Sweet daily life of Little Tanuki and Qin Che in Love and Deep Space

You carefully navigated through these ruins.

Suddenly, something poked your foot.

You look down and realize it's a gemstone necklace!

It lay quietly on the ground, shimmering with a faint light.

"How beautiful." You crouch down, gently pick up the necklace, and examine it closely.

This may have been left behind by the evil dragon during its burning, killing, and looting; it is now covered in dust, and the label has been torn in half.

Unfortunately... the chain has broken.

You wiped the dust off the gemstone with your finger.

"They must have robbed that shop." Qin Che pointed to the wooden cart that had overturned not far away, with pieces of jewelry and garlands scattered all over the ground.

You sighed, placed the necklace on the wooden cart, and continued walking.

"It seems the people here are terrified; they don't even bother to collect these things." You held Qin Che's hand, curled your index finger, and scratched his palm. "Qin Che, what do you think we should do next? Wait and see, or take the initiative? Or perhaps..."

You paused for a moment, then continued, "I'll lure the snake out of its hole, and you can take it down then?"

Qin Che didn't speak, but glanced at you.

"What do you mean? Can you just say it directly? I can't guess."

"It's so late. It's too dangerous outside before we're familiar with the dragon's habits."

“And…” he shook your hands that were tied together, “they might break tomorrow.”

Suddenly, some brilliant ideas flashed through your mind, so you quickly agreed, "That makes sense."

You glanced at the sky and happily decided to rest for the night and go out to find out more about the situation tomorrow.

You wandered around these dilapidated streets and finally found a hotel, but the door was tightly shut.

You stood at the hotel entrance and started banging on the door.

"Who's there! Who's knocking at the door!"

A panicked male voice came from inside the door; it was probably the owner of the inn.

You composed yourself, which had been somewhat excited after having that thought, and softened your tone, trying to emphasize that you were a good person: "We're here to stay at the hotel."

The innkeeper hesitated, "Is...is it a person? Could it be a dragon deliberately transforming into a human to swat me with its claws when I open the door?"

"...With such a vivid imagination, it's a waste of your talent to just be a hotel owner," Qin Che chimed in from your side.

It's unclear what strange quirk the innkeeper found in those words, but his previous tension vanished instantly: "Heh heh, how did you know I'm a bard?"

Qin Che: "......"

"Ahem..." You coughed lightly to ease your speechlessness and continued negotiating with the innkeeper, "Bard, we are heroes entrusted with a mission by the king. It's getting late, so we thought we'd like to ask to stay the night and rest..."

After waiting for two more seconds, just when you thought you might have to sleep on the streets tonight, the wooden door in front of you opened a crack, and the owner cautiously looked you over through the crack.

"Is he really a person?" the boss murmured.

"...It's hard to say," Qin Che replied casually.

"What are you saying!" You glared at Qin Che, then smiled insincerely at the boss, "My friend just likes to joke, please don't mind him."

You nudged Qin Che with your arm, and he hissed exaggeratedly, then twitched the corner of his mouth.