Spice and Wolf - Volume 16 - Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

Two men, death-defying even by the standards of the Myuri Mercenary Company, accompanied Yanarkin, wearing a face like a condemned criminal on his way to the guillotine, out of town with a handwritten letter. Their destination was the camp of the army commanded by the captain of a thousand.

Before any answer came back, Hilde headed to Millike’s residence for negotiations.

Holo wondered idly, What is there to negotiate over now?

But since Svernel was still the cornerstone of the intersection of the northlands, there were still things Hilde had to do.

It was good to have smashed Yanarkin’s plot and spurred the crowd into closing the town gates like chivalrous rogues. Upon learning of these facts, the troops under the command of the captain of a thousand would likely turn back the way they came.

But that did not mean everything had been resolved.

As the town was under the rule of Jean Millike aka Havlish the Third, Hilde required a certain level of trust between them. Hilde was, after all, on the inside of the walls; if Millike wanted, he could have his troops surround the inn and set it ablaze.

That aside, lingering hard feelings would leave Svernel a future source of trouble.

From Millike’s point of view, even if Hilde returned to the Debau Company in full glory, Millike could not know when he might be invaded, his political authority usurped.

Besides, Millike had that opaque confidence that suited him to ruling this town.

With this in mind, and as a person of the Debau Company, Hilde needed to build up a minimum of trust with Millike.

Therefore, Hilde heading to Millike’s residence without bringing anyone else along was to display Hilde’s good faith.

But Lawrence and the others were completely at a loss as to how he could actually win such trust from Millike. Proposing an agreement for the Debau Company not to interfere with Svernel held no potency whatsoever.

Hilde seemed to have a strong plan of attack, but Lawrence could not even picture it.

Moreover, as Millike might even kill him outright if things went poorly, those waiting back at the inn could not help but be concerned.

But a short time after sunset, Hilde returned safe and sound. While Lawrence and the others breathed a sigh of relief, the talks had apparently not concluded, for after a meal, Hilde returned to the residence to continue talks once more.

Unexpectedly, the second set of talks ended immediately.

Though joy was evident on Hilde’s face, Lawrence and the others were rocked back when Hilde revealed the details.

Hilde had proposed to use this town as a second mint for the Debau Company.

But in shifting the profit from issuing the new currency, would this not cause some other huge problem?

Lawrence and the others had thought so, but upon hearing Hilde’s plan, their concerns were quickly alleviated.

“And so, we must set alight the furnace of this town that has gone unused for so long.”

The town had no proper furnace in operation.

As the Debau Company’s mining interests prospered, foul talk of its mines had long held sway in the northlands. Originally, this town had smelted iron sands, too, but Millike had forbidden it out of fear of future consequences; thanks to that, though the town had obstinately refused to cooperate with the Debau Company, it retained its independence until the bitter end.

Though Millike had thought to cut the town off from the northlands’ foolish disturbances, he was well prepared should he ever change his mind.

That being the case, the furnace needed to be brought back into working condition so that Hilde could implement his plan.

“All right! Move away from there! Put those holding rods around there…Hey, you! Dig that hole properly!”

It was Luward, leaning on a cane, barking orders in front of an old blast furnace, currently used for the storage of furs and amber that passed through the town. When he had learned how Lawrence and Hilde had fought fiercely while he slept, he had wept in self-derision.

Certainly, to the leader of a mercenary company, it was a mortifying, unbecoming failure.

Seeing his master like that, Moizi frankly asked Lawrence and Hilde for aid. Surely, he asked, is there not some important duty to assign him so that he might regain his honor?

Apparently that is when Hilde had issued his order to get the furnace back in working order.

Also, perhaps because the town’s residents had seen the tumult during daytime, there were many people concerning themselves with the defense of their own town’s walls. That, too, established the well-disciplined Myuri Mercenary Company as the most suitable for the physical labor.

“It’ll be finished by dawn, won’t it?”

Based on the expectation that an envoy would be returning with the reply to negotiations with the Debau Company force commanded by the captain of a thousand, Lawrence deduced that it was already near daybreak.

Hilde replied optimistically to Lawrence’s question as he beheld the Myuri Mercenary Company’s way of working.

“I think it will be all right.”

“I’m impressed that you thought of this, though.”

Lawrence spoke as he stood beside the entrance of the warehouse-turned-blast furnace, watching the ongoing work.

“I slapped my knee when I realized, you really are resolving things with money.”

They were watching the contents being cleaned out, a crack in the furnace being repaired, and the bellows being prepared and the equipment to make the bellows move when Lawrence spoke; Hilde merely laughed a little.

Right beside Lawrence stood a great merchant of which there were few.

That fact loosened Lawrence’s tongue a little as he continued.

“I never had any sane notion you’d be using that stamp to remint gold lumion of all things.”

For that was indeed what Hilde proposed to do.

Gold lumion were the gold coins with the highest level of purity, so even if reminted, they still retained marvelous value.

But the important thing was, the symbol was the same as the one the Debau Company was using to issue its own currency.

The Debau Company had announced it would issue gold and silver coins, but had not done so with gold coins. Gold coins were far too precious, not something to hand over to the common folk. Besides, each and every coin was a small fortune; even the Debau Company could not withstand issuing gold coins.

And that was why Svernel could issue these gold coins instead.

Since it was impossible to issue a large number of gold coins, it would have no great effect on the Debau Company’s coin policies.

However, as a symbol, gold coins were particularly momentous; enough that it would be worth issuing a small trickle of coins on special occasions hereafter.

Therefore, Hilde’s proposal was to entrust the town with one of the stamps and to pay it a suitable fee to mint gold coins when an occasion to issue them arose.

Having gone that far, even after Hilde and Debau returned to power at the Debau Company, no harm was likely to come to Svernel.

If the Debau Company, having shown Svernel such favor, treated the town coarsely on some occasion, it would lose trust from all corners of the northlands.

Meaning, Hilde was giving Millike a reason to trust him to ensure the long-term stability of Svernel.

Millike was not someone who would be ignorant of the value of that.

“However, it is thanks to you and Miss Holo that I am able to take command like this.”

Hilde, Luward, Lawrence, Holo.

Had a single one been lacking, they would not have arrived at this point.

After a while, Hilde called Lawrence’s name. “Mr. Lawrence.”

“What is it?”

As Lawrence lifted his eyes, Hilde was watching the Myuri Mercenary Company at work, with Luward letting commands fly. It seemed like he could watch the scene forever when he spoke.

“Would you not come to the Debau Company?”

And as he spoke, Lawrence’s gaze turned to him.

It was a mining company of rare size, an incredible company even able to mint a new currency for the northlands.

Setting up a store in Lesko was nowhere on the same scale as being invited in.

But about the same time as Lawrence turned his gaze to Hilde, he saw Luward and the others.

It was a fascinating idea. Surely everyone would say such a thing could not possibly be true for a traveling merchant.

“If I accepted that, every day would be an adventure, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes. I guarantee it.”

Lawrence replied without hesitation to Hilde’s firm words. “That’s why I can’t.” He gave Hilde a strained smile. “If I do that, no one will believe another word I say. I must respectfully decline.”

Even without the little details, it was surely clear what he meant.

For a while, Hilde seemed radiant as he looked at Lawrence along with Luward and the others.

“You are probably right.”

Then, as if making a complaint, Hilde said this.

“If only I had taken the form of a girl…”

Lawrence could not help himself but laugh at the terrible joke.

After laughing for a while, he gripped the stick that supported him, raising himself up.

“If you took the form of a girl, Holo would probably eat you.”

“…I am a hare, after all.” Hilde smiled and said, “A pity. Incidentally, where are you going?”

“Back to my room. With my leg I can’t even step on the bellows; I’ll just be in the way.”

As Lawrence spoke, Hilde seemed surprised to the bottom of his heart; indeed, there was anger in his words as he spoke.

“Surely that is not so. Everyone is wounded here. Besides, it is you, Mr. Lawrence, who silenced Yanarkin. If it had not been for you, even Mr. Luward and his men could not have—”

Lawrence made a strained smile and raised a palm at Hilde’s vehement protest.

He knew what Hilde was trying to say; he truly wanted Lawrence to be present for the minting of the gold coins.

But Lawrence could not.

He had to finally excuse himself from the banquet.

“If I get in too deep, I’ll never be able to pull back.”

Hilde seemed to still want to say something in response to Lawrence’s words.

However, Hilde knew what was between Lawrence and Holo. It was Hilde, after all, who had convinced Holo that their lives were being jeopardized and that they should flee the town.

Therefore, for Lawrence to flee from this point on should be nothing compared to that.

Even without Lawrence saying any of that, Hilde understood on his own; though it pained him, he nodded.

“I understand. I shall call you when we are ready, then.”

“Please do.”

With those words, Lawrence clutched his walking stick and departed from the building with the furnace.

The interior of the building was well lit to the point of being dazzling, and thanks to all the hardy men running about, it was rather hot.

Perhaps thanks to that, it was painfully cold outside, and he felt like it was so quiet it made his ears ring.

If he was there, he would have surely relished the zeal of those who had made risky gambles and won.

Even so, that was no longer any place for him.

As Lawrence walked, making step after step with his walking stick, there was someone coming toward him from the other direction. As he wondered who would be out walking at this hour, it turned out to be Holo, carrying a casket of wine.

“Mm? Where are you going, you?”

“That’s my line.”

As Lawrence spoke, Holo regripped the wine casket and replied, “I was given some wine. I thought I would come have a drink with you.”

“I imagined I’d just be in the way, so why not go back to the inn.”

“A fine decision by your standards.”

As Holo spoke, her face looked like that of an old wife saying to her already drunk husband, And from tomorrow on, you shall go to the tavern no more.

As a previous offender, Lawrence, scared of the eyes with which Holo was staring at him, strongly and rather transparently changed the subject.

“…You said someone gave you that wine? Who?”

“…Goodness…What’s his name, you know, that fool.”

Holo did not remember his name. Typical.

“You don’t mean Millike?”

As Lawrence spoke, Holo said, “Right, right.”

“But why would Millike have wine sent over?”

As Lawrence asked, a somewhat mysterious look came over Holo’s face.

“’Tis no problem, is it? Or do you suspect it is poisoned?”

“I suspect no such thing, but…”

Lawrence was not able to grasp how Millike thought at all.

Furthermore, since he was half-man, half-beast, Lawrence wondered what could have happened between him and Hilde as well as Holo that had gone so well.

It was not that he suspected anything untoward, but not being able to fathom it tugged at his mind.

“Walk.” Perhaps Lawrence was projecting his thoughts when Holo urged him onward, glancing sideways up at Lawrence in exasperation.

“Come, you. There are many stories and many circumstances that you know not.”

That was exceedingly obvious, but what of it?

“When Mr. Hilde went off to speak to him the second time…Come to think of it, you weren’t around?” said Lawrence looking back.

Lawrence had been speaking to Moizi and Luward, but Holo could not sit still and said she was heading off to another room to brush her tail.

Holo made a disagreeable-looking face.

So something had happened back then.

“And I was being kind in not saying it,” replied Holo.

“Kind?”

“But perhaps it shall serve as a good lesson,” Holo muttered in response to Lawrence’s doubtful question. “In the end, that fool was protecting a grave.”

“Protecting a…grave?”

“Aye. I know not the details, but several decades ago the female he was mated to fell ill and died. As she was born in this town, in this town she rests. He did not have the power to save her, but he hoped she could at least rest in peace. So, Lawrence, does this story not remind you of something similar?”

Holo spoke with a flippant tone, but her face showed no humor at all.

Having one’s mate die first, and obstinately protecting the resting place of that mate, struck rather too close to home.

“So, then you…”

“Aye. Well, I’d firmly grasped your hand right in front of a man like that. Small wonder he gave us those dark looks.”

Anger, exasperation, perhaps even jealousy.

Regardless, he could not have been able to keep calm.

“But, well, that fool sent word he wished to speak with me through that fool of a hare.

“I did say I was going out.”

Like Millike’s wife, Lawrence would someday die before Holo did. Be it from old age or disease, perish he would.

That was an unavoidable fact and one Holo certainly understood.

She had experienced it several times before; it was something she had worried about before.

They had arrived this far because then and on other such occasions, Lawrence had taken Holo’s hand no matter what. Holo, finally moved by his affection, had taken Lawrence’s hand in turn.

He wondered what Holo had said to Millike in light of that.

What kind of words did she offer to Millike, who was protecting the place where his dead wife laid?

Without smiling, Holo spoke curtly.

“I told him…find your next female already, you fool.”

“…”

Lawrence stopped still, staring in shock.

Holo went several steps farther before looking back over her shoulder, a mocking smile coming over her. She giggled. “You really are a charming one.”

Then, she walked off, making a cackling laugh all the way.

Certainly, even if his own death made Holo sad, he would want her to laugh once more.

But nor could he stop himself from hoping that, if possible, there would never be another man at her side, stupid as the thought was.

Lawrence walked off once more, following Holo.

“But having said that, I did wander about a wheat field like that, yes? And you, as soon as you start to build a nest, you run off all over the place.”

Holo’s words came with a good measure of ill temper as they arrived at the inn and she opened the door.

No doubt she had not held the door open entirely on purpose.

Holding his walking stick in the crook of his arm, Lawrence awkwardly opened the door and moved his listless body inside.

“So, because we talked like that, he went out of his way to send wine, which arrived just earlier.”

Holo walked briskly, even as Lawrence was largely groping as he walked.

“The two aren’t connected.”

As he made the obligatory protest, Holo stopped still in the darkness; he felt like she was silently laughing.

Then, she took light, hop-like steps up the stairs.

Lawrence clutched his walking stick and climbed the stairs with his meager endurance.

By the time he arrived at the fourth floor, he was largely out of breath.

“The two are not connected, you say?”

“Wah!”

The sudden voice right before his eyes nearly bowled him over.

Holo guffawed, laughed, and took Lawrence’s hand.

But the atmosphere after her laugh was oddly frightening.

“…?”

Lawrence felt like Holo was glaring at him in the darkness, but since he could only make out her silhouette, he was not sure.

It was very similar to the conversation itself.

“We have arrived.”

As they entered the room, it was a little brighter due to the wooden shutters being open.

Lawrence, relying on the moonlight, made it to the bed and was finally able to sit down.

As it occurred to him to look up and ask for at least some water, her face was angry enough that he suddenly sat upright.

“So, you.”

Her tone of voice was frigid, and her look was truly merciless.

Because Lawrence’s back was facing the moon, Holo’s eyes received the light, giving off a silvery glint.

“I thought you were not going to lay a hand on anything dangerous again?”

So she was going to bring that up again now?

Besides, how it worked out could not be helped.

As Lawrence’s eyes pitifully complained thus, Holo snorted a “hmph,” and she pulled back a little.

“Well, certainly it could not be helped there.”

That’s right, he moved to say, but Holo’s sharp eyes shut Lawrence up.

“However, it is a violation of your promise nonetheless. If you get wrapped up in something, it stirs your deep benevolence so that you can’t help but stick your nose into it. Certainly, I had fun helping you there beside the window, but come, you, it shall not always go well like that. If you do not take that to heart, you shall truly suffer for it.”

He did not know if she meant suffering as a direct result of sticking his nose in or from what Holo would do to him afterward. Probably both.

“And even if you nod now, I cannot trust that…”

He wanted to say, But I turned Hilde down, but that would not build her trust.

One earned trust by making their deeds match their words.

How many times had he spoken to Holo and not come through?

As he thought about that, Lawrence looked up at her like a criminal awaiting judgment.

“But having said that, I am well aware you are honest to the point of foolishness. Therefore, I believe there may be some fault in my methods.”

“…?”

As Lawrence’s head spun, trying in vain to make sense of it all, Holo spoke in a grandiose tone.

“You seem the sort who will uphold a contract, if not a promise.”

“Huh?”

As he spoke without thinking, Holo slapped his cheek hard.

Furthermore, the hand Holo slapped his cheek with pinched it, turning Lawrence to face her.

“I have no idea what that cheeky little girl was thinking to say such a thing but…”

Then, she spoke with annoyance through bared fangs.

Lawrence remembered back to when Holo was digging up the forbidden book back in the snow-covered mountains.

Apparently, when Holo had gone to Kieschen to obtain the forbidden book, Elsa had said something to her there.

What in the world was it, and what did it have to do with them here and now?

Lawrence could not hazard a guess, but there was no mistaking the fact that whatever it was, it had gotten under Holo’s skin.

Holo took her hand away from Lawrence’s cheek, immediately sandwiching Lawrence’s head between both hands.

She looked like she was about to swallow this pathetic traveling merchant whole from the head down.

Perhaps that was not so far off the mark.

As Holo gazed straight at Lawrence, she said this.

“She said when ’tis time to take our vows, she would stand witness anytime. The fool.”

It was clear that what Elsa, a woman of the Church—albeit a young one—meant by vows was not something to cross Lawrence’s lips.

“So, how about it?” Holo asked sourly.

As if she needed to ask.

If that was the contract into which she wanted him to enter, there was no possible reason he could refuse.

Lawrence, gazing at Holo as if entranced by her, nodded.

As he did so Holo, who until this point had eyed Lawrence with suspicion, finally let all the tension ease, as if she was tired.

And after an exhausted sigh, a smile came over her, as if somewhat embarrassed, slowly drawing her face near him.

The moonlight that bathed her face seemed to shroud it in a white veil.

Humans made their vows before God; perhaps wolves made theirs before the moon.

Holo tilted her face ever so slightly, slouching a little.

Her hair gently fell over Lawrence’s shoulder and rested upon it.

Lawrence put his trembling hands around Holo’s slender hips, but of course Holo did not object.

Holo made a giggle and brought her face close.

Lawrence, anticipating tenderness, matched Holo’s movements and slowly closed his eyes.

And.

No matter how long he waited, the expected sensation never came.

“Mm, I forgot something important.”

“Ah?”

As Lawrence opened his eyes, Holo briskly raised herself up and turned the other way.

“Er, ah…”

And though Lawrence reached out as Holo pulled away, she slipped from his grasp as if she were an illusion.

When Lawrence tried to get up from the bed, he bent his body from the fierce pain of his thigh.

But fearing the matter would be kicked down the road again, he cast his eyes toward Holo once more.

She giggled. “Can you not make such a face?” Despite her words, her expression made clear to Lawrence that she was thoroughly enjoying watching his pathetic expression.

He wanted to get upset and call her a terrible person, but as he looked at her eyes, he was unable to say the words.

Holo was truly angry that Lawrence had been seduced by the fickle dreams of merchant-kind.

He had promised so many times before, and he still had not learned.

All Lawrence could do was sit on the bed like a dog that had made a mess.

Whew. Holo slapped her hip with her hand and sighed through her nose.

It seemed like they would continue in these roles for good.

“Well, it is the truth I forgot something important. Before forming a new vow, we must carry out the old.”

“The old?”

As Lawrence murmured in a daze, he saw Holo’s face break into a smile.

“Were you not to bring me to Yoitsu?”

“R-right…”

Even on pain of torture, he would never admit to having completely forgotten about that.

When Holo and Lawrence met, it was under the night sky much like this: the wisewolf, quivering with loneliness and wanting to go home, and the traveling merchant, his mind occupied with counting coins and a burning dream to set up his own store, riding atop an all-too-wide driver’s seat.

We certainly make an odd pair, he belatedly thought in hindsight.

As Lawrence, at a loss for words, continued to watch Holo. Her expression finally softened as she looked at the moonlight coming in through the window.

If there was any meaning to it, Lawrence thought that probably it nicely hid her blushing.

“Besides, you have said it before.”

“Ah?”

As he asked back, Holo shifted her gaze back to Lawrence, grinning at him as she spoke.

“That there is very deep meaning in bringing one’s partner home with you.”

Certainly, Lawrence felt like he had said something like that, but he barely remembered it.

But that Holo had remembered him saying something like that made him even happier in a strange way.

Perhaps, just as Lawrence had been in great haste where Holo was concerned, Holo too had leaped from joy to sorrow along with every word Lawrence had spoken.

That soft chuckle again. Under the moonlight, Holo smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

Lawrence smiled as well, able only to sigh.

“Yoitsu. Yoitsu, huh?”

“Indeed. We have postponed it too long.”

“Very well…however.”

“Mm?” Holo asked back.

Lawrence shifted his gaze to behind Holo as he spoke. “We can at least drink together, can’t we?”

He waved behind Holo at the cask of wine Millike had sent over—sent for the purpose of celebration.

“Hmm…well, not that you have the fortitude to keep up with my drinking, after all.”

Though a definite slight, even if it did not quite hit the mark, it was not so far off, so he said nothing back.

Holo lifted the wine cask up and placed it on top of the bed, bringing but a single cup over.

Isn’t there another one? As Lawrence’s eyes searched the room, Holo gave his forehead a small poke.

“You truly have no mind for subtlety…”

Even as Holo scolded him, her tail swayed happily.

She loves me, he realized with maddening intensity.

“Take care not to drink too much.”

“To think the day would come when you would warn me about that.”

“Fool.”

As Holo spoke, she pulled out the cask’s cork.

And she had Lawrence hold the cup as she poured wine into it.

That very moment, Lawrence thought that along with the moonlight, some kind of shout was coming in from the window.

Probably, they had lit the furnace and everyone was stepping on the bellows. Here and now, in the depths of the northlands’ harsh, long winter, a new gold coin would be minted, stamped with a sun that would light the way for all people.

Luward had said how he liked watching the dawn on a nightlong march, for the sun washed all away.

No doubt the soon-to-be-minted gold coin of the sun would become the herald of the dawn of a new age.

However, Lawrence did not go there to join them, instead staying in the nearly empty inn.

He felt no reluctance or regret about that.

He had wine in his hand, poured by none other than Holo herself.

When Lawrence looked up from the moon reflected in the wine, Holo’s smiling face was there to greet him.

She laughed her quiet laugh.

More radiant than any sun or any coin of gold was the smiling face of his beloved.