The little ladies played around for quite a while before eventually growing tired. No more attacks came during the rest of the stay at the playground, but that did not make Francesca one bit more relaxed – it just meant that things would get worse later.

Livia and Annabella were drowsily wiping their eyes as they yawned; clearly all the playing had taken quite a bit of energy from the pair. Livia teetered over from the playing area and collapsed into Francesca’s lap. She turned a tired eye upwards.

“Fraaaan, can I take a nap?”

“Of course, miss, come on over here.”

Francesca took the drowsy girl into her arms, and slowly lulled her to sleep. Soon she was breathing softly against her, which suited Francesca’s purposes well. It would make the next part significantly easier.

She glanced at Clara who was similarly occupied with her own ward, and they shared a brief look of solidarity. There were some things that only a maid could understand, after all. After a quick nod, they both picked up their own charges and headed out in opposite directions. Best split the enemy for what comes next.

Francesca slowly walked through the park under the light of the setting sun. Livia was held against her chest, softly breathing in and out. Francesca made sure to be as gentle as possible as she stealthily flitted past the trees, making sure that the little lady’s evening nap would not be disturbed.

Soon Francesca was covertly surveying the city outside the park. Sure enough, it seemed that reports had been made of their whereabouts, as Francesca could spot lookouts covertly hidden in the windows of nearby buildings. Once she took her leave, it would not take long for her passing to be noted, and an ambush would be set up within minutes.

Francesca did not really wish to engage in a long battle-filled chase, so instead of searching for where the lines of assailants were most thin, she began looking for the largest concentration. By immediately taking out the main forces of this ambush, the rest of the trip could be comparatively clean.

After travelling the edge of the forest for a moment, Francesca found a promising candidate. Groups of armed thugs were arrayed in an otherwise quiet plaza, seemingly waiting for something. These men clearly had some higher levels among them; Francesca could even spot some battle mages.

Francesca took out a durable and thick piece of cloth and tied Livia securely to her back. Not before putting on [Sleep Tight Earmuffs] on her of course, as this next part would be loud. Once the girl was secure, Francesca took out her [Combat Umbrella +10] and started to calmly walk towards the group.

The day was starting to come to an end, so Francesca no longer had any need to keep her daily skills saved up just in case. One of her most powerful skills, [Etiquette], was particularly effective at dealing with brutish men such as these. The combat variant of the skill was little-known, so the countermeasures against it were known to only few.

Francesca activated the skill just as the men spotted her, and she stopped to offer them a polite bow.

“Greetings, fine gentlemen. It is a fine day out here, isn’t it? Almost makes me feel silly for bringing this umbrella.”

Her words rung across the plaza, as the men turned silent and turned to gaze at her. Jeering smiles appeared on their faces, and they all started taking out weapons. One particularly nasty-looking man walked forward, sword trained at Francesca.

“My my. A little lost lamb come for the slaughter, has she? Clueless bitch really thinks she’s hot stuff huh? We ain’t no cheap pack of backstabbers who ain’t ever held a sword before.”

Francesca feigned a frown and gripped her umbrella tighter. She could already feel her skill taking effect, granting her power proportional to the breach of courtesy.

“That was rather impolite language, sir. Surely you know that is not how to treat a young lady?”

The man began hollering, a slimy laugh booming out. After a moment, he wiped the drool off his mouth and turned to leer at Francesca.

“Proper fine lady eh? Stuck-up whores always looking down their noses at us proper folk. We’ll show you how a bitch in heat is handled, right boys?”

The men started jeering with their leader, many starting to throw out insults.

“Fucking whoreson, trying to live above ‘er place.”

“We’ll show you a good time after we’re done.”

After a moment more of jeering, the men started picking up their swords and the mages took aim with their wands. Francesca smiled; she had judged correctly. Some of the ambush groups had seemed rather professional, but this sort couldn’t hold their tongues to save their life, and in this case they really should have. She maintained her civility and levelled a disapproving glare at the men.

“Such improper behaviour, a breach of conduct such as this will not go unpunished.”

The men spoke no more, and a group started circling to her back, while the mages started preparing spells. Francesca however was finished with the first part of her plan, quite a lot of [Etiquette] had been broken, leaving her a lot of leeway in how to deal with it. First, she took out a piece of [All-Purpose Soap] from her apron.

“Such foul talk is a [Breach of Etiquette], and there is only one proper way to deal with it: [Clean Dirty Mouths]!”

Suddenly, all the men who had shouted improprieties at Francesca found their mouths full of [All-Purpose Soap], and this was no ordinary soap. It was capable of cleansing almost any smudges, and so men started screaming out as they felt their mouths begin to corrode from the inside. Only the leader of the men managed to dodge the effect, as he activated an ability of his own in a panic.

“[Resist]! Fuck! Everyone open fire! She’s got some strange skill!”

His panicked yell shook the remaining men out of their stupor, and soon the mages sent out several [Rain of Fire] spells towards Francesca. Francesca weathered the first few splashes of fire by taking cover behind her sturdy umbrella, then glanced disdainfully from under it.

“You seek to drench a lady in the rain, instead of holding her umbrella for her? Another [Breach of Etiquette], [Reversal of Fortune]!”

The rain of fire changed direction, flying back towards its original casters. The mages tried to take cover, but all ended up drenched in the rain, or rather, scorched. The leader of the men noticed that he may have tried to bite off something a tad too strong for him and made one last desperate attack. He ran forward and attempted a grab at Francesca.

“Fuck! Take this, [Ground Slam]!”

The maid was not caught out, and smoothly dodged below the attack.

“Trying to lay a hand on an unwilling lady? Another [Breach of Etiquette], [Polite Slap]!”

Francesca loaded up all the leftover energy from the breaches of etiquette into this final skill, and it thrummed with intense power. As the slap hit the ruffian on the cheek, he did not have a chance to scream out before his head was flying far off into the sky, detached clean from his body. His torso collapsed onto the ground in a heap of blood, leaving the battlefield silent.

Francesca checked that Livia was still sleeping peacefully on her back and noted to her satisfaction that her slow breathing was just as calm as before. Then she surveyed the battlefield around her. Charred husks of mages lay splayed against the wooden benches, and men had collapsed all over once the [All-Purpose Soap] had invaded into their lunges. Those not yet perished lay chocking on the ground, the life slowly fading from their eyes.

[15 Pieces of trash cleared!]

[Progress towards next level, 72/100!]

Some of the men had managed to escape the carnage and Francesca was not too keen to pursue. The situation had already become a bit louder than she had intended.

“Going the direct route may lead to disturbances to the miss’s beauty sleep... I’ll probably have to take that route again. Just great.”

Francesca bemoaned the hardships of a maid as she went into the opposite direction of the family manor and the approaching pursuers. Her goal: The airship dock.