"Is that all you're ordering? No need to save money on my account, you know," Nolan remarked, noticing Mona had only ordered a bowl of noodles and a single dish, assuming she was being overly polite.
"Quit nagging! A girl's appetite isn't that big; eating light is totally normal!" Mona crossed her arms beneath her cloak-covered chest, where a golden star pendant dangled and rested right at the edge of her lightly exposed fair skin.
"Alright, I guess you have a point," Nolan conceded, montarily unable to find a reason to argue.
But, in truth, the "small appetite" reasoning didn't quite hold up. All humans have similarly sized stomachs, so the actual amount of food one wants usually depends on how hungry they are. Given that Mona had gone the whole day without food, Nolan found her small order a bit surprising.
Perhaps she had developed so special resilience against hunger from her long battles with poverty?
Hopefully, the noodles would be a large portion.
After all, soone who has gone hungry for a while shouldn't overeat all at once. He figured they could pack so food to go later, just in case she got hungry again during their journey.
Soon, Mona's noodles arrived—noodles were always quicker to prepare. As the rich aroma wafted up from the bowl, she couldn't help but salivate, abandoning her usual "dignified astrologist" deanor right in front of Nolan. She grabbed her chopsticks and dug in, clutching the large bowl.
Slurp, slurp!
The sound of Mona slurping noodles reached Nolan's ears, and even he started feeling hungry.
Luckily, as Mona worked on her noodles, the other dishes were brought to the table one by one, filling the surface like blossoming flowers.
Thud!
When she finished, Mona set the bowl back on the table with an unrestrained clatter, almost making the other dishes jump.
"Wow, that was amazing! It's been so long since I've eaten this well!" She leaned back in her chair with a content, lazy expression, looking refreshed.
It was clear: a full stomach does wonders.
If only she'd wiped away the broth still clinging to the corner of her mouth, it would have completed the picture. Soon enough, she seed to realize this, covering her face briefly with a rush of water elental energy to clean up, then resud her al with a nonchalant air.
"Hey, why are you staring at like that? If you don't start eating, I'm going to finish off your food!" Mona glared at Nolan, a bit annoyed.
The noodles had only half-filled her, and she'd hoped the Tianshu Pork would complete her al—until she saw how greasy it was and felt her appetite wane. She wished now that she'd asked the server about the dishes first, but she'd been too hungry at the ti to bother.
Noticing her hesitation, Nolan chuckled and offered, "If you're not keen on the pork, how about we swap dishes? Or we can share it; I won't be able to finish everything either."
"Hmph, honestly! If you weren't going to finish it, why'd you order so much in the first place? Fine, I guess the 'Great Astrologist Mona' will just have to help out her dimwitted apprentice here," she huffed, though her eyes betrayed her eagerness.
Nolan couldn't help but notice Mona's personality was a lot like Fischl's—a bit prideful and, admittedly, quite charming.
Not long after, they finished their al, with most of the food devoured by Mona.
Nolan even tried the Tianshu Pork she had avoided, finding that despite containing so fatty portions, the at was so tender it practically lted like tofu upon reaching his stomach—not greasy at all.
"Thanks for the al! Let's head out," Mona said, rubbing her belly with a satisfied smile as she stood up.
"Alright," Nolan nodded, calling for the server to settle the bill, which ca to twenty-two thousand Mora.
They packed up the remaining food and ordered two extra servings of rice, in case they got hungry later.
Just as they were about to leave, a shadow streaked across the sky at high speed, disappearing into the nearby forest. It was so swift that most people wouldn't have noticed, but Nolan and Mona did—though they couldn't make out exactly what it was.
"Think you can use astrology to tell what that shadow was?" Nolan asked, curious.
"Of course! There's nothing in this world beyond my ability to divine!" Mona replied, lifting her chin confidently.
She summoned her water scrying disc, which looked like a magical array, and began her ritual.
Drip, drip, drip!
Nolan watched as she tinkered with the disc, like winding up a clock. To soone as clueless about astrology as he was, it seed impressive.
Astrology was indeed a handy skill. If he ever had the chance, perhaps he'd ask Mona to teach him a trick or two. He wondered if it was hard to learn.
Suddenly, Mona let out a yelp. "Ah! My water scrying disc!"
"What happened?" Nolan asked, following her gaze to the disc, where a dark aura was now wrapped around it.
"A shadow has covered my scrying disc, and I can't see anything through it!" Mona sighed in frustration.
"Oh, does that happen to you often?" he asked, intrigued.
"Hardly ever," Mona replied, shaking her head, her twin ponytails swaying slightly. "For this to happen, either soone with far superior astrological skills is interfering, or the subject of the divination has a power that far surpasses mine, disrupting the disc in return."
"Stronger than you?" Nolan mused.
Earlier, he'd used his Eye of Judgnt on Mona and found her strength to be at level seventy. There were very few people in Wangshu Inn stronger than her—perhaps only Xiao, since he was an Adeptus. It would make sense if Mona couldn't divine him.
"Will this black aura eventually disperse?" Nolan asked as he watched Mona attempt to brush the dark aura away from her disc, to no avail.
"No, not unless I surpass the power of the aura's source, or they remove it themselves," Mona admitted reluctantly, regretting her earlier confidence in front of Nolan.
"In that case, our only option is to follow that shadow. If it's who I think it might be, then maybe, once we explain the situation, they'll lift the shadow on your disc," Nolan said, feeling a bit guilty since he had asked her to perform the divination.
"Sigh… Looks like that's the only choice," Mona sighed.
Without her scrying disc, she had no way to compete with her master's peers—essentially conceding defeat, which was unacceptable!
So, the two of them left Wangshu Inn and followed the direction the shadow had gone.
(End of Chapter)
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