Spy Classroom - Volume 2 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Love and Assassination

Olivia ran.

A tangled mess of anxiety and frustration rolled around inside her as she drove her feet forward.

How could she have let that bitch figure out who she was?

As much as it stung having to give up a valuable position at a powerful politician’s side, though, it was time to go. She needed to get away from that mansion, and she didn’t have a second to waste. Barring a truly unforeseen turn of events, the three girls were dead. However, there was one foe still alive who she needed to avoid fighting at all costs.

Bonfire…

She’d only seen him once, but she knew exactly who that handsome, long-haired man was. He was the most fearsome spy in all of Din.

Now that she thought about it, he was probably the one who’d figured her out.

The role breakdown made sense—while Grete played the role of the assassin, Bonfire must have been on the sidelines observing how people reacted.

Olivia was originally from a small country to the east.

She didn’t remember her original name anymore, but she remembered working as a backcountry hooker, and she remembered assuming that was all she’d ever be. She was reasonably successful at what she did, but without the money or the motivation to pursue any other sort of life, she resigned herself to eventually marrying one of her customers and dying alone and forgotten. Such was her lot in life.

Each time she sold her body, her heart and soul grew a little bit colder.

Then, one day, her life changed when a big-city politician came to her little town for a night of debauchery.

Between the customers and the girls, there were twenty-three people in her bordello that day—and all of them got gunned down.

Olivia was slow to realize what was going on. At the time, she’d been fast asleep in the back, and by the time the noise woke her, it was already over. Her small-town brothel had become a slaughterhouse.

A lone man stood beside the mountain of corpses.

The skin on his cheeks was sunken and thin—like a walking corpse.

“Oh, you’re up. I used a silencer, but still, you’ve gotta have nerves of steel to sleep through something like that.”

Haggard as he looked, though, his smile was as sunny as could be.

“Now, I’m going to need you to jump out that window for me.”

“What…?”

“The story I’m thinking of going with is that you just snapped,” he explained unconcernedly. “Your john happened to have a gun on him, and you took it, went on a killing spree, and jumped to your death. I can’t exactly go publicizing my assassinations, you know.”

The sight laid out before her was utterly unthinkable, but for some reason, Olivia was calm.

“Assassinations…? You had a reason you killed all these people…?”

“Nah, I was only after one. The others were just for cover.” He grinned. “If a politician alone died, people would suspect foul play. But with twenty other bodies on the pile? See, now that’s just a random tragedy.”

Cover.

That was his sole reason for killing—massacring—nearly two dozen innocent people.

He raised his gun and walked toward Olivia.

Olivia retreated backward, but the room only went so far, and she soon found her back to the window. It was open, and they were on the fourth floor. If she jumped, there was no guarantee she would survive.

“Come on, we don’t have all day. If you’re lucky, you might even live.” His voice was low and threatening. “If you don’t jump, I’ll shoot you and find someone else to do it.”

She glanced around. A few people were just barely holding on to life. They were her friends, the coworkers who’d shown her the ropes back in the day, the madam who took her in, and the regular whom she’d promised to marry. After seeing their shallow breathing, the final person she turned to was the assassin.

His gaze was cold and ruthless, like he was looking at a specimen in a jar.

When she locked eyes with him, Olivia felt a fire light up inside her.

He was different.

She had looked plenty of people in the eye in her day, but compared to him, they all seemed hopelessly boring.

It was like he was a prince on a white horse from some whole other dimension.

The heat in her head traveled all the way down her spine and into her legs, warming her frigid skin and coaxing her frozen heart into beating once more.

“Please, take me on as your apprentice.”

Her mouth moved on its own, and so did her arm. She reached for the man’s gun.

Thinking back, it was probably nothing more than a whim on his part, but he let her take it.

Once he did, she didn’t hesitate. She fired as he had, taking aim at her dying coworkers, madam, john, and friends and putting them down one after another. It was exhilarating. Although she had never held a gun before, her bullets struck true. She had a gift. And in all her life, she had never felt as alive as she did in that moment. She was a woman reborn.

When everyone was good and dead, she turned to the assassin and smiled.

“Take me away from here.”

He regarded her like she was some sort of strange creature, one that he didn’t quite know what to make of. Eventually, though, his lips curled into an amused smile.

That was the day she became an Imperial spy and the day she met Galgad’s master assassin Roland—code name Deepwater.

Thus began Olivia and Roland’s whirlwind romance.

He taught her how to deceive and how to kill, and together, they traveled the world earning huge paydays. Olivia would provide backup while Roland assassinated people, and when the occasion called for it, she, too, would take up arms. Dozens of people met their ends at the duo’s hands.

Each time they finished a mission, Roland would make love to her. He was an assassin skilled enough that he would later strike fear into the Republic as “Corpse,” and when Olivia thought about the fact that she was the one in his arms, it filled her heart with such joy she felt as though she might burst.

Her days were filled with slaughter, ludicrous amounts of money, and the sublime affection of the finest assassin there was.

She could never have obtained such luxuries back in her little nowhere town.

“There’s a man you need to watch out for.”

Eventually, once Olivia tempered her skills, Roland gave her a warning. She had recently begun working for the politician Uwe Appel, and she’d finally earned his trust and was using it to leak confidential information to the Empire.

Roland went on to tell her about the greatest spy in Din.

“I told you how our spies took out Inferno, right? The thing is, there’s this one guy who gave them the slip. They tried to lure him in with a bioweapon so they could assassinate him, but that went south, too. If there’s anyone in Din you gotta be worried about, it’s this guy,” he explained, his face thin and haggard as it always was. “He goes by a lot of names—Bonfire, the Dust King, Ax, Lone, Practical, Crowbar—but the main alias he uses is Klaus. The good news is, we know what he looks like.”

He showed her a photograph.

From the angle, it must have been taken secretly. On it, there was an image of a relaxed-looking young man smiling. It appeared he was chatting with his family or something.

Whoever took the photo must have been close to him.

“Hey, I don’t get it,” Olivia asked as she seared the photo into her memory.

“Don’t get what?”

“This guy’s mentor double-crossed him, right? Why can’t we just kill him? We have his photo.”

“It’s not only his photo. We even know where the guy lives.”

“Then, that’s all the more reason to—”

“We tried. Everyone we sent got captured—by him, no doubt.”

Ah, Olivia realized. The man was using his own house as bait.

Because he knew that his location had been leaked, he was able to turn the whole place into one big trap.

Roland gave her a nod.

“If you ever run into him, contact me immediately.”

“Good idea. There’s no way a spy from a backwater country like Din could possibly hold a candle to—”

“No, that’s not it. That man’s on the same level I am.”

Olivia couldn’t believe her ears.

She knew exactly how outstanding Roland’s skills were. As far as she could tell, his assassination techniques were unrivaled anywhere in the world. The only spies who might be better than him were in Serpent, and even then, Olivia doubted that Roland would let himself be outdone by that team shrouded in mystery.

“I can feel it; this is destiny… Oh, how I’ve waited for this day. How I’ve waited for him!” Roland’s expression was downright exultant. “He and I, we could become rivals. It’s been so boring not having any real competition.”

“Rivals…? You really think he’s as strong as you?”

“Our relationship is gonna be long and storied. I can feel it in my bones.”

Perhaps that was his intuition as an elite spy at work.

It certainly seemed fateful.

Even the man’s code name, Bonfire, was symbolic. It was the perfect counterpart to Roland’s code name, Deepwater.

Fire and water—two elements that could never coexist.

Roland reached for Olivia, and she readily slid into his arms. They exchanged a kiss.

“So please, my dear, watch out for him.”

As he whispered in her ear, he handed her a brooch.

And so Olivia ran.

Now that her true nature had been exposed, she had no reason to stay in that mansion any longer.

She raced through the trees that surrounded it. Luckily for her, the moon was out. That was enough for a trained spy to run at full speed, even without a proper light source. If she could make it through the woods and into the mountains, that should be enough to keep her safe.

Fighting wasn’t an option.

Not against someone whose strength was on par with Roland’s.

“Fighting isn’t an option. Not against someone whose strength is on par with Corpse’s—”

“………”

“—is what Olivia is thinking right now, I’m sure,” Grete finished in that demure voice of hers.

Sybilla and Lily stood beside her near the mansion and listened to her lay the situation out. The scent of gunpowder still wafted through the air. Uwe was shouting in confusion over in the courtyard, but this was no time to go talk him down. Explaining what was happening would be more trouble than it was worth, so they hid behind the building so he wouldn’t find them.

“So that’s what’s goin’ on, huh?”

After hearing Grete’s explanation, all the pieces finally clicked together for Sybilla.

Now that she thought about it, there had been little hints all along.

“You’re a goddamn powerhouse, you know that?”

“…That’s very nice of you to say.” Grete gave her a small bow.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Lily broke in. She still wasn’t totally following.

“Whaddaya mean, Teach isn’t here? We’ve seen him loads of times around the mansion, and Sara’s been meeting with—”

“That was Grete in disguise,” Sybilla explained.

The assassin wasn’t the only thing their fellow maid had pretended to be. She had played one other role as well.

“All those times we saw him here, that was all Grete.”

Lily’s eyes went wide. “What…?”

She had just seen through one of Grete’s disguises, so the fact that she’d been duped so thoroughly came as quite a shock. It took her a moment to process it all.

The part she found the hardest to believe was the first attack. Grete would have had to disguise herself as the assassin, catch her and Sybilla in a trap, nonchalantly change into looking like Klaus, then come in and save them. The skills it would have taken to do all that in sequence were downright superhuman.

“Wow, you really got us good. And we even chatted from pretty close up, too,” she remarked.

Grete laid a hand atop her chest.

“…I’ve memorized everything about the boss, from the rate he breathes and blinks at to every follicle of hair on his head.”

“Damn, powerhouse might be sellin’ you short!”

“Well, I do happen to be an expert at cross-dressing.”

“Wait, you’re still mad about that?”

Despite the sadness in Grete’s eyes, Lily didn’t miss a beat.

That was the sort of issue that might not be so easily forgiven, but for the moment, Grete simply summed up their situation.

“…Anyhow, the long and short of it is that the boss is somewhere far away right now.”

Sybilla had a pretty good idea of what Klaus was doing. “Hunting the assassin, right?” She gazed off into the distance. “The person to watch out for in the mansion wasn’t Corpse. It was Olivia—their partner.”

It was clear that Olivia and Corpse were two different people.

After all, she didn’t look anything like the description listed in their dossier. It was safe to assume that she was Corpse’s ally rather than Corpse themselves.

In that case, it was pretty easy to guess where Klaus had gone.

“Teach left Olivia to us, and he’s off fightin’ Corpse himself. That about sum it up?”

“It does.” Grete nodded.

The whole time they were talking, Lily’s gaze was darting every which way.

“So in the end, he went off to fight Corpse on his own after all? All that stuff about picking four of us was a lie, and he still isn’t willing to count on us for—”

Sybilla shook her head. “It wasn’t a lie. He picked four people just fine.”

Sure enough, he had picked the four strongest members of the team.

“He went after Corpse with four people in tow—everyone but us.”

Not counting them, there were exactly four members left on Lamplight—Thea, Monika, Annette, and Erna.

The fact of the matter was, the four people who got “left behind” at Heat Haze Palace were the four he actually picked.

By that point, even Lily realized what had happened. She stood frozen in place with her mouth dangling open.

Sybilla let out a murmur, as much in response to Lily’s expression as anything. “Long story short, we didn’t make the cut.”

Sadness leaked into her voice. She couldn’t help it.

The other mission was the real one.

For all she knew, Klaus and the other four girls could be locked in fierce combat with Corpse as they spoke.

All that time, she had wondered why the four of them had been the ones to get picked despite their inexperience. As it turned out, the answer was as simple as could be—due to their inexperience, they hadn’t gotten picked at all. That was all there was to it.

“—Magnificent.”

The moment she reached that conclusion, a deep, echoing voice rang out.

Sybilla looked over and found Grete speaking in Klaus’s voice.

“—It’s me. I left this message for you with Grete beforehand. First of all, I’m sorry we had to deceive you. Tricking the enemy spy into thinking I was close at hand was the best method I had of protecting you. With any luck, that knowledge should have kept them in check.”

It was like listening to a voice recorder. Grete was replicating his voice perfectly from its tone to its pitch.

“—I’m also sorry I wasn’t able to take you on the mission with me, and I think I owe you each an explanation as to why.”

Sybilla and Lily gulped, then waited.

If they were going to make peace with this, they needed to hear what he had to say.

“—Starting with Sybilla, she sustained a serious injury to her right arm, so I was worried what would happen if I took her to fight Corpse. If she were in peak condition, I would have liked to take her along. It’s a shame, really.”

“………”

“—As for Sara, the animals she commands are truly excellent at what they do, but I had worries about Sara’s resilience. I firmly believe that one day she’ll be ready to use her prodigious talents to their fullest, but that day hasn’t quite come yet.”

“………”

“—And in Lily’s case, I think it goes without saying, but she makes too many blunders, and her skills fluctuate erratically with her mood. Her explosive talent and admirable mental fortitude are impressive, but I judged that Corpse would be a poor matchup for her.”

“……………”

Everything he pointed out was true.

Sybilla had no rebuttal to that. She bit down on her lip, hard.

Her smarts weren’t anything to write home about, and she knew it. Klaus may have had the decency not to come out and say it, but he probably thought of her as pretty useless in her injured state.

Beside her, Lily was pursing her lips and wearing a rare serious expression. She was going through the same indescribable vexation as Sybilla was.

Klaus hadn’t chosen them.

That realization weighed on Sybilla’s heart like lead.

She had no outlet for the emotions raging within her, but as the urge to vomit threatened to overtake her—

“—However, your flaws weren’t the only things I looked at when making my choice.”

—Grete’s voice echoed loud and clear.

Sybilla raised her head with a start.

Grete’s voice picked up in volume, suggesting that this was the part Klaus truly wanted them to hear.

“—The four of you are incredible at working together with your teammates, and situations that call for cooperation are where you truly shine. Now you’re up against Corpse’s disciple. They’ve probably inherited all of Corpse’s skills, and they won’t go down easy. When I was trying to decide who could face them in my absence, I knew it had to be you four.”

Klaus’s voice rang out strong as Grete delivered his conclusion.

“—Your mission is to take down the assassin’s apprentice without my help. I know you four are up to the task.”

Then she went back to her own voice. “…And that’s the end of the message.”

A small stream of air escaped Sybilla’s lungs.

It wasn’t a sigh. It was a laugh.

The message had resonated with Klaus’s unique brand of sincerity. Not once did he use the words somehow or other or I just did. She could only imagine how difficult it must have been for someone as ineloquent as him to put all of that into words.

But it makes sense…’Cause that’s the kinda guy you are, isn’t it?

He’d seen their inexperience and weakness, calmly thought the situation through, and guided them to where they needed to be.

Hell, that’s the reason I decided to stay on your team in the first place…!

Heat began bubbling up inside her.

She laughed again and licked her lips.

“Well, hey, no time like the present, right? This shit all started ’cause we were sick of riding that punk’s coattails, so we’d look like pretty big assholes if we couldn’t take down a single target on our own.”

Lily came in with an excited follow-up. “Hell yeah! I’m gonna make Teach regret the day he ever left Wunderkind Lily off his roster!”

Grete raised an eyebrow in surprise. “You know, I was afraid you two would feel down after hearing that, but…”

Sybilla and Lily exchanged a glance, then replied in unison.

““Nah, we’re all fired up.””

Sure, they hadn’t been picked to join the Corpse mission, but in a way, their current assignment spoke volumes about the faith he had in them.

The situation was all laid out. Now it was time for action.

They weren’t about to let Olivia escape.

“Lily and I’ll go after her. Grete, you’re in charge of comin’ up with a plan.”

Sybilla then shifted her gaze and gave an order to the girl crouching down a little ways away.

“…And, Sara, you keep handlin’ that first aid.”

“………”

Sara didn’t reply; she was busy desperately trying to treat her wounded hawk.

Bernard managed to avoid the explosion, but he ate the shock wave head-on. His feathers were all mangled up, and there were chunks of shrapnel stuck in his belly. Sybilla couldn’t tell if he was going to make it or not.

For now, she knew it would be best to leave Sara to her work.

Right as they made to leave, though, Sara rose to her feet, rushed over to Sybilla, and handed her something.

“His, um! His name is Mr. Johnny. He’s good at tracking scents!”

It was a toy-size dog with beautiful chocolatey-black fur.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she stammered, “T-Teach was right, about how I wasn’t brave like you all, and right now all I want is to stay by Mr. Bernard’s side, and I know how pathetic that is, and I’m sorry that I can’t do more, but I—”

“You’ve done plenty. If you weren’t here, we would’ve all died, remember?” Sybilla patted her head. It was her way of promising to avenge Bernard.

Sara wiped her tears away under Sybilla’s gentle hand, then rushed back over to her wounded hawk.

“One last thing. Grete, did you and Olivia have some kinda beef?”

Lily seconded Sybilla’s question. “Yeah, I was wondering that myself.”

They didn’t know why, but it felt like there was some extra hostility there.

Grete shrugged. “…She asked me if she could ‘have’ the boss.”

Sybilla and Lily let out simultaneous laughs.

“Well, now we definitely gotta take her down.” “Yeah, who does she think she is?”

Olivia had probably just been joking.

If anything, though, it being a joke had only served to stoke the flames of Grete’s hatred.

The fact that they had a mission to finish and a country to serve were all well and good, but it was Klaus’s faith, Sara’s partner, and Grete’s love that were what truly roused the girls to action.

Sybilla and Lily ripped off their maid uniforms and quickly changed into the combat outfits they’d been hiding that whole time. There was no need to hide who they were anymore, and these were the outfits they felt most comfortable in.

Lily spoke first. “We don’t need Teach around to be great. Now, let’s get out there and prove it.”

Sybilla agreed. “She hurt our friends. Time to make her pay.”

The two spies smiled in fearless unison, then dashed into the forest.

Halfway into the mountains, Olivia leaned against a tree to catch her breath.

She’d made it more than half a mile from the mansion. Even if Bonfire found the girls’ corpses, not even he could track her that far.

She took a moment to check her tools.

All she had on her were a couple cigarettes, a lighter, two knives, and an automatic pistol with eight bullets. It wasn’t a lot to work with, but given how suddenly she had needed to get out of there, it was plenty. All she had to do now was get through the forest, make her way down to a city, mug some tourist for money and a passport, and flee back to Galgad.

She knew that she ought to lie low, but her desire to have a smoke ultimately won out.

The moment she lit up her cigarette, though, she heard a noise.

Something was scampering through the brush, leaving a trail of falling leaves in its wake.

It was probably a boar or a deer or something. Olivia stood at the ready with a knife in one hand and her gun in the other.

She could make out two sets of footsteps, the first of which was some small critter. But the second…was bipedal?

“It can’t be…”

Had Bonfire found her?

Right as she started fearing the worst, though, a most unexpected individual made their appearance.

“’Sup.”

It was the white-haired girl—Sybilla.

She leaped out from behind a tree clad in a flexible outfit, then fired a shot without so much as hesitating.

Olivia quickly hid behind a tree, and Sybilla’s bullet struck it dead-on. “You’re not goin’ anywhere.”

Standing right beside her, there was a small black dog.

Was that how she tracked her? Olivia chided herself for her carelessness. She had no idea that the girls had brought animals with them.

But more importantly…

“You… You’re still alive? That grenade should have killed you; how did you—?”

“Let’s just say I’ve got friends in high places. That was some sloppy work, not checkin’ your kills.”

“Clearly…”

“Lemme guess… You were scared shitless of a certain someone and wanted to get out ASAP, right?”

“………”

Bull’s-eye.

The girl had read her like a book.

“You think we’re gonna call in the boss for the likes of you? I can take you down just fine on my own.”

“I see you don’t think much of me.”

They were having their little chat in a thick grove of evergreens.

There was about sixty feet between them, and most of it was obstructed by pine trees. Olivia would have liked to settle this with a shoot-out, but she couldn’t afford to waste her precious bullets on the girl.

She gripped her knife tight.

“I’ll admit I was wary of your boss, but that’s only because he earned Roland’s respect.”

“Roland?”

“The man you people called Corpse. I don’t ever want to hear that ugly name out of your mouth again.”

Back when she was eavesdropping on them, hearing that name from them really set her off. She refused to let them use that stupid code name any longer.

She heard Sybilla laugh from behind a tree. “You sure it’s okay to be tellin’ me his name?”

“Oh, it’s fine. It’s not like you’re going to be leaving these woods alive or anything.” Olivia lowered her center of gravity. “Roland didn’t mention any stuck-up brats I needed to be worried about.”

Olivia hated the mouthy white-haired girl, clumsy silver-haired girl, and gloomy red-haired girl so much it made her sick. Perhaps, in her heart of hearts, she’d been hoping for an opportunity like this.

“That means you can die.”

As the words left her mouth, Olivia leaped out from her arboreal cover. She faced the direction Sybilla was hiding and fired a shot.

Sybilla quickly returned fire, which told Olivia exactly where she was.

She closed the gap.

Sybilla fired a second and third shot at her as she did, but Olivia dipped and wove between the trees to block the bullets. A scrap of bark scratched her cheek, but that was all.

The only bullet Olivia used was for her initial shot across the bow. There was no need for her to waste any more just to kill some kid.

“Roland is the greatest assassin there is.” She smiled. “And as his apprentice, I’ve learned all his techniques.”

She stowed her gun in her leg holster, leaving her hand free.

She was practically on top of Sybilla now. Sybilla continued trying to get a bead on her, but it was too late. Guns were useless at that range. Overreliance on firearms was a classic amateur move.

Olivia swung her knife and knocked Sybilla’s gun out of her hand.

As she did, she curled her empty hand into a fist and slammed it into Sybilla’s face. Her light body crumpled easily, and she tumbled down the mountain slope.

Olivia could feel that she’d gotten a solid, clean hit in.

The girl was no match for her. After all, she was just a kid. She lacked the experience in spy-to-spy combat to put up any sort of real fight.

However, Olivia couldn’t afford to waste any more time there. She needed to move in for the kill with her knife.

Sybilla lay on the ground, moaning in agony. It sounded like she’d hit her head or something. “Dammit, I underestimated her,” she cried as she clutched her head in pain.

Olivia dashed toward her.

She swung her knife at Sybilla’s fair, slender neck. She could practically see it—in a few seconds, the girl would be dead.

The next thing she heard was a cold, commanding voice.

“Man, you’re way dumber than I thought.”

Sybilla was gone.

The knife found nothing but empty air.

Huh…?

For a brief moment, Olivia’s mind went blank, but it wasn’t from the shock of having her guaranteed attack evaded.

It was from the eerie feeling that just welled up inside her.

Like the girl had literally vanished.

By the time she understood what was going on, she was already falling. Sybilla had swept her legs out from under her.

Olivia tried to break her fall, but when she reached backward to catch herself, Sybilla grabbed her arm and stopped her from doing so. Olivia slammed onto her backside, her arm still clutched in her enemy’s grasp.

She heard a cold voice above her.

“Sloppy.”

This was bad.

Right as Olivia realized just how grim her situation was, she felt the grip on her arm release and, at the same time, sensed a knife approaching her left shoulder. She rolled to the side, barely getting out of the way, but the knife found its mark in her back instead. Pain from the blood loss shot through her. It was hot. The wound wasn’t deep, but it was still a serious blow.

She hurriedly put some distance between herself and Sybilla.

Instead of immediately giving chase, Sybilla flashed her a confident smile.

“Maybe it’s ’cause he hasn’t been pulling his punches lately, but you just seem so slow by comparison.”

“………” Olivia bit down on her lip for a moment, but she soon returned to her senses.

I can’t get shaken, not by someone like her. And besides, it’s not like I’m going to lose.

Sybilla’s speed had caught her by surprise, but that was nothing to lose her cool over. At long range, the advantage was hers.

She sacrificed her gun to go for that surprise attack, but…she couldn’t seal the deal.

Olivia wasn’t about to get fooled by the same trick twice.

And more importantly…

…how do you think you’re gonna beat me at long range without your gun?

She would have liked to conserve her bullets, but this was no time to be playing it safe.

She retreated backward to re-widen the gap between them.

Now they were at gun range instead of knife range. However, that turned out to be a careless blunder.

When she reached for the gun in her leg holster, she came up empty.

“What…?”

“Sorry, but if you’re lookin’ for the gun you had on your thigh…”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sybilla grin.

“…I just nicked it.”

In her left hand, she was holding Olivia’s gun.

She fired without a moment’s hesitation.

Lily made her way through the woods alone, running toward the gunshots she’d heard.

“Man, after all that hype together, she just went and ditched me…”

The two of them set out at the same time, but it didn’t take long for Sybilla to leave her in the dust. She was simply far more athletic.

By the sound of it, Sybilla had already started fighting Olivia on her own.

She was pretty fired up about all this.

Makes sense, though. Fighting is what Sybilla does best…

On top of her tremendous athletic abilities, her sticky fingers could also steal just about anything.

Out of all the girls, Sybilla’s close-quarters combat skills were second to none. If there was a one-on-one fight to be had, she was their go-to. That was what made her Lamplight’s combat specialist.

Aside from actual monsters like Klaus and Guido, she could go head-to-head with almost anyone and come out on top.

“That albino orangutan really does shine when it comes to brute force, doesn’t she?”

If the orangutan in question had been there to hear her, Lily’s comment would have earned her a sucker punch.

Lily mused for a moment on whether she could pull off the same feat—

“…That’s what makes her my right-hand gal.”

—and admitted defeat.

Oh, shut up.

In her head, she could almost hear a certain someone retorting, but she chose to ignore them.

The bullet grazed Olivia’s cheek.

The realization that her beautiful face had been marred filled her with a boiling rage, but she knew that she needed to keep a cool head. Her very survival hung on the line.

She was too far from Sybilla to use her knife but too close to effectively dodge her bullets.

It was the worst possible distance.

She turned her back on Sybilla and ran at full throttle toward a large tree, taking an arcing path so as to make herself a harder target. She needed to put some distance between herself and that gun. Even a little would do. As she ran, dirt exploded by her feet, and branches shattered by her head.

Olivia had gone to great lengths to preserve those bullets, and now Sybilla was burning through them like there was no tomorrow.

She wanted to settle things then and there, which was understandable. It’s what Olivia would have done in her shoes.

Olivia poured every ounce of technique Roland had taught her into running.

“Tch.” Behind her, she heard Sybilla click her tongue.

Right as Sybilla fired her last bullet, Olivia made her way to safety behind the large tree.

In the end, the only bullet that hit her was the initial shot that grazed her cheek.

Is she really that bad a shot…? With a physique like that?

As relief at having survived her narrow brush with death flooded through her, doubts started creeping in as well. If their positions had been reversed, she could have shot her opponent dead with her eyes closed.

However, there was no good reason for Sybilla to let her escape on purpose.

Something feels off…

Then she remembered something.

And now that I think about it, why did she let go of me earlier…?

She thought back to Sybilla’s surprise attack.

When Sybilla grabbed her arm, that should have been it. But for some reason, she released Olivia’s arm right as she swung her knife.

“Sometimes, you’re not in peak form. But that’s true for the other guy, too.” Roland’s teachings ran back through her mind. “Always pay attention to which hand your opponent’s using.”

During their whole fight, Sybilla had only ever used her left hand.

A smile spread across Olivia’s face. She strode out from behind the tree.

Sybilla was out of bullets. Olivia had nothing to fear.

And besides, even if she did have one or two left, she wasn’t in any condition to use them.

“You know, you did a good job of hiding it as a maid.”

Sybilla scowled, and Olivia laughed.

“But you’re right-handed, aren’t you? What, did you hurt it?”

“Tch.”

At Sybilla’s response, Olivia was sure of it.

The girl was in no state to fight.

Olivia was done being on the back foot. Now she knew that the gun was no threat to her.

All there was left to do was methodically corner the girl like the prey animal she was.

With pain on her face, Sybilla threw the gun down the mountain and readied a knife in her left hand. However, she didn’t rush Olivia. Instead, she assumed a defensive position and inched backward.

Olivia charged her, and their knives clashed.

The moment the two blades met, Olivia fired a middle kick at Sybilla’s abdomen. The attack was telegraphed enough that Sybilla was able to block it with her right arm, but doing so caused her to shriek in pain.

“How’s this for dumb?”

“Rgh…”

“You put up a brave front; I’ll give you that!”

Next, she plunged her knife at Sybilla’s face.

Sybilla immediately blocked with her own knife, but Olivia succeeded in knocking it out of her hand.

“Oh my, what a shame. Was that your last weapon?”

“’Preciate the concern, but…” Sybilla fell back, then smiled. “…I just nicked yours.”

She reached into her pocket and pulled out Olivia’s spare knife.

Once again, she’d stolen it in the blink of an eye.

“You filthy little pickpocket…”

Now Olivia was down to nothing but the knife she was holding.

However, that was plenty.

The situation had changed, and now there was no way she could lose.

Everything the girl did with her right arm was a bluff. Now that Olivia knew that, victory was hers.

“You might have my knife, but all that does is put us on equal footing. You really think that’s enough to beat me?”

“…Nah, better quit while I’m ahead.”

Sybilla spat on the ground, then turned around and ran. She was trying to make a break for it. Olivia hesitated for a fraction of a second—then decided to give chase.

She’d reevaluated Sybilla. Someday, she might pose a threat to the Empire, and Olivia was determined to put down anything that stood even the faintest chance of obstructing her beloved.

That, and also…

“You’re running toward a cliff, you know.”

“Wh—?”

Sure enough, Sybilla’s escape was cut off by a sharp precipice.

Once they broke free of the pine trees, the two of them arrived at an open clearing. For Olivia, killing an amateur once they were cornered was child’s play.

“Did you seriously not know that?” Olivia jeered. “See, I was taught to know the terrain around my mission site like the back of my hand.”

“Yeah, well, I was taught to love my mission site like I would a baby.”

“What does that even mean?”

“That’s what I wanna know.” Sybilla peered over the cliff and let out a small sigh.

The drop was short enough that you could make it down with proper equipment, but it would appear that the girl hadn’t come prepared.

Olivia laughed. “You really are unloved, aren’t you?”

“Say what now?”

“I realized it when I was talking to the crazy bitch, you know.”

“…Just so we’re on the same page, you’re talkin’ about Grete?”

“I realized how unloved you kids really are.” Olivia laid a hand atop her chest. “Roland taught me everything he knows. What did Bonfire teach you?”

“…Nothin’ really comes to mind.”

“Has he ever made love to you, then?”

“Gah! I don’t need that image in my head!”

“Roland’s made love to me countless times. He’s given me his heart, his skills, and anything else I asked for. And if there was something I didn’t understand, he would take my hand and guide me until I did.”

The girls could never dream of getting the kind of education she had.

Olivia tilted her body to the side. “It’s thanks to that love that I know how to sense hostility.”

The moment she did, a gunshot rang out, and a bullet whizzed past her.

Lily popped her head out of the trees, gun in hand. “See, this is why nobody likes a natural.”

Apparently, she was still alive, too.

That meant it was probably safe to assume Grete had survived as well.

“Never would have taken you for a spy.”

“No-Longer-Pretending-to-Be-a-Maid Lily, at your service.” Lily had a gun in her right hand, but she was clutching something else in her left.

Amid the dark and the gloom, it gleamed in the moonlight.

It was a needle about four inches long, and its tip was wet with something—probably poison.

“This is where we get serious. You’re about to feel the wrath of the greatest tag team the world has ever seen.”

Lily grinned cheerily, and Sybilla readied her knife.

Given how well the two of them got along, Olivia could only assume that their coordination would be similarly tight.

No matter, though.

She had Roland’s teachings on her side.

“When you’re stuck in a two-on-one, open yourself up to get flanked.”

Olivia positioned herself directly between Lily and Sybilla.

Lily’s expression darkened. She couldn’t use her gun anymore. If she did, she ran the risk of hitting her own teammate.

Now all Olivia had to do was crush them in hand-to-hand combat.

For her opponents, a pincer maneuver should be the default play.

“Here we go!” Lily cried.

“Right there with you,” Sybilla shouted back.

The two of them were in perfect harmony.

Sybilla made the first move, brandishing her knife with her good left hand and charging in. Her speed made it hard to react to, but knowing that her right arm was useless gave Olivia some breathing room.

She faced Sybilla and blocked the attack head-on.

The blow had way more weight to it than she’d expected—Sybilla must have put everything she had into that strike. Olivia’s knife went flying.

“You’re wide open!” Lily rushed at her from behind, telegraphing her attack for no good reason.

Unfortunately for her, though, she lacked Sybilla’s reaction speed. All Olivia had to do was step to the side.

“Huh?”

“Ah—”

The girls didn’t realize what Olivia had orchestrated until it was too late.

Lily’s needle plunged deep—into Sybilla’s thigh.

Sybilla’s face went pale.

“You fuckin’…dumb…ass…”

It was clearly some serious poison.

Sweat gushed from Sybilla’s pores, her body twitched, her eyes went out of focus, and her legs began wobbling.

“Thanks, kid. Nice work.” Olivia laughed. “I have to say, you two are the worst tag team I’ve ever seen.”

It was sad, really. Olivia leveled a casual kick at Lily’s jaw.

The needle toppled out of her hand.

Olivia snatched it up, then ran her finger along its tip.

The moment she did, her skin felt like someone had set it on fire.

“This is some potent stuff.”

Anyone who got a dose of that poison wouldn’t last long.

“Sorry, but a certain someone stole all my weapons. This’ll have to do.”

“G-give that back—”

“That’s the plan.” With that, Olivia stabbed the needle all the way into Lily’s arm.

Lily’s face went as pale as Sybilla’s had. Her breath turned to ragged gasps, and the strength drained from her legs.

“W-water… I need…w…,” she mumbled incoherently.

“You can try running, but all you’ll find is a cliff.”

The girl was no match for her.

Lily tottered over to Sybilla, who was just as out of it as she was, and leaned against her for support.

That was enough to send them both toppling over the edge.

Olivia checked just to be sure, but it was too dark for her to make out their corpses.

However, there was no need for her to go all the way down and see for herself.

Not only had they taken full doses of that deadly poison, they’d also fallen off a cliff over a hundred feet high. Nobody could have survived that.

This time, they were dead for sure.

The battle was over, and Olivia was its undisputed victor.

It’s weird, though…

Now that she’d successfully put the girls down, a question began nagging at her.

Why did those two risk their lives fighting me when they could have just sent in Bonfire…? They should have known how outmatched they were. Why throw their lives away?

Originally, she had assumed that Bonfire was waiting in the wings close by, but now…

That first time I saw Bonfire, there was someone missing… Someone good at disguises… Someone with a good build for cross-dressing with…

It didn’t take her long to reach a conclusion.

“…Bonfire isn’t even here.”

In that case, there was nothing to be afraid of.

I get it… They knew there was an Imperial spy, and they wanted to put them on guard.

Now that she knew the trick, she couldn’t help but laugh.

How embarrassing, running away with her tail between her legs. She almost screwed everything up.

“Don’t worry, crazy bitch. I’ll put you out of your misery.”

Lily and Sybilla were dead. All she needed to do now was kill Grete.

Then, there wouldn’t be anyone left who knew her secret.

It was time for her to settle the score with that little redhead.

Two girls lay prone at the cliff’s base.

The white-haired girl’s tongue dangled sadly out of the side of her mouth as she lay on the ground unconscious. She was still alive, as evidenced by the convulsions that racked her body every so often, but even those were slowing in frequency.

Meanwhile, the silver-haired girl lay completely motionless. She was facing up, and her eyes were closed as though she were asleep. She hadn’t removed the needle, so it was still stuck deep in her arm, and yet all of a sudden—

“Upsy-daisy!”

—Lily sat right up.

After checking to make sure nobody was watching her, she reached over and got to work on her prone partner. She pulled out an antidote, jabbed it into her, forced some water down her throat, and began slapping her cheeks with gusto.

“Heya.”

Sybilla’s eyes snapped open. “GAAAH! I thought I was dead there—”

Halfway through her cry, though, she flopped back onto the ground and vomited. The twitching in her legs meant that she wasn’t going to be standing up anytime soon.

“Funny you should say that; the poison pretty much put you in suspended animation. You’re gonna want to take it easy for a bit.”

“Blarrrgh…” Sybilla continued expelling the contents of her stomach. “What about you…?”

“I took the antidote ahead of time, and I’m pretty resistant to this stuff to begin with.” Lily flashed her a peace sign. “Still…I’m not gonna be running any marathons for a bit, either.”

Lily had an inherent resistance to poison, and she was the one who grabbed Sybilla as they fell and took care of the landing. Midway down, she hooked a wire into the cliffside to slow their fall.

“Seriously, thanks. If we kept fighting her up there, she’d have put us both in the ground.” Sybilla took the water bottle and gulped it down. “And good thinkin’, preparing a poison to use on your teammates.”

“Remember back when I stabbed Teach on accident? That’s when I came up with the idea.”

“That’s kinda messed up.” Sybilla stared up the cliff face.

“You think she fell for it? In a perfect world, I woulda liked to get a couple more hits in…”

“Yup, everything’s going according to plan. Olivia’s heading back to the mansion as we speak.”

Lily and Sybilla had played their roles with aplomb.

Their job had been to fight Olivia, then “die” right in front of her.

When Sybilla stole all her weapons, it had lured her into using Lily’s poisoned needle. Once Olivia watched them get poisoned and fall off the cliff, it had convinced her that they were well and truly dead.

Furthermore, it clued her in to the fact that Klaus wasn’t there.

“She’s kinda slow on the uptake, isn’t she? I mean, come on. Not even I’m dumb enough to yell ‘You’re open’ when I attack.”

“You do, though. All the time.”

“Ah, I see you’ve fallen for my elaborate ruse. I only pretend to be a klutz day in and day out.”

“Pretty sure you’re just a klutz.” As she offered Lily a weak comeback, Sybilla sat up.

Their work was done. The rest was up to Grete.

Even if they wanted to help, it was going to be a while before they could even walk again. All they could do now was pray for their teammate’s success.

“…Is Grete really gonna be okay, you think?” Sybilla turned and looked at Lily. “She’s not exactly great in a fight. How’s she planning on beatin’ Olivia?”

Grete was a thinker, not a fighter. If you lined all the Lamplight girls up by combat prowess, she’d be closer to the back of the line than the front.

There was no way she could beat Olivia in a fair fight. She’d get slaughtered.

However, Lily’s reply was downright optimistic.

“Eh… I’m sure it’ll all be fine.”

“C’mon,” Sybilla replied exasperatedly. “This is serious—”

“Think about her resolve,” Lily quietly elaborated. “She didn’t just pretend to be Teach, she took over all the planning, guiding, leading, moral support, and coming up with a plan to take down the target stuff he would have done, too. How could someone with the heart to do all that possibly lose?”

Sybilla clenched her fists. She knew all about Grete’s resolve.

After all, taking the place of the Greatest Spy in the World? Sybilla had to be impressed at the sheer audacity of the idea.

“Look, no one’s sayin’ she isn’t a badass,” Sybilla replied. “But the fact is, she didn’t have much stamina to begin with, and the last time we saw her, she was barely standing.”

If Lily hadn’t caught her, Grete might have collapsed right then and there.

And yet even so, her voice had rung with confidence.

“If Olivia comes back to the mansion, I’ll finish her myself.”

Exhausted as she was, she still planned on facing Olivia alone.

Lily let out a heavy sigh. “Well, all we can do now is trust in our fearless tactician.”

Then she looked toward the direction the mansion lay and smiled a gentle smile.

“Bring it home, girl. Win Teach’s praise. Win his love.”

The sound of gunshots echoing through the forest made it all the way to Grete.

Sybilla and Lily were fighting.

It wasn’t clear how strong their foe was, but the fact of the matter was that Olivia was an active-duty spy. The difference in talent between her and a bunch of amateurs like them who’d only just provisionally graduated was no doubt immense.

The best-case scenario would be for Sybilla to take her down, but Grete knew better than to hope for that. Given how injured Sybilla was, Grete had had her doubts about sending her in at all. However, Sybilla hadn’t so much as hesitated before valiantly charging into the fray, and Grete would forever be thankful to her for that.

Soon, though, Olivia would be back.

Grete had made all the necessary preparations to face her, but as confident as she was in herself, her fears refused to subside.

This is the weight the boss has been shouldering this whole time…

She drew up the plan in Klaus’s place.

She gave the orders in Klaus’s place.

And now she was going to battle their foe in Klaus’s place, too.

It was only after she first stepped into his shoes that she truly appreciated the responsibilities he bore.

Each one piled onto her in turn and pushed her body that much closer to its breaking point.

…Imagine how nice it would be if I could just throw it all away and flee.

She clutched her fountain pen charm tight as she thought back to one of their last conversations.

“Our opponent this time is a fearsome assassin, so I’m taking the four strongest members of the team with me to keep the danger to a minimum. Meanwhile, I want you to take the remaining three members, root out the assassin’s accomplice, and defeat them. Do you think you’re up to it?”

When Klaus had asked her that, Grete gave her response on the spot. “Of course.”

She was ready.

Ready to do whatever it took to become someone the boss could rely on.

Now, though, her resolve was wavering.

An endless torrent of fear gushed up from the deepest, darkest part of her soul.

All she could think about was how terrifying it was. Terrifying. Terrifying. Terrifying. Terrifying. Terrifying. Terrifying. Terrifying. Terrifying. Terrifying. Terrifying. Terrifying.

She wished Klaus was there with her. She wanted him to protect her. To save her.

She wanted him to wrap her trembling shoulders in an embrace and never let her go.

I want to just… I want to run away…

But in the end, it was Klaus’s words that stopped her.

“Don’t hesitate to run away.”

His expression had been so gentle.

“If you do, I’ll handle everything. I don’t know how, exactly, but I’ll find you. It’ll be fine. Even if it means I have to cut down to two hours of sleep a night, I promise you, I’ll—”

Unable to stand listening to any more of that, Grete shook her head.

“…I won’t run.”

She summoned up her strength and roused herself from her nervous stupor.

If I run away now, the boss will only overexert himself again…

She could envision exactly what would happen.

In order to save his team, and in order to protect the nation his family loved, he would shoulder the burden all on his own.

He talked a big game about being the Greatest Spy in the World, but even he was only human. Sooner or later, exhaustion would get the better of him.

And when it did, he would die, just like his old team before him.

…That’s why I have to stand and fight.

It didn’t matter who her foe was. She had her promise with Klaus to give her strength.

“Would it be all right if I made a small request…?”

Right before departing for her mission, Grete asked Klaus for a favor.

“After the mission, if I’m able to complete it successfully, would you hold me in your arms…?”

Klaus frowned.

It was clear that he was agonizing over how best to respond. It was a rare sight, seeing him so flummoxed.

Grete smiled.

“It doesn’t have to mean anything. I just wanted something I could lean on when things get rough…”

Klaus quickly picked up on what she meant. “It’s a promise, then.” His eyes were honest and sincere. “After you come back alive, I’ll hug you as hard as you like.”

After hearing that, Grete felt like she could do anything.

Her legs stopped trembling. She clutched her fountain pen tight and looked forward with her head held high.

Then she heard footsteps.

When she turned around, she saw Olivia.

The time for reminiscing was over.

Olivia stood atop the roof holding a small knife.

“What’s with that face? Were you waiting for me?”

Their strategy had been to have Sybilla steal all her weapons. Grete doubted she had failed in her task, meaning Olivia must have kept a spare in her bedroom.

Olivia smiled confidently. “I killed Sybilla and Lily.”

Their plan worked. Olivia fell for it.

Grete didn’t have any way of knowing that for sure, but she chose to believe it anyway.

“Once I kill you, there won’t be anyone left who knows my secret.”

“Won’t there? Who’s to say I haven’t already told Mr. Appel the truth?”

“Maybe you did; maybe you didn’t. Either way, I’m sure I can convince one lousy old man.” Olivia ran her tongue over her lips, then switched her knife to a backhand grip and approached Grete.

Grete steadied her breathing. They were on the roof. There was nowhere to run.

It was time to put this mission to bed.

Klaus was going to fight Corpse, and when he did, he would win.

Grete wasn’t about to let herself be beaten, either.

“All right.” Olivia lowered her center of gravity. “Let’s dance.”

“…Just as I expected.”

Grete put the fountain pen in her pocket and pulled her gun out in its place. Due to her weak body, she used a smaller pistol than the other girls did. She cocked it and immediately fired.

However, Olivia was faster.

She threw her knife with unerring accuracy, and it slammed into the side of Grete’s gun, throwing off her aim and making her shot go wide.

As Olivia charged toward her, Grete activated her trap, and an arrow came flying straight at Olivia’s blind spot. It was all but silent. Given that her foe was listening for a gunshot, Grete doubted she’d be able to hear it.

“Nice try,” Olivia scoffed. She dodged to the side and evaded the arrow coming at her from behind.

It flew off the roof and soared into the darkness.

Grete groaned.

Olivia had the same elite spy skill Klaus did—the ability to sense when hostility was being directed at her. If Grete wanted to beat her, she would need an attack that was completely unpredictable—either that or one that was impossible to dodge, even if she saw it coming.

Failing that, it would come down to hand-to-hand combat.

Olivia was already in melee range. Grete shifted her fingers on her gun, then swung its grip at Olivia’s head like a hammer.

Once again, though, Olivia was faster. She kicked Grete hard in the side, then buried her fist in Grete’s gut before she had time to recover.

Grete’s gun slipped from her hand as she crumpled to her knees.

She was no match for Olivia.

All of Olivia’s moves were simply too fast for her. Nothing she did made any difference.

By the time she so much as started an attack, Olivia was already in the process of finishing one.

Grete was outclassed, plain and simple.

She raised her head to try to stand up, but Olivia was already right there in front of her. She grabbed Grete by the throat.

Unable to breathe, Grete let out a weak moan. She grabbed Olivia’s arm, but she wasn’t strong enough to loosen its grip. She tried kicking, but that accomplished just as little.

“You’re finished. How anticlimactic.” Olivia mercilessly squeezed down on her neck. “Did you seriously not realize how stupid it was to attack someone stronger than you head-on?”

“………”

“Oh, I see. That teacher of yours didn’t teach you squat. Tough break, huh.” Olivia loosened her grip.

Grete broke into a coughing fit as she collapsed onto the roof. A little longer, and she would have suffocated.

She wasted no time in reaching for her fallen gun, but Olivia put a stop to that by stomping down on her hand.

“Wasn’t disguises your thing?” She pressed down with her boot. “I have to ask, how were you planning on beating me? I don’t care who you are; nobody can put on a mask in under ten seconds, and it takes up both your hands to do it. Nobody could do that in a fistfight. I mean, someone with your skill set? You lost the moment you let it come down to a one-on-one.”

Olivia picked up Grete’s gun—her sole weapon.

“But you know what? I’m a nice gal, so I’ll give you one last chance.” She pointed the gun straight at Grete. “Jump.”

“…Jump?”

“That’s right. Jump off the roof. Now.”

Before Grete had a chance to respond, Olivia grabbed her by the collar and hoisted her to her feet with the gun still trained on her. She shoved her toward the roof’s edge.

Grete only barely managed to stop herself from teetering over it.

Down below, she could see the brick-laid courtyard. They were probably a good forty feet up.

“It’s only a three-story drop. If you’re lucky, you might even survive.”

“So…you want to make it look like I killed myself…?”

“It’s easier for me that way. Then I can pin Lily and Sybilla on you, too.”

Grete felt Olivia press the gun against her back.

It was lined right up with her heart. It might not have been the strongest gun around, but a point-blank shot would still be plenty lethal.

“Time to make a choice. Either let me shoot you dead here and now or bet everything on a leap of faith.”

“You horrible…”

“Put your hands in the air and step forward. If you don’t, I’ll shoot.”

The words had a well-worn tone to them. This wasn’t the first time she’d given that speech.

If you resist, you get shot. If you jump, you might survive.

When presented with those two options, just about anyone would pick the latter, and the whole incident would get handled as a suicide. Nobody would be able to prove that the victim had been murdered.

That brutal assassination method had served Corpse and Olivia well.

A small whimper escaped Grete’s throat. “……”

She bit down on her lip and raised her hands.

After that display of nonresistance, she did as instructed and took a step toward the ledge.

Olivia followed her forward and kept the gun pressed against her back. “There you go, just like that.”

She had no intention of letting Grete escape.

The next step Grete took would send her plummeting to her doom. Hitting the bricks below would shatter her bones and crush her heart.

Olivia had called it a leap of faith, but with a fall like that, no amount of faith would be enough to save her.

Grete hadn’t done any of the necessary preparations to survive a fall like that, and even if she did have some trick up her sleeve, Olivia would have a clear shot on her from the roof anyway.

“This is your lucky break, you know.”

Behind her, Olivia laughed.

“Once you’re dead, your teacher will finally love you. As your superior, I’ll make sure to attend your funeral and tell them all about what a good, hardworking maid you were.”

In Olivia’s mind, her death was already a done deal.

Grete shook her head. Olivia had gravely misunderstood.

“…He won’t love me. Not even if I die.” Her mouth practically moved on its own. “I’ve known for a long time that the boss doesn’t feel that way about me.”

Olivia’s voice rang with pity. “You lived a sad life, kid.”

Grete shook her head again.

She told Olivia how she was wrong. How he’d made a promise to her—that if she came back alive, he would hug her.

“And that’s why…I can’t afford to die here…”

There was nothing to be gained in death.

There was no hope, no salvation, and no paradise waiting in the grave. And there certainly weren’t any happily ever afters.

She needed to keep going.

No matter how hard the mission was, and no matter how inescapable her destiny was, she needed to stay alive.

She needed to survive until she’d won his love.

“…I have to live on if I want the boss to hold me in his arms.”

“Well, tough luck. This here’s the end of the line. Try all you like, but you’ll never beat me!” Olivia pressed the gun into her skin.

Grete’s body tilted all the way forward.

“Now, get it over with and jump already!”

Grete felt almost weightless as her body began falling toward the ground.

But then she heard it.

A gunshot.

She immediately wrenched her body to the side.

The shot grazed her shoulder, shredding her sleeve and casting its scraps into the air.

Behind her, Olivia let out a dumbfounded cry. “Wh—?”

The bullet was buried deep in Olivia’s collarbone.

The force of the impact sent her flying backward.

At the last moment, Grete grabbed on to the edge of the roof. A second later, and she would have plunged to her death. After hauling herself back up to safety, she took a look at her foe.

The bullet had shattered her collarbone, placing heavy pressure on her lung and throat. Blood flowed from Olivia’s mouth as she lay prone atop the roof. She desperately pressed her crimson, drenched arm against her chest to try to stem the bleeding, but blood continued gushing from the wound.

That one shot had completely turned the tables.

“H…ow…?” she spluttered from facedown.

Grete could tell exactly what she was thinking.

“Why didn’t I sense any hostility?”

The thing was, Grete had learned a thing or two from her battle against Klaus. Surprise attacks didn’t work on elite spies. They had a keen sixth sense for when hostility, malice, animosity, and even goodwill were being directed their way.

Once she knew that, she could work around it.

“…Just as I expected.” Grete stood over the woman before her. “If anyone has a right to complain about an anticlimax, it’s me. After all those backup plans I made, you went and stole Corpse’s playbook word for word—trying to make me jump to my death.”

Then she mimicked her foe’s loathsome voice. “Oh, I see.”

“You only know how to do exactly as you were taught.”

“Gack…” Olivia coughed up more blood. “But I couldn’t sense…anyone coming after me…”

“You’ll understand soon enough.”

No sooner had the words left Grete’s mouth than they heard a bellow from down in the courtyard.

“YOU WON’T GET AWAY WITH THIS FOREVER, ASSASSIN SCUM!”

The voice was Uwe’s.

He was downright livid at once more having had his dearest wish denied.

Olivia hurriedly lifted her head, and then her eyes went wide with shock.

“Of course you didn’t. That bullet was meant for me.”

Grete continued in a quiet murmur.

“I’m code name Daughter Dearest—now, let’s fill this time with laughter and tears.”

She gazed at her reflection in Olivia’s eyes.

She gazed at the scars.

They stretched across her face like an infestation, coloring it a shade of black so vile it inspired revulsion and disgust in any who saw it. She was as horrifying to gaze on as the most hellish of fiends.

Olivia let out a dumbfounded moan. “You used…a disguise…?”

It was clear from the look in her eyes that she desperately wanted to avert her gaze.

That was the point.

The scars had one purpose—to inflict an unforgettable mental blow on those who witnessed them.

That was why Uwe had recognized them so immediately.

“While it’s true I wanted to smoke you out, that wasn’t the only reason I appeared before Mr. Appel as an assassin twice over. I wanted him to be willing to shoot me on a moment’s notice.”

Furthermore, she also used the first and second attacks to gauge his marksmanship.

His accuracy during the first attack had fallen short of the mark she needed on account of his night blindness, but Sybilla’s hard work eventually paid off, and his shooting during her second attack was proof of that.

At that point, all Grete needed to do was lure him into position. When he saw her scarred face, he would shoot her on reflex, and when she dodged, the bullet would hit the person standing behind her—Olivia.

I took my “hostility-free needle” idea and refined it.

After she lost against Klaus, she went back to the drawing board.

Instead of clearing the area, she could incorporate the people nearby into her plan.

And rather than using goodwill in hostility’s place, she didn’t leave anything for her foe to sense at all.

That was how she crafted the perfect weapon.

A magic bullet completely devoid of hostility, goodwill, or malice.

“It’s not…possible…”

The reality of Olivia’s situation had yet to sink in.

“…What isn’t?”

“The timing on your disguise… It doesn’t make sense! Your hands were in the air! You were helpless! I never gave you a chance to put on a mask!”

Olivia had stated earlier that nobody could put a mask on in under ten seconds. Even now, she had yet to escape that inside-the-box way of thinking.

Spittle flew from her lips as she raged. It was like she was trying to talk her way out of the outcome that had already transpired.

“What makes you believe I put on a disguise…?” Grete calmly asked her.

Olivia froze with her mouth hanging open.

Upon seeing her reaction, it became all too clear what fatal mistake she had made. Olivia had prided herself on figuring out that Grete was disguising herself as the assassin and as Klaus.

And in turn, that pride blinded her.

It tricked her into believing that the way Grete looked normally was the way she looked without any disguise on at all.

She never once realized that was exactly what Grete wanted her to think.

“I didn’t put on a disguise. Quite the opposite, in fact. I merely took one off.”

“What?”

“As I’m sure you’re aware, taking a mask off can be done in an instant.”

If one was so inclined, they could even do so by biting through it at the lip and ripping it off with their teeth, and they wouldn’t even need their hands to do so.

Olivia’s eyes went wide. The truth was finally dawning on her.

She looked at the scars covering Grete’s face.

When Olivia first saw them, she commented that she thought she was going to be sick, and Uwe had later called them hideous. Even Sybilla’s and Lily’s expressions had frozen with fear.

The scars were detestable.

Anyone who saw them was filled with a sense of revulsion so strong it carved itself deep into their memories.

Grete pointed at her scarred face and laughed with tears in her eyes.

“This is my real face.”

The scars had been with her since she was born.

As she grew older, they spread like a curse, eventually covering much of her face.

It wasn’t androphobia that had kept her from fitting in with high society—it was her scars.

The world of politics sought beauty from its women, and she quickly found that she had no place there.

Her father constantly told her off for her inability to smile sweetly, often going so far as to even call her creepy. Instead of taking her with him to events, he made up a story about her being sickly and kept her under house arrest. It was a combination of him and her older brother, who joined in on the verbal abuse, that caused her to develop androphobia.

Then, before she even knew what was happening, she got shunted off to a spy academy in an apparent attempt to erase her from the world altogether.

She had gone her entire life without ever once being loved.

For a short while, Olivia didn’t move.

She just kept staring at Grete’s face, so still it was like time itself had stopped. Her wounds were deep, and the pain must have been considerable, but she paid that fact little heed.

Down in the courtyard, Uwe was still just as worked up, and his shouting faded into the background for Olivia’s and Grete’s silent stare-down.

Eventually, Olivia’s mouth curled into a twisted smile.

“Ha!”

And with that, she loudly broke into laugher just as warped as her grin.

“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!” She was laughing so hard she had to clutch her sides to keep from convulsing. Doing so caused her wound to open even farther, but she didn’t seem to care.

“…What exactly is so funny?” Grete asked with some displeasure.

“Oh, it all makes sense now.” Olivia wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “Now I finally understand why it is you’re so gloomy.”

“………”

“No wonder no one loves you,” Olivia hissed as she slowly rose to her feet. “And see, that’s why I’ll win.”

She stuck a finger in her wound and dug out the bullet with obvious agony on her face. She then took her knife, sliced off strips from her maid uniform, and used them to bandage up the hole.

“…You still plan on fighting with an injury like that?”

“What? Oh, please. Your whole mindset is pathetic.” Olivia held up her palm and laughed. “I only made one mistake here, and it was trying to solve my problem on my own. The thing about having someone to love you is that I know he’ll protect me, so I don’t have to get my hands dirty.”

On it sat a jade-green brooch.

She crushed it with her finger, revealing the round mechanism inside. The light atop it pulsed green.

“…It’s a transmitter,” Grete murmured.

“Roland will be here for me soon. I feel like the luckiest gal in the world.”

As Grete watched the transmitter, she saw the pulses of flashing light gradually speeding up. The interval must have corresponded to how close Corpse was.

“When Bonfire showed up five days ago, I immediately called for Roland. It turned out that was just you in drag, but it was all for the best anyway.”

“—!” Grete gasped.

Disguising herself as Klaus was meant to restrict their opponent’s options, but it had clearly backfired.

Grete picked up her gun, but Olivia didn’t seem fazed in the slightest.

“Oh, you’re going to finish me off? Are you sure that’s a good idea? If you do, Roland will be so enraged he’ll rip you to pieces. And not just you. He’ll slaughter everyone in the mansion and everyone who lives in the town—men, women, and children alike! He will! He’ll do it because he loves me!”

The flashing sped up again.

Grete’s stomach churned thinking about how big a blunder she’d made.

Her vision grew dark, and her mind went hazy.

Dealing with Corpse was supposed to be Klaus’s job, but she had gone and screwed that all up. It was hard to imagine the others having successfully captured Corpse after he took off so suddenly.

Now the greatest assassin was coming her way. And yet…

“…It doesn’t matter.”

The only thing she had to keep her faltering heart going was sheer willpower.

“Just as I expected… This is all within expectations…,” she mumbled, the words practically a prayer.

At some point, it had become something of a catchphrase of hers.

As someone who had to fabricate her very face, the world of spies was the only one she could live in.

That was why she needed to be cleverer than everyone else.

She needed to be calm and collected, no matter the situation.

If she didn’t, who would ever love someone like her?

Eventually, when the transmitter stopped flashing and started emitting a constant glow, Olivia crowed.

“Now die, ugly and unloved!”

Something came flying through the air.

Olivia smiled wide—

“…Huh?”

—but her smile soon froze.

That something was a suitcase.

It was large, black, and rectangular, and it landed right between them.

Why had it come flying through the air?

Was this part of Olivia’s plan?

Grete gave her a quizzical look, but Olivia was just as confused as she was.

Mysteries abounded.

Who had sent them the suitcase, and why, and from where?

However, Grete had a nagging feeling that she’d seen it somewhere be—

“How truly pathetic.”

She whirled around.

A man was standing in a spot that had previously been empty. He was the one who’d thrown the suitcase.

“It defies understanding. How could anyone see her face and not be moved?”

The man’s tone bordered on lackadaisical.

“I remember how she looked in that changing room as clearly as if it were yesterday.”

Hearing the phrase changing room sparked a memory in Grete.

She thought back to the most blessed day of her life.

Grete wore a disguise twenty-four seven, which meant she had to be careful about how she cleaned her face. Her standard routine was to bathe with her mask still on, then stealthily wash her face in her room later. Sometimes, though, she would take off her mask so she could bathe more leisurely.

That day, she let herself get careless.

Although she used the private bathroom instead of the large communal bath, she ended up bumping into someone anyway.

“Seeing her bare face made me realize something. It made me realize just how much she’d polished her skills in order to win the love she desired. It made me realize just how disciplined she was. I was enchanted by the radiantly magnificent heart I saw in that face.”

The man strode forward until he was directly beside Grete.

“And so I couldn’t help but say what I thought of it.”

Klaus repeated himself.

“‘How beautiful.’”

Grete gazed at his face in shock. He was the real Klaus.

This was no disguise, and it was no delusion. Her beloved was truly by her side.

It was really him—the one person who had ever complimented her real face.

Olivia had come to the same realization. The one man she truly feared was standing before her.

“Roland?!” she frantically cried. “Roland, where are you?! I need—”

“Why so panicked? He’s right there in front of you,” Klaus replied unconcernedly.

He pointed—right at the suitcase.

“Though to be fair, he is a little more rectangular now.”

Grete took another look at the suitcase.

It was just over three feet tall and about two and a half feet wide—definitely big enough to fit an adult man inside, if very cramped.

A weak voice dribbled out from within. “O…livia…?”

Klaus had captured him alive.

The mission had been to kill him, but he had gone and accomplished a far more challenging task.

“Why…?” Olivia murmured. “You were supposed to be evenly matched…”

“We were?” Klaus tilted his head to the side. “That reminds me, I had something I wanted to ask you. When we met, he kept going on about ‘rivals’ and ‘fate bringing us together’ and ‘long and storied relationships’ and a bunch of other stuff I couldn’t make heads or tails of. Do you know what that was about?”

“What do you—?”

Klaus spoke bluntly. “I mean, he was a complete pushover.”

The man in the box—Corpse—was leagues stronger than Olivia or Grete, but apparently, he was still no match for Klaus.

“We were dealing with a man who was more than happy taking civilians hostage and killing them, so the risks involved meant we needed to send heavy hitters after him, but that was all there was to it. He certainly wasn’t on par with the Greatest Spy in the World.”

Olivia shook her head feebly and tottered over to the suitcase. “This isn’t happening…”

Her voice was hoarse.

“It isn’t, right? Please, Roland, say something…”

“O…livia…” The response from inside the suitcase was utterly lifeless. “Help…”

“_______”

Olivia let out a wordless cry and crumpled to her knees. Her body shook, and tears cascaded down her pallid cheeks, casting the scent of ammonia out into the air.

She began pounding on the suitcase. Whether her goal was to smash the lock or to berate the man within, nobody could say, but it soon became clear that no external attacks would be sufficient to break the suitcase open.

“Grete?” said Klaus.

“Of course, Boss. I prepared one just like yours.”

She retrieved the suitcase she’d stashed away in a hidden corner of the roof and offered it to him.

Klaus raised an eyebrow. “You did all the hard work here. Why not do the honors yourself?”

“…And miss a chance to watch you in action, Boss?”

Surely it was okay to let him indulge her that much.

There was a heat that had been permeating her body for the last few minutes, and her knees were on the verge of giving out.

Klaus gave her a small nod, murmured “Don’t call me Boss,” and took the red suitcase from her hands. He approached Olivia with a steely look in his eyes. “You’ve done too much killing,” he said, as though reading off her rap sheet. “Shadow war or not, you two crossed a line. I hope you’re prepared to pay the price.”

Olivia shook her head. “You never told me…”

She slammed her fists against the suitcase as she cursed the man inside.

“Roland loved me, but he never taught me about this…”

“I see. Now I understand why you lost.” Klaus hoisted the suitcase up into the air. “You weren’t qualified to be our enemy.”

When he swung it, the massive rectangular box opened up wide like a whale’s maw and swallowed its prey whole. Olivia screamed, but when the suitcase snapped shut, her voice vanished as quickly as she had.

All that remained on that roof were a pair of matching red and black suitcases.

It made for a quiet ending, perfectly befitting the assassins contained within.