As soon as the meeting with Luke in the White Wolf Forest was over, King Alfred went to the grand conference room of the royal palace.

　There were two entrances and exits to the Great Council Chamber, one of which was the main entrance used by his subjects and the other was reserved for the king.

　Alfred entered the main conference room through the private entrance and sat down in a chair at a large circular table.

'I'm sorry to keep you waiting. Let's get started.

　The people surrounding the round table are nobles who hold some kind of office in the royal palace.

　And the young man standing straight in front of Alfred - Carmine Argentia, the leader of the Silverwing Knights.

''Let's get right to it, but let me hear the latest report on the Night Ripper. There is no need to know what we knew before last night. I already have it in writing.

　The first item on tonight's agenda is the development of the Night Ripper case, which has been rocking King's Landing for months.

　A series of murders that seemed to have died down with the increased surveillance of suspects, but recently a sixth murder has been reported on the move to ......, where elements were found that could debunk previous speculation.

　However, with the help of Luke in the White Wolf Forest, the situation was tilted to solve the case in just one night.

''I'm in awe. Let me first give you an update on the progress of the investigation that has been ongoing since last night.

　--Bruno the Triplets Rock, who engaged with the investigators from the Silver Wing Knights, admits to the murder of two people last night and the sixth incident of the Night Ripper (Night Ripper), but still strongly denies involvement in the earlier serial killings.

　He also claimed that the two incidents in which he was involved, with a total of four deaths, were self-defense in which he returned the assassins who had attacked him to keep him quiet.

　Based on Bruno's testimony, they searched the shop and workshop of the slain mithril processor's building and found documents and specifications for a mithril weapon that made them suspect of illegal distribution of mithril.

　When checked against the victim's wounds, it was confirmed that the first five cases matched the weapons on those specs and the sixth case matched the mithril sword in Bruno's possession - the

Also, with the help of Luke of the White Wolf Forest, two of the victims of the long unidentified first incident were identified as the two traveling artist sisters who were also on the list of suspects.

　--The sisters, who were active until yesterday, were determined to have been spoofed by someone else.

　Suspecting that this is the real culprit behind the Night Ripper incident, a mandatory investigation was conducted into the troupe to which the sisters belonged.

　Although no other members of the troupe have been involved in the case so far, they have succeeded in obtaining enough evidence and testimony to infer that the sisters were the Night Ripper.

In parallel with these investigations, we are also analyzing the wreckage of the two recovered dolls.

　-- The shape of the blades that the two dolls had built in were almost identical to the weapons in the incidents up to the fifth.

　And from Luke's testimony in the White Wolf Forest, it was almost confirmed that the dolls had been substituted for the sisters of the traveler, and that they were not externally manipulated by magic, but were autonomous in their movements--　

This is a summary of the information known to us to date. Based on these findings, the Order has deduced the following to be the truth of the matter.

　Carmine finished his explanation in a calm tone of voice, holding the materials he brought in behind his back and looking straight at Alfred, who was sitting across the round table from him on the other side of the table.

　He should have been busy investigating the case since last night, but he behaved in a manner that didn't show the slightest hint of fatigue.

''The mastermind behind the plan to kill the A-ranked adventurer must have had an illegal deal for Mithril with the processor Bill before. And in carrying out his plan, he sold an automatic doll to a traveling entertainer on his way to King's Landing without telling him about it. The plan was to get him through the entry process and then use the weakness of his illegal dealings to have Bill create a murder weapon and kill the itinerant artiste in his place to carry out the plan.

　There was a stir among the ministers.

　Carmine's speculation, while logical, was hard to believe for someone with expertise.

　As the groaning began to die down, the ministers came out of nowhere to ask questions.

You don't know why the murdered adventurer was targeted?　The pushback from the Adventurer's Guild has been too much for me to handle.

　First of all, the minister, who includes the minister in charge of negotiating with the Adventurer's Guild, opens his mouth.

''An automatic doll that behaves indistinguishable from a human?　It's technically impossible. It won't be possible for another thousand years.

　Next, the minister who oversees magic and mage related matters gives a negative opinion.

'But, some of the victims had retired long ago, hadn't they?　I don't know why they've been lumped together with the active adventurers after all this time.

　This statement came from an education-related minister.
　He is a minister who is responsible for a field that is completely unrelated to the case and would only have expressed simple questions.

　Carmine took those questions in his stride and then responded in a calm and collected manner.

''If you don't mind my guessing, I will answer them. The slain adventurers were all veterans with long careers, so they had a great deal in common.

　Here, for the first time, Carmine brought the bundle of materials he was holding behind his back to his chest.

'For example, even if we limit it to the A-ranked dungeons that the five of us, including Bruno, have explored in common, the number of locations is nearly ten. Furthermore, if we consider the reason Bruno was targeted as an exception, considering that the reason he was targeted was 'blackmail against the building', the number of commonly explored A-rank dungeons lightly exceeds twenty.

　Only the sound of pages of documents being turned echoes through the large conference room.

　Everyone was gasping for breath, waiting for Carmine's next words.

'That made it extremely difficult to find out why he was the target of the murderous act, but one of the nearly ten places in common stood out to me.

　Carmine looked up from the data, looked at the noblemen surrounding the round table, and then turned again to King Alfred in front.

'The A-rank dungeon, 'The Thousand Year Corridor of the Abyss' - a labyrinth whose walls were composed of mithril and whose innermost part was directly connected to the 'Demon King's Castle Realm', the territory of Demon King Gandalf. The five A-ranked adventurers had all explored this dungeon in common.