The rest of the way to the restaurant, Francesca only had to discreetly deal with three groups of ruffians. She was trying to wipe a small stain of blood on her gloves away as the young lady spotted their destination – the ristorante Tre Anatre.

“Fran Fran! Look, we’re here!”

It was a cozy restaurant, a two-story wooden building squished between the looming buildings that were the trademark of the merchant’s district of the city.

The young lady eagerly ran forwards towards the grand door where a servant waited to receive visitors. Francesca kept pace with the little lady and handed her invitation card to the servant.

“Greetings, the lady Livia of the Albergoni family has arrived.”

“Is Bella here yet?” Livia asked, standing on her tiptoes to look over the cards at the servant.

The servant put the invitation card through a magical tool to verify it, then bent towards the girl with a kindly smile.

“Your friend has been eagerly waiting for you for some time now, and the food should be arriving soon”, then his smile was replaced by a professionally one as he turned back up towards Francesca. “Your invitation has been verified, please head inside.”

Francesca supressed a grimace and kept her face carefully neutral. It looked like there was trouble afoot, as the servant had failed to give the secret password embedded in the invitation slip. Still, Livia was not to be disturbed, so she had no choice but to head inside.

The inside of the restaurant was spacious, with three separate alcoves arrayed along the walls for customers. It was a small upper-class restaurant, so while there were decorations, they were modest. Similarly, there was only one waitress attending to customers in the room.

A small girl in a pretty yellow summer dress was waiting by her table in one of the alcoves. Her hair was arrayed in a long and elegant braid, which swung around in a grand arc as she turned her head towards Livia. A big smile appeared on Livia’s face, and she ran off to give her friend a big hug.

Behind Annabella stood a steady-faced maid, attired similarly to Francesca. Clara, the maid of the Orioles family, gave Francesca a professional nod, which was answered in kind. They were long time associates, often sharing the burden of assignments like these. The pair of young ladies were soon settled at the table, waiting for the meal to be brought out as they chattered eagerly about recent happenings.

Soon a waitress appeared from the kitchen, carrying a large platter set with all manner of starter dishes. Francesca, however, stopped the waitress before she could lay the dish on the table by gripping her hand into an iron-tight grip.

“Sorry young lady, but it looks like there has been a mix-up with the dishes. I will go have a word with the kitchen staff about this, why don’t you share your candy with the lady Orioles in the meantime?”

As the other maid shot a concerned look at Francesca, she replied in kind, conveying the situation in the simple silent language of combat maids. The exchange took place in the blink of an eye, and if it were to be put to words, it would have been something like this.

“Trouble?”

“Trouble.”

“Typical. You handle?”

“Yes, monitor situation here.”

Having communicated the situation, Francesca maintained her iron grip on the now pale-looking waitress, and dragged her into the kitchen, slamming the door closed behind her.

Francesca pushed the waitress further into the room, sending her splayed on the floor as the platter clattered onto the floor. Francesca stayed with her back to the door and discreetly attached a [Do Not Disturb, Cleaning in Progress] charm onto the door, muffling all sounds that may have leaked out. She then eyed the men in the room with a calm eye.

There were four “cooks” in the room, but they were clearly unsuited to their garments. Their combat-ready and wary bearing betrayed their profession, and Francesca could sense the daggers in their pockets by using her cutlery skills. She smiled and offered the men a simple choice.

“Now, are you going to make this simple, or will I have to get difficult?”    

At her words, the men in the room instantly grew grim, and an almost tangible tension sprung up. They all reached into their pockets to take out their daggers, but Francesca was fast, and this room was a playground to her skills. What kind of maid couldn’t handle some cutlery?

Francesca activated her [Set Cutlery] skill, instantly transporting knives, forks and spoons from around the room into her arms. She then began setting the cutlery out, into the faces of the assassins that was.

Her first fork found its way into the eye of the waitress who was still rising up from the ground, sending her splayed back, screaming as her eye was shredded apart. Francesca finished off the job with three more forks which were set deep within her neck.

The next three knives went towards the man attending the soup pots, and the force from the strike sent his face down into the boiling soup. His face instantly began scalding as the boiling water cooked his eyes like eggs and invaded through his nose and mouth.

The man desperately tried to rise up from the pot, but Francesca was already moving. She had begun moving with the first fork thrown, and was by the man in a flash, holding his head down in the boiling soup with an iron grip. A swift knife slice cut out the back of his head, letting his exposed brain matter ooze down as extra flavouring into the soup.

The other three men in the room had now managed to dig out daggers and were running towards Francesca. However, setting the cutlery was only the first step of preparing for a meal, so Francesca proceeded to use her [Serve Food] skill. Three pots of boiling soup were soon flying towards the men, splashing the hot liquid all over their faces. Francesca was an immaculate maid, and thus would not fail to place the food in its proper place.

The men fell to the ground, screaming and flailing around. Francesca finished the meal off by throwing her remaining cutlery towards the men. Soon the sharp spoons found their rightful place embedded amongst the soup, finishing off the meal.

[5 Pieces of trash cleared!]

[Progress towards next level, 47/100!]

Francesca sighed as she gazed at the remains of the slaughter. The room was a right mess, and the food properly ruined. Not like food prepared by would-be assassins could be served anyway. She had no high hopes as to the fates of the original kitchen staff, but that didn’t matter right now. The most important thing was that the young lady was not to be disturbed, so she would soon need to be served a meal.

Francesca opened the door of the kitchen slightly and popped her head outside. She was greeted by the sight of two young ladies excitedly chatting with each other. Clara looked her way, and they quickly communicated in the silent language of maids.

“Handled?”

“Yes, will take care of rest.”

Francesca coughed into her hand slightly to get the attention of the young ladies, and seeing their heads turn her way, spoke to them.

“Sorry young misses, but there appears to have been a slight mix-up with the kitchen staff, so the meal will be delayed slightly.”

Livia’s golden smile was not frayed one bit.

“Don’t worry Fran! We’re having lots of fun talking together, a little delay won’t hurt, right Bella? It just means we have more time to chat here!”

The other young lady nodded her assent eagerly, and Francesca pulled herself back into the kitchen and closed the door behind her. She eyed the ruined kitchen glumly. The cutlery was all over the floor, and blood was rapidly pooling onto the floor from the bodies. The ingredients cupboard appeared to have been spared from the carnage, so Francesca quickly set off to find the ingredients necessary for a proper meal.

“You really have to do everything by yourself in this job”, she grumbled with irritation to herself as she gathered the necessities for cooking a good meal.

Cooking in such unsanitary conditions was a big no-no, however, so after finding everything she needed and setting the ingredients to a clean spot, Francesca dug out her [Wand of Remove Trash]. A maid’s cleaning work truly never ended.