Spy Classroom - Volume 3 - Chapter Ep1

Next Mission

“……………”

Thea stood gloomily out on Heat Haze Palace’s veranda.

It had been a full day since they got back from the Annette Incident—which was what they’d taken to calling the situation with Matilda—but she just couldn’t seem to cheer up. She put on a happy face around the others, but once she was alone, the only thing she could think of was the mocking way Matilda had looked at her.

Thea had spent the entire last month being tormented by feelings of inferiority.

One after another, she had met and gotten outplayed by spies who were better than her.

First Klaus, then Corpse, then Monika, then Matilda…

No matter how hard she tried, she could never find her way onto the same stage as them.

Being picked for the chosen squad had brought her some pride, but now, even that was gone. Despite Klaus’s absence, Grete’s team had managed to take down an enemy spy all on their own. What accomplishments did Thea have to her name?

Her idol seemed further away than ever—so far that she wanted to cry.

A voice rose up from behind her. “You seem down.”

It was Klaus. He had mugs of freshly brewed tea in both hands, one of which he handed to her.

“Thank you. I’m just a little depressed, that’s all.”

“Ah. Well, that makes two of us.”

“Really? You get depressed?”

“You don’t have to sound so surprised. I’m human, too, and there are plenty of times when my spirit gets low.” He stood beside her. “Even if a mission ends successfully, that doesn’t mean there weren’t problems. I end up brooding sometimes. ‘Were there better options I could have taken?’”

“I never realized…”

Klaus took a sip from his mug. She didn’t press him for details, and he didn’t offer any. From the sound of it, though, something must have been eating away at him recently.

It was like he had let a hated foe slip away or something.

“……………”

Thea was curious about what had happened, but Klaus just drank his tea in silence.

She decided to ask him about something else. “So…what do you do to stop brooding, then?”

“I… Well, I’ll tell you the boss’s answer to that rather than mine.”

“Ms. Hearth, you mean?”

“Hers would probably suit you better.” Klaus drained his mug. “Make sure you complete the next mission perfectly—that’s all there is to it.”

“That’s wonderful. I would have expected nothing less from her.”

Thea followed his lead and gulped down the rest of her tea. The liquid, so hot it nearly burned her mouth, washed down her throat and filled her body with warmth. She let out a long exhale.

Klaus nodded. “Let’s go. The others should have gathered by now.”

Thea followed him to the main hall.

The rest of the girls were already there, all chattering away.

Some of them were self-centeredly trying to leave, but someone else always stepped in to stop them.

“It’s too noisy in here; I’m heading back to my room,” Monika said with a frown. As she tried to rise from her seat, though, Lily grabbed her arm and refused to let go. “But I wasn’t done bragging yet!”

Erna, unable to work her way into any of the conversations, tried to awkwardly slink away as well, but Sara spotted her and gave her a gentle smile. “Miss Erna, how was the entertainment district?” she asked.

“Annette spent the whole time bullying me!” Erna cried.

Annette bounced around restlessly. “Yo, I’m gonna go drink some warm milk,” she said and made for the kitchen.

However, Sybilla used her considerable physical abilities to promptly catch her. “Aaand gotcha. Just wait a bit, ’kay?”

“………………”

The words got caught in Thea’s throat as she watched the lively proceedings.

“What’s wrong?” Grete asked.

“No, it’s nothing. I was just thinking about how nice it was to have us all back together.”

Honestly, she was impressed. It was basically a miracle that a bunch of problem children like them were able to work together the way they did.

Klaus stood before them all and nodded.

“Magnificent.”

After opening with his usual compliment, he went on.

“All of you did well on your domestic missions, and you delivered valuable results both for this nation and for this team. Now it’s time for Lamplight to move to its next phase.”

“What’s that?” Sybilla asked.

“After we took Corpse alive, he started talking.”

Then Klaus dropped the bombshell.

“We know where Serpent will make their next move. At long last, we have them in our sights.”

His audience let out gasps of amazement.

Being able to capture Corpse on what was supposed to be an assassination mission was already bearing fruit. Klaus’s hope that someone as skilled as Corpse would have valuable information had been right on the money.

Aside from the fact that they’d wiped out Inferno, almost everything about the spy team Serpent was shrouded in mystery.

What they did know, though, was that Serpent was Klaus’s fateful enemy and the reason he’d brought the girls together in the first place.

“So?” Sybilla smiled provocatively. “Who you takin’ this time?”

A hush fell over the girls.

The members were all assembled.

Thea, code name Dreamspeaker. A negotiations expert who could intuit people’s desires by looking in their eyes for three seconds.

Grete, code name Daughter Dearest. A disguise expert who could freely change her voice and appearance.

Lily, code name Flower Garden. A poisons expert who was immune to poison herself.

Sybilla, code name Pandemonium. A master thief who could hide her presence and steal just about anything.

Monika, code name Glint. A formidable all-rounder, even without her secret area of expertise.

Sara, code name Meadow. A rearing expert who could command a hawk, a dog, and a whole host of other animals.

Annette, code name Forgetter. A tinkering expert who could make a perfect copy of any device and turn it into a weapon.

And Erna, code name Fool. An accidents expert who could sense misfortune in advance and lure her targets into it.

Klaus faced the girls, all of whom had tempered their skills through domestic missions and tireless training, and spoke.

“Everyone. Together, the nine of us are going to find out who Serpent really are.”

The girls cheered and pumped their fists.

Klaus gave them the details.

This time around, their mission was to infiltrate a foreign country—a destination that none of the girls had set foot on before.

They were headed overseas to the United States of Mouzaia.

The United States’ nonparticipation in the Great War and the fact that they’d supplied goods to the war front had allowed it to rapidly grow and become the greatest powerhouse in the world. Huge swaths of global politics and commerce now revolved around Mouzaia, and the Din Republic was a speck on the map compared to it.

This was going to be their biggest mission yet, a prospect that filled them with nervousness and excitement.

“Thea,” Klaus said, “you’ll be in charge of all command and control once we get to the mission site.”

Thea’s eyes went wide. “I what?”

“You’re ready for it. You’ll have Grete to help you devise plans, but you’ll be the one giving orders to the rest of the team.”

“W-wait, slow down. Then what will you be doing, Teach?”

Up until then, that had all been Klaus’s job.

As their boss, he had been manning the rearguard while the girls went out and did what they did best. That was the way Lamplight had operated.

“Isn’t it obvious? You’ve all grown enough to take some of the load off my back. That frees me up to act in a position I’m better suited for.”

He revealed his new role.

“This time, I’ll be standing on the front lines.”

The girls’ hearts quivered with anticipatory joy.

Klaus’s intuition bordered on superhuman, and the combat skills he’d inherited from his mentor were second to none.

Now that they were battling their archenemy Serpent, Klaus was going to get to use those abilities to their fullest extent.