Money Inn - 35

On the third day since Foggy Moon's arrival, the bounty board finally began to receive genuine responses. That morning, as Shopkeeper Jin was squatting by his vegetable patch, pulling weeds, he heard a faint vibration from the entrance—not footsteps, but a heavier, steadier rhythm, like a large creature approaching. He looked up and saw two figures emerging from the morning mist. The one in front was a tiger-kin woman, tall with dark skin that had a rough texture, as if polished by sandstorms. A bone knife hung at her waist, its handle wrapped with dark red cord, like an ancient token of a pact. She stopped outside the entrance, her gaze sweeping over the eaves and doorframe of the inn, as if reading a silent message. Beside her stood a dragon-kin man. Fine, shallow scales adorned his temples, shimmering with a faint dark cyan in the morning light. He was slightly taller than the tiger-kin woman, but his shoulders were slightly hunched, as if he were deliberately making himself smaller. He carried no weapon, and the scales on the back of his hand extended to his knuckles, like a natural thin armor. The tiger-kin woman spoke first, her voice deep, "I heard there's a tree here that can talk." Shopkeeper Jin stood up, dusting the soil off his hands. "There isn't one that talks. But there is one that accepts requests." The tiger-kin woman and the dragon-kin man exchanged a glance, then walked into the inn.