Hello! This is my very first Genshin fic, so please be nice to me! A Maid for a Day (Part 1) Lumine relaxed as she struck

Hello! This is my very first Genshin fic, so please be nice to me!

A Maid for a Day (Part 1)

Lumine relaxed as she struck down the last Hilichurl of the camp. As it fell defeated it dropped a little bit of mora, but it was practically nothing. 

“Darn it!” Paimon stomped her foot in the air. “Paimon’s getting tired of battling Hilichurls all day, and for barely any mora at that!”

“Trust me Paimon, I am too.” Lumine dematerialized her sword and picked up the mora. “But fighting Hilichurls is our only means of making mora right now.” 

Paimon huffed, but did not reply. The adventurer’s guild was currently out of commissions for the week, thus taking away their main means of making money. The commissions would return in a few days when the week was over, but for now the two girls had to make do. 

“How much do we have?” Paimon asked as she watched Lumine count their mora. 

“Just a little over 2,000 mora.” 

“That little?” Paimon asked incredulously. “That barely covers what we eat for one day!” 

“I could eat Paimon if anything.” Lumine said to herself. “But that’ll only cover me for a snack.” 

“HEY!” Paimon yelled, but Lumine simply ignored her. 

The fairy and the traveler then continued to walk around in search of more Hilichurls to fight, but as luck would have it there weren’t any around. 

“Maybe we should go back to Mondstadt and see if any citizens need help there?” Paimon suggested after walking around for almost an hour. 

Lumine sighed, but agreed. Even if there weren’t any commissions at the moment, maybe they would get lucky and find a townsperson in need. 
~~~~~~~
They both arrived in the front gates on Mondstadt, heading straight for the town square. Lumine and Paimon tried asking every person they knew if they needed help with anything, but it was just like the commissions board of the adventurers guild. No assistance needed. 

Lumine sighed and turned toward her companion. 

“Oh well. Guess we’d better go and look for Hilichurl camps again.” 

“Yeah, yeah.”

The two began to make their way out of the city of freedom, but stopped at the sound of a wailing man. Looking at each other, they both walked toward the sound and saw it was coming from a man wearing Inazuma-styled clothing.

“Oh, what is a poor chef to do?” The man said in between his wails.

“Hello…” Lumine called out to him. 

The man lifted his head up and Lumine was able to catch a better glimpse of him. He had dark brown, almost gray hair, and looked to be in his late 40s. 

“Oh, I’m sorry. Am i bothering you?”

“Not at all!” Paimon answered. “But are you okay? Paimon thought we heard you crying just now.” 

“Oh, it’s nothing.” The man said, trying to regain his composure. “It’s just, well, I came to Mondstadt from Inazuma to try and expand my name as a chef, but so far no one has come to my traveling establishment!” 

“Traveling establishment?” Lumine asked confused.

“Yes, I had the brilliant idea to create a traveling cart restaurant, so I could travel all of Teyvat and make my name as one of the greatest chefs to ever grace this world!”

Lumine looked behind the man and indeed saw a larger than normal cart with a cooking pot and a few tables surrounding it. 

“However, no matter how much I try, no one wants to try my cuisine! I’m afraid if I don’t get any business soon I will have to leave my dream forever!“ 

“Awwwwww.” Paimon said sadly. Lumine too felt remorse for the man. 

“I see. I am terribly sorry about that, is there any way we can help?” 

“You’re too kind, my dear. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s much you can-” The man stopped to take a good look at Lumine and paused what he was saying. “Wait a second, aren’t you the Honorary Knight of the Knights of Favonius!?”

“She’s also the savior of Liyue, in case you’re wondering!”

“Paimon!” Lumine scolded, a light blush in her cheeks.

“You are, though.”

“Oh my, this is perfect!” The man’s previous sorrow was all but discarded, a bright smile now accentuating his features. “Yes, yes there is something you can do! Please, will you work in my traveling restaurant!”

“What!?” Lumine and Paimon practically yelled in shock.

“Please, only for one day!” The man pleaded. “If people see the Honorary Knight of Mondstadt and the hero of Liyue endorsing my establishment, I will have lines going for miles to eat my cuisine.” 

“Ummm…” Paimon looked to Lumine for help on what to say.

“I-I’m flattered.” Lumine said shyly. “But, I really don’t know about this…”

“Oh please miss.” The man practically begged. “I’ll pay you 15,000 mora and one of my dishes if you accept my offer.”

“15,000 mora!?” Paimon exclaimed. 

“What!?” Lumine almost stuttered out. “But, what if no one shows up?!”

“I guarantee people will come, so long as you are here!”

“What would you even have me do!?”

“Oh, you will simply be serving dishes and bringing people to their tables. I will be the one cooking, and you’re little friend can clean up after the customers.”

“Hey!” Paimon huffed with her arms crossed. “First Paimon’s and emergency food, and now Paimon’s a cleaner!?”

“Still, I don’t know…”

“Lumine!” Paimon whispered in the blonde’s ear. “Paimon’s not too happy about being a cleaner, but Paimon thinks we should do it! There’s 15,000 mora on the line!”

Lumine looked between her flying companion and the man, before sighing and placing her hands on her hips. 

“All right, fine. We’ll help you with your restaurant.” The man and Paimon lit up. “But remember, only for one day. One we get both the mora and a dish once we’re done!” 

“Yes, yes. Thank you very much, my dear!” The man looked at his watch. “Hmm, yes… It’s fairly early in the morning, and I don’t usually open until another half hour. That’ll give the two of you enough time to get dressed!”

“Get dressed?” Both girls asked.

“Why yes! I have a theme for my restaurant that I’m hoping makes it stand out!” 

“Alright.” Paimon agreed. As the man happily went to gather the clothes, Lumine glared at the fairy. “Hey, no mean looks! It’s only an outfit, how bad could it be!?”
~~~~~~~
Lumine looked in horror at the ‘uniform’ of the restaurant. The man had handed her, no joke, a maid outfit. Paimon was holding one as well in her size. 

“Ummmm…” Lumine tried not to let the horror in her voice reveal itself. “I think there may be a mistake…”

“No mistakes!” The man said, emerging in a butler outfit. “I had the genius idea of having the employees of my establishment dress as servants to endear the customers. I mean, who does not want to feel as if they are waited on by a plethora of attractive servants!” 

Lumine felt her face getting hotter as she continued holding the maid outfit, the one she was expected to wear. 

“Paimon…”

“15,000 mora Lumine!” Paimon said to remind Lumine what was at stake. “And a hot meal too!” 

Lumine relented and put on the costume, the blush never leaving her face. Besides her Paimon had also put on her maid outfit, looking undeniably cute (especially when she was silent). 

“Alright ladies, time for opening!” 

Lumine simply stood outside in front of the tables as the man instructed her, waiting for customers before she could actually do her work. Despite what the traveler first thought, citizens of Mondstadt began to come to the restaurant when they saw the Honorary Knight of the Knights of Favonius acting as a waitress, and in a main outfit nonetheless. Pretty soon, by the first hour, three of the five tables the man had for his establishment were already filled. 

Lumine took the orders of the customers with the best smile she could muster, trying hard not to blush at their compliments and thank yous. Once the man had finished cooking their food she would serve them, Paimon cleaning up after them once they were done (thankfully, they never left too big of a mess).

As much as Lumine hated to admit it, she began to enjoy herself. She smiled when she saw the man tear up at the sight of more customers in his establishment than he ever had, and found herself enjoying the attention a bit. Not to mention, she didn’t look half bad in the maid outfit. The man did tell her to address each customer as ‘master’, so that was a bit embarrassing, but overall it wasn’t too bad. 

“Phew.” Lumine said, wiping her forehead as she placed another one of the dishes in the sink.

“Tired?” Paimon asked, taking a small break as there were no tables to be cleaned at the moment. 

“A little.” Lumine replied. “But I’m actually having more fun with this than I thought.” 

“Yeah, Paimon is too surprisingly!” 

“Guess we need to change your nickname from Emergency Food to Janitor, huh Paimon?”

“HEY!” 

Lumine giggled then went to seat a family that had just arrived. She took their orders with a smile, having gotten used to the praise of being Mondstadt’s Honorary Knight. Once she had their orders she gave them to the man, who gave her one tables orders to serve. 

‘This is definitely better than I thought it would be.’ Lumine thought as she placed the plates in front of each customer. ‘Everyone here is super nice, and the reward is definitely a good sum. I don’t think anything can ruin this for me-’ 

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” 

Lumine stopped in her tracks, looking at the new customers that just arrived. To her horror, standing right in front of her waiting to be seating, were Kaeya and Amber. 

‘You have got to be kidding me…’