"Hey lady! Your boss said something about sending us the half of our agreement through you. Are we really gonna receive our half payment in addition to the ones looted from the kid over there," A huge and well built man having a huge beard with an eye patch on one eye and a cigarette in his mouth spoke in a rather husky voice as he inquired from a woman dressed in a imperial maid dressing.
Both were currently on board a flying vessel as they steadily trail behind another vessel a few kilometers ahead of them.
"That is correct. You will receive your reward upon completing this quest." The head maid replied in her usual neutral tone.
"Hehe.... Music to my ears. C'mon men!! We're heading port!! so full speed ahead!!" The huge bandit captain proclaimed.
"Aye!! Aye!! Captain!!" The ship's helmsman replied in a loud voice while role playing as a pirate crew member.
In fact, they were all a bunch of nut heads for it was all the bandit members including the captain who were actually role playing as pirates. If you were not a pirate fanatics, don't even bother joining this group of bandits. Such was the level of their obsession.
Hearing what the bandit leader ordered, the head maid decided to head towards her cabin but was suddenly interrupted by two bandit members with one of their arms crossed across each other necks and the other arm holding a huge cup of ale.
"Hey lady!!....hic....Join us!!....hic....C'mon, you know you....hic... wanna. Just trust us, you'll be COMING for more soon enough," With their cheeks and ears currently reddened which clearly showcased their current state of inebrity, both tried to offer the head maid a cup of ale.
Instead the head maid avoided eye contact with them, clearly she wasn't in the mood to mess around with a bunch of drunken fools.
"Captain! What's the tactic tonight?"
Meanwhile noticing they were currently a few meters away from their target, the vice captain thought it would be best to ask what today's plan of attack would be.
"There's none tonight Jack. The target is just a kid with a really huge cash. Today's really our lucky day. Tell Johnny to move faster, the earlier we get this done the better. After all, dawn will be approaching very soon. We are not called the shadow hunters for nothing," The bandit leader declared while smoking.
"Aye! Captain!" The vice captain responded before ordering the rest of the bandit crew members to get armed and ready to attack.
With their flying vessel now currently on top of their target's vessel, all available member hopped over to the next vessel.
*****
Meanwhile the head maid was currently in the nude as she takes a step into the water filled bathtub with a stool right beside her containing a paper, a pen, a knife and an apple.
"I'm sorry Naomi. I just can't betray Her Majesty any longer than I already have. Hehe..... Well, this mission was destined to fail from the onset. I'm sorry I won't be able to witness your upgrade into a Platinum rank assassin,"
The head maid with a chin length orange colored hair chuckled a little to herself before submerging her body inside the tub.
Just as the head maid declared. She knew her master had sent her here to die in the first place, so she wasn't going to feel surprised by how the current turn of event was gonna occur.
After all, not just anyone could successfully enter the Empress bed chambers to cure three blood craving cannibals. This was the best option her master opted for to get rid of anyone and everyone who could eventually jeopardize his plans in the long run.
And failure to abide to her master's wishes will certainly lead to the death of someone she cares about. 'Life certainly isn't fair, we are neither afforded the choice of how we want to enter or leave this cruel world where affluence speaks volumes,' The head maid thought to herself before everywhere turned black.
******
"Captain! There's no one on deck!" The vice captain yelled with his hands momentarily brought up to make a shrug.
*Click* *Click*
*Boom!!*. *Boom!!*
Just as the vice captain yelled his words out, two clicking sound of a finger resonated a thunderous sound within the ears of all bandit members which roughly summed up to a total of twenty men.
And just before the thunderous sound could come to an end, a myriad of white lightning struck from the sky and onto every bandit crew member.
"Ahhh!!!"
All they could feel was a jolting, excruciating pain which assaulted their body before their brain cells exploded in unison.
"What the....?"
Unbeknownst to the bandit leader, a vast thundercloud had been floating above their vessel. Clearly they had been spotted by the one who was supposed to be the hunted.
*Boom!!*
Dante appeared before the bandit leader with a flash of lightning illuminating the dark clouds above them just right after a huge thunderclap was heard to announce Dante's presence.
Witnessing this, the bandit leader subconsciously dropped to his knees and inquired before Dante. "Who are you?"
Dante stood there and remained reticent for a few seconds with his bloodshot eyes clearly filled with rage and death itself before he responded.
*Your Worst Nightmare,"
*Boom!* Another thunderclap was heard from the dark clouds above.
"Eiii!!!!" The bandit leader shrieked in terror with his legs currently feeling numb to respond to his thoughts, which had been yelling 'RUN!!'
Dante swept his awareness across the ship to find one more person within the vessel and then.....
*Poof*
He vanished before the bandit leader and appeared in the room of the head maid to find her bathtub currently filled with red liquid and a slit across her neck. It was already too late but Dante certainly recognize the face before him even though that had met for a fleeting moment.
He glanced towards the stool having an apple, a pen and a sheet of paper on it.
On the paper, three words were written in capital letters.
"FORGIVE ME NAOMI,"
"*Sighs* ... Placing your loved ones best interest in mind before yours can make you do stupid things at times,"
Seeing the way the head maid currently was now, it seems the person called Naomi must be someone really important to the head maid and so to ensure that the person gets the chance to witness the best of what life has to offer.
The head maid had been switching jobs to make ends meet before finally making contact with someone of high pedigree who might have introduced her into the ranks of the imperial maids before she worked on her own to get to the position she currently found herself in.
Dante vanished from the scenery and appeared before the bandit captain.
"Going somewhere?"
"Eii!!" The one eye bandit instinctively shrieked upon hearing the voice of the menacing foe that caused the current conundrum he found himself in.
'Oh fuck!'
The bandit captain, who apparently had already packed a few gold coins for his personal use as he sought a means of escape couldn't help but tremble and curse at himself for taking too long to pack what was needed.