The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch-Chapter 99 - Unescapable Misfortune (1/2)

No curses, no traces of transcendent abilities, Ciel herself hadn’t even contacted other transcendents.

It was as if all these disasters were purely bad luck.

Avena did propose one hypothesis.

The next tier after “Gambler,” second-tier “Misfortune Bringer,” did exhibit this situation while digesting potions.

However, a “Misfortune Bringer” resisted their own “misfortune” or used the “misfortune” on themselves to trap enemies at close range. They absolutely couldn’t inflict misfortune on others from a distance.

But during those days when Ciel encountered misfortune, there were no transcendents around her at all.

Initially, Ciel suspected the third-tier “Favored” sent by the Deton Group. But the crucial point was, that “Favored” didn’t know Ciel at all, and Ciel hadn’t attended the banquet that day.

According to information Adele obtained by asking her sister Uris, that “Favored” had been busy investigating clues at Deton Manor during this period, even hiring several “Detectives” to help.

Avena, by inquiring with “Detectives” connected to the Roswell family, could also get the same answer—that Commissioner Lucy, the “Favored,” was overwhelmed with work at the manor and hadn’t left the manor premises except for the day of the banquet.

The simulated Ciel guessed that this “misfortune” was definitely related to her “fated death,” the culprit pushing the Future Days simulation closer step by step.

But what was the source of this “misfortune”?

Ciel continued flipping pages, her mood somewhat heavy.

Just reading the text made her feel suppressed.

Living each day felt like constantly being on the set of “Final Destination”; even drinking water required worrying about choking to death. Under such circumstances, she still had to investigate the source of the misfortune.

Thus, after experiencing several terrifying misfortunes, even Avena couldn’t bear to watch anymore. She advised Ciel to try leaving Berren City.

Knowing that staying in Berren City wouldn’t lead to much progress, the simulated Ciel decided to follow the original plan, taking her sister and leaving Berren City for Ansu, to see if leaving could lift this curse of misfortune.

Seeing the last page of the notebook she had read before, Ciel’s mind was still foggy. This forced her to flip back to the first page and start studying again.

This time, Ciel didn’t put herself in the shoes of her simulated self, but rather adopted an observer’s perspective.

She tore off a piece of paper and created a fishbone diagram timeline. All events from the notebook were arranged chronologically, with significant emphasis added to the days misfortune struck.

Thus, a clear timeline and sequence of events appeared before Ciel’s eyes.

The timeline was straightened out, but Ciel was still clueless about the trigger conditions for the “misfortune.”

The arrival of “misfortune” was completely unpredictable.

Whether lying at home or going out to investigate, misfortune followed like a shadow. And the later it got, the more terrifying the disasters became.

Moreover, this was a misfortune that couldn’t be resolved even by leaving Berren City.

Just like earlier, Ciel boarded the train leaving Berren City. There wasn’t a single transcendent on the train, including herself.

Yet, even under these circumstances, a huge disaster still occurred, causing the simulated Ciel to exhaust all Fate Points and enter a state of impending death.

Without her own arrival, this death would have been predetermined.

Ciel tapped the desk with the pencil in her hand. After a while, she changed her approach, marking the disasters that forced the use of Fate Points and the days without disaster, comparing them.

Major disaster...

Swish, swish, swish—

The pencil in Ciel’s hand scribbled on the paper, classifying her disasters into levels.

Levels 1-3, corresponding respectively to 【Dodged Disaster】, 【Minor Injury】, 【Fate Points】

The number of dodged disasters was relatively high; sometimes, several disasters could be dodged in a single day. Level 1 disasters were also the most frequent throughout the timeline.

Starting from Level 2 【Minor Injury】 disasters, a certain pattern emerged.

The first minor injury, on the evening of June 25th while preparing for the banquet, occurred when she was completely unprepared. While dodging the warhorse, her lower leg bone was fractured.

The second time, when that Royal Family member came to have dinner with Avena, the antique crystal chandelier fell. As Ciel dove aside, her fingers and arm hit the ground at the wrong angle, resulting in dislocated fingers and a fractured forearm.

Subsequent instances basically corresponded to times when Ciel was about to meet certain transcendents.

And Level 3, severe injuries requiring Fate Points to avoid, showed an even clearer pattern.

They all occurred when Ciel was preparing to investigate that “Favored,” encountering the most loyal cultist of the Divine Advent Church, or preparing to drink a potion, happening a total of 11 times.

These were all related to third-tier individuals or moments highly likely to change her destiny.

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Conversely, looking at the times she marked as having no misfortune.

Ciel gradually discerned a rough pattern.

Although this pattern wasn’t entirely accurate, and several misfortunes couldn’t be matched, it could roughly correspond to some of the disasters.

That was transcendence.

All misfortunes occurred when she had some contact with the transcendent—but this couldn’t explain why Ciel encountered misfortune even when leaving Berren City and other transcendent forces.

And this time, at least four or five hundred people died on that steam train.

“Sigh...” Ciel sighed.

Too few samples, and only one trial, without considering other variables. This made Ciel’s thinking somewhat difficult.

She raised her hand and rubbed her temples, then put pen to paper, writing down several names.

Deton Group: Lucy Silva.

Redemption Society: Professor Ashford.

Church of the Savior Goddess: Hugh.

Royal Family: Oppold Thaddeus.

Divine Advent Church: Archbishop Tara.

These names were people the simulated Ciel had actively contacted during her investigation, and contact with whom triggered major disasters.

Now, given that disaster struck even when leaving Berren City, Ciel had to go back and investigate thoroughly.

This simulation, Ciel must focus on investigating these individuals. Perhaps she could find some clues from them.

She had to return to Berren City as soon as possible... The time left for investigation was not much...

Her simulated self previously had the task of “survival.”

But her current self had no “survival” task, allowing for more unrestrained investigation without fear of exposure.

Ciel picked up a few rolls of money, took one, and prepared to go out directly to see if any townspeople were still awake. She needed to buy a carriage to return to Berren City as quickly as possible.

Just as Ciel reached the door and was about to raise her hand, within her field of vision, the wooden door opened, and a bullet hovered before her eyes.

Ciel: “...”

Ciel’s hand on the doorknob paused.

The misfortune... wasn’t over yet.

This was the vision brought by 【Precognitive Sight】. Ciel hadn’t hidden her footsteps just now, which were heard by someone outside the door.

A black shadow emerged from beneath Ciel’s feet, slipped through the crack under the door to the outside.

“Urghh...”

“Mmph—!”

“Cough...”

Several sounds of pain came from outside the door. Ciel slowly turned the doorknob and looked outside.

Outside the door stood three sloppily dressed individuals, a man and two women. One man held a worn-out small black revolver; the other two held daggers.

They had been ambushing the inn entrance since who knows when.

Although their faces were covered with cloth, Ciel recognized one of the dagger-wielding women as a waitress from this small inn.

Their bodies were completely frozen in place. The kerosene lamp on the wall reflected their terrified expressions onto Ciel’s eyes.

Behind them, unseen by the kerosene lamp, three burning black shadows crouched beside their shadows, flaming chains already binding their shadowy limbs completely.

“Let’s talk somewhere else.” A faint, humorless smile appeared on Ciel’s face. Her beautiful features, combined with the smile, brought them a fear bordering on madness.

The three individuals walked forward stiffly. Ciel glanced back, confirmed Lichie was still sound asleep, gently closed the room door, and followed behind the three.

Descending to the first floor of the inn, the owner was nowhere to be seen at the front desk. Ciel followed them to the deserted empty lot behind the inn.

Ciel looked at the three kneeling before her, gazed at the one holding the gun, and asked, “Who sent you?”