The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch-Chapter 104 - Linked Misfortune? (1/2)

Why, just why, did he have to live a life worse than an animal...

He was the youngest son of Prince Thaddeus, born with a silver spoon in his mouth!

Although there was no hope of inheriting the Prince title, nor could he achieve merits deserving special authorization from the Queen, just based on his status and family wealth, he could live a life admired by thousands.

Everything changed because he chose to come to Berren City... Everything he possessed was stripped away, bit by bit.

He had to endure this feeling of gradually falling to the bottom, yet unable to mount any effective resistance.

Initially, he insisted on taking this mission simply because its destination was Berren City.

And his, Oppold Thaddeus’s, initial purpose was merely to use this mission to get closer to his cousin, Avena Roswell. Who could have imagined that after arriving in Berren City, misfortune would follow him relentlessly?

The hardships endured this past month were several times greater than all the hardships he had suffered from birth until now combined.

The result was, he barely saw Avena a few times, their relationship didn’t improve at all, and he had to continue suffering in Berren City... The moment he stepped outside Clock Tower Alley, misfortune would follow him like a shadow.

Even the letters he sent out vanished without a trace. Even those meant to be forwarded to Avena received no reply.

Clearly within the city, he felt stranded on a deserted island, unable to move, even survival became a problem.

And most crucially, he couldn’t let those guards or servants find him, otherwise, it would trigger even more severe consequences.

To this day, Oppold’s guards still believed their master was just having too much fun in Berren City and lost track of time, completely unaware that Oppold had been hiding in Clock Tower Alley for nearly half a month now.

“Damn it...” Oppold’s third curse was clearly somewhat weaker.

He reached for the cloth pouch at his waist, taking out an item and a piece of paper.

The item was a blue eyeball, pure like crystal. This was his amulet, the key sealed artifact that allowed him to survive disaster after disaster.

He spread the paper on the shaky table, placed the eyeball in the center, then took out a small knife, cut the skin on his left palm, clenched his fist, and let the blood drip onto the blue eye.

“Will my actions just now bring any danger? ‘Evil Eye’.” Oppold asked aloud.

Blood flowed down the blue eyeball continuously, not a single drop sticking to it. Seeing this, Oppold slowly let out a sigh of relief.

He stood up, walked to the living room, picked up his spiritual notebook, and began recording something.

Looking closely, the last page of his spiritual notebook was filled with various rules.

1. Daily expenses cannot exceed 9 pence.

2. Weekly rent for residence cannot exceed 2 shillings.

3. Must work every day, and weekly salary must not exceed 10 shillings.

4. ...

...

31. Damaging furniture, price within the weekly salary range, will not incur punishment.

After writing down the thirty-first rule, Oppold looked at the page already filled before him and couldn’t help but curse again a few times.

He hadn’t even obeyed the law many times, and now he had to obey these damned, god-forsaken rules set by who knows who?

Failure to comply resulted in inexplicable misfortune. Even with so many rules listed, some unreasonable misfortunes and disasters simply couldn’t be correlated, seeming to strike randomly.

If he could successfully survive this time, he would definitely find out who was behind this... Subjecting him to such humiliation, truly showing no regard for the entire Royal Family!

Actually, Oppold had long been unable to endure and was about to use every means possible to end this torment.

But one thing held him back from desperately fighting the “mastermind” behind all this.

Because he discovered that when he lived his entire day according to these ridiculous, script-like rules, the whispers in his mind would slightly lessen...

Yes, obeying these idiotic rules actually affected his potion.

The most direct manifestation was the erosion from the third-tier “Crown Guard.”

Oppold slowly raised his right hand. From his fingertips to his shoulder, his right hand was completely encased in black armor. This was the side effect of drinking the third-tier “Crown Guard” potion.

But before coming to Berren City, the armor on his right hand had spread all the way to his right chest and towards his heart...

Now, touching his heart with his left hand, he could hear a strong, forceful heartbeat. Although the whispers and buzzing in his mind still persisted, they were much better than before.

He originally thought he might be stuck at the “Crown Guard” level for life, but now it seemed... he could advance further.

As long as he could figure out this pattern, and the mastermind behind it, he could use all this to reverse the potion’s erosion on himself.

This was absolutely unheard of... No transcendent could achieve this. He was also certain that everything he felt and saw was real, not illusory.

Capable of achieving all this...

Either it was someone further up, someone he had only heard of but never seen, who had completely transformed their life form, referred to as an Ascended transcendent.

Or, it was some powerful sealed artifact, yet undiscovered, possibly even possessing the ability to alter rules to some extent...

Oppold didn’t know if he was the only one aware of this information, nor did he know if anyone else was restricted by the same misfortune rules as him.

But he had to find the truth before anyone else.

“Gurgle...” Suddenly, a faint sound caught Oppold’s attention. He looked up towards the dining table.

What happened?

He quickly stood up, walked towards the dining table, and saw the “Evil Eye” on the table slowly absorbing his blood that had already seeped into the paper.

The azure eyeball mixed with the dark red blood. Faint purple blood vessels spread within the eyeball, converging in the center to form a pupil-like core.

The core slowly rotated within the crystal, scanned the paper once, then slowly looked up, locking onto the direction of the door.

Wait, I wrote a whole circle on that paper, at least fifty or sixty types of misfortune, why did the “Evil Eye”...

Knock, knock, knock—

A knock sounded at the door. Oppold’s heart skipped a beat.

Was it his guards, finally tracked him down?

“Open up, Judicator’s Court.” The cold voice from the doorway made the veins on Oppold’s forehead throb.

Damn it, it wasn’t misfortune arriving.

It was fucking Death arriving.

Oppold put away the “Evil Eye,” placed it in the cloth pouch, carefully walked towards the door, unlocked it, and slowly pushed the door open a crack, saying:

“Hello, Your Excellency.”