Splat went the zombie, as Fayette’s broom smashed into its head. Splat it went again, when the damage was relayed further and the monster collapsed into blood. Splat went the blood as it sprayed onto the ground, missing the [Maid] with unnatural precision.

I can’t believe even something like this eventually starts to feel mundane, Fayette thought as she observed the circular patch of not-bloody ground around her. It was her ninth zombie of the night and she was only getting started, but already it was getting tedious. But… such things did have their rewards.

[Keep up the good work!]

[Level up: You have reached Maid level 23! Congratulations!]

[1 Skill point gained!]

[Progress towards next level: 0%]

“Finally,” Fayette muttered under her breath, somewhat relieved. Her work at the orphanage had given rather good experience, but the final 5% had been missing, and she had been waiting with each zombie smash if it was finally time to get some levelling done.

She had a plan after all.

[Skill up: Cutlery Control has reached rank 3!]

One point spent, one point still in reserve, and her immediate concerns were done. She edged out of the narrow alleyway into an even narrower one and turned her eye up. A child jumped right over her—soon followed by many more.

“Everything good up there?” Fayette asked quietly, knowing her words were being relayed further. A [Lady’s] skills had quite a few benefits for stealthy communication.

The reply came immediately, spoken right by her ear. “A few of the kids seem nervous, but most are behaving well. Where are you?”

Fayette kept her eyes up and saw a flutter of a longer skirt pass above.

“Right under you.”

After waiting two seconds, she finally saw Marie look down from the rooftop, and waved her a hello. “Any idea on where I should head out next?”

“Oliva’s given the all-clear for now. A somewhat larger horde was headed to the north, so we’re adjusting our route just a bit south,” Marie said, this time speaking without skill enhancement.

Fayette nodded and started stepping out of the alleyway, toward the opening which led to a bigger street. “Right then—I guess I’ll do some investigating for a bit.”

Escorting a group of civilians and children through monster-infested territory was a challenging thing, but the group had approached the task with meticulous precision. Marie was staying near the kids, guiding them on the rooftops and keeping a close eye that nothing unexpected could get them, while Mireille kept a watch from a bit further, looking for any errant foes.

The [Maid] naturally had the dirty work for herself. Who else? She was the only one actually sticking to the ground level and was making short work of anything which needed dealing with. But Fayette also had a second task. It was not just walking dead and monsters down there.

They had come into the city for answers, and for questions. Fayette eyed the boarded-up windows lining the abandoned canal front housing, and spotted a few shaded figures ducking out of sight. Yes, with the immediate perimeter secure for the moment and the kids nearby, she finally had the time to make some house calls.

She chose one house where the windows were not boarded up, and started making her stealthy way forward.

—

Theo watched the sight with incredulity. Children—at least two dozen of them—were just marchingon the rooftops, with white masks on their faces, as if they were headed on an ordinary school outing. He pushed the blinds more to the side and eyed the women leading them. Some who peered around with fear and doubt, and others who corralled them on with a relaxed ease.

Those two have to be professionals. Have the officials finally come? Are we being saved? He could scarcely believe it. If he followed, would he finally find safety and food too? His fingers itched to jump through but his legs quivered at the thought of following anything through those accursed streets again. Should I try to leave?

“Interesting show, is it?” A voice suddenly asked, coming from directly behind him.

“Wha—”

Theo spun around on the spot and froze. A woman, no, a [Maid] was standing right behind him, an eerie mask on her face. And a blood-smeared broom in her arms. She quirked an eyebrow.

“Hey, I asked you a question.”

Theo blinked. “Umm… sorry, what was the question again?”

The [Maid] sighed and leaned onto her broom. “Just… what are you up to here?”

“Hiding, what else?” Theo carefully kept his hands to his sides, wary of this woman who seemed to radiate danger, even if her body was relaxed as one could be. He pointed out the window. “I just want to know what’s going on. Are you with them?”

The [Maid] pushed herself up to a straighter posture and furrowed a brow. “I’m asking the questions here, okay? But… help is arriving. Slowly. Some big-time [Mage] is supposed to do something in a few days.”

Ah, she is here to help. Theo relaxed and let out a tense breathe. Then he suddenly stood straighter and looked out of the window again. “[Mages], you say?”

“Yes. Have you seen anything odd here? I’m investigating”

“Not here… but last night, I was closer to the island’s edge, and some folk in robes were drawing symbols into the ground. Had some serious looking guards with ‘em.”

He looked back and saw that the [Maid] was nodding. “That would be the other hunter parties who were sent out, I think…” She said, “They didn’t tell you help had arrived?”

Theo shook his head. “I wasn’t sure who they were, and they moved out very fast. I didn’t have time to go near.”

The [Maid’s] eyes stayed on him, and her hands stayed on her broom. “That might be for the better… because you… Haven’t you heard that [Infected] classes are a nasty thing—a thing one shouldn’t mess around with?”

The ragged man froze as sweat suddenly beaded on his forehead. She knows?

“B—It’s only… I haven’t—!”

“Yeah yeah, I get it,” The [Maid] said, waving her broom at him. “Survival and all that. I see that patch of rash on your arm. A bit of illness can cause quite the spook. But… you aren’t only level 1, are you?”

Theo gulped but kept his gaze steady. “It was a mistake. The illness spread so fast I panicked and took this class, but I got a disease resist skill on level 1, I didn’t need any more—I swear. It was enough to help me fight this off…”

The black-clad woman did not waver. Her eyes stayed on him, and stayed cold. Not that they had ever been warm. “But you did level more.”

“As I said—it was a mistake. Needed to get food. Scavenged an abandoned building. Bumped into a family who were looting the same place. I talked with them a bit, shared information. After we parted… I got the notification. Good job spreading the love or some such. It took an hour.”

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The [Maid] frowned and rubbed her forehead. “You didn’t use any skills on them? I guess that is… gah! I don’t know how to deal with this type of thing! Are you even telling the truth? Annoying!”

She took a step closer and brought the broom nearer, and Theo stared at the marks at its end. And the blood encrusted there—too thickly set to wipe off easy. He shivered.

“Listen up here! I don’t know if you’re telling the truth or lying or what should be done or what is legal or anything! Just… Don’t. Make. Trouble. It’s only a few days more. Someone else can figure this one out.”

Theo nodded rapidly. “I promise.”

The [Maid] eyed him, and slowly lowered her broom. Then she looked out the window. “Curses! They’re that far away already? Umm… where did I have it…?”

She dug a hand into her apron and searched through it madly until she finally came up with a notebook in hand. The broom got tucked in her armpit and suddenly she was making rapid notes to the paper with a pen almost flying with energy.

“[Mages] drawing things… have you seen anything else suspicious?”

Theo blinked. “Not… really? I’ve mostly been hiding away. Why, with all the danger about, I—”

“Short answers! Don’t ramble! Do you know where this plague thing started?”

“Near the factory—but not there exactly. I was at a plaza nearby—first monsters came from the east.”

“Good… good…” the [Maid] muttered, jotting the words down, then raised her head up from the paper. “Anything else to add?”

Theo blinked his eyes slowly. “…no?”

The notebook slapped shut and was tucked back into the apron in half a second, then the broom was back in hand in the second half-second. The [Maid] didn’t pause to say any more words—in the next instant, she jumped right out the window on Theo’s right, landed gracefully on the ground outside and started sprinting across the street.

Theo followed her figure with his eyes until it vanished into an alleyway, then collapsed to his knees, finally letting out all the panicked breaths he had been holding in. I didn’t know [Maid] were that scary!

—

Fayette moved on. She smushed a few zombies that wandered too close, interrogated some frightened civilians who were hiding out in an abandoned store, and even spotted one of the [Mage] groups shuffling through town under a cloaking spell of some sort. All the while keeping a steady eye on the procession of children marching on the rooftops of course.

A [Maid] had to know how to multitask.

Even so, when she found her second [Infected] quarry of the day, Fayette was starting to feel irritated. She had seen many suspicious figures on the streets whom she had wanted to question, but only rarely was the army of orphans positioned properly for her to do so.

So it was, that as she tapped a raggedy man on the back of his neck with a broom, she felt a bit relieved. Finally, a suspicious figure who was doing the proper thing and skulking in narrow alleyways, not just hiding in a bothersome-to-enter house.

“Excuse me mister, I have some questions for you,” Fayette said as the man spun around, gripping a rusty knife in his hand. Fayette gave the dull blade a tap with her broom. “Easy there, no sudden moves if you please.”

He took a step back but stumbled on broken pavement, then fell to his back right in a puddle of muddy water. Fayette used just a hint of water magic to make sure it all splashed down on him, not her.

“Who are you!?” He shouted while stumbling back to his feet, until Fayette blocked his path back up with a broom over his head.

“Just a concerned party making some enquiries,” she answered, in a manner she imagined a cool detective might. She gestured at the man with her broom as if it was a pipe. “Lots of trouble about here these days—might you have any clue as to the cause?”

“I dunno nothing!” He shouted, backing away from her on all fours.

Fayette quirked an eyebrow. “I’m not stupid, you know. That implies that you do know something, doesn’t it? Let me be more blunt. I see your class. You’ve probably been out and about more than most, perhaps even directly involved. Do you know where this epidemic came from? The factories?”

He stayed silent, staring up at her, until he finally shook his head slowly. “Wasn’t the factories—no. I used to work there. We had a sickness, yes. Workers dismissed for a bit. But we came back after we got better, and the sickness came after. Not from the factory—from the east.”

Again, the eastern parts mentioned, Fayette thought, nodding. “Do you know anything more?”

“No—I’m not from round there. I was working when things suddenly changed. My illness flared up again too.”

Fayette bit her lip as she pondered the issue. Again this thing with the disease having a sudden shift all at once… So many have mentioned that. Is some one person really holding so much influence over it?

“W-will, you let me go?” The man asked, troubled by Fayette’s continued silence.

The [Maid] eyed him, or to be more precise, something unseen right above him. A shift in the ambient mana. “I would have, you know. I let that other guy go—even if I don’t know if I should’ve. But you… really shouldn’t have tried to use whatever skill you’re using right now.”

His eyes opened wide and he began to flinch up, and Fayette saw the tendril of plague mana emanating from him jitter forward more—but she was faster.

She jumped back five steps before he could get back up, well out of range of the tendril, then threw a fork right above him. A bucket set on the rooftop tipped over, and a slime of considerable acidity fell right on his head, covering it and sticking on tight—muting all screams.

Fayette watched the struggling form gradually grow quiet. It was a quirk of the body that the legs could stutter quite a bit even with the head half-dissolved to slough. She waited a bit after, then sighed. No experience notification for him… I was hoping that the style points on that kill would be counted.

She left the slime to feast on a deserved bounty and took the moment to jot down his words to her notebook, right next to the other testimonials she had gotten. Many things in them were contradictory, but some elements did remain the same. Chiefly the first monsters coming from the east, and that the change in the sickness was very sudden.

I probably need to investigate that district more thoroughly after… but first—

She threw another fork up at the bucket, and caught it in her hands as it fell, then collected up her slime—now satiated from a good meal. Then she stepped out the alley and looked west, at the trail of children hopping over the last few rooftop crossings before their destination.

Fayette moved to follow. Let’s get this thing over with.

—

[Excellent job chaperoning the children!]

[Progress to next level: 15%]

“Ooh, I got some decent experience for this one.”

“Please don’t brag like that, Fay, I’m still behind by a lot,” Mireille said, pushing another of the children through the abandoned warehouse’s secret tunnel.

“But you should start catching up now—right?” Fayette asked. “I remember how I felt after my class upgrade…”

“Shut it!” Mireille said, throwing one of the used-up disease-resist cloths at Fayette. “Don’t talk like some old veteran! You haven’t had the class for that long.”

Fayette dodged the cloth and took cover behind one of the room’s wooden support pillars. “A lot has happened in that time, it feels a lot longer, okay?”

They had managed to make it back in good time, and after a brief chat with the sentry posted at the warehouse, had started corralling the children through to safety. But Fayette itched to head back out. Mirielle threw another handkerchief at her, and this time an attached string made it swing right around the wooden pillar, hitting Fayette in the face.

Marie poked her head out of the tunnel, took one look at the two, and sighed. “Hey, please no fighting right now, the [Doctor] back there is checking on the kids, but we’re still missing one.”

Fayette grimaced and ripped the handkerchief off her face, then looked to her side. “That would be… you, Hailey. What are you doing?”

Indeed, one of the children was still in the room. Right next to Fayette in fact, taking cover behind another of the supports. He turned his head to the left and gave the [Maid] a serious nod. “I’m practicing for when I become a [Maid] too.”

“Trying to mimic me, are you?” Fayette asked while hiding her smile. She stepped to the center of the room and pointed at the dust covering all the room’s surfaces. “First you should focus on the basics: sweeping dust, mopping floors and all that. Taking cover from projectiles is a more advanced technique for better-trained [Maids].”

Hailey’s eyes widened, and the orphan bolted to stand right in front of Fayette. “I’m sorry for my failure, miss!”

Fayette eyed him and gave a slow nod. “At least you show spirit… now—do you know what you need to do next?”

He stared up at her, thought for a moment, then spoke hesitantly. “Should I… be sweeping dust?”

“No!” Fayette shouted, with a pointed gesture to the tunnel entrance and Marie, who was waiting there, an amused smile on her face. “The [Lady] gave an order, so you follow! Off to the tunnel you go! Move move move!”

No further encouragement needed, the boy sprinted into the gloomy corridor with a fury, leaving Marie catching up behind. He definitely has the right spirit for the job…

“Are you serious about training him up?” Mireille asked, stepping to Fayette’s side.

Fayette shrugged. “Maybe? Who knows? No harm in giving an enthusiastic kid something to do.”

“Well, I suppose that is true. I wonder if any of them are interested in seam work…” Mireille said, stepping toward the tunnel and giving the camouflaged hunter by its side a nod. Reaching it, she turned back to her friend. “Are you coming, Fay?”

“Actually… I was wondering if I might stick around and do some solo exploration for a bit. I got a lot of leads to explore, and I want to see what’s going on in the eastern district.”

Mireille took a step back from the tunnel entryway. “Are you sure you don’t need me to come with?”

“Well… I think I can move better alone. Easier to run away from anything truly bad if you only have to worry about yourself.”

The [Seamstress] nodded. “I don’t doubt you’ll manage fine, to be honest. Just promise to not do anything risky while alone. Don’t stick around until night—don’t know how these monsters get then.”

Fayette answered her nod. “I promise. Good luck with getting the children settled in there!”

Mireille snorted. “You know, I think I’ll try and offload that job to Marie… she was quite amusing in how she handled them.”

“Oh, I know all right. It was quite the sight! see you soon.”

With that, she stepped out the door and sprinted out into the alleyways outside. The day’s rounds of interrogations were only beginning.