Dining and theater: recruit over meals, perform for money, and equip bath skills

Use inn dining first for recruitment

Before recruitment, follow first gift → inn dining. The theater is supplementary; you do not need to run back and forth every cycle.

Dining and Automated Activities are in the same place. Finish the week’s menu, then advance to the next week to avoid travel scenes for scattered gifts and theater visits. Raise Support in advance so you can recruit as soon as Renown is high enough. Do not reach the deadline short on Support. Meet recruitment requirements first, then leave free time for exploration.

After recruitment, choose facilities by what you need. Meals improve relationships and restore condition. Watching theater improves a specific pair's relationship, but only characters who like the play recover Motivation. Performing spends Motivation for gold, gifts, and several relationships. Baths restore condition and provide temporary skills for the chapter. At the theater, watching and performing share one weekly opportunity; do not watch first and then expect to perform in a special show.

Choose dining partners before matching dishes#

Find the woman who handles dining at the city inn. The lower-town inn does not offer meals. Give an unrecruited target a first gift beforehand. The relevant protagonist must be seated when raising recruitment Support, with the targets in the other two seats. Three unrelated characters dining together will not raise the protagonist’s bond with the target. You can also invite another protagonist and the target to prepare for that protagonist’s route; it is not limited to your currently controlled lord.

Each dish can be eaten once per week, and you can eat several dishes in a week. The menu refreshes on Sunday and changes weekly. Dining itself costs no turns. The full menu is not available at the start.

Keep the target characters fixed and rotate through the week’s dishes, checking preference icons and comments. Aim for all three to like a dish, or use the practical standard of at least two liking it. Disliked food gives less Support and restores no Motivation. HP and magic uses recover, while Motivation recovery depends on preferences.

Image source:

Raise Support separately at the inn and in the field#

Use the inn for characters you have not recruited yet.

For the whole recruited team, use world-map Feasts rather than the theater.

This covers recruited allies and cannot replace pre-recruitment dining. Check the item table and in-game descriptions for ingredients that do not restore magic.

Each field Feast costs one turn. You can continue while magic uses remain below full, but each Feast still consumes turns and ingredients. Wait until more companions have joined to improve more relationships at once. Calculate how many Feasts fit in the chapter and whether you have enough ingredients before dedicating time to farming.

Part III lets you feast with a large group together. Expend one spell use with any character, then gather five teams of 8 on the same space. Feast with ingredients that restore only HP, not spell uses. Keeping spells below full lets you continue, covering many characters per round. Hold Y to speed through excessive level-up notifications.

Matching theater impressions give extra bond progress#

Watching unlocks at Renown 7. Choose two characters; unrecruited characters may attend. Check the play and both impressions first. You need more than simply “both like it”: matching impressions give extra bond progress. Two characters who both dislike it can still receive the matching-impression bonus, but do not recover Motivation, and the result may still be only Good. For recruitment, pair the protagonist with a target. For Motivation, prioritize characters who like the play.

Performances unlock at Renown 8 and accept only recruited characters. Regular shows use three people; special shows use five. Check special performance dates on the calendar, then assign suitable roles.

Performing consumes Motivation. You have 5 seconds to select an acting direction, after which one is chosen automatically. Read the scene’s tone, then choose the matching emotion before the final second.

Perfect awards a random gift, and Excellent in a special performance also awards a gift.

Emotion sequences for the three plays:

Exact wording can vary. Follow the emotion rather than memorizing option positions.

Image source:

For recruitment, you can reserve the weekly opportunity for watching. Watching builds recruitment bonds with the protagonist and shares its weekly allowance with performing. Parties with enough money by the unlock can favor watching. Reserve the week for watching if an unrecruited target needs to attend with the protagonist. Use performances to build relationships among recruited characters and earn rewards.

Equip bath skills after bathing#

Baths unlock at Renown 8, with more spring types at level 9. Two characters pay 500G per visit, once per spring type per week. Bathing raises their mutual bond and restores HP, spell uses, and Motivation. Available springs change weekly, with special hot springs on Sunday. Equip the acquired skills in preparation/skills. They last only until this chapter's main battle ends, rather than becoming permanently learned skills.

Choose among the 12 regular springs for the effect you want:

Sunday’s special springs include Giant, Unicorn, Sea King, and Magic Bird, offering “+” effects.

Do not miss special shows and bath windows#

• Watching before noticing this week's special show: they share one opportunity, so check the calendar first.
• Looking for dining at the lower-town inn: go to the town inn.
• Expecting Motivation when everyone dislikes the dish: check reactions first; HP and spell recovery do not replace Motivation recovery.
• Training while looping chapter restarts: chapter experience resets. Retained bonds and retained experience after a battle retry are separate operations.
• Saving bath skills for later: they disappear after the chapter's main battle. Equip them promptly.