Spy Classroom - Volume 5 - Chapter 1.1

Chapter 1

Encounter

A dodgy-sounding conversation was audible through the wiretap.

“…That’s right, I’m in the market for some weapons. Bare minimum, I need a thousand SMGs.”

“Sure, no problem. I’ve got the best guns money can buy.”

“My god…you’re a lifesaver! Now we can finally make that coup happen back home.”

“And you’ll have our full support. We stand by your revolution, one hundred percent.”

“Th-thank you so much! So long, weak-kneed administration; hello, glorious crusade for the motherland! Oh, I’m so glad I came to Longchon! This is the happiest day of my life!”

A secret meeting was taking place in a private room of a Longchon restaurant. A revolutionary from a small nation that had been colonized by the Lylat Kingdom had come to Longchon and was buying up every weapon he could get his hands on so he could overthrow his government and get his people out from beneath their first-world oppressor’s heel. Now a Galgad arms dealer was offering to help further his goal.

The duo’s gleeful voices crackled over the wiretap. Normally, this would be the point where they successfully ended their arms deal—

“Heh, tough luck! It takes a pretty nasty spy to support a doomed coup d’état as a way to throw another nation into chaos—but while God may forgive, I sure as heck don’t!”

—but unfortunately for them, there was a girl grinning proudly before the wiretap.

She had silver hair that spread out gently to the sides, a face as adorable as a child’s, and a large, plump bosom. At present, she was laying her hand atop said bosom and striking a rather daunting pose. She was wearing a bright-red Ryuka dress, a traditional piece of Longchon garb that clung tightly to the skin and had slits over the thighs.

The girl spoke loud and proud. “Lily, the gorgeously beautiful genius spy disguised as a waitress, is on the case!”

Her name was “Flower Garden” Lily, and she was a spy from the Din Republic.

She thrust her finger toward the restaurant storeroom ceiling. “It’s been three months since the battle in Mitario, and once we became full-fledged spies, we began accomplishing great things around the globe and rapidly improving our skills. We’re not just academy washouts anymore. Now our homeland is counting on us, and we’ve come to Longchon to go on our biggest rampage yet!”

Nobody had asked, but she laid out their background in detail anyway—

“All right, Annette, hit me!”

—and extended her palm.

“…………………………………”

The ash-pink-haired girl beside her stood motionless with a shallow smile plastered on her face. She had messily tied-up hair and a large eyepatch accenting her diminutive, angelically cute features. Her name was “Forgetter” Annette.

“I’m curious, Sis! What was the point of that speech just now?”

“You know, to get us fired up.”

“I feel like it was pretty pointless, yo.”

“But being a spy is so boring if you don’t get to give speeches.”

Lily tried to keep chatting, but Annette cut the conversation off right then and there. Instead, she rummaged around in her skirt and fished out a small rod. “This here is Lily’s Spy Tool, prototype number sixty-eight!”

At a glance, the rod looked like little more than a stick.

Lily took the rod and gave it a few swings to get a feel for it. Then she tossed it in the air like an acrobat, let it spin a couple times, and struck another pose as she caught it. “At long last, it’s finally finished, huh? You’ve been making me custom weapons ever since our mission in Mitario, and now it’s time for this one to lead us to our first major success on our mission here in Longchon.”

“I’m curious, yo! What was the point of saying all that?”

“I just said! It’s to get us fired up.” Lily tightened her grip on her weapon and sucked in a deep breath. “Now, let’s do this, Annette! It’s time to go crush the enemy spy’s scheme!”

After getting far more fired up than necessary, the two of them charged out of the storeroom.

Their destination was the private room where the weapons deal was going down. They’d already gathered all the necessary information, so there was no need to let their enemy roam free any longer. Their goal now was to take swift control of the situation and capture the Imperial spy.

With a cry of “Prepare yourself, bubs!” Lily announced the mission’s beginning—

“Sis, the prototype explodes if you swing it too hard.”

“AHHHHHHHH!”

—and three seconds later, it ended in ignoble failure.

The world was awash in pain.

Ten years had passed since the end of the Great War, the largest war in human history. Seeing its horrors had driven the world’s politicians to turn to spy work rather than military might as their preferred way of influencing other countries.

Nations the world over poured resources into their intelligence agencies, leading to an age of shadow wars fought between spies.

Lamplight was a spy team that fought on behalf of the Din Republic.

They started out as a band of academy washouts, but their skills improved by leaps and bounds over the course of their training and domestic missions, and once they completed their mission in Mitario, their boss Klaus declared that they were on par with academy graduates.

At the time, the recognition of their talents had filled the girls with delight.

“Let’s keep this up and become the most invincible spy team around!” Lily declared.

“““““““Yeah!””””””” the others cheered in agreement.

From then on, the girls had headed into all their missions like they were on cloud nine. After completing that grueling operation in Mitario, they felt like could do anything.

“At this point, it feels like any mission would be a breeze!” Lily said smugly.

Over the course of the next three months, though, they gradually came to realize how far off the mark those predictions were.

As it turned out, reality was a harsh mistress.

Lamplight’s base of operations sat atop a hill on Longchon Island.

The building was a vacation home owned by the president of a Din jewelry company. Its open design took full advantage of Longchon’s warm climate, and the large-leafed plants placed in every room made the whole place feel like a resort. Up on the second-floor terrace, the villa had a fantastic view of the buildings by the Great Harbor.

Lamplight’s boss Klaus was staying there under the guise of being a relative of the president’s, and there were a variety of excuses he used when the girls needed to come up to the villa. To the general public, he probably seemed like some sort of lecherous debauchee, but he realized there was really no getting around that.

Klaus kneaded his brow in the villa’s study. “You let the target get away again? That makes for your eighth screwup in a row.”

“Yes, sir. I’m really sorry…” “We bungled it big-time, yo!”

Lily and Annette stood across from him looking thoroughly disheartened. The two of them had just managed to blow themselves up and cause a sensation at the restaurant; after causing the explosion, keeping their identities hidden had taken so much effort that their target in the private room had managed to get away.

Lily looked like she was on the verge of tears, and Annette was grinning like the whole thing was one big joke.

It was a sight that was starting to feel painfully familiar.

Klaus frowned and tapped the transceiver lying in front of him. “On a related note, I heard some nonsense over the radio about ‘becoming full-fledged spies and accomplishing great things around the globe.’ What was that all about?”

“I made up a story to get us fired up.”

“As I recall, that’s sort of the opposite of how things have actually been going down.”

“C’mon, you don’t have to point it out. It’s embarrassing…”

“…Anyhow, I’m just glad neither of you got hurt. Go ahead and spend the day resting up.”

Klaus couldn’t bring himself to get mad at them, and he chose his words as gently as he could.

“Thanks a million…,” Lily replied, and she and Annette left the study.

Once they were gone, Klaus heaved a sigh.

Then he turned his gaze to the girl standing beside him. “Thea, how are we doing as far as cleaning up their mess?”

“Not to worry. I have it all under control,” replied the dark-haired “Dreamspeaker” Thea. Her figure was attractively curvaceous, and her black hair was long and silky. Just like Klaus, she too was staying at the villa and helping him manage the team’s operations. There was a map of Longchon hanging on the study wall, and she pointed out various spots on it as she gave her sitrep. “I sent in Monika’s duo, and Grete will be joining to provide further backup. That should be more than enough to handle things.”

“Still, that marks the fifth time we’ve needed to cover for them.”

“True. They might be building up stress. I’ll adjust the schedule to give them time to rest.”

“…Well, it’s not like Lily and Annette’s op is even part of the main mission. Worst-case scenario, we can always hand it off to another team. Don’t let anyone push themselves too hard.”

“Of course. I made sure they all understood when to pull out.”

Thea rearranged the pushpins on the maps as she efficiently gave her replies.

Thea’s been improving tremendously these days.

Behind her, Klaus nodded.

Thea’s confidence had been at rock bottom just before the Mitario mission began, but now she was holding her head high and carefully making sure that the team’s members all got to where they needed to be.

Over these past three months, her skills had progressed at a blistering pace.

As a matter of fact, she’d even started proactively giving instructions to her teammates when Klaus was absent. Her true talent was in the sheer tonnage of interpersonal communication she was able to do. By sharing intimate conversations with her allies, she could find out their hopes and mental states and use that information to efficiently allocate the team’s workload. There were plenty of people in Lamplight who required a careful touch, and the fact that Thea was able to lead them so well was a testament to her talent.

“Can you blame me for trying my hardest?” Thea seemed to have sensed Klaus’s gaze. She laughed. “I was barely better than dead weight for ages, so I have to make up for lost time. And besides…”

“Besides, what?”

Thea answered Klaus’s question with a smile. “If I don’t get even stronger, how will I be able to keep being your partner?”

That was the role Thea had told him she wanted to maintain—his partner. Her skills were still lacking in some areas, but she was definitely on the right track.

There was only one word for it.

“Magnificent.”

Seeing his subordinates improve was always a wonderful experience.

At the same time, though, Klaus had worries aplenty.

I’ve got no problems with Thea, but aside from her…

After the showdown in Mitario, Lamplight went on to complete missions in nations the world over. To be honest, even Klaus had been optimistic. He assumed that the team’s major issues were behind them, and now that the girls had improved, they wouldn’t need his backup anymore.

However, he soon realized he’d given them too much credit.

Long story short, they were a mess.

Lily made blunders left and right, and Sybilla frequently forgot details about their operations. Meanwhile, each invention Annette made was more bizarre than the last, Erna managed to trip at all the worst moments, and Sara spent half her time fretting about how much danger her teammates were in. Monika and Grete were both reliable, but the two of them had to devote so much attention to backing up the others that they couldn’t take full advantage of their talents.

Furthermore, Klaus found himself unable to give them anything in the way of specific guidance.

The thing was: He’d been bad at teaching from the get-go. The wisdom he had to offer them started and ended at abstract concepts like “do it correctly” and “stay in sync,” and despite the girls’ constant blunders, he could never manage to give them any proper advice.

As a result, the girls kept on screwing up, and Klaus was forced to step in and address their shortcomings the hard way. It never stopped.

Klaus pondered the situation and reached a conclusion.

The problem is: They’ve plateaued.

Even keeping up with their original training regimen hadn’t given rise to any dramatic improvements. However, perhaps that was to be expected. It would have been nice if doing the same training exercises over and over had been enough for them to reach the loftiest peaks of skill, but there was obviously no way that was going to happen.

…What to do, what to do. Should I go back to handling all the missions solo like I used to…? Well, they’re managing to get by, even if just barely, so should I wait and see what’ll—?

As the team’s boss, it was up to him to make the call.

No mission was without its danger. Should he pull them out before one of them got hurt, or considering that none of their blunders had proven truly disastrous, should he give them time to forge their skills through the course of their missions?

As he agonized over what to do, a certain someone’s words flashed back through his head.

“Just barely getting by is the most dangerous thing you can do, you know.”

“I tell you, Young Klaus, you’re rubbish at relying on people. Now, stand back, young’un. All you’re fit for doing is my chores.”

The voice itself was gentle, but the way it was used was as harsh as could be.

It belonged to a member of Klaus’s old team, Inferno.

“Firewalker” Gerde wasn’t as kind as the team’s boss, Hearth, nor did she actively guide him the way his mentor Guido did. She was simply the strictest woman around, and she’d scolded Klaus incessantly.

Every time I find myself at a loss, I appreciate Granny G’s wisdom a little more.

Klaus thought about his late teammate, then shook his head.

Between that and this nasty feeling I have, I should at least start by revisiting the way I’ve set up our missions.

Just like that, he had his answer.

For the time being, he ought to let the girls rest.

“Thea, I want you to get the others, and—”

Right when Klaus was about to deliver his verdict, Thea beat him to the punch. “Teach, do you have a minute?” she asked.

There was a touch of panic in her voice.

“What is it?”

“Would you mind going and doing a quick check-in?” Thea looked worriedly at the clock. “Sybilla and Erna were supposed to be back by now, but they’re not here…”

Something must have gone wrong.

“On it,” Klaus replied succinctly as he rose to his feet.

He felt a faint chill run across his skin. His spy’s intuition was warning him of danger.

Over on its mainland side, Longchon was home to a bustling cotton mill.

The mill was a massive compound filled with rows of Fend-made steam turbines that let out dull mechanical noises as they spun. Raw cotton was dirt cheap in the Ryuka cultural sphere, and it was turned into cloth in these facilities before getting shipped off to Western-Central nations. With how cheap land and labor was in that part of the world, the developed nations saw the mills as veritable money printers.

In the middle of the mill, there was an eight-story administrative building. That was where all the mill’s systems were controlled from, and its towering height let it overlook the entire compound.

At the moment, there were no employees to be seen there. Not only was it a holiday, but the floors were scheduled to be waxed that evening, so even the people working through the holiday weren’t doing so from the admin building itself.

Naturally, that meant that the director’s office on the eighth floor was empty of workers as well. Sculptures modeled after tigers and dragons sat side by side atop its silk carpet, and a goldfish swam leisurely around in the bowl on its desk. The room was equipped with a cutting-edge security system, and without a special key, you couldn’t even get in. Its bulwark of a door was the sole way in or out, and even its ventilation ducts could only be opened by manually operating them from an office down on the third floor.

Despite all that, though, a pair of girls stood in that very office.

The two of them were hard at work rummaging around and searching the room.

“Hmm, I’m not finding anything at the bottom of the goldfish bowl.”

“Fool” Erna’s sleeves were getting thoroughly soaked as she dug around in the fishbowl. Erna was blond and had skin as fair and delicate as a doll’s.

“Nothin’ by this wooden tiger, either. Where the hell’s that classified document?” replied “Pandemonium” Sybilla. She had a sharp look in her eyes and muscles as toned as a wild animal’s.

It probably goes without saying, but the two of them were in the middle of a mission.

The Din embassy had conducted an investigation into the colonial situation in Longchon, but the report had been leaked, and when one of their diplomats tried to figure out who had gotten ahold of it, he was assassinated for his troubles. Lamplight had been dispatched to pick up where he left off, and at present, they were infiltrating the mill’s admin building to try to pin down the document’s location.

After a whole lot of careful prep work, the girls had successfully breached the security system of the director’s office. No matter how hard they searched the room, though, the crucial document was nowhere to be found.

Sybilla kicked the wooden tiger statue in frustration and clutched her head. “AHHHHH! Why can’t we find this goddamn thing?!”

“Yeep! The goldfish bowl toppled over!”

“Shit, sorry for spookin’ you… Aw, crap! The carpet’s soaked!”

“Wh-what should I do about the little fishy?”

“M-move it to another tank! Quick!”

Things weren’t going too hot for them.

After rescuing the goldfish, the two let out heavy sighs.

The carpet was drenched, and the goldfish bowl had lost much of its water. So much for keeping their break-in a secret.

“Well, we can at least dry the carpet out,” Sybilla muttered as she opened the office’s curtains. She would’ve liked to open the windows as well, but they were fixed shut. The office’s security really was top-notch.

When she saw the light of the setting sun, it suddenly struck her just how much time had passed. It was going to be evening soon, and that was when the janitors were going to come in to wax the floors.

Sybilla planted her hands on her waist.

Things just keep on goin’ south lately, huh?

She, too, had noticed the slump that Lamplight was in. Their missions just kept refusing to go smoothly. It was like the team’s gears were out of sync or something. They kept on screwing up, and their big victory in Mitario was starting to feel like a distant memory.

Where does it keep goin’ wrong? I’m tryin’ my best out here…

It wasn’t like she was being negligent about her training or anything, either. The constant missions were putting a strain on her schedule, but she was still keeping up with her independent training, and she was making sure to regularly attack Klaus, too.

When it came to actual missions, though, she just couldn’t stop screwing up.

She clapped herself on the cheeks.

Welp, no point worryin’ about all that in here. Right now, I gotta act.

She quickly shifted back to her usual positive mindset.

“C’mon, Erna, let’s retreat downstairs for a bit. We’ll fall back to the seventh floor, and once the janitors finish waxing floor eight, we’ll come back up. Don’t worry. We’ll get through this.”

“…………………………………”

Erna was holding the bowl she’d transferred the goldfish to with her head hung low.

“Erna, you with me?” Sybilla asked.

“Yeep!” Erna flinched. “R-right. We should start by escaping.”

She set down the bowl and hurried over to Sybilla.

“What’s wrong? You tired?” Sybilla patted Erna’s head. “We can take a quick breather in the room next door first, if you want. We’ve got some time before the wax folks get started.”

Erna nodded. “…Yeah. That’d be nice.”

If they rushed out carelessly, they ran the risk of bumping into the janitors.

Once they discreetly left the director’s office, Sybilla shut the door behind them, taking care not to let it make a sound.

Erna audibly gulped.

Just like they’d feared, the janitors were already on-site. A man and a woman in cleaning uniforms were coming up the stairs with equipment in tow. Apparently, they were planning on starting from the top floor and working their way down.

Sybilla and Erna quickly headed away from the director’s office and took refuge in the nearby storeroom. Once they got there, they took a short break. Erna settled herself down on the floor and began taking deep breaths. All their recent failures were starting to wear her down. After taking all the time they needed, the two of them waited for the perfect moment to emerge.

Eventually, they slipped out and quietly headed to the back end of the building.

An emergency exit sat at the end of the hallway. It was connected to the building’s external emergency stairs. Anyone outside would have been able to see them as plain as day, but using it to go down just a single floor seemed safe enough.

Sybilla and Erna exchanged a silent nod, then stepped out into the emergency staircase.

An alarm began ringing.

“Yeep?” “What?!”

Their eyes went wide.

A shrill alarm was going off and buzzing through the entire admin building. It wasn’t clear if someone had seen them and set it off, or if the emergency stairs had been booby-trapped.

Why…?! Why’d it go off just now?

Something unforeseen had happened. That much was clear.

Sybilla clicked her tongue, and the two of them went back inside. Every pair of eyes in the mill would be on the admin building right now. The stairs were too exposed to use.

They could hear the sound of people starting to gather on the lower floors.

“L-let’s head back to the director’s office for now!”

The suggestion came from Erna.

“Why there?” Sybilla asked.

“Because the normal employees won’t be able to get in!”

It was a logical decision.

The director’s office was heavily secured, and nobody but the director and his secretary could get in. Given that they had nowhere to run, hiding out in the director’s office for the time being was the best option available to them.

Erna rushed off.

“Right.” Sybilla nodded and followed after her.

As the sound of the employees coming toward the eighth floor grew ever louder, Erna reached the director’s office, re-disabled the security, and opened the door.

The two of them stepped forward to go in—

“Hold up!”

—but then Erna screamed.

“Huh?” Sybilla grunted.

The moment Sybilla tried to step inside, Erna yanked on her jacket. Sybilla reacted instantly and leaped backward, and Erna followed up by throwing herself on top of Sybilla to protect her.

A fiery explosion blasted forth.

Flames burst out from inside the director’s office and sprayed fire out into the hallway. It wasn’t the kind of fire that destroyed everything in its path, but it was still fierce enough. The hallway was smothered in red.

The Lamplight duo had just barely managed to dodge it, but if they’d taken a direct hit, they probably wouldn’t have survived.

What’s up with the fire? We disabled all the traps, so why…?

Questions swirled through Sybilla’s head as she sat on her rump.

Once again, something had gone wrong in a wholly unexpected way.

The one silver lining was that the building was made of reinforced concrete, so they weren’t in any danger of having the whole thing go up in flames. The fire seemed to be contained to the carpet inside the director’s office.

Suddenly, Sybilla let out a gasp. “Erna, you okay? Erna?!”

Beside her, Erna was collapsed on the ground with her face contorted in pain. She was clutching her upper arm like it was burned, and she must have hit her head during her fall, too, as there was blood trickling down her forehead.

Erna let out a hoarse, unintelligible moan. Then her body went limp. Sybilla tried calling her name again and again, but she got no reply. Even when she shook Erna’s body, her teammate’s lips didn’t move.

Erna was unconscious.

Sybilla frantically checked to make sure she was breathing. Erna’s small chest was rising and falling; she was alive. However, Sybilla needed to get her somewhere safe, and she needed to do it now.

All the while, the employees’ footsteps just kept on getting closer. After hearing the fiery explosion just now, they knew that something was wrong. A group of men were shouting angrily.

Sybilla was in big trouble.

The employees were gathering in the eighth-floor hallway, she had nowhere to run, and her partner was lying unconscious beside her.

“Sorry, Erna,” Sybilla said to her sleeping teammate. “This is gonna be bumpy. Hope you don’t mind.”

As the words left her mouth, she picked up Erna and hoisted her onto her back. Then, while carrying her teammate, Sybilla crouched down and lowered her center of gravity.

Getting out was going to require taking some risks.

Realizing that, Sybilla kicked in the hallway window.

Then, in the same motion, she leaped out the eighth-story window—with Erna still on her back.

She knew that someone might spot them, but getting her teammate to safety was priority number one. Now she was going to have to perform a technique she’d never even practiced and nail it on the first try.

Let’s hope this top-story dive thing works!

It was a trick she never would have even considered using if it weren’t such an emergency, especially not when it was going to endanger one of her teammates’ lives on top of her own. By pushing her body to its limit, she was able to spin around in midair and fire a wire out from her wrist just before they started falling in earnest. The wire hooked around one of the building’s external drainpipes and killed her downward momentum.

The idea was that she would act like a pendulum. By shifting her trajectory from “falling” to “swinging,” she could avoid having them become smears on the pavement. However, that was precisely what was about to happen if Sybilla had made even the slightest of errors in the timing or length of her wire. Her body traced an arc through the air so forcefully it felt like it was going to tear her apart, and she could feel the air being squeezed from her lungs.

As the ground rose up to meet her, a terrible chill ran through her body.

A moment before impact, though, Sybilla rose back up into the air. The tips of Erna’s hair scraped against the ground.

Sybilla continued swinging back and forth until the pendulum motion had killed enough of their momentum to leave them dangling in the air. After safely landing back on solid ground, she let out a massive sigh of relief.

Looks like I pulled it off…

Then she took off across the facility so the other employees wouldn’t find them. She headed toward the edge of the premises, scaled the fence, and went into the alley across the street. The alley was about ten feet wide and flanked on both sides by tall buildings. Once she got there, Sybilla looked over her shoulder and gave Erna a smile. “That should be far enough, yeah?” Sadly, she got no reply.

As Sybilla caught her breath amid the darkness, she was greeted by an unexpected duo.

“I’m here to save you, yo!” “Hey, hey, hey! I filled up on sweets, so my head’s back in the game.”

It was Annette and Lily. They came rushing over from the other side of the alley.

When Sybilla and Erna didn’t return when they were supposed to, the others had gotten worried and come to help.

“…Y’know, I could’ve sworn I just saw an orangutan leap off an eight-story building and use trapeze artist tricks to stick the landing,” Lily said.

“Oh, shaddap,” Sybilla shot back. “This is no time for your nonsense. Hurry up and get Erna some first aid.”

“Wait, Erna’s hurt?”

“Yeah, she’s out like a light. We need to patch her up and get her somewhere safe, pronto.”

“I brought a first aid kit!” Annette piped up. She shook her skirt, and tons of bandages, disinfectant, and the like came pouring out.

Lily and Sybilla quickly got to work treating Erna. By the time they were done sloppily winding the bandages around her head, her forehead looked like a large, misshapen lump.

Their intention was to carry Erna off to their base posthaste—

“Don’t move an inch, ladies.”

—but as it turned out, they weren’t out of the woods just yet.

All of a sudden, a new person showed up in the alleyway.

Sybilla whirled around.

Over in the direction of the mill, there was a man wearing a janitor uniform. He’d appeared so suddenly and with so little warning that it was almost like he’d materialized out of thin air. The girls had been preoccupied, but even so, that wasn’t the kind of thing that happened every day.

Sybilla recognized his face, and the smell of wax coming from the mop resting atop his shoulder was a familiar one as well.

Huh? The janitor who was just in the admin building…? Why’d he follow us?

“Who are you people?” the young man asked threateningly. He had short brown hair and looked to be in his early twenties. His dark, gloomy gaze was fixed right on them.

Sybilla was the first to react. She closed in on the man so fast and so hard her foot left an imprint on the ground. She didn’t know what he was after, but the safest thing to do was to start by overpowering him. After closing the gap faster than he could possibly react, she pressed her knife against his throat. “Sorry about this, but we’re on the clock, too,” she said in a menacing tone.

The man said nothing, but his eyes widened a little.

“That was quick, Sis,” Annette said, sounding audibly impressed.

Sybilla had demonstrated it in her escape, too, but her athletic abilities had improved even more over the past three months. In any sort of one-on-one fight, there wasn’t an amateur around who could hold a candle to her.

“Don’t scream,” she said, still holding her knife against the man’s throat. “I don’t wanna have to hurt a civvy, so this is what you’re gonna do. You’re not gonna report this to anyone. You’re not even gonna tell anyone. In fact, just forget this ever happened. If you can promise me that, I’ll let you go. We cool?”

“……………”

The man dispassionately returned Sybilla’s gaze, offering her little in the way of a reaction.

Sybilla tilted her head in confusion. She’d been expecting him to be scared or to start tearing up. “…What? At least say somethin’.”

His stare remained just as apathetic, and his entire body was slack. He didn’t seem tense in the slightest. It was the way you’d expect someone to act if they were watching a play that bored them.

Did he not understand the situation he was in?

“Maybe your face is so scary he can’t work up the nerve to reply?” Lily quietly offered.

Sybilla didn’t love the way she’d phrased it, but Lily’s theory had some merit. “I mean, we are kinda the bad guys here. Sorry for gettin’ you caught up in our shit. Still, I hope we can count on you.”

She smiled and slipped a coin into the man’s pocket as compensation for his troubles.

“This is insipid.”

As the unsettling voice echoed out, the janitor bent back.

After dropping himself backward to escape from Sybilla’s knife, he leaped into the air with his body still tilted and launched a football-style bicycle kick at the side of Sybilla’s head.

He had started resisting completely out of the blue, and what’s more, he’d chosen an incredibly acrobatic way to do so. “You little shit,” Sybilla grunted, then got to work trying to pin the man down. As she did, Lily charged forward with a poison needle, and Annette leaped in with her stun gun.

They were attacking him from three directions at once, and the janitor was still in midair. There was no way he could dodge—or at least, there shouldn’t have been.

“I’m code name Flock—and it’s time to gouge clean through.”

The janitor’s self-introduction echoed in their ears.

He slammed his mop into the ground like a cane, then turned aside in midair and nimbly avoided the three-pronged attack. It was a feat that had required incredible core strength.

As he spun, a shower of knives came pouring off of his body. Sensing danger, the girls retreated—at which point, they all slipped and fell.

Sybilla’s eyes went wide. Wax?!

The man had spread it from the mop he was carrying.

From there, the rest happened in a flash.

As soon as the man landed, he leaped into the air again. It was like watching a spring. By using both hands and taking advantage of his long reach, he was able to utilize his knives to pin the off-balance girls to the ground by their clothes. He was so fast they got crucified before they ever had a chance to dodge.

Sybilla was powerless to do anything but gawk as she collapsed onto the ground.

Beside her, Lily’s eyes were wide. “Wh—?”

They’d been completely physically overpowered. Despite their numerical advantage, they’d gotten manhandled. The girls had been just a tiny bit careless, and the man had taken full advantage of it.

He shot the three of them a pointed glare as they lay on the ground. “You people are obnoxious. Maybe the world could use fewer of you.”

In his hand, he was holding a knife.

He turned its blade toward Sybilla.

“Let’s start with you.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, he swung his knife down at her.

“Vindo, wait!”

The knife froze right before it reached Sybilla’s throat.

She broke into a cold sweat. What she’d just experienced was the unmistakable specter of death.

Her heart was pounding out of her chest.

If this guy wanted to—

She could picture it clear as day.

—he coulda killed me. Right there, right then.

Her knees rattled. Even so, she looked up to survey the situation.

Someone else had just joined them in the alley.

The newcomer was a young woman with large glasses. Her jade green hair was done up in a ponytail, and the look on her face was willful and determined. She was the other janitor from back in the admin area.

“Those girls aren’t our enemies,” she snapped. “We’re on the same side.”

“Oh? Are we, now?” The young man named Vindo frowned. “This is even more insipid.” He stowed his knife away.

The jade-haired girl let out a deep sigh, like the air was pouring out from the very bottom of her lungs. “Oh, thank goodness you stopped in time… You nearly stabbed one of our own allies, you know that?”

Vindo gave the woman a cold look. “Shut up, Qulle. Even if you hadn’t stepped in, I would’ve stopped anyway.”

“Huh?”

“Up above. You shouldn’t need me to point out these things.”

Sybilla followed Vindo’s lead and looked at the building’s roof.

Klaus was standing atop it.

He was holding a gun in one hand and a knife in the other. His long hair was tied back, and he was gazing down at them ready for war. Sybilla gasped. So did everyone else, Vindo included.

The air was heavy with raw hostility.

The young woman named Qulle let out a small shriek and shrank back a step.

If Klaus wanted to, he could’ve had everyone there dead and gone within seconds.

“I recognize that guy… So that’s Bonfire, huh?”

The only person feeling uncowed by Klaus’s hostility was Vindo, who glowered back boldly.

Klaus leaped off the roof and landed soundlessly beside Sybilla. The building was five stories tall, but he didn’t so much as wince. After a short silence, he turned his gaze toward Vindo. “It would seem I don’t need to introduce myself.”

“No. I know you by name, if nothing else,” Vindo replied curtly. “I’m code name Flock, alias Vindo.”

“I see. And you?”

“Y-yeek! I—I, um, I’m G-Glide. My alias is Qulle.”

The girl who’d introduced herself as Qulle gave Klaus a nervous bow.

“Let’s split up for now,” Klaus said calmly. “It’s not secure here.”

“Roger that,” Vindo replied. He took his mop and headed back to the admin building with Qulle.

“““………”””

The girls could do nothing but stare as they found themselves completely left in the dust.

It would appear that they were safe now, but they still had no idea who that duo actually was. However, it seemed like Klaus knew something…

Sybilla decided to be the one to ask. “Who the hell were they?”

“Allies. Fellow spies from the Din Republic,” Klaus promptly replied.

Then he followed up with a piece of info that came as a shock to all of them.

“They took the top six students out of all the spy academies and made them into a new team called Avian.”

Roaring Sea had already told Klaus all about Avian.

For a time after Klaus’s mentor, “Torchlight” Guido, betrayed them, the Din Republic’s spy network lay in shambles. Guido was more than just your ordinary spy, and when he double-crossed Din and joined the Galgad Empire, he brought massive amounts of intel on the Republic along with him.

As a spy, having your information leaked like that meant constant peril.

Guido’s betrayal was like something out of the Republic’s worst nightmares. After he handed intel on their best spies over to the enemy, many people perished. It wasn’t just Inferno; the Republic lost a huge number of other valuable personnel, as well. And the spies they sent in to stem the bleeding all had their information leaked, too. It was looking like checkmate.

The only reason they were able to recover—

“Well, there’s two reasons. One was the fine work you did, Bonfire. The way you put together Lamplight and beautifully filled Inferno’s shoes was like a ray of light in the midst of our darkest despair,” Roaring Sea had explained. “And the other was the way the cream of the crop from our academies really stepped up.”

The Republic had been faced with an unprecedented crisis, and they’d reacted by hurriedly sending academy students to the front lines. Klaus had been concerned that high-performing students would have had their information leaked, too, so he chose to build Lamplight out of washouts and get results that way. But all the while, the top students were taking their graduation exams and heading into battle as well. The logic was that not even Guido could have memorized full dossiers on every promising student.

“Not all the newbies succeeded, of course. Guido leaked intel on a fair chunk of them. A lot of them didn’t make it. But there was one team that kept putting up outstanding results one after another, almost like they were trying to get revenge for their comrades who weren’t so lucky. And that team was Avian.”

It was Klaus’s first time hearing the name, but he assumed they were a recently formed spy team.

“I’m telling you, these guys are the real deal. We’ve got over three thousand academy students, and after Inferno went down, we took all the best ones and put them through a graduation exam. Avian is a dream team made up of the top six scorers.”

“The best six out of a field of three thousand, hmm?”

“They’ve already got a pretty hefty backlog of finished missions under their belt. We haven’t been giving them any of the real gnarly ones yet…” Roaring Sea sounded like she was enjoying herself. “…but as far as their raw count goes, Avian’s got Lamplight beat.”

The group carried Erna to Klaus’s base.

They immediately called for a local doctor, who told them that she would wake up just fine after she got some rest. At the moment, Erna hadn’t regained consciousness yet and was sleeping in one of the beds. Every so often, she let out a pained-sounding groan. Aside from her burns, she’d also suffered a concussion when she fell over. That said, it came as a huge relief to the Lamplight members to know that her life wasn’t in danger.

After all the others left, Sybilla stayed right by Erna’s side.

“I’m sorry, Erna. I screwed up, bad…”

She mopped away the sweat running across Erna’s forehead. After offering that brief apology, she stood up from the bed. Her stomach was rumbling something fierce. She still felt like shit, but hunger was calling to her all the same.

The sun had already set, and it was just about dinnertime.

“So basically, the two teams’ missions ended up overlapping?”

Over in the combination kitchen–dining room, Lily was getting a sitrep.

The eight-seat table was piled high with all sorts of Ryukese takeout. There was roast chicken, gyoza, boiled prawns, five-color xiaolongbao, and peach manju. Every dish looked delicious.

All of it was leftovers from the restaurant Lily had infiltrated. If there was one thing she took seriously, it was getting her hands on grub.

Thea, Lily, and Annette were already at the table, and Sybilla went over to join them.

“Apparently, yes,” Thea explained. She delicately peeled the shell off one of her prawns. “Avian and Lamplight were going after different targets, but we ended up in the same place. These things are rare, but they do happen.”

“Hmph. For spies who hog all their intel to themselves, sure,” Lily said, stuffing her face full of xiaolongbao.

Annette bit into a peach manju. “I think it’d be better if we all just shared our info, yo.”

Thea nodded. “You’re right. And over in the study, that’s precisely what Teach is coordinating.”

The girls turned their gazes toward the study.

Vindo and Qulle had stopped by the villa not long ago, and that was where they were now. Instead of their janitor outfits, they were wearing school uniforms. Their cover story was that they were exchange students who’d come to Longchon on a study abroad program.

At the moment, Avian and Lamplight were probably sharing all sorts of information.

“Sheesh, man…” Sybilla let out a dejected sigh. “I mean, the top six academy students?”

“You can say that again,” Thea agreed, looking just as glum.

Klaus had already given them the basic rundown on Avian. Word was, they were the elite of the elite from the academies.

“Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!” All of a sudden, Lily began writhing in agony. “All sorts of horrible memories are resurfaciiiiiiiiiiing!”

A pained expression crossed her face, and she wasn’t the only one. Sybilla and Thea were in the same boat. All of a sudden, they lost their appetites. The only person unaffected was Annette, who was happily stacking the peach manju on top of each other.

Lamplight was the exact opposite of Avian—they were a team made up of academy washouts. For a variety of reasons—poor grades, interpersonal problems, bad behavior, individual setbacks—each person in Lamplight had failed to thrive in the academy environment. The whole roster had been on the verge of dropping out.

“Yeah, that dredges up a whole bunch of nasty memories,” Sybilla muttered.

“Oh, I feel you,” Thea agreed. “To be frank, the experience left me traumatized. I had hoped to leave the whole thing behind me.”

“Plus, runnin’ into them when things haven’t been goin’ too hot for us just makes it feel that much worse,” Sybilla added.

“““How unlucky…””” They all sighed in perfect unison.

A heavy silence descended on the table.

The sound of the ceiling fan’s motor echoed lifelessly through the room.

“H-hey, look on the bright side!” With that, Lily rose to her feet. “W-we’ve changed since our academy days! You’re looking at Super-Agent Lily, a girl who’s trained with Teach and completed Impossible Missions!”

“Y-yeah… Yeah, that’s a good point.” Spurred on by Lily’s enthusiasm, Sybilla stood up a few beats after her. “Hell yeah! Lily’s right. All that washout stuff is in the past! Hell, our own boss told us about how academy success is too narrow to judge someone’s worth off of!”

The other two stood up as well.

“Wh-why, I’m a perfect example of that,” Thea said. “After all, I wasn’t being graded fairly on my merits!”

“And those stupid instructors treated all my awesome inventions like garbage, yo!” Annette agreed.

It sure felt like they were putting on a show of false bravado, but they all began raising their voices. Once they had themselves well and truly pumped up, Lily broke into a shout. “We’ll never give up our jobs to a bunch of a highfalutin elites! If Avian wants to bring it, then I say let’s let ’em!”

“““Yeahhhhhhhhh!”””

They raised their fists in the air with great gusto.

“I see the ladies of Lamplight are in a good mood.”

A deep voice echoed from behind them.

The girls didn’t like where this was going. They whirled around to find Vindo, who was looking at them coldly, and Qulle, who chuckled awkwardly. “Ha-ha-ha…”

The discussion in the study had reached its conclusion.

Vindo stood there with both hands in his pockets and laid on the pressure. “So what was that about Avian? You got something you want to say? Come on, let’s hear that shout again.”

““““……………”””””

Now that they were face-to-face with the real deal, the girls shut up in a hurry. Their expressions froze.

Eventually, Lily was the first to turn traitor. “I think Sybilla had something she wanted to say.” “Th-that’s right,” Thea agreed, and Annette lit the fuse even further. “Go on, Sis, tell them all those horrible things you said.”

Sybilla glared at her teammates. “You’re all dead to me.”

“Do at least try to comport yourselves with dignity.” At that point, Klaus arrived in the kitchen–dining room as well. “I just got finished making arrangements with Avian. While we’re in Longchon, our team and theirs are going to be completing our missions together. Don’t go getting territorial on them.”

Qulle gave them a wave. “I’m looking forward to working together.”

Vindo said nothing.

The Lamplight girls’ faces flushed red, and they bowed in return.

“Huh? Wait a sec,” Sybilla said. “What’re you two doin’ here yourselves? For stuff like this, wouldn’t it make more sense to have the two team’s bosses hash it out?”

“Normally, yes,” Klaus said. “In this case, though—”

“I wanted to see it with my own two eyes,” Vindo said, cutting him off. “I’d heard the rumors here and there. About a team of academy washouts who completed an Impossible Mission. At first, I thought it was just misinformation the instructors spread to get us fired up.”

There was an unusually intimidating air to Vindo’s voice. He closed in on the girls one step at a time until he was right in front of their faces. His razor-sharp gaze seemed to be appraising them as well. The girls let out small whimpers.

“Are the stories true? Did you really finish an Impossible Mission?”

“…Y-yeah. Yeah, that’s right.” The reply came from Lily. She was sweating bullets, but she threw out her chest all the same. “We completed a couple. And hoo boy, we had to fight some nasty battles. Especially that infiltration mission in Galgad. If not for our flawless teamwork, we never would’ve been able to—”

“In the state you’re in?” Vindo’s voice was as cold as ice.

Lily grimaced and went quiet.

Vindo turned away as though to say he had no more use for them now that he’d gotten his answer. He turned toward Klaus, his hands never once leaving his pockets. “Bonfire, I want in on the mission tonight. That good with you?”

“Be my guest.”

“I appreciate it. I’ll be there at the time we discussed.”

Now that his business there was done, Vindo headed briskly for the entrance. He paid the Lamplight girls no further heed.

Qulle hurried after him, apologetically pressing her hands together. “Er, sorry about that. Vindo can be a bit much sometimes,” she said as she headed out, too.

A series of mixed feelings welled up within the girls as they stared at the door the pair had left through.

“Th-that guy was kinda scary…,” Lily murmured.

“F-for sure,” Sybilla agreed.

Vindo was intense in a whole different way than the other spies they’d met to date. There had been overachievers at the girls’ academies too, of course, but even compared to them, there was something special about Vindo. For one, none of the overachievers the girls could think of had been anywhere near that unfriendly.

“He has the mindset of a professional,” Klaus said. “Perhaps too much so, but staying vigilant is never a bad thing. Perhaps you all should consider taking a page from his book. Tonight we’ll be starting our joint mission with Avian. Sybilla, get prepped—and make it quick. Lily will be providing you with backup in Erna’s place.”

“Huh?” “What?”

Sybilla’s and Lily’s eyes went wide at the unexpected assignment.

“No matter what happens, the mission goes on,” Klaus told them firmly. “I’ve got another job I need to take care of tonight, so I’m counting on you two. I wrote notes with some advice for you, just in case.”

“O-okay.” “Y-you got it…”

Hearing Klaus’s calm voice helped bring the girls back to their senses. He was right; they were still in the middle of a mission. This was no time to be shuddering over recollections of past academy traumas.

“Feels like nothing ever breaks your focus, huh, Teach?” Lily noted.

“Of course not. I’m a professional,” Klaus replied.

He handed them each a folded piece of paper. Therein lay the advice he had for his two floundering pupils.

They unfolded their papers and found short messages written in awful handwriting.

Pilfer as a rainbow does when crossing the moon.

Be like the full moon and be your full self.

For some reason, Klaus looked terribly proud of himself. “Because I’m a professional, all you have to do is follow my advice, and you too will be able to—”

“Your instructions aren’t professional for shit!” Sybilla roared.

A few hours later, Sybilla and Lily stood in front of the cotton mill once more.

It was already past ten PM, but the mill was still chugging away. Muffled noises echoed across the grounds, and though more than half the lights in the admin building were off, a couple of the rooms were still lit and occupied. Some of the employees were pulling all-nighters. The girls had heard stories about how abusive the management practices there were.

Lily turned to the person walking beside them. “So how much does Avian know about what’s really going on in the mill?”

“Everything,” Vindo replied concisely. He was back to wearing his cleaner’s uniform.

He’d infiltrated the admin building a couple weeks ago by getting a part-time job there as a janitor. Thanks to his guidance, Sybilla and Lily had been able to enter the premises without running into any trouble.

The two of them continued following Vindo across the mill. All they were doing was walking straight through the darkness, but for whatever reason, nobody was crossing their path.

Notably, Qulle was operating separately at the moment. Sybilla, Lily, and Vindo were the only ones on the infiltration op.

“The mill is secretly backed by the local mafia. Here in Longchon, everyone knows that information is worth its weight in gold. The mafia bribes foreign diplomats for intel, then sells it to the highest bidder. They’re basically information brokers. And this cotton mill is one of their fronts.”

Much to the girls’ surprise, Vindo dutifully explained the situation. He might not have been the friendliest guy around, but he did an excellent job laying out the information they needed to know.

“This area is their home turf, and they have eyes all around the city. Even just trying to tail someone here can prove fatal. We can assume that the classified document you were after has already been moved off-site.”

“Yeah, I figured as much. So how’re we gonna play this?” Sybilla asked. “You got some idea of how we’re supposed to track down the new location? Honestly, I dunno who we’d even need to shake down to find out where it is.”

“…You have a point. They’ve ratcheted up security on account of the commotion you kicked up. Now our carefully orchestrated plan is useless.”

“Urk. Sorry about that…”

“We’re going to have to get a little crude. We did have a plan for this eventuality.”

During their conversation, they’d made it all the way to the base of the admin building.

Vindo casually picked up a rock about the size of his fist from the ground, then muttered something. “…By the way, what happened to the blond?”

“Huh?”

“You know, the kid. The one you were carrying.”

Vindo stared at Sybilla. His face betrayed no emotions, but from the sound of it, he was worried about Erna.

“She got knocked out during our mission, so she’s resting now. Some sort of explosion went off in the director’s office… Come to think of it, what was that? Did you guys lay some kind of trap?” Sybilla asked.

“…No, I don’t know anything about that. Must’ve been something else.”

There was an odd pause before he gave his answer. Sybilla didn’t know what to make of it.

Vindo turned the rock over in his hand and inspected its shape. “Still, I get where you stand. I’ll handle your missing blond’s part.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he hurled the rock through one of the admin building’s windows.

Sybilla and Lily stared at him in shock. ““?!””

The hell does this guy think he’s doin’?!

The window shattered, and unsurprisingly, an alarm bell began loudly ringing. They could hear the roar of sirens and the footsteps of guards rushing their way.

“Keep your cool. The enemy won’t kill us; not before they get us to sing.” Vindo remained utterly composed under the girls’ aghast stares. “Just keep your mouths shut—and watch how we do things in Avian.”

His voice carried an unsettling degree of confidence.

The guards rushed over and captured the three of them just the way Vindo had planned. The worst-case scenario would have been if the guards took them straight to the police, but they chose to haul them into the admin building instead.

Sybilla hadn’t noticed until she saw them up close, but it was obvious just from looking at the cotton mill’s guards that they didn’t exactly live on the straight and narrow. They certainly looked the part of mafia underlings, and they each had a pistol hidden in their pocket.

After tying the spy trio’s hands behind their backs with rope, the guards took the three of them to a room inside the building.

“Is this…?” Lily whispered. “Is this the director’s office?”

Sure enough, the three of them found themselves getting shoved into the same office from that afternoon. Its carpet and many of its sculptures had been burned to a crisp, and the air was thick with the smell of charcoal. That said, the room had been given a cursory cleaning, and everything in the middle of the room had been completely cleared out.

Vindo looked unconcerned. This is where he’d expected the guards to bring them.

Ah, that makes sense, Sybilla thought.

With how intense the director’s office’s security system was, it was pretty much completely sealed off from the outside world. None of the factory workers would be coming near it, and no matter how much they screamed, none of it would be audible from outside. It was the perfect place to use as a torture chamber. The goons here didn’t want to get the cops involved; they wanted to interrogate Vindo and the girls themselves.

The guards threw them roughly onto the floor.

There were ten men standing in the room, several of whom were sporting sadistic grins. It was clear to see how thrilled they were at having successfully captured their prey.

Eventually, the clicking of high heels echoed out, and a woman strode forth from among the men.

“I never imagined we’d end up reeling in a couple of youngsters like you.”

Sybilla recognized her; she was the mill’s executive secretary. The young woman was wearing a tight suit and had that particular air about her exclusive to those who operated in the world of violence. Now there was really no doubt about how deep the mill’s ties to the local mafia ran.

Vindo closed his eyes as though he was bored out of his mind. “………”

“I take it you’re the leader of this merry little bunch?” The secretary laughed in amusement. “Tell me, are you kids the ones who started that fire in the office earlier today? Do tell. And I must say, dressing as a janitor was an unexpected touch. Who are you working for?”

Vindo didn’t open his eyes. “You really think I’d tell you?”

“Oh dear, I’m afraid that’s the wrong attitude to take with me. Tight-lipped spies have a habit of dying in this room.”

As she spoke, one of her henchmen stepped forward holding an iron whip. He started by punching Vindo in the head, then began showering him with blows. Again and again and again the iron lumps slammed into Vindo’s body, and with each strike, the dull sound of metal striking bone echoed through the room.

Eventually, the man with the whip stopped to give his arm a break.

Sybilla and Lily could do nothing but stare speechlessly. Intentionally letting themselves get captured was feeling like a worse idea by the minute.

“Did he go overboard, I wonder?” the woman said, sounding rather satisfied. “That might have been too much. Was it too much? Though, I suppose even if worse comes to worst, and the man dies, we still have the two girls to get answers out of—”

“This is insipid. Not that I’m surprised.” Vindo sat up.

The men surrounding him let out shocked gasps.

With his hands still bound, Vindo rose to his feet. His balance didn’t seem hindered in the slightest, and for that matter, there wasn’t a wound visible on his body. He looked calm and collected.

The secretary’s shock was evident in her voice. “…How can you be uninjured after taking all those blows?”

Sybilla was familiar with the technique, as Klaus had used it on numerous occasions. There was a way to ward off attacks that made it look like you were still being hit even though you weren’t taking any real damage. However, she’d never seen it performed with anything close to the finesse Vindo had just shown.

“I had hoped to hold out for a bigger player, but I guess you’re the best I’m going to get.” Vindo let out a small sigh. “What a buzzkill. Well, consider it an honor. Not many people of your ilk get to hit me like that.”

“What are you babbling on about—?”

“By the way,” Vindo said, “haven’t you noticed how hot it’s getting in here?”

Suddenly, they heard a woman shouting. “Fire! There’s a fire coming this way!”

One of the henchmen dashed out of the room. “It’s true! The building’s burning!” he reported.

The mafia members in the director’s office froze. They were panicking. The sudden emergency left them with too many factors they needed to consider—Did they need to evacuate? Should they go ahead and kill the captured spies now?—and their minds turned as fast as they could.

A mocking comment rose up to fill the void. “This is even more insipid.”

It was Vindo.

“I’m code name Flock—and it’s time to gouge clean through.”

Even with his hands still bound, his body rose into the air as though unrestrained by gravity.

Blood went flying.

The first person he slashed was the grunt with the iron whip. The man let out a dumbfounded gasp as the concealed knife in Vindo’s shoe tore through his throat.

It was Sybilla’s second time seeing Vindo pull that stunt. He was using his entire body like a spring, and no matter what position he was in, his raw arm and leg strength always seemed to be sufficient to propel him off the ground so he could send knives soaring through the air. That was the power of the man who’d dominated the academy student rankings—paired with beautiful knife work, he executed movements too unpredictable to even illicit a reaction from anyone!

In the blink of an eye, Vindo cut down two more men who’d been standing near him. At some point, he’d also found the time to undo his restraints. The next time he jumped, it was to thrust a knife into the heart of another foe, and by the time one of the other goons drew his gun to take advantage of how open Vindo was in the air, Vindo had already used his latest corpse as a springboard to relocate to safety.

His jumping was giving him and his knives free rein over the entire director’s office.

“R-run for it!” someone shouted. “If we stay here, we’ll just burn to death either way!”

With that, the dam broke, and the full cohort that had been in the office flooded out the door.

Lily had been a little late to the party in undoing her restraints, but now she was free, too. “You ain’t goin’ nowhere,” she declared as she drew her gun.

“Don’t bother, Silver.” However, Vindo stopped her before she could give chase. “Those guys are idiots. They’ve already forgotten who applied the wax this afternoon.”

Suddenly, the sound of air bursting exploded in from the hallway, followed by the sound of the men screaming.

Sybilla could hear them being burned alive.

Now it all made sense. Vindo’s plan had revolved around that fire from the get-go. By mixing chemicals into the flammable wax, he’d basically created a fuse for the fire to follow. Qulle was probably the one who’d started it. Come to think of it, that first person who shouted “Fire!” had sounded an awful lot like her.

As it so happened, the three of them and the secretary were now the only ones left in the office.

Vindo twirled a knife in his hand. “Now it’s just you.”

“Th-this is insane…” The secretary sank to her knees. “You can all burn… At least you’re going down with me…”

“This office is treated to be fire-resistant, and the fire is following a prearranged path. It’ll take a while before the carbon monoxide poisoning does us in.”

“Ulp…”

“You have to know where that classified document got to. Tell me, and I’ll spare your life.”

The secretary bit down on her lip, but eventually, she made up her mind. “…Fine.” She told them where the document was. Her fear drove her to speak quickly, and in the end, she even told them where the mafia boss’s hideout was. “…That’s everything I know,” she whimpered.

“Got it. Then we’re done here.” Vindo readied his knife.

“Huh?”

“You actually thought I was going to let you live?” Vindo said dispassionately as he raised the knife aloft. “Two months ago, your men killed a good woman. She was protecting an innocent kid, and they shot her dead. I’ll have to live with that regret for the rest of my life.”

“Wait!” the secretary screamed. “I have a son and two daughters waiting for—”

“Maybe you’ll find dignity in death.”

Vindo swung his arm down and hurled the knife straight into the secretary’s throat. Her eyes went wide, and after convulsing for a bit, she crumpled lifelessly to the ground.

All Sybilla and Lily could do was watch it play out from the side.

Between his infiltration technique, his physical abilities, his calculations, and his cold resolve, Vindo had pulled it off perfectly. He’d tracked down the document’s location, and everyone who’d seen their faces was dead. Vindo had told the two of them to “watch how Avian did things,” and sure enough, he’d put on a stunningly efficient master class.

It was early in the morning when Erna finally woke up.

When Sybilla and Lily got back from the cotton mill, they found that Annette was still awake. “Erna’s up, yo!” she cheerily informed them.

The two of them charged into the bedroom, each wanting to be the first one to get there. Inside, Thea was sitting by the bed and looking after Erna. Sybilla and Lily let out a nonsensical “WHOOO!” and started hugging Erna’s head and poking her cheeks. When Erna groaned, “Th-that hurts…!” they switched to tossing her into the air, which earned them a sharp, “She needs complete bedrest!” from Thea.

Once they were done getting carried away, the two malfeasants took some deep breaths.

“Are you okay? You don’t have amnesia or anything?” Lily asked.

“I would certainly hope not,” Erna replied.

“What do you remember about Sybilla?”

“She’s a dummy, but in a good way.”

Without a word, Sybilla gave Erna’s cheeks a gentle pinch. “Yeep!” Erna yelped in delight.

The bottom line was that she didn’t seem to have suffered any brain damage. A wave of relief washed over the team. Things had been looking dicey there for a minute, but now they could finally breathe easy.

“B-by the way…” Erna got a little louder. “What happened with the mission?” She sounded pretty worried, and there was something almost frantic about her voice.

For a moment, everyone around her froze up.

Sybilla glanced around evasively. “R-right. About that…”

“There’s kind of a lot that’s happened since then,” Lily said with an awkward smile.

After deciding it would be faster for her to see for herself, the girls took Erna to the dining room. She cocked her head in puzzlement but followed along anyhow.

Over in the dining room, there were two people sitting in the dim morning light.

“…Ah. The blond.”

“Oh, you must be Erna. It’s nice to meet you.”

Namely, Vindo and Qulle.

The two of them had come to the villa as well, in part to report the result of the mission to Klaus. Right now they were eating the breakfast sandwiches Thea had made for them. Vindo was stuffing his cheeks full, whereas Qulle was taking small, modest bites.

After Erna mumbled “Yeep?” in confusion, Sybilla and Lily filled her in, both about Avian and the mission they had completed over in the admin building.

“I’m tellin’ you, it was nuts. It was like magic, the way they got it all done!”

“It really was! I was totally blown away!”

Sybilla and Lily gesticulated wildly as they regaled Erna with tales of Avian’s exploits. They were so excited they were talking a mile a minute, and Erna was flustered by the raw zeal in their voices.

“These top academy student guys are the real deal! They’ve totally turned me around on ’em.”

“Yeah! I’ve never even seen spies like that except for Teach!”

They meant every word of praise they were showering on Avian. The murders Vindo committed had surprised them in the moment, but looking back at the situation objectively, they understood that it had been the right call. Besides, all the people he’d killed had been criminals who did evil deeds on behalf of the mafia.

What impressed them most of all, though, was how deeply honed his talents were.

I mean, it sucks to have to admit, but after that display he put on, I can’t lie, Sybilla thought, having rather mixed feelings about the whole thing. The fact is, these guys are on a whole different level.

She had no choice but to discard any sense of rivalry she’d felt toward them. The skills Avian had up their sleeves were proof positive of their elite status.

“I-it was…Vindo and Qulle…right?” Now that Erna was up to speed on the situation, she pushed through her shyness and gave them a timid bow. “Thank you for filling in for me on the mission.”

“Don’t mention it,” Vindo replied curtly. Then he looked at the girls gathered around the table. “It’s too noisy in here,” he declared, then grabbed another sandwich slice and rose to his feet. From the look of it, he planned on finishing his breakfast elsewhere.

The girls stared in bafflement, but Qulle spoke up in Vindo’s defense. “Don’t take it personally. He’s like that with everyone.”

After that, the Lamplight girls decided to have breakfast as well. The sun had begun making its ascent, and the dining room had a fantastic view of the purple-streaked sky. They gobbled down sandwiches, filled with that special satisfaction that came after a mission well done.

Unsurprisingly, the topic dominating their conversation was Avian. The girls crowded around Qulle and showered her with compliments.

“You know, you really shouldn’t talk Avian up like that.” Midway through, Qulle gave her cheek an embarrassed scratch. “The way I see it, Lamplight’s just as impressive. It makes me feel kinda bad to hear you compliment us so much.”

Sybilla tilted her head in confusion. “Wait, you figure?”

“Absolutely. I hear you’re each a little overspecialized, but even so, you’re still strong enough to pass the academy graduation exam. Looking at you, it’s hard to believe you used to be washouts. You should be proud of how far you’ve come.”

Sybilla gave her a small bow. “Th-that’s nice of you to say.”

The girls’ faces went red. They weren’t used to receiving praise. It had been a good long while since anyone other than Klaus had complimented them.

Thea joined in on the conversation. “Still, it feels like it’s been one failure after another,” she said. “I’m ashamed to admit it, but things haven’t been going too well for us lately. I wonder what it is we’re doing wrong?”

“Wrong? I think that’s pretty normal.”

“How so?”

“Lamplight just reached the level of academy graduates. And that’s wonderful, don’t get me wrong, but in our world, that’s only the starting line. I wouldn’t expect a fresh graduate to be able to pull their weight right off the bat.”

“Ah, that’s a fair point.”

“If anything, I’d say you just got lucky for things to go as smoothly as they did before.”

It was an unbiased assessment, but it didn’t help solve the girls’ problem. They had been overcome with joy when Klaus had informed them of their graduation, but all it actually meant was that they’d reached the minimum threshold to even be called spies. There was a long road ahead, and they’d only just taken their first step.

“It’s not like everything always goes well for us, either. We’ve certainly had our share of bitter failures.”

Qulle traced her finger around the rim of her teacup as she reminisced.

“I’d love to hear the details, if you don’t mind,” Thea said.

“Sure. I’d be happy to tell you all about it,” Qulle readily replied. “It’s pretty nice, getting a chance to chat with people my age aside from just my teammates for a change. Why don’t we all share, then? I can tell you about my missions, and you can tell me about yours.”

The girls relocated to the nearby chairs and listened attentively as Qulle shared her stories. They were dying to know what kind of missions the elites had been on.

Everything in the dining room was calm and friendly.

So much so, in fact, that none of them paid any attention to the fact that Vindo had yet to return.

Klaus returned from his mission as well, and he took a short breather over in the study.

As he partook in a traditional Longchon breakfast of unflavored rice porridge with chicken, he flipped through a nearby document. It was some data on Avian he’d picked up from Roaring Sea after finishing his late-night mission.

By and large, spies weren’t kept abreast of what other teams were up to, a policy that was designed to safeguard against leaks. Aside from legacy old-timers like “Torchlight” Guido and “Hearth” Veronika, the only person who knew the full details of the nation’s spy network was their spymaster, C.

In the short period of time Klaus had to work with, not even he had been able to get his hands on more than a few scraps of information. That said, even just those tidbits were enough to show him how ripe with potential Avian was.

They really are an excellent team. I don’t see any meaningful shortcomings.

That was one big difference between them and Lamplight. Unlike Lamplight, which had clearly defined strengths and weaknesses, Avian had no flaws to speak of. They had trained diligently to be able to handle any mission they might come across. And of the team’s members, the person whose skills stood out the most—

—was the first-place scorer on the graduation exam, “Flock” Vindo. I had no idea there was someone with talents like his in the academies. I have a hard time believing that Guido simply overlooked him. Did he first enroll in the last two years, maybe?

There was nothing particularly novel about his full-body spring movement, his knife skills, or his outstanding acting abilities, but they all spoke to his excellent fundamentals. That put him in sharp contrast with Lamplight’s members, each of whom was something of a one-trick pony.

Apparently, he was acting as Avian’s team leader.

Then we have the fourth-place scorer, “Glide” Qulle. I got the sense that she had a knack for providing rearguard support, but even so, fourth place is impressive.

There were another four members that Klaus hadn’t met in person, but looking at the data gave him a pretty good idea of how powerful they were. In all likelihood, the second-, third-, fifth-, and sixth-place scorers all had skills that far outstripped the average Lamplight member as well.

Even if I’m being generous, the only people we have who could compete with them are Monika and Grete. Annette might have a chance if she was motivated, but she’s so fickle…and the others would be straight-up outmatched.

That was his objective assessment of the two teams. If nothing else, the collective strength of Lamplight’s members was far below that of Avian’s. Klaus felt a pang of chagrin. Perhaps that was his pride as an instructor talking.

What is it? What is it that makes Avian so different from Lamplight?

Klaus stared at his document.

If I’m going to improve their skills, what is it I need to—?

As soon as he turned his attention to the intelligence contained therein, there was a knock on the study door.

Vindo stuck his head in a little.

Klaus was the first to speak. “Did you need something?”

“Just a small bit of business,” Vindo replied. “Could I have a minute of your time?”

“Of course.”

“Much obliged. I’ll make it quick.”

Vindo gave Klaus a small bow, then faced him head-on. After combing back his hair, he fixed his gaze on Klaus with an air of great formality.

And as for the next words that came out of his mouth…

“The fact is, your team is garbage. They’re worse than useless.”

Qulle was a masterful orator.

She broke down Avian’s missions in easy-to-follow terms. Some of her tales kept the girls in breathless suspense, and others filled them with wholehearted delight, but they found lessons to take away from all of them. One of the big things that made Avian hum was the friendly rivalry its members had with each other, and the Lamplight girls were taken with how the incredibly cool Avian members vied for supremacy.

“I think that about covers it,” Qulle said bashfully once she was finished.

Lily, who’d been diligently listening and jotting down notes from right beside her, rose to her feet—

“That was incredible. I feel like I learned so much!”

—and let out a shout before grabbing Qulle’s hand and vigorously shaking it.

The rest of the girls had been just as transfixed. Erna gave Qulle a small round of applause, and Annette’s eye gleamed like she’d just found a fun new toy. She handed Qulle a homemade peanut gun, ostensibly as her way of thanking her.

“You know, it’s weird.” Qulle patted Annette’s head as one would a child’s. “I never would have expected to run into fellow countrymen so far away from the academy. Maybe this is fate at work…”

“Now that you mention it,” Lily asked, “did you go to the same school as anyone from Lamplight?”

As it so happened, each Lamplight member had come from a different academy.

Qulle tilted her head. “Ummm, I’m not sure…”

“By the way, the three members who aren’t here right now are Daughter Dearest, Glint, and Meadow.”

“You really shouldn’t hand out intel so freely…”

After lightly admonishing her, Qulle turned her eyes upward in thought—

“But yeah, I think I remember there being a girl named Daughter Dearest. We didn’t interact much, though.”

—then replied.

Her answer made a lot of sense to the girls. Odds were, there might be other people in Avian who’d gone to school with Lamplight members, as well.

Qulle touched her bangs, looking a little mournful. “Actually, I had something I wanted to ask you all.”

“What’s that?”

“Do you ever wish you could go back somewhere safer?”

The unexpected question earned her some quizzical looks.

“Just now it struck me all over again,” Qulle explained. “You all are really good people. I don’t want you to die. I want you to live, you know?”

Lily still wasn’t sure what she was getting at. “Uh…huh… I mean, nothing beats staying safe, I guess…,” she answered noncommittally.

“Right?” Qulle said, nodding in relief. “Oh, I’m so glad.”

It was then that Sybilla realized that something felt off. Hmm?

She could feel ominous goose bumps running all across her skin.

There were the over-the-top levels of hatred Vindo had shown toward their enemy during the joint mission. There was the look of sadness that had crossed Qulle’s face when the topic of failures came up. And there was the way Avian’s boss never showed up, even when they were coordinating their missions. What was the root cause behind all those oddities?

Before Sybilla had a chance to act on her doubts, Thea beat her to the punch. “Say, would you mind if I asked you something, too?” she said, cutting Qulle off with a question. “What kind of person is Avian’s boss? What are they doing right now?”

“‘Sky Monk’ Adi,” Qulle replied. “I can’t think of a woman I admire more. She was witty and cheerful and just an all-around wonderful person.”

“‘Was’?”

“She died. Two months ago.”

The Lamplight girls were at a loss for words. That “good woman” Vindo had mentioned back with the secretary had been Avian’s boss.

The first emotion that filled their hearts was compassion toward Avian.

“So you guys have been operating without a boss this whole time?” Lily asked worriedly.

“Yup,” said Qulle. “Din’s been too short on personnel lately to assign us a new one, so we’ve all been working together to fill in the gaps. And Vindo’s the one who’s been stepping up most of all. He’s been working really hard and putting his leadership skills to the test.”

“…That’s got to be stressful for him. No wonder he’s so snippy.”

“That probably has a lot to do with it, yeah. But it’s all good. We’re just about out of the woods.” There was something deeply suspicious about the way Qulle took off her glasses. It almost felt like she was mocking them, like she’d just finished buying all the time she needed to. “We just found someone great—someone perfectly suited to become our new boss.”

On hearing that, a long-overdue realization dawned on the girls.

Vindo had left a while ago, and he still wasn’t back.