By late morning, everyone had gathered at the venue for the gliding competition—an elevated platform designed for trial flights.
Standing amidst the crowd, Xia Zhi noticed that today's wind felt louder, more restless than usual.
Maybe Venti had secretly tweaked the weather, or perhaps Mondstadt's officials had consulted a fortune-teller and picked this day precisely because it was ideal for gliding.
Most likely the latter.
Venti was too lazy to meddle unless it was something that seriously impacted Mondstadt.
The turnout for the competition was huge.
Wind Gliders, after all, originated in Mondstadt. Over the years, the gliding contest had become just as prestigious as the music competition.
Xia Zhi had crafted five Wind Gliders at the crafting station earlier, so five people were registered to compete: Cloud Retainer, Charlotte, Chi Yu, Xiangling, and Diona.
Off to the side, Zhu Zi was tugging on Mona's sleeve, trying to get her to spill yesterday's divination results.
"So who's going to win?"
"Why don't you guess?"
"Come on, just tell me—I'm curious!"
"Nope. You'll find out when the match ends anyway."
"But I want to know now!"
"Then go ask Mr. Xia."
"Awww..."
Not far away, Amber was hurrying over.
Like Venti, she had won the gliding competition multiple years in a row. Most of the crowd recognized her.
A bunch of contestants greeted her as she passed by. Some smiled cheerfully, while others eyed her with unease or outright hostility—clearly seeing her as the top competitor to beat.
Amber didn't mind. She returned every greeting with a smile and made her way to Xia Zhi and the others. "Morning, everyone!"
Xiangling looked at her and asked, "The race is about to start. Why are you getting here so late?"
Amber scratched her head sheepishly. "Just finished my patrol shift and rushed over."
Diona blinked. "You're competing and doing patrols today?"
Amber nodded. "Yup. The Knights of Favonius are really short-staffed right now. Everyone's patrol area got expanded."
Ying'er tilted her head curiously. "Can't you take the day off?"
Amber chuckled. "Nope. There aren't many Outriders to begin with, and I'm the best one we've got... Hehe, from another perspective, it just means the Knights really can't do without me!"
Charlotte gave her a strange look. "So after the competition, you still have to keep patrolling?"
Amber sighed. "Yeah... I've got scouting duty this afternoon in the wilderness, and I won't be back till nightfall. Good thing I've got the instant noodles Mr. Xia gave me."
All the girls around her sighed in sympathy—being a Knight was really too much.
Especially Ying'er, who seemed to see a reflection of her own overworked past self in Amber's exhaustion. She paused for a moment, then asked, "Amber, can I ask you a... kind of personal question?"
Amber turned to her and nodded. "Sure, what is it?"
Ying'er continued, "You guys work that hard every day... You must get paid a lot, right?"
"It's not bad!"
"What do you mean by 'not bad'?"
"Well, in my case, I earn about 10,000 Mora a month."
"..."
The atmosphere fell into a weird silence.
Amber blinked. "Why's everyone so quiet? It's a lot, right? Hehe, I mean, not all Knights earn as much as I do—I get extra for fieldwork. For those who just patrol inside the city, it's around 6,000 Mora a month."
"That's still a decent wage for the Knights."
"Right? Right? What about your shop? What's the pay like there?"
"It's decent."
"Decent as in... how much?"
"Just average."
"How much is average?"
Amber kept pressing.
Left with no choice, they told her.
"Our base salary is 10,000 Mora per month."
"Huh?! Base salary?!"
"That's for regular servers. For bartenders like Diona, it's even higher."
"Higher..."
"We also get bonuses."
"Bonuses?"
"As long as you don't slack off, the boss gives us the full bonus—another 10,000 Mora."
"So that's 20,000 total?!"
"Mhm."
"That much!?"
"Well, business is great. You've had our Rainbow Juice before."
"It was delicious..."
"We work 9 to 5, no overtime. We get holidays off."
"..."
"Food and lodging are covered. The boss cooks for us."
"..."
"Every night, we can get a massage from the boss—at the staff discount."
"..."
"Oh, and at the end of the year, we get a year-end bonus. Do the Knights get one?"
"..."
Amber sighed.
"Nope, no year-end bonus. The Knights barely managed to pay salaries last year..."
"Finances are that bad?"
"Yeah, well, the whole dragon disaster last year kinda wrecked things. But Captain Jean still made it work somehow."
"She really is amazing."
"Yup, yup!"
After chatting for a while, the contestants went to warm up and inspect their Wind Gliders, getting ready for the race.
Xia Zhen was in especially good spirits today. Her soul body had fully recovered, and her resurrection was scheduled for tomorrow.
She scanned the crowd curiously, her gaze landing on a lively stall not far away.
A familiar vendor.
It was Dori—the petite Sumeru merchant.
She nudged her bestie Xia Ci, who followed her gaze and got intrigued too.
The two of them ran over to check it out.
A short while later, they returned and found Mona.
"Wanna make some serious Mora?"
Mona blinked. "Make Mora? What kind of making Mora?"
Xia Ci raised a brow. "You're always broke, aren't you?"
"I am not! I've never been broke!"
Xia Ci rolled her eyes. "Sure, sure. You're loaded. But wouldn't you like to be more loaded?"
Mona grew cautious. "What's the catch?"
Xia Zhen pointed toward Dori's stall. "You know Dori, right? She's running a betting booth."
Mona froze. "Betting booth?"
Xia Ci nodded. "People can place bets on who'll win, who'll come in second, third… If you guess right, you get double your Mora back."
Mona gasped. "Double!?"
Xia Zhen leaned in and whispered, "Didn't you do a divination on today's winner yesterday? With foresight like that, this money's practically free."
Mona instinctively refused. "No! Astrologers must focus on the stars. Getting involved in worldly greed can cloud our insight. Astrology is a sacred art to understand truth and fate—not for gambling...!"
Xia Ci raised an eyebrow. "So you're turning down free money?"
Mona hesitated. "Well…"
If this was back when she'd just left the mountain, she definitely would've rejected the idea on principle.
But now, her resolve wavered a little.
Not because her ideals had changed, but because astrological equipment was absurdly expensive.
Back home, she always used her teacher's stuff and didn't care if it broke. But now that she was on her own, every purchase came out of her own pocket.
Publishing royalties were enough to cover daily expenses, but nowhere near enough to buy astrological gear.
Without those tools, an astrologer was like a painter without hands—completely useless for stargazing.
Xia Ci murmured, "This isn't gambling. It's charity. You can donate half the winnings to Mondstadt. Take from the people, give to the people. Just look at these buildings—they're falling apart. No money to repair them…"
Mona considered this. "I mean... they are pretty run-down… so we should..."
"Ah, but you can't go place the bet."
"Why not?"
"You've bought crystal balls from Dori. She knows you're an astrologer. She won't let you bet."
"Then...?"
"Just tell us the results. We'll find a local to help place the bets. And we won't bet too much—don't want to draw attention."
"Okay."
Dori's stuff was expensive, but her customer service was top-notch.
When one of her crystal balls broke, she refunded all 600,000 Mora without a fuss.
Mona nodded and leaned in to whisper the results to Xia Ci and Xia Zhen.
The two girls blinked in surprise when they heard it. "She's the winner? ...Zhu Zi, want to earn some pocket money?"
They were all bathhouse sisters—if there's meat, they'd share it.
After getting the Mora, Xia Ci walked to the side and waved. "Captain Kaeya!"
A young man with an eyepatch walked over. "Miss Xia Ci, do you need something?"
"Nothing big. Just a little errand. Can you go place a bet for us?"
"Got it. Who's the pick?"
"Contestant #68—Xianyun."
"All the Mora on her?"
"Yup."
"You must really believe in your friend's skills."
Kaeya nodded, took the pouch, and gave Xia Ci another glance.
She seemed more mature than yesterday. Taller, too.
Didn't feel like his imagination.
He didn't press the matter and casually walked toward Dori's stall.
Xia Ci returned to the group. "All set."
Xia Zhi stood nearby, quietly enjoying the breeze, not joining in the betting scheme.
Not because he wasn't interested—but because a few days ago, he'd broken several of Dori's expensive crystal balls just to see what would happen, and still felt a little guilty.
...He'd have to make it up to her somehow later.
Time passed slowly.
The gliding competition began.
With a sharp whistle, all the contestants leapt from the platform, Wind Gliders unfurling as they soared toward the finish line.
The course looped around Mondstadt and ended on a small island in the middle of Cider Lake.
It was too far to see clearly, so Xia Zhi could only rely on the girls around him to narrate what was happening.
Kind of like listening to a radio broadcast in his old world.
Oddly charming, really.
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