Jensen walked up behind the figure and rapped his knuckles lightly on the head beneath the witch's hat.
"Why are you lurking out here instead of going inside?"
"If a Knight of Favonius sees you, they might mark you as a suspicious person."
He spoke with the ease of someone who had done this more than once.
"Ah!"
The sneaky figure was the one who got startled instead.
She hurriedly shuffled back two steps and lifted her chin a little. Clear, pale green eyes like polished water turned toward him.
That cute face always carried a hint of pride. Her slender figure was wrapped in a stunning black bodysuit and witch's outfit, long black hair tied into twin tails that fell down her back, their tips weighted with small arcane devices.
Mondstadt's astrologer, Mona.
"Jensen."
Mona let out a breath of relief. Her hands intertwined over her lower abdomen as she spoke, cheeks tinged pink. "My divinations said you were not inside."
There was an extra hint of shyness on her face. She rubbed her thighs together absentmindedly, clearly uneasy.
Those black stockings...
Jensen felt his self control wobble.
"Alright, tell me. What trouble are you in this time?"
He quickly shifted his attention and changed the topic.
"Because of Stormterror's attack and the storm, The Steambird cannot settle manuscript fees for now, so I..."
Guuuu...
Mona was in the middle of explaining when her stomach let out a long, pitiful growl.
The faint blush on her cute face instantly spread, turning her crimson from ear to ear.
"You calculated your budget precisely to last until the day the manuscript payment came in again, did you not?"
Jensen knew her situation all too well.
As Mondstadt's astrologer, Mona never charged even a single Mora for her divinations.
She absolutely refused to use her hydromancy as a way to earn money.
So her only source of income was the "Star Sign Consultation" column she wrote for The Steambird.
Even then, as an astrologer, she could not help herself. Most of that money ended up poured into research. By the time she regained awareness of her spending, the rest of her monthly pay barely let her hover right at the edge of the poverty line.
How poor was that, exactly?
To save expenses for research, Mona had once lived an entire month on wild mushrooms. If she had not occasionally received emergency aid, she might not have survived.
Utterly ruthless... to herself.
Jensen had once literally picked her up like a corpse in the wild.
She had completely passed out from hunger.
But after that incident, Mona had never fallen to such a state again.
When she was truly starving, she would actively come looking for him.
"My calculations were flawless. This was an uncontrollable accident."
Mona insisted, still clinging to her pride.
"Mm, it is all Stormterror's fault."
Jensen agreed smoothly.
Good Hunter still had candlelight burning inside.
He pushed the door open and walked in.
Lumine and Paimon were sitting at one of the tables in the first floor dining area.
They both turned toward the sound.
"Jensen."
Lumine ran over, eyes bright.
Then she saw Mona behind him and stopped herself on instinct.
"Lumine, this is Mona, a friend of mine," Jensen said by way of introduction.
"Hello."
Seeing Lumine in such a disheveled state, Mona instantly assumed they were in the same boat, fellow poor souls, and her favorability shot up.
"Hello," Lumine replied.
Being brought home late at night with a very cute girl in tow... no matter how she looked at it, Lumine felt there had to be something special between them.
"Jensen, you are back?"
Paimon was sprawled on her chair, belly round as a drum, and greeted them with some effort.
The table was a complete disaster, piled with plates and skewers.
The restaurant smelled strongly of leftover food.
Mona sniffed the air, and a wave of grief washed through her heart.
She did not smell a single thing she had eaten.
All of it was food she had never even tasted before.
The way she looked at Paimon was almost the way one glared at a wasteful landlord's dog.
"We might have eaten a bit too much."
Lumine said, a little embarrassed.
In reality, at least ninety percent of it had gone into Paimon.
The amount seemed bigger than Paimon herself. Lumine had no idea where it all fit.
"It is fine. Business will not be good for the next couple of days anyway. If we leave the ingredients sitting around, they will not be fresh, and that might hurt Good Hunter's reputation. Having you two clean everything up actually helps."
Jensen waved it off.
Paimon wriggled and pushed herself upright in excitement. "Next time something like this happens, please leave it to me too."
Mona's half opened lips closed again.
This mascot had snatched her line.
"This is Paimon, a guide."
Jensen added the missing introduction.
He took in Lumine's scuffed clothes and soot stained skirt and asked, "Are you planning to stay here tonight?"
"Stay here?"
Lumine felt a little spark of pleasant surprise.
She had been planning to return the keys and then look around for a cheap inn.
If they could stay at Good Hunter, they could save a lot of Mora.
And with Jensen here, she felt especially at ease.
But Jensen had brought home such a cute girl. If she and Paimon stayed, would they be getting in the way of... something?
Thinking of that, Lumine shook her head. "We already booked an inn."
She lied smoothly.
She walked over, scooped Paimon up, and covered her mouth before the little glutton could say anything that would expose her.
Jensen did not doubt it.
Even if Lumine and Paimon had not found a place themselves, the Knights of Favonius would probably have arranged lodging for them. That was just how they did things.
He would invite her properly tomorrow.
He simply forgot that all this practical, detailed logistics work was usually handled by Kaeya.
And Kaeya had just come back with him not long ago.
"Jensen, can I come again tomorrow?" Lumine asked from the doorway.
"Of course."
Jensen answered without hesitation.
Lumine's lips curved into a soft smile. She pulled the door closed behind her as she left.