Everyone but Me Is a Spy - Chapter 17

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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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Chapter 17
Nina, having shared an abundance of useful tips, surveyed the servants with a satisfied smile.
‘Grandmother has certainly chosen her staff well.’
As someone of maid’s origins, Nina carried a bias that workers in the Free Country were loose and leisurely.
Yet strangely, the servants of this Townhouse all carried a sharp, keen air about them. They didn’t seem overly familiar with one another, either—no slackness in their bearing.
“Have you served her for a long time?”
“Well, one might say so. Most of us have known her since the Duke’s younger days.”
The spy, masquerading as a servant, found herself recalling just how renowned Rickita Bonds had been.
Unaware of these thoughts, Nina felt a catch in her throat and gently grasped the woman’s hand.
“To think you’ve remained under a single employer for so long, despite being a worker in the Free Country. That’s truly admirable.”
“What? Ah, yes.”
The spies were flustered watching Nina’s eyes grow moist and luminous.
Rickita Bonds had kept few servants. Even those handful had scattered to the winds the moment her funeral concluded.
As though they’d made a promise before the intelligence agency could even intervene, they departed on lengthy travels or returned to their hometowns.
While it had seemed odd, it had allowed them to seize control of Rickita’s Townhouse without difficulty.
Not a single servant who had actually served Rickita Bonds remained in this Townhouse—save for the butler they’d asked to assist with the will’s notarization.
“What sort of pie did Grandmother like best?”
Moreover, they hadn’t anticipated Nina would strike up conversation with them, much less ask such a question, so they had no choice but to fabricate an answer, breaking into a nervous sweat.
“Pecan pie, ma’am.”
“My, so she had a taste for nutty flavors?”
Only as the words left her mouth did Nina belatedly recall that Soltem was not a country where pecans grew, though she didn’t press the matter.
She merely murmured that the nuts must have been difficult to procure.
“To think how many pecan pies she must have baked with her own hands…”
“That is…”
The spy, who had never baked a pie in her life, launched into an elaborate explanation of how much effort she’d invested in crafting pie that would suit Rickita Bonds’ palate exactly.
Even she was impressed by her own capacity for deception.
Nina nodded along and broke into a radiant smile.
“Thank you so much for caring for her. Shall we bake a pecan pie together sometime and share our memories of her?”
“Bake a pie?”
“I have no memories of her myself, so you’ll need to tell me many stories.”
The kitchen atmosphere grew solemn in an instant.
It was true that Nina, though questionable, was a granddaughter pining for a grandmother she’d never met.
Yet the only stories they could tell about Rickita Bonds were entirely inappropriate to share with her granddaughter.
Noticing the servants’ expressions had grown oddly uncomfortable, Nina released the hand she’d been holding and laughed awkwardly.
“It must be chaotic with a sudden addition to the household, hasn’t it? I understand—I was a maid myself, after all.”
Then, before the servants could grow any more uncomfortable, she hurried out of the kitchen.
‘If I’m too familiar from the start, they’ll only feel burdened. Best to leave it at this for now. What comes next…’
After her efforts to grow close to the servants, the next task was already decided.
‘I need to find out whether the mice scurrying about this house are after Grandmother’s fortune or the family’s safety.’
Nina hadn’t forgotten the two Access Detection Devices installed near her door.
The family had told her not to worry about such things, but when nothing had progressed since then, it seemed she’d have to take matters into her own hands.
‘This is too dirty a business to leave to a fragile, tender family. This is the maid’s work.’
Nina changed into the most suitable attire for such work and loosened the bolts on the Ventilation Shaft she’d been keeping an eye on.
It was a corridor on the floor where Rickita Bonds’ bedroom lay.
Just then, two servants carrying cleaning supplies approached along the corridor and asked in bewilderment.
“Excuse me. Did you change your uniform?”
“No one mentioned installing anything in the Ventilation Shaft.”
Nina, her plump lips jutting out in concentration as she worked the bolts, blinked and turned around.
The two who locked eyes with her weren’t the spy colleagues posing as servants, but rather the actual targets—and they started visibly.
“Oh? Nina? Why are you wearing a maid’s dress…?”
“And the Ventilation Shaft—why…?”
Nina, her expression embarrassed, laughed awkwardly and patted her apron clean.
“I wanted to look over the Townhouse, and this is the only outfit I have that can get dirty.”
…!
The startled spies hid their unease and asked.
“Which parts are you hoping to examine?”
“If there’s anything of concern, you should tell us.”
“Hmm.”
Nina touched her chin thoughtfully before nodding.
“Since you’re servants of this household, it would be better if you knew.”
And with soot smudged on her chin, she spoke with gravity.
“Someone seems to be conducting Reconnaissance on this house.”
“What?!”
“Surely not.”
The spies struggled to calm their racing hearts and did their utmost to maintain their servant disguises.
But from the moment Nina had entered this house, she’d been picking up on suspicious details, one after another.
“I think someone’s been Eavesdropping and spying. There’s definitely something hidden inside the Ventilation Shaft.”
“This Townhouse is a secure location. You needn’t worry.”
“Of course, it could just be my imagination, but aren’t these Picture Frames rather suspicious?”
When Nina pointed directly at the Picture Frame concealing a small listening room, the spies’ faces went pale.
“I couldn’t say? They’re simply elegant and rather lovely, if I may say so.”
“Trust a maid’s instincts.”
“Though Miss is no longer a maid, strictly speaking…….”
The spies tried to dissuade her anxiously, but Nina thrust her finger without hesitation into the ear of the noblewoman depicted in the painting.
From beyond the wall came a small, muffled shriek: “Ahhhhh!”
“My goodness? Didn’t you just hear a sound?”
“That — that was me. Ahhhhh!”
“……?”
Nina regarded the servant’s odd behavior with puzzlement.
Then another servant spoke up hesitantly.
“Any servant would want to scream if their employer were dragging dust all over the workplace.”
“Oh, I see.”
An embarrassed expression crossed Nina’s face.
“That makes sense. I’ve never been an employer before, so I hadn’t thought of that.”
It seemed best to continue inspecting the Townhouse after the servants had gone home, late into the night.
“Let me check just this one more thing, then we’ll be done.”
Nina slid one Picture Frame aside and pressed a button hidden within.
It was labeled “Intruder Incapacitation Guided Projectile.”
“Ugh……!”
A silent projectile struck one servant directly, the electric shock leaving him unconscious as another servant caught him and stuffed him into the cleaning closet.
“Hmm. Nothing seems to have happened? I suppose there were no intruders after all.”
Nina tilted her head and turned the Picture Frame back to its original position.
“Well then, shall we wrap up for the day — oh my? Where did one of you disappear to?”
“He remembered something urgent and left in a hurry.”
At the servant’s words, Nina gasped with a serious expression.
“How impressive. He left so hastily, yet without a sound.”
Her conviction that Grandmother had truly chosen her staff well only deepened. They were all the sort of people whose Weekly Wages were more than worth paying.
Nina clapped her hands as if recalling something. “Oh.”
“Speaking of which, after Grandmother passed, has my uncle been handling the Weekly Wages?”
“Ah, well. Yes, I suppose so.”
“It must be a satisfactory amount?”
“That……. Hmm……. Well…….”
From the servant’s ambiguous answer, Nina grasped something and was struck by a realization.
“How dreadful! The Inheritance still hasn’t been properly settled, so you haven’t been receiving your wages?”
Since Grandmother’s entire estate was meant to pass to her, it was clear that Cheyson couldn’t touch it without restraint.
“This isn’t the time to inspect the building. Please gather the servants.”
Nina quickly changed into clean clothes, gathered the servants, and began distributing pouches of money to each of them.
She was truly glad she’d converted the maid’s wages she’d saved over the years into Soltem currency.
“I’ve calculated this based on Soltem’s standard servant wages and added a little extra on top.”
“……!”
The spies opened the pouches in bewilderment and were taken aback by the sum far exceeding their expectations.
“Once the Inheritance settlement is complete, I’ll raise your wages further.”
“……!!”
The spies’ eyes widened.
Nina noticed that someone was missing from their ranks and added,
“That one who vanished without a trace — I’ll give him even more. A good employer shouldn’t stint on payment for skilled staff.”
The spies, feeling the weight of the pouches in their hands, swallowed hard and harbored secret thoughts.
Perhaps working as a servant in this Townhouse wouldn’t be so bad after all.

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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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