“Fran! Fran!”

Francesca had barely finished preparing the young lady’s morning bath when Livia Albergoni ran into the room wearing only her nightgown, a big smile on her face.

“Mother said that Bella invited me over to play with her at the park again! Can we leave right after breakfast?”

Francesca barely managed to supress her grimace; it was going to be one of those days again, wasn’t it? Still, she managed offer the young mistress a proper smile.

“Did the madam say when and where you were expected?”

The girl scrunched her head up in thought for a moment, humming intensely. Soon she came to a conclusion, and her face returned to a beaming smile.

“I don’t remember! Sorry Francesca!”

Well, she would have had to ask the madam anyway. Trusting the young lady to remember such details would be too much, she was only 7 years old after all. Francesca still crossed her arms in a mildly stern manner.

“Well, you should hurry and get in the bath then. You wouldn’t want to be late to see your friend, would you?”

Francesca was the maid in waiting for the young lady of the Albergoni family. The job of a maid in waiting was generally to act as an attendant to their charge, but the Albergoni family was not an ordinary family, and Francesca was not an ordinary maid.

She was a combat maid and had only one simple task – Make sure that the carefree life of the young lady was not disturbed. The duties of a member of the Albergoni family were heavy, so providing an idyllic childhood was the least they could do for the children of the family.

Thus, as Francesca followed the young lady out of the Albergoni estate towards the city, she immediately began to focus her mind. She could not afford a single moment of carelessness before they were back inside the estate, safe and sound. By the time they had finished crossing past the last of the many, many magical wards protecting the estate, Francesca was fully in work-mode.

Visibly she was only wearing her maid outfit and carrying an umbrella, but she was of course actually equipped a lot more thoroughly. Her [Apron of Holding] could fit a lot in it.

Livia Albergoni meanwhile was wearing an orange summer dress, which fluttered in the wind to the rhythm of her skipping. Her elegant blond hair was arrayed into two twin braids, which swung around to match her curious gaze.

The city proper loomed in front of them, tall buildings reaching higher and higher into the sky each year. In the distance, vast factories let out endless streams of smoke into the sky. Hundreds of airships glided over the city, their sleek hulls reflecting the dull sunlight.

The Albergoni estate was located at the edge of the city, while the central park that was their goal was much further in. Their first destination, however, was a restaurant where the young lady would share a meal with her friend. Francesca grimaced at the thought of the path they would have to take. Ruffians were always loitering about the merchant district, making sure that Francesca never had an easy day at her job.

The young lady happily skipped through the dense city streets, gazing curiously this way and that. Soon her eyes found a stall serving artisan candies, and her skipping ground to a halt. She pointed at the candies, making her best effort at a pleading look.

“Fran Fran! Look how pretty those candies are! Can I have one, please?”

Francesca followed the girl to the stall, and discreetly used [Detect Contamination] on the offerings. Seeing that they were clean, she dug out a money pouch from her [Apron of Holding].

“You may buy one candy, only one. You are to eat lunch with your friend soon, so it would not do for you to stuff yourself.”

Francesca put one small copper coin in the girl’s hand, but instead of being satisfied the young lady puffed out her cheeks.

“But I want to buy two, so that I can share one with Belle. Then we can eat them together after the meal!”

Francesca sighed and handed over another coin. As the young lady happily went to look over the sweets, Francesca turned towards a nearby alley, where a pair of ruffians were looking at the girl, talking quietly with greed in their eyes. Francesca activated her [Gossip] skill and listened in on their conversation.

“Look at that girl, she’s obviously from a rich family, we nab ‘er and we’re made!”

“Are you sure? Why would she be here all alone? I don’t see any protection.”

“Don’t you see that maid over there? Has to be one of those newly rich with more money than sense.”

“Wait, why’s that maid walking towards us?”

Francesca glanced at the young lady to make sure she was distracted, then took out her [Cleaning Rag] and applied some [All-Purpose Solvent] to it. It was a strong mixture, capable of wiping away almost any dirt. Francesca calmly walked towards the alley, one hand on her umbrella, while the other held her [Cleaning Rag]. A maid’s duty was to clear out trash, and Francesca was rather adept at that.

The ruffians stood still, watching with confusion as the demure-looking maid approached them. Before they could react, she thrust the tip of her umbrella through the throat of the leftmost one, while at the same time pushing her cleaning rag at the face of the rightmost one.

The [All-Purpose Solvent] quickly began dissolving the man’s face. He tried to scream out with pain as his eyeballs turned to mush, but to his horror, realised that his mouth had already melted shut. The other man fared no better, as his attempted screams were chocked out by the blood gurgling out of his neck.

Francesca kicked both men to the ground, then methodically pierced them over and over and over again with the tip of her umbrella, until they stopped twitching, completely lifeless. Satisfied, Francesca took out her [Wand of Remove Trash] and pointed it at the bodies. They soon disappeared in bursts of light, leaving behind only a pool of blood. Francesca looked over her outfit quickly to make sure she had not gotten any blood on it, then wiped the tip of the umbrella clean with her rag.

[2 Pieces of trash cleared!]

[Progress towards next level, 32/100!]

Francesca left the alley; the whole process having taken no more than 20 seconds. She was soon back behind the young lady, just as if she had never left. Livia was just finishing her purchase and turned a beaming smile to the maid. She presented her purchases, a pair of cat-shaped sweets.

“Francesca, look how pretty these two candies are! I’m sure Bella will love them!”

“I’m sure she will. Now, let us be on our way, your friend must be impatiently waiting for you already.”

“Ah, you are right! C’mon Francesca! Let’s go!”

Francesca sighed as the pair continued their journey. This was going to be a long day, wasn’t it?