Yes! ......!

　With permission to accompany the investigation, Garnett clenched his fists, forgetting about his current outfit.

　It was no wonder he was instructed to change his clothes.
　The switch has been completely flipped and he can no longer behave in accordance with his clothes.

　For now, as a means of transportation to the villa, I decide to borrow one of the horses with a physique capable of riding two people from the knights guarding the Ten Thousand Temples.

　Just as the petite Garnett sits in front and the relatively large me in the back and is about to drive the horse, a translucent bird woven with magic power tries to stop on Garnett's shoulder.

'Whoa!　What's this!
A spirit animal?　I don't think this molding is that guy's ......
'I'll keep it on in case I need to call you back!　You know how to handle it!

　Carmine looks out the window of the carriage just before we leave and shouts at us.

'Yes, sir!　I know someone who uses it!
'That's good to hear!　I've told Garnett where to meet!　We'll meet up later!

　At the same time as the Silver Wing Knights' carriage started to run, we also galloped through the nighttime royal capital on our two-seater horses.

　Garnett holds the reins.
　I'm wearing clothes that don't even look like they belong on a horse, but I'm handling the horse with excellent reins, and we're riding the shortest route from the Ten Thousand Temple to the Argentean family's villa.

　In the meantime, I was assuming (simulating) the abilities of the 'enemies' that I might engage.

　If the doll that attacked Bruno and the Silver Winged Knight in the warehouse district - if that is the weapon of the Night Ripper, then there are three main types of possible means of attack.

　The first is a literal remote control.

　According to what I heard from the expert black wizard Noir, there are two methods: sending orders by sending magic waves in all directions, and constructing invisible magical pathways and giving pinpoint orders.

　Since both methods have their strengths and weaknesses, or their strengths and weaknesses, they choose the method that best suits their purpose.

　Incidentally, the former is the same type of ability that Bran, the white wizard who turned on the Demon King's Army in the past, managed to control the Mad Golem sent to the ground from the 'Demon King's Castle Realm' underground.

　Of course, that was only possible because of the Demon King's Army's unique technology.
　If an ordinary human were to control it on their own, the distance that could be manipulated is indeed not as wide as it should be.

''Hey, Garnett. The device that traces the magic waves of the remote control skill that I heard about before, does that warehouse town also have an effect area?
Of course. My Knights will be the first to check it, so I don't think there's a lot of evidence that he was remotely controlling the puppets.
"What if we build a magical pathway or something?
That's what we're going to trace it back to. There's no way to remotely control a machine in this world without being detected. The caster must have been close to that place.

　The second one is the manipulation from close range, like Garnett said.

　There are multiple types of this as well, the most common being the method of irradiating magic power at a pinpoint, and the method of connecting threads of magic power like a puppet (marionette) and manipulating it.

　Compared to manipulation from a distance, there is a risk of the sorcerer being caught in a battle, but it is said that the magic power consumed is less and the accuracy of the manipulation is improved instead.

...... I thought back to the time when Bruno cut off the puppet in both directions ...... I knew I should have been able to make it just in time.
Are you in time?　What?
It's the decomposition of the right eye ...... 'The Right Eye of Wisdom' in action.

　He grabbed Garnet's left shoulder and rocked the horse, bringing one hand to his right eye.

'The full effect took effect right after the puppet was cut in half, but the remnants of the magic won't disappear in an instant. Whether you're sending magic directly into it or manipulating it with magical strings, I think you should be able to see at least some remnants of it.
I don't know what I'm talking about. You're the only one who can see.

　After pointing out the most plausible thing, Garnett continued his remarks in a serious tone of voice.

But if you feel that something is wrong with you, then I'm sure something is wrong with you. That 'right eye' is something that is completely bypassed, right?
'Maybe. But then, it's possible that it wasn't being operated by someone else, but autonomously: ......

　The third means is autonomous movement, represented by a golem.

　The surgeon does not control them in real time, but makes them act automatically according to pre-built commands and magic resources.

It's a simple and slow movement like a golem is the least of your worries. There's no way they can demonstrate that kind of combat technology.
'Well, ......, that's what happens when you're realistic.

　My hypothesis has been squarely rejected by Garnett with a good argument.

　Garnett is right about this.
　Even the many golems that lie in dungeons, which are said to be the legacy of ancient civilizations, are only able to perform simple commands with simple movements.

　The golems created by modern wizards have yet to surpass that level.

　In the end, no matter how much I'm not an expert, no matter how much I twist my head, it's unlikely that I'll ever be able to figure out how the killer was controlling that doll.

　In the meantime, the horse we were riding on was pushing forward on the shortest possible route to the villa, and we were approaching a deserted area away from homes.

　The only light source was a sparse streetlight and the moon shining above their heads.

　It's not just a matter of time before something interrupts the moonlight for a brief moment and our vision instantly goes dim.

　-- we acted almost simultaneously.

　Out of nowhere, we grab each other's bodies and jump off our horses as we roll to the side.

　At that very moment, a shining blade snatched past the unmanned horse and plunged deep into the cobblestone surface.

''d*mn, it's finally!
'The white wolf!　Over the streetlight!

　He pulled himself up with pain and looked up at the nearest lamppost.

　The one standing there was a figure dressed in the same clothes as that doll, all in black.

''They're not the Knights, they're after us!　Thank you!

　Garnet quickly draws his sword and releases it.

　I instantly called out the little bird spirit beast as well, and blasted a word about the current situation before unleashing it.

''The ...... white wolf. Is that guy a doll too?　Or is it the body?
Wait. I'm coming to you.

　Right after I held my hand over my right eye and was about to activate 【Disintegration】, a shadow of a person kicked the streetlight and jumped at me in a straight line.

　Two mithril blades that collided and sent sparks flying.

　The figure blocked Garnett's sword with the dagger in one hand and swung the dagger in the other hand towards his neck.

''Tch!''

　Garnett ducked and dodged it, simultaneously flapping her skirt and kicking, pushing the figure to the other side of the road.

　It was only a couple of seconds of flashing offense.

　In the meantime, my right eye had lost its shape and transformed into a mass of magic like a burning blue flame, capturing the figure of the blackened figure head-on.