Chapter 3: Employment

"Today, I woke up, and I prepared a meal for two, completely forgetting that you would never walk out of your room anymore" - Layla Amiri, the Immortal's Maid.

***

"I am not going to ask again, return the girl's bag"

The men were still confused as to what happened to their companion. But hearing the foreigner's calm tone… Was she the one who did that?

But that was impossible, they couldn't even see what happened. Their companion might have just tripped, yes. That was probably the reason why.

But just in case…

"We will let you walk away, woman", one of the men spoke after a long gulp, "We have a cultivator of the Earthen Core realm here!", he threatened.

Hearing the words 'Earthen Core Realm', Layla slightly scoffed before covering her mouth, "S...sorry", she cleared her throat as she tried her best not to giggle, "We all have to start somewhere, one of my master's teachings"

"Y-you!", another man spoke, presumably the Earthen Core Realm cultivator that the earlier man mentioned just now, "We were gonna let you go but you just signed your grave!"

"Isn't that a bit drastic?", Layla could not help but sigh, "I just want you to return the bag to this little miss and we can all walk away peacefully. My master has said that if one can choose peace, then that should always be the answer"

"Tch, I don't care who this ugly master of yours is!", the Earthen Core Realm thug cracked his knuckles, "You are dead now!"

"Ugly…?", Layla whispered.

Her whispers felt like it crawled through the walls of the alleyway and straight through the man's ears. It was followed by a cold chill, enough to freeze the blood that flows through one's veins.

"Did you just say… My master is ugly?"

Layla once again spoke... her tone nothing but cold. The pressure that Layla emitted made her look like a titan in the cultivator's eyes, which made him fall to his butt.

"N...no, get away from me!", he screamed as he slightly crawled back.

"What are you doing man!?", one of the thugs blocked his path.

"C....can't you see that!?", he screamed as he pointed at Layla, "She's a monster!"

"What… are you even saying?"

The group of thugs looked at Layla all at the same time, but the only thing they could see was a pitiful foreigner that was unfortunately at the wrong place and at the wrong time. Where was the monster that their brother was pointing at?

"What monster are you talking about!?"

"Run! Run!", the cultivator then stood up, but before he could do so, he saw his vision shift.

'A...are those my legs?', the cultivator could not help but comment as he saw a pair of legs and felt his body fall to the ground. And in just a few seconds, his vision started to turn black.

"The price for insulting my master… is death"

Hearing Layla's words and seeing their cultivator friend split into two pieces, the thugs finally realized the predicament that they were in. Which made it even more obvious was the gigantic… kitchen knife that the foreigner was wielding.

"W...wait", one of the thugs started to back away, "We… will return the bag. Get it! Get the bag!"

He then carefully picked up the girl's bag and quickly threw it towards Layla. They weren't stupid. There was no use in trying to fight someone who can slice an Earthen Cultivator in half with just one swing.

Layla could not help but sigh as she picked up the bag that landed in front of her, "Here you go, little miss", she said as she handed the bag to the girl behind her.

"...", the girl unconsciously retrieved her bag. Her vision stuck on the man that just split in half. She wanted to puke, but her body was currently frozen stiff from what she just saw.

While this was happening, the thugs slowly started to walk away, their steps quiet and sneaky. But before they could even take their 3rd step, Layla's voice once again echoed through the alleyway.

"Where do you think all of you are going?", she said in a very threatening tone.

"We...we already returned the bag!", one of the men said, "P...please let us go!"

"Y..yes! We will start our new lives!"

"We were just ordered to do this by-"

The thugs started to panic as their stuttered words filled the alleyway, but their words instantly stopped as soon as a group of silhouettes appeared all at the same time in front of them.

The group that just appeared were all wearing black suits, and they were wearing sunglasses, even though they were in a dark alleyway.

"W-what's going o-"

One of the thugs was about to say something, but before he could do so, his neck was snapped in a very awkward position. But it wasn't just him, the rest of his friends started to fall to the ground as their necks were broken by the group that just arrived.

"Forgive us for being late, Lady Mei!"

After snapping the necks of all the thugs, they all casually kneeled towards the girl that was behind Layla.

The girl, Lady Mei, quickly snapped from her stupor as she looked at the men that just kneeled on the ground.

"Y...you guys are useless!", she started to scream, "Where were you guys when I needed you!?"

"We are very sorry, Lady Diao Mei!", all the men wearing suits kneeled even further to the ground, "Please forgive us!"

Their shouts and movements were synchronized as if they were only one unit.

"You know these men?", Layla asked the girl, her words soft.

"Y...yes", Diao Mei hesitated to answer, her words stuttered as she stared at Layla's gigantic knife.

"I see", as soon as Layla noticed this, the weapon on her hand quickly disappeared.

"Was that… a blood weapon!?", Diao Mei's expression finally shifted, no longer minding the corpses that were surrounding her.

Blood weapons, as the name suggests, were weapons that were bound by the user's blood. One can call them upon will, and make it disappear with the same method.

"No", Layla quickly shook her head, "It's one of my kitchen knives, gifted to me by my master"

As soon as she mentioned her master, Layla's eyes turned moist and she looked at her hand.

"I… I see", Diao Mei chuckled awkwardly. She then looked at one of the men wearing a black suit, "My father will hear of this! It was a good thing that miss… uhmm, what's your name?", she said as she turned her head back towards Layla.

"Layla Amiri, unemployed maid, at your service", Layla said, her expression stoic.

"It was a good thing Miss Layla was here to sav- Wait, did you just say you are an unemployed maid?", Diao Mei's expression suddenly became excited.

"Yes", Layla squinted her eyes.

"That's perfect!", Diao Mei grabbed Layla's hands,

"We're currently looking for new maids!"