Everyone but Me Is a Spy - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 1. Prologue
“Rikita Bones Dead”
These seven words sent shockwaves across the continent.
There was no question that Rikita Bones had been the continent’s greatest double spy and a war hero.
Without her, the war would still be raging, or it would have ended in victory for the war criminal nation of Dotchen Kingdom.
Her abilities were so exceptional that she was deployed only on black ops—so much so that only administrators within the Intelligence Agency had ever laid eyes on Rikita.
“Now that everyone is here, I’ll seal the door.”
Clang.
Screech.
Thud.
Boom.
A door fitted with multiple mechanisms engaged, sealing tight with magical force.
Around a heavily locked secret conference table sat intelligence masters from every nation—a gathering of victor states that had grown fat by absorbing defeated neighbors one by one.
“Let’s skip the pleasantries and get straight to business.”
Before someone impatient could finish speaking, the mind games began.
They had all come here for one reason: Rikita’s legacy.
What each nation wanted was not the land or money Rikita possessed.
Something far more valuable and secret. Information.
Though Rikita had contributed greatly to ending the long war, she was also the spy who knew more of the continent’s most sensitive and dangerous secrets than anyone else.
The depth of what Rikita knew was impossible to gauge.
The saying that whichever nation obtained her information would command the continent was no idle jest.
From among the deadly gazes that would have been unthinkable from what they once believed to be allies, it was the master from Kibon who spoke first.
“Rikita Bones was originally from Dotchen Kingdom. Therefore, Rikita’s inheritance should rightfully belong to Kibon, which absorbed Dotchen.”
At this, the master of Lujan, seated across from him, shot back a fierce glare.
“What are you saying? Rikita never worked for Dotchen Kingdom. She made first contact voluntarily with Lujan.”
“Rikita Bones was granted a marquess title by Iliete. Iliete is also where she conducted the majority of her operations.”
The master of Iliete spoke with a sneer, to which the master of Soltem shook his head.
“And what of it? Rikita’s residence is in the Townhouse here in Soltem, and as you all know, Soltem is a free nation. She chose to spend her remaining years here of her own accord.”
The master of Holyche, seated beside him, responded with an open snort of derision.
“Hmm. By that logic, isn’t it rather petty to argue location just because Holyche also happens to be nearby the Townhouse?”
“Petty? What do you mean?”
“It’s not wrong to say so. While the Townhouse is indeed in Soltem, its location is close enough to all of your home nations that geographical claim seems… weak.”
At the master of Kibon’s words, all nodded in agreement, and the atmosphere of the meeting grew rougher still.
By the time the meeting adjourned, no consensus had been reached. They agreed instead to examine the contents of the safe first, then begin serious negotiations.
The task of opening the safe fell to Soltem’s Intelligence Agency.
Rikita’s safe was no ordinary lock—one wrong move and everything inside could explode and vanish. A technician would be required.
Soltem had a genius Mage Tool Development specialist whose reputation for opening anything had become common knowledge among the masters.
The master of Soltem, regarding the gathered figures with quiet confidence, placed a firm hand on the shoulder of the man he’d brought discreetly.
“Show us what you can do.”
……
It was Joel Smiler, Soltem’s intelligence operative and Mage Tool Development specialist.
Fine silver hair and indifferent golden eyes.
Though Joel had only recently come of age and retained a boyish quality, the master seemed to trust him completely.
After donning specially crafted Mage Tool Spectacles, he examined the safe door carefully for some time.
“I cannot open this.”
At Joel’s words as he removed his spectacles, the people who had been holding their breath released sighs of despair.
Soltem’s master’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“What? What do you mean? Joel, since when do you meet a safe you can’t open?”
“There’s a specialized Mage Tool installed inside. The design is both precise and audacious—truly beautiful work.”
Joel admired it alone, his lips curling upward in contentment.
Meanwhile, the masters could not share in his admiration, instead clutching their heads or sighing heavily.
“A specialized Mage Tool, you say…?”
“This can’t be. I knew it wasn’t an ordinary safe, but…”
“Is Soltem pretending not to open it so they can smuggle it out?”
“How could that possibly be!”
Soltem’s master, breaking into a cold sweat, pressed Joel hard.
“You’re not just a safe cracker—you’re the finest Mage Tool Development specialist there is. There’s truly no way to open it?”
“There is a way, but…”
“W-what is it!”
Joel gazed intently at the safe’s hinge before answering.
“We need Rikita’s blood.”
“Blood? But Rikita is already dead. Does that mean we can never open it?!”
Just as the Masters were about to despair, Joel offered a glimmer of hope.
“No, it should open with blood from a blood relation. Family blood, you see.”
And that hope crumbled the moment they remembered that Rikita Bones had no family.
The Masters consoled themselves, deciding it was perhaps for the best.
If no single nation could possess it, if no one could possess it at all, then surely that solved everything.
But the moment Rikita’s will was discovered, someone no one had ever anticipated came to light.
[I, Rikita Josephina Bones, do hereby bequeath all my wealth and authority to my sole blood relation and granddaughter, Nina Bones.]
Her sole blood relation.
Her granddaughter.
Hidden Bones blood.
“Find out everything about Nina Bones at once! Where she’s hiding! What her weaknesses are! What she wants!”
The Masters were shocked to realize Rikita had somehow borne a child and even had a granddaughter, but first and foremost they needed to find her blood relation.
When they hadn’t known of her existence, they hadn’t bothered to search, but now that they did, tracking her down was swift. It was, after all, what they did best.
Every Intelligence Agency delivered the same information at nearly the same speed.
“Master! Nina Bones is working as a servant in a countess’s household in Iliete.”
Good heavens—she’d been in Iliete all along!
Iliete’s Master pressed a hand to her forehead, caught completely off guard.
“Next. What’s the next piece of information?”
“What Nina Bones desires most is……”
Intelligence agents from each nation paused, gauging their Master’s expression.
Something about it didn’t feel like the sort of desire that could be easily satisfied—not for the sole blood relation of Rikita Bones.
“What—what could it possibly be……!”
As the Masters swallowed hard with barely contained impatience, the agent finally revealed the answer.
“Family.”
Family!
Rikita Bones’s empty Townhouse and sparse family tree suddenly felt as sweet as cake.
In an instant, the Masters from each nation’s Intelligence Agency exchanged sharp looks.
A tension crackling like lightning.
A grim resolve—none of them would back down.
Veterans who had experienced every kind of negotiation and standoff read the same intention in each other’s eyes.
* * *
On a bright and warm afternoon.
Those gathered in the Bones family’s Townhouse parlor were waiting for their new family member.
Nineteen-year-old Nina, who had grown up believing herself an orphan, was about to be reunited with the family she had longed for.
All of them possessed handsome features, yet they bore little resemblance to one another.
When their eyes met they smiled, and though they exchanged a few words, there was no warmth or affection between them.
A woman sitting on the sofa, pretending to embroider, let out a soft laugh while staring at a sharp needle.
‘I am Katahri. A spy from Lujan, pretending to be Nina Bones’s cousin sister.’
The man across from her, his newspaper spread open, chuckled softly too.
‘I am Excy. A spy from Kibon, pretending to be Nina Bones’s cousin brother.’
And the man admiring the parlor’s paintings joined in.
‘I am Cheyson. A spy from Iliete, pretending to be Nina Bones’s uncle.’
The woman arranging flowers in a vase let her mouth curve upward slightly.
‘I am Natalisha. A spy from Holyche, pretending to be Nina Bones’s aunt.’
An entirely ordinary carrier pigeon perched on the windowsill, and the cactus pot beside it gleamed as sunlight caught it.
‘Coo-coo-coo-coo.’
(I am Gugu. An ordinary carrier pigeon—pretending to be a spy dove from Soltem.)
‘…’
(I am a cactus. I am a cactus.)
Beyond the sharp spines of the cactus and the window lay a small garden and a gate.
A carriage stopped at that gate, and a woman stepped out.
Nina, with her auburn hair and pale pink eyes, gazed at the nameplate reading “Bones” with an expression full of longing.
“My family is here……!”
The horse standing quietly behind tearful Nina let out a whinny.
‘Neigh-neigh. Neigh-neigh-neigh.’
(I am Maximus. A handsome horse—pretending to be a spy horse from Soltem.)

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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