Chapter 145: Tara, the Fanatical Die-Hard Fan

Tara, the Fanatical Die-Hard Fan

Ciel walked towards her room while opening the envelope in her hand, looking at the contents of the letter.

The content in Avena’s letter was almost identical to the condensed version from her simulated self.

The only difference was that her real self didn’t wake the maid at two in the morning to send a letter inquiring about corpses, tailors, and Avena’s encountered setbacks in the Reconstitution Ritual.

So Avena’s letter this time was basically concerned about Ciel’s recent situation and asking why Adele came looking for her with a medical kit.

The difference between simulation and reality was that the channels for obtaining information in the simulation didn’t need to be repeated in reality, giving Ciel considerable extra room for operation.

She opened the system store interface, searched through the items brought out from the last simulation.

Besides a prison introduction letter, what surprised Ciel slightly was that there was also an Avena family crest, both exchangeable for 1 Fate Point.

Why wasn’t this written into the notebook? What exactly did her simulated self do? How did she get Avena’s family crest?

Ciel didn’t dwell on this issue further. Her simulated self didn’t write it, meaning it wasn’t important. She didn’t need to waste time on these things.

Ciel didn’t rush to exchange the recommendation letter and family crest. These things could be exchanged anytime; just wait until needed.

Ciel in the simulation, when obtaining intelligence from Avena, completely disregarded any potential exposure issues, so she dared to ask any question, dared to give anything.

In reality, Ciel certainly couldn’t just run up and ask Avena why she was stuck at the first tier, or if she wanted her to get some cultists for her advancement.

This way, anyone with eyes could see the significant connection between cultists and Ciel. If Avena’s curiosity was piqued, leading her to investigate backwards after deprogramming Gemma.

With Avena’s resources and meticulous mind, Ciel wouldn’t be surprised at all if she could trace it back to Tara. Involving Tara, Ciel herself would likely be exposed too.

After all, her next plan required contact with Tara.

Now, the simplest way was, without notifying Avena, to let Avena “discover” the cultist Gemma herself and use her to complete the Reconstitution Ritual.

This work is hosted on mananovel.com

At that time, just have Tara send a secret letter directly letting Gemma visit Avena’s house with Ciel’s “Other Side Page,” under the guise of looking for Oppold.

Although the “Other Side Page” Ciel possessed was tattered, Nia could definitely detect the anomaly; she was extremely sensitive to the Other Side’s aura.

Moreover, because Gemma was only a second-tier cultist high priestess, Tara didn’t need to reveal her identity, just issue the command as a bishop. Gemma wouldn’t know which bishop gave the command. Even if deprogrammed, there would be no risk of exposing Tara.

This way, unlike the situation in the simulation, in reality, Ciel, the Divine Advent Church, and Avena would be completely separated.

Besides Ciel, no one could deduce Ciel’s existence from the other party. She could still remain independent of any faction.

Of course, the core point of this plan was that Tara, as the intermediary, must be absolutely loyal to Ciel—this loyalty had been verified by Ciel in several simulations.

Tara in the simulations, even when driven mad, only became more extremely faithful to Ciel herself. She was an absolute fanatic, and her fundamentalism centered around “Mother Goddess Ciel.”

Even if Ciel said on the spot that the Divine Advent Church was fake, and what she said was true, Tara would probably lead her confidants to revolt, splitting off a Church of Ciel from the Divine Advent Church.

Soon, Ciel finished writing a plain reply letter to Avena. The content only mentioned her spirit had improved and inquired about the tailor. Finally, Ciel handed the envelope to the maid living across the street.

Simultaneously, Ciel also dismissed the maids, asking them to return to Avena’s side, no longer needing them for message relay and protection here. Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

In reality, fewer eyes around her were better.

After sending her letter and dismissing the maids, Ciel returned to her room, contemplating what to do next.

Tara would arrive in Berren City tomorrow morning, but there was one point Ciel couldn’t quite control.

That was Amy.

To make Tara absolutely loyal to her, she had to first “prove” her identity as the “Mother Goddess.”

And this “proof” required using the Divine Servant behind Amy.

She had to think of a way to keep Amy unaware of everything, yet have the “Divine Servant” sealed on her back come out and “kneel” to her.

However, Amy and Tara were still unaware of these events that had occurred multiple times in the simulations. Ciel had significant room for manipulation.

Ciel really didn’t want to use “Instigator” on her friend. So, if possible, she preferred to keep Amy in the dark.

But this matter wasn’t urgent yet. In the simulation, Amy brought Tara to find her tomorrow noon, the 26th. She still had plenty of time to think about how to handle this.

More crucial now was the matter of the clothing.

The female robber in the police station prison couldn’t escape. She could use the recommendation letter or family crest anytime to retrieve her from the police station prison and stitch her up.

But the clothing matter couldn’t be delayed. Materials and accessories for the clothes were hard to find; a slight delay might miss the timing.

But the good news was, her meticulous simulated self had attached the tailor’s hand-drawn design sketch to the notebook. She already memorized all the clothing dimensions and didn’t need to spend energy and time discussing details with the tailor like her simulated self did.

Ciel opened the system store and directly opened 【Basic Disciplines】.

As she expected.

In the previous simulation, Ciel in the simulation attempted to complete the “Physician” Reconstitution Ritual but hadn’t succeeded by the time the real Ciel entered the simulation. Yet 【Medicine】 still entered the basic disciplines.

Last simulation, Ciel in the simulation did quite a bit of drawing, finally even attempting to draw Other Side scenes for the real Ciel to see.

Therefore, after leaving the simulation, Ciel’s 【Basic Disciplines】 gained two new disciplines: 【Drawing】 and 【Tailoring】.

Ciel didn’t hesitate, directly spending 6 Fate Points to raise both 【Drawing】 and 【Tailoring】 to Lv.2.

【Drawing】 was a basic discipline potentially useful for the later “Blood Painter,” and also an ability for Ciel to convey information with more accurate images—if needing to find someone later, drawing would be much easier to understand than text + abstract drawings.

And 【Tailoring】 greatly benefited the “Coroner” ability, worth investing points in, and could also better help Ciel reproduce the draft design sketch seen in the notebook from the last simulation.

-

After four flashes, Ciel’s Fate Points dropped from 180 to 174, and descriptions for two new skills appeared before her.

【Drawing Lv.2: Moderately increases your talent for drawing, making it easier for you to learn various drawing techniques. With some effort, you can become an excellent master painter】

【Tailoring Lv.2: Moderately increases your talent for tailoring, making it easier for you to learn various sewing techniques. With some effort, you can become an excellent master tailor】

Raising these skills to Lv.3 might yield special abilities like 【Linguistics】’s “photographic memory,” but Ciel didn’t directly max them out.

Because Lv.2 was already sufficient. Leveling both to Lv.3 would cost another 6 Fate Points.

Although Ciel had quite a few Fate Points now, she couldn’t waste them like this. The last simulation didn’t generate income, so in reality, she had to economize.

Ciel took out a flat piece of letter paper, scribbled and drew a bit on the nearby notebook, felt the handling was about right, then directly started drawing on the letter paper with the dip pen.

At this moment, Ciel still had 0 foundation in drawing and tailoring, but unlike before, she gained extremely high talent.

Coupled with her already strong control over body muscles, soon, the prototype of a dress gradually took shape under her pen.

Ciel didn’t control the brushstrokes; the pen tip force almost penetrated the paper. She still used a large number of simple geometric shapes, but the aesthetic appeal was much better than the previous abstract drawings.

In less than 15 minutes, a technically proficient front and back design drawing of the garment appeared on the letter paper before Ciel.

Seeing no errors in the details, Ciel directly took out another piece of letter paper. After waiting for the ink on the original paper to dry slightly, she overlaid the new letter paper on top.

Through the thin new letter paper, a faint projection of the image underneath emerged, like covering it with a mask layer.

She clearly hadn’t learned drawing, yet these small techniques seemed self-taught. Just a flash of inspiration, and they appeared in Ciel’s mind.

Ciel took out a pencil, began tracing the projection underneath, shaping details on the new letter paper—this time Ciel spent a full half hour.

This was the fastest way to improve Ciel’s drawing skills in a short time.

Following the mask underneath and the impression of the drawing in her mind, Ciel almost replicated the design sketch 1:1 on the new letter paper.

After stopping the pen, Ciel picked up this letter paper and nodded with satisfaction.

The current Ciel was no longer a drawing novice. Although the drawing produced had a strong technical flavor, lacking spirit and technique, it was sufficient for people to clearly see what was drawn.

Folding the letter paper neatly, placing it in a new envelope, Ciel took the envelope and walked towards the old tailor’s home she saw in the simulation.

She didn’t need to wait for Avena’s reply. Mentioning the tailor in the letter to Avena was mainly to allow the tailor to seek Avena’s help if lacking decorative materials.

Consider it a small reward for helping Avena find the “material” for the Reconstitution Ritual.

Ciel took the envelope and some cash Su pounds, went out, directly hailed a carriage, and had the coachman drive to the old tailor’s home near the gem processing factory.

Have to say, her simulated self was really generous... Thinking about customizing a dress costing the price of a house in Ansu, Ciel felt a pang of heartache.

Of course, her simulated self didn’t need to worry about money, so giving all the money was fine, as long as the item was correct.

But the real Ciel had the option of haggling. Even for royal-level formal wear, 150 pounds was the absolute maximum. So Ciel’s psychological price range was between 50-150 pounds.

After knocking on the old tailor’s door, Ciel mentioned she was introduced by Avena and handed over the design sketch.

The moment she saw the design sketch, the old tailor’s eyes lit up instantly. Many rare designs within made even her, a tailor for most of her life, marvel.

After learning this design sketch was drawn by Ciel, the old tailor’s face first showed surprise, then she let out a faint sigh.

She could naturally see the young lady before her possessed extremely strong talent in drawing and design, but unfortunately... the other party was likely a noble young lady.

Most noble young ladies she contacted, at most, were only interested in knitting wool. Making them learn tailoring was fundamentally impossible.

Sighing, just lamenting such talent appeared in someone who didn’t need it at all.

“Your drawing talent is truly excellent, miss,” the old tailor looked at Ciel and sighed, “Perhaps you should continue honing your skills in drawing; maybe you’ll become a great artist.”

“Thank you,” Ciel smiled and shook her head, saying, “If I fail the law exam, maybe I’ll consider trying again with drawing.”

Ciel finally offered 100 pounds for the old tailor to customize this dress. The old tailor, after hesitating slightly, perhaps wanting to befriend Ciel, agreed, but the timeframe was within 3 months.

This point was also recorded in the notebook; Ciel knew how to handle it.

Just add money.

After Ciel raised the price to 150 pounds in one go, the old tailor finally agreed to rush out this dress within six days—of course, provided Avena would help find those rare, custom-needed accessories.

After paying a 50-pound deposit, Ciel left the old tailor’s home.

Her simulated self directly threw out 600 Su pounds to customize this dress. Now she only spent 150 Su pounds, feeling like she got a huge bargain.

However, from the old tailor’s mouth, Ciel learned some widely known things about Avena.

Turns out the largest jewelry processing factory in the Gem District was under Avena’s name. Besides this factory, Avena also held several mines near Berren City—gold mines, gem mines, coal mines, everything.

Truly has mines at home.

After settling matters with the tailor, Ciel returned to her residence and also saw Avena’s reply letter.

Unsurprisingly, Avena mentioned the tailor’s address in the reply letter, identical to the record in the notebook from the simulation.

It was now three in the afternoon. Still some time until Tara arrived in Berren City early tomorrow morning.

There would likely be two more misfortunes in between, one around 6:30 PM—this should be the time Oppold and Lucy met at the banquet—this misfortune likely required activating save file transformation to avoid; she needed to prepare in advance.

Early morning, more than ten hours later, would also be Ciel’s first contact with Tara in reality.

Time was ample now; she had enough time to formulate a plan... And time had always been on Ciel’s side.