When the hunters of the You Zui Hunting Team noticed that Wander Bar's doors were tightly shut, a wizard in a private room on the bar's second floor happened to be watching the little shop across the street through the room's narrow window.
It was the weekend, and D&K had quite a few customers. Fox Five Hank sat behind the counter, busy keeping accounts, with four or five abacuses floating around it and clattering away. Ding Dang Ear, wearing a green vest, dragged a feather duster longer than its own body as it diligently cleaned the dust from the shop's corners.
Fine dust glittered in the sunlight with rainbow hues. Ding Dang Ear chased after it with its duster, somehow creating a sense of peaceful leisure.
"Your Little Rat is working pretty hard at the shop across the street." With his back to the private room's guest, the Wanderer Wizard carefully surveyed D&K's business and clicked his tongue in praise. "...That little fox from Qingqiu Mansion is doing quite well too... Perhaps I should hire a foxfolk accountant myself."
No one answered him.
The only sound in the room was someone glugging down alcohol.
The Wanderer Wizard sighed, turned around, and looked at the Big Rat curled up on the sofa. "You've been drinking all night and all morning... Isn't it time to take a break? If you won't leave, I can't even open my shop."
The Big Rat on the sofa said nothing. It held the bottle and kept gulping away, though its huge tail behind it twitched several times in irritation.
The thick, long tail slid down from the corner of the sofa onto the soft carpet, then slithered out of the room like a snake, vanishing around the bend by the doorway.
As it swung, the tail