Jiang Chen wasn't worried that Mona would leak the information.
Aside from him, she basically had no friends.
As for the Knights of Favonius, she had nothing to do with them.
At most, she might use them to push trouble away when needed.
After the three of them finished eating together, Lumine was about to wash the dishes herself.
But Mona quickly took them.
Jiang Chen didn't seem surprised.
"After washing them, pack the rest up and take it home."
"Oh."
Mona nodded.
Lumine still wanted to insist.
As a traveler, doing things personally was an important virtue.
A traveler shouldn't become spoiled.
If she could wash the dishes herself, she shouldn't rely on others.
But the next moment—
A wave of Hydro energy washed over the dishes.
They were instantly clean.
Lumine froze.
"Why compete with a Hydro Vision holder over something like that?"
Jiang Chen said calmly.
"…Alright."
Lumine could only accept it.
Jiang Chen crossed his arms and watched Mona pack the soup.
Then he continued:
"For the next month, come here every evening at seven."
"I'll have Sara prepare this soup for you."
"You can take it home."
"Eh?! Jiang Chen, that's not necessary!"
Mona looked extremely uneasy.
"This is a treatment course."
Jiang Chen spoke in a tone that allowed no argument.
"Eh? Do I have some kind of illness?"
Mona was startled.
Lumine thought about it.
"Is this the legendary diet therapy?"
"Something like that."
Jiang Chen said.
He would observe the results for a month.
If it worked, great.
If not, he'd just consider the Mora spent as experimental costs.
"…It's not a terminal illness, right?"
Mona instantly turned into a splash of water and slid closer.
She grabbed his hand nervously.
"Not that serious."
Jiang Chen gave her a reassuring look.
"But if you don't follow my instructions, then you'll really be beyond saving."
Even Lumine looked bigger than her.
It was embarrassing.
Especially when Mona actually had such a good overall figure.
"…Okay."
"I'll listen to you."
Mona left with a nervous expression.
"Is she not staying here tonight?"
Lumine asked curiously.
"She has her own rented place."
"Why would she stay here?"
Jiang Chen looked at her strangely.
Lumine lowered her head slightly.
Her cheeks turned red.
She suddenly realized she had misunderstood earlier.
Those two weren't in that kind of relationship.
"Rinse your mouth and go to sleep."
"A traveler shouldn't have the habit of sleeping in."
Jiang Chen said.
Lumine shook her head.
She had never slept late in her life.
After thinking for a moment, she said:
"Jiang Chen, I want to show you something."
"Oh?"
Jiang Chen raised an interested eyebrow.
Lumine took out a crimson crystal from Paimon's backpack space.
A sinister aura immediately filled the attic.
"This thing…"
Jiang Chen snapped his fingers.
A gust of wind closed the windows.
Better to avoid possible eyes watching from the shadows.
"You seem to know something about it."
"Paimon and I found this outside the city today."
"When we found it, Stormterror and a green guy were nearby."
"I thought it might be useful to you."
Lumine said nervously.
Originally, she had planned to show it to the Knights of Favonius.
But after learning that Jiang Chen wasn't completely aligned with them, she chose to show it only to him.
"This is Dvalin's tear."
"It turned like this because it contains extremely strong curse energy."
Jiang Chen explained.
"Dvalin?"
Lumine had heard that name before.
Even the voice of the Anemo Archon, Barbatos, had used it earlier.
Jiang Chen suddenly asked:
"Do you remember the Four Winds of Mondstadt?"
"Wolf of the North, Eagle of the West Wind, Lion of the South Wind, and Dragon of the East Wind."
Lumine answered.
"Correct."
"The Wolf of the North refers to the Grand Master."
"The Eagle of the West Wind represents the Knights of Favonius."
"The Lion of the South Wind refers to the Dandelion Knight, Jean."
"And the Dragon of the East Wind…"
"…is the ancient wind dragon Dvalin."
"That's Stormterror?!"
Lumine reacted immediately.
"That's why when we dealt with the Four Winds temples, we only needed to cleanse three."
Jiang Chen explained.
"Dvalin can only draw power from the other three temples."
"Because the fourth one belongs to him."
"But if he's one of Mondstadt's Four Winds…"
"Why would he attack Mondstadt?"
Lumine asked in confusion.
"This is probably the reason."
Jiang Chen pointed at the floating crimson crystal.
"Just like how waste reveals what's wrong inside a body…"
"If even a single tear is filled with this much curse energy, imagine how much is inside him."
Lumine looked a little discouraged.
"So aside from learning that… it doesn't really help us much, right?"
Jiang Chen smiled slightly.
"It still has some use."
He reached out and touched the crystal.
[System Notification]:
Curse energy detected inside the crystal. Purify it?
Yes.
A clear light flashed from Jiang Chen's palm.
The evil red glow was rapidly suppressed.
Soon it disappeared entirely.
The large crimson crystal shrank into a fist-sized, clear crystal.
"These crystals contain extremely dense Anemo energy."
"Even a single drop could overload a Vision."
"They'll definitely be useful sooner or later."
Jiang Chen said.
"Jiang Chen… did you just purify it?"
Lumine asked in surprise.
"You could do it too."
Jiang Chen replied.
"This kind of curse doesn't affect travelers from another world like us."