Spy Classroom - Volume 9 - Chapter Pr

Prologue

The Thirteenth Day (Part One)

“Marnioce is an island that sits to the northwest of the Lylat Kingdom.

“Kuat Harbor is a three-hour train ride from the nation’s capital, Pilca, or just a short trip by bus from the Regiane Airport. Once you reach the harbor, a one-hour ferry ride will get you right to Marnioce.

“The island’s history is a vivid representation of the shifting power balance between the Galgad Empire, Fend Commonwealth, and Lylat Kingdom. It sits right between the three mighty nations, and with every war, the island gets passed between their hands, much to the dismay of the islanders.

“It was the Galgad Empire that held control up until the Great War, but during the war, it was seized by Vice-Admiral Grenier of the Lylat Kingdom. Now, under the terms of the post-war treaty, the island remains as Lylat Kingdom territory.

“Its biggest attractions are the Confezza Beach, a sandy dune where angels are said to dance, and the Queronne Caves, a series of labyrinthine caverns that legend holds were once used as a pirate hideout.

“The island has a small population of just under two thousand, but due to its aforementioned history, the Lylat Kingdom has a naval base there, and the area around the base is full of establishments designed to cater to those serving there, including a restaurant that serves wonderful appetizers made from local seafood and a nightclub so classy, it puts those in the Lylat capital to shame. No matter how long you spend there, you’ll never get bored. (Details can be found on the following page.)

“Whether you’re looking to have your heart cleansed by Mother Nature or to paint the town red, Marnioce has you covered. Anyone who visits is sure to enjoy unparalleled relaxation. Book your trip today!”

The above was an excerpt from A Travel Enthusiast’s Guide to the World: Lylat Kingdom Edition.

Klaus sipped some iced tea from his deck chair as he watched the evening sun make its descent. The travel guide described the Confezza Beach as being a place where angels danced, and it sat before him looking even more beautiful than the reviews had made it sound. Before his eyes, the sea that had been a nearly transparent shade of blue that very afternoon slowly took on hues of black and purple.

Before long, a woman with colorfully dyed pink-and-yellow hair sat down beside him. That, combined with her heavy layers of eye shadow, gave her a rather distinctive look. It was unclear how old she was. However, the fact that she could sneak into any country in the world with an appearance as flashy as hers was a testament to her immense skill and technique.

“I guess you really will come anywhere, Roaring Sea.”

“Your girl’s got a job to do, y’know?”

The woman replied to Klaus’s comment in the hoarse voice of someone who’d had a bit too much to drink.

She worked as a messenger for the Din Republic, which meant that she was in charge of hand-delivering intel to agents operating abroad. She usually held her conversations while blending in with the hustle and bustle of the city, but there on the private beach with no prying eyes around, she was able to just go up to Klaus without the need for such subterfuge.

“We finished decoding Gerde’s legacy,” Roaring Sea said. “They said that most of it was unsalvageable from the rainwater, and that only a small part was legible. Most of it is the stuff you’ve already read.”

Gerde’s legacy was a classified document that Lamplight had tracked down in the Fend Commonwealth containing information that “Firewalker” Gerde, a member of the legendary Din spy team Inferno, had collected before her death.

Unfortunately, rainwater had seeped into the basement where it was stored, and the majority of the ink was too blurry to read by the time Klaus and the girls found it. Lamplight had handed it over to their nation’s decoding and restoration team and asked them to glean what they could from it, but the team evidently hadn’t found much success.

However, the one bit they did decipher contained an invaluable piece of intelligence.

“It was the Lylat Kingdom that proposed the Nostalgia Project.”

The words came straight from Roaring Sea’s mouth.

That was one of the details listed in Gerde’s legacy.

• Soon, there would be a financial crisis so bad, they called it the “Great Depression.”

• Many nations regretted the war and sought international harmony, but that would force them to quickly shift their policies.

• Powerful figures from across the world had sensed the tides shifting and were putting a plan into action.

• A second world war was going to break out.

• The Nostalgia Project was how they planned to prepare for it.

It read like some sort of bleak prophecy, but sadly, it wasn’t just something they could laugh off. In all likelihood, that project was related to the destruction of Inferno and the founding of Serpent, a group that had inflicted major blows to the global intelligence community. The Fend Commonwealth was the second-strongest superpower in the world, and the assassination of their crown prince was probably connected as well.

Plus, that wasn’t all that Gerde’s legacy said.

• There were three nations thought to be involved: the United States of Mouzaia, the Fend Commonwealth, and the Lylat Kingdom, with representatives on the level of heads of state, monarchs, and commanders-in-chief.

• It was likely the Lylat Kingdom’s prime minister who suggested it.

The Lylat Kingdom bordered the Din Republic, and the two nations had historically shared a close relationship. During the Great War, Lylat had defeated the Galgad Empire alongside the Fend Commonwealth, and even to that day, it had colonies throughout the world.

Klaus nodded. “Lylat, huh…? I’ve dropped by on a number of occasions, and I never heard anything of the sort.”

“Oh, and here’s a report for you.” Roaring Sea offered him a piece of paper. “Our friends over at the JJJ finally managed to squeeze some intel out of our captive. Turns out, Purple Ant was originally a Lylat spy. His code name was Deimos.”

“…So he was from another organization as well.”

Purple Ant was a spy that Klaus himself had defeated. He was a vicious man who’d squirreled himself away in the Mouzaia capital of Mitario and murdered spies one after another over the course of a prolonged economic conference. His specialty was his ability to torture ordinary civilians into becoming assassins, and he used it to churn out a nigh-endless supply of hit men to mow down spies in droves.

“I did think it was odd,” Klaus went on. “During the massacre at the Tolfa Economic Conference, the Lylat Kingdom spies suffered hardly any casualties…”

“Maybe they figured it out, y’know? They might’ve realized that Mitario was becoming a kill zone.”

That was certainly a possibility.

Hearth from the Din Republic had died, as had the entire Fend Commonwealth team Retias. But while the Bumal Kingdom and United States of Mouzaia had lost infamous spies as well, Klaus hadn’t heard any such reports coming from the Lylat Kingdom.

Roaring Sea continued giving her report. “The thing was, Serpent wasn’t about to leave a major player like Lylat unchecked. They sent another operative in to get the job done.”

“What do you mean?”

“I got word from one of our undercover agents in Lylat. Apparently, some big guy with three right arms did some serious damage to Lylat’s intelligence community.”

With features that distinctive, there was only one person she could have possibly been talking about: Black Mantis.

Black Mantis was a Serpent member who’d butchered the Din spy team Avian and slaughtered spies from the Fend Commonwealth’s CIM by the truckload. Klaus had heard that the man’s modified arms were capable of releasing shock waves strong enough to repel bullets. With power like his, there probably wasn’t a person alive who could survive a fair fight with him.

“I’m realizing all over again what a truly dangerous team Serpent is,” Klaus said with a sigh. “Any single member of theirs can prove a threat to an entire nation’s intelligence community.”

“Tell your girl something she doesn’t know. We don’t even have a bead on that Black Mantis guy’s position.”

“He did lose, though, right?”

“Hmm?”

“It doesn’t matter how strong Black Mantis is, you’d have to be a madman to attack the Lylat intelligence head-on. At some point, he must have been forced to flee.”

“Look at you, Bonfire. How’d you figure that one out?”

“It wasn’t hard. Not with that woman still in Lylat.”

Klaus had never met her in person, but her reputation spoke for itself. Spies were prized for their ability to operate covertly, so a well-known name was generally viewed as a mark against them. It also rarely happened. Even “Bonfire” Klaus’s name had only begun gaining fame over the last few years.

Hearth had been hailed as the Finest Spy in the World, but there was another operative whose notoriety rivaled even hers.

“Code name Nike, the counterintelligence Goliath who rules over the Lylat Kingdom.”

It was said that her weapon of choice was a sledgehammer taller than she was.

It sounded like it couldn’t possibly be real, but allegedly, she could wield it with ease, smashing away bullets and pulverizing safes and the skulls of her foes. She was single-handedly responsible for the destruction of dozens of groups that opposed the government.

It was unclear just how powerful Black Mantis was, but there was no way he was a match for Nike.

Klaus hated to admit it, but he said it aloud nonetheless. “Her combat techniques are on par with my mentor’s, ‘Torchlight’ Guido’s, and she was at least as insightful as my boss, ‘Hearth’ Veronika. That monster of a woman made quite a name for herself during the Great War.”

Roaring Sea gave him a somber nod. “They have a new name for her now—the Invincible Tactician God.”

“The Tactician God, huh?” Klaus murmured.

His thoughts turned back—back to the order that C had given him just before Klaus’s vacation.

After Klaus returned from his mission in Fend, his superior, C, summoned him to the headquarters of the Din Republic’s intelligence agency, the Foreign Intelligence Office. Klaus sending Gerde’s legacy over had caused quite a stir. The Republic’s leaders had gotten involved, and they and the intelligence top brass had gotten embroiled in a heated debate. It had taken them a full week to reach a verdict.

When Klaus arrived in the director’s office, C—a man with silvery-gray hair and keen eyes not unlike those of a bird of prey—gave him an unusually stern look. It was at that point that C would normally be offering him a cup of atrocious coffee, but luckily for Klaus, there was no time for such mischief today.

“This was my first time hearing about the Nostalgia Project. I showed the documents to the prime minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Commander of the Navy, and they were all just as shocked,” C said.

Inferno’s boss, “Hearth” Veronika, must have known about it, but it would appear that she’d concealed that information from her superiors. According to C, though, she had a habit of acting on her own judgment, so that was certainly in character for her.

C let out a long sigh. “I would prefer not to believe any of it, but the intelligence comes straight from ‘Firewalker’ Gerde. I doubt she was mistaken. It’s disquieting to think that three nations as powerful as Mouzaia, Fend, and Lylat were carrying out a joint project to prepare for another world war.”

“It’s hardly a surprise, though. There isn’t a nation in the world that doesn’t plan for the worst.”

“True enough. And we’re no different, of course. Even as we reduce our armaments, we still make sure to keep enough in reserve to be ready for emergencies.”

“Not to mention the bioweapon the numbskulls over in our military developed.”

The bioweapon in question was Abyss Doll, and it was a fiasco that Klaus would just as soon have rather forgotten about. The Galgad Empire had once stolen it, and while Inferno had apparently been scattered across the world at the time, the mission to retrieve it was where they had died.

Despite the scars the Great War had etched in the nations of the world, there were still those who were preparing for another one.

Thinking back now, the Abyss Doll incident should have served as a reminder of that fact.

“They played us for fools,” Klaus said as he glared at the world map hanging on the wall. “The great powers had us watch the Galgad Empire for them, and all the while, they were scheming behind our backs.”

As an espionage powerhouse that both pumped out talented spies and bordered the Galgad Empire, the Din Republic took it upon themselves to keep an eye on the Empire. They’d secured substantial international financial backing in exchange for their intelligence, but the point stood.

“Do these nations’ intelligence organizations know about the project?”

C’s question earned him an honest “I don’t know” out of Klaus. “Though if nothing else, there was a high-ranking woman in the CIM who had no idea about it. Given how little we’ve been able to glean about the project, I have to imagine that it’s being carried out by only a select few.”

Klaus thought back to Amelie, a spy also known as Puppeteer. Despite holding a relatively high position in the CIM, she’d been none the wiser about anything involving Serpent or the Nostalgia Project—though ultimately, she’d ended up learning everything and deciding to side with Serpent.

“We can’t just sit here and wait,” C declared. “The world is in the midst of a major upheaval, and the Din Republic can’t afford to get left behind. Go out and get me the full details on the Nostalgia Project, Bonfire. That’s an order.”

Klaus was more than happy to acquiesce. He was so close to reaching the truth about Inferno’s fall, he could taste it. Backing down now wasn’t an option, not if he wanted to help safeguard the homeland that Inferno loved so much.

“If you want a surefire way for me to do that—”

“Don’t even think about it,” C said, cutting Klaus off. “Do not fight Nike.”

Klaus shot C a look of protest.

If he wanted to learn what exactly the Nostalgia Project entailed, the most efficient way to do that would be to investigate the Lylat Kingdom, where it originated from. According to Gerde’s hypothesis, it was likely the Lylat Kingdom’s prime minister who suggested it. Klaus was prepared to go through anyone who stood in his way, even if that person was Nike.

“I assure you, I won’t lose. I’m the Greatest Spy in the World.”

“That’s precisely the problem. We can’t afford even the slightest risk of losing the Republic’s best card.”

“………”

“The Republic’s going to get dragged into this chaos at some point, and when that happens, we’re going to need you. Losing you in a reckless fight against Nike would put the entire nation in jeopardy.”

There was a part of Klaus that flared with indignance, but the logical side of his brain realized that C had a point.

The fact was, they didn’t have any hard proof. Could “Bonfire” Klaus actually defeat Nike? The two of them had never actually fought, and that meant there were variables they might not be accounting for. There was no way to be absolutely certain.

“That’s a condition I’m placing on this mission,” C said, to drive the point home as Klaus stood in silence. “I appreciate that it’s going to make your job a lot more difficult, but I trust you’ll find a way.”

After reminiscing on his discussion with C, Klaus turned his attention back to the sea laid out before him. He couldn’t actually see it, but the Lylat capital lay just beyond its expanse. It was a gorgeously refined nation with townscapes that resembled works of art.

That was to be the site of Lamplight’s next mission—just so long as Klaus could accept the condition C put forth.

Doubts plagued him. The world was changing, and the ground was shifting beneath their feet. As spies, they had a duty to learn what shape that change would take, but despite knowing that, he hesitated all the same.

How was Lamplight supposed to deal with an opponent like the Invincible Tactician God?

“You look conflicted, Bonfire.” Roaring Sea let out a raspy laugh. “And there’s nothing your girl loves more than a handsome young man in distress.”

“That’s information I could have just as soon done without.”

“The truth is, I’m a fan of yours. That’s why I came so far to see you.”

When Klaus glanced to the side, Roaring Sea rose from her deck chair, gave Klaus’s shoulder an intimate rub, and slung her arm around his head in an embrace. She stank of booze.

“Y’know, one of the sections we were able to make out in Gerde’s legacy was her complaining about a very particular pair of twins.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’re a couple of weirdos,” Roaring Sea cheerfully explained. “Apparently, they were in Lylat when Inferno went down. No idea what they were doing there, though.”

Klaus was astonished. It was obvious what twins the passage had been referring to: “Soot” Lukas, the games master who’d won a thousand matches straight; and “Scapulimancer” Wille, the fortune teller who could see the future laid out plain as day. The two of them had been members of Inferno since the Great War and together served as Klaus’s de facto older brothers.

“They were operating in Lylat?”

That was a surprising bit of news.

Klaus had been in a whole different country than Inferno when the team got wiped out, and he knew nothing about what the twins had been doing at the time. This was the first he was hearing about them having been in Lylat.

As Klaus gasped, Roaring Sea grinned like she’d been looking forward to seeing his reaction. “The United States of Mouzaia is living large right now. Its corporations are borrowing more and more money from its banks, and they’re buying up resources and raw materials from across the world. But before too long, it’s gonna come crashing down, and all the countries that have grown dependent on the United States will go down, too. There’s gonna be a global financial crisis.”

The look in her eyes was uncharacteristically serious.

“The deadline’s getting closer. As your humble messenger, I just ask you to make choices you’ll be able to live with.”

With that, Roaring Sea left.

All of Lamplight had come to Marnioce together. For them, it was a holiday—getting to spend two weeks on a remote island.

During their mission in the Fend Commonwealth, the team had been put through the wringer both physically and emotionally, and all of them had had close shaves with death. Klaus himself had wounds on his legs that had yet to heal. Lamplight badly needed to put their spy duties aside for a moment and spend some time resting up.

Klaus was the one who’d chosen the destination.

For him, though, the vacation held a different significance. He needed to make doubly sure of his decision, and he needed some downtime to tell the girls about it. While he was relaxing on the island, he spent the whole time racking his brains.

Thirteen days passed by, and before they knew it, it was the night before the final day of their trip.

As the sun finished setting, the Lamplight girls gathered on the beach.

All of them had enjoyed their vacations to the fullest, and many of them bore happy smiles. There were a few people whose shoulders were slumped with exhaustion, but even they’d been using their time well.

Right when their six PM meeting time rolled around, Lily came scampering over. She looked completely drained, but when she saw her teammates, her face lit right up. “Hey, we’re all together again!”

She spun around, offering smiles unsparingly to all the others. The rest of the team eagerly welcomed her and clapped her on the arms and shoulders.

“This is our last night here on the island, so let’s make it a good one!”

““““““Whoooo!””””””

Lily’s arrival really put the group in a partying mood.

The plan was for them to all have a barbeque together.

Klaus fixed an intent gaze on the girls. He needed to tell them before they got caught up in the festivities. It was a painful decision to make, but it had to be done.

It was time for them to learn where Lamplight was going. That, and what the true purpose behind the vacation was.

Right when he opened his mouth to break the news, though, something else caught his attention.

“Wait, where’s Annette?”

“““““““What…?”””””””

All he got were seven people’s worth of confused replies.

He looked back and forth, but he and the seven girls were the only ones there on the beach. The ash-pink-haired girl who could always be found wearing an artificial smile—“Forgetter” Annette—was nowhere to be seen, and the meeting time had long since come and gone.

“Huh?” Lily said, cocking her head. “Did she forget where we were gonna meet or something?”

“I doubt it. It’s not the kind of mistake she’s liable to make.”

The thing was, Annette’s memory was outstanding. She never forgot anything she saw or heard.

Klaus and the girls scoured the area around the beach, but they still couldn’t find her. They shouted at the top of their lungs and tried to lure her out with candy, but to no avail.

Annette wasn’t in her guesthouse, either.

A full hour passed, and she still didn’t show up.

They tried asking the islanders, but nobody had seen her since the night prior.

At that point, there was only one conclusion to draw.

“““““““ANNETTE DISAPPEARED?!”””””””

“Forgetter” Annette was officially missing.

Klaus massaged his temples. “I swear, that girl is going to be the death of me…”

He had some important announcements he needed to make, but it hardly seemed the time for that anymore. Finding Annette needed to be their top priority.

However, the island wasn’t small, and combing over the whole thing was an inefficient proposition.

The team headed back to the beach for a moment and sat down around the table they’d set there.

“Well, there’s nothing else for it,” Klaus said. “We need to start by pooling our information. I want everyone to take turns describing where they saw Annette the most over the course of their vacation.”

Lily let out a strained laugh. “Th-this has taken kind of an odd turn, huh?”

Klaus couldn’t have agreed more. “You’re telling me.”

The story of Lamplight’s vacation was packed full of love, danger, and adventure.

Thus began the tale of the missing girl’s whereabouts, and the tale that would determine Lamplight’s future.