The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch

“Thank you, Professor Ashford.”

In the living room of a detached villa in Sir’s Bridge District, several people were by the sofa. On the table was an old toolbox filled with oddly shaped medical instruments.

A woman with short dark brown hair, with obvious burn marks on her hair, closed the snuffbox in her hand, looked at the white-haired old man before her, and continued, “Today was indeed a bit unlucky...”

This person was Lucy Silva, the senior special commissioner of Deton Manor. At this moment, her face was bandaged, and her hands had almost no intact skin.

However, with the help of the potion, new tender flesh had grown on her burned skin. But to fully recover, she would need at least half a month of rest with the assistance of medication.

Besides Lucy Silva, several other transcendents were present. They were all waiting for Ashford to treat their wounds. Almost everyone had some injury on their face.

“Hehe...”

Ashford laughed, shaking his head and saying, “Glad you came early. Any later, and I’d have to go back to Ansu.”

“Why are you going back? Professor, have you finished your business here?” A transcendent who was bandaging herself asked Ashford.

“I came here just to take a student. Now that she’s gone to Ansu, there’s naturally no need for me to stay here.” Ashford shook his head, sighing.

“Is it that hard for a Tier 3 transcendent like you to take a student?” The transcendent asked curiously.

“That child is too stubborn. She wanted to go to North Ansu before, and I couldn’t persuade her no matter how hard I tried... But I don’t know why, she changed her mind later.”

Originally, these questions were quite private, but Ashford seemed to be in a particularly bad mood today and also wanted someone to talk to, so he answered directly.

“Tsk... going to North Ansu now?”

Upon hearing North Ansu, the expressions on the faces of the transcendents present varied, but they all seemed to have a bad impression of that place.

“Let’s not talk about this,” Ashford looked up at Lucy, who was sitting on the sofa, and joked, “How about you tell me my fortune, see if I have a chance to get that student? Consider it payment for the medical treatment.”

“Of course.”

Hearing she could deduct medical expenses using her ability, Lucy nodded without hesitation. Then she reached into her clothes pocket, pulling out a deck of Tarot cards.

But just as she pulled out the Tarot cards, a round, rusty coin was directly brought out, tumbling onto the sofa, and falling to the ground in Lucy’s gradually widening eyes.

The eyeball demon, facing the sky.

Lucy: “?”

She had already used her two tosses for today. It was just a very ordinary heads then tails. Logically, it was absolutely impossible for it to toss automatically again today.

Now, the “Strong Luck Coin” falling out automatically was not the coin’s ability activating.

It was the “Fate Holder’s” innate ability to predict fate.

[Translator’s Note: Sorry, I made a mistake. Before, I interpreted the name as Favored based on its connection to luck. I thought it might be a stronger version of Gambler, but I was wrong. Now I am reminded of some of its abilities, which are predicting fate or even inflicting misfortune on others as a Misfortune Bringer. I think Fate Holder makes more sense than the previous translation.]

This was her ability warning her that something bad was about to happen.

Swish—

Lucy bent down, picked up the coin, and stood up abruptly. She didn’t even bother with the Tarot cards scattered on the ground. Her eyes looked directly towards the door.

“What’s wrong?”

Ashford seemed to notice Lucy’s unusual behavior and stopped mixing the potion in his hand.

For a “Fate Holder” to be unable to maintain composure, this meant something was very likely about to happen...

Buzz—

Almost at the instant Ashford’s words fell, a spiritual alarm buzzed in everyone’s minds. And this buzzing kept echoing in their minds, intensifying with each echo.

At this moment, Lucy’s mind was racing.

The reason she chose to come to Berren City before was because of her Tarot prediction.

She had predicted a major disaster would occur here a month ago, but in the disaster, she would have a very small chance of obtaining a great opportunity. It was because of this that Lucy chose to take a gamble and come to Berren City.

Initially, upon arriving in Berren City, Lucy did feel an unusual danger, including unprovoked misfortune, and some subtle rules.

But before she could investigate everything clearly, those rules suddenly disappeared. Everything unusual from before was as if it had never happened. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t predict what exactly happened.

Whenever she tried to use Tarot cards or other methods to divine about this matter, she would get chaotic answers from the Tarot cards.

If she were to use her ability for divination as usual, the result and process might change, but the initial few divinations were basically very close to the result.

But Lucy’s divination about this matter yielded completely different answers each time. It was as if something unpredictable was interfering with her divination results, even distorting the process.

This was absolutely abnormal. This was also the reason Lucy chose to stay in Berren City—things were definitely not over yet.

Just a moment ago, the spiritual alarm that abruptly sounded in her mind made her almost instantly make a guess.

It was very likely “that” thing, that event or item that might allow her to obtain a great gain with a very small probability!

And judging by the expressions of others, they also seemed to have a premonition about this—this was unrelated to inspiration or degree of contamination. Something special had appeared!

Could it be a sealed artifact? Or did some organization perform a summoning ritual?

Indeed, the explosion before, without any warning or alarm, was the work of a transcendent!

“Sorry, the divination might have to wait until next time.”

Lucy nodded slightly towards Ashford, then quickly walked towards the door. She opened the door and left the villa directly.

Not long after Lucy left, the other transcendents also bid farewell to Ashford one after another.

They weren’t preparing to leave Berren City, but were preparing to see what Lucy wanted to do.

They were all aware of the “Fate Holder’s” abilities... Following her might lead to great opportunities for themselves.

Lucy, who had walked out the door, just took one step in a certain direction, and her body already began to feel an instinctive resistance.

This was her ability, warning her not to get any closer.

But the more her body resisted, the more excited Lucy became.

Is this the gamble she had been waiting for? After waiting for almost a month, is it finally here?

Thinking about the abnormal chaos during this period, Lucy felt her adrenaline starting to surge. She overcame her body’s instinctive resistance and began to run directly towards the direction her body was resisting.

A true gambler doesn’t care about these dangers—especially when she had been winning almost continuously.

But she didn’t know what was waiting for her ahead.

...

On Gem Avenue, Lucy slipped into a side alley, waiting for a while.

Soon, a white shadow horse, carrying two young girls, sped past her—this was already the third batch of retreating transcendents she had seen.

The transcendent world was like this: the bold thrived, the timid starved. Lucy didn’t think there was anything wrong with those who fled. The fewer people, the more advantageous it was for her.

In this Berren City, the people who could threaten her could be counted on one hand, and it was just a threat.

People who could kill her were almost non-existent.

As long as she was prepared beforehand, even Prince Oppold, a Tier 3, couldn’t do anything to her.

After confirming that the buzzing in her mind hadn’t disappeared after the two people just left, Lucy continued running forward. Just as she was about to enter Clock Tower Alley, she suddenly looked up. Lucy looked at the towering clock tower in Clock Tower Alley.

The bright lamp on the clock tower had gone out at some point. Instead, there were a few blurry black figures.

Upon closer inspection with her extraordinary vision, Lucy saw that those black figures were human skeletons connected by fine threads. They were hanging from the clock tower, swaying in the wind, looking extremely eerie under the moonlight.

Looking further up, the original bright moon had also lost its original color, instead shrouded in a red mist, like a blood moon.

No... The moon hadn’t changed color. It was a reddish mist that had enveloped the sky above Berren City at some point.

Buzz—!

A more intense buzzing suddenly exploded in Lucy’s mind. Almost the instant the buzzing sounded, a feeling of regret had surfaced in Lucy’s mind.

Will die...

This abrupt thought appeared in her mind and refused to go away.

Crack—

A crisp sound of a hammer being cocked came from behind.