Klaus nodded. “We depart for the infiltration mission in one month. That doesn’t give us much time.”
Even though she’d heard this before, Lily felt a chill run up her legs.
They were a bunch of washouts, and yet, they were supposed to take on a mission that a group of expert spies had failed at. It all felt like some kind of sick joke.
“But don’t worry.” Klaus’s voice grew gentler. “As you can see, I’m the Greatest Spy in the World. There isn’t a spy alive who’s better than me. Once you’ve taken my lessons, Impossible Missions will be like child’s play to you.”
The man clearly had confidence in his educational skills.
From the way he was acting, it was like he wasn’t scared of anything.
“Dunno how I’m supposed to ‘see’ that,” the white-haired girl retorted coldly, unimpressed by Klaus’s bold statement.
Klaus gave her a big nod. “Why not decide for yourself after taking this lesson, then?”
He drew a set of padlocks from the hall’s wooden box, then tossed one to each recruit.
“This is the model of lock the Empire formerly used at their military facilities. Being able to pick them is an essential skill for infiltration work.”
Lily inspected the padlock she’d been given. It was a good deal bulkier and heavier than the kind in common circulation.
“Now, open it. You have one minute.”
A pop quiz!
With no time to even think, Lily reached into her pocket and withdrew her lock-picking tool. However, the instant she inserted it into the mechanism, she could tell just how doomed she was. The padlock was custom-made and came equipped with anti-picking features. She couldn’t even tell where the shear line was obstructed.
How am I supposed to get this done in one minute?! Lily lamented.
She gave it her best shot, but the minute was up before she knew it.
“That’s time,” Klaus called.
Lily looked around and discovered that only one of her compatriots had proven successful. The other six had failed spectacularly.
However, that was to be expected.
Even at her spy academy, Lily had never seen such a complex padlock before.
Klaus came around and retrieved the unopened locks.
“Only one success? Well, don’t worry. That was more or less what I expected.”
“Rgh…” The white-haired girl’s face flushed scarlet. “What, and you can do better?”
“See for yourself.”
The next moment, Klaus tossed his six padlocks into the air.
“You just go like this…and they open pleasantly.”
Lily couldn’t even follow what happened next.
Klaus had swung his arm two or three times, that much she was sure of.
However, she hadn’t been able to make out anything else. All she could see was the end result.
Six perfectly unclasped padlocks resting on the carpet.
Forget one minute apiece—he’d done six of them in the span of a second.
“Whoa…,” one of the girls murmured.
Lily just gawked in blank shock.
This man was on a completely different level than her teachers back at the academy. With skills like these, he could stroll into any facility in the world and steal whatever confidential documents he pleased. The unbelievable feat she’d just witnessed had left her certain of that.
So that was the power of an active-duty spy…
Hell, it bordered on superhuman.
“I told you, didn’t I? There isn’t a spy alive who’s better than me.”
Now it was clear—he had the raw skills to back up that confidence of his.
Lily’s legs weren’t trembling anymore.
This was a man she could believe in.
“After seeing that, do any of you still have doubts?”
The girls shook their heads in unison. Not one spoke up in dissent. Now the lot of them were staring at Klaus, their eyes gleaming with envy and hope.
Their expressions screamed one thing: We want to take this man’s lessons ASAP.
And as for Lily, her eyes were wide with anticipation. Maybe he really could change her.
Under the weight of his students’ envious gazes, Klaus calmly proceeded. “Now, moving on to the next lecture…”
“What?”
“Yes?”
A strange pause filled the air.
Klaus tilted his head in confusion, and Lily let out a bewildered “Huh?”
She must have been imagining things. What an odd thing for her teacher to say.
Realizing her mistake, Lily bowed to Klaus. “Sorry, Teach. I know I shouldn’t interrupt.”
“No, no. If you have a question, then by all means, ask it.”
“Nope, no questions here! Please go on with the explanation. I’m dying to hear the rest of—”
“That was the explanation.”
“Pardon…?”
“If you use your picklock pleasantly, the lock will open. You were using them unpleasantly, so they didn’t. That concludes the lesson on lock picking.”
“““““““…………………”””””””
A heavy communal silence descended upon the girls. They shot glances at one another. Sure enough, they were all thinking the same thing.
Was that man, by any chance…?
Klaus could clearly sense that something was up. He looked back at them, bewildered. “…Don’t tell me you had trouble understanding that?”
The phrase Don’t tell me seemed ironic coming from a man whose lesson hadn’t told them anything.
Lily returned his gaze with the full depth of that sentiment burning in her eyes.
Klaus crossed his arms, then sank into silence for a moment before finally speaking again. “…How about this? As a special favor, I’ll go over my plans for the syllabus. First off is the ‘talk beautifully’ negotiation unit, followed by the ‘just take them down’ combat unit, and after that, the ‘it’ll all work out’ unit on disguises. Do you think you’ll be able to follow that?”
“Nope.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“What if I changed the ‘talk beautifully’ part to ‘talk like a butterfly’?”
“That…makes it worse.”
“I see. Magnificent.” Klaus nodded deeply, then exhaled at length. “I’m just realizing this now, but…it would appear I’m quite bad at teaching.”