Everyone but Me Is a Spy - Chapter 5

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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 5
Cheyson, a spy playing the role of Nina’s uncle, and Natalisha, a spy playing the role of Nina’s aunt.
The two of them were in the midst of searching Rikita Benz’s House, where secrets yet to be uncovered lurked in every corner.
Now that Nina, Rikita Benz’s granddaughter, had entered the Townhouse, they couldn’t afford to waste a single day.
Kathari, playing the role of Nina’s older sister, had decided to inspect the roof and the outer walls of the Townhouse, while Eksi, playing the role of her older brother, had taken on the task of investigating Rikita’s bedroom.
But on the Signal Device they’d agreed to use to periodically share that nothing was amiss, only the signals from those two had been going back and forth since a while ago.
Kathari and Eksi had gone too quiet.
Cheyson and Natalisha, who had been searching the first floor and basement respectively, sensed something was wrong and met in the darkened lobby.
“I haven’t heard from either of them. My Signal Device isn’t broken, is it?”
“Same here. What could’ve happened on the roof and second floor?”
Cheyson tapped his Signal Device against his leg a few times, but received no response from Kathari or Eksi.
Click.
In that moment, a faint sound echoed through the darkness.
……!
Startled, Natalisha performed an Aerial Cartwheel and leaped away from where she’d been standing.
Before her feet touched the ground, she drew a Handgun and landed lightly.
Cheyson, who had likewise drawn a long Portable Bomb, made out the shape emerging from the darkness and froze in confusion.
“……What is that?”
“A maid’s uniform? But it’s not a person. A machine?”
Natalisha studied the mysterious entity with sharp eyes.
It was a mechanical wind-up doll dressed in a long maid’s uniform that dragged along the floor, gliding forward on wheels before coming to a stop.
Gears turned slowly, making soft mechanical sounds—click, tap, click, tap.
Both of them remained tense, poised to attack the wind-up doll at any moment.
Then the expressionless doll, fashioned from metal, moved only its mouth.
「Hello? I’m the kind and gentle maid of this house. Whenever there’s trouble, my friend Lemington 17400 takes care of things for us?」
“A broom named Lemington 17400? That’s quite grand.”
At Natalisha’s words, Cheyson glanced at her with an expression of disbelief.
“Is the broom’s name the problem right now? Soltem is a free nation. What do you mean, a maid?”
……!
Both their gazes snapped back to the enigmatic wind-up doll.
「Ah. Right. That’s correct. I’m not actually a maid, just an employee. I was hired with proper compensation. Being made of machinery, I’m quite durable.」
The wind-up doll clasped its hands together, then spread them wide with a flourish.
Along the inside of the maid’s uniform’s sleeves, something that looked like blue circuitry was briefly visible.
Cheyson clicked his tongue, as if he’d known as much.
“Just as I thought—a Magical Construct. This house has every strange thing imaginable. It’s unsettling, so let’s find the power source and shut it off.”
“Good idea. I don’t know where it crawled out from, but it’s making me uncomfortable.”
Natalisha nodded in agreement and stepped forward toward the wind-up doll one careful step at a time.
In that instant, the wind-up doll, which had been standing motionless, clicked its head toward Natalisha.
At the unnervingly eerie gaze, she hesitated, and it then turned its head with a click toward Cheyson.
「How very dull of you both? Lemington will get quite angry then. Do you know what happens? It’s quite di-str-essing.」
“This broom’s been rattling on about something this whole time……. Wait. Lemington? Where have I heard that before?”
As Cheyson fumbled with the nagging sense of familiarity, trying to jog his memory.
Natalisha, as realization struck her, muttered with an expression of disbelief.
“Lemington? Are you talking about that Lemington—the specialty product of our Holyche?”
The moment those words left her mouth, the wind-up doll’s eyes clicked sharply toward Natalisha alone.
「Your perceptiveness is quite re-mark-able. But I dislike intruders who are too sharp. From now on, Lemington 17400 will teach you a lesson. Isn’t it?」
With that, it raised a broom bristles-out and pointed it at Cheyson.
Click.
Cheyson, his face draining of color, threw himself to the side.
Bang!
Crack!
The spot where he’d been standing shattered under a hail of incoming bullets.
Natalisha’s face went pale as well, and she hurried behind a display cabinet.
“This is insane. Why does a wind-up doll have a double-barrel shotgun……!”
To her, a native of the firearms powerhouse of Holyche, that shotgun was extremely familiar—the Lemington 17400.
Click. Bang!
Click. Bang!
「Can you see now? The fire-power of Lemington 17400?」
The wind-up doll’s eyes gleamed with lethal intent as it pursued the two of them.
“Damn it! When did the stairs to the second floor and basement get blocked off!”
“Open the door! We have to get out of here!”
Natalisha threw her shoulder against the Townhouse’s entrance and tried to force it open, but stumbled backward instead.
What had been thick wooden doors until moments before now had iron bars bolted across them.
“Damn it. The front entrance is sealed.”
“Here! The window—let’s go through the window!”
Cheyson spotted a window that hadn’t yet been locked.
Clang. Bang!
Both of them hurled themselves through the glass to dodge the hail of gunfire scattering past them.
The windup doll that had been chasing them stood at the window frame, waving its arms with mechanical stiffness.
“Intruders. Farewell to you. Against your abilities, I shall concede. Well. Fought.”
Then it set about repairing the damaged floor with methodical clanks before gliding back into the darkness and vanishing.
Meanwhile, the moment Nina pressed the Intruder Elimination Button, an Iron Wall descended from the ceiling and trapped her inside Rikita Benz’s bedroom.
‘What on earth is happening? Is this wall meant to defend against intruders? I can’t hear a single sound from outside.’
The Iron Wall seemed to have soundproofing capabilities as well; the silence around her was absolute, as if she alone remained in the world.
Blue circuitry glowed across the surface of the wall, which suggested the wall itself was a Magical Construct.
‘I’ve never seen a Magical Construct this large inside a home before. There wasn’t anything like this even at the Earl’s Residence.’
Nina ran her hands across the enigmatic wall in awe.
Magical Constructs were various objects made using Mana Stones, minerals infused with magical power, and because the refinement of Mana Stones allowed for considerable creative freedom, they were employed across many fields.
For a private individual to commission a Magical Construct large enough to encircle an entire house as a defensive measure was something only the wealthiest citizens of the Ilite Kingdom could achieve.
Just then, the red light on the button Nina had pressed flickered off.
The Iron Wall that had descended along the walls rose again toward the ceiling with a soft whine.
‘Oh. Did it find the intruders?’
Curiosity piqued, she opened the door and stepped out to find the hallway utterly quiet.
Reassured, Nina hurried up the stairs and returned to her own bedroom.
Both the corridor and the landing were peaceful—nothing seemed amiss.
But when she set her pillow down on the bed, she heard commotion coming from the balcony.
‘Oh my! Could there actually have been a burglar? Did the intruders escape?!’
Torn between curiosity and fear, Nina lowered herself into a crouch and crawled toward the balcony, only to stop short when she spotted people she hadn’t expected, her eyes widening in surprise.
“Goodness? Kathari? What are you doing there? And Natalisha and Cheyson are here too?”
Nina’s relatives, gathered outside the Townhouse, started in alarm and looked up.
Worried they might not recognize her, Nina waved cheerfully and flashed them a bright smile.
“It’s me. Nina.”
“Oh, yes. Of course it’s Nina.”
Cheyson kicked the Detection Device he’d set on the ground, hiding it among the shrubbery with his foot.
A soft thud came from within the bushes, but no one paid it any mind.
Nina leaned against the railing, puzzled by their appearance.
“Why are all of you outside? I don’t see Eksi anywhere.”
Kathari rubbed her shoulder as if she’d slept poorly, glancing vaguely toward the shrubbery.
“It’s nothing. We heard some kind of commotion out of the blue and came out to check. Eksi must’ve fallen into a deep sleep.”
“Oh! I pressed the Intruder Elimination Button.”
Nina scratched her head with an embarrassed laugh.
“I heard a strange noise and worried there might be a burglar. It turned out to be nothing, but I’ve woken everyone up.”
“……The Intruder Elimination Button?”
Natalisha murmured wearily, and Nina nodded enthusiastically in response.
“Yes! Grandmother had prepared one of those. You didn’t know? I’m not sure how she managed to obtain such a Magical Construct, but it’s truly reassuring.”
At her cheerful words, Cheyson squeezed his eyes shut and replied.
“……Right. Truly reassuring.”
Natalisha and Kathari clenched their fists in silence, grinding their teeth quietly.
* * *
The next morning, as Nina sat in the Dining Room eating with her family, she gazed worriedly at Eksi’s empty seat.
“I wonder if Eksi is ill? He hasn’t come down for breakfast.”
Kathari, spreading butter on her bread, lifted the corners of her mouth in an awkward smile.
“Eksi’s still sleeping.”
“Oh, does he normally sleep a lot?”
“No. Usually he’d be awake by five, but he’s out cold as if he’d been given a sleeping draught or something.”

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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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