Paimon's woe

1. Paimon's acting weird?

It's another day in Liyue after the Osial incident. Aether has become the main topic among the citizens since he has proven to be the main key in protecting Liyue harbor from the fatui attack. Because of this, he is bound to attract more people around and would be busy being approached by many of them.

The attack has caused an uproar among the citizens. The fatui, the one who caused this, raised suspicion and distrust in the continent. After considering the situation, they decided to stay inactive until the distrust from the citizen has dissipated. So, this allows Aether to take it easy and relax a bit.

He did thought about going to Inazuma to continue his quest to find his sister, Lumine, but Zhongli, the geo archon (supposedly) told him that the place isn't accessible currently and probably won't be for a few months. He decided that the best course of action currently is to hone his skills and practice in Liyue until news  has come.

Being constantly surrounded by others is a first for Aether. He is somewhat uncomfortable since he has never attracted this much attention before, not even in the previous worlds he and his sister has travelled to because most of the time, Lumine was always the star of the show. He would usually be the shadow, secluding himself from others and deal with problems that Lumine can't handle. That's what siblings are for, right?

"Mmmm! Paimon REALLY loves this golden crab!" Paimon is dining on her 6th serving of golden crab.

On the other hand, Aether is eating one of the Wanmin Restaurant's signature dish, Jueyun Chilli Chicken. The flavor and spices tasted too delicious for him to stop at just the 3rd serving of it.

"Your appetite is the same as always, eh?"

"Uh-huh! This golden crab is Paimon's new favourite dish. This is sooo yummy!"

Aether giggled.

"Speaking of which, what will you do after this?" Paimon asked.

"For today, I'll take it easy. The daily commissions is a must though. Otherwise, I won't be able to provide more food for Paimon."

"Ehe~. You don't have to worry about that for the time being. After all, you received so many gifts from the people here, right?"

The people here in Liyue kept pestering and giving him gifts for protecting Liyue. The humbleness he showed when he was rewarded by Keqing, one of the Qixing, also made everyone respect him even more.

"That's true, although it is kinda hard to carry everything around."

"Yeah. You should thank Paimon for suggesting that you should rent a house here. Otherwise, Paimon would've used everything up for a few dozens of sticky honey roasts!"

That sounds absurd, though this is Paimon we're talking about. It may actually happen.

"Where does all the food you ate even go to anyway?"

No matter how much Paimon eats, she doesn't seem to grow.

"Err, Paimon doesn't know either," Paimon laughs nervously.

"Ey, you guys done ordering more food already?" Chef Mao, the headchef for Wanmin Restaurant, intervened.

"Ehe~ Paimon is full right now. Too full actually."

"Aha. It's nice to see you guys feast on my food. Keeps the business going, y'know?"

"You can count on Paimon to finish all of your dish and send you moras! Aether here can pay for me."

"Oi~" Aether glared.

"Ahaha, I'm glad you liked my dish. I've worked on this dish since I was a little boy y'know."

Wanmin Restaurant is really famous for its variety of foods. Xiangling, Chef Mao's daughter, is the one who raised its popularity by travelling across Teyvat. The culinary skills she exhibit attracts many people around the world. She is as skillful as her father in this sector, though sometimes she messes up her dishes as she is a bit too adventurous in trying new recipes.

Since the food here is really tasty, Aether had always come here whenever he wants to have a bite of Mao's cooking.

"Either way, Paimon's pumped up for today's commission! Hey Aether, hurry up and pay for the food."

Begrudgingly, he pulled out his wallet and paid for all the food. Of course, it exceeded 20k moras like always. Thankfully, the daily commissions reward provided enough for them to handle it.

They went to the adveturer's guild to check on the commissions for today. There were one errand and three hilichurls subjugation quest for today.

After a while, they've done three of those and were about to do the final commission for today. Both of them decided to take a break for a bit as it is somewhat hot outside, since it is already 11 a.m.

The final commission was near the beach, though there is a hut nearby. They went there and relax for a bit.

"Fuaah~ Paimon is exhausted."

"I'm curious. Does floating around really tires you?"

"Wha- Of course it does! Just because you've never felt it doesn't mean I don't as well." Paimon said while pouting. This made Aether chuckle a little.

"Though this is a bit late to ask this, but I'm also a bit curious about you. Your ability to appear and dissappear at will is interesting. I've only realized this after Rosaria mentioned this when we were in Dragonspine."

"R-really?" Paimon seems to be nervous.

"Now that I think about it, you've never talked about yourself. Do you have a family? I kinda want to meet them. Imagine a population full of Paimons. That would be awesome, right?"

"No," Paimon mumbled.

Aether looked at Paimon and saw that she's frowning.

"Are you okay?" Aether, worried, asked her.

"Huh? Ah- er yeah! I'm fine like always," Paimon said, though he can tell that something's wrong.

"I'm not sure, but sorry if I said anything that makes you uncomfortable."

"A-ah. Don't be!" Paimon tries to pretend that everything's fine, but Aether knew something is bothering her.

After a few minutes of silence, they moved to the final commission. Paimon looks under the weather since that conversation, but Aether thinks nothing of it. Currently, they faced a group of hilichurls.

He pulls out his sword and attacked the group. There were four normal sized hilichurls and a big mitachurl. He swiftly sliced through them like butter. Since he has improved his sword technique, he felt that he can hold back a little as to not tire himself out too much.

Everything seems to go well, until their reinforcements came in.

"AAAAH! AETHER, HELP!"

Suddenly, Paimon was being held by another mitachurl?!