It had been a while since Mei went out looking for work, but she needed to do that if she wanted to keep surviving. Living alone meant that all the responsibilities were yours and yours alone, and Mei learnt that real fast. She was never the dependent type since the beginning. She would always try to help out with her parents’ work ever since she was a child. It was thanks to her mom and dad’s good job as parents too. She had a good upbringing. So even living alone was not that big of a challenge for her. Her parents had taught and prepared her for almost everything.

Dressed in an appropriate outfit for the job that she was going for today. It was requested by a Captain in the Rune Knights, which meant that she had to make a good impression. She could not mess up in front of someone with such high authority. Even though she felt a little intimidated by his rank, she decided that the best thing to do was to just act natural and be herself. She did not need to impress the captain of the Rune Knights. She just needed to complete the task he was going to assign  her.

Once she arrived at the meeting place to discuss the details of the request, she saw that the client was already there. He was actually really early, because Mei herself came extra early just to make sure she did not have to keep the client waiting. “Oh, I’m sorry I’m late...” she began, but the client cut her off and told her that he came way too early and there was no need to apologize. Then he shoved a small folder into her hands, giving her a brief guide and then took off.

Apparently the client was there so early simply because he had other things to do. Of course, duh. Why did she not think of that? He was a Rune Knight after all. They probably had a lot of things to take care of, apart from finding out if their subordinates were corrupt. After giving her the details and briefly explaining to her what he wanted done, he took off, leaving Mei with some papers with details of the five people she was supposed to spy on, including pictures of them attached as well. Perfect. Now, her mission could actually begin!

Since she could spare a few minutes, Mei decided to grab a quick drink, which, of course, was bubble tea by the way. She spotted a stand close to where she met her client, and she just could not resist it. It was like the tapioca balls were calling for her or something. Anyway, so she got bubble tea and hurried to where she would find the subordinates. They had their own little stationed locations so it made it easy for her to do the job. She once dreamed of joining the Rune Knights for some reason, but now that she thought about it, she could not be bothered with the hassle that comes with the nice uniform and authority.

She began to properly watch the suspects of the request, making any notes if necessary while sipping on her bubble tea. It was a big disappointment to her when she realized that she had finished her bubble tea by the time she was onto the third suspect. It was more disappointing than finding out that the first two were already confirmed to be corrupt after she witnessed them taking bribes from people to give them passes. It was not surprising to her. She already knew that not everyone was perfect, and if there was a chance to be able to get a little more, it was kind of hard to shy away because there were a lot of Rune Knights in the country and it was hard to be recognized for being a ‘hero’ or something. Sometimes you just cannot resist.

After the whole ordeal of having to spy on five corrupt Rune Knights on an empty stomach and no bubble tea, Mei returned to the meeting spot of where the client would be waiting again for the result of this mission. Mei had written notes on all the actions of the knights she was observing and gave him all the information. Sadly three out of the five knights were corrupt, which was pretty disappointing for the client who clearly expressed his frustration by slamming his fist into a nearby wall. After this, he rewarded her and allowed her to leave, also expressing his thanks.