Jiang Chen walked up behind the figure and tapped her on the head beneath the witch’s hat.
“What are you doing standing out here instead of going inside?”
“Careful—the Knights of Favonius might mistake you for a suspicious character.”
He spoke with an air of familiarity.
“Ah!”
The furtive figure flinched in surprise.
She took two steps back, tilting her head slightly, and looked up at him with clear, light-green eyes.
Her adorable face carried a perpetual hint of pride, and her slender form was clad in a stunning bodysuit of black stockings beneath a witch’s attire.
Her long black hair was tied into twin ponytails that hung behind her, adorned with magical device pendants at the tips.
It was Mondstadt’s astrologist, Mona.
“Jiang Chen.”
Mona let out a sigh of relief, clasping her hands in front of her stomach, a blush creeping onto her face.
“I divined that you weren’t inside.”
The girl’s cheeks were tinged with shyness as she fidgeted, rubbing her legs together uneasily.
Those black stockings…
Jiang Chen felt like he couldn’t handle it.
“Alright, what trouble have you run into today?”
He shifted his focus to ask.
“Because of the Stormterror attacks and the storms, *The Steambird* can’t process my manuscript fees for now, so I…”
Gurgle.
As Mona spoke, her stomach let out an odd, rumbling sound.
Her already flushed face turned a deep crimson.
“You calculated your budget down to the exact day your manuscript fees would come in again, didn’t you?”
Jiang Chen knew her situation all too well.
As Mondstadt’s astrologist, Mona never charged a single Mora for her divinations.
She was strongly opposed to using her hydromancy to earn money.
So her only source of income came from the *Astrological Notes* column in *The Steambird*.
Even so, as an astrologist, she couldn’t resist pouring that money into her research.
More often than not, by the time she came to her senses, the remaining monthly payment barely kept her hovering on the edge of survival.
How dire was that edge?
Mona had once survived on wild mushrooms for an entire month just to save money for her studies.
If not for the occasional handouts she received, she might not have made it.
She was absolutely ruthless.
Jiang Chen had once found her passed out in the wild. This story is hosted at g.com.
She had fainted from hunger back then.
But ever since that incident, Mona had never fallen that low again.
Whenever she got too hungry, she would come to him on her own.
“My calculations are never wrong—it’s just an unforeseen accident.”
Mona stubbornly clung to her pride.
“Mm-hmm, all the Stormterror’s fault.”
Jiang Chen played along.
Inside Good Hunter, candlelight flickered.
He pushed open the door and stepped in.
Lumine and Paimon were sitting at a table on the first floor of the restaurant.
They turned to look at him.
“Jiang Chen.”
Lumine hurried over happily.
Then she caught sight of Mona and instinctively stopped in her tracks.
“Lumine, this is Mona, a friend of mine.”
Jiang Chen introduced them.
“Hello.”
Mona noticed Lumine’s disheveled appearance and assumed she was just as broke as herself, instantly warming up to her.
“Hello.”
Lumine replied.
Bringing a cute girl home late at night…
No matter how Lumine thought about it, there might be something special going on.
“Jiang Chen, you’re back?”
Paimon, her belly round and full, was sprawled out on a chair, barely managing to greet him.
The table was a mess.
Covered in plates and skewers.
The restaurant was thick with the lingering smell of leftover food.
Mona sniffed the air, and a wave of sorrow washed over her—she couldn’t identify a single dish.
They were all things she had never eaten before.
She looked at Paimon like she was eyeing a filthy rich glutton.
“We might have eaten a bit too much.”
Lumine said sheepishly.
In truth, ninety percent of it had gone into Paimon’s stomach.
The sheer volume seemed even larger than Paimon herself—Lumine had no idea how she managed to pack it all in.
“It’s fine. Get faster updates on g.com.
Business won’t be good for the next couple of days anyway.
If the ingredients sit too long and lose their freshness, it could hurt Good Hunter’s reputation.
So having you two clean it up actually works out perfectly.”
Jiang Chen said.
Paimon perked up at that, struggling to sit upright.
“If something like this happens again, please, by all means, leave it to me!”
Mona, who had been about to speak, clamped her mouth shut.
How did this little mascot steal her line?
“This is Paimon, a guide.”
Jiang Chen added by way of introduction.
He glanced at Lumine’s disheveled state and asked, “Are you planning to stay here tonight?”
“Stay here?”
Lumine felt a flicker of surprise.
She had originally planned to return the key and then look for a cheap inn.
If she could stay at Good Hunter, she might save some Mora, right?
Besides, with Jiang Chen here, she felt especially at ease.
But he had brought a cute girl home.
Would she and Paimon be intruding if they stayed?
Thinking it over, Lumine shook her head.
“We’ve already booked a hotel.”
She lied.
Then she scooped up Paimon and quickly covered her mouth.
Jiang Chen didn’t suspect a thing.
Even if Lumine and Paimon hadn’t booked anything themselves, the Knights of Favonius would probably help arrange it.
He could just invite her again tomorrow.
For a moment, he forgot that this kind of logistical detail was actually handled by Kaeya, who managed everything down to the smallest task.
And Kaeya had only just returned with him not long ago.
“Jiang Chen, can I come back tomorrow?” Lumine asked from the doorway.
“Of course.”
Jiang Chen said.
A faint smile curled at the corners of Lumine’s lips.
She turned and left, pulling the door shut behind her.
Happy reading!