スパイ教室 短編集05 『焔』より愛をこめて

Spy Classroom Short Story Collection #5

by Takemachi, 竹町, Tomari (Illustrator)

やがて、終わりと始まりは同時に訪れる。

世界大戦終戦直後、スラムに現れた怪物『塵の王』。正体を探るギードが出会ったのは、わずか十歳程度の――後に“クラウス”と名付けられる孤児だった。これは、『世界最強』へと至るスパイの過去と現在を巡る物語。

Genres: Light Novel, Espionage

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 20, 2024

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was actually an entire prequel to the previous ten years before the series. Not just Klaus’ story but Inferno’s as well. Even half of the girl’s backstories get mentioned like Sybilla, Greta, Thea, Annette. Is actually essential reading. There’s been fifteen books translated into English so far including the short stories. The author really rewards those who have followed along. Remember these old characters? They’re still relevant. Even the politician Uwe Appel from volume 2 is mentioned here.

My spoiler notes:

This book had a fictionalized version of the blackshirts coup in Italy, here the Bumal Kingdom, by the greyshirts which was pretty obvious except here they are like the early blackshirts republican, wanting to do away with the monarchy entirely. Klaus gets involved with this to pay get funds to pay for a party after losing it gambling with fellow team member Wille. They end up stopping the coup while managing to get the government to go easy on the rebels since they’re discredited by unsuccessfully bombing the city.

Another side story was an effort in the Din Republic, home of Inferno, to legalize child labor to get more investment from the United States of Mouzaia (USA obviously). The leader of this effort turns out to be Grete’s father who put her away due to her disfigured face. Inferno member Gerde threatens him into relenting on the bill and sending Grete to spy school.

The first story has Klaus with his mentor taking down Pestilence who is Sybilla’s father who treats his children as experiments, proving their worth only in furthering his criminal activities. His downfall means Sybilla can escape that life. Klaus early on was unable to defeat him so his mentor Guido had to step in.

The final story ends with the betrayal of Inferno by Guido over the Nostalgia Project discovered in the main series, to basically reduce the world population to a manageable size. Guido sided with Din’s opponents, Serpent of the Galgad empire, betraying Klaus on a mission to die in Bumal which he nevertheless survives as the only member of Inferno left to rebuild the time under a new name with the girls, Lamplight.

Annette’s mother, Matilda, appears as a spy here working on behalf of Galgad in Bumal. Thea is mentioned indirectly as the daughter of a newspaper owner who gets kidnapped then she, rescued in this time period but told in another book, then becomes a protege of Hearth, the leader of Inferno. So their back stories are more intertwined than told here since they were already told elsewhere. Even Queneu of Avian appears in this book as an orphan turned serial killer who fights Klaus to a sort of draw then gets recruited.

Wille along his twin brother Soot serves as a mentor to Klaus in a more informal way, learning people skills. He even gets his catchphrases ‘magnificent’ and ‘how long should I go along with this farce?’ from Wille.

Another character Heide serves as an older sister, they even share an intimate moment together. She gave him his interest in painting which she did as an avant garde artist, painting herself nude. She has a tragic demise with her hair in a suitcase which finally breaks him, that he really has no family. He was found in the slums immediately after the war without any family by Guido, trained into a master spy then betrayed.

[Zevitjoss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cool seeing what Inferno was like back in the day. Got pretty dark at the end. The main series while comedic can have dark moments too but I feel like nothing like the final chapter would ever be in the main series which I enjoyed.