Jiang Yan walked up behind the furtive figure and tapped the head beneath the witch's hat.
"Why are you loitering out here instead of going inside?"
"Be careful—you'll get mistaken for a suspicious person by the Knights of Favonius."
His tone was casual, clearly familiar.
"Ah!"
The sneaky one was startled instead.
She staggered back two steps, lifting her chin slightly as a pair of watery, light-green eyes looked up at him.
Her delicate face carried a constant hint of pride. She had a tall, elegant figure clad in an exquisite one-piece black bodysuit beneath a witch's outfit. Long black hair was tied into twin tails that fell down her back, their tips adorned with arcane ornaments.
Mondstadt's astrologist—Mona.
"Jiang Yan…"
Mona let out a relieved breath. Her hands clasped in front of her stomach as she spoke, her cheeks faintly flushed.
"I… I divined that you weren't inside."
She shifted uneasily, her legs rubbing together with visible embarrassment.
Those stockings—
Jiang Yan felt his composure slipping.
"So," he said quickly, forcing himself to look away, "what trouble did you run into this time?"
"Well… because of Stormterror's attack and the ongoing storm, The Steambird can't process payments right now, so myroyalties—"
Grrr—
A very distinct sound echoed from her stomach.
Mona froze.
Her already pink cheeks instantly turned bright red.
"You calculated your budget exactly down to the day yourroyalties arrives again, didn't you?" Jiang Yan said, entirely unsurprised.
As Mondstadt's astrologist, Mona never charged for divination.
She strongly rejected using hydromancy to earn Mora.
Her only source of income came from her column Astrological Consultations in The Steambird.
And yet—even then—she constantly poured her earnings into research. More often than not, by the time she came to her senses, the remainder of her monthly pay barely kept her hovering at the edge of starvation.
How bad was it?
She had once survived on wild mushrooms for an entire month to save money for research. If not for occasional aid, she might not have made it.
An absolute menace to her own livelihood.
Jiang Yan had once found her unconscious in the wilderness—
collapsed from hunger.
Ever since then, she'd never let things get that bad again.
When she was truly starving, she'd come looking for him herself.
"My calculations were flawless," Mona insisted stubbornly.
"This was an uncontrollable external variable."
"Mhm, mhm. All Stormterror's fault," Jiang Yan agreed solemnly.
Candlelight glowed inside the Good Hunter.
He pushed the door open.
Inside, Lumine and Paimon were sitting at a table on the first floor.
They both looked over.
"Jiang Yan!"
Lumine ran over happily—
then stopped short when she noticed Mona.
"Lumine, this is Mona. A friend of mine," Jiang Yan introduced.
"Hello," Mona said.
Seeing Lumine's rather battered appearance, Mona instinctively assumed she was just as broke as herself. Her goodwill toward her skyrocketed.
"Hello," Lumine replied.
Bringing a cute girl home late at night—
No matter how Lumine thought about it, this looked like a special kind of relationship.
"Jiang Yan, you're back?"
Paimon lay sprawled on a chair, belly visibly round, barely lifting a hand to greet him.
The table was a disaster zone.
Plates, skewers, crumbs everywhere.
The restaurant still smelled strongly of leftovers.
Mona sniffed the air—and felt her heart sink.
She hadn't eaten any of those things.
She looked at Paimon the way one looks at an obscenely wealthy noble.
"We… might have eaten a little too much," Lumine said apologetically.
In reality, ninety percent of it had gone into Paimon's stomach.
The amount was bigger than Paimon herself. No one knew where it all fit.
"It's fine," Jiang Yan said.
"Business won't be great for the next couple days anyway. Letting food sit too long would hurt the Good Hunter's reputation. You helping clear it out actually helps me."
Hearing that, Paimon immediately struggled upright.
"If that's the case, please leave this kind of task to me in the future!"
Mona opened her mouth—then closed it again.
The mascot had stolen her lines.
"This is Paimon," Jiang Yan added. "She's a guide."
He glanced at Lumine's disheveled state and asked,
"Are you staying here tonight?"
"Staying here?"
Lumine's eyes lit up in surprise.
She'd originally planned to return the key and look for a cheap inn.
If she could stay at the Good Hunter, she'd save Mora—
And Jiang Yan was here. She felt especially at ease around him.
But then she remembered Mona.
Would staying be… intrusive?
After a moment's hesitation, Lumine shook her head.
"We already booked an inn."
It was a lie.
She picked up Paimon and casually covered her mouth to stop her from exposing it.
Jiang Yan didn't doubt her.
Even if they hadn't booked one themselves, the Knights of Favonius would likely have arranged accommodations.
He could invite them again tomorrow.
He'd momentarily forgotten that this kind of logistical detail was normally handled by Kaeya—
who had just returned with him earlier.
"Jiang Yan," Lumine asked at the door, "can I come again tomorrow?"
"Of course," he replied.
Her lips curved into a small, gentle smile as she closed the door behind her.
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