The last request she took from Reagan gave her another task and that was to deliver the rum bottle to Balthazar. She did not want to take long and pretty much wanted to finish what she had to do fast so she decided to go to Balthazar today to deliver the rum bottle. She was actually hoping that Reagan gave it to her as a gift when he handed her the bottle. She could use a free bottle of rum to chill back at the inn, but too bad it was not for her. She could technically steal it, but then she remembered that Balthazar had said something about wanting her to do something for him in the mission she did together with Geb. Although Geb was not around to do this quest together with him, Bianca thought Balthazar would want a helping hand anyways. Maybe she could get something out of delivering him the rum bottle. Maybe he might give her a job to do, too. With that thought in mind, Bianca set out to the dock once again with the rum bottle in hand, not really caring about the stares she was receiving for carrying around alcohol in broad daylight. Most people who saw her probably assumed she was a drunk or something, and that was alright because she did not care.

As she arrived at the docks, she started searching for Balthazar who was a pretty noticeable given his appearance and his tall height. It was not as hard as finding Reagan because Reagan had the typical old man look and was always hiding around the docks. Balthazar stood somewhere at the docks ordering his men around when Bianca spotted him. She approached him casually, so that she did not appear suspicious or anything. Once he noticed her, she asked if there was anything she could do for him, referring to their previous meeting when he said that he could use her and Geb’s help. She then presented him with the rum bottle, saying that it was from old man Reagan. Balthazar gave her a skeptical look as if he thought she was a spy or something, but after recognizing her from the previous request where they met at the beach, he accepted the rum bottle, opening it and smelling it to make sure it was not poison or whatever the reason was for him to smell it, then gulping down the neck of it. Afterwards, he handed it to one of his men probably to keep it away. Returning his gaze back to Bianca, he narrowed his eyes before speaking to her.

“Good thing you’re here. I need you to deliver this bag to Maxwell. He’ll be waiting at the outskirts. Be careful, too,” said Balthazar, dropping a bag into Bianca’s hands. Amazed by the sudden leap in trust from Balthazar, Bianca nodded and agreed to help him. It would take a while for her to travel to the outskirts on foot, but she would do it for the money anyways.

So then she would begin her journey to the outskirts where Maxwell would be waiting. She had a feeling she knew this person. She had probably taken a job from him, but Maxwell was a very common name, so she could not tell if that Maxwell was the Maxwell she had worked for before. After all, she had worked for a number of people by now with all sorts of names, common and uncommon, so she would have to find out if this Maxwell person was the same Maxwell she worked for, if she even worked for a Maxwell in the first place.

As soon as she started her journey, she noticed that she was being followed, given her vampire instincts. Something was odd. Stopping for a minute to observe her surroundings, Bianca came to realise that she was being followed, by not only one person, but by a number of them in uniform. Rune Knights! How terrifying! Not really. With the speed that she possessed, she could possibly outrun them. She started to pick up her pace, making a run for it. Maybe she could outrun them, but if she calculated correctly, she was outnumbered and who knew how fast they were. As she started to move faster, she noticed that the knights started to chase her and that was when she began to ran at full speed, giving no chance for the knights to catch her, but they still tried. If she reached the outskirts before them and gave Maxwell the bag, part one of her job was completed, so that was what she was going to do now. It was the important part anyways.

Bianca ran as fast as she could, using the environment to hide and run instead of just straight up running. Thankfully, she knew the ways in these parts of town, so she did not have much trouble navigating through the woods near the beach and such. The part of town she was supposed to go to was not too far from the docks either, compared to other parts, so she was grateful about that. Soon she would arrive there actually, if she kept up this pace, but hopefully Maxwell was waiting there already, otherwise she would be caught, and the whole mission would have been jeopardized. Bianca kept an eye on the knights following her although they were trying their best to be as sneaky as they could as well, but given her superb eyesight, she could see where they were and the way they were chasing her. After a while of continuous running, Bianca came to a spot where she noticed a familiar blonde man. It was indeed the Maxwell that she had worked for before. She recognized as soon as she saw his face. Looking back to check if the knights had caught up to her, she realised that she had sort of outrun them, for the time being. Soon they would catch up and that was not going to be fun.

“From Balthazar,” she said in between deep intakes of breath.

Maxwell thanked her for the fast delivery, although she did not know if he was joking because he noticed her panting or saying it because it was actually a fast delivery. “No problem,” said Bianca, giving him a wave of her hand. He did not seem to recognize her, but that was a good thing, probably. After catching her breath and checking to see if the knights had caught up to her, Bianca noticed that they had been left behind somewhere. This was her chance. She left Maxwell and headed into the city, blending into the crowd. As it was Sunday, there was a lot of people on the streets wandering around and enjoying their weekend. She walked together with a group of people who were moving towards the docks. They were probably heading towards their own little destinations, but they were moving in flocks so she used the crowds to blend in and disappear from the Rune Knights’ radar. She did not have very brightly colored hair and was not wearing any flashy clothes so this was sort of easy for her. The knights probably gave up looking for her at this point, as she did not see a single knight anywhere near where she was at the moment. Crossing a stress, she was just about fifteen minutes walk from the docks. Maybe they had gone back to the docks to look for her there. Thinking too much again. Bianca shook her head and continued to walk with the slowly moving crowd. She did not want to start running, otherwise the knights would notice her.

This time she did not receive stares as she was not carrying around a rum bottle anymore and there was no one who was free enough to give her stares. Everyone was minding their own business and enjoying their free time, some with their loved ones, some alone and some with their friends. Bianca was a lone wanderer at the moment, hoping that the crowd moved even just a little bit faster. She could not wait to return to Balthazar. Maybe her fast return could impress him and make him want to reward her more than usual. With that hope in mind, she began to pick up her pace, just a little bit, so that she did not stand out from the crowd but also got to her destination a bit faster. She had to stop at a few streets to cross, which made her tap her feet impatiently while waiting for the light to go green, which was when she strode across the last street to cross before reaching the lane that would lead to the docks. Soon she would arrive at the spot that Balthazar was before but find that he was not there anymore. So she began to look for him once again. He was probably moving around so that he did not get caught or something, although he was still here at the docks doing dirty business all the time.

When she finally found Balthazar, she looked around to make sure the Rune Knights were not anywhere near her or Balthazar, she approached him again, informing him that she had completed the delivery. He seemed rather surprised and impressed at the same time, which was a good thing. With a smile, Bianca thought about telling him how she was being chased by knights, but decided against it. It would have seemed a bit cowardly to do so.

“Fast! I like it. Here’s your reward,” said Balthazar, handing her a little pouch filled with jewels that made a clinking sound as he dropped the tiny pouch into her receiving palm. Bianca nodded her thanks and shoved the pouch into her pocket before leaving the docks. She did not bother to check the amount of jewels she was given since even Balthazar had so much trust in her although it was their second time meeting. Bianca could have done away with the delivery bag or even the rum bottle, but since Balthazar was testing her by showing her that he trusted her, she would have to prove to be trustworthy. Bianca then headed back to her inn, thinking of hunting near the bridge that was close to the inn she was staying at. After all, it had been a while since the last time she had fed. She bought a cap on her way back that looked pretty on her to save her face from burning in the sunlight. Summer was here and it was a disaster. It seemed to be getting hotter and hotter day by day which was a seriously bad thing for her skin.

Adjusting her cap, Bianca went to the bridge that was not used anymore, so barely anyone passed by, but there were always two or three people taking the shortcut to somewhere. You could say they were bold as the bridge looked like it could collapse any time soon. The good thing was that there was no one around, which meant that she would not have to worry about being caught feeding out in broad daylight like this. It was only afternoon, so she had to be careful. After a while of waiting patiently, a petite victim decided to use this old bridge to cross to this side of the creek. Suddenly, Bianca was reminded of the incident a few nights ago with Seira. She wondered if that girl was doing okay after what she did to her, although it looked like she was so curious to see what would happen that she forgot to save herself. Bianca turned away and decided to walk back to her inn, trying to forget about it before she felt like throwing up or something. The sad thing was that she never got her address, so there was no way to go and check up on her. Someday, hopefully, they would meet again and when that happened, Bianca would remember to write her address down somewhere so she never forgot.