Seeing the heartthrob Diluc look genuinely taken aback gave Kaeya a little thrill.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Diluc said, tamping down his surprise. His short, flame-red hair glowed like evening clouds as he turned away, gaze shifting elsewhere, offering no admission.
Kaeya laughed. "Drop the act. Klee's father already predicted your identity. You're Mondstadt's Darknight Hero. You can deny it if you want, but everyone in the Knights knows."
Diluc: "…"
Gritting his teeth, Diluc couldn't help wondering who Klee's father actually was.
Kaeya didn't press that point. Patting Diluc's shoulder, he grew solemn. "The Knights know the cause of the wind disaster and are working on it. If you want to help, we'd welcome—"
Before he could finish, Diluc snorted, turned on his heel, and walked away—clearly not interested in listening.
Watching him go, Kaeya sighed helplessly. Because of their father, Diluc had angrily left the Knights back then, and even now wanted nothing to do with them. Kaeya could only shrug. That rift would be hard to mend.
After surveying the storm's rough impact zone with his men, Kaeya headed back to headquarters.
…
Blue Star.
A large supermarket in the Magic City.
Mona, pushing an overflowing cart, obediently followed Ken to checkout. Plenty of guys looked on like drooling creeps, but Mona's icy gaze kept them at a safe distance. They only dared admire from afar—and envy Ken.
After paying, Ken packed the bags into the trunk.
"Boss, are we taking all this over there to sell?" Mona asked, wiping sweat from her brow, cheeks flushed. There were so many snacks she'd never tried. What prices would be right?
"These are snacks for you all," Ken said as he drove. "Bringing you here was to show you Blue Star's shop model. As for what we'll sell, I'll prepare that in a few days."
There were too many items on Blue Star. He wasn't about to haul everything over—too time-consuming and inefficient. And for Mona, memorizing every price wouldn't be easy; Teyvat didn't have modern POS systems. He'd pick a few essentials first—like compressed biscuits, bottled water, bread. The rest could be added gradually. They weren't selling novelty; they were selling shelf life.
"A-all for me?" Mona blinked, surprised. Working for Ken came with benefits like this?
"Of course." Ken added, "I'll also advance you a month's salary. You need to eat well to have the strength to work. But before we head back, help me shoot a short video—a memory capture, as you call it."
"No problem," Mona nodded.
…
Back home, Ken took Mona to the recording room—really just his home gym, repurposed.
"I don't have experience with memory captures. If it turns out bad, don't blame me," Mona said, eyeing the unfamiliar equipment.
"It's fine. Just use your Elemental Skill, then glance back and give a smile."
He didn't plan anything complicated. In this world, there were no Genshin fan edits yet; casual shots would already be flashy. Plus Mona had just arrived on Blue Star and didn't know complex filming. This needed to be gradual.
"Okay, I'm ready."
Mona exhaled, and on Ken's cue, she moved. Blue Star's elemental power was weak, but using an Elemental Skill was no problem. The look-back smile, though—that was tricky. Getting a witch with her personality to smile like that wasn't easy. But thinking of that 100,000 Mora, and the bright future ahead…
Mona powered through. The result even exceeded Ken's expectations.
"Cuter than I imagined."
He hadn't expected that kind of smile from Mona to be so disarmingly adorable. Those slightly pointy little canine teeth? A direct hit on LSP preferences. Seeing it live made Ken's heart go a bit wild.
"Alright, alright…"
After about ten minutes, Ken had enough material. No wonder Mona is best girl—the contrast was a straight crit to his XP.
Rubbing her face, stiff from smiling, Mona stepped up to the camera display—and was startled by the image of herself.
"Th-this…"
This was so embarrassing. Since when had the witch Mona ever made a face like that?
"You're already very cute. Why feel embarrassed?" Ken thought it was great. Sure, it cracked her persona a little, but who cared? This Mona was genuinely cute.
Being called cute… Mona blushed. "Okay… I'll come tomorrow to do the dubbing, then?"
"No rush. Focus on the shop for now. I'll give you the land deed," Ken said. Mona didn't have much storyline in Mondstadt until the Traveler reached Liyue, so dubbing could wait. The shop, though—once decided, do it cleanly. Ken hated dragging things out.
"Alright!"
Taking the deed, Mona felt a warm glow. It was the first time she'd met someone like Ken, who didn't look down on her poverty or flaws, and treated her like a friend—so good to her. If he asked her for a favor one day, she'd probably find it hard to refuse.
"Oh, and remember to drink coconut milk every day. Keep at it for a month," Ken reminded her as she left.
Mona blinked. "Huh?"
"It's good for your health," Ken said earnestly. He wanted to see if coconut milk really worked… Maybe there was still time to save Mona's petite build?
…
…
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