Good Hunter Restaurant
Mona took off her witch's hat.
It was something she only wore when going out—necessary to maintain the recognizable, mysterious image of a witch, or rather, an astrologist.
As the hat came off, the two beautiful black ribbons tying her twin ponytails were revealed as well.
Adorably cute.
She efficiently helped clean up the dining table, clearly not her first time doing this kind of thing.
Then she went upstairs, sat neatly on a chair with her hands obediently resting on her knees, and looked toward the stove with eager anticipation.
Her light-green eyes sparkled.
"What would you like to eat?"
Jiang Yan's voice came from the kitchen.
"S-salad is fine."
Mona swallowed and answered.
The Good Hunter's salad was definitely not the same as the cheap vegetable salads she usually made herself.
It was delicious.
And more importantly—after eating it for dinner, she wouldn't wake up starving in the middle of the night!
Jiang Yan knew she often chose salad to save money.
Hearing her answer, he glanced at her figure.
It definitely felt… affected.
When Mondstadt's noble ladies ate salad, it was for dietary control or fashion—and there was always a proper amount of meat mixed in.
But when Mona ate salad, it was purely vegetables and fruit—cheap, easy to make, and filling.
Meat?
Didn't exist.
With a figure like hers, that area really shouldn't have been stuck at a barely "level two" scale.
"Just salad?"
Jiang Yan asked to confirm.
"Mm! Salad is the best food in the world!"
Mona declared.
She had clearly hypnotized herself on a subconscious level.
"What about the grilled steak you had before?"
Jiang Yan asked again.
"…"
Mona swallowed.
Instinctively, she still believed salad was the best food in the world.
But in her heart, all of the Good Hunter's other dishes were tied for a very close second.
She just thought salad was a necessity, while those dishes were merely tools to satisfy desire.
"Wouldn't that be… too wasteful?"
she asked carefully.
Every time she came here, Jiang Yan always made extra food for her.
That was why she always felt particularly embarrassed.
"Forget it."
Jiang Yan shook his head.
Hearing that, Mona felt a faint sense of disappointment—but also relief.
"I'll make you Three-Immortal Poultry Minced Soup instead,"
Jiang Yan said, glancing at the available ingredients.
The "three immortal poultry" were hen, sparrow, and pigeon—ingredients the restaurant happened to have on hand. Add matsutake mushrooms, salt, cooking wine, and simmer it into a soup.
This stuff was great for development.
Naturally, Mona had never even heard of it.
Not just her—no one in Mondstadt had ever had the luck to taste it.
But a name like Three-Immortal Poultry already sounded incredibly high-end.
Feeling uneasy, she hurriedly refused.
"That's really not necessary—salad is enough!"
Jiang Yan smiled faintly.
"If you refuse, there won't even be salad."
Grrr—
Mona's stomach surrendered faster than her willpower.
She instinctively covered her belly, her face and ears turning bright red.
"Then… I'll be in your care."
"Your stomach is more honest than you are."
Jiang Yan first prepared a salad to fill her up a bit.
Satisfying Salad was a dish common across all nations of Teyvat—made with cabbage, apples, eggs or bird eggs, and potatoes arranged on a platter.
The difference in taste lay in the freshness of the ingredients and the proportions of the dressing.
In Mondstadt, the Good Hunter's version had the best reputation.
"Come get it."
Jiang Yan said.
In Mona's understanding, salad really was easy to make.
Jiang Yan washed his hands and began preparing the second dish—Three-Immortal Poultry Minced Soup.
The ingredients were ready; the key lay in timing, heat control, and stirring technique.
Mona sat at the table eating her salad, her face filled with bliss.
"This is way too luxurious…"
She still couldn't help muttering.
In Front of a Mondstadt Inn
Lumine and Paimon ran into yet another closed door.
This was already the last inn they could find.
It seemed everyone assumed that after such a storm during the day, no travelers or merchants would enter Mondstadt or stay the night.
All the inns had closed early.
No one answered no matter how much Paimon knocked.
Lumine rested her chin on her hand, sitting on the long wooden bench in front of the inn, troubled.
Paimon had finished digesting her food and floated down beside her.
"We're not that unlucky, are we?"
Paimon thought seriously for once.
"Lumine, maybe we're really talented at being travelers!"
"…Go apologize to all travelers right now."
Lumine deadpanned.
Sleeping in the wild was one thing—everyone was equally miserable.
But coming into a city and not staying at an inn or hotel was just embarrassing, okay?
"But Lumine, why did you lie to Jiang Yan earlier?"
Paimon asked, confused.
"I didn't even have time to argue—we clearly didn't book an inn!"
Even sleeping in the Good Hunter's dining hall would've been fine.
At least it was warm.
And smelled like food!
"Jiang Yan brought back that girl named Mona,"
Lumine explained.
"If they wanted some private time, wouldn't it be awkward for us to be there?"
She knew a bit about these things.
"P-private time?"
Paimon understood the word.
But she didn't see how it involved them,e, crossing her arms confidently.
"That's adult stuff! What does it have to do with us!?"
Lumine thought about it—and strangely, felt that Paimon had a point.
"But now it'd be really embarrassing to go back."
She sighed.
"I already told Jiang Yan we booked an inn."
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