The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch - Chapter 71

Ciel: “I wasn’t talking about your intelligence.”

Uris: “I know.”

Uris: “Adele’s situation… if she cooperates, I can take her back to Ansu with me. The Bishop there has methods to remove the mark from her.”

Ciel: “And if she doesn’t cooperate?”

Uris: “Knock her out and take her back.”

To prevent Adele from suffering further, Ciel looked at the contemplative Adele and said, “Adele, from now on, you must obey Uris’s words without question.”

“But…” Adele looked conflicted. “Sister is a heretic…”

“This is for the Mother Goddess, for the great cause of infiltration,” Ciel continued smoothly. “I need you to hide your identity and stay by Uris’s side. During this time, listen to Uris carefully. No Bishop other than myself can order you to break cover.”

Hearing it was for the Mother Goddess, Adele straightened up immediately, replying in a hoarse voice, “Yes, Your Excellency, Bishop!”

Uris squeezed Adele’s hand tighter. Now, she truly believed that the person before her was indeed here to help.

At the same time, she was grateful for Ciel’s command to Adele, as it would spare her sister further suffering.

“Thank you, Your Excellency,” Uris bowed her head slightly towards Ciel in respectful gratitude.

“Uris, I have one more request.” Ciel shifted her gaze back to Uris.

“Please speak freely. As long as it doesn’t violate church doctrine, I will agree.” Uris pushed herself up slightly, answering seriously.

“Suppose, just suppose,” Ciel pondered for a moment before asking, “Suppose you and I had never met before. What could I say, or what item could I bring, that would make you trust me unconditionally?”

Ciel realized that gaining Uris’s trust always took a significant amount of time.

If there was something—a phrase or an object—that could instantly earn Uris’s trust upon sight or hearing, it would save a lot of trouble in future simulations.

Even in reality, it could quickly establish trust with Uris without revealing too much about herself.

“But… I already trust you now.” Uris looked confused. “I promise that when I return, I won’t reveal any information about you, nor will I investigate the matter of Avena trading the potion…”

“I’m just supposing,” Ciel interrupted. “Suppose time rewound to yesterday. I needed to tell you that Deton Manor is a Divine Advent Church stronghold. What would I need to say for you to believe me without question and join me in killing Kitty?”

Ciel added as an afterthought, “I just enjoy indulging in wild, impractical hypotheticals.”

Her last sentence clearly indicated that Uris shouldn’t worry about plausibility and just play along with the hypothetical scenario.

Uris stopped trying to make sense of it. She instinctively closed her eyes and seriously considered the question.

After a long pause, Uris opened her eyes again and faced Ciel. “Saint Year 739, January 17th. If you told me that date directly, I would likely believe anything you said afterward.”

Adele, who had been quiet until now, flinched slightly upon hearing the date and turned to look at Uris.

“Is that a special date?” Ciel asked.

To increase the credibility of using this phrase in future simulations, Ciel needed to understand its significance.

“The day my world lost its color.” Uris pointed to her own eyes, smiling with apparent indifference.

“Even Adele didn’t know the exact date before.”

What happened back then? Even Adele didn’t know?

It seemed this was truly a secret Uris kept buried deep inside, perhaps never even mentioned in her spirituality journal.

“Alright, I’ll remember it.” Ciel nodded, then turned to Adele. “Carry your sister. I’ll escort you back to the church.”

“You’ll escort us back?” Uris asked nervously. “Wouldn’t that be too dangerous for you? Your identity could be exposed at any moment…”

“It’s fine.”

Ciel shook her head. She knew there might be cultists in the city, but she only had about two hours left in the simulation. After she left, whatever happened here wouldn’t affect her.

Ciel had already searched the entire sanctuary with Adele. They hadn’t found any sealed artifacts, potions, or money. Those items weren’t kept here.

Now, Ciel just wanted to follow Uris back to the Church of the Savior Goddess and see if she could snag anything valuable from the Clock Tower Church.

She promised just to look, definitely not take anything.

With Uris’s legs broken, Adele had to carry her. Ciel led the way, ascending the spiral staircase.

Their footsteps echoed in the stairwell. Suddenly, all the oil lamps flickered and went dark simultaneously.

A moment later, the lights returned as if nothing had happened.

Ciel stopped and raised her hand, halting Adele behind her.

Drip, drip…

Footsteps echoed from above.

They sounded wet, sticky, as if the person’s legs were covered in some viscous fluid. Each step, lifting and falling, evoked a visceral sense of disgust.

Who is it?

Click—

Ciel drew her revolver, loaded a single bullet, aimed it at herself, and pulled the trigger four times in quick succession.

One enhancement short…

Ciel raised the glowing blue pistol, aiming forward.

Up ahead on the spiral staircase, illuminated by the oil lamps, a long black shadow stretched out, appearing before the figure itself.

It was a figure clad in black robes. Its features were unclear, but…

Its legs were not human legs.

Several segmented limbs, utterly inhuman, protruded from beneath the black robes. They moved together, carrying the figure down the steps like a person.

Tap—

Ciel’s thumb cocked the hammer of her pistol.

The figure seemed to sense something and stopped abruptly. Silence fell.

But soon, the black shadow continued its descent. A figure in white robes emerged from around the corner, allowing Ciel to see it fully.

Legs… normal?

And this figure… made Ciel hesitate to pull the trigger.

Exquisite white long robes, a pure white faceless mask—except instead of the geometric symbol of the Church of the Savior Goddess, the mask bore two interlocking circles. It looked almost identical to someone Ciel had met before.

“Hugh?” Ciel asked instinctively.

“Hugh.”

A strange man’s voice, cold and mechanical, came from beneath the mask.

“Hugh, who is that.”

Bang—

Ciel abruptly pulled the trigger. Flames erupted from the silver barrel, and the bullet, wrapped in lightning, shot towards the figure—

But the bullet passed straight through.

The figure of the white-robed man was already gone, leaving only a white phantom calmly standing in place, watching Ciel.

Is it a “Radiance Bishop”?!

Ciel wouldn’t risk fighting an opponent she couldn’t beat. To avoid further corrupting the “Gambler” save file, she raised her hand. With a flash of silver light, the 【Other Side Page】 attached to the mask at her waist was instantly recalled into her inventory.

The next moment, the phantom gradually solidified. The pale, faceless mask turned towards Ciel.

After swapping places with the phantom earlier, he seemed to have seen something.

“Why… are they all dead.”

A voice, neither male nor female, echoed in Ciel’s mind. “Why… could you fire at me.”

Schwing—

As if struck by a powerful mental attack, the Sacrificial Saint’s Relic hidden under Ciel’s clothes burst into intense purple flames, the remaining substance burning away at an alarming rate.

“Oh.”

The white-robed Bishop nodded slightly and slowly extended his right hand towards Ciel.

“Saint Year 741, June 23rd, 13:01.”

Ciel stared intently at the white-robed Bishop before her and spoke slowly. “A Bishop from the Divine Advent Church will come to deliver intelligence and conduct an inspection.”

“Your Excellency, what happened? Who is that ahead?”

Uris sensed something was wrong, but strapped to Adele’s back, she was helpless.

Ciel suddenly drew the exquisite dagger she had looted from a cultist earlier.

Three white phantoms instantly appeared before the “Radiance Bishop,” completely shielding him.

But Ciel reversed her grip on the dagger and plunged it directly into her own heart.

The “Radiance Bishop,” standing not far from Ciel, watched her action, tilting his head slightly.

“Ugh… hah…”

Ciel reversed the blade again, gripping the handle, and with a violent pull, dragged it across her already wounded abdomen. Blood and intestines spilled out. She staggered backward, tumbling down the stairs, her life extinguished.