The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch-Chapter 142 - The Great North Ansu Famine (1/4)

“Is Avena inside? Help me call her for a moment.”

A thin middle-aged man in a double-breasted gray coat stood at Avena’s door, looking at the armored knight standing at the entrance. He raised his hand to press his hat and said, “I won’t attend the banquet. I’ll leave after finishing my business.”

“Sorry, Your Excellency, please wait a moment. Young Mistress is currently entertaining a friend.”

Nia, standing at the door, blocked the man like a statue. After replying, she didn’t move, seemingly unconcerned about the man’s high status.

Hearing this, the man reached into the inner pocket of his coat, took out an exquisite stopwatch, opened it, glanced at the time, then paced around anxiously before Nia for a moment and sighed.

He seemed to be in a great hurry.

“Which friend is it? Maybe I know them.”

The man continued asking.

In the man’s impression, Avena’s friends could be counted on two fingers, and her social circle was very small. Perhaps he really knew them.

“Sorry, you probably don’t know them.”

Nia shook her head and said, “It will probably take... 30 minutes?”

“Phew...”

The man let out a long sigh, just regretting why he didn’t say things earlier... But Avena using the excuse of entertaining guests was actually just giving him the cold shoulder out of pique.

Soon, he took out a shorthand notebook from his coat pocket, took out his dip pen and portable ink, dipped the pen in water, and wrote a short sentence on the paper.

Rip—

He tore off the note, folded it, and handed it to Nia before him. He knew Nia was absolutely trustworthy.

“Please help me give this to Avena. Also, help me tell her, if she wants to go back, she can anytime. Sister... her mother, will definitely not ask her to do anything she’s unwilling to do anymore.”

“I will hand the note to Lady Avena.”

After taking the note, Nia didn’t speak again, not even answering whether she would relay the man’s latter sentence.

“Sigh...”

The man sighed again. This feeling of being caught in the middle made him very uncomfortable, making the wrinkles on his face seem much deeper.

“Thank you, I’ll take my leave first. Just passing by this time, giving some information incidentally. The train is still waiting for me.”

The man pressed the gray bowler hat on his head, turned, and left, walking downstairs.

He wasn’t leaving so quickly yet. His arrival needed to be known by more people, letting others know Avena still had backing, so they wouldn’t have designs on her.

The man didn’t take the back door, but followed the third-floor stairs directly towards the first floor.

“Ahem...”

When reaching the second floor, he coughed slightly, cleared his throat. The original weary feeling slowly faded. His sharp eyes under the aquiline nose narrowed slightly, his aura imposing.

Arriving at the main hall, scattered nobles and wealthy merchants were already gathered in twos and threes, smoking cigars and chatting. More people were still in the garden outside—tables and desserts were already set up there, jazz musicians performed energetically, a scene of peace and friendliness.

“Hey... look, isn’t that...”

A noble holding a champagne glass and cigar, seeing the tall, thin man walking straight towards the door, gently pointed in his direction and said to the person before him.

“Who?”

When the fat man holding a cigar in front looked over, he only saw a back figure. But the noble standing opposite him had already quickly followed. He couldn’t care less who that back figure was and hurriedly followed too.

Many nobles chatting idly in the main hall noticed the commotion here, curiously followed along. By the time the tall, thin man reached the entrance, seven or eight people were already following behind him.

This procession caught the eyes of many noble ladies and noble merchants still chatting in the garden, and one noble lady exclaimed with a laugh, thoroughly attracting everyone’s attention.

“Minister of the Interior William?!”

This figure was not unfamiliar to the noble ladies. Although they were in a small city, they never missed an issue of Ansu’s major newspapers like the Morning Post, Canal Post, and Anchester Guardian. The contents were their daily gossip topics.

And among them, William, who frequently appeared on the front page headlines, naturally became the object of everyone’s attention. Even those who didn’t know him had seen his engravings and hand-drawn photos published in the newspapers.

“Minister of the Interior, do you still remember me? During the immigration management issue before, my mine helped receive some...”

“Your Excellency William, allow me to introduce myself, I am...”

“Heard you’re going to be transferred to serve as Minister of the Navy? Our Royal Fleet, under your leadership, will surely become an invincible fleet defending our overseas interests...”

William was surrounded in the center of the crowd, smilingly greeting others, took off his gloves, and shook hands with several nobles he had met once before.

And beside a cake table in the distance, Amy held a cake, took a bite with a fork, then asked somewhat curiously, “Father, who is he? Why are so many people surrounding him...”

“That’s Minister of the Interior William Winston, from the Winston family. His sister Margaret Winston is Avena’s mother. Their family was originally a declining noble family. Later, William rose through the ranks to become a government minister in Bliss through his personal ability.”

Baron Hastings recalled slightly, then continued, “Later, after his sister married into the Roswell family, William relied on his personal ability and the Roswell family’s help to rise all the way to Minister of the Interior. Both his connections and abilities are outstanding.”

“So capable?”

Amy’s mouth opened slightly, seeming somewhat surprised by the man’s resume. But after just sighing briefly, she quickly put the matter behind her, her eyes starting to search around.

Why haven’t Avena and Ciel come out yet, where did they go?