The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch

Chapter 292.1: Exoskeleton

「Past Days: 1 Day (Holy Year 741, July 25, 12:17) (Cost: 10 Fate Points)」It was now 15:51 on the 26th, and the days for the Past Days simulation had changed accordingly.

To save time, Ciel directly borrowed Adele’s room for a short rest, intending to head into a Past Days simulation from Adele's home to collect the final path.

Ciel leaned against the headboard of Adele’s bed. The mattress wasn't particularly soft, leaning toward the firmer side, and it still carried a faint, gentle scent of mint—it was clear she truly loved the smell of mint.

Once Ciel confirmed that all the procedures were imprinted in her mind, she did not hesitate and directly opened the simulation interface.

One convenient thing about Past Days simulations was that there was no need to write a long list of precautions beforehand, nor was there a need to search for notebooks left by her simulated self after arriving.

However, correspondingly, there was much less room for manipulation; she couldn't have her simulated self prepare everything in advance.

"Past Days."

"No. 0."

A dazzling silver light completely enveloped everything before Ciel’s eyes.

...

「Past Days」

「Holy Year 741, July 25, 12:17」

「Countdown - 23:59:59」

Ciel slowly opened her eyes. Before her was a familiar campus. Turning her head, Adele stood beside her, looking left and right, seemingly filled with endless curiosity about her surroundings.

This point in time… was the moment they were waiting outside the Redemption Medical College for a "Physician" to inform Ashford.

The conversation with Ashford had been resolved in less than forty minutes, and Ciel had returned to her home before 13:00.

Now, that student should be returning soon, ready to lead them to Ashford.

But the current Ciel did not have that much time to talk with Ashford.

"Let’s go." Ciel beckoned to Adele and then turned to leave.

"Eh? We’re not waiting anymore?" Adele asked, but her feet quickly followed Ciel. She watched Ciel’s back and asked, "Where are we going? Do we need to leave a message saying we left early…?"

Adele was still very polite, wondering if leaving without a word would cause trouble for the other party. However, Ciel in the simulation would not worry too much about others' emotions; the materials she needed were not on Ashford anyway.

"Tara."

Ciel merely gave a call. In a deserted alleyway, a white shadow emerged from the darkness between buildings. The white shadow flickered, and Tara appeared at the alley entrance.

Tara stepped forward quickly, reaching Ciel’s side, and asked with her head bowed, "Lady Ciel, what is your command?"

"Paper, pen." Ciel’s words were brief.

Tara made a habit of always carrying a notebook and pen for Ciel. She drew them from a pocket sewn into her maid’s apron, along with a small bottle of ink, and handed them over.

Ciel stood right there by the roadside. After dipping the pen in ink, she quickly wrote out the formula and potion preparation process from memory. Then, she tore the page out and handed it directly to Adele.

"Help me prepare this potion. You can start with the materials you already have. I’ll send the missing ones to you in a moment." Ciel said to Adele.

"Oh, oh… okay." Adele took the page from Ciel and nodded repeatedly.

For Adele, it all happened too fast. One moment she was waiting with Ciel to see Ashford, and in the blink of an eye, Ciel’s mind seemed to have changed.

Adele didn't know what Ciel wanted to do, so she simply gave up thinking and focused on studying the potion formula before her.

After sending Adele back to her own home, Ciel remained there as well. Percy followed at her side, while Tara was sent out by Ciel to collect materials—though it was called collecting materials, it was actually just going to Avena to get them.

The Tier 1 "Knight" potion didn't require anything too rare. In fact, due to the large number of Tier 3 "Crown Guards," Ansu stored a vast amount of exclusive materials for the "Knight" path. There was no need to even spend money; she could just go to Avena and ask.

Adele needed protection, so Ciel felt more at ease leaving the matter to Tara, without needing to analyze every step for her.

Tara’s movements were also very swift. By the time Adele had prepared the other materials, Tara had returned with what Ciel needed.

Upon hearing that Ciel wanted these materials, Avena had quickly produced them and handed them to Tara. The process was exceptionally smooth.

All that remained was to wait for Adele to finish the potion.

During the wait, Ciel did not stay idle.

She, Percy, and Tara began to talk in the room below Adele’s laboratory. Their discussion centered on the records of Old Ansu still preserved within the Divine Advent Church.

Old Ansu existed during the Holy War Era. A vast amount of data had been lost, but the major churches that survived from the Holy War Era into the Holy Era still preserved many Old Ansu language documents.

Although she didn't know how much this would help with the Old Days, knowing more about the background of Old Ansu was a good thing for Ciel.

Tara was one of the people in the Church of the Savior Goddess and the Divine Advent Church who had researched the church records of the Old Ansu period most deeply. When Ciel asked questions, even Percy listened intently, as if she had returned to her days as Tara’s student.

Ciel listened to Tara’s words, filtering out what might be useful to her.

Unfortunately, these surviving ancient records mostly documented events regarding Holy War battles and the miracles of saints that emerged during them… It could be described as a grand epic novel. The truth within was debatable; they were essentially missionary tools.

However, through these descriptions, Ciel could roughly see some of the events that occurred during the Holy War Era.

That was the proliferation of heresy, the fires of war everywhere, and the suffering of all living things. Almost the entire world was embroiled in this struggle for transcendent power, and the people lived in misery.

The Savior Church, meanwhile, relied on the concept of "Saving the World" to gain the support of the majority of civilians and some peaceful factions. They survived the "Religious Battle Royale" of the Holy War Era and stepped into the relatively peaceful Holy Era.

But what Ciel was even more curious about was: what was the origin of the Holy War Era?

What exactly caused dozens of powerful religions from a thousand years ago to wage war and slaughter each other, each seeking the other's death?

Even during the Holy War, a large number of religions were completely wiped out, leaving no inheritance behind… it was utterly cruel.

How did such an irreconcilable religious holy war suddenly end in peaceful coexistence? There was even a giant, world-famous painting of the various religious deities gathered in harmony that had been passed down—it still occupied the most central position in the Stuart Art Trading Center.

"Do you know what the cause of this Holy War was?" Ciel looked at Tara and asked directly.

"I apologize, I am not sure, Lady Ciel……" Tara shook her head and said, "The closer events are to the Chaos Era, the fewer records remain…… but I believe it was likely a conflict of faith."

"A conflict of faith?" Ciel asked.

"Yes… records in the ancient transcriptions of other churches also mention it. Almost around the same time, one after another, we all began to lose the ability to sense the existence of our respective deities."

Tara lowered her head and continued: "Some far-sighted churches believed their deities had fallen into a slumber due to a lack of faith power, so they required a massive blood sacrifice to awaken them… I speculate this was the primary reason the Holy War began…"

Far-sighted… are you sure it wasn’t extreme?