Spice and Wolf - Volume 16 - Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

“And so, the great and mighty merchant goes out with a whimper.”

Luward spoke as he lifted Hilde’s body, whose shoulder had only just been sewn up, with his fingers. As he had not spoken to the men about Hilde, those ordered to heal the hare had been bewildered. His wound sutured and salved, he now slept like the dead inside a wicker cage. The mercenaries had apparently been making crude jokes about this being tonight’s supper.

Lawrence and the others were on the outskirts of Lesko, not very far removed from the town.

There was not a single cloud in the sky. He could see the pretty twinkling of the stars.

In turn, the cold was fierce. The members of the company huddled under blankets near fires they had lit with dead grass gathered from the roadside to get as warm as they could. They sent longing gazes toward the wagon bed of Lawrence’s wagon, but they did not ask why someone so out of place was in a place like this. Their gazes were filled with longing for a quick decision.

“It’s some ways away, but heading south may be a wise choice.”

Moizi spoke as he spread a map over the bed of Lawrence’s horse-drawn wagon.

“Lenos, eh? If by some chance the Debau Company bunch want to put us to the slaughter, a large army attacking over flat ground would wipe even our unit out in an instant, yes?”

“Yes. However, if we head north, we shall be pursued as rebels, but if we go south, they have no just cause to attack us.”

Great violence was often senseless, but it seemed even they needed a cause, no matter how thin.

“Well, I suppose in Lenos it would be easier to rendezvous with Miss Holo.”

“Indeed, it would. There are no proper towns or villages to the east or west. A good plan would be to quietly head downriver and wait for things to cool down, then head back to Tolkien. Even the Debau Company would surely not advance an army against Lenos.”

The dominion of Ploania was just south of Lenos. Without doubt, sending an army there would provoke the king and nobles. Certainly, it was unlikely they would do such a foolish thing.

“What do you think, Mr. Lawrence? Is this acceptable?”

Lawrence could not really wrap his head around his participation in this conference to decide where the storied mercenary company would march. Asking him, Where do you want your goods pillaged midroute? and Where do you want to be killed? would have been better grounded in reality by far.

“I think it is a good plan.”

“All right. It’s settled, then.”

Luward stood up, hopped down from the wagon bed, and grandly strode forward.

As he did so, the squirming mercenaries gathered to him, like children around a clown that had appeared in the town square.

With a flap of his overcoat and a great wave of his hand, Luward announced his decision. He spoke frankly and clearly and brooked no complaint.

It seemed they would be marching by night. For that reason, he first ordered preparations for a nighttime meal to fill their bellies. That instant, like little children, the soldiers raised both hands with a great shout.

As Lawrence gazed at the sight, Moizi watched him in turn while deftly rolling up the large map. Suddenly, Moizi spoke.

“Mr. Lawrence, is something wrong?”

“Eh?”

Lawrence thought he must have been referring to the meal, but Moizi moved his chin in the direction of the wagon’s draft horse as he continued.

“If so, I’ll have someone lead your horse. It would not do for us to be separated in the middle of marching at night, after all.”

In other words, a traveling merchant with little endurance should meekly sleep on top of the wagon bed.

But even if that was the case, he did not have the confidence to be the only exception with mercenaries walking all around him.

He was sure Moizi meant well, but he had to walk.

“No, I’ll walk. After all…” Lawrence’s answer seemed to put special emphasis on the last part. “…Holo will no doubt be running all night without rest.”

Moizi’s hand stopped rolling up the map and slapped his own forehead. “My apologies. I spoke in haste.”

They were such serious people. If all mercenaries were like this, he would really have to revise his general impression of them a bit.

“But you are sure about this?”

Having finished rolling up the map, Moizi tied it with a horsehair cord and handed it to a youngster sitting idle on the edge of the wagon bed.

When Holo rummaged around in the wagon, it looked very broad, but with Moizi, it looked rather cramped.

“The forbidden book will likely be all for naught.”

“…Certainly that is true.”

As Lawrence replied, he looked toward Hilde, sleeping like the dead in the wicker cage. “He should realize it’s time to quit. The larger a company, the less it is something that can be driven by a single person. Now that he’s completely lost internal control, there’s surely nothing more he can do.”

“Mmm…so he should live to trade again, in other words.”

“These are the narrow thoughts of a traveling merchant, mind you.”

A ration of alcohol was given to all in advance of the night meal.

Moizi accepted his own jug from the youngster and put it down on the wagon bed.

“I think you are correct in this. Although…it does have a slightly tiresome side to it, I must admit.”

Many people simply enjoyed a life of battle. To them, Lawrence’s way of thinking surely seemed that of a small-time, timid merchant.

Even so, what stopped him from reacting visibily to this implication was that their judgment was not all that far off.

But Luward, who had returned at some point after finishing giving orders to those around them, stood right behind Moizi and spoke. “That seems different than what you told me, Moizi.”

“Y-young master?”

“Don’t call me that. So what, you pounded practicality into me over and over when you’re the one drunk on war romance?”

As Luward twisted his words like a knife, Moizi, his face austere even under normal circumstances, made a still sterner face.

Luward laughed at Moizi’s look and agilely leaped back up onto the wagon bed.

“Either way, I’m not supporting Mr. Lawrence’s judgment here. The Debau Company rubs me the wrong way, whether it’s the old guard or the new guard.”

If Hilde and Debau blazed the way for a new era, others, like Luward and his men, would be left behind along with the old world.

In that sense, perhaps that was why Luward felt so friendly with the current Debau Company.

“What’s sad is how we have to help a company that plans to treat us as disposable. Certainly we’d make money. It might be profitable, but…” Luward paused mid-sentence to take a sip of liquor as a youngster brought over the evening meal. It was simple—bread sandwiching sausage—but in this cold, it surpassed any feast. “Only in money. A bit of drink and merrymaking and it’s gone.”

This said, Luward wolfed down three mouthfuls worth of bread.

Certainly, if one only made enough money to eat, once they ate, it was gone.

“How about you, Mr. Lawrence? You’re a merchant. Have you ever thought about that?”

As the conversation was passed to Lawrence, he was biting into his sausage, which left a bit of grease on his face.

Luward’s question seemed hot and oily in its own right.

“In the town of Lenos, there was a merchant who was such a miser even I was taken back.”

“Really.” Luward and Moizi both took great interest as they looked at him.

“This incredible person earned money over and over, using without conscience not only the lives of others, but his own life as well. I heard about this man. And I encountered him, with sword and knife pointed at me, in a seemingly abandoned warehouse.”

The two mercenaries’ eyes widened in surprise for a moment; then, they made smiling faces like innocent children.

“I asked him, why do you desire money so much? Is it not like trying to drink up an ocean?”

Lawrence could not remember the face Eve had made at the time. It was not important at the time. Even so, he remembered the tone of her voice to the present day.

That innocent, powerful, and somewhat sad tone of voice.

“Because he needed to see, he said.”

“To see…” Luward alone repeated it back. Moizi firmly bit his lip, moving his thick neck and tugging on his chin.

“To see.” The young head of the mercenary company repeated it once more, gradually shifting his gaze into the distance.

The response stuck like a piece of paper in a bird’s craw, but his eyes easily leaped and trailed away.

“He might have made a good warrior.”

And laughing as he spoke, Luward returned his gaze to Lawrence.

“Wonder if he’d come if we sent an offer his way. What do you think, Moizi?”

“Mmm…certainly, he might become a fine warrior. However, he surely lacks the personality to follow orders. If it is in his interests, he is capable of working with others, no matter how reckless the plan. However, if it is not in his interests, he can betray you no matter how friendly he is. It is a characteristic of many who have things expected of them somewhere else rather than here.”

It was so precise an assessment it was as if Moizi had seen Eve with his own eyes.

Luward raised a dissatisfied-looking eyebrow, but as Lawrence nodded, the mercenary breathed a heavy sigh, like a child whose playtime had been interrupted midway. “So you’ve been betrayed, too, Mr. Lawrence.”

“Holo became a pawn, and in the end, before I’d even realized it, even my own life came to be at stake.”

Luward whistled through his lips as Moizi stuffed his mouth with the last of the bread. “Merchants are frightening. The fact they don’t look it makes them even more frightening.”

He looked toward the wicker cage in which Hilde slept as he spoke.

“There’s a limit to how large a sword a man can swing. However, there’s no limit to the amount a merchant may write on a piece of paper. Here they have failed, but merchants might truly be the rulers of the world someday.”

Luward’s left hand had been holding the hilt of his sword for some time.

The expressionless way he looked down at Hilde was like a king who is thinking of cutting down his foe while still a powerless baby so that the child might not grow up to someday usurp his crown.

“That might be so, but today is not that day. So, we shall fight on till that day comes.”

Moizi’s words made Luward raise an eyebrow, looking slightly annoyed.

It was as if telling a child that one did not take a life in vain.

“…Still, strife in the northlands does worry me somewhat.” With a rattle, Luward’s hand came off the hilt of his sword as he spoke. “I don’t think there’s any reasonable chance anyone can stop them with the momentum they have now. I’ve heard that opponents are gathering in Svernel, but it’s no use.”

This was the veteran mercenary’s assessment of the town to which Hilde sent his letter requesting aid.

So indeed, if Lawrence delivered the letter, he would only be putting his own life in peril. It was a selfish thought, but having laid hands on an excuse, he felt his mood brighten just a little.

“I wonder what Miss Holo plans to do. Perhaps she can slow conflict down even a little?”

Holo’s mind was already set. She would surely do no such thing. No doubt she would do like Hugues, the sheep art seller, and would match the flow of the world as well as she could, pretending not to see.

As Lawrence shook his head side to side, Luward’s own chest seemed pained as he tugged his chin and nodded. “It is a hard decision but one that must be made. She is indeed impressive.”

“We, too, must work so that we bring no shame to our own banner,” said Moizi.

“Damned right we will. But first, we’ll change the course of our advance and wait and see.”

He said retreat without actually saying it. It seemed he really was fond of that line.

“Although it’s good to do a night march like this after so long. Nice if it stays clear.” As Luward spoke, he raised his hand to shield his eyes as he looked up at the sky, acting like it was the middle of the day.

Right now there was not a single cloud as the pretty stars twinkled in the cold night sky.

“Snow might be all right, but rainfall would be troublesome.”

They could manage with snow; for the cloud cover to be thick enough for rain, it had to be unseasonably warm.

Lawrence had that in mind as he spoke, but Luward laughed as he tilted his neck.

“I’m not worried about rain or snow. I’m worried about whether we see the morning sun.”

“Morning sun?”

“Yeah. I love seeing the morning sun when marching in the dead of night. What’s even better is that even if you’re all chewed up from battle, not one person makes a complaint. When you’ve been going all night—What’ll become of us? Is there relief ahead? Why’d this happen to us? and so on—it’s the best.”

Luward’s speaking in such high spirits brought a pained smile to Moizi.

“Blood and sweat are like flies buzzing about a corpse with the stench of death; you can never wipe them away. When darkness sticks to your hands, it stays with you like blood; you can never leave it behind. But the moment the sun emerges, all is washed away that instant. When you see that morning sun…” Luward closed his eyes, and as if remembering that very scene, he made a pause in the hymn, then continued, “…You can’t quit the mercenary life.”

No doubt they thought this in particular because their livelihood depended on endless war.

One really did have to cut away all the bad and let it all wash away. It had to be a very good feeling.

But as a merchant, Lawrence would rather take action before a situation became desperate, if at all possible.

“Well, it does look like we’ll see a really beautiful one this time.”

Having left town in defiance of the Debau Company, there had been no sign of any pursuit from them. Besides, Luward and Moizi had said there would probably not be an attack without some kind of just cause.

They would arrive at the town of Lenos with little difficulty and would rendezvous with Holo, who was not far now.

Bringing Hilde to Lenos with them as well, he would surely calm down and rethink things.

It was best to think of what to do afterward when the time came.

Taking Holo to Yoitsu would be good, but if Holo would forgive it, Lawrence would like to wrap up his own business first. It would mean a fair detour, but there were many places a traveling merchant must visit before spring came in earnest.

And if he and Holo were to begin a new life together, there were numerous things he would like to liquidate.

“Well, we’ve stuffed our bellies so it’s time to be off.” As Luward spoke, Moizi slowly rose up.

Traveling at night with a ghost seemed far more likely than traveling in the middle of a mercenary company. Lawrence wanted to laugh at the absurdity before his eyes. However, on the bed of his wagon rode the right-hand man of a mineral trader unheard of in any prior era. Furthermore, he, a hare incarnate, was fighting fiercely to bring peace to the northlands.

And all of this had been made possible by a chance encounter.

However, in the end, the world was a cloth woven between each and every person in it; the power of an individual was not great. As Luward had said, even this exceptional merchant went “out with a whimper.”

Though the splendor of his commercial profits ascribed to him a God-like halo, as if everything he touched turned to gold, no such thing actually occurred.

Perhaps that was part of why Holo so quickly realized that she could not solve everything in the world with her fangs.

Her power had limits.

For his part, Hilde had been easily wounded by a sword, had lost all his influence as a grand merchant, was nearly killed by drunks, and now slept in a wicker cage. His form looked frail—no more and no less than a hare.

Perhaps realizing this in the bottom of one’s heart was what made people see the world with open eyes.

“No one misplaced anything?” Luward asked very casually.

At those words, Lawrence spontaneously looked in the direction of Lesko.

For a while, he really wanted to see that store set up. He had in fact paid the deposit. But he had completely given up on that dream now. One had to give up many things for the sake of a new travel route, which was why travelers did not stay long in a village with many gentle souls.

Very soon now, what he might have done in Lesko would be an amusing tale, one he thought would be good to tell with Holo by his side. So, Lawrence raised his face and moved to reply to Luward.

The sooner we go, the better. Life is short, after all.

It was not his own fault that his voice did not come out. It was because Luward’s face seemed to be saying, “Oh my.” He had no time to even think, What is it all of a sudden?

From behind Lawrence, they heard a painful, stuttering voice.

“I—mis…placed…”

“Mr. Hilde!” Chasing after the path of Luward’s surprised gaze, Lawrence turned to see the wounded hare in the wicker cage desperately raising his head.

“…some…thing…” It was as if his consciousness was hazy, perhaps due to fever from the wounds. His tiny head swayed, and one eye was not opening properly. Even so, he was desperately determined to tell them something.

Hilde still had some attachment to Lesko—some regret of some kind.

Luward closed the distance.

“Hey, you rabbit bastard.” Luward thrust a single rough finger at the hare, one eye still closed, perhaps due to the wounds sapping his endurance. “You lost your war. Get it through your head. We’re heading south. If you don’t wanna die, shut your mouth and curl up right there. Understand?”

The hare was so frail merely raising his head made him shake, but Lawrence did not find Luward’s display particularly untoward. A mercenary company had to act as a group. If head and mouth were not in accord, the hands and feet would fall into disorder.

“Do you understand?”

Finally, Luward lifted the powerless Hilde’s chin and turned his face to the side, like what was done with oppressed slaves. His eyes only seemed dimly open, as if he had a concussion.

“Maybe I should say, as expected of a merchant of the Debau Company? I’ll give you credit for being stubborn.”

“C-certainly, it is a temperament wasted on a hare.”

Unsurprisingly, even Moizi was thrown off by the sight of a talking hare before his eyes. He was a steadfast, loyal mercenary. He displayed respect for any party who merited it, even a hare.

Moizi used his too-thick fingers to politely pull the blanket, which had slipped, back over him.

And, just as Luward stood up to give orders to his subordinates…

“I l-left…”

The sound of the shaking voice made Luward turn around.

“…l-letters.”

And a look approaching shock came over Luward’s face. “Letters, you say?” But those open eyes and that exhausted chin contained a seething rage under the surface. “Hey, is that true?”

Luward brushed Moizi aside and thrust his hand into the wicker cage.

“Hey, wake up!”

And just as if trying to force a drunk to wake up, Luward grabbed him by the collar and shook hard enough to make his head shake.

Of course Moizi intervened to stop him. Hilde remained completely limp, his long ears seemingly very heavy.

He had left a letter.

With one sentence, Hilde had driven a rusted wrench into the gears of Luward’s mind.

“Shit! Letters, letters, he said?!”

Luward took his hand off Hilde’s throat. He returned the small, exhausted hare’s body to the cage.

“Yeah, it’s possible…If he asked Mr. Lawrence, then…it’s possible. Very possible…”

Irritated, Luward gazed at the surface of the wagon bed, repeating himself in rapid succession.

And suddenly, he raised his head.

“Mr. Lawrence.”

It was an intense gaze that suddenly made Luward seem taller.

Those wide-open eyes that had just been gazing longingly at the twinkling stars seemed more like a beast’s than a man’s.

“You were the last one to meet him. But I was careless and forgot to ask you.

“I thought all of this was over after all.”

Luward’s eyes gazed at Lawrence as if peering directly into Lawrence’s head.

“I get that his final wish was for you to request aid. But what does that mean in real terms?”

That instant, the matter of the letter floated into the back of Lawrence’s mind. Hilde had been on the verge of death when he used his nearly last gasps to reach the back entrance of the once-more silent inn, entrusting him with two copies of a letter—letters to Svernel and the lords within, saying Help me. Lawrence finally understood the effect of the pin Hilde had driven home.

In other words, Hilde’s letters requesting aid demonstrated beyond all doubt who the Debau Company’s current enemies were. So if Hilde had gone to Lawrence for aid, was it unthinkable he had requested aid from others as well? For example, from the storied and esteemed mercenary company filled with crack troops that had been stationed at the inn just earlier? It was not so difficult to imagine.

As if a youngster confessing an irrevocable mistake, Lawrence sucked in his breath and said this.

“He entrusted me with letters requesting aid in halting the Debau Company’s current momentum from those arrayed in opposition to it.”

Lawrence withdrew the two letters from his breast. He thought it would have been best to tear up and burn them.

At the very least, to do so for those entrusted to him.

A natural thought, but that would do nothing for any others.

In Hilde’s situation, it would not have been strange to have left behind letters he had written but not disposed of. Or rather, there was a high probability he had left them on purpose.

After all, at that inn, it was still highly likely Lawrence would try to persuade him to give up. Considering Hilde’s own physical strength was near its limit, Hilde must have thought it entirely possible Lawrence would whisk him outside of the town regardless of his own consent.

Once he left the town, it would be difficult to persuade anyone to fight the Debau Company. Even with Hilde’s strenuous efforts, it was difficult. What to do?

Have the Debau Company come after him. For example, he could leave a letter in a conspicuous place requesting aid from the Myuri Mercenary Company, or failing that, one that said, “Thank you for your assistance.”

Upon finding such a letter, the Debau Company would dispatch assassins to eliminate potential complications. Failing that, they might simply make an example. In either case, the Debau Company had a reason to pursue.

If it had been Lawrence in Hilde’s position, he would probably have left a letter of thanks in a conspicuous place himself.

“To Mr. Luward Myuri of the Myuri Mercenary Company. Thank you for hearing my request. Let us take back the Debau Company, hand in hand.”

“You got us good, you rabbit bastard,” Luward muttered in loathing, as if his teeth were clenched and he was growling right through them. At this point, they could not return to Lesko to check and make sure. Like a demon, no one could prove whether the letters existed or not.

But if it meant sending the Myuri Mercenary Company’s strength to Svernel, Hilde would absolutely have written them. In the face of the suspicion that they might have joined forces with Hilde, the Myuri Mercenary Company could no longer head south.

After all, the only route to Lenos was over a wide-open plain, making them the perfect target for the Debau Company’s overwhelming military might. No matter how mighty the Myuri Mercenary Company was, if chased on an open plain, the force larger in number would be certain of victory. On the other hand, the narrow mountain roads that continued all the way to Svernel would allow them to make up for the numerical disparity.

Yet it was also quite possible this was a complete bluff on Hilde’s part.

Though possible, if it was indeed true, heading south would bring the Myuri Mercenary Company’s long history to an end.

It was plain even to Lawrence, with his thin knowledge of military affairs, that the Myuri Mercenary Company’s only hope of survival against Debau Company forces pursuing it was to flee into those narrow mountain roads.

When one was small, they needed to flee into small spaces to survive. It was an obvious truth.

Like a hare fleeing into a hare hole.

“Svernel…Svernel, eh…?”

Luward put his hand to his own forehead, repeating the word as if begging for relief. Lawrence himself had thought it reckless; Luward and Moizi had paid the idea no heed from the start.

No one would have by any normal measure of thinking.

However, Hilde’s stubbornness was not normal, nor was his way of thinking. The single utterance Hilde had dropped was so powerful a thing. If Holo had been by his side, she might have acknowledged it with a dazzling, fang-baring smile on her face.

He had chosen to expend the last of his truly limited strength on a few choice words selected for maximum effect, bearing maximum force, delivered at the most opportune moment. With but a few words, he had bound the will of the head of a mercenary company.

This was the surly right-hand man of the owner of the Debau Company.

Lawrence realized he was fiercely jealous of the difference between him and this other merchant.

“Going south is no longer an option. We would risk annihilation.” Moizi spelled it out. “Having said that, heading east or west would do nothing to clear up the suspicions directed at us. Also, there are plains in both directions. What, then, rush to Lenos as fast as we can? It’s no use. They have boats. They will catch up with us, and there will be battle. That must be avoided at any cost.”

“I know,” Luward said shortly.

Moizi nodded and continued, “Then, we must turn north. There is nothing that can shield us save the narrow mountain roads. And the one nearest to us”—as the excellent strategist he was, Moizi spoke plainly about the failure of their plan—“is the road to Svernel. As a key line of communication, it cannot be ignored.”

“In other words, we’re being driven like hares into a hole.”

The veteran strategist nodded gravely, for it was indeed exactly so.

But there was neither anger nor despair on his face.

There was only respect for Hilde the strategist.

“With a single arrow, he has upended the circumstances of the war. And he has accomplished this as a merchant with a single sentence.” Luward brushed aside his coat with a rustle, raising his face in what seemed like defeat. “No choice but to ride with it. Ride and dance nicely on his palm.”

And with that, he bounded down from the wagon bed, ordering the mercenaries to assemble.

Moizi followed in Luward’s wake, distributing various minor commands.

The only ones left were Lawrence and Hilde.

But Hilde had revealed a plan that had earned respect from both Luward and Moizi.

For his part, Lawrence was merely playing the fool. One was the right-hand man of the master of a great merchant company. The other was a mere traveling merchant. One might say that even being jealous was absurd.

Lawrence looked down at Hilde, who had fainted; he then averted his eyes.

The great merchant went out with a whimper?

A foolish judgment.

He was a traveling merchant himself.

That sentence had viciously pierced Lawrence’s own heart.

In trade, some loss could not be avoided.

But there were losses that had to be avoided at all costs.

These were not long-term losses nor great losses, but the losses that could not be recovered from.

Surely it was no different for mercenaries.

When one made their living in something as uncertain as war, severe damage was surely not such a rare event. However, losses to the extent that none would succeed to carry their flag had to be avoided at all costs.

Therefore, to avoid annihilation, some undertakings were necessary despite their great risk.

As a result of Hilde’s plan, heading south carried with it the possibility of complete destruction. Therefore, the Myuri Mercenary Company changed course, entering the mountain road that led to Svernel.

If they were unable to put enough distance behind them while they still had cover of darkness, when the Debau Company determined the Myuri Mercenary Company to be an enemy and began pursuit, the mercenaries would be unable to implement strategies for escape. But advancing under darkness along a snow-packed road that was dangerous even in broad daylight only multiplied the dangers. One ran the risk of sliding down a sudden slope if they mistook something that was not a road for the road itself. The mercenaries organized themselves against that by dispatching a number of torch-bearing scouts that advanced forward while keeping track of one another’s location. Under normal circumstances, Lawrence would have surely been in admiration at the skill of it.

However, this was an army on the march with possibility hanging over them that an enormous enemy might assault them from the rear at any moment. Furthermore, Lawrence himself was nothing more than extra baggage. Rather, it was Hilde, who had created this circumstance, who deserved all the credit for the brilliance of his strategy. That was why, even as Hilde slept within the wicker cage, that cage had been moved from Lawrence’s wagon bed to one of the mercenary wagons that carried their equipment and supplies.

Having no feel for the land, Lawrence could not function as a guide, of course; neither could he work in tandem with the mercenaries. Furthermore, Lawrence’s horse-drawn wagon was fundamentally unsuited to traveling along mountain roads, and snow-covered roads all the more so; there was no small chance of the wagon wheels getting stuck.

Though the same went for the wagons belonging to the mercenary company, Lawrence’s baggage was for his own benefit and had little to do with the mercenaries themselves.

Neither Luward nor Moizi had shown any sign of displeasure whatsoever, but the same did not go for their subordinates.

Getting someone to help a person get a stuck wagon wheel out of the snow was no different than finding a needle in a haystack.

Besides, Lawrence had other reasons for his mood not lightening the entire time. Luward and Moizi had clearly anticipated it when they had looked at the spread-out map.

Even as a person thought, If we’re lucky, the season will soon be over, one also thought, Isn’t it time already? Won’t it ever change?, and so on. And thanks to a single sentence thrown their way, the predeparture nighttime meal was long exhausted, with the time now reaching the beloved hour of breakfast.

The slope suddenly increased, the road narrowed, and the horse-drawn wagon was no longer able to progress. At Moizi’s command, the mercenary group’s baggage was brought down from its wagons, and the horse-drawn wagons were overturned on the spot. Experienced hands removed the wheels of the wagons with sleds installed in their stead. Such equipment was natural for those considering marching an army through the winter. However, Lawrence’s horse-drawn weapon was not so well made as to have such tricks in store.

Though it was not a cheap thing, either.

Not having had the courage to sit on the wagon bed on this winter road from the start, Lawrence had been walking ahead of his horse, leading it by the reins the whole time, but thanks to that, now that they were stopped his sweat was rapidly cooling his body.

Even so, the chill he felt that moment was not because of the cold. It was because Moizi came rushing over during a pause between giving orders.

“Mr. Lawrence.”

It was not unusual for a mercenary on the march to bear a grim face.

However, to a merchant’s eyes, accustomed to reading the expressions on people’s faces, Lawrence could clearly see that he had come to say something unpalatable.

“The wagon, you mean?”

So, when Lawrence said it first, Moizi looked at Lawrence with earnest eyes, his expression not softening one fragment as he nodded. “It must be a difficult decision for a merchant.”

Abandon your wagon, in other words.

For the independent selling everything save his life for the sake of money, buying one was the fulfillment of a fond wish. The assets Lawrence had amassed for several years that had ridden with him served as proof that he was a proper traveling merchant.

The odds of losing it during his travels had not been low. There were times when his wagon wheels had been stuck in the mud while traveling alone, and he wondered if it was all over. Even so, right now the wagon wheels were neither stuck in snow nor broken.

But to advance any farther, it had to be abandoned.

“I knew this was coming.”

Lawrence managed to smile, stoutly waving it off.

It was much harder than walking away from the deposit he had paid for the store.

The other party was a mercenary who had surely been at harsher negotiation tables than most merchants. No doubt he easily grasped the gloom behind Lawrence’s expression. Even so, he wasted no meaningless words of sympathy, making an austere nod.

And he raised his hand to call someone, giving orders to switch the baggage onto the horse, and what could not be loaded moved to the company’s sleds.

“Then, let us be off,” said Moizi.

Just like that, it was over.

The switch from wheels to skids ended shortly after. Time was precious, and the road was long.

Without pausing for breath, the mercenaries resumed their advance.

Illuminated by torchlight, the snow-packed road made an eerie white glimmer.

When Lawrence turned around, his wagon stood silent atop the white road.

It was not that anything was getting any worse at this point.

It was just that, to a traveling merchant such as himself, the sense of loss was like leaving part of himself behind.

Perhaps it would have been a bit easier with Holo there, but he did not know when the rendezvous would take place.

If things went poorly, it was possible Lawrence would be discarded on the side of the road, just like his wagon. It was not impossible at all that it might come to battle.

As his wagon vanished into the darkness, it remained in the back of his mind like an ill omen.

Afterward, they advanced across a number of roads, arriving at a small unoccupied traveler’s lodge.

They rested to change shifts, and finally, dawn broke.

It was not the morning sun that Luward had yearned for, but a thinly clouded dawn instead.

They said it would take three to four days to reach Svernel. Though the distance was not so great, moving a large number of people over snowy mountain roads made for slow movement by its nature. However, as the same would be true for any pursuer, when Luward and Moizi had spoken about coming affairs, they had no concerns with the speed of their advance.

More than that, since Hilde’s stratagem had driven Luward and his men into the narrow mountain roads by denying them any other choice, what they needed to think of above all else was what to do once they emerged from the mountain roads.

“The first thing that stands out is that Svernel holds a strategic position in the northlands.”

It was when they were emerging from their first rest break at a small lodge for merchants that warded off the cold, something ever present wherever in snowy regions.

Inside the tent where crucial decisions were to be made concerning their advance, Moizi was the first to speak.

“However, I have my doubts as to whether any proper military strength can be raised there.”

“In other words, even including us won’t change the situation by much.”

The reason Moizi did not reply was not because there was any room for uncertainty in what was said. It was because as Luward’s eyes gazed at the spread-out map, he could confirm it with his own eyes.

“There are the letters Mr. Lawrence received, but…”

With that said, Lawrence looked over the letters spread out to the side of the map. They were written by Hilde’s own hand and bore the stamp of the Debau Company. The text was concise and precise, giving the reader the strong impression that the writer was highly capable.

However, the smudged characters, from not having given the ink time to dry, made it plain to any observer they had been penned in haste. Furthermore, despite the gravity of their contents, the letters had not been sealed with wax.

“How about heading north from Svernel and requesting the cooperation of the former lord?”

“Klaus von Havlish the Third, you say. Certainly he has not cooperated with the Debau Company whatsoever, but I would not call him part of the rebel faction.”

“What’s his disposition?”

As Luward asked, Moizi spent a while in silence, stroking his beard.

“I have heard no rumors of valor concerning him. His territory must be fairly broad. He controls a number of roads that reach the north side of the mountain range. To head farther north from Svernel, using one such road is inevitable. Meaning trade to the north side of the mountain range cannot occur without passing through Havlish’s lands. The same stands if the Debau Company went there in search of new mining sites.”

“So he’s the type who likes to collect tolls and loaf around the castle counting his coins.”

“Most likely. Surely the man surviving to this point is a simple matter of geography. The present lord aside, his ancestors were probably benevolent.”

“We can’t rely on him, then,” Luward said with a groan.

Dawn had broken, but the direction of the wind made for snowy weather.

With clouds in the sky, the day would be short. In that meaning as well, they had no time to think deeply about the matter.

“So, we really don’t have any sane choice other than to enter the town of Svernel. But…” Luward sighed as he spoke. “We can’t escape any farther north. Am I right?”

“Yes. The food stores cannot take it. If we slip past Svernel, there are only run-down villages along the way to the next proper town. Even if they ‘cooperate,’ I am doubtful we can live off it.”

Even if they consumed a village’s food like a plague of locusts, a run-down hamlet’s food stores had limits. And it was the coldest part of winter.

The first customer Lawrence ever gained as a traveling merchant was from such a village, forsaken by other traveling merchants. That was why he was painfully aware of the condition of such a place in the deep of winter.

Even if Luward and his men did go to one, it would without doubt lead to the complete destruction of the village.

“It’s perfect. The hole we’ve been driven into has a dead end.” The wounds seemed very fresh as Luward spelled it out.

However, this was certainly not some special kind of wisdom that came exclusively to those being pursued.

There was one other reason why Hilde’s strategy was so remarkable.

And this was the preeminent reason why Lawrence, a mere traveling merchant, was part of this meeting.

“So, when do you think Miss Holo will rendezvous with us?” Luward spoke while his gaze remained down upon the map.

Holo’s existence was akin to what the joker was to card games. The lone trump card capable of felling even an emperor.

“She expected to return to Lesko today or tomorrow at earliest.”

But it was scarcely possible every last thing had gone according to plan.

“Once she arrives in Lesko, she’ll realize the Debau Company has been taken over. I wonder what she’ll do after that? Look for us, probably.”

Lawrence wanted to praise Hilde for having seemingly taken truly everything into account while making preparations.

“He referred to this possibility when handing me the letter at the inn. It seemed he’d always planned to go to Svernel should anything happen. Mr. Hilde apparently worked it out with his companion who headed to Kieschen with Holo.”

“In other words…”

Luward took in a large breath, his body seemingly growing as large as a bear’s.

Apparently, clearing the air required chilling his insides first.

“…He instigated all this to get his paws on military might.”

Neither Luward nor his men had actually seen Holo in her wolf form. However, the legends that told of Holo that Lawrence had heard here and there hardly did her justice.

“If you’re thrown into battle empty-handed, all you think of is running away. But if you have a weapon in your hands, even a small one, you can show a lot of bravery, even in a reckless situation. That is why you tie a spear to the hands of new recruits for their first battle but…who knew the same could be done to us.”

“I’m sorry, but can we really trust Miss Holo so far?”

Flattery was not the job of a strategist.

At Moizi’s misgivings, Luward raised an eyebrow as his chin twitched. “That’s what has Mr. Lawrence so calm, isn’t it?”

Those were by no means words of praise.

But it was the truth.

“…Yes. If Holo can rendezvous with us, certainly that would mean great military strength. However—”

Holo had no intention of doing battle.

Luward interrupted Lawrence with a wave of his hand. “You can save the rest. What I want now are facts.”

He had been brushed off. It twisted his gut how he could be a traveling merchant and still be treated as less than a person.

“So Svernel really has to be our objective.”

It was a strategic point in the northlands where those opposed to the Debau Company were said to be gathering.

In the first place, in the event of war, Luward and Moizi had planned to make money off those fleeing toward the outskirts of Yoitsu. This was also for the purpose of preventing the wounded and fleeing from heading to Yoitsu and threatening the livelihoods of those who dwelled in the villages there.

By that thinking, for the Myuri Mercenary Company to deliberately head to Svernel, premised on the thought of joining the rebellion there, was a bad joke indeed.

But Luward was not some mere beaten dog driven into a corner by a hare.

As he gazed at the map, he added, with a lighthearted tone such as one would use to say, Let’s go have a drink…

“I mean, all we have to do is rob enough food and run.”

Lawrence had let it slip from the forefront of mind, but these were mercenaries.

“All right, forward march!” shouted Luward.

They were reliable men, but they lived in a different world.

Right now, there was no wisewolf beside him. He would have liked to hear her make a small chuckle at the foolishness of humans.

Hilde awoke sometime after they took breakfast and set out.

Anyone would have found the head of a marching army and his strategist taking care of a hare to be odd—and people ignorant of Hilde’s true nature all the more so.

In the end, the plate came around to Lawrence once more.

“Fatten him up well,” said the mercenary with a laugh, handing Lawrence the wicker cage that held Hilde.

Not that Luward or Moizi had said it, but rumors steadily broadened to the effect a merchant’s scheme had forced Luward and his men to head to Svernel. So it was easy for them to identify who was responsible.

The mercenaries around Lawrence did not come close, opening the distance both in front and behind him. At this range, should any sign of betrayal present itself, he could be instantly slain in a wall of spears.

It was a bitter pill to swallow.

Even though Hilde had awoken, he did not carelessly raise his voice, carefully assessing the situation instead.

“We can speak a little.”

As Lawrence spoke, he brought a damp cloth near Hilde’s lips. After taking a sniff, Hilde took the moisture into his mouth, clumsily drinking with a radiant twinkle in his eyes.

“…To Svernel?”

It was a curt question.

And with those two words, Lawrence was certain that Hilde’s earlier question had been a complete and utter fabrication.

“Just as you planned.”

The least Lawrence could do was to answer with rancor. His words made Hilde hold his breath for a moment and then slowly exhale. Lawrence brought the cloth close to his lips once more; Hilde drank more steadily than earlier.

“Right now…where are we?”

The murmur of his voice was by no means restraint on his part. From the luster of his coat, he truly did not have the energy for more.

“We entered the mountain passes and left a small mountain lodge this morning. Right now, I see two mountains to the east and one mountain to the north.”

If he had a sense of geography, that would surely suffice. Hilde nodded. “And Miss Holo?”

Then, that question. Everyone was depending on Holo. The tightening in his chest every time it came up might have been him feeling responsible he could not shoulder burdens as heavy as Holo, or perhaps it was simple jealousy.

Probably both, he thought.

“Not yet. However, if she returns to Lesko, you said you’d planned to head to Svernel, yes?”

“…Yes. There are…limited routes between both places. My flying companion will likely find us immediately…”

Humans were limited to land and sea, but the sky was for birds alone. Lawrence did not bother to nod as he pulled out some bread with a rustle, showing it to Hilde. “Food?”

“…I am unsure if I can hold it down.”

“Let’s moisten it, then.”

Lawrence had taken care of numerous weakened animals in his travels as a merchant. He had even pulverized wheat or beans, added hot water, and packed the paste into their mouths, forcibly if necessary.

But since Hilde could understand speech, there was no need to force his mouth open.

“I do think this is quite strange.”

Lawrence seemingly smeared the moistened bread on Hilde’s mouth to put it in, dripping the water in the cloth down to his lips. Hilde’s eyes narrowed. It seemed hard for him, but he finally swallowed it down. After repeating this a few more times, Hilde listlessly shook his head side to side. “…Pathetic.”

“Hm?”

“For me…to end up like this…” Hilde’s feeble-sounding voice brought a strained smile to Lawrence.

It was certainly not a smile of unnecessary sympathy for the wounded.

No, it was a smile directed at himself.

“With a single utterance, you bound Mr. Luward’s thoughts to your own will. You’ve amassed a great fortune and left everyone guessing whether you’ll move left or right. And now you want even more?”

Hilde kept Lawrence in the corner of his eye. There was an unfathomable prudence in his eyes. Even in his weakened state, his eyes betrayed no hint of emotion. Within his heavy ingenuity and intellect lay a deep sense of caution.

“True…if one desires too much, one will fail.”

“Like your enemy.”

At Lawrence’s words, Hilde closed his eyes and made a painful-sounding laugh.

“Pursuit?”

“None at the moment. But if it comes, we should hear of it from the lookouts today or tomorrow.”

It would come. The addition of one small mercenary band to the enemy could be dismissed as trivial. While that might be so, right about now the town had to be in an uproar at Hilde’s disappearance. One could call it human nature to put two and two together.

It was hard to believe a person such as Hilde would be ignored.

“Right now, you should sleep. I may be envious, but you are a splendid merchant. I think, when the time comes, your wisdom will prove very valuable, far more than that of a mere traveling merchant like myself.”

He could only admire Hilde for deploying a strategy Lawrence could not even grasp the whole splendor of. Furthermore, he had Luward, the leader of an army on the march, in his grasp, and Lawrence himself had become akin to a hostage left alive because he was on such good terms with Holo.

Those thoughts brought out the words he used to flail himself.

Even if a merchant was resigned to licking the boots of the other party, if he became servile, he lost. But knowing that did not mean one could do anything about it.

“…I shall do as you advise,” Hilde said after staring at Lawrence for a while. His eyes did not scoff at the servile Lawrence. Hilde had no reason to do so, for he was an excellent merchant.

As Hilde closed his eyes, Lawrence covered his body with a blanket. If he wore a face like this when reuniting with Holo, she would give his backside a good hard kick, he thought.

Something in his head slackened. The situation—with Hilde’s greatness right before his eyes, Luward and his men seeing him as only a traveling merchant, and everyone around him depending solely on Holo—might have put him in a bit of a sulky mood.

It was foolish, he thought. Perhaps having spent so much time with Holo had given him notions about being a wolf himself. Lawrence smiled at his own absurdity as he walked in the center of the silent mercenaries.

He then realized it had been a very long time since he had walked in silence. My journeys were always like this before I met Holo, he thought with fresh wonder. Furthermore, he could barely remember what it felt like back then. Lawrence was amazed with himself at how much he had taken traveling with Holo for granted.

They climbed a plateau, crossed a frozen swamp, and walked on deer and hare tracks as they moved forward. It was already past noon as they made a rapid pace toward the horizon, as if fleeing from the cold.

When he raised his head, thinking this was about when Holo would be asking what they were having for supper, the mercenaries around him raised their heads as well, as if waking up. Perhaps it was the coincidence that made Lawrence expect to see Holo there when the mercenaries all looked back together.

The one running from behind looked like a mercenary through and through. But even when he ran right past Lawrence and headed toward the vanguard, for a while he still had his hopes up that Holo might appear.

When Lawrence finally had to accept she was not coming, he realized that he had fallen for Holo to a truly pathetic degree.

Shortly thereafter, the advance came to a halt and people gathered all around Luward. A report had come that there had indeed been pursuers dispatched from Lesko. There was a faint sense of tension enveloping everything around him.

Then, Luward faced his audience and spoke.

“Just now, I’ve received word pursuers from Lesko are drawing near us.”

There was no murmur among the mercenaries. It was quiet enough to hear a drop of water falling onto the ground as they awaited their leader’s next words.

Luward seemed satisfied with that as he spoke grandly.

“Our opponents are roughly three to four times our numbers.”

Unsurprisingly, he heard a light inhale of breaths.

However, since they judged themselves to be the most valiant mercenaries of all, they did not falter at all. Fiery looks mixed with caution poured onto Luward in silence.

“Also, besides being well funded, they aren’t a bunch of weaklings under the command of the third son of a noble half playing around. Their mountaineering is just as good or better than ours. At the very least, it’s a fine opponent to test our valor against.”

A fine opponent to test one’s valor against. It was like referring to a retreat as advancing in a different direction. Among the mercenaries, small chuckles spread around, along with wondering out loud who the opponent was, with blustering laughter mixed in.

Lawrence had heard that, normally, one belittles their opponent to reduce fear before engaging in battle.

Saying straight up what a dangerous situation might have been to warn them not to let their guard down, but even more than that, to tell them there was nowhere to run.

In these narrow passes, even if they fled into the mountains, this was a barren, snowy place in wintertime. They would freeze or starve to death in no time.

Even a mouse driven into a corner had no choice but to bare its teeth to the cat and fight.

“So, what unit is this anyway?” one of the mercenaries asked, unable to bear the suspense any longer.

Not a single person looked in the direction of that mercenary, their eyes squarely on their leader, Luward, since they were all thinking the same thing.

The mercenary business was a small world.

If one knew who they were facing, they would know his skill level and tactics, too.

Though knowing their opponent did not necessarily improve the situation, there would surely be some measure of relief merely in knowing who they would be fighting.

“You really want to know?”

Luward had such a serious face as he spoke that the mercenaries murmured all around. Even Lawrence held his breath. There were times when knowing was a relief; sometimes, it was better not to know.

Either way, if the pursuers caught up, there would be battle.

But these were vain mercenaries. Another mercenary spoke for the rest of them.

“Who is it?”

As the question was asked, everyone’s murmurs truly stopped that instant.

Luward smiled at the silliness as he looked at his feet. He raised his face.

Everyone held their breath.

Luward said this.

“The Hugo Mercenary Company.”

Lawrence had heard that name in Lesko. He was sure the man commanding that unit was named Rebonato.

The Debau Company was not taking any chances. Whatever the Myuri Mercenary Company’s objective, no matter how small in size, they had sent a force with overwhelming numbers, forged over the course of a hundred battles.

Lawrence clenched his fists.

But the next moment, cheers went up all around.

“Come on! Don’t scare us like that, boss!”

“If you’d scared me any more, I’d have pissed my pants!”

A clamor arose from many lips, with protests mixed with laughs as sword and spear were raised.

Lawrence felt like a fairy was tickling his nose. He had no idea why they were suddenly filled with such joy.

“Ha-ha, don’t be so sore. I didn’t know what to think till the moment I heard who was chasing after us, either. But Rebonato’s done pretty well for himself. He’s apparently taken a lot of the Debau Company’s gold, after all.”

As Luward cheerfully spoke, the mercenaries raised their voices to display their displeasure at the Hugo Mercenary Company and the “fat and stupid” Rebonato who commanded them.

But Lawrence still had no idea what they meant by it.

“Well, let’s play along to give him a good excuse at least.”

Luward had spoken; the rest was left to Moizi.

“So, that’s how it is! Forward march! Walk quickly if you want to sleep under a roof even a day sooner!”

The mercenaries gave Moizi’s spirited command a lackluster, halfhearted response.

They were finally dismissed and returned to their previous formation, but the atmosphere had completely changed from just before.

Could they really be that relieved that it was the Hugo Mercenary Company pursuing them?

Perhaps dialogue was an option to begin with? Certainly, Luward and Rebonato were drinking partners and seemed to get along well. But mercenaries that would not switch sides if they were paid enough gold simply did not exist.

When Lawrence returned to his own horse, Hilde’s face was peeking out slightly from the wicker cage mounted on the horse’s back.

“What is going on?”

The earlier shouts had apparently woken him up.

As the vanguard was setting out without delay, Lawrence went along with the flow and replied, “Pursuit approaches, apparently.”

Those words brought neither surprise nor sadness to Hilde. The eyes wordlessly facing Lawrence betrayed nothing.

“Though they don’t seem to be worried about it at all…”

Lawrence spoke while taking the wicker cage down from the horse’s back, wrapping one arm around it.

Hilde thought about that for a while, seeming to carefully select his words as he replied, “It must be a unit they know well.”

Then, he made a sigh of relief. Hilde seemed to know what this, too, meant.

“What do you mean?”

As Lawrence asked his question, Hilde’s ears rose a little.

“It is quite simple. Mercenaries are not quite the barbarians the world fears them as; they will not simply do anything for money. In particular, they rarely raise their blades against their own kind.”

Lawrence had begun to understand over the last several days that mercenaries were far from mere crazed killers.

However, that did not immediately put him at ease by any means.

“Therefore, the employer’s side…has a fair bit of difficulty handling them.”

The hare within the wicker cage narrowed his eyes as he laughed.

Lawrence had always seen things from the perspective of those attacked by mercenaries.

In Hilde’s case, he was the one hiring them.

“On the battlefield, killing is chiefly the role of knights and thugs hired for short periods. The job of real mercenaries is to capture their opponents alive. That way, they receive ransom for their captives as well. They do not pillage nearby towns or villages any more than necessary. In Lesko…you surely saw how they live. In particular, the good relations the units have with each other.”

Certainly, Luward had spent two whole days drunk, seeming to show his face in every corner. He had used letting others know about the Debau Company’s issuing a new currency as cover for heavy drinking all night long.

As Lawrence nodded, Hilde made a somewhat exasperated sigh.

“There are people in mercenary companies who have a long history together. Their bonds were born in the course of meeting together on the battlefield many times over. They are a group that dances to its own tune.”

“Then…”

“Yes. That is why…one truly hires them not for offensive strength, but as a check upon others.

“Though they are used to pillage towns and villages and lay waste to the countryside, depending on circumstances. Even by mistake, one does not hire mercenaries to pursue other mercenaries, particularly when the two units know each other well. If one did so, it would be…a waste of money.”

As he ducked his head under the blanket in the wicker cage, his red eyes narrowed as he spoke, growing ever more mortified. He probably thought it pathetic that the company built by someone he trusted could engage in such incomprehensible stupidity.

“…All the real authority is probably being held by the lords. My subordinates would never consent to employing money in such a clumsy…” Hilde’s mouth stopped mid-sentence.

Then, he made a somewhat embarrassed laugh.

“I should say, the traitors…would not do such a thing.”

Lawrence did not know how to react to that. All he really understood was that Hilde truly was a great merchant.

So that was why Luward said Rebonato had done well for himself. He had been paid good money to pursue them without any intention of engaging in real battle whatsoever. Perceiving this, Luward would engage them just enough that they could make excuses to their employer. A fine trade, indeed.

“But with this the state of things, we might just manage.” Hilde suddenly spoke.

“Eh?”

“To make that determination, surely…then, even if Miss Holo is absent…or perhaps…”

Within the cage, his head under the blanket, Hilde gazed far into the distance.

He was immersing himself in his thoughts, continually thinking about his next move.

But Lawrence could not follow whatsoever. This was on too grand a scale for him to grasp.

There really was a world known only to those who made great fortunes move.

The time when he wanted to peer into that world, even just a little, had passed.

So he asked, “Would you like to drink some water?”

Hilde finally looked back at Lawrence, stating politely, “I would indeed.”

After the following morning, the Myuri Mercenary Company was overtaken by the Hugo Mercenary Company, the pursuers dispatched by the Debau Company.

An envoy from the company brought a demand to surrender and hand Hilde over. They had understood what had happened with Hilde immediately. That Hilde and the mercenaries vanishing during the same night were tied together was not bad thinking on their part.

But whether the demand was for good reason or not, no one ever heard of mercenaries submitting to a demand for surrender.

No one would ever hire mercenaries that surrendered just because the going got rough. Hence, those who sullied their flag through surrender suddenly lost their way. As a result, they vanished from the battlefield.

So the world was full of undefeated mercenary companies.

“Fire!”

In the end, the Debau Company side probably meant to rout the Myuri Mercenary Company for its connection to Hilde regardless; after a declaration of war, battle commenced.

But this was not a direct clash between the mercenaries, but rather, an exchange of arrow fire.

From time to time, arrows poured down like rain. Various soldiers defended themselves with wooden shields while others loosed arrows when the other side was preparing to fire its next volley.

During those intervals, Lawrence and the others advanced; once they had gone ahead a little ways, the archers advanced as well.

So far, there had been only two wounded, and it seemed they had been hit by stray arrows while collecting arrows that had already fallen.

What was hard to believe was how the scale of arrows being traded back and forth required the combined efforts of several towns’ worth of craftsmen to make. Though they had been properly maintained, the arrow tips had been blunted from having been fired so many times. That was why one of the two wounded was merely bruised. If not hit in a bad place, even a child probably would not die from such arrows.

Even so, with large men yelling battle cries as they let a great many arrows fly, it would look like a fierce battle to any observer.

From time to time, Lawrence could make out a merchant in the enemy ranks sent by the Debau Company to keep an eye on things, but he was the only one who seemed to have sweaty palms as he meekly observed the battle.

“While remaining in their seats, eminent merchants can move great amounts of goods and people from one place to another. But almost none of them actually see people and things in motion. That the cunning can fool them is not because they’re incompetent. It’s because they’re careless.”

“Painful words to hear,” Hilde replied curtly from within the cage Lawrence cradled. The scouts and the baggage mounted on sleds formed the vanguard; Luward and the other leaders followed right behind on horseback.

Moizi had remained in the rear of the unit, raising his great voice as he took temporary command. However, he returned from time to time to moisten his throat with wine. Surely he had enough leeway to have snacks with his wine, too.

“From Rebonato, we have word he’s nicely fooling the overseer, but what do you think?”

“It is surely as he says. This must be that one’s first time laying eyes on a battlefield, after all.”

Hilde seemed acquainted with the merchant sent to oversee matters. It was clear to a ridiculous extent that all was in the palm of his hand.

“So it’s a greenhorn with conventional thinking, huh? He probably takes pride in printing his name in church letters. You okay with this, though?”

Luward was sitting with one leg across his horse’s back, resting his cheek upon his palm. In doing so, he looked the part of a veteran mercenary. That was indeed the case, but Hilde seemed even calmer as he replied, “I think it is quite all right for you to look with your own eyes and judge accordingly.”

Luward silently looked back at Hilde, but Hilde, who could do nothing but stay put within the wicker cage, seemed almost asleep.

“Well, fine,” Luward said with a snort. “As long as Rebonato’s well fed, we’ll make it to Svernel just fine. Not trying to put your old comrades down here.”

“No, surely it was the lords who decided to dispatch troops. I am not praising them out of affinity, but this is not the man they would select were they attacking us in earnest. That is surely why the overseer is so young.”

“Because they know how this’ll turn out even without coming to see?”

“Yes.”

As they were well aware they were both in the palm of the other’s hand, each was rather calm about it.

One was the one who flattered; the other was the one who was flattered. A person would think if they had the time for this, they could use it for more constructive thoughts, but instead they were shooting the breeze.

Both legitimately excellent men, their conversation went as smoothly as between two old friends.

“Well, at this rate we’ll end up arriving in Svernel just like the plan you drew up.”

“Yes.”

“You thought we had a shot?”

As the head of a mercenary company could not be seen talking to a hare, Lawrence was carrying the wicker cage as he walked alongside the horse. Those around them thought they saw Lawrence speaking to Luward, but in reality, he had no right to get a single word in. Seen from above as well as from below, he was a porter, nothing more.

“…Yes.”

“Liar. We only had a chance once Rebonato showed up.”

He spoke in a lighthearted tone, but his insight penetrated rather deeply.

Depending on how one used it, even the sharpest tool could be turned into useless junk.

Just as Hilde seemed to, Luward, too, regarded how the tool called the Hugo Mercenary Company was being employed as an instant revelation of the current internal state of the Debau Company.

“Lords and nobles with their eyes wild over profits get all worked up. They figure brute force is gonna solve all their problems. That’s making me treat everything you’ve been doing till now like water under the bridge.”

“Yes. Looking at their numbers and equipment, too, it is immediately clear a ridiculous sum was expended. The lords have probably entered the office itself.”

Lawrence thought Hilde must have meant that figuratively, but Luward laughed hard enough, he turned his face to the sky.

“Just because you get people with swords hanging from their hips to sit down at the table doesn’t mean you can have a debate with them. On that score, the company you and Debau ran was pretty incredible. The head of a small mercenary company like me getting a glimpse of either of you was almost impossible.”

Though he spoke it with invective, Lawrence heard them as nothing but the highest praise. Hilde, of course, was not the sort to be so easily pleased by flattery, but the sigh he made was not so far off from that.

Somehow, it made Lawrence think back to his dealings with Holo.

“It seems we have a grasp on who is truly playing whom. The managers who raised the flag of rebellion against us must want to quickly seize back control from the lords by whatever means necessary.”

“Meaning, if they know you’re in Svernel, the merchants will say, ‘It’s our turn now,’ and start negotiating?”

“And they might well offer various compromises to obtain my cooperation in seizing control from the lords. I believe there is every possibility of that.”

In such a circumstance, it would not be strange for the imprisoned Herbert von Debau to make a return to the stage. For at the very least, Debau could weave his way through the gaps between those in power, mediate, administer, and use them as much as he could.

“Besides, arriving in Svernel safely will make people who do not know the situation see it as us slipping away, like an eel, from a force several times our number. That will serve to raise morale splendidly.”

“I agree. So on top of that, assemble fighting strength, and like you said, brush off the Debau Company’s demands and wring concessions out…huh? They’re relying on momentum, too. There’s no way those lords have any deep plan here. If the fatal flaw’s the merchants realizing they’re being played by the lords, they’ll decide to swallow their shame and go back into their sheaths, is that it?” said Luward.

“Yes. Merchants live and die by their calculations of loss and profit.”

Luward’s laugh made his shoulders quiver. No doubt the fickleness of merchants amazed him.

“So, if all of this actually goes well, there’ll be an appropriate payoff, I take it?”

Mercenaries were every bit as fickle as merchants. They were constantly hunting for compensation for their actions.

But since money was an unavoidable necessity for a unit to continue existing under its own banner, knowing how to gloss things over was even more important than profit and self-interest.

“Of course. A merchant’s gratitude is redeemable in gold, after all.”

Luward, too, seemed caught off guard by the joke. He shook with noiseless laughter for a time, finally raising a very amused laugh.“Ha-ha…I get it. I get all of it. Still, I see…”

This was the first time Luward had prevaricated in his conversations with Hilde.

Hilde seemed to take note of that as well, raising his long ears much like Holo, gazing at Luward with deep interest.

“What is it?”

“Mm? Ahh, well, you see.”

He really was being evasive.

It just did not feel like he was clumsily hiding something or trying to pull the wool over their eyes.

The young mercenary company leader seemed amused as well as bewildered.

And once his bewilderment calmed after a while, he looked at Hilde, as if demonstrating a small measure of resolve.

“At first, I thought it best if the Debau Company went ahead and ripped itself apart.” He came right to the point. “The company looked like a sign our mercenary’s luck would be running out soon.”

Hilde watched Luward’s face for some time. Perhaps it was his nature as a merchant, but Hilde’s eyes were poised and guarded, as if words were a snare lying in wait for him.

Luward watched Hilde’s look, shrugging his shoulders with a light laugh.

“It’s simple. I’ve met someone whose principles were betrayed who’s scheming to turn it all around. The situation’s bad. Furthermore, the enemy’s huge, even overwhelming. Because of that, he has to gather military strength together. He can’t let the slightest opportunity to strike back go to waste. And, cooking up a ruse, he’s finally got his way to strike back. We, the Myuri Mercenary Company, are among the few, precious lights of hope. We’re not doing this for money. Actually it took all I had not to smack around the lot of you back at Lesko. In other words…”

It was likely no coincidence that many famous generals were orators.

Luward’s words were strong and had a power that resonated with those who listened to them.

But this was by no means a simple matter of speaking well. Luward truly believed the words he spoke. Likely, no matter how sternly Moizi had drilled practicality into him, inheriting a banner that had flown for centuries, with so many valiant men having fought under that banner, he could not do his job without being a dreamer himself, too.

For a dream one sincerely believed in would resonate deeply with others.

“In other words, right now, we’re pure mercenaries. Mercenaries through and through. This is a saying from the great Johann Schlauzenvitz: To be a mercenary, one needs power. And how much you can live as a mercenary depends on how many of the powerless need that power and how well you learn how to use it. Thinking only of swinging your sword, breathing like the air is your food, dashing across the battlefield: That’s a mercenary. The perfect tool. And the simpler a tool, the more beautiful it is.”

Perhaps one could call it the beauty of functionality.

The thought might anger Holo, but the way Eve earned and spent from anything and everything in search of a golden throne was beautiful, too.

But Hilde made a cold face at Luward’s bountiful words. “A contract must obtain what both sides desire, nothing more, nothing less. It is the foundation of all business.” He was not swayed.

Hilde was indeed a key figure in the Debau Company. A great merchant who had planned and succeeded in bringing about the issuing of a new currency, showing the town merchants like Lawrence a dream while showing mercenaries like Luward a nightmare.

Lawrence no longer held either envy or jealousy for him. Lawrence merely experienced its purity.

Luward excitedly had his eyes wide, his teeth bared. No doubt he thought with an employer like this, his mercenaries could take on the whole world.

The dream that had seemed to collapse was blossoming once more thanks to Hilde’s intellect and the mercenaries’ might. If things went well like this, the forbidden book that Holo was carrying might not even be necessary.

“Well, let’s do our best to be good paper tigers. We want a fat reward if this works, too.”

Luward’s spiteful tone concealed his embarrassment. Hilde merely closed his eyes as if in gentle amusement.

“Ha-ha. Better show me some nice dreams. Don’t get hit by a stray arrow now.”

“You would do better to take care I do not end up as dinner.”

“You’re not lying.”

The two shared quiet laughter together.

When they broke camp and resumed their march the next day, things unfolded much like the day before.

Though there was a huge clamor, it unfolded as a comedy, in which a single fatality ought not to result.

Even so, how they were pressed by the opponent at times, and nicely widened the distance at others, made it look like a mysteriously back-and-forth battle.

In reality, it was simple: The vanguard on sleds could not slack off when going up an incline, while the reverse was true on a downward slope. Moizi was doing a marvelous and skillful job at the helm.

From time to time, they scattered blood from sausages over the snow and made it look like they were carrying wounded men.

While the men were busy putting on a show for all they were worth, word arrived of a force from the Debau Company advancing on Svernel by a major road, separate from the Hugo Mercenary Company with the Debau Company overseer. Just as the Hugo Mercenary Company had cooperated with him, Luward no doubt wanted to hand that information over so as to owe them nothing going forward.

As Luward and Hilde had said, if one was not actually there himself, there was no way to even guess at what was going on behind the curtain. The company had grown arrogant on its throne, handing out only money and orders, manipulated by cunning people more and more.

Also, during the time he was leaving matters in the rear to Moizi, Luward was dispatching scouts to learn of Svernel’s situation. If Luward and the others, having originally gathered at Lesko to seek employment with the Debau Company, proceeded to Svernel carefree and without a thought, they might well be taken for enemies and attacked.

Even putting that aside, Lawrence remained doubtful Svernel would still be willing to raise its banner against the Debau Company.

After all, the Debau Company’s power and momentum showed no sign of waning as of yet.

“Ah, I think it’ll be all right,” Luward said with a yawn atop his horse. “People who aren’t good at figuring out profits and losses don’t change their thinking that easily.”

“For better or worse.”

At Hilde’s addendum, Luward jutted his lower lip forward and shrugged.

“You’ve a point there. But that means we should count on Svernel.”

“Is that so? Unfortunately, I have never had any actual dealings with them.”

“Even so. After all, they’re normal—they have walls around their town, they collect taxes, they have guilds, they regulate merchants, they carefully set the price of bread, and trading goods back and forth makes their eyes shine. They’re a lot easier to predict than folks from a town with no walls and no taxes that seems to run itself as if by magic.”

Hilde twitched his nose at Luward’s words.

“Certainly, one must not trust people like that.”

Luward slapped his horse’s neck in amusement at the betrayed Hilde’s deadpan joke. “Well, we’ll find out when we get there. We’re close enough we should arrive tomorrow or the morning after at most. We’d better finally think about how we’re gonna escape Rebonato.”

The word escape had a deeply resonating meaning to them. As they were not actually fighting, engineering a situation that allowed them to escape was rather difficult.

Even more so, how to dramatically raise the morale of those shut inside Svernel in the process.

“Depends a bit on how they want to play it.”

As Luward spoke, he looked at the mountains yonder with distant eyes. The other mercenary company no doubt did not want to look like they had let their prey slip away through incompetence. So the Myuri mercenaries needed a fairly decent plan.

However, Hilde did not offer any wisdom from within the wicker cage; his head did not even stir from within the blanket spread all over him. He was asleep, his face buried under the blanket as if fleeing from the cold.

No doubt he thought that just because he was intelligent did not mean he should offer an answer to every dilemma.

If the best answer could be drawn out of those who excelled at this, it was enough.

Unlike with a traveling merchant, division of labor came naturally to a large company. It took great courage to entrust something to someone else. Lawrence thought, I might not be able to entrust decisions even to Holo. Yet that was something they did even when it concerned their very lives.

They were simply in a different category of business.

When Lawrence had left Lesko and come this way, he had the distinct feeling that he was buzzing around just outside the mosquito net, but it no longer bothered him. He was happy just to have a glimpse at their beautifully logical world.

As they traveled, the sun rose higher, and it became midday. Lawrence and the others had dinner, exchanged friendly chats with various people, and leisurely ate their meals as they walked. Those brought with them as “wounded” a few moments earlier did so as well, their faces half covered in pig’s blood.

Amid that relaxed atmosphere, there was a suitable visitor as well.

“What? With swords and spears?” Luward spoke from atop his halted mount. He looked down at his knees to a messenger from the Hugo Mercenary Company.

“Yes. The boss wants to give the overseer bastard chills. So he wants one big battle, he says.”

“Mmm…” Luward closed his eyes, raising his chin and stroking it with his hand, but thanks to youth and physical predisposition, he did not have much of a beard. From that perspective, it had a conspicuous, childlike charm to it. “But if that happens, we’ll each have to hand captives over. What does he say about that?”

“Yes. The boss wants to hand four people over to you, and you to hand…roughly fifteen people over to—”

“What?”

The tenor of Luward’s voice changed. That instant, like how a single wolf’s growl raised the tension of the entire pack, the look in the surrounding mercenaries’ eyes changed.

But that reaction might only be natural. Even Lawrence’s head found such a trade to be reckless. If a unit like the Myuri Mercenary Company handed over fifteen-odd people as captives, their numbers would be greatly depleted; even more than that, they judged themselves the stronger mercenaries, so such a condition was a bitter pill to swallow.

Even when colluding in battle, going along as part of a tacit agreement, there were things one did not do.

“It’s part of the boss’s idea.”

Luward snorted. He raised his sword high and said, “Explain.”

“As you wish. The boss said he wants to negotiate a prisoner exchange and wants to present an ultimatum at that time.”

“Negotiate?” Luward asked back. He glanced at Moizi.

“Yes. We have both suffered losses from attrition. So, there must be room to negotiate. The boss will bring that merchant overseer along to the meeting. We would like Master Luward Myuri and one other person to come to negotiate.”

Lawrence imagined what that would look like.

Right in the middle of a snow-covered road, each mercenary leader paired with a merchant as they faced each other down.

Those negotiating would be on the one hand, a mercenary company that had nearly half its members taken as captives, desperately trying to escape and survive. On the other hand would be a mercenary company with overwhelming military superiority and financial resources backed by the Debau Company.

In other words, surrender now and give up on going to Svernel and they shall be permitted their lives alone.

The negotiations would no doubt be very one-sided.

And when the time came, who would be the specialist who would negotiate?

Having thought that far, Lawrence understood where this was going.

“In other words, your ignorant, pure young merchant will demand ransom for our captured comrades and will push us to surrender after that.”

The messenger, who had maintained a neutral expression the whole time, cracked a smirk for a single moment before regaining his composure.

“You will become very angry at the content of the negotiations. And in the face of overbearing, unreasonable demands, you will have no difficulty taking advantage of the carelessness of a naive youth, taking him hostage. We will be forced to release our captives and allow you to escape. We will report that we sincerely tried, but someone was foolish.”

“You think it’ll go that smoothly? He might be young and naive, but he’s still from the Debau Company.”

The messenger made a blunt sigh at Luward’s question.

“He’s horrible. The boss has put up with him pretty well. Should’ve killed him on the first day.”

Amid all that formality, his real opinion poked its head out.

The male messenger politely amended his words with, “Ahem, or so what everyone says.”

“Got it. We were just thinking of how to get into Svernel ourselves. This is good, I think. It’s what I’d expect of a plan from the famed veteran captain of the Hugo Mercenary Company.”

“The captain will be proud to hear of your words. I believe we must leave it at that.”

“Understood. Then, we need the particulars…or are those details being left to us?”

“The boss said as much.”

Luward made a small laugh. He wanted to say, I expected as much.

“All right, we’ll let you know when and how we’re gonna go at it. Fine with you?”

“As you wish.”

The messenger knelt and bowed his head, darting off and running across the snow immediately after.

His speed truly evoked the expression a hare on the run. In no time at all, he vanished amid the trees along the road.

“So, that’s how it is, Moizi. Pick about fifteen unlucky guys. And use all of our pig’s blood. For the little details…how about we do it like back at Lesso Valley?”

“…I see. Understood. I shall find for a proper place with all haste.”

“Please do.”

With that, various preparations began until finally all was ready.

No troupe of players performing in a plaza ever made use of such extravagant devices.

Lawrence was quite beside himself as he watched them go to work. But the mercenaries making preparations were enjoying themselves like little children.

The two armies faced off atop hills separated by a valley.

The valley seemed to have originally had a river flowing through it, but during winter the water was frozen, and thanks to the snow, the entire area was indistinguishable from solid ground, making it most suitable for a battlefield.

The commanders, Luward and Rebonato, stood atop the hills on both sides of the valley, with the slopes continuing from the hills to the valley lined with troops. Since one could look down at both one’s own force and the enemy force from a high place, the order of battle was obvious at a glance.

However, the anecdotes of a large army being shattered by a small army were legion. Perhaps such anecdotes accounted for why the Myuri Mercenary Company’s morale was so high in spite of their numerical disadvantage.

If someone was observing both armies facing off from the outside, he would surely think as much.

“Everyone’s blades are smeared with grease, right?”

Those were the words that came out from Luward’s mouth. With the blade smeared with grease, a sword was no different than a stick. According to the script, the Myuri Mercenary Company realized it could not shake off the Hugo Mercenary Company if it continued to flee, so it decided to turn and strike back, girding itself for one final battle.

Lawrence was suspicious as to whether they could pull this performance off, but Moizi handled command extremely well. Perhaps the Hugo Mercenary Company also had a keen understanding of how it might best be driven back at such a time.

At any rate, even knowing it was all a show, Lawrence and the others’ flight, carrying them into the valley and up the hill, was quite suspenseful.

“Yes. They seem to be using rather well-worn weapons as well. They’ll say they broke during combat and request compensation, I imagine.”

“Ha, makes me jealous…How about we do that, too?” Luward turned his head back as he asked.

Of course, he was not asking Lawrence, directing his question at Hilde, who Lawrence carried in the wicker cage.

Hilde made only a flick of his ears out of the cage; his face never rose from its side. Though their de facto employer, he was a prudent merchant, careful about what he promised, both in print and by words alone.

Luward simmered as he smiled, but Moizi did not seem to notice.

“Well, the biggest concern is moving exactly according to plan. No oversights, right?”

“Correct. They are reasonable people as well. As they have made their preparations, it should all go well.”

“I see.”

As Luward spoke, he took in a deep breath. The way he raised his brow and then narrowed his eyes was no doubt because he knew just how absurd this so-called battle was.

However, the battle would accomplish the triple feat of having no meaningless fatalities, leaving as few grudges between them and the enemy as possible, and mutually protecting their favorable relationships with their employers. Though it might have been absurd, unimportant it was not.

At any rate, there was nothing for Luward to gain by thinking about it by himself. As mercenaries built up their reputations over long careers, there were many things they needed to understand as implicit—problems that could not be resolved with money alone, nor that could be glossed over with bluster and conciliation.

There lay the crystallization of the will of the many that approved of the mercenary life.

A traveling merchant came to glimpse at the various worlds of various professions. Few among them had problems that could be resolved with money alone.

By Lawrence’s thinking, it would have been nice if there were a few more problems that could be resolved with money; Hilde had supported the Debau Company with that very concept in mind. However, sometimes things in this small world were settled by absurd, splendid performances onstage.

The huge man on the opposite hill with his arms folded, looking in their direction, was no doubt Rebonato. Lawrence saw a Moizi-like blaze in how he looked. His long, frizzy red hair went in all directions, and his face was sunburned even in this season. He was so muscular that merely folding his arms seemed to threaten to rip his clothes apart.

Rebonato made a small nod as he looked at Luward. After glancing at Moizi to make sure, Luward nodded back.

Even with this many people in one place, one could not even hear a cough.

As a cold wind blew gently, Rebonato lit the match.

“So now that you see you can’t run you’re minded to fight! We, the Hugo Mercenary Company, will show our respect for the Myuri Mercenary Company’s banner and fight with all our strength!”

Sound traveled poorly on the snow-covered roads. In spite of that, Rebonato’s booming voice made them feel like he had reached out and touched them right on their own hill.

Luward was the one who responded.

He slowly drew the sword hanging from his hip, raising it high above his head as he replied.

“We advance, our destinies granted by God! Those who live by the sword must sometimes turn our backs against God himself and accept the stigma of apostates! However, what they cannot endure is the stigma of foully attacking their enemy’s back! We desire to put our lives on the line for the sake of the much-reputed Hugo Mercenary Company’s honor!”

Lawrence did not know if their lines were scripted, but they nearly made him laugh, all the more so because he knew what was about to happen would be a large-scale farce.

Even from a distance, Rebonato’s look of rage was apparent; worked up even before, he was now all the angrier. Standing next to him, the overseer from the Debau Company seemed quite indignant at Luward’s speech.

As the overseer was the only one in all this playing his role seriously, it was impressive.

Or perhaps, in a certain sense, both Luward and Rebonato were taking this very seriously.

If this was a ritual that was part of their being mercenaries, it might well be so.

Holo would have been quite pleased to see this.

“Very well! No doubt the war god Rajitel will reveal the truth!” As Rebonato spoke those words, he took his ax from his hip and swung it high; the mercenaries deployed along the slope brought their weapons to bear all at once.

The sight of over a hundred men readying swords and spears in unison was not something one saw very often.

As a man who had been stirred by tales of the slaying of dragons, Lawrence’s heart quivered at the sight.

“A worthy foe! Attack!!”

With those words, Luward signaled the start of the battle.

The next moment, the troops ran down the slopes like avalanches.

Perhaps the merchant serving as overseer—the same age as or a little younger than Lawrence—was caught up in the moment, raising his voice in such excitement, one half-expected that if someone handed him a sword, he would run to join the battle himself.

Certainly, in the face of a scene like this, few young men were able to keep their cool.

That was true even for a merchant who mocked the stupidity of war, scorning it as unprofitable.

Lawrence felt as though he understood why many men continued to make their living at war, even though it was dangerous, made them hated by the world, and that he absolutely could not call it profitable. This excitement was difficult to taste any other way.

This was where someone might ask, Which side is stronger? Yet the answer was so simple, even a baby that had not spoken his first words could understand.

If Holo were here, Lawrence had no doubt she would get annoyed and start cheering the friendly forces on. Depending on the situation, she might even take wolf form and leap into the fray herself.

Easily able to imagine the sight, Lawrence made a small chuckle to himself.

That moment—

There was a small rustle of movement within the wicker cage Lawrence carried securely within his arms.

Just after he realized Hilde had raised his head, he heard these words from behind.

“What is so amusing?”

“What do you mean, what? It’s obv—”

Lawrence smiled as he began to answer, turning around, and only then realized what his eyes were seeing.

It was Holo.

“Holo!”

Lawrence immediately raised his voice. Holo closed her eyes, looking annoyed.

And his voice made the others around them realize the presence of an intruder.

A girl like Holo walking all around the place should stand out, but no one had noticed her at all. That’s a wolf for you, he supposed.

“When…did you get back?”

“I returned to the town the day before yesterday, but ’twas delayed a bit there.”

Holo seemed a bit tired compared to when he had last seen her. Her hood and the face beneath it seemed dusty somehow.

When he thought more deeply about it, Holo had just returned from a journey that would have taken some seven days on human feet. No horse would have survived being pushed so recklessly.

But more than all of that, though it had only been a few days, the sight of her made him as happy as if it had been several years.

“I see…I mean, I’m glad you’re sa—”

But as Lawrence tried to speak, Holo interrupted him with a wave. “So? What is the hare doing here?”

Lawrence’s mouth hung open as if to continue his earlier words. He remembered when as an apprentice he had become separated from his master in an unfamiliar city, and when he thought he had finally found his master, it turned out to be someone else.

He faintly recalled that something like this had happened once before. It was when Holo had been captured in Pazzio, when Lawrence had been waiting for Holo in the subterranean passage.

“Things went in a completely different direction than we expected.”

Luward was the one who answered. Though Holo could keep her hood lowered and hide her tail to look like a normal girl, there was no way they could allow Hilde to speak where people could see.

“Do not tell me you fell for honeyed words and promises?”

Luward made a pained laugh at Holo’s sarcastic words. As that had been precisely the case, he made no reply.

“Hmph. Well, we heard most of the story back in town. I can deduce the rest.”

“We?”

When Lawrence asked, Holo made an annoyed-looking wave toward him and pointed above her head.

As Lawrence and Luward looked to the sky, there was a single bird flying above them in a circle.

“I shall ask for the details later. First, what are you doing? Using pig’s blood even; is there some kind of festival afoot?” Perhaps it was to be expected that Holo instantly understood it was a farce.

“Maybe it’s easiest to call it mercenaries putting on an act together?”

Holo made a voiceless laugh at Luward’s words. Mixed with the circumstances, she might have understood a very great deal from what those words indicated. “Putting on an act is very important. Everyone has their role to play, after all.”

“I’m happy that you understand. I feared I might be muddying the name of Myuri with this farce.”

“I might well be angry if ’twere done poorly.”

Luward pursed his lips as he made a funny face.

“But ’tis well done. Myuri was quite fond of playing tricks upon others, after all.”

Luward, who had purposefully put on a look of surprise, was genuinely amazed by Holo’s words.

And as a smiling face seemingly burst forth, he turned toward the banner they flew, looking back at Holo once more.

“Is that so?!”

“It is. However, males of all sorts like this sort of thing, do they not? Provided that they are not sweaty-palmed fools, that is.”

Holo clapped Lawrence on the back as if she might or might not be referring to him.

Though he wanted to say something in return, he made no protest, for it was the truth.

“I suppose that’s true not just of mercenaries, but everyone who lives on the battlefield. Well, it might be hard to watch, but please bear it a bit longer. The curtain will rise very shortly.”

“So it would seem. So that’s why you’re sneaking something off toward the mountain?”

Moizi, who had only just finished giving orders for advancing in formation toward the valley, turned in shock at Holo’s nonchalant words. She really was a wolf, noticing every little thing.

“That is correct.”

“And this is because you want those great sleds and so forth to move forward, is it not?”

The slumping of Luward’s shoulders indicated “it is as you say.”

“Thanks to that, ’twas hard for me to find anywhere to hide, you see.”

“A place to hide?”

“Indeed. Well, then, ’tis not your place to mind the hare forever.”

With that, Holo roughly snatched the wicker cage up out of Lawrence’s hands. Even the ever calm and composed Hilde poked his head out of a fold of his blanket, shaken by such treatment.

“Hm. So this is why I caught the scent of blood. Damned fool.”

Speaking while making a teasing face, Holo swayed the cage from side to side and shook it up and down.

Hilde had no option but to endure it.

Under the blanket, he was not a frog caught in the gaze of a snake, but a hare under the gaze of a wolf.

Holo’s teasing of Hilde having brightened her somber mood, she pushed the cage onto a nearby youngster. “Hold this, will you?”

Already bewildered by a girl suddenly appearing in the center of their unit and being treated with respect by their captain for some unfathomable reason, the youngster, even more bewildered, looked to his captain, hoping to be rescued.

“Take good care of it. It’s an important hare.”

“Aye, I’m counting on it. Come, you, let us be off.” As the hesitant youngster found himself pressed by his captain’s command and Holo’s smiling face, Holo grabbed Lawrence’s hand and walked off. Lawrence was not the only one at a loss.

“Where are you going?”

Luward asked the extremely pertinent question.

Holo, who was already dragging Lawrence along as she strode off, suddenly stopped, turning around. “I hid a certain something in the mountains. I must go retrieve it.”

“If that’s the case, I can send one of my men to…”

Holo momentarily let go of Lawrence’s hand as Luward made his offer, perhaps made out of respect to Holo, and looked squarely at Luward as she replied, “Though I am grateful for your concern, this fool would sulk soon enough.”

Holo poked a finger into Lawrence’s belly.

Certainly Lawrence had said he would take all responsibility for the forbidden book and so forth when asking Holo to help. For the text to bypass Lawrence and go straight to Luward and Hilde would be a rather dull affair.

But just as Lawrence was about to protest that he was not such a child, Holo instantly turned back around and seized Lawrence’s hand. Looking over her shoulder, she said this.

“That being so, wait just a bit. I shall return soon enough.”

Luward gave a vague reply as he watched them go. “Ah, yes…”

Keeping Lawrence’s hand in her grip, Holo advanced farther and farther until they reached a place that no sign of conflict reached. Ahead there remained distinct tracks of sleds and those transporting them.

The smallest set of tracks mingled with the others before splitting off midway and heading toward the mountains.

“So, that’s where you came here from?”

“Aye. When I heard sounds of fighting, I really thought I might have to join the battle as a wolf.”

There had been times when he might well have prayed for salvation from Holo, so he could not just laugh it off. However, since he knew what was behind the curtain of the grand farce, he forced a bitter laugh.

“It was a close call, then. If that’d happened the whole thing would’ve been a waste.”

“If Luis hadn’t told me, it would have been a much closer thing.”

“Luis?” Lawrence echoed back as Holo pulled up the hem of her robe as she climbed the slope of the mountain she had descended from.

“Do not make that face. There. There.”

She pointed to the sky.

“It’s rare for you to remember a name.”

As Lawrence spoke, Holo made a satisfied smile and laughed as if she had found a fun new toy.

“What, are you jealous?”

She was irritatingly accurate.

“Well, judging from your look after you noticed I was there, ’tis surely that as well. What had you so flustered? You were like a dog who had not seen his master in ages.”

Holo smiled teasingly as she climbed the slope farther on her own.

Though mortified, Lawrence could not find any words to reply with. Even so, he made his usual resigned sigh and trod up the slope as they retraced her footsteps.

Goodness, he had been looking forward to their reunion, but it had been a storm of invective.

Unlike the light-footed Holo, Lawrence’s legs became mired where the falling snow had grown thick. When he pulled his legs out of the snow, the malicious Holo hurled even more abuse at him.

Just because they had been apart a while did not mean she would be happy when they had reunited.

When he had been waiting for Holo in the subterranean aqueducts of Pazzio included, did she even realize how much he had worried about her? Certainly, this time there was little direct cause for concern. But by its very nature, one never knew what travel would bring.

In particular, on Lawrence’s side, it had been entirely possible that one mistake would have truly ended in death. Leaving Holo’s concern for Lawrence aside, it would have been nice if Holo had worried about Lawrence just a little more.

Was he wrong to expect such a thing? I’m being quite irrational, he was well aware, yet knowing that did not keep out the spontaneous thought.

He kept pulling his legs out when they became stuck, searched for the next reliable foothold, and used trees to pull himself up the suddenly steepening slope. Since he could not lift his gaze, he had no idea how far Holo had gone. He could not even hear her footsteps anymore.

If it was going to be like this, I should have waited downhill.

But the instant he stopped to catch his breath, making a sigh…

“Hng, wha—!”

Lawrence sustained a heavy impact with sky and earth switching places.

The terror of climbing a slope and going backward down it can only be appreciated by those who have experienced it. The world turned on its head.

However, somehow Lawrence’s body came to a complete stop in deep snow before rolling over.

“…Urgh…”

Rustle, rustle. Along with the dizziness of his head and the oppressive feeling of something mounted atop his chest, he heard the rustling of snow. It seemed snow had fallen right on him from the treetops.

As he thought, Holo’s going to laugh at me again, and tried to get his nicely inverted body up, he found himself barely able to lift hand or foot.

It was around then when he finally realized.

“…Holo?”

She had not come to rescue him. She had not come to laugh at him.

Holo had been on top of Lawrence the whole time, head buried in his chest, unmoving.

Holo had leaped right into him, bowling him over.

“…”

She wordlessly pressed her face against Lawrence, both arms wrapped around Lawrence’s back, squeezing with all her might.

As if she truly was at the limits of her strength, from time to time she took a breather, changed the positions of her hands and her body a little, and embraced him with all her strength once more. As the snow fell down with a rustling sound, Holo admirably swept the snow away with her dexterous tail.

Once Lawrence took the entire situation in, he stopped trying to rise, relaxing into the snow. His head rather deeply in as he had fallen into it with some force, with walls of snow filling his vision before suddenly coming to a halt. Of course, the snow covered both ears, limiting the sounds he could hear to very little. The only sounds he heard were those made by him and Holo.

He was unable to see up to the sky, with evergreens, filled to the brim with snow, acting as a chilly barrier. With that, Lawrence finally understood the true reason why Holo had hidden the forbidden book in the middle of the mountains. She had wanted to bring Lawrence this far out, to a place hidden from not only Luward and Moizi and Hilde, but from the high-flying Luis’s line of sight as well.

As Holo rested atop Lawrence’s chest, he put his arms around her back and lightly stroked her. He felt she had become a little thinner. As he stroked Holo’s back, Holo made a raspy, painful-sounding voice as her small body shuddered. The claws on the hands around his own back dug in enough to hurt.

He had not been the only one happy to be reunited. He had not been the only one who felt the last few days were torture. Lawrence gave a light laugh.

“So you were the one putting on an act,” he said.

Those were the words Luward had used. As Lawrence laughed, Holo’s claws dug into his back more strongly, no doubt partly in a show of protest.

“Ow, ow! Well, I’m sure you’d have been appalled if you knew how I’d been faring.”

As Lawrence spoke, Holo paused for a while, as if doubting his words, before pulling back her claws a little. Lawrence made a relieved smile as he recalled something similar that had happened during the affair in Pazzio’s underground aqueducts. Awfully glad I didn’t say anything, he thought with some relief.

In return, knowing he should make full use of his good fortune, Lawrence said this.

“Welcome back.”

Holo’s face shot up from his chest.

And as she looked at Lawrence, her face lost all composure.

Lawrence was flustered no more. This time, with Holo on the verge of tears, he embraced her body once more, shifting his body around to position his feet to stand. Holo shot him a look of protest, but Lawrence replied with a strained smile, “If we’re too slow someone’s going to come looking for us.”

No doubt Holo’s vanity could not have taken that.

As her lips made a pout, she pressed her face against Lawrence’s breast to wipe away the tears that had seeped out, and after a final embrace, she hopped right up.

“Somehow, I feel like I’ve been ridden like a horse.”

Once he had been pinned to the ground by a giant wolf claw, too.

But this time Holo did not bare her fangs at him, but instead, she moved a little aside and extended a hand to Lawrence to help him get up.

“…Why does the one holding the reins end up on the bottom?”

He took them as words of gratitude, but did not ask back, So, which of us wears a rope around their neck? Instead, once Lawrence had gotten up, he wiped a lingering tear from the corner of Holo’s eye with a finger. Even as Holo turned her face with a sour look, her ears and tail seemed pleased.

Furthermore, now that he had wiped her right eye, her left eye regarded him.

Lawrence sighed and carefully wiped the tears from her left eye.