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Becoming a waitress at the Wangshu Inn was not what you'd expected to do with your life, but here you were regardless. You weren't complaining - the work was relatively easy, the customers were nice and the pay was good. Not that those things factored into your decision to work here in the first place.
"Xiao? I've got you some almond tofu. Verr Goldet told me you recently tried a satisfying salad, too, so I brought you one of those as well!" You announced cheerfully as you walked out onto the space you'd dubbed 'Xiao's Balcony'. "You should've told me you liked it sooner, I would've made it for you before this!"
Luckily, chopping up vegetables for a salad was a lot easier than learning to make almond tofu. Though, even if it had been the most complicated dish in the world, if it meant Xiao would eat it, you would've stayed up however many nights it took to master it.
It was the least you could do since you owed your life to the Yaksha. Back when you were a member of the Adventurer's Guild, you'd regrettably not been one of the best. Your skills extended to delivering letters and saving cats from trees, as sad as it was to admit since you'd joined the Guild in hopes of making a name for yourself as one of the greatest adventurers of all time.
That passion had driven you to take on a job way out of your skillset. You'd convinced the Guild to send you on a commission that required you to deliver supplies from Liyue Harbour to Wangshu Inn, despite your limited fighting experience. As you should've expected, it came back to bite you in the butt - and in the worst way possible, too. It wasn't just a couple of slimes or hilichurls, no, it was two lawachurls and an abyss mage.
You felt like your life was going to end at thatmoment. It probably should have. The only reason it hadn't was because of Xiao.
You hadn't even seen him arrive (according to Verr Goldet, he could basically teleport, so that was probably why), but he was able to get rid of the enemies in front of you in an instant. Unfortunately, he was gone just as fast, before you were even able to say thank you or ask who he was.
After that, you'd hurried to Wangshu Inn. Once you'd finished the commission, you'd inquired into who your saviour was, and Verr Goldet had explained everything about the Vigilant Yaksha.
That was when you decided to give up on being an adventurer and work at the Wangshu Inn instead. Well, originally you'd wanted to stay an adventurer and help out Xiao that way, but after 'subtle' suggestions from Verr Goldet and Xiao outright telling you you'd just be a liability if you tried again with your lack of skills, you figured you'd be better repaying your debt in other ways. Hence the plates of food are currently balanced in your hands.
"Again, mortal?" Xiao remarked, appearing suddenly in front of you like usual. Originally you'd had to leave the food out on his balcony and come back later to pick up the dirty dishes, but over the months he'd grown to trust you enough to appear as soon as you arrived. "I've told you thousands of times - I have no need for human sustenance."
