The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch-Chapter 146 - Orlando Republican Army (1/3)

Schlick—

Ciel slowly withdrew the carving knife, looking expressionlessly at the fat grain merchant before her.

These captured individuals came from different factions, perhaps even different beliefs, but could somehow be linked to the terrorist attack five days ago, or might know information about it.

The simulated Ciel’s goal was to quickly obtain information, hence choosing this simple and crude method, even if Berren City would fall into a semi-paralyzed state after these people died.

“5 days ago, what were you doing.”

Ciel slowly spoke, repeating the question from before.

“I...”

After struggling to swallow, the fat grain merchant trembled and said, “After the banquet ended, I stayed with Chief Chamberlain’s wife for a night... The next day I returned to my own home. Absolutely everything I said is true!”

The fat man spoke frantically, while John Chamberlain, hanging above, looked at the kneeling fat man to his right with shock, his face full of disbelief.

“This is a lie.”

Tara’s voice sounded beside Ciel.

At this moment, Ciel instead narrowed her eyes slightly, retracted the carving knife, glancing towards Tara.

Tara seemed to understand Ciel’s meaning perfectly. She took a step forward, directly raised her hand, and several white figures pressed their hands directly onto the fat man’s head. frёeωebɳovel.com

“You... What are you doing?”

Large beads of sweat formed on the fat man’s forehead. He would rather lie even under these circumstances, indicating he definitely had a secret behind him he wouldn’t reveal even upon death.

Ciel’s abilities were limited; she could only cause death. This time she didn’t log in with the “Coroner” save file either, could only hand the matter over to more professional people.

With Tara present, Ciel wasn’t worried at all about collusion or lies. These petty tricks seemed particularly laughable before absolute transcendent power.

“Believe in the Mother Goddess.”

Tara slowly clenched her hand. When mentioning the Mother Goddess, a happy smile appeared on her face.

The white figures maintaining the same posture as Tara erupted in incandescent brilliant flames. The fat man, just an ordinary person, his originally panicked eyes instantly became clear. Before Tara even began reciting prayers, he directly bent down, pressing his forehead directly onto the ground.

“Mother Goddess above.”

The fat man Balfour said in a low voice.

“You will offer everything you have for the Mother Goddess, right.”

Tara continued reinforcing the impression in Balfour’s mind, making the brainwashing more thorough.

Although this would completely destroy Balfour’s spirit, in a short time, it could turn the other party into a puppet who obeys every command.

5 days ago... that attack?

It’s over...

Goodwin watched the completely brainwashed grain merchant, quickly accelerating the action of cutting the rope in her hand.

Even if she died, she didn’t want to be brainwashed into becoming a cultist’s lackey.

Just need to free her hands...

“Come, tell me now, what connection do you have with the events five days ago?”

After the forced brainwashing took effect, Tara looked at Balfour before her and asked.

After a brief silence, Balfour slowly spoke: “I know absolutely nothing about the banquet attack, but the day before the banquet, I received a commission from the Grain Import and Export Association to deposit 10,000 Su pounds into an anonymous bank account.”

“Before the banquet attack occurred, I happened to have arranged to go out with Mrs. Chamberlain for a period. When I prepared to return to the banquet after things ended, I saw the attack happening... The original attack list should have included me.”

“At that moment, I knew I was being used as a tool, about to be silenced. So during this time, I’ve been hiding, liquidating assets, preparing to take a ship across the ocean, live incognito as a pioneer, starting over with cotton trading.”

Grain Import and Export Association?

This name, Ciel noted in her heart.

Although the connection between this Grain Import and Export Association and the attack was temporarily unclear, this was still a breakthrough, preventing Ciel from stumbling around like a headless fly.

The most crucial thing was, she needed to figure out who wanted to send this money out, and who was the receiving party.

After clarifying the transaction took place at Charlie Bank, Tara looked back at Ciel. Receiving an affirmative gaze, Tara said to Balfour before her, “Alright, you can go now. Forget what happened tonight.”

“Yes, Master.”

Balfour struggled to stand up, humbly bowed, walked around Ciel and Tara, opened the wooden door, and left directly.

He naturally couldn’t possibly walk out of this dungeon. Over a dozen Divine Advent Church transcendents waited outside. This was just a play, performed for the next person to see.

Whether they believed it or not, the posture had to be presented.

Controlling ordinary people and first and second-tier transcendents was manageable. But reaching the third tier, even a Radiance Bishop couldn’t guarantee completely brainwashing the opponent within a few days, let alone Ciel only having 24 hours of activity time.

If they could cooperate willingly, it was best to let them cooperate willingly.

Next, Tara repeated the process, cutting John Chamberlain’s rope, letting the white shadow remove the rag from his mouth.

Municipal Council Chief John seemed to see the dawn of returning alive. Before Ciel even asked, he spilled everything he knew like beans from a bamboo tube.

During this period, Mayor John hadn’t been doing well either.

Originally, Berren City’s development was flourishing, which was all credited to John’s political achievements after being elected chief. If things continued like this, he might even have a chance to receive the Queen’s commendation, be awarded a knighthood or the honorary title of Baron.

This was all thanks to his foresight—he was among the first batch to transport North Ansu refugees by train to build railways and factories. The large amount of cheap labor allowed Berren City to develop rapidly, attracting more investment.

But when the “landmine” exploded, Berren City was also the hardest hit.

These days, he had been almost constantly busy dealing with workers’ demonstrations, refugee riots, and Orlando Republican Army terrorist attacks. Support for him within the Municipal Council had rapidly declined, nearing the point of no return.

To appease the anger of nobles and wealthy merchants, he had no choice but to order the closure of Berren City’s Clock Tower Church, preparing to expel the Church of the Savior Goddess.

Because in the eyes of nobles and wealthy merchants, whether it was the Orlando Republican Army, refugees, or workers, the Church of the Savior Goddess was behind it all; the vast majority of them believed in the Church of the Savior Goddess.

The Church of the Savior Goddess couldn’t escape involvement, so they could only make an example of them.

What he didn’t see was that just a few days after he forcibly demolished the Clock Tower Church, an extremely serious assassination attempt targeting nobles erupted.

“This is definitely the Church of the Savior Goddess’s retaliation, Your Excellency,” John Chamberlain buried his head as low as possible, speaking tremblingly, “I did not participate in any faction’s power struggles.”