The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch-Chapter 149 - Dream Stealing Space (1/3)

Ciel slightly lowered her head, ducked out of the carriage, her shoes stepping onto the ground. She looked up at the manor before her.

At this moment, Manor No. 5 was brightly lit, but there were no guards at the entrance.

Several police officers who arrived later stepped forward, pushed open the manor gates for Ciel, and stood at the sides of the gates, bowing their heads, waiting for Ciel to enter.

Before Ciel stepped through the manor gates, dozens of black and white shadows had already infiltrated the manor by sticking close to the ground, clearing away threats inside for her.

Ciel strolled into the front garden, following the stone path in the middle all the way to the manor entrance.

Just then, a bishop wearing a long black robe rushed up from behind, lowered their head and bowed, saying something into Tara’s ear.

“Mm... go ahead.” Tara waved her hand, then slightly looked up towards Ciel, saying respectfully, “Lord Ciel, it seems only Baron Harold and his wife are inside... no one else.”

“Not even a single servant?” Ciel asked.

“No.”

“Bring him over.”

Ciel walked directly towards the reception hall, sat in the main seat, leaning against the chair back, waiting for the others to bring the Baron over.

Although this Baron Harold held the same title as Hastings, their wealth and status were worlds apart.

Hastings’s title was inherited, but he possessed no land assets, only securing a lucrative position as a magistrate through his baronial status.

Harold, on the other hand, was a legitimate great merchant, his honorary title obtained through donating land, and it was not hereditary.

Why would a person whose wealth and status had reached the limits of ordinary people get involved in such matters? To act as an intermediary paying commission to the Grain Import and Export Association?

This brought absolutely no benefit to Harold. Even if he could skim off some from the ten thousand Su pounds, the profit would be completely inferior to the factories he owned—moreover, his factories were completely unaffected by the grain import and export ban.

Would such a great merchant do something completely without profit?

This was a point Ciel completely couldn’t understand.

There were only two explanations.

Either he was a North Ansu native who had hidden his identity.

Or he was brainwashed.

And Ciel was more inclined towards the second explanation.

For an “Instigator” to influence an ordinary person, it was simply too easy.

Soon, a bald man wearing pajamas, simply draped in a trench coat, was escorted to Ciel’s side by two police officers.

His eyes were glazed over. Before the police officers could speak, he had already knelt respectfully before Ciel and Tara. It seemed he had been directly brainwashed by a Divine Advent Church bishop.

“Tell everything you know about the attack on the 26th.” Ciel’s finger on the tabletop lightly tapped the surface, asking.

“Honored Excellency...” Harold, kneeling on the ground, murmured:

“I...”

“I was originally from North Ansu, Excellency. I secretly funded the Orlando Republican Brotherhood before. On the 24th, an Orlando Republican Army informant gave me a special task, asking me to use an account to withdraw a sum of money from Charlie Bank on the 27th, then go to an art exhibition to purchase a painting.”

“They said I could keep the painting myself... So I took the painting back home.”

This answer, almost identical to what Ciel had in her mind, made Ciel frown slightly.

The entire clue had become a closed loop. Just through Balfour’s line, the entire chain was easily uncovered. The only difference was that she sped up the entire investigation process by interrogating individuals from multiple factions.

So, her target of revenge really was just the Grain Import and Export Association and the Orlando Republican Army?

“What kind of painting was it?” Tara, at the side, asked directly.

Painting?

Tara’s question served as a reminder to Ciel.

This seemed to be a transcendent painting. Although it was temporarily unclear who consigned this painting at Isabella’s family’s art exhibition, it could be guessed that person basically had a close relationship with the Orlando Republican Army.

“I’m not sure, Excellency,” Harold shook his head and said, “I just had the servant hang it in the art room. I haven’t looked at it yet.”

“You, take him to retrieve that painting.” Tara looked at the police officers beside her, thought for a moment, then added, “Remember to call a bishop to check if the painting is problematic first.”

“Yes.” The two police officers nodded, helped Harold, who was kneeling on the ground, stand up, and led him out of the reception hall.

In the empty reception hall, only Ciel and Tara remained. The atmosphere fell into a brief stillness.

A few seconds later, Ciel slowly turned her head towards Tara, gazing at her, and said, “Tara.”

“Lord Ciel.” Tara slightly lowered her head and bowed, preparing to listen to Ciel’s words.

“You seem... rather active tonight.” Ciel wore a half-smile, looking at Tara’s lowered head.

She hadn’t even spoken, yet Tara directly went ahead and arranged the next steps... Would the Tara of the past have done this?

“System.” Ciel muttered inwardly.

The system in the simulation was almost useless except for opening the inventory and checking the time.

But the fact that it could be opened was its purpose. freewёbnoνel.com

Before Ciel now, after she called the system mentally, there was no change at all—the space before her was empty.

Even a “Dream Thief” can’t conjure up things they know nothing about?

In Ciel’s mind, the seemingly solid chain of evidence just now instantly collapsed, completely tilting towards the possibility of “transcendent manipulation behind the scenes.”

Was she influenced by a “Dream Thief”? When?

When her pure body first arrived in the simulation, it definitely wasn’t influenced by anything.

Even up until she shot Oppold, she didn’t enter a dream state—because even a “Dream Thief’s” dream couldn’t fabricate Ciel using the “Overlimit Gear.”

Closing her eyes, recalling the abilities she displayed, Ciel slowly raised her hand, saying directly, “‘Deadly Blood Roland’.”

Silver light flickered in her hand. A gunblade appeared before her eyes, a silver gun body encased in hard ebony, the red Roland flower pattern inscribed on it shining brightly.

This sealed artifact, which had been overloaded using the “Overlimit Gear” and should have entered a damaged state, appeared in Ciel’s hand, intact, completely unaffected by “Uniqueness.”

Before shooting, she hadn’t been affected at all, and “Uniqueness” couldn’t be displayed at all...

But among those who witnessed this scene and were still alive, only four remained.

Isabella, Uris, Tara, Goodwin.