Everyone but Me Is a Spy - Chapter 58

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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 58
Driven by curiosity, Nina slipped across to Joel’s balcony early in the morning and discovered a note resting on a small table.
‘To Nina…… it says?’
A note bearing her name, written in the kindly neighbor’s hand.
It was easy to guess that it contained something beyond a simple errand.
Nina felt the strange sensation again, smiled softly, and unfolded the note.
[While I’m away, I was hoping you might test something for me. I’ve prepared a space on the floor below, so please feel free to visit through the balcony whenever you wish. I’ll return before it gets too late. Until then, I hope you’ll have joyful days.]
“Hehe.”
Nina gazed contentedly at the neat, precise handwriting and let out a soft laugh.
The instruction to check the balcony had felt mysterious, and the note’s contents were equally puzzling.
Yet what made her smile was the phrase about having joyful days.
‘So Joel hopes I’ll be happy too. He really is the kindest neighbor.’
Nina felt grateful for her good fortune and reached toward the balcony door.
Clack.
“……Oh?”
The door wouldn’t open—it was locked.
Yet the note clearly said to visit through the balcony.
“My goodness.”
But even this brought joy to Nina, who covered her mouth with her hand.
To think she’d grown close enough to her first neighbor to share such a playful prank.
It must have been done in the confidence that she could open it.
Nina smiled broadly and resolved to meet his expectations.
‘I don’t remember the last time I smiled like this.’
She returned to her room, fetched her Lockpicking set, and in moments had disengaged the balcony’s lock mechanism.
She even drew a simple laughing rabbit’s face in the corner of the door.
During her years as a maid, she and the others used to mark doors this way after playfully unlocking ones that had been secured.
‘I wonder what kind of space he’s prepared.’
Nina descended the stairs with unusual lightness, her skirts rustling as she went.
Just yesterday, worries about her grandmother—worries that even Ryan’s visit couldn’t dispel—had dominated her thoughts, but today laughter came easily and her feet felt light.
Humming a melody, she reached the Second Floor Corridor and saw several doors.
But she could instantly identify which one led to the space Joel had prepared.
The ceiling spotlight bathed only one door in a soft pink glow.
That door was also firmly locked, though it didn’t appear to use Magitech Engineering.
Her Lockpicking set proved its worth again here.
It took longer than opening the balcony door, but the practiced maid Nina made quick work of this one as well.
‘A proper maid should always be ready to open a locked door.’
Unless it uses Magitech Engineering, that is.
It pleased her to discover her skills hadn’t dulled, despite having left maid service some time ago.
Smiling brightly as she stepped inside, Nina gasped at what Joel had prepared.
“Whoa!”
The surprise was so overwhelming her exclamation barely formed.
The room was enclosed by specially treated walls offering Soundproofing and Fireproofing, and within stood an array of Magic Guns.
Nina examined the Magic Guns, ammunition magazines, and targets with a sense of disbelief.
Various types of Magic Guns bearing Joel’s engraved name, clearly handcrafted.
Ingenious ammunition rounds made through Magitech Engineering.
Steel Targets that moved as though alive.
And Petal Targets drifting down from the ceiling like falling petals.
It was truly a perfect space.
“My goodness, Joel……!”
This surpassed every imagination she’d indulged in before sleep the night before.
Moved in her heart, Nina immediately picked up a Magic Gun, clicked a magazine into place, and tested it.
The ceiling lights shifted with a tap-tap sound, moving slowly like a searchlight, then covers on the wall opened and Paintballs began firing.
“Kyaa!”
With a delighted cry, Nina hid behind a structure made of stacked boxes and fired away at the targets—bang, bang.
It wasn’t by chance that Joel had called it a “Test”—metrics for her Accuracy Rate, Evasion Rate, and Mobility were displaying on one wall.
Click, kaboom!
Click, bang!
The Magic Guns themselves came in varieties—Pistol, Shotgun, Rifle—and with different ammunition types like Electric Bullets, Cooling Bullets, and Magnetic Bullets, there was endless fun in trying different combinations.
‘How could he have prepared something like this?’
Joel had asked her to test it, yes, but to Nina, this was an enormous gift.
Even during her days as a servant, the training ground had always been a space shared with many others, and it was never arranged with this much care or pleasure.
Still, Nina had always loved the training ground.
It was the only place where she could fire a Magic Gun to her heart’s content.
But since arriving in Soltem, there had been little reason to fire one except when dealing with uninvited guests.
It wasn’t that she disliked her peaceful, quiet life—but occasionally, moments like this were necessary.
Rolling through the air to evade the Paintballs, Nina struck down two Petal Targets before her feet even touched the ground.
‘Ah, refreshing!’
The faster she moved, the quicker her heartbeat raced and the warmer her body grew—and she loved that feeling.
She was alive, breathing, and it was exhilarating to feel it so keenly.
From that day on, Nina visited that room daily to help Joel with his Tests.
Unaware that Ryan had been knocking on the Townhouse door every single day to see her.
* * *
‘Where on earth has she gone?’
Having missed Nina once again today, Ryan stared grimly at the Bouquet left without an owner.
The day before yesterday, yesterday, today—all he’d heard from the Clockwork Doll was that Nina had gone out.
‘When I asked if she’d gone out yesterday and hadn’t returned yet, the doll said that wasn’t the case……’
What was more suspicious was that the surveillance cameras installed near the Townhouse had captured no footage of Nina leaving at all.
He’d wondered if she was using the back door that the servants used, so he’d installed a camera there too, but Nina didn’t appear on that footage either.
‘Where could she possibly be going?’
Suddenly at a loss, Ryan decided to enter the empty Townhouse using his Master Key and check the surrounding surveillance footage.
But the moment he stepped inside, he felt a faint vibration.
‘An intruder? But there was no sign of one.’
Ryan quietly set down the Bouquet and muffled his footsteps.
Climbing the stairs one careful step at a time toward the source of the sound, he suddenly stopped.
“……?”
A brilliant pink light was illuminating a specific door.
Whether it was Soundproofed or not, even standing right before the door, only a muffled hum reached his ears—as if underwater.
Ryan drew his Pistol and carefully eased the door open.
Bang!
In that instant, a projectile fired through the narrow gap struck toward Ryan.
“Ugh……!”
Sensing the freezing cold, he quickly turned his head to dodge, and his bangs frosted over like icicles.
Noticing the ice wasn’t spreading further, Ryan chambered a round and kicked the door wide open.
What came into view was Nina, aiming a Shotgun-shaped Magic Gun at him.
“Oh? Ryan?!”
Startled, Nina lowered the barrel.
“N-Nina? What are you doing here?”
Ryan, equally caught off guard by her sudden appearance, hastily holstered his Pistol.
He stared wide-eyed at the sprawling space revealed through the open door.
“What in the world is this……?”
“Well, Joel asked me to help him with his Tests while he’s away recovering.”
At Nina’s somewhat embarrassed explanation, Ryan felt as though he’d been hit from behind.
He’d been certain that once he got Joel out of the Townhouse, there would be no more interference, yet somehow she was managing to obstruct him even from a distance.
And to create a space this enormous in a single night just to do it.
He clenched his teeth and trembled with frustration.
‘Is she out of her mind? This is better than the Training Facility the agency provided……!’

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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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