บท 19: Poor Mona!

Chapter 19

After Jason walked toward the figure, he lightly tapped the sneaky girl's head under the hat.

"Mona, why are you sneaking around? If you want you can go in!"

"Also beware of being suspected by the Knights of Favonius as suspicious person." Jason said with a familiar tone.

"What!" The sneak figure was startled due to the sudden contact.

Then, she suddenly took two steps backward, slightly raised her head, and looked in his direction with her pale, sea-green eyes.

There was a hint of pride and arrogance on her lovely face. She had long dark purple hair with an uneven fringe tied up with black ribbons into two twin tails, two gold compass rose ornaments clamped onto the tips. Her accessories consisted of a gold earring that resembled a compass rose on her left ear and a black choker necklace.

She's Mona, a mysterious young astrologer who proclaims herself to be "Astrologist Mona Megistus" and possesses abilities to match the title.

Mona wore a low-cut blue-purple backless leotard with detached blue-purple sleeves on her forearms and black gloves. A short blue-purple cloak was buttoned with a gold compass rose ornament hanging above her chest. Her Hydro Vision was mounted on the back of her cloak. She was also wearing black translucent tights decorated with four-pointed stars.

"Jason!"

Mona breathed a sigh of relief after seeing him. Then, she clasped her hands in front of her lower abdomen and blushingly said, "Because my divination indicates you are not there."

There was a hint of embarrassment on her face as she rubbed her slender legs uneasily.

That black stocking...

Her attractive legs wrapped in black translucent tights were constantly seducing his eyes.

"Tell me, what difficulties did you encounter today?" Jason said, trying to divert the attention.

"Because of Stormterror's attack on the city, I couldn't get this month's manuscript fee for the Steambird's "All Things Astrological" column. I..."

Grrrr...

As Mona was speaking, a strange growl sounded from her stomach.

Her initially reddish face became even more embarrassed.

"You should have accurately calculated your budget till the day the manuscript fee is paid, right?"

Jason knew about her situation well.

As Mondstadt's astrologer, Mona's divination has always been free.

Therefore, her only source of income comes from her contributions to The Steambird's "All Things Astrological" column.

Though she is often strapped for cash and lives a life of thrift, she is resolved to never use astrology for profit... This exact resolution has caused her to constantly fret about money.

Nevertheless, being obsessed with astrology gives Mona a sense of pride. This also serves as a double-edged sword; any Mora she gets her hands on is immediately spent on astrology-related materials, regardless of their cost. She only realizes it too late when she has run out of Mora to meet her daily needs, occasionally going without shelter or food for days on end.

Having never studied the art of finance, the astrologist Mona is always hovering around the poverty line.

To save on food expenses, she once ate mushrooms for an entire month. If not for some relief funds coming from time to time, she would have had trouble eking out a living.

So, she's a hopeless person.

Jason once picked up her unconscious body in the wild in the past.

Mona had fainted due to excessive hunger. He brought her back to the city and treated her to a free meal.

Ever since then, Mona has never been so miserable again. He asked her to come to him if she needed any help.

So, If she's starving, she will come to his restaurant on her own initiative.

"There is no mistake in my budget calculation... It's just an unexpected accident..."

Mona said with a sad face.

"Well, we can blame Stormterror for all of this... Let's go inside!" Jason also agreed with her.

The lights were still lit inside Good Hunter's restaurant.

Jason pushed the door open and walked in with Mona.

He found Lumine and Paimon sitting on a table on the first floor.

So, he walked toward them.

"Jason!" Lumine also noticed his presence and joyfully walked in his direction.

Then, she immediately noticed Mona beside him and subconsciously stopped.

"Lumine, this my friend, Mona!" Jason briefly introduced Mona to Lumine and Paimon.

"Hello!"

Mona saw Lumine's embarrassing state and thought that the other party was as poor as her. Therefore, her goodwill towards Lumine increased significantly.

"Hello!" Lumine also greeted back.

Jason brought a cute girl home late at night.

After thinking about it, she felt they might have a 'special' relationship.

"Jason, are you back?"

Paimon also greeted him with a bloated belly. She was sitting at the table in an unladylike manner.

The table was messy with all sorts of plates and spoons.

There was a strong smell of food leftover on the table.

Mona sniffed the smell, and her heart was instantly filled with sadness because she didn't find any food left on the table.

All the foods were eaten.

So, she looked at Paimon as a big husky. She couldn't imagine how someone as small as Paimon could eat so much food.

"We ate a bit too much, hehe..."

Lumine said with some embarrassment.

Ninety percent of the food actually went into Paimon's belly.

She was ashamed of how Paimon ate so much food for free.

"Don't worry, the restaurant's business in the past few days was not so good. If the foods are stored for a long period of time, their quality gets deteriorated, which might affect the reputation of Good Hunter. So, I'm glad you two ate them all."

Jason said, trying to dispel Lumine's worries.

When Paimon heard this, she struggled to get up and said excitedly, "Please leave this kind of work to me next time."

Mona wanted to say something but closed her mouth after Paimon spoke.

Paimon stole her words. She also wanted to take part in such a job.

"By the way this is Paimon, she is Lumine's guide!" Jason quickly introduced Paimon to Mona.

Then, he looked at embarrassed Lumine and asked, "Are you two staying here for the night?"

"Stay tonight?" Lumine was surprised to hear this.

She originally planned to stay at Good Hunter to save some money.

After all, she felt at ease and comfortable around Jason.

But now Jason has come back home with a lovely girl. Will she and Paimon bother their romantic night activities by staying here?

After thinking about it, Lumine shook her head and politely declined, "We have already booked a hotel."

Lumine lied. She didn't want to disturb Jason's romance.

Then, she hurriedly covered Paimon's mouth to stop Paimon from exposing her lie.

Jason didn't have any doubt. He never expected Lumine to misunderstand his relationship with Mona.

Even if Lumine and Paimon didn't stay at his restaurant, they could easily find a place to stay for the night by asking the knights. After all, they have some relationships with Jean, Amber, and Kaeya.

So, he decided to invite her again tomorrow.

But he forgot that Kaeya was responsible for this sort of logistics.

And Kaeya came back with him not long ago and is still recuperating at the Knight's headquarters.

"Jason, can I still come here tomorrow?" Lumine suddenly asked while walking towards the door.

"Of course, you're welcome anytime," Jason said as a matter of fact.

Lumine smiled after hearing this and left the door with Paimon in her arms.