It did not take Francesca long to rush through the city to the airship docks, and after a brief scuffle she managed to commandeer a ship for herself. A maid naturally had to occasionally act as a chauffeur for their charge, so her [Pilot Vehicle] skills were solid. Soon enough she was watching the city below shrink as the ship slowly rose up and up.

Francesca was holding Livia in her hands as she watched sunset on the horizon. The little lady stirred a tad from her sleep and opened her eyes.

“Huh, we’re taking the airship back home again Fran?”

Francesca took off the [Sleep Tight Earmuffs] a tad and whispered in her ear.

“Indeed we are, miss. Now, back to sleep with you. The flight will take a tad longer still.”

After gently rocking the girl back to sleep in her lap, Francesca secured the little lady to her back again. Just in time, too. She could already see the pursuit ships approaching.

“I guess I’ve used this route too often lately, the information has spread...”

She looked disdainfully at the three ships slowly manoeuvring to surround her own.

“But it looks like the information has not spread quite enough.”

Indeed, rule 1 of fighting a combat maid: Do not give them time to prepare. Especially on their chosen turf of battle. Francesca had no need to rely on powerful daily skills for an encounter like this, as much simpler means could be used to achieve just as decisive an effect.

First, Francesca turned her eye to a ship that was situated slightly downwind from her, slowly closing in. A critical mistake, that. As a maid, Francesca was rather familiar with all of her cleaning chemicals, she had to make most of them herself after all. You couldn’t buy ones powerful enough on the market.

She took out a choice selection of cleaning liquids and began mixing them together in a bucket at the edge of her airship. Soon, the mixture started bubbling, and a hazy yellow-green cloud of gas started drifting out, carried by the wind. It slowly started making its way downwind, towards the first ship.

The pilots there were not complete beginners however and began to attempt evasive manoeuvres. Francesca, however, merely took out her [Feather Duster +10] and began whipping out a wind to guide the gas along. The ships desperate attempt failed as the gas began encroaching onto the deck of the ship, slowly taking away all avenues of escape.

As she squinted, Francesca could just barely make out the details of what was happening onboard the ship. A few men had failed to escape the initial onslaught and got covered in the gas. It instantly started blistering and searing their skin, making the men’s desperate attempt at escape even more futile. One had failed to hold his breath, and once the gas got in his lungs he started vomiting out vast amounts of blood.

The other assailants watched their struggling companions with horror and made desperate attempts to escape the gas. After the captain abandoned his post to run off, the ship started gradually tilting downward. The ship however had no good real escape paths, and soon the men stood next to the handrail, faced with the choice of the gas ahead or the ground below. They all made their choice, one way or the other.

Satisfied that one ship had been dealt with, Francesca walked to the other side of her ship and examined the enemy approaching from that side. The wind would not allow a similar approach here, and she could already see the men loading cannonballs and gunpowder into the airship’s cannons. A more direct approach would be necessary here.

Francesca began to take out bags of flour from her [Apron of Holding], piling them into a massive pile. Once she was satisfied with the amount and saw that the cannons were almost ready to fire, Francesca began tossing the bags with her [Serve Food] skill. Her aim was impeccable as always, and the bags of flour went exactly where she wanted them to.

Most of the bags hit the deck of the ship, exploding out into clouds of flour which began to cover the ship wholesale. The rest were aimed at the barrels of the cannons, and soon flour bags found their way there too. The cannons still managed to fire, but the firings lit the flour cloud which had spread all over the ship, making the deck erupt in a fireball. A chain reaction ensued as the gunpowder barrels were caught in the blast, chaining further explosions together.

Francesca had more immediate concerns however, as two cannonballs had managed to fire towards her. She jumped into the air into the path of the first one, opening her [Apron of Holding] wide. She angled her jump, shifting her body horizontally so the cannonball flew straight into the open pocket, disappearing inside.

She continued her flip, pulling out a [Broom +10] in one smooth motion. Her flip finished in the path of the second cannonball, and she thwacked it with the broom right down towards the ground, activating [Clear Litter] in the process. She landed elegantly back onto her ship, not one spot of damage to it.

The enemy ship fared much worse, fires now burning all over the wooden deck and spreading towards the engines. It would no longer be a threat for this fight, and its crew’s minutes were numbered.

Francesca turned her gaze up, towards the last remaining pursuit ship. It had chosen an approach from above, which meant one thing. Ropes had already been set down, using which an army of men were rappelling down onto Francesca’s ship.

Francesca slowly backed away towards the edge of her ship, letting the descending men form into a group in front of her. She cast a quick gaze over the handrail, then put all her supplies back into her apron. She seemed completely unarmed.

“You won’t be able to use tricks like those now, little maid. You’re stuck on this ship and get to deal with us, proper high-level soldiers.”

A leader had emerged from the group of soldiers, pointing a sword towards Francesca as he maintained a vigilant watch to make sure she couldn’t try anything. Francesca offered a mocking bow to the man.

“I am afraid that you are incorrect, sir. You see, I have already arrived at my destination.”

With those words, she leaned backwards over the handrail. The men tried to stop her, but she was already falling down towards the Albergoni family estate, above which the ship had arrived. Francesca could just barely make out shouts of frustration through the rushing wind.

As a parting gift, she opened her [Apron of Holding], releasing a cannonball out towards the ship, straight at the engine.

With the same movement she elegantly took out her trusty umbrella and opened it. Her descent slowed to a pleasantly graceful pace, as she watched the ship and the men now trapped on it slowly plummet past her.

The ship ran straight towards the mansion, but as soon as it hit the outer wards covering it, the ship began to be shredded into dust, disappearing as if into another dimension. The men fared no better, their bodies being torn apart in seconds into naught but a mist of blood and bone.

[30 Pieces of trash cleared!]

[Level up! Francesca is now a level 43 combat maid! New skills available to be chosen!]

[Progress towards next level, 2/100!]

Francesca descended past the wards peacefully, finally relaxing. She felt a shiver as they scanned over her, and the young lady on her back yelped from the cold, waking up on her back.

She gazed in a daze at the mansion beneath for a moment, then clung tighter onto Francesca’s back.

“Fran, why can’t the air taxi company ever take us down all the way? This is always a bit scary...”

Francesca, shifted the cloth holding the little lady around, bringing her to her into her arms from the back. She patted the girl’s head reassuringly, while holding an iron grip on the umbrella with the other.

“Now now miss, you know the wards around our house can be dangerous for such folk. You wouldn’t want to hurt them, would you? If the ground is too scary, why don’t you look up at the sky? See how pretty the light of the sunset is as it reflects on that mist over there.”

The mist Francesca pointed to was not in fact lit red by the mist, as the bloody gore was plenty red enough all on its own. Still, this naturally went past Livia, who watched the cloud of bloody gore, wonder in her eyes.

“The world is so pretty... No wonder it is always so full of kindness.”

A maid was always capable of reassuring worried little ladies. Livia no longer felt fear, snugly tucked against Francesca’s breast as the pair flitted downward. She was back to sleep by the time they landed right at the mansion's entrance.