a few, she lost interest.

They were mostly standard religious scriptures, likely similar to those of the Church of the Savior Goddess, perhaps with only a few names changed. There wasn’t much point in studying them further.

As Ciel placed a text back on the shelf, she suddenly felt a gaze from behind her.

She turned around and saw the maid in the red chip mask quickly lower her head, seeming to tremble slightly under Ciel’s scrutiny.

“What is it?”

Ciel slowly walked towards the maid and asked.

“N-Nothing, Your Excellency, Bishop.”

The maid stammered. Then, clutching the hem of her skirt tightly, she whispered, “Your Excellency, do you remember me?”

Hmm?

Remember her?

Ciel had indeed visited Deton Manor two days ago in reality. At that time, a maid had guided her…

Ah, she had almost forgotten…

“Of course, I remember.”

A faint smile touched Ciel’s lips beneath the mask. Her voice was soft. “You gave me a notebook back then.”

“Yes… You remember me! Mother Goddess above…”

The maid frantically reached up and removed her mask. Head bowed, her voice grew increasingly excited. “It was my honor to have unknowingly assisted you, Your Excellency! Rest assured! I haven’t told anyone about your private visit! Everything here is in order!”

Normally, the lowest-ranking attendants rarely even caught a glimpse of Administrator Kitty.

To have inadvertently encountered a Bishop of the Divine Advent Church was an immense honor for a mere attendant who hadn’t even consumed a potion yet.

“Hahaha, you made quite an impression on me at the time.”

Ciel’s tone grew friendlier. She asked casually, “Have you met other Bishops before? You seem luckier than the other brothers and sisters.”

“I served a Bishop three months ago,” the maid said, her face flushing red with excitement. “I was even at the back of the procession, worshiping with the Bishop.”

“Oh, that fellow.”

Ciel nodded with a smile. “How did he compare to me, in your opinion?”

“You are much more approachable than that Bishop, Your Excellency. He barely spoke the entire time, only exchanging a few brief words with the Priestess. He stayed here for a week.”

The maid paused, recalling for a moment, before saying, “One of those days, I was attending to that Bishop. He was well-mannered, a proper and serious person.”

“Oh? He’s not usually like that.”

Ciel said, a hint of teasing in her tone, “Tell me more about what role he was playing here?”

“Uh… he…”

The maid hesitated, then asked cautiously, “Your Excellency, are you… very familiar with him?”

Within the Divine Advent Church, communication was strictly hierarchical, flowing from top to bottom. If Ciel was familiar with that Bishop, it implied lateral communication.

This slightly tempered the maid’s excitement, planting a seed of doubt in her mind.

“What is your name, child?”

Ciel asked.

“My name is Hannan, Your Excellency, Bishop.”

“Congratulations, Hannan.”

Ciel reached out and placed her hand on Hannan’s bowed head, her voice gentle. “You may now see the Mother Goddess.”

Ciel grabbed her hair and slowly forced her head upward.

Hannan’s body trembled like a leaf, but soon, she ceased all resistance, slowly lifting her head until the terrifying mask filled her vision, along with the Bishop’s right eye—a dark crimson, glinting with dangerous light…

“Mother Goddess above…”

A fanatical grin spread across Hannan’s face. Her trembling stopped. She murmured, “Your Excellency… I hear the Mother Goddess’s words…”

Ciel left the scriptorium, closing the door behind her, leaving behind a madwoman who was laughing and crying simultaneously, repeatedly stabbing herself in the abdomen with a candlestick until she bled out and died.

She had seen Ciel before. At least in this simulation, she couldn’t be left alive.

Besides, the task of executing heretics could seemingly be completed right here… Kitty had turned this place into a small cultist nest. With Kitty absent, it was the perfect opportunity for Ciel to fulfill her Reconstitution Ritual.

Ciel smoothed her clothes and looked down the corridor.

A maid, apparently having heard the commotion, emerged from the direction of the cells. Upon seeing Ciel at the end of the hall, she quickly lowered her head.

“Come here.”

Ciel beckoned to the maid.

The maid hurried over and bowed her head. “How may I serve you, Your Excellency, Bishop?”

“I’ve reviewed the transcendents’ journals and found their faith in the Mother Goddess somewhat lacking.”