Spice and Wolf - Volume 10 - Chapter Ep

EPILOGUE

A group of horses kicked snow up as they disappeared over the horizon.

Their destination was the main abbey, where they would witness the final battle take place.

The rider at the head kept in his bosom a powerful weapon, one that had been constructed over the night. It was sharper than any other, thanks to crucial information that Huskins had provided.

Settling things now would take no great time or effort.

Picturing the abbey leaders as they trudged along the hard-packed snow of the road, having been driven from the abbey—well, one could not help but feel a bit sad for them.

Their decision making had been exemplary, and they had surely chosen the best option of those that remained.

If Lawrence had not pointed out the trap that had been set for the alliance, then one of the leaders would have had to. Doing so would have divided the alliance, leaving it unable to properly function.

So even if a group went out to confirm the contents of the crates, it would not have been a very large group. And that had been the goal all along, Lawrence was certain.

Piasky had been the first to disappear over the horizon and was even now surely in the grand halls of the main abbey, delivering the alliance’s proposal.

The crates had been full of stones.

Which meant that the abbey was very likely to have a secret reserve of coins hidden away, or else the possibility that it had the wolf bones was very high. Both were secrets that the abbey could ill afford having revealed to the king.

But the abbey leaders were not fools and knew when it was time to surrender. Being out of options, all they could do now was find a way to make their surrender with as much dignity as they could manage, finding a way to weather adversity and stubbornly survive as they had in the past.

Lawrence inhaled a long, thin breath of air, then exhaled. The snowy plains looked like a sea frozen in time, and walking along under the clear blue sky was not at all unpleasant.

Lawrence was alone.

He had not been surprised when Holo picked up her coat and jumped on a horse with the first group without as much as a “by your leave.” Given that the abbey, once confronted, would have no choice but to reveal its treasures, Holo’s tail was probably swishing excitedly even at this very moment.

The snowy path that Lawrence walked had been trampled by countless sheep and was as easy to walk as a street paved in stones. He reached the place called Sulieri Hill without much effort.

From there one could circle the hilltop’s crest and very clearly see the path of the road that wrapped around the hill from the northeast. There was no better vantage point from which to witness the utter failure of the abbey’s schemes.

“Swords and bows would’ve been useless.”

Here and there were splotches of red on the path, the proof of the few who had used their weapons out of panic.

But just as whatever powers Holo or Huskins might possess were useless in the face of humanity, so too did weapons have little effect on such a vast flock of sheep.

Surrounded by the flock and trampled into unconsciousness, the monks had all been loaded on a sleigh and taken off. They must have been waiting for the alliance men to come and demand to see the coins, which would make them easy targets for the blame the monks would place on them.

They carried too much arms and armor for anything else, even if they had been transporting actual money. If it had come to an actual battle, there was no doubt that the casualties would have been significant.

Lawrence looked the scene over when Huskins, who was collecting his flock on the path, took notice of him and began walking over.

“Ho, there.” Such a carefree greeting.

“I’m glad to see you unhurt.”

“Hah…well, of course. Never would have thought I would be able to end this with my own hands.”

“It was the decisive blow.”

“I suppose so…My kind stands above humans. And humans stand above sheep. But times change. It’s natural for that order to be reversed.”

The abbey had never imagined that the alliance would use a flock of sheep. Even Lawrence, if he had not had Huskins on his side, would never have conceived of a plan like this.

“Ah, by the way, where’d that young wolf get off to?”

“Ah, Holo? I expect she’s in the abbey’s treasure vault as we speak.”

“Hah! Hah. Is that so?” Huskins chuckled for a moment and then dropped his gaze.

“Is something the matter?”

“Hmm? Ah, no, it’s nothing. I treated that wolf like a child, but it seems that I’m the childish one.” He narrowed his eyes and looked into the distance. Beneath his beard was a happy smile. “Hardship forges strong friendships. I have the sense that I’ve found myself a member of a different flock entirely.”

“…Do you mean—?”

“I see you take my meaning. Wolf and sheep are wolf and sheep. That’s only the natural order of things.”

Huskins exhaled a large breath, almost sighing. He then inhaled and rang his staff’s bell.

His sheepdog ran off, quickly gathering the sheep that were beginning to stray in various directions. Huskins watched this for a while, then turned to Lawrence and spoke again.

“How long do you plan to ignore natural order?”

Lawrence looked at him out of the corner of his eye and saw Huskins watching his sheepdog past squinting eyes. He scratched his head and did not immediately answer.

“I’m a merchant—so I’ll do it as long as there’s more profit to be had.”

Practical answers often sounded like jokes. After a moment of silence, Huskins laughed aloud. “It was a foolish question. I’m no different—I’m a sheep, yet I’ve become quite fond of my sheepdog.”

“Why would you ask me such a thing?”

Huskins gave a deliberate grin. His profile made him look like an old soldier who had seen many battles.

“I can’t decide which side to tell.”

“Tell what?”

“This is a place where people gather, so information naturally collects here, too.”

Huskins was a sheep. He had told Lawrence that his companions were still scattered across the landscape, which meant that information from a vast area would collect here.

He looked Lawrence straight in the eyes, his gaze belying a depth of experience that only someone like him could have.

“The wolf told me that you’re bound for an ancient place called Yoitsu, yes?”

“Th-that’s right.”

“I’ve heard that name and recently, too.”

Lawrence did not reply, but with his eyes urged Huskins to continue. Huskins knew Holo was searching for her homeland, so he could hardly be ignorant of how important this information was.

And yet if he had hesitated to give that information to Holo, there had to be a good reason for that.

“It came up among some disturbing news my comrades brought to me.”

Lawrence’s heart quickened. He could guess at what the news might be.

“Our king’s tax and the wolf bones you deduced that Brondel Abbey purchased—they may have a connection to this news. You see—”

As Huskins spoke, a gust of wind rose, blowing up the fallen snow and briefly obscuring his face. Lawrence was in that moment unable to see what sort of expression he had made.

But given the news, he could guess.

When Huskins was done speaking, he began walking down the hill to retrieve his flock but stopped long enough to turn and say one last thing.

“Good fortune to you.” His face was quiet and calm as he regarded Lawrence as though looking at something very bright. His gaze then flicked off in another direction, his expression belatedly showing a smile. “And my thanks.”

He then began walking again. The old shepherd began tending his flock as though Lawrence was not there at all.

Lawrence watched Huskins’s form recede and heaved a deep sigh. Then, turning on his heel, he too began to walk.

“Good fortune to you.” It was a farewell one gave to a friend setting out on a journey. Huskins’s words were more than enough to set Lawrence back on his travels, and he would not have been surprised to learn that the news Huskins had given him was true.

Such things did happen, after all, but usually in far-off lands, and news of them was treated as being good for little more than fodder for tavern gossip.

What should he think of the idea that someone so important to him was involved in such a thing?

The sunlight reflecting off the snow was very bright, and Lawrence could not help but tend to squint—but there was another reason he narrowed his eyes.

There were two figures walking back in the direction of the annex, at a slight remove from the sheep-trampled path.

“Any luck?”

At Lawrence’s question the two figures paused in their labored walking through the snow, then began moving again. They stayed off the easier-to-tread path, kicking snow up childishly as they went, which accounted for their slow progress.

As they approached Lawrence, he could see that both Holo’s and Col’s cheeks were bright red from the cold.

“So, how did it go?”

Holo kicked snow up into the air as she took great shuffling steps with Col behind her. She paused for a moment and then answered, “What do you think?”

“Fake,” Lawrence answered—too quickly, given the irritated look Holo gave him.

“What makes you think that?”

“Because I can’t have you crying again.”

Holo’s lips curled into a smile as she gave a purposeful shrug, then kicked snow high into the air. “’Twouldn’t bother me so much either way. I’m Holo the Wisewolf, after all.”

She finally moved over to the sheep-trod path and nearer to Lawrence, having either satisfied her snow-kicking desires or tired of getting the hem of her robe wet. As Holo knelt and patted off the snow that stuck to that robe, Lawrence quickly flipped her hood back and touched her exposed neck.

“Your clothes. They’re inside out.” He was referring to the clothes she wore beneath her robe.

Lawrence sighed and then held Col’s hand, who was standing next to them. It was as cold as ice, and Lawrence knew perfectly well they would be numb and tingling.

“They were fake, weren’t they?”

If Holo’s clothes were inside out, she must have returned from the abbey in her wolf form. If she had been sad, her ears and tail would have betrayed her true feelings.

She had been upset enough to take her wolf form and dashed through the cold with Col on her back.

Lawrence realized all his worry was for nothing. He had been tricked.

“They were fake,” said Holo, looking up at the sky.

No matter how considerate a lad he was, it was strange that Col was not angry at having been put in danger of frostbite. Doubtless, Holo had been equivalently terrified until they had learned the truth of the bones.

“They were probably from a stag, from the thickest part of the hind leg. Surely it was buried for a long time.”

“I wish I could’ve been next to you when they opened the box,” said Lawrence, getting a laugh from Col and a stomp to the foot from Holo.

The moment was very peaceful. One could not help but wish it would stay.

“And just what do you think you are grinning at? How vulgar.”

“It’s nothing. Come, let’s hurry back. We’ll need to make a fire in the hearth.”

Holo wore a dubious expression, but when she saw Lawrence begin walking, she did not press her question. Instead she took Col’s hand and called out in a high voice, “Aye, to make stew with plenty of salt and meat!”

Smiling at her constant self-interest, Lawrence did not see what his gaze pointed out. He was preoccupied with what Huskins had told him.

If true, Lawrence had glimpsed something frightening indeed. And yet Huskins had chosen to tell him and not Holo.

This was the place Huskins had chosen to protect.

So what, then, of Lawrence?

An image rose up in Lawrence’s mind—Huskins leading his flock, staff in hand, as he protected his land and the land of his kind.

The sky spread out, vast and clear and blue.

Lawrence took the hands of his two precious companions as they started the walk back to the dormitory.