Spice and Wolf - Volume 18 - Chapter 3

MUDDY  MESSENGER WOLF AND WOLF

He could hear the distant sounds of woodcutting, mixed with clattering cart wheels, a mule’s whinny, and voices busily calling out to one another. If he closed his eyes, it almost felt like he was in a town that was being built.

The hustle and bustle signaled that winter was finally ending.

The weather was good, and there was no wind in the calm sky. The people in this remote mountain village called Nyohhira were working hard to wash off the dirt of winter.

“Gold lumione? Twenty…nineteen, actually. Silver debau, seventy-three. One, two piles of bronze dip…roughly six hundred, is that correct? Have you weighed them?”

There was a continuous flow of people in and out of the town meeting hall, and the smell of rusted metal hung over the place. Everyone had a bag in hand and dropped them onto the long table in the room’s center. After loosening the drawstrings and emptying the contents, out came a whole variety of different coins.

“All right then, Mr. Alaise, we’ll take it from here.”

“Thanks, Lawrence.”

The bathhouse master, who had more hair in his beard than above his hairline, thanked Lawrence as he rubbed his head.

Sitting at the seat of honor, Lawrence nodded with a smile as his hands blackened with work. Or more accurately, he was so busy that the smile was plastered to his face and he could not take it off. That was because one after the other, the masters from the different bathhouses arrived with the coins that guests had paid them over the winter.

He sorted the coins—typically there were five to seven kinds, and at most between ten to twenty or more—then had to count each, and then weigh them if the situation called for it. That was because a guest with too much time on his or her hands might have carefully whittled away at the coins to pilfer the silver and bronze shavings. The money changer would buy the same amount of coins for less if the weight did not add up properly. Lawrence had been at it since morning.

The hot spring village, Nyohhira, was located on the frontiers of frontiers in the middle of nowhere. The various currencies that passed between various peoples often ended their long journeys here. So twice a year, the inhabitants brought the coins they collected from guest payments to a bigger town that needed them. There they bought the materials they needed for the new season, hired craftsmen to repair the bathhouses, and left the rest of the money with the money changer. They would not gain anything from hoarding coins in boxes that had gone moldy from the steam, and they did not know what sort of thieves they would attract if news spread about treasure holed up in the mountains.

The bathhouse masters did this work every year in rotation, and this year it was the master of Spice and Wolf—Lawrence’s turn. It had been ten-odd years since they opened in Nyohhira and he had spent many years on the other side of the table asking for assistance, but he never thought this job would be so hectic.

“Mr. Lawrence, the goods from Alvo are here!”

Though counting coins already took considerable concentration, that was not his only job.

“Tell Mr. Dabon, and put it in the shed!”

Nyohhira was a small village deep in the mountains, but there were people that lived even deeper in the wilderness, scattered about in even smaller communities. It was around this time of year that they came to call on Nyohhira, when they could finally take the thawed mountain paths. These people brought the hemp and twine they had made during the winter or carried a heap of furs on their backs and traded them with the things they could only get in a village, like alcohol, food, and metal goods. The people of Nyohhira took more than half of these products for themselves, and the rest they took down to the towns with the money to sell.

It was around this time that Nyohhira transformed from a village of healing waters to a remote marketplace.

“Mr. Lawrence! The owner of Adino said he wants to change his order.”

“Mr. Lawrence! Where should I store the hemp?”

“Mr. Lawrence!”

“Mr. Lawrence!”

When he finally came to a good stopping point, he was left without the energy to even stand. His ears rang, and he felt as though he could still hear his name being called. Once he had been a merchant, and he should have been used to such busy exchanges. He had done business in a market so clamorous there was barely any room to stand, where he could hardly hear his own yelling voice. All that now belonged to a distant past. He certainly felt a faint nostalgia for the tumult of those times. But now, he was much too happy simply working for the village he lived in.

This engagement would continue for several days. He had to work hard so that the other bathhouse owners would not laugh at him. So every day he went straight home and went to bed early.

When he stood up to do just that, he could hear masters loitering outside the meeting hall entrance and their chattering voices.

“Oh, this is new.”

“Mr. Lawrence? Yeah, he’s inside.”

“But really, you always look so young. I thought you were your daughter!”

He could hear the conversation from the partly open door, and before long, in came a familiar silhouette.

As he stood from his chair, he wore a small smile.

“Hello.”

He felt all his fatigue slip away when he heard that voice. The one that peeked in through the doorway was a small girl, wearing a heavy overcoat that reached down to her ankles and a hood over her head. She held a small wine cask to her chest, and if someone who was not familiar with her saw, they would think she was a maidservant. There still was a hint of youth in the face under the hood.

But once this young girl stood in front of Lawrence, she grinned audaciously.

“You look like a sheared sheep.”

Her usual barb pricked his ears. The girl standing before him was not what she appeared to be. Though she looked like a teenager on the outside, she was hiding animal ears underneath her hood, and she even had a tail growing from her back. Her true form was a centuries-old giant wolf that could devour a person whole, who lived in wheat, and—

Lawrence’s vaunted wife, Holo.

“You didn’t have to come get me.”

Typically, it was their daughter Myuri, who looked exactly like Holo, who came for him. But Myuri had left on a journey, and they wondered which parent she took after.

“I thought you might cry had I let you return home alone,” she said and pushed the cask onto him. Lawrence removed the cork, and his stomach tightened at the smell of mead that wafted from it. That was when he recalled that he had nothing to eat since morning. He filled his mouth with drink, and the unbearable sweetness soothed his tired body. Holo often talked about this and that, but she always looked out for him.

And it was likely that the lonely one was Holo. Winter was over and the guests had gone home. Col, who had supported the bathhouse for a long time, was away traveling, and to top it off, their only daughter, Myuri, had followed him. They had one strange guest after all that, but he, too, left a short while ago. It was especially cute that Holo came to see him because she could not stand being left alone in the empty bathhouse. He tightly embraced her slender body, which seemed to draw closer to him than usual.

“But ’tis quite the amount of goods in the shed next door. The coins, too, seem like a mountain of treasure.”

“Oh right, you’ve never seen it before, huh?”

Holo almost never left the bathhouse if she did not have anything particular to do outside. For one, she did not age with time and was not human, so she tried not to be seen. There was also the simple fact that she just preferred staying at home.

“I think there’s more than usual this year…Every year, I watch how the others work, but I was surprised to find out how tough this is. I was so busy working all day today. Thinking about how this will continue for a few days is a bit scary.”

He gave a wry smile and had another drink, and Holo smiled again.

“What is it?”

“Heh-heh. I’m happy.”

“Why?”

Holo was wagging her tail under her overcoat. Lawrence thought she was tricking him somehow, and he unwittingly checked himself.

“You are slowly being accepted as a member of this village.”

Holo had lived for hundreds of years in a wheat field, watching over a town called Pasloe. She understood how much work it took for a new resident to finally fit in with the town.

Knowing that, she was happy.

“I’ve been working quite hard, too, you know.”

With a tired look, he put on a front, though seemingly on purpose. Holo giggled and held out her hand to help him up.

“Only since you have had my help.”

“I suppose so.”

He took her small hand and stood up.

Lawrence greeted the merchants gathered in the meeting hall, then exited the building. The sky was madder-lake red, but the snow on the ground was dyed indigo by nightfall. Tall mountains enveloped the village on all sides, so there was no true sunset in Nyohhira. It would dip straight from a bright sunny day into evening’s dim murkiness.

“But…,” Lawrence murmured. “Even with what you’ve already done, I feel like I need more.”

“Hmm?”

A reason that work was so busy today was that there were few young folk to take over the chores.

Kalm, whose father Cyrus was also a bathhouse master and rather close with Lawrence, came over to help, but even then it was hectic.

As he counted and weighed the masses of coins, he could not count how many times he wished that Col was still around, since he had set out to travel a bit earlier. He also thought about how his daughter Myuri could have taken care of collecting and sorting goods from the surrounding communities.

But the two had left on a journey together. Originally, it was just supposed to be Col, but wild-hearted Myuri apparently secreted herself into his luggage. Holo would tease Lawrence for being overly protective, but he thought it was normal to worry. And what’s more, though her partner was Col, she was still traveling alone with a boy!

“If only our two younglings were still around…”

There were many meanings in the words he uttered, but she chose to interpret a good one.

“Well, you have been sagging lately. Perhaps some labor will do you good, as well.”

She said this while poking his side.

He thought that the dignified look of a fat chin and a big belly suited the master of a bathhouse, but Holo was not fond of that, so he always ate and drank in moderation. The most he did to cultivate his poise as a master was grow his beard out a bit.

“That’s true, but if they don’t come back for the time being, today I realized it really is a problem if we don’t hire more people. When the customers start coming again, there’s no way I’d be able to run the bathhouse by myself.” Lawrence also added, “That includes your mending and Hanna, our resident cook’s work.”

He had not forgotten that gratitude was the key to a happy marriage. Holo snorted, as though saying, Very well.

“Shall I suggest going down to town soon, then? You may hire anyone you need there, since ’tis full of people.”

“That’s true, but can I find someone that’s as excellent a worker as Col?”

He sighed, and Holo gave him an exasperated look.

“Wheat does not bear its fruits immediately.”

“Hmm?” He looked back at her and finally understood what she was trying to say. “Bring them up with your own hands, you mean.”

“Mm. You don’t know how hard I’ve worked.”

She looked at him intently, and all he could do was smile wryly. There were definitely many parts of him that were the result of Holo’s help.

“Well, you too, have become a proper male.”

She looked up at him and smiled proudly.

She could say anything to him with that smile.

“But we still have you, so I can’t just hire anyone.”

He could feel Holo’s body shrink a bit when he sighed.

It was a bit rough for Holo to live in a human village, since she was not human and did not age.

Now, the woman named Hanna, who helped out at Lawrence’s bathhouse, was unaware of the full details, but they had convinced her that Holo was the incarnation of a bird or something similar. Col was genuinely a normal human, but they had traveled together in the past and knew Holo’s true form. As for their daughter Myuri, it went without saying.

They needed to hire someone that would not be shaken by this fact and willing to keep the secret, or maybe someone who was not human at all.

“I can ask Millike.”

That was an influential name in Svernel and, at the same time, one of the few who knew Holo’s identity.

He was also not human and was a reliable person they could consult with on these problems.

“If we can’t find anyone even then…it might be good if we stretch out a bit further.”

“Stretch, you say?”

“Yeah. We’ve been holed up in the mountains for quite a while now. Even I’m surprised.”

When they first started their bathhouse in Nyohhira, he could not really believe that they would never set out traveling again. He lived his life up until then on the road—from town to town, village to village. He knew people here and there, and he belonged to the loosely affiliated merchant association from his hometown. But never staying in one place for more than a month, he never made anything he could call a friendship. At worst, he feared there would be no grave for him to rest in when he died.

But at some point, the part of him that proudly said, In return, I get to see most of the world, disappeared, and he entirely isolated himself from the world beyond the mountain.

However, he never felt trapped. Rather, he was quite happy.

“I walked around so much that you would tease me and call me a dog. But now I stay put even more than the hemp cloth in the shed.”

Lawrence turned back, a short while after they had left the meeting hall, and at the bottom of the gentle slope, he could see the large building and the shed that sat next to it.

“Can you believe this? I heard that in Svernel at the foot of the mountain, hemp cloths are flying off the shelves. But some of the cloth isn’t used there and instead sold in another town. They say they travel like that, down the river, before finally reaching the ocean.”

“The ocean?”

On their journey over ten years ago, he had sailed the ocean with Holo, and near their travels’ end, they made a side trip to the beach in summertime. Holo, hearing about the ocean, of which she had little connection to, looked off distantly.

“The world is at peace, and trade is booming. People have started thinking lugging their goods across land isn’t good enough anymore, so they are building an incredible number of boats now. And apparently some hemp from our village transforms into the sails on some of those boats. And then, filled with wind, they’ll face the endless ocean that I’ve only ever heard about in stories.”

Riding on the hopes of many people, that cloth would go through endless journeys. Instead of snow as far as the eye could see, maybe it would wind up in a country where scorching sand piled high like mountains. There, the ship’s hold would fill up with fragrant spices, gold, and exotic fruits before heading home. It was a risky business that could mean great riches if the traders returned safely or losing everything if something went wrong on the way.

Beyond the sky Lawrence looked up at every morning as he cleaned the front of the bathhouse, wondering how the weather would be that day, lay such a world. And now, that world rocked as it faced a new era.

Long ago, he would not be able to sit still knowing that.

“It might be good to take a whiff of adventure every once in a while.”

That way, Lawrence could restore his vigor and reapply himself to work hard at running the bathhouse. It would even be perfect if he could find outstanding staff to work at the house. Lawrence merely entertained the idea, but Holo took it in a different way.

He realized this after working for a few days, when he was about to travel to Svernel.

Under the blinding sunlight, he checked to make sure he had all the cargo he needed to go to town, and confirmed with the other masters the contents of their purchases. When all the little preparations were squared away, at last he hooked the horse to the wagon when someone pulled themselves up onto the driver’s perch.

Though she was supposed to stay and look after the bathhouse, there was Holo, dressed for travel.

“…What’s wrong?”

His voice faltered as he asked, only because Holo, who sat on the perch, wore a terrifying expression on her face.

“Nothing.” Holo responded flatly, and she stared down at him. “’Twould be a pain should a fool like you lose your way.”

“…”

Lawrence stared back at her blankly before he realized what was going on.

Long ago, Holo left her homeland of Yoitsu and could not go home for hundreds of years. During that time, her homeland had been swallowed up by the changing era, and the ones she once called companions had vanished. To Holo, who would live hundreds of years, she could not stand the possibility of someone going off somewhere and for that to be their eternal parting.

When Lawrence thought this, he regretted his carelessness from a few days ago, suggesting they stretch and travel a bit.

But as he checked the horse’s yoke, he could not help but think. Holo had supported Col’s decision—and particularly Myuri’s choice—to leave the village more than Lawrence did. She was confident that her own daughter could safely overcome anything she might face. So she should not worry as much as she did if he was only heading to around Svernel, then back.

She simply might have wanted to come along since staying behind to watch the house was surprisingly lonely.

“I, too…”

Holo spoke suddenly, as Lawrence was gathering how she felt.

“…Fancy the delicious foods in town.”

She spoke with a pout on her face, so he left it at that.

He greeted the other bathhouse masters, who stared in surprise at Holo sitting on the cart, then briskly finished his preparations and led the wagon outside. Though the sunshine was like that of a spring sun, snow still lay thick around the mountains surrounding Nyohhira.

“Keep it warm for me.”

He turned to Holo as he spoke, and she faced the other way, huffing. That brought back memories of old times together. It was when the wagon bed had been filled with Holo’s favorite apples, so many they could not finish them all.

Lawrence jumped onto the driver’s box and, in high spirits, gripped the reins.

On the road to Svernel, they had to stop and stay one night each at an inn, then a small settlement, making it roughly a three-day journey. Though it would be faster to take a boat on the river that flowed from the village outskirts, it was wise not to use it during this season. The melted snow raised the river’s water level, and it was currently used to transport harvested lumber down from the mountains, so it would not be a cozy boat ride at all.

As they traveled the mountain paths, he could see the logs floating along whenever he caught a glimpse of the river beyond the trees. According to the woodcutters that came and used their baths, timber had been selling rapidly these past few years, and most, though not all, was used to make boats. And some of those boats would sail untold distances across the sea.

Lawrence was proud to think that long ago, he worked as a part of the trade network that blanketed the land. But now, he could not imagine going back to that world.

“What?”

Holo sat next to Lawrence, working hard at her mending, and noticing his gaze, she peered up.

“Oh, nothing. You look good is all.”

Holo was not dressed as a traveling nun the way she had long ago. She wore a plain, wool-woven hood over her head, and from it hung her roughly braided hair. On her shoulders she wore a shawl that had the barest embroidery in the corner—she seemed proper and modest. Since she looked young, if she behaved herself, she seemed like an innocent, meek young bride.

She sat next to him, dressed like this, working on the mending, so there was no need to foul her mood.

And there was no more reason for him to go to the ends of the earth searching for treasure.

“You…hmm. ’Tis not bad.”

Lawrence had not held reins in quite a while, so Holo’s evaluation was quite forgiving, considering how awkwardly he managed the horse. The weather was pleasant, so she seemed to be in a good mood as well.

“And we shall see your capacity as a male once we’ve reached the town, aye?”

She narrowed her eyes, and her mouth twisted into a mischievous smile.

Even Lawrence knew she would say that. There was a reason they brought down the coins Nyohhira collected during the winter at this time of year.

That was because they held a big spring festival in town, so people gathered, trade bustled, and everyone soon ran out of coins. Without hard currency, they could not do business. Supplying the town at this time with coin relied on the basic concept of bringing goods to places that needed them and selling for a high price.

And at the same time, he need not ask what the wolf, the gourmet, would want in a town at the height of festivities.

“I don’t mind. You can ask for whatever food you like.”

“Oh?”

Lawrence spoke to Holo, who seemed surprised, not expecting him to be so generous.

“I know you’re really taking our finances into consideration.”

He gave her his merchant’s smile, and she pulled back, glaring at him.

“You are quite sassy in old age.”

“It’s all thanks to the great wisewolf’s discipline.”

Holo puffed out her cheeks and stomped on Lawrence’s foot. He stomped back, and she head-butted his shoulder.

The horse pulling the wagon swished its tail, as though telling them to take it elsewhere.

“We still have a heap of things to deal with, though. Don’t be pouty if I can’t entertain you in town.”

“I am not unreasonable, like Myuri.”

Their daughter Myuri’s unreasonable nature suited her, but Lawrence believed that part of her personality came from Holo.

Lawrence looked at her with the same look as before, and she stomped on his foot again. This time, it was stronger.

“Hmph. ’Tis not even all that much. Sell the goods in the back, buy things for the village, and then look for workers.”

“Just looking for workers might take a while…And there’s still more.”

“Hmm?”

She gazed at him doubtfully in response. She was likely checking to see if his head was filled with schemes to turn a quick profit. On their journey over ten years ago, that was often the source of all their biggest, rowdiest adventures.

“The whole town is busy preparing for the festival. It’s a custom for Nyohhira to help with the preparations in exchange for the town’s money changer association buying all the village’s goods at once. So I’ll probably be busy with that during the festival.”

“Hmm.”

Nyohhira was wholly reliant on Svernel for the distribution of their goods, so it was a give-and-take relationship.

“So what will you help with during the festival?”

“I don’t know all the details…but I’m sure there are several jobs. I’ve heard that it’s been quite a lively festival these past few years.”

“I know that. ’Tis why I wished to see it with you…”

Holo spoke dejectedly. She was craftily letting her adorably true feelings show.

“And this time, there’s one more important job.”

Holo, who had her lips pursed in boredom, looked up expectantly.

“I have to find out more about the people who might be building a new hot spring town on the other side of the mountain.”

That was the most shocking information that spread this winter in Nyohhira.

He knew nothing about the details, but traveling merchants told the village about this rumor.

Though it would be on the other mountainside, most roads in this area led to Svernel, so they would end up fighting over customers. And of course, they would likely get their food, drink, and other necessities from Svernel, so prices would rise accordingly.

He had to confirm whether the rumors were true or not.

“So I’m going to be very busy in town.”

As Lawrence declared his intentions, Holo hunched over, resting her chin in her hand and sighing.

“At the very least, don’t trip as you run around so much.”

“What, you’re not going to help? It might spell danger for our bathhouse and Nyohhira itself.”

The villagers saw Lawrence as one of their own, since they entrusted him with bringing the coins down to town during this season, and he was so overjoyed, he became overeager. He spoke pointedly, and Holo looked at him with uncertain eyes.

“Well then, shall I discover where they are digging holes for their baths, then cover them up, burying those people with it?”

When Holo spoke, Lawrence flinched. Sitting there was the wolf’s avatar, a being that held more power than humans knew.

Holo once again sighed at Lawrence’s response and reached out to pinch his beard.

“You, still, cannot, forget, playing, the, merchant, prince, still? Hmm?”

“Ow, stop, ouch, hey—”

She pulled his beard, moving his face side to side.

“Hmph. Whoever they may be, we shall always be ready, making our guests happy as we always do. Should that be enough, they will come. If not, then they will go there. Is that not correct?”

She let go of his beard, and Lawrence looked at her again, rubbing his chin.

The centuries-old wisewolf had appeared.

“Well, that’s true…”

“Very well, then.”

Her mood completely changed, and she drew close to Lawrence.

“Once the bathhouse empties out, won’t you spend more time with me? Our troublesome Myuri has left on her travels, you know.”

“…”

There was a sweet seduction that accompanied her decadent invitation.

Lawrence wavered dizzily for a moment, then shook his head and returned to his senses.

“It’s not just our problem. It’s the whole village’s problem.”

He spoke as though confirming it to himself, and Holo cackled, spotting his weak restraint.

“Well, we have no intentions to lay waste to our own territory. We shall find who it is that challenges us. That path will build competition between us.”

Holo was worth the help of a hundred people.

Lawrence gently adjusted the shawl on her shoulders and said, “I’m counting on you.”

In the three days it took to descend the mountain, the snow began to melt and it became much muddier. Because of that, there were many times when the wagon wheels got stuck and they were unable to move, but passing travelers helped them, and they finally made it to Svernel during an afternoon.

“Hmm…I’ve become a muddy rat.”

Holo sat on the wagon and spoke disdainfully, examining her deerskin boots, thin wool trousers, and the woolen hem around her waist. As though she had anticipated it getting dirty, she stuffed the bushy tail growing from her behind into a special cloth bag like so many grapes.

But Lawrence, standing next to Holo—who much like a princess, tended to mind even the smallest hint of dirt on her clothes—was in a worse state. He had gotten out and pushed the wagon many times as it had floundered in the mud, so he was stained from head to toe, to the point where dried mud fell from his hair in flakes when he shook his head.

“I want to take a bath as soon as I can…”

“I, too, wish to care for my tail.”

Lawrence asked himself whether he was doting on Holo a bit too much.

Then, after the soldiers guarding the city walls pitied the pair for their sorry state, they entered the town of Svernel.

There was still some snow here and there in town, and the streets were muddy. Of course, the wheels did not get stuck this time, but there were so many people and mud splashed everywhere, so everyone walking around had mud up to their knees. No one seemed to mind, since it was the time of year when there was no use worrying about it.

Holo watched all this, and her expression suggested she would not dare leave the driver’s perch, as she cradled her pride, the beautiful tail stuffed in the bag.

“Okay…For now, we need to go to the money changers’ association, but I hope we can get there all right.”

It had been several years since he was last here, and the town had quickly developed and was rather different. Business was booming here, and Svernel grew. A new city wall encircled the old one that had protected the town when they first visited over ten years ago. And there were plans to build an even bigger wall. Gaudy mansions lined some paths, and street stalls stood packed together on the large avenues.

Lawrence had some trouble controlling the horse in the crowds, and when they finally reached the money changers’ association with uneasy movements, he was covered in sweat. Holo, still on the perch, did not seem to understand why he was so sweaty as she handed him a handkerchief.

He wiped his face and did his best to at least clean off the mud from his clothes. Currency exchange was the center of the economy, and its practitioners held esteemed places in every town. The association building here, too, was an impressive five stories tall. Lawrence cleared his throat and worked up his courage, so as to not be overwhelmed by its presence, then called out through the door.

“Excuse me!”

But there was no answer, and no response even when he knocked on the door. With no other choice, he opened the door and peeked inside, when a humid heat wafted into his face. It was busier inside than the bustling streets outside, and the money changers, who all seemed to have gathered from throughout the town, were clinging to desks stuffed into the hall. They all fixed their attention on the scales, as though taking part in some sort of ritual, and were writing things down. Lawrence recognized that the hard smell was one he had just experienced a scant few days ago—the smell of many coins.

“Excuse me!” he called out once more, and finally, an elderly money changer, sitting at a desk near him with dark circles under his eyes, yelled back at him.

“This isn’t the inn! That’s the next area over!”

The old man likely knew immediately that he was a traveler from outside the walls when he saw Lawrence’s appearance.

“No, I’ve come from Nyohhira! I’ve brought goods!”

After Lawrence spoke, the atmosphere suddenly changed.

Everyone looked as though they had seen food for the first time in three days.

“Nyohhira?! He said Nyohhira!”

“The coins! Have you brought the coins?!”

“Where are they? Bring them in now! Do you have bronze jinie pieces? Give us everything you have!”

“Bring silver debau here! No, any silver piece will do! Our exchange might collapse at any moment!”

Just as he was almost swallowed up by the sea of pushy money changers, there came an iron pot’s deafening clatter.

“Calm down! We will distribute coins as agreed!”

He heard the voice emanating from the farthest place inside the first-floor hall, a step above everyone else. There was a rotund, elderly money changer, who had a magnificent white beard that reached his chest.

“First, show our guest some hospitality! Our association’s reputation depends on this!”

He was likely the president of their organization, and when he spoke, the ghastly money changers hesitantly returned to their places. Instead, a youth who appeared to be the chore boy approached him unsteadily. He was clearly sleep-deprived, and his fingers were coated black from handling too many coins.

He shook his head lightly, and it seemed as though numbers would fall out of his ears.

“C-come this way, please…”

He spoke uncomfortably, as though he had not spoken for a long time or he had talked too much and his voice had gone hoarse, and unsteadily led Lawrence outside. Had his breath not produced white clouds, it would have been easy to think he was dead.

The boy walked alongside the building for a bit, then used his entire weight to open a large, grated door. There, carved out from some building’s first floor, was a large passageway that led to a courtyard.

Prompted by his guide, Lawrence brought in his wagon and found himself relieved by the firm sensation the stones provided under his feet. The right-hand side of the passageway connected to the hall where he encountered the busy associates from earlier, and it was evidently built for unloading goods. Since this was a place with lots of snow, it was designed so that they could receive aristocrats or exchange goods without them getting dirty here.

Before long, the door connecting to the hall opened, and out came the elderly money changer who had yelled earlier, with an attendant in tow. The boy called him “president,” so he was indeed the money changers’ association leader.

“Well then, apologies for earlier. Everyone’s been working all day and night, and some are going crazy.”

“With the town this busy, that’s something I can understand.”

Above them, there was an elevated footbridge, and from the dim passage he could clearly see the endless flow of jam-packed people.

No matter how many coins he tossed to them, they would swallow them right up.

“I don’t mind how the town grows every year, but we can only handle so much activity. But I’m really glad you came when you did. The coins are gone from the money changer’s vault—it’s like a bakery without bread.”

Of course, I’ve come aiming exactly for this time, was something he should keep quiet about to maintain their amicable relationship.

“And as with every year, you wouldn’t mind if we hold on to goods besides the coins, yes?”

“Yes, I know it’s such a busy time for you, but…”

“Ha-ha-ha. In return, we’ll have you working hard during the festival! And this year, they’ve sent quite a young fellow! How reassuring!”

The president patted Lawrence’s shoulders as he spoke, his hands sturdy enough to bend a thin coin. On his fingertips lay a money changer’s years of experience dealing with various currencies.

“Well, we can talk about that once you wash off the dust…no, the mud, I believe, from your journey. Business can wait until after you’ve cleaned up. It is my honor to draw the waters for the bath of someone from Nyohhira, a village famous for their hot springs.”

The president gave a loud laugh. Lawrence respectfully accepted the gracious offer.

“Tell the boy to picket the horse in the courtyard. We have a room ready for you, so feel free.”

Everything had been taken care of. Though for a moment, Lawrence hesitated entering the association building with muddy shoes. Quietly peeking into the hallway, he could see a muddy dog and roaming chickens milling about, so he was relieved. Though the animals likely came in following the heat, they were also after the leftovers that the money changers left behind as they worked. When Holo passed them, the dog crouched in surprise and fluffed up his tail.

Lawrence and Holo were led to a beautiful room on the second floor. The furniture was exquisite, and the association’s wealth was ostentatiously on display. Opening the wooden window and scanning the street below, he could see how tightly packed the crowds were and wondered how he managed to weave the wagon through the gaps.

It was busy, it was chaotic, and it was filled with life.

“This is going to be a fun stay,” Lawrence murmured and breathed in the town air.

Lawrence received plenty of hot water for a bath, and after washing off the mud, he finally felt revived. His clothes were also muddy, but all he could do was wash his coat and dry it on the stove before he slept. For now, he brushed off what mud he could, and a nostalgic smile grew on his face.

“Is something funny?”

Holo, gazing out the window, had noticed and turned around to face him.

“Well, I remember when I was a fledgling merchant, I brushed off fleas or lice or something like this once.”

Holo suddenly made a disgusted face and hid her bushy tail behind her.

“Refrain from coming near me.”

“It was a long time ago.”

He tried to reassure her, but Holo did not change her doubtful face and looked away in a huff.

Then, she leaned against the window frame and stared outside reproachfully.

As Lawrence thought about what an oddly bad mood she was in, she groaned.

That was when he finally realized…

“If you want to catch a rabbit, you have to stick your hand into the rabbit hole, even if it means crawling on the ground.”

She wanted to go shopping among the crowded stalls, but she did not want to get muddy while doing it.

Every day, she combed out her beautiful tail, arranging how the hair lay, and oiled it to a glossy sheen.

She turned to Lawrence slowly, her reddish eyes watering, looking up toward him.

“…You want me to buy things for you? But I just cleaned myself…”

Holo’s face suddenly brightened. Lawrence thought himself wretched for being so easily moved by her acting. He shook his head and steeled himself.

“You’ve been a bit too lazy ever since Myuri left.”

The other bathhouse owners lamented that their cute wives transformed once they had children, but Holo did not change much. At best, one could say there were quite a few times where she maintained her dignity as a wolf around Myuri.

But now, even her mending was completely falling apart.

“Even though, when I first met you, you had a maiden’s heart and wished to keep our relationship simple…”

His wife spoke, hugging her tail and hiding her mouth, with a sad expression on her face.

Lawrence put his hand to his forehead and covered his eyes, since her move was so effective.

It was long ago that he was afraid he would grow bored of his relationship with Holo as the months and years passed. As he got older, he felt as though he was growing more susceptible to Holo’s wiles. Though his daughter Myuri was cuter, Holo was different and knew all the ways she could push him into submission.

He sighed and gazed out the window, standing next to her.

“So? Which stall do you want me to go to?”

Holo beamed and took Lawrence’s arm. She wagged her tail and leaned out the window.

“Mm, there is fried lamprey, and rabbit stew, and a pie shop that uses plenty of pig fat, then, over there—”

He gazed at her from the side as she talked happily and did not bother to listen.

When he was going to kiss her cheek, she suddenly slapped him.

“Are you listening?!”

“…”

Fair words fill not the belly.

Like a trained dog, he looked to the shops that Holo pointed out and noted her orders.

Though Lawrence had many things to do in Svernel, Holo sent him on her errands. He did think it was for the best if she stayed in a good mood.

He exited their room and went down the stairs, taking the chickens that would not give way and guiding them into the hallway’s corner. It was when he put his hand on the door of the passageway that led to the courtyard—

“Oh, are you going out?”

From the passage facing the workroom came the white-bearded president. He was wiping his hands with a handkerchief, so he must have been on break.

“Yes, we have not eaten yet, so I was planning on going out to buy something.”

It was the courtesy for a traveler to prepare their own food when borrowing a room.

“Oh! In that case, would you like to join me? Let’s send the boy to do the shopping.”

Accepting offers of hospitality was courtesy as well. It would be much too brazen to order the things that Holo wished for at this point, so he remained silent. The association president seemed rather old, so it would likely end up being food that differed from Holo’s preferences. He turned his thoughts to figuring out how he would convince Holo to bear with it, but his fears turned out to be groundless.

“Well then, don’t hesitate and help yourselves! I’m sorry it’s such a filthy place, though!”

The president led him and Holo into an inner room on the first floor, and it was likely a dining hall or meeting room for the association members most days. The room was filled with cargo, and the goods from Nyohhira were in there, too; this was just a portion of the goods that passed through the town in this season. Of course, the scale was incomparable to Nyohhira.

And atop the table was another mountain—a huge variety of oily foods.

“I’m sure you are tired from traveling during this time of year. And we want you to work hard preparing for the festival! Eat your fill as you please!”

The president’s voice was rather loud. He may have been used to raising his voice in the workplace, but he was probably this energetic all the time. At any rate, there was a thick cut of smoked venison that had Holo’s eyes sparkling, and she boldly stuck a knife into it and took a bite. Had Lawrence met her at an inn, he would have thought she was a bandit chief.

“Are you all right with ale to drink? We have wine, as well.”

Since it was not possible to harvest grapes in cold areas, wine must have been an expensive import. Lawrence’s former merchant nature kicked in and he tried to restrain Holo, but she luckily chose the cheaper ale. Of course, she was not being modest. She simply thought that ale was more suited to a table filled with greasy foods. Naturally, it did not seem as though she would restrain herself when it came to food.

“Ba-ha-ha-ha! That’s a good way to eat!”

Holo garnished a boiled sausage, which was so stuffed with meat it seemed to be bursting, using plenty of mustard and bit into it. The only ones who would be complimented on their restraint would be the aristocratic ladies. Common folk had fewer standards of evaluation—eat well, drink well, and work well.

“But really, it is an honor as a money changer to sit and feast with you like this, Mr. Lawrence!”

“No, please.”

Lawrence began to feel embarrassed, but something confused him.

He was going to finally introduce himself to the president, but instead Lawrence heard his name first.

“I’m sorry, have we met somewhere before?”

He would never forget so easily such a rotund, white-bearded money changer. Then, the association president bit into meat still on the bone and washed it down with ale before laughing.

“What are you talking about?! You are a hero to us money changers—nay, the patron saint of trade! And your wife has not changed a bit since then! I knew right away!”

Holo, who was spreading butter onto the fried lamprey, looked up as though she had been called.

“It was ten…fifteen years ago? I can still remember your wife yelling bravely out the inn window. We still talk about how she crushed those depraved merchants’ schemes with such a beautiful speech! But there were some parts that stung us money changers.”

Holo, not too interested, bit into the fried lamprey, then drank her ale to wash down the hot oil.

But Lawrence felt proud when he heard what the president said.

That was the last big adventure he and Holo undertook together.

“Anyhow, without your accomplishments, the Debau Company would have decayed and become a boring company right about now, and the silver debau that brightened the entire northern region may never have been born. And there is no way this town would have grown as big as it did.”

At the time, Lawrence and his companions found themselves caught up in a giant plot. Since the convenience of transportation in this region was virtually nonexistent, centralized power had not been established, so there was a grandiose plan to unify the region by establishing a standardized currency. The ones who had dreamed up such an outrageous thing were called the Debau Company.

But it was the way of the world in that wherever there was a plan, there would always be someone trying to foil it, and the Debau Company very nearly had to give up and start over. The one who saved them from that fate was Lawrence, and the one who supported him, Holo. That was why it was possible to claim that had they not been there, the silver debau—currently the most reliable silver piece in the region, a coin engraved with a design of the sun—would not exist.

But after starting their bathhouse in Nyohhira, the birth of their daughter Myuri, and the bustle of daily life, Lawrence had completely forgotten. A long time ago, he might have held his chest high in overflowing pride, but now he reacted with only a small smile and washed down the memory with some ale.

“That was all the will of God. And only possible due to the ties we had with many people.”

They did nothing more than play a small part. At that time, they were, at any rate, just a lonely wolf that had been left behind by the passage of time who forgot her way home and a simple traveling merchant.

“And the silver debau is in circulation all thanks to the Debau Company’s fiscal management.”

“Heh-heh. Those who act modestly are the most frightening. Though the Debau Company is rather frightening, too. They’re very strict in managing us.”

There were endless kinds of currency in a merchant’s purse. Like a power struggle between two countries, the strong determined what coins people used the most. At the worst, the Debau Company controlled business in the northern region by putting the silver debau into circulation. In order to do that, they were thoroughly overseeing its circulation by maintaining its exchange rate and melting down other silver coins.

“The Debau Company now is less like a company and more like a nation of merchants, and the markets are their territory. Silver is stronger than the sword. They treat their vaults as if they were armories.”

The world of money and power was one filled with plots.

Long ago, Lawrence thought he could disrupt such a world, but he looked back on his naiveté with a laugh.

“I’m still proud to think that I was involved with such a powerful company as Debau as a humble peddler, even if it was just a little bit.”

“What! Being where you need to be when you need to be is a merchant’s true skill. Ah no, you own a bathhouse now.”

The president laughed and poured ale into Lawrence’s mug.

“It seems where you needed to be was Nyohhira.”

The president, who had a long relationship with the people of Nyohhira, knew what it meant for them to bring their coins and goods at this time of year.

He cracked the smile of a genial old man and nodded over and over.

“Though it’s all and well to settle into the place you belong.”

As Lawrence recalled the breadth of business negotiations, the president broached the critical topic.

“I’ve heard a rumor that there are several who wish to somehow jeopardize that place.”

He had a serious expression on his face, but then smiled slightly. There was a bright light in his eyes, as though boasting that he would not retire for another fifty years.

“We’ve also been talking about nothing but lately.”

The president leaned back in his chair and sighed as he stroked his beard. In that moment of silence, the only sound was the crunch, crunch of Holo tearing into lamb meat, still on the bone.

“Should we gain another hot spring village, at any rate, trade would grow exponentially, you know.”

Lawrence might have been imagining the unpleasant expression on the other man’s face.

It was the expression of a merchant who was honest in his profits and who single-mindedly moved forward.

Lawrence felt nostalgic, as though he had met an old friend for the first time in a long time.

“Wouldn’t that be like trying to thread two strings through the eye of one needle?”

The association looked busy with its current state of affairs. The president nodded in agreement as he skewered some fried garlic with a knife.

“Of course, I imagine this is not a pleasant situation for Nyohhira’s inhabitants.”

He pried out a clove of garlic and extended one on his knife in offering, but Lawrence declined.

Instead, Holo took it and ate it with the venison. Lawrence was a bit exasperated, since whenever he ate garlic, she would become angry with him for the smell.

“Who are they? To dig the baths, you need a certain level of preparation. And beyond the mountains…I’ve heard it’s on the other mountain face, to the west of Nyohhira, but I think that far out, there are no smaller communities or anything of the sort.”

“Yes, however, there is an old road that travels from Svernel in that direction.”

The president sprinkled some salt onto the garlic cloves and simply threw them into his mouth. Though they were in such an exquisite association building, it was refreshing for Lawrence to see him act unaffected.

“It’s been several decades now…Back when the Church and its teachings had not taken root at all in this area. At the time zealous monks came, and their blood boiled because they were all but surrounded by enemies. With frightening enthusiasm, they carved open a road and built a stone monastery deep in the mountains. This was back when the northlands and the southern Church were truly at war. But no one bothered them, as though they sensed a sort of courage from them. I think many people in this town, including myself, converted to follow Church ways out of acknowledgment for their passion.”

There certainly were things like that. That was true conviction.

“But before we knew it, the war, too, became a shell of what it used to be, and it became like an annual vacation, and the monks also grew old before going off somewhere. Well, this is a difficult land to live in without passion.”

“So, the newcomers are at the ruins of the monastery?”

“It would seem so. The road hasn’t been used in a long while, so it needs to be cleared again, but I don’t know if that will be easier than building a new one. Also, there’s word that the building still stands. What’s more, they have a special permission for that whole area.”

Hearing those words, Lawrence gulped.

“Don’t tell me they’re planning to colonize?”

In order to prevent rising discontent of those unable to find work after a town or village grew too overpopulated, the nobility would occasionally migrate people to a distant territory. If these were colonists dispatched by noble decree, it would become quite troublesome.

“No…It shouldn’t be something on such a large scale. According to rumor, there aren’t even ten people.”

“Where are they from?”

“I’ve heard they used to be meager mercenaries in the south. As you know, it is quite a remote area, so they likely got their permission through some sort of connection. And see, since the war ended, mercenaries have also lost their jobs, and their lords might have thought this better than letting mercenaries roam around their land without jobs…That was likely part of the plan. A vagrant lifestyle probably did not suit those soldiers either, so they will likely wash their hands of the ruffian life here.”

“Which means…Supposing they cannot find any spring water, do they intend to live as pseudo hunters?”

If that was the case, then he would be thankful. It was extremely difficult to find new springs, even in Nyohhira. All of the noteworthy places were used up, and it was thanks to Holo’s wolf powers that he was able to open a bathhouse at all.

“We also thought so. But…”

The president put down his knife and gulped down his mug of ale.

“…They’ve got good heads on their shoulders.”

Good heads.

And the president even looked a bit bitter.

“They’re preparing ahead.”

“Ahead?”

“Basically, they’re assuming that they will strike water and have already come to buy the supplies needed for a hot spring village. So they’ve already made inroads with the lumber trade, the butcher’s, the baker’s association, the ale brewer’s association, and the winery association.”

Lawrence was at a loss for words, and the president’s expression grew grimmer and grimmer.

“Every association will fight with us over seats in the city council. These newcomers seem to be aware, somehow, even of private affairs.”

In exchange for handling materials, something was done under the table. Associations took bribes and bought places on the city council using that money. That was likely it.

Putting guesses aside, Lawrence did not think their conversation was truly reaching that point yet.

This meant that they were not up against southern ruffians who came simply because they had a rough idea. They would not come, risking everything on whether or not they would find spring water. They at least had enough sense to make sure they were properly laying down the necessary groundwork.

“They haven’t come to us yet, so they probably don’t need help with currency.”

Rather, it was the money changers that relied on the coins that the hot spring towns saved up.

But as Lawrence groaned, the president slammed his thick arms, which could knock down a bull, onto the table and stood up.

“This means that our interests and your…no, Nyohhira’s interests, are one and the same. If those with power in the council go against us, then we would lose face. At the same time, if we can stay above our competitors like we always have, we can continue to ensure the division of limited supplies will suit Nyohhira’s circumstances. I believe we should cooperate.”

It had been a while since he had talked about exposed interests that coincided.

Lawrence, aware of his own importance, slowly reached out to his ale and drank slowly. He kicked awake his sleeping mind and lit it ablaze, since the president should have been proposing that he wanted money in exchange for protecting their supplies.

“Of course, it is as you say.”

But if that were the case, then it would be more effective to go directly to the lumber and meat associations in order to compete with the newcomers. Or it was possible that the president was using the fact newcomers had appeared as part of a show by the president.

At any rate, it was something that involved quite a bit of money.

If Lawrence acted carelessly, it would affect his colleagues in Nyohhira for decades to come.

“But I must discuss this with the other villagers.”

“Hmm? I suppose you should, but Mr. Lawrence, I am asking you now.”

It was difficult to tell if his reddened cheeks were from excitement or the alcohol.

As Lawrence hesitated, the president suddenly looked as though he had realized something.

“Mr. Lawrence, don’t tell me you…?”

Lawrence panicked when he thought that perhaps the president had made a big misunderstanding. He likely thought that Nyohhira had already betrayed the money changers and run to the lumber and butcher associations.

“No, this is the first I’ve heard of this. That’s all I ask you to believe.”

“Oh, I see, well, I suppose so…I, too, would be flustered if I suddenly heard all of this at once, but we can’t lose to those guys.”

It was a fight for standing in a crowded town. Especially since business was booming now, seats in the council were like thrones. Even so, it would be unbearable to be treated as pawns in a political arena.

It was then Lawrence breathed deeply, bracing himself.

“Or could it be that? Mr. Lawrence, have you taken a special oath of nonviolence?”

The president had asked another question so suddenly, Lawrence felt if he took it too lightly, he would be instantly led around by the nose.

But it was too crazy.

“What? Non…violence?”

The other man might have been asking Lawrence to get rid of eyesores. It was not as though there were no such incidents in the world of trade—though he knew this, he felt his back grow sweaty.

Assassination.

Until just a few years ago, this place had been influenced by a war that spanned several decades. Kill or be killed might have been considered normal.

He gulped out of nervousness, and the president continued, staring at the table.

“Faith is precious. I cannot deny that. But as long as we choose to live, we cannot escape every single loss of life. May I ask you to avert your gaze, just this once?”

His gaze slowly made its way to Lawrence.

“You seem to take good care of yourself, and it doesn’t seem that your gut would get in the way.”

If a townsperson committed the deed, they would be exposed easily. But if it was someone from the mountains, the president likely thought that they could simply disappear into the mountains. And digging a bath was similar to mining, and mining obviously came with accidents. Just as Holo said jokingly, they could go to the place where the newcomers were digging and bury them in dirt. And the bathhouse coordinator in Nyohhira said the same—if it were back in the old days, they would be ready to cross the mountain with clubs in hand…

Surrounded by the steam that smelled of sulfur, perhaps Lawrence could not clearly see outside the world.

Indeed—the world was a place this cruel and heartless.

He remembered that keeping a clean conscience was a tremendous luxury.

“But I—”

“I know, I know. It’s a bit different than the help every year that my association and the village of Nyohhira have agreed on.

It is not just “a bit.”

Lawrence wanted to yell that.

“Our money changer association is, as I’m sure you know, filled with those who sit to work. Besides the money changers, the other members of this association are all craftsmen who do metalwork, carve pillars and walls. And they’re a bit too…old to run around chasing game.”

Lawrence then recalled the president’s exclamation from earlier about how happy he was the village had sent someone young this time—only now it had taken on a new, dark meaning. His choice of saying “game” was like a reminder that it happened regularly.

“But do not worry. We are used to these sorts of situations. Mr. Lawrence, I want you to catch our game and bring them back.”

Catch, kill, scatter, and bury. The flow of things was already determined.

The president gulped down his ale and spoke.

“I realize that your job is the most difficult. But…to beat them, this is our only choice. And I’ve heard that you used to live on the road as a merchant. I’m sure you’ve experienced this once or twice?”

He had certainly heard of those kinds of tradesmen. For example, the kind that stuck close to wars and conflicts. They went around pillaging towns with soldiers and dealt with those who attempted to protect their assets by swallowing gold and jewels.

He had seen and heard about them a few times when he was a traveling merchant. Stories about people who offered to travel together on dangerous roads when they were really the pawns of bandits.

But Lawrence thought himself different. Even if he could not say with pride before God that he was a perfectly honest merchant, he never crossed any moral boundaries the patron saint of trade would refuse to forgive. And it went without saying that he was a father now. There was no way he would be able to hug his beloved daughter when she came home if his hands were covered in blood. He could not. He would not.

Did the other bathhouse owners in Nyohhira know of this? Did they not know that the hands of the money changers, with whom they maintained such a long relationship, were covered in blood?

But when he realized the alternative, a chill ran up his spine. Could this be why he was finally being regarded as a member of the village after ten-odd years? It was easy to keep dirty work a secret if they could not leave after being rooted there for such a long time.

If that were the case, then he could imagine what would happen if he refused.

Lawrence’s eyes darkened.

Such things did happen.

“Mr. Lawrence?”

The association president called his name, and Lawrence snapped back to reality.

But nevertheless, he could not find his words.

Lawrence looked miserably at Holo, who sat beside him.

“Well.”

As he gazed at her, she spoke pitilessly.

“Do you have a reason to reject?”

His vision wavered. But when he thought of the village—right. When he thought of living in the village, that was right. That was the place they called their home, something they would not find again. When he weighed that on the scales, it was almost like putting the devil on the other side.

“And I am with you.”

When she smiled at him, he decided with his gut. He could go anywhere, as long as Holo was by his side.

He cleared his dry throat and placed his hand on the gates to hell.

As long as Holo was with him, he could get through it.

“You are breaking out in quite the sweat.”

“No, I’m all right.”

It was then he wiped the sweat from his brow.

“Once before when you took several head-butts in retaliation to the stomach, were you this scared? You took quite the magnificent tumble, though…,” Holo remarked.

“…Huh?”

Head-butts? Retaliation?

He then heard a snorting noise of air escaping. When he looked to see the source, the president burst into laughter across the table and hurriedly covered his laugh with his hand.

“Not to mention that should it be a bad hit, something may break.”

“Oh, God.”

The president murmured with a serious expression and stirred in his chair.

“But your game, too, will be disorganized, so I don’t think you need to worry about that.”

“Oh? I have heard they are quite the violent ones.”

“That is not something I can say as someone who has asked you to do this. But I can guarantee that it will be exciting. Well…I believe you are prepared to take one or two hits…”

What are they talking about?

As Lawrence sat, baffled, Holo split a piece of bread in two and began to munch on it.

“And say the name. Or perhaps, he will hear the name and tremble with fear.”

“Oh, I see!”

The president stroked his long, white beard and nodded as though he understood.

“Oh, Mr. Lawrence, I know the name is ominous and it seems fraught with danger, but I don’t think it will be that bad.”

He spoke cheerfully to Lawrence, who no longer had the strength to ask any more questions.

“It’s called the Festival of the Dead, but it’s not as gruesome as you imagine. I can’t really explain the way and scope of the festival better than this. If you watch, I’m sure you’ll understand.”

“’Twill be the most exciting. I’ve heard they serve the meat of the butchered game, as well.”

“Exactly. That’s why we do it, actually. The point is to enjoy preparing for the Revitalization Festival of the Patron Saint, which happens after the Festival of the Dead. Too many people that gather in town around this time. The workers at the butchers can’t meet the need for tallow, to make candles with, and the demand for meat we use in the ceremony all by themselves. We needed to do something to address these issues, and that’s how it all started. And everything will get quite complicated after obtaining the political power to monopolize these important preparations.”

“When I heard about it, I was most impressed with how well it was performed. And the rules of the festival are rather nice and clear-cut.”

“Oh, you know? That’s right. Long ago, this area was on the brink of starvation. The unwritten rules were typically something like how those at the top are simply those who had worked the hardest. In other towns with long histories, I’m sure the distinguished people lived in worlds filled with dirty schemes, but our town is different. We decide who sits in the city council by who gets the most game during the festival!”

He tightened his hand into a fist and seemed genuinely excited.

Lawrence did not know much about the festivals in this town. He had only heard that his work was to help out. He faintly recalled Holo asking him on the way here what sort of work he would be doing. She loved lively events and had undoubtedly asked one of their guests at the bathhouse about every little detail so she was probably well informed.

“Up until now, I, though unworthy, have held the stick, but I can’t win against old age…Having said that, the only ones who can participate in the festival are the ones who have a connection to this land. All the notable young people have already been reserved. That is why at this rate, we’ll lose to the other associations who’ve brought in mercenaries with permits, appearing suddenly like shooting stars. Please consider treating this year as an exception, and accept this job!”

Lawrence, his eyes drained of energy, asked in response:

“And what is it exactly?”

The president spoke.

“To capture sheep and pigs. We will handle the disposal. Yours is the most dangerous job, but please!”

He placed his hands on the table and bowed his head. The ones intruding in on the lumber and meat associations were mercenaries from the south. They were no doubt physically strong.

Lawrence gazed off, staring at the texture of the wooden ceiling, and nodded.

“I accept.”

“Ohh! You have my thanks!”

The president looked up, then took Lawrence’s hand and shook it vigorously. He would leave things as they were, but Lawrence had been thinking of something else entirely up until now.

He had to somehow hide the foolish misunderstanding.

But the sharp-sighted, mischievous Holo was not one to simply allow his odd behavior a pass. When they returned to the room after eating, she immediately bit into him. He did not try to resist. Like a pet pig that appeared timidly before his hatchet-wielding master, he confessed with blank eyes.

No poet alive could describe how much Holo had rolled about in laughter.

Starting the day after, Lawrence set out inside town with a wooden mallet in hand. It was not something meant for just a bit of timberwork. Including the handle, it was about the same size as Holo. This was a tool meant for hammering in the railing that kept the round fence in the town square together for the Festival of the Dead.

It was simple but backbreaking work, so it was apparently divided between the town’s craftsmen associations. So it was obvious with one look at the square which association was working properly. Among them, the money changers’ association was not making much progress by any standard. They were quite busy and elderly men who sat down for work every day, so they all had bad backs. That was why every year, they relied on representatives from Nyohhira to do it for them.

Lawrence borrowed just one boy from the association and got to work. Propping up a stake the size of his thigh, there was no way he would be able to hammer it in alone. Though Holo would probably be able to hold it up, she refused. Likely because no matter how carefully she held the stake, she would end up covered in mud.

So in the end, as Lawrence spent the day hammering away, Holo stayed in their room at the association building, preening herself in luxury.

“…I really think I need to have a talk with you about what the word cooperation means.”

“There is work that is suitable for a weakling like me.”

Holo assured her husband as she elegantly blew on the white hairs at the tip of her tail.

Lawrence did not have the energy to get mad at her and washed himself in the bath the association had prepared for him.

Tired, he sat on the bed and began to dry his hair, but Holo took the handkerchief instead and dried it for him.

“Don’t think that this is me forgiving you,” Lawrence reminded her, and she spitefully rubbed his face, too.

“More importantly, have you spotted the fools who are trying to intrude on our territory?”

When she was mostly finished wiping his hair, she gave a little smack with the handkerchief on Lawrence’s head.

“No, I asked around, too, but apparently, they already finished with their work and are gone. For now they’ve left town, and they are probably digging holes for the baths.”

The members of other associations were surprised at how fast those newcomers worked. When Lawrence himself examined the stakes they had hammered, he shuddered. It was set in deep and perfectly straight and did not budge in the slightest. Would he be able to beat them at hunting pigs and sheep? He was beginning to have honest doubts.

“Well, ’twill turn out all right.”

When Lawrence told her his thoughts during the day, Holo would not seriously listen to him. She put her cheek to his back, wrapped her arms around his waist, and wagged her tail. She was likely so obviously wanting attention because her usual conversation partner Hanna was not here, and she had spent the entire day alone in the room.

Usually, he would be pleased, but now his mind was filled with other things.

“I can’t be as relaxed as you right now.”

If they did not do well, then the money changers’ association would lose seats in the city council, and they would lose their right to dictate the flow of goods in town. If they lost their standing, then they would no longer be able to give Nyohhira special treatment. Should that happen, Nyohhira’s supply procurement would be suddenly hindered…Which might not happen, but it would not be a good thing for the village regardless.

If it came to that, he did not know how he would be able to face the rest of the villagers when they returned home.

“But worrying will not grow muscle in your arms. Still, I doubt you could refuse, then. Even if…’twere assassination?”

Holo said it herself and then laughed. She would be playing with that particular foolish misunderstanding for a while.

“That’s…well, true…”

“Then, ’tis decided, aye?”

She released the arms around him and slipped in front of him.

“Food?”

“And drink.”

They could not fight on empty stomachs.

Though he had just come back in, the stalls outside would close if they dallied. Mustering up the energy, Lawrence stood up, and Holo held her overcoat.

He was certain that Holo would make him go shopping on his own, but it seemed she was coming with him.

“…You always surprise me with how good you are at pushing and pulling.”

On careful examination, he thought that was something normal, but Holo was amazing to think that, for some reason, he meant it as a compliment.

Putting on a fox muffler, which she never wore because it was a bit much for the village, Holo smiled purposefully.

Then, like a cute young girl, she tilted her head as if she was clueless.

This sort of life continued for several days, and they watched the town prepare for the festival.

Two days after Lawrence first used the wooden mallet, he found himself plagued in his body and heart by terrible muscle pain, and he did his best to continue helping as much as he could. While, of course, there was the construction of the round fence for catching pigs and sheep in the Festival of the Dead, he was also running about to help make the giant straw statue for the Revitalization Festival of the Patron Saint, which came afterward. He quite literally dashed to the different districts of Svernel, collecting the straw as he pulled his cart along.

Every town had a similar kind of festival because there was all sorts of trash, such as damaged straw beddings or chair stuffing, after expending things over a long winter. And of course, he would assist pulling out this straw. In addition, he collected stockpiled fodder that had gone bad after rats took up residence inside it as well as packaging material that large companies had long kept.

After he gathered it all, he pushed through the crowd and headed to the square to tie it all together.

Helpers bound the straw together using hemp and leather string that had also outlived its usefulness—their final duty before they were to be discarded. Together with strangers from this town, they combined the straw and held it up, tied the string around it, then passed it to the people who would place it onto the statue’s wooden skeleton. One company had the sense to bring lunch for everyone in the square. Lawrence took his share with mud and straw still coating his hands, ate, and then washed everything down with alcohol to cheer himself up. The livelier ones sang.

He had done these sorts of things when he traveled as a merchant, so it was nostalgic for him as well as fun. When Lawrence returned to their room at the money changers’ association building, his exhaustion was so acute that as he ate with Holo, he began falling asleep.

But it was a very good tired feeling, and Holo happily took care of him.

“Can’t you be at least half this helpful on a normal basis?” he asked, but she made a rather foul expression.

“I am Holo the Wisewolf. I will move when the situation calls for it.”

She seemed to imply that Lawrence should offer her tribute more frequently, though this particular outing had already cut quite deeply into their savings.

And he had another mountain that he really had to climb.

As the pain racking his body subsided, the incredibly tall statue of the patron saint in the town square was finished.

Svernel was an ironic town—just as the war to establish the Church’s teachings in the heathen lands had ended, the southern religion suddenly spread and grew popular. Most people likely found the Church appealing on an emotional level since before. But because the war had still technically been undertaken, albeit only as a shadow of the conflict it once was, people still minded how their neighbors would react if they converted to the enemy’s religion at the time.

But listening to the stories of the townspeople he was working with, most of the people who converted to the teachings of the Church were not especially moved by them. They did so mostly because they had heard there were many festivals every year if they adhered to the Church’s calendar. If they were to pray to a God that they were not entirely certain existed, then life was more enjoyable.

When he told Holo this, who long ago was offered supplication in return for a good wheat harvest in a village, she reacted with an indescribably bitter smile.

All that being said, the townspeople’s passion for the festival was real. It was plain to see this peculiar enthusiasm at the spring festival, the first day of which coincided with the Festival of the Dead.

“Leave the disposal to us! If you like, we’ll do it with the sharpened edges of bronze coins that have been shaven down too much!”

The president of the money changers’ association howled, holding a large hatchet he had polished just for the occasion today.

The ones accompanying him were all money changers at least a decade or two older than Lawrence. All the younger money changers lay facedown on their desks, asleep after several consecutive days and nights of work. Most of the older money changers’ excitement was likely due to sleep deprivation.

But Lawrence admired what looked like the sturdiness of elders that had seen war’s hardships, and the president grinned.

“We don’t have many years left in us. We will work as hard as we can, knowing we won’t be able to come to the festival after a few more years.”

There was a saying—“live today as though tomorrow is your last.” He looked at them the way Holo peered into something flashing and radiant. He knew that due to Holo’s longevity, everything passed before her eyes in an instant. When they all left the association building like an old bandit gang, with the president in front and everyone with their own hatchet in hand, Lawrence spoke to Holo.

“I don’t have much longer to live from your perspective, do I?”

Holo opened her eyes, and her expression hardened.

“I’ll work as hard as physically possible. So try to smile as much as you can for me?”

Not for a routine where yesterday and today blended together, but for a special day that they could look back on and talk about fondly, where this happened and that happened.

Once he thought about it, Holo probably had her own reasons for suddenly leaving Nyohhira and accompanying him on this errand. Even in that ever-unchanging mountain village, Col left and Myuri followed after him. She might have sensed the approaching feeling of what would come next more strongly than Lawrence had.

So his honest, foolish misunderstanding that the money changers were asking him to assassinate someone would make a great souvenir for her.

And so would today’s festival.

“You fool.” Holo smiled as though she would cry and wrapped her hands around her face. “You are my better half. You must shine the brightest at the festival.”

“Of course. The village is counting on me, too.”

The more game he caught at this festival, the higher the association would rise in status.

In the end, Lawrence had no chances to find out what warriors these former mercenaries were before the event.

It would be difficult to win, but he had to stand his ground.

“I am with you.”

“And I’m counting on you.”

Lawrence rubbed her head through the hood-like cloth covering her. Then, when he nodded as a signal to go, she seemed as though she would say something else, but chose not to.

More importantly, the town had never been as congested, so there was no time for idle chatter.

They moved forward, Lawrence practically holding Holo so that her small frame would not be shoved around by the crowd.

When they finally reached the square, he was out of breath and felt hot from being jostled around.

“Well then, let’s do it!”

The money changers, who had arrived just before them, were raising each other’s spirits by striking their hatchets against one another’s, in perhaps what was one of their rituals.

Around the outside of the fence, where he had worked so hard hammering in the posts, people were pushing to get closer. He did not know if the barrier was meant to keep in the roaming livestock or if it was to protect them from the crowd.

Inside the round barricade, there were gatherings on a straw mat that had been placed at a set distance away from the edge. That was where the representatives for each association were stationed. Everyone seemed to have done their best to gather young competitors, and Lawrence could not tell at a glance which group contained the mercenaries.

“They determine the winners by the weight of the meat, so instead of aiming for one big one, you have a better chance with two that are easier to capture.”

The association president explained the rules to Lawrence as he handed him a club.

“You can also take your opponent’s game! If you hit it once, they’ll fall over, right? That’s when people who aren’t veterans wait for a response, and they waste time. Chase after the pigs and sheep with courage, and get them by jumping at them from behind!”

“Don’t tackle or hit anyone, though. It’ll be trouble later!”

“Let the game do everything for you. Sometimes, they will end up in the air, and it’s acceptable if they hit someone else.”

He meant that he should hit others with the game. Many town festivals were rough. Though they were getting on in years, the hot-blooded money changers seemed to be having a great old time. To protect himself, he carved their advice into his brain and took a deep breath.

The sky was clear, and he would surely be drenched in sweat if he moved around a lot. As he wondered how a bathhouse master like himself had ended up in a situation like this, a smile broke out on his face due to nerves.

“Oh, Mr. Millike, head of the council.”

As Lawrence was thinking to himself, a float arrived in the square, and standing atop it was a man whose scarlet ceremonial mantle—the symbol of a person in power—fluttered in the wind. It was Jean Millike, the town leader, with whom Lawrence was acquainted. Lawrence could not hear his speech over the crowd’s noise, but even if he had been next to Millike, it was likely impossible to hear it anyway. That was how busy it was.

Before long, Lawrence was able to see wagons packed with animals that would be set loose as game, and a nauseating anxiousness slowly rose in his stomach. His nature did not contain a predisposition for violence.

Ignoring the money changers, who were currently the spitting image of bandits, holding their hatchets, Lawrence gazed back over the fence.

There was Holo, and she gave him a wry smile.

“Begin!” someone yelled.

At that moment, a large number of wagons poured into the square, and the pigs and the sheep were all sent running.

They were bewildered, having suddenly been freed in a wide-open space, but upon seeing the angry waves of people, they dashed off. A young man ran as hard as he could to chase a sheep that was running in circles with all its might, but a pig slammed straight into his side. The crowd watched this and raised a loud shout.

The number of sheep and pigs in the enclosure grew, and there were some that were so confused that they simply stood still. Those poor, lost lambs were quickly taken and pulled away as soon as they froze.

Lawrence, too, jumped into the mayhem with determination.

Most of the sheep and pigs were, of course, mostly younger ones, not bigger, grown specimens. So even though there was no problem dragging their prey along or carrying them off, the animals were still energetic.

He first thought to knock them out with the club, but he understood immediately that there was no time for that.

So he threw himself at one that had stopped moving, grabbed it by the legs from behind, and held it up. “Baa! Baa! Oink! Oink!” came loud noises from all around him.

Lawrence carried the game back to their base, and the money changers took it from him.

He caught a second and then a third quite quickly, and as he caught his fourth, he took a nasty hit to the head and fell face-first into the mud. He felt a four-legged something walk over him and figured it must have been a pig.

Lawrence cleared his reeling head with a shake and jumped desperately toward a sheep that had fallen over like him and was wriggling on the ground. He pinned it like a beast that had forgotten how to speak, lifted it up with strength he was not even aware he had, and returned to their base as fast as he could. The old money changers, covered in blood from the butchering, yelled in exhilaration, and Lawrence threw the sheep to them before immediately turning on his heels.

Everyone running around the square was covered in mud, both people and animals. They were also all frantic.

Jump at anything with four legs, pin them, and carry it back. That was all he could think about in his strange euphoria, and his face smiled on its own. An energetic sheep shook off several men and broke away. The men, shaken off from its back and knocked away after attempts to stop it from the front, immediately rose from the mud and, becoming like mud dolls whose eyes only blazed white, howled in anger before chasing after their prey that got away.

Lawrence watched them and finally realized.

The Festival of the Dead.

That was exactly what it was.

“Number six!”

The old money changers cried in excitement. The meat was piled high on the mat, and the butcher boy who was weighing it had also become excited. It was probably more than some other mats.

“You just need to keep at it!” The association president himself yelled, also out of breath, and he was gripping the hatchet in his hand so hard that it was shaking.

Slaughtering animals was hard work.

“Leave it to me!”

Lawrence screamed in desperation and once again returned to the battlefield, but his body would not keep up. And it became increasingly clear that if this was a battle of endurance, then the four-legged ones were one step above the humans. He began to see that, covered in mud and full of fatigue, the ones who eventually began to totter like dead men staggered after the sheep and pigs, but could no longer keep up with them. There were also a few sneaky ones, who stood in their place and jumped at game that passed by them.

Amid it all, Lawrence jumped at one that had luckily stopped in front of him, picked it up, and dispelling his fatigue with a courageous shout, carried it back to the base.

Number seven. Number eight.

“Amazing! We can do this! We can win!” The association president excitedly encouraged him, and Lawrence turned away, grabbing a pig that had suddenly stopped as though something had caught its attention and carrying it to the base.

“Number nine! It’s a miracle!”

The president was not the only one shouting. The nearby audience was also delighted. Looking around, Lawrence confirmed there was no other place that had as much meat as this. He might be able to win against the associations that hired the mercenaries for this. And he was quite pleased with how well he had done.

There were great cheers from the other side of the fence, and he had felt as though he had become a hero on a battlefield. He boldly wiped his muddy face with his even muddier arm. Holo would definitely be happy to see him so valiant.

As he tried to search for Holo in the crowd, the sharp voice of the association president cut in.

“Mr. Lawrence, the game!”

A sheep had escaped near their base. The man that was chasing it fell dramatically from sheer fatigue. Lawrence, too, felt a similar exhaustion, but he stood up to catch the scampering sheep.

It immediately noticed him, and tilting its body, it changed directions. Though of course since it had run this far, he would catch it and win this fight.

Lawrence ran after the sheep with every last ounce of energy left in him and closed in on it. The ground felt unsteady. He was out of breath. The sheep’s head hung low as it ran as fast as it could. He could see nothing but the sheep. Every single step he took felt like it lasted forever.

Only a bit more, but a bit more would not come. His prey was just far enough that it would get away if he jumped at it. But he could not get any closer. Then should he jump in a last act of desperation?

His lungs felt like they were burning, and his hands and feet did not feel like they were his own.

Everything depended on this!

It was the moment he deeply bent his knees.

The sheep suddenly stopped in shock and slipped onto its side.

Did it trip in the mud?! Whatever it was, now was his only chance!

Stirring his well-honed hunting skill to its limit, he leaped at the sheep. The later he made his next move, the harder it would be for him to stand. Urging his screaming limbs forward, he hoisted it up and walked off. Loud cheers came from the base. Though the money changers were also likely at their physical limit, they waved their hands in support. There were any number of things that were more difficult for merchants. Even that sentiment became his fuel, and he finally carried the sheep to the end.

Then, completely out of energy, Lawrence’s knees gave in, and he stared up at the sky as he gasped for air.

He could not take another step. But was it not wonderful?

Among the townspeople who waved and applauded him on the other side of the fence, he found Holo.

It was right after he realized his misunderstanding.

“Did I not say I would be by your side?”

Though it was so noisy he could barely hear his own ragged breathing, he felt as though he could hear Holo’s voice loud and clear. She smiled proudly at him because she was satisfied that she could work when the situation called for it.

Lawrence could only smile in defeat.

He was not particularly physically fit, nor was he particularly lucky. If he was having such an easy time, that meant there was something else at play. The silly sheep and pigs that had stopped right in front of him all did so because Holo had glared at them.

“There is work that is suitable for a weakling like me” was not a lie.

From meeting Holo up until now, Lawrence would never have gotten as far as he did by himself. There were times he held her small shoulders, and there were times he clung to the back of a literal huge wolf.

Lawrence spoke.

“It was worth all the tribute.”

Holo smiled and moved her lips—“You fool.”

The standoff with the butchers’ association as well as the weighing of the meat began. The event officials presented each association’s result as they finished measuring, and the crowd applauded and cheered. The mud- and blood-covered men of the blacksmiths’ association placed their hands on their chests and bent their knees like nobility, earning the crowd’s laughter.

When it was Lawrence and company’s turn to weigh, he felt anxious before it went on the scale. But to begin with, the number of big wooden boxes used for weighing their catch was incomparable. The result was their team came out on top, no question, of all that had been weighed so far. The audience stamped their feet and clamored in excitement. As Lawrence and the old money changers agreed on beforehand, they stooped to their knees in a knightly manner and presented a bow.

“Wow, this has been much more than a normal year!”

The association president spoke, washing his face with hot water. A big company near the square opened up their loading area as a place for the participants to wash up and take a break. He washed every place on him he could with the hot water and made a toast with cold ale.

He sat in a chair there and faced the square, where the commotion beyond the crowd suggested they were still weighing.

“I wonder how much our opponents have caught.”

“Yes, I wonder…We, too, were quite engrossed in our work.”

He looked at Holo, sitting next to him, and she shrugged her shoulders.

“There were definitely some courageous ones.”

“Well, since we did so much, even if we lost, I don’t think there would be much of a gap between us. I first thought we would be dead last! Oh, it’s all thanks to you, Mr. Lawrence. You’ve really helped us!”

He shook hands with everyone, including the president, for the hundredth time. He had not accomplished anything alone, but he was happy if he was of some help.

“Then what shall we do? After this, there will be more ceremonial things to do for the festival, and it won’t be for a while until the meat is served. Well, they’ll be serving this meat for some time starting today, so you may grow tired of it! Since that’s the gist of it, why don’t you go back to the building for a bit?”

Lawrence was not an association member. It would be out of place if he were present for the ceremonial proceedings.

He looked at Holo, wondering what she wanted to do, and she nodded.

“Then we will do just that.”

“Please help yourself to any of the food and drink in the building! But just don’t take too much money!”

Lawrence laughed in response to the unsubtle money changer–style joke, and he and Holo both stood up. As he did, his knees stiffened, and he wavered. Holo immediately supported her husband and directed a wry smile at him.

He felt as though he had aged fifty years in an instant.

“This is practice.” Lawrence whispered to her, and realizing what he meant, Holo’s face twitched as she tried to smile.

“But ’tis not for a while yet.”

She sounded like she was scolding him.

“That’s what I plan on.”

When he moved his overworked and stiff body bit by bit, a modicum of flexibility came back to him. They used the back entrance of the company, and it was easier to walk on the side streets since there were few people.

As they walked down the quiet street, the tumult that had pierced his ears, sprinting for the first time in many years—it all felt like a distant dream.

It might have been because he was tired. Since no one was around, with his muddy body leaning against Holo, who did not seem to mind, he gave her a fawning kiss on the cheek.

“…You once had strange ideas in these back roads before, as well.”

She was as harsh as always.

“I think it’s because it feels like we’re the only ones in the world.”

“You fool.”

She kicked him.

“And the work I did today. How was it? Did you see that I can do things when I need to? But when I thought that, I was really in the palm of your hand all along.”

“…”

Lawrence spoke, facing straight ahead, and he could feel Holo’s gaze on his cheek.

“When I first met you, I would have been frustrated…But today, I truly am happy. You’re always teasing me, but you know exactly when to help me out.”

He looked at her and smiled naturally.

She tightened her lips, then immediately looked away. She was unexpectedly shy.

“I thank you.” But instead of teasing her, Lawrence spoke. He did not need to say anything else.

The two walked slowly through the back roads.

It was then Holo stopped.

“I, too, rely on you.”

“It’s an honor.”

“And I believe that you rely on me, too.”

Was this her complicated way of expressing herself?

Lawrence thought that for a moment but realized that was wrong. Something was odd about her.

“Holo?”

He called her name, and the ears under her hood visibly twitched.

“Whatever trouble, we can solve it together.” She flashed a tired smile before raising her head. “If you have business with us, show yourselves.”

An ambush? In an old habit from his trading days, he reflexively reached behind him in search of his short sword. But he had left it in the association building. And he was not left wanting for protection because Holo was by his side.

Was it a giant legendary bear that carried mountain ridges on his back, who could pick up the moon in his outstretched paw, that dared face a giant wolf who could swallow a person whole? Or…

“We do not intend you any harm.”

The young man that appeared from around the corner of the alley spoke. Behind him, a meek-looking girl followed him.

The young man wore clothes that were covered in mud, and his short, golden hair was still wet as though he had just washed it. The girl’s plain travel kit was dyed with blood. He knew almost immediately what exactly they had just been doing.

But what caught Lawrence’s eye was the unique air about them.

Both he and Holo had lived a while and had grown accustomed to this feeling with experience.

The pair that confronted them were, without a doubt, not human.

“My name is Aram. This is my sister, Selim.”

The boy called Aram inhaled deeply as though he was nervous. He held his breath and put his hand on the sword hilt hanging by his waist, which was the only thing not covered in mud.

“We were mercenaries in the south.”

The blade of the sword slipped out of the sheath, and it glinted dully in the shadow of the back road.

One cannot even draw a longsword without practice. Lawrence could tell that Aram was not an ordinary swordsman by the way he unsheathed his weapon without hesitation and by his tempered body.

But he had been left speechless for a completely different reason.

It was why Lawrence ended up chasing after pigs and sheep in the mud. At the end of a road that led from Svernel, there would apparently be a new hot spring town. He heard that the hopeful newcomers were mercenaries from the south. In that case…

With the same elegance in which he unsheathed the sword, Aram removed the sheath from his waistband and crossed it with his sword at his feet. It was a sign of the utmost respect from mercenaries and knights. To his side, his sister, Selim, went to her knees.

Lawrence knew immediately that they did not have any harmful intentions, nor were they simple thieves, but he did not know their purpose.

Then, Aram fixed his eyes not on Lawrence, but Holo.

“We have come to see the long-lived, proud lord of wolves.”

He spoke like a knight pledging his loyalty, but Holo was expressionless.

“I appreciate the flattery, but during the festival, you certainly held back when you noticed my presence. What is your purpose?”

He had wondered how the others were doing during the Festival of the Dead. When Lawrence asked her, she had not been clear when she said that there were some courageous ones. This is probably what she meant.

“…We had not realized that someone such as yourself was assisting the money changers’ association until the middle of the festival. We failed to notice right away since there is the strong smell of sulfur about you.”

Holo’s expression finally shifted a little. Then, she sniffed her own shoulders and Lawrence’s sleeves.

“You probably do not notice it yourself. That is how rooted you are to the land of Nyohhira.”

If he had asked any of the townspeople who the strangers helping the money changers were, he would have found out immediately. Any person working in trade in Svernel, from craftsmen to merchants, knew that bathhouse masters from Nyohhira came to help around this time every year.

But Aram was probably surprised. There was a nonhuman among the villagers of Nyohhira. And her companion was a human male.

“And?” Holo asked innocently.

Aram and Selim were clearly the ones trying to start a new hot spring village. And now they were on their knees before Holo, offering the greatest form of respect. It was impossible that this was just a courtesy call.

Aram spoke.

“This must be fate. We could not contain ourselves—we have come to ask for your assistance in creating our new home.”

Lawrence thought he saw Holo’s tail puff up under her overcoat.

“We wish to create a place that we can come home to with our companions for hundreds of years to come.”

The era of forests and spirits was gone, and nonhumans now felt small and inferior. On their journey some ten-odd years ago, to save their companions who were forced into nomadic wandering, they met a golden sheep that created a peaceful place for them to reside on the prairie. If they hid in the woods, there were roads. In the mountains, people built mines and cut them open to find coal. With no other choice, they may have decided to try to live in the human world, but a nonhuman would always be nonhuman.

So everyone had the thought of living in a remote place far removed from human civilization, doing modest work. For example, a merchant and the embodiment of a wolf running a bathhouse in Nyohhira.

“We’ve heard that the one next to you is the merchant that saved this town, who is now the master of the bathhouse Spice and Wolf. And it seems you have a deep relationship. If the God that humans worship does indeed exist, then this must be his will.”

Lawrence listened to Aram speak and finally understood Holo’s stiff expression.

He turned to him and spoke.

“To teach you how to manage your bathhouse?”

“Or…” Aram was not in the least bit daunted. “…To come live in our village.”

He called it a village.

According to the money changers, there were no more than ten of them, and they wanted to construct a bathhouse out of the ruined monastery. Lawrence thought at first that they would live as hunters if they could not find any water, but they had meticulously laid the groundwork with the town’s associations.

After doing all that and calling it a village, then that meant Aram’s dream was much bigger than that.

“Your power and knowledge would be the strength of a hundred, no, a thousand people.”

“We lived poorly as mercenaries in the southlands…To be more precise, we made our living by protecting small villages from outlaws who caused havoc during wartime.”

Standing next to Aram, Selim spoke falteringly. She seemed more serious than Aram. Lawrence could sense her nunlike essence, the impression that she could work for two or three days straight without sleeping or saying a word. She appeared to be a bit older than Holo, but from all the trials she must have gone through, her weary expression made her look even more like an adult. Moreover, he was taken aback by her hands. They were indescribably rough, and not just because she had performed the butchering at the Festival of the Dead.

They were completely different from Holo’s hands.

“It was a life that we, as your kindred, must be ashamed of.”

This meant that Aram and Selim’s companions, too, were wolves.

Holo must have known this already. Her expression did not change as she continued to stare at them.

“We do not know much about the human world. We have only somehow helped the companies in this town for now. My brother and I are the only ones who can speak the language of this region.”

“You may find this foolish or even laugh at us.”

Aram dropped his eyes to the sword and sheath crossed on the ground, then courageously raised his head.

“The world continues to change, and even our small reason to live crumbled before us. In the end, we barely managed to subsist on the embers of war. Then we were blessed with the chance to receive a special permit for this land, so we decided we had no choice but to place our hopes here, and so we came.”

And it also seemed that they could obtain water from the ground, and there was even a monastery still standing.

So that was it.

Everyone in this world had their own circumstances.

“Are you…?” There, Holo butted in. “…Asking us to throw away the village we have made our home in?”

“We would ask nothing more should you come to move with us. But of course, we would also appreciate it if you simply helped us—”

“Then, in any case, you ask us to betray our neighbors. You are our competitors.”

“Holo.”

The one who called her name was Lawrence.

Aram and Selim were certainly their competitors, but it was easy to see that they had their own circumstances. And like Holo, they were not human. More importantly—they were wolves. There was no mistaking that they were more similar to Holo than the people of Nyohhira.

Though at the same time, it was likely for that very reason she treated them so coldly.

If she sympathized with them just a little bit, if she opened her heart to them, then she would have no choice but to help them. And that would be treason against Nyohhira.

Holo was an alien existence, whose true identity had to be hidden from the villagers of Nyohhira. She was indebted to Lawrence more than he knew.

But Lawrence spoke to her.

“We can’t just decide on an answer to their proposal like that.”

He was talking about how this would affect her far into the future, something that coincided with their fundamental problem.

That reason was…

“Lady Holo.”

Aram, still on his knees, drew closer.

“Please, think about it. What you have now will not last forever.”

They were mercenaries who came from the south and had barely scraped by.

As it stood, Aram’s dauntless expression was much too direct.

In the world, there were things that, however right, should not be said.

Lawrence realized his mistake in not conveying those words.

“…So what if it’s true?” Holo’s voice was cold to its core. “What does that have to do with you?”

“Holo…”

“Answer me!”

A wise man once said that no happy story lasted forever. One day, Lawrence would die, and only Holo would live on. In response to that, Lawrence found the answer together with Holo. They both decided to put on a brave show, saying, So what?

Holo grasped Lawrence’s arms. She gripped so hard that it hurt.

“I was once called the wisewolf, but that is the past. I suggest you try someone else.”

He could hear her heart slam shut.

Holo began to walk off, and she forcefully pulled on his arm. Her threatening attitude was almost as though she had kicked away the sword and sheath Aram had laid out in respect.

When they passed Aram, his expression was one of shock. He most likely had not thought Holo would grow angry at hearing his reasoning. Lawrence thought that he had such a straightforward nature that one did not often see in the human world.

But one could not live in this world with a purely straightforward manner. There were few, rare places that had straight roads—only found in towns protected by high walls.

“Holo.”

When they could not see Aram or Selim anymore, Lawrence called her name, but she did not stop walking.

“Holo— Hey, Holo!”

His back and legs still hurt, and he instead pulled on her arm. Her power was only that of a girl when she held this form.

And her slim body could not protect her soft heart.

Holo turned to face him, and she was crying. How she had so forcefully pulled him away was only a show.

“I—I…You…”

“I know. You don’t have to say any more.”

Lawrence hesitated for a moment, since his clothes were muddy, but he ended up pulling the sobbing Holo into his arms. She clung to him, not caring that her face would be covered in mud. He rubbed her back—comforting her small, helpless form.

Embracing her as she cried, he rested his back against the wall and looked up.

Wedged among the tall buildings, the sky above him looked small and distant from the narrow path.

He knew that they were the foolish ones.

He suddenly noticed someone enter his field of vision and looked in that direction. There was Selim, so bewildered that she seemed to be suffering. She did not try to come too close and looked at Lawrence. He shook his head slightly.

She looked distressed but gave a small nod, then retreated with a deep bow. Since they did not seem to have any malice or ulterior motives, it was heartbreaking instead of threatening. If they had approached them maliciously, Lawrence and Holo would have doubtlessly protected their happy lives. But the thing they feared and would eventually have to confront had taken form and appeared before them.

Lawrence rubbed Holo’s back once more before patting it lightly.

“Holo, nothing will get done like this.”

His words were convincing, since he was once a merchant who could not make money if he was unable to walk forward.

“Let’s go back to the room for now. Then…”

Then?

He was afraid to continue his sentence, but he could count on Holo, and she was relying on him.

Unflinching, he spoke.

“Then, let’s think properly, without looking away.”

Holo did not say anything.

But when Lawrence slowly opened his arms, Holo backed away herself.

Unwittingly he smiled, as her face was completely covered in mud.

“If anyone saw you now, I don’t think they’d imagine you were once called the wisewolf.”

Holo hiccupped and furiously wiped her face on her sleeve, then balled her hand into a fist and punched him once in the stomach.

Then with the same hand, she grasped Lawrence’s. She was much more girl-like than the tomboyish Myuri.

“Cheer up. They said we could take any food or drink we wanted back at the association.”

Holo sniffled and head-butted his shoulder.

“Fool.”

She still sounded like she was crying, but she was all right for now if she was insulting him.

There was a strong bond between himself and Holo.

It would turn out all right, and they would see to it that it did.

When they entered the main street from the back road, like a suggestion of something, the warmth of the sun greeted them.

The money changers’ association building was silent.

During the festivals, there were no large transactions between companies, but travelers and craftsmen who were taking off work came and went to and from town with change. The money changers, who were closing big deals and exchanges in the big hall all up until yesterday put their scales together and headed out into town.

And since the square was open after the Festival of the Dead and all the people suddenly gathered there, the district itself was quiet. It felt as though the sun had come out during the nighttime.

“Phew, I’m alive again. It really is a Festival of the Dead.”

He was covered in mud from the top of his head to underneath his fingernails, and standing naked, he could see that there were big bruises all over his body.

He had the appearance of the dead during the festival, but there was no mistaking that the one who had come up with the name of the festival named it for this exact phrase Lawrence uttered after bathing.

“Have you calmed down, too?”

Holo’s face was streaked with mud and tears. And since she had hugged him, her clothes had gotten dirty, too. She looked just like a girl who had fallen face-first into a muddy road and cried all the way home. The boys who stayed behind seemed more concerned for Holo than Lawrence, who had participated in the festival.

“…”

With hot water, she washed her face, her hands, then changed her clothes, and sat silently in the corner of the bed.

She had not even touched the alcohol and the snacks that the boys prepared for them.

“Well…It was sudden. And he was as straightforward as a knight on horseback.”

With such excellent swordsmanship, Aram had made a living guarding a village.

Surely, he would hesitate to use his power against others. Lawrence had a feeling that what he was protecting was also a poor village that no one would bother to help. If that was the case, then Lawrence also felt that the ones left behind working on the monastery ruins were much the same—honest folk who would have trouble living in today’s world.

“Everyone knows what’s right. Drink alcohol in moderation, use discretion when you talk, work hard, be gentle to the weak. And occasionally, pray to God.”

As Lawrence talked, he walked over to the desk and picked up the leather mug. It was a proud, stiff leather that was to be expected from a town that flourished as a distribution channel of furs and amber for a long time, and it could even be used for weapons. There was wine inside. He poured some into an even smaller tin cup and held it out to Holo.

“By that logic, you know what you’re supposed to do, right?”

Holo did not look at him, but she took the cup as though accepting his words.

“Aram and his companions will start business at their bathhouses with all who are not human. And their neighbors will grow, and before long, they will show off their village…Just thinking about it makes it sound like a fairy tale.”

Nyohhira, too, was often called uncharted territory, the boundary line between this world and heaven, but this was different. If a guest woke up in the middle of the night, they would surely find wolves and sheep, rabbits and foxes in the village square instead, drinking the night away.

There was likely a very good reason that those sorts of fairy tales still existed here and there today.

“Hey, Holo.”

He called out to her, and she looked up, startled. They were about to peel back the bandages that covered the wounds they pretended not to see. As she tried to stand up, forgetting she was holding her drink, Lawrence held her back with his hand.

“First, let’s say that helping Aram would mean betraying Nyohhira.”

Holo knew well that Lawrence was trying his hardest to fit in with the village. She also knew that it was incredibly difficult, since even though the people of Nyohhira had no malicious intent, they still always treated him like an outsider, like a newcomer. And she knew that even still, Lawrence purely and simply loved their home and offered his expertise at every opportunity so that the entire village would prosper.

And within it, only Holo would be giving up their knowledge to the enemies of Nyohhira.

All the while living comfortably in Nyohhira.

“I think that’s fine.”

“…But…”

“I’m a merchant.”

Lawrence smiled wryly, and it caught her off guard.

“I’m used to dealing with all kinds of people. Subtle communication is my specialty.”

If he could not do two completely different things at the same time, as if there were two of him, he could not be a businessperson.

Take for example, a transaction. While he must be cautious that the other would not outsmart him, or set him up in a trap, or commit fraud, he had to place his trust in the other party somehow and shake on it or the deal would not go through.

What’s more, while still doubting the other, he would even sometimes truly enjoy drinking with them after the deal was finished. And finally, the following day, he would continue doing business, still suspicious.

That was that. This was this.

“Even if you worked with Aram and the others, I would not interpret that as you trying to inflict losses on Nyohhira directly. That’s more than enough for an excuse. And I don’t think it’s bad if good competition shows up. Working at the bathhouse there I always think—it’s been too peaceful for hundreds of years. Our neighbors lack a sense of danger.”

Though he had suggested several things to bring customers in the spring and fall when all the guests leave, his seniors had shown that they at least wanted to rest during that season.

As Lawrence spent most his time in the village, the laid-back atmosphere was beginning to infect him.

But if there was outside competition, they might wake from their slumber.

“Because of that, if you were to help Aram, then of course I would help you, but that would be unforgivable to the other bathhouse owners…Well, at least a bit. I’ll just shrug my shoulders, since there’s nothing that can be done.”

He knew it was being unfaithful. But if they had bigger plans than this, then he was prepared to gracefully accept the sins as an apostate.

“And that’s not what you’re most worried about, is it?”

Holo pursed her lips, as though reopening an old wound.

“I should have said it before Aram did.”

What she had now would not last forever.

They both knew and decided to go through it as though they did not notice.

“You can’t stay in Nyohhira forever. You can only fool them for so long about why you don’t age. After everyone has died out, could you continue to live as a thankless guardian spirit like you once did in the wheat fields of Pasloe?”

Holo seemed to shiver slightly, and tears fell into the tin cup she gripped so forcefully. Lawrence could not look away from those tears.

“You are my most beloved. But…”

No matter what, he hesitated to say it. But keeping quiet here would indeed be a betrayal to his love.

“…You’re not human. With the long time you have left, you should live with Aram and the others.”

Holo looked up.

As she opened her lips, they trembled.

“But ’tis…’Tis as though I am preparing for your death…”

“That’s right. That’s what it is. I’ve already mostly practiced for your funeral. And now it’s your turn.”

Before the astonished Holo could say anything in response, Lawrence reached out and placed his hand on her cheek, wiping the tears away with his thumb.

“I know we promised that until the time comes, we would act like this relationship would last forever. But after we slept on the riverbank of time, a boat came. You wouldn’t lose anything if you caught hold for now to reach the other side in the far, far future.”

Lawrence smiled bitterly, because as he gazed at Holo, she seemed to look at him as though she were watching him die now.

He stooped before her, below her eye line.

“You’re the wife of a merchant and you should act like one.”

“…?”

“It’s insurance. Before you go on an adventure where you might lose everything, you prepare for when you’ve lost everything. But if you truly did not want to lose anything, then not venturing out into danger would be the perfect insurance. Long ago, you wanted to choose the latter.”

Saying goodbye before the parting became too painful.

“But that way, you would miss out on the profits you might gain. Okay, let’s say you help Aram and the others, and their business is going well. Let’s say you could live rather peacefully with others who have the same long life span as you. Think about it. Because you all know about each other, if you wanted to keep Spice and Wolf, then you can ask for their help and keep it after my death. If you come and go between Nyohhira and Aram’s bathhouse every thirty years or so, then the people of Nyohhira would be none the wiser, and you could keep that up forever. Of course…as long as you aren’t wasteful and let it go bankrupt, that is.”

He smiled mischievously, and Holo, looking down at him, was caught in a fit of laughter.

“You fool…”

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea. There’s no loss for anyone. Well, we do need to keep some secrets while we rival Aram’s bathhouse and the people of Nyohhira are racking their brains.”

Lawrence took Holo’s hand and shook it a bit in encouragement.

“For you, I think it’s okay to go against God’s teachings, just a little bit.”

Holo’s smile looked pained because Lawrence was trying so hard to make a joke, so she forced herself to smile even more.

But that was enough. Even if it was forced at first, soon they would get used to it and then finally accept it.

If they decided to fight against the providence of the world, he had to give at least that much effort.

“Okay?”

Lawrence looked up at Holo, and she seemed like she would close her eyes, but she did not.

“We’ll help Aram and Selim. You should be friendlier toward them.”

And after this entire conversation, Holo finally made a displeased expression, and Lawrence could not help but laugh.

“You’re rather shy around strangers.”

“Wha—?” Holo gulped, and with a sudden fierce look in her eyes, she glared at Lawrence. “I am only prideful!”

She unfurled her fist and with a smack, she hit Lawrence’s cheek.

He reached out for her hand that had struck him.

Holo was indeed glaring down at him in anger, but her tail was making a slight thumping sound as it wagged.

“That’s true, too.”

He took the cup she was holding and set it at his feet.

He rose up to Holo’s eye level and wrapped his arms around her.

“Because you’re a princess.”

“…A wisewolf, you fool.”

Holo would always be Holo. When he let his guard down, she would knock him down instead. It was then that Lawrence realized he had forgotten to close the wooden window, but today was the festival. It was not too much of a problem.

He could see the clear sky through the open window.

The moon peeked on them many times, but luckily, the sun should have not seen them.

From an observer’s point of view, the other party was aligned against the money changers’ association and Nyohhira. If Lawrence and Holo went to see them in the open, it would get complicated if someone saw.

So, Lawrence used a convenient intermediary.

“When you two appear, I get nervous that some sort of commotion will happen again.”

When they entered the waiting room meant for guests of nobility, the master of the town, Jean Millike, spoke with a grimace.

“Sorry for intruding at such a busy time.”

“It truly is busy, but if the hidden leading figure of this town came with a wolf and told me to throw open the gates, I would have no choice.”

Millike sat on a red-cushioned chair and gave a big sigh. He was not so much displeased as he was fatigued. In the commotion of the festival, it was so hectic as to be incredibly taxing, like trying to stir a giant pot of stew with many ingredients in it.

“But I did not expect to see you participate in the Festival of the Dead. I had not realized.”

The crowd was huge, and it seemed they had masked their wolf scent with sulfur.

“The money changers did get the most meat in the end.”

They had lived up to the reputation. Lawrence, wanting to share his happiness with Holo, looked beside him, but she was indifferent. Since she had helped, that result was to be expected, seemed to be Holo’s thoughts on the matter, and she merely munched on the sugared flowers that Millike offered them. She had just been crying, so her mouth likely felt salty.

“And your request—it was to summon the ones who have the special permit to settle the old monastery ruins, right?” Millike asked, and as Lawrence was about to nod, he leaned forward, as though trying to rein in his guest.

“Are you sure this won’t cause trouble?”

Millike had been worried about this since they came.

Ten-some years ago, Lawrence and his companions were involved in a huge commotion and came to this town on a sliver of hope. There was no mistaking that to Millike, who was dragged into it, it felt like the whole disaster had been pushed onto him.

Though it had somehow turned out all right, the grudge he still held against them was eight-parts-out-of-ten justified.

“It’s to make sure there won’t be any trouble, actually.”

“Hmm?”

Millike seemed doubtful, but Holo, happily eating a purple flower covered in sugar, butted in as she licked her fingers. “Why did you hide them from us? Or why did you hide us from them? Such honest people must have come to greet you, the master of this town, first. You should have known.”

They were not pressuring words, and Millike only slightly raised an eyebrow.

“Right. They were worried if their moldy permit was still valid. They came to confirm that as well.”

“So you did not tell them, then, that there is a wolf in Nyohhira, though they say they wish to make bathhouses.”

Millike stared at Holo, as though trying to feel out her true intentions. Holo, instead, did not seem to mind and happily returned enthusiastically to eating the fancy candied, sugar-coated flowers.

In the end, Millike sighed and leaned back in his chair.

“There are two reasons.”

Then, he sat up and took a piece of candy from the ever-decreasing pile.

“First, my wish is to maintain the development of this town. If it works for the town, then it works for me.”

The money changers’ association president had explained that they would gain more profits if there were two hot spring villages.

“Second, they reminded me of you two from those ten-odd years ago.”

“In that terrible a state?” Lawrence asked, and Millike shrugged his shoulders slightly.

“At first glance, they’re clinging to outrageous dreams, and they haven’t done enough prior preparations, if you know what I mean.”

Jean Millike had always been harsh.

“They came here, grasping at vague information and said they wanted to open a bathhouse as soon as they can get hot water from the mountain. They said that eventually they want to grow it into a village. What do you think would happen if I told them that there is a wolf in Nyohhira, and she’s already running a bathhouse? They would have gone straight to you. But if that happened, I don’t think they would have been a real nuisance to you.”

“We met them just now, and they were a real nuisance.”

As though satisfied with the sugared candy for now, Holo sipped the hot tea boiled from the flowers’ leaves. She had sworn at Lawrence once, asking him if there was any point to a drink such as tea if she could not get drunk from it, but she seemed to like its fragrance.

Svernel was much richer than he thought. All the things they had been given out of hospitality were imports from the south—things one would expect to see in the mansions of aristocrats.

“It was too much of a pain if it made you think I sent that nuisance in your direction. And I thought it would be wiser for you to eventually meet naturally at some point.”

There was a wariness in his eyes that suited him. Impressed, Lawrence nodded.

“But if you chanced upon each other, then that surely wasn’t it. Why must I call on them for you? Are you sure this won’t become a problem?”

Millike frowned and Lawrence looked at him, about to explain the situation. Though he remembered that Holo began to cry then and how little time had passed since they talked after returning to the room, he was troubled as to how to explain it well.

“Well, that’s, actually…”

When he stumbled over his words, Holo spoke.

“The moment we met them, all they did was ask for help. We could not answer at the time, so we returned to our inn and discussed it for a while. By then, the opportunity had passed.”

She was not lying, but it was incredibly far from the truth.

As Holo coolly sipped her tea, Lawrence remained impressed.

“And the result?”

Millike implied that he wanted to be informed ahead of time if they wanted to go through him. Lawrence signaled Holo with his eyes, and she snorted, uninterested.

“We shall help them. There are times I wish to spend some time away from this one.”

If Lawrence said, That’s my line! then she would likely not talk to him for three days and three nights.

“If that’s the case, then all right.”

Millike breathed a sigh of relief and directed his gaze toward the open wood window.

“I am of the same opinion.”

“Huh?”

Lawrence was surprised, and Millike narrowed his eyes as though he was looking at a dunce.

“I’ve been here for a long time. It’s about time I open this town again.”

Jean Millike was a name passed down to him by the previous leader of the town. He was also a lord that had another name of Havlish. What he might do was feign illness and withdraw to his territory, then publicly die from illness, then return as some relative who inherited all his domain and power. There were times among the noble class where they would place siblings and close relatives far away to protect their bloodline. Since it was quite a common practice, no one would question it.

And there was even a place nearby for him to hide, so it was no problem.

“’Tis fine since you have your beard. I could never hide my beautiful face. ’Tis actually quite troublesome.”

“…”

When helping with Aram’s bathhouse, someone who was not human would understand in an instant how it would be used. But it was unfortunate that Lawrence, a human, could not fit in that circle.

Even so, Lawrence thought, it seemed Holo and Millike got along surprisingly well. Even after he died, or even if Myuri decided to settle down somewhere on her journey, perhaps Holo would not have to end up tending to her tail all alone.

“Anyway, I’ll go ahead and call them in, all right?”

“Yes, please. If the townspeople found out we were communicating with them, it might cause some problems down the road.”

“How very merchant-like of you.”

Millike sighed and rang a small bell on the table. There immediately was a knock at the door, and in came a boy wearing well-starched clothes. Millike told him to fetch Aram, and the boy bowed respectfully before leaving the room.

“What’s wrong?” Millike asked him with a questioning glance, as Lawrence watched the scene carefully.

“Oh no…I was just thinking, what a good boy he is.”

“We have a severe lack of people now in town. All the boys that can work are being taken in by the companies.”

“Indeed.”

Lawrence spoke as though he was giving up, and Millike raised an eyebrow slightly.

“What, are you opening a branch for your bathhouse? You have that young one, Col, and your daughter, too.”

Millike had mentioned it, so Lawrence briefly described what happened with Col and Myuri.

“I see. You can’t fight blood.”

“Yes. So this time, we thought it might be good to hire someone new in town.”

“Hmm. Then you may as well hire some of these mercenaries, yeah?”

“I almost want to take that possibility into consideration.”

As Lawrence spoke, he looked at Holo beside him, and she made a frown.

“I’ve heard they’re kin of wolves. Isn’t that perfect?”

“That’s true. What’s the matter?”

Catching Lawrence and Millike’s attention, Holo made a face as though there were pebbles in the sugar. But she must have thought it would be silly to try to fool them, so she looked the other way and sighed before reluctantly speaking.

“I am Holo the Wisewolf. I have dignity that I must preserve.”

Dignity? Lawrence looked at Millike with that question in mind, and the head of Svernel shrugged his shoulders. He was rather strict with her.

“She means that in front of her kin, she can’t carelessly drink during the day or take naps.” He could almost hear Holo glaring at Millike, but of course, he was not fazed. “Is that wrong?”

Instead it was the final blow, and she groaned, frustrated.

“But I think she’s a hard worker. She always proves herself every day through the work I have for her. She’s more of a loyal hound than a wolf.”

“Definitely, she had a trustworthiness and energy that felt more like a hound.”

“But on the other hand, she’s shortsighted. She believes that the right thing will always and forever be the right thing. The reason they barely scraped by as mercenaries though they were not human wasn’t due to their lack of abilities, but a problem with their nature.”

Everyone in this world had their strengths and weaknesses.

And saying that it was right to do the right thing had made Holo angry.

“A new hot spring village, hmm. It might be a good thing to get on board with them for now, but…”

“Is there a problem?”

Millike gave a tired sigh.

“It’s the permit they had. It’s probably the real thing, but I just can’t shake this bad feeling. Then you two came and told me to call them, so I looked up to the heavens.”

It seemed there was a basis for his doubts.

“That is, there must be something supporting it…For example, the shadow of someone with authority who is trying to fulfill his territorial ambitions or something.”

Millike was able to judge that the permit was real because those were things the people in power surrounding him manufactured, and he handled them on a regular basis.

But if that were the case, then there was something odd about it. Aram and the others were mercenaries from far south, and they did not just happen upon a moldy permit. It was not unusual that a permit could pass through various hands and end up far away, but typically when it traveled from lord to lord, the name on it would change.

As though Millike remembered something important, he pinched his brow.

“The one that printed that permit was the pope.”

“The pope? That’s a permit printed by the lead temple?”

If that was true, then it would not have been completely impossible for Aram and his companions, who worked in the south, to have gotten their hands on it, nor was it odd that Millike could determine its authenticity. The Church’s network was scattered all over the world.

“But I’ve heard that there’s an old monastery up in that area. So it must be the one that was printed for that.”

“Normally, yes.”

What else was there besides normally? That question must have made itself known on his face. Millike groaned for a bit and spoke, irritated.

“The permit guaranteed in the pope’s name exclusive rights to whatever was dug up in that entire area.”

“That…must be necessary to dig up water. But that’s…”

Lawrence suddenly cut himself off.

They built the monastery there at a time when the war with the pagans was still raging. Zealous monks risked their lives to come here and with unbelievable passion cut open the forest and made a stone monastery deep in the mountains. Afterward, as the war became a shadow of itself, their passion must have waned as they eventually disappeared. That was the story they heard from the money changers. The region was a place much too difficult to live in, so they left.

But monks were a group of people who choose to live in adversity to cultivate their faith. Following that reasoning, there was something strange about this scenario.

Lawrence tilted his head in thought, and beside him, Holo burped.

“The monks I know do not dig holes.”

“Huh?”

He looked at Holo and their eyes met. Her reddish, amber eyes were staring straight at him.

“Right. Nyohhira was quite well known even then, so they might have tried to follow that example. But even that is strange.”

“Yes, I see. But even though they held out in a dangerous land for many years, why did they withdraw from the region after it had finally become safe?”

He murmured, and something clicked in his head.

“It was not their passion…that they ran out of.”

It was not.

They had been saying that Aram and the others got their hands on a moldy permit, but it was possible to interpret it another way.

It was a permit they had regretfully held on to until it grew moldy.

Perhaps they were hoping something was still there.

“Could it be…?”

As Lawrence murmured, there was a knock at the door. Everyone looked toward it, and peeking in was a different boy from the one Millike instructed earlier.

“What is it?”

The boy’s expression was rather confused in response to Millike’s question, and he turned back to the hall.

“There’s a woman named Selim here who wishes to see you.”

“What?”

She did not come because she was called. Millike turned back to them with that realization written on his face, but it did not make any sense to Lawrence and Holo, either.

“Let her in. Ah, and she said her name was Selim, right? So, is she alone?”

“Yes. One woman in traveler’s clothes. And she was incredibly flustered…,” the boy added, perplexed.

Millike ordered him to bring her in for now, and he turned on his heels and ran off.

It was not Aram, but Selim that came, alone and in a panic.

She could not have possibly brought some happy news.

No one spoke, and the only sound was that of Holo sipping her tea.

And when she placed the empty cup onto the table, Selim appeared.

Selim’s face was pale.

She was about to say something to Millike, who came to greet her, but she finally realized that Lawrence and Holo were also in the room.

“Perfect timing. I had just wanted to call on Mr. Aram and you. I wanted to apologize for the disrespect earlier.”

Lawrence spoke with his best smile because Selim was clearly upset. He learned from his experience as a merchant that showing someone a pleasant expression would calm them down for at least a moment.

As intended, some of her tension peeled away when she saw Lawrence smile and, though she still seemed uncomfortable, she gave him a bow.

“Well, take a seat. And is it a situation where you need soldiers right away?”

Selim was beautiful, but the air about her was not that of a dignified wolf. It was more that of a shy sheep that ate grass in the corner of a field. If any stray dogs saw her, with their spirits high from the festival, they might make passes at her.

“N-no…”

Selim shook her head, and as though she had suddenly realized something, she shook her head again.

“No, but perhaps…”

“Perhaps?” he asked back, and Selim shook her head again as though fighting off the confusion.

“I don’t know what happened…Suddenly, people from the association came to our room. They said, ‘Where did you get that? Bad things will happen.’”

For a moment he thought they were talking about the permit, but that was odd. Aram and Selim had stepped foot into the associations for the exact reason that they had a permit and were going to open a bathhouse.

Selim closed her mouth, as though swallowing her nervousness, then spoke.

“We had some townspeople research the ore we found while digging for water.”

Ore.

Lawrence realized that the final missing cogwheel had fallen in place. This was what fit into the hole of the odd story surrounding the permit.

“And where’s your brother?” Millike asked calmly, though he also likely had already caught on.

“The people from the association…forced him to lead them to the monastery ruins…”

“What is the ore? It must be a bigger deal than I thought if association members left during the festival.”

“I—I don’t know, either. We asked townspeople to appraise it, since if we could sell it, then it could help us get on our feet. My brother thought it might be lead…”

“Lead?”

It was a metal that was everywhere, and it was not unusual. It was not something that association members, red in the face, would go after.

That is what Millike’s expression suggested.

But Lawrence thought differently.

He recalled his time as a merchant.

“Ores that contain lead are sometimes abundant in precious metals,” Lawrence said to Millike, who looked back at him. “Gold. Or silver.”

Millike’s eyes widened. If either one was discovered in the mountains, it would cause a huge uproar.

Silver would be especially troublesome. Like the association members that imposed on Aram had said, bad things would happen.

The severe mountain ranges hindered travel in this area, and the region could not be unified by the sword, but they were able to consolidate the economy through silver coin. It was easy to recall what the money changers’ association president had said.

Under present circumstances, silver was a weapon that held power in this region.

If they found a spring that produced “weapons,” what would those in power think?

“Then those monks from long ago really were mining for ore while they prayed to God…”

“That also explains why they were able to build a stone monastery deep in the mountains. With the excuse that they were digging for stones for building and not necessarily searching for ore, no one would notice if they carried it out if they changed the silver they dug up and refined it into ceremonial candle stands and crests.”

“But silver? If that’s so…”

Millike placed his hand on his forehead and staggered, but quickly stood up straight again.

“Why did you come here?” He suddenly changed the angle of his questions. “And what are you going to do here?”

Selim seemed so bewildered that it felt like anyone watching her would become nervous, too, but there was a strength in her rough hands that suited her.

“I—I can tell, t-to a certain extent, what someone wants by their footsteps.”

That was due to the life she had lived until now. And since she was kin of wolves, she must have had good hearing like Holo.

“I immediately hid it in the straw of the bed. My brother took the opportunity to tell me to come to you. We have stepped on the tail of something that we should not have, and that you, Lord Millike, could help us…”

That was a hopeful observation, or even wishful thinking, but it could also be called reliance, and it was likely a good representation of Aram’s personality. Millike, who was not human, just like how they were not, would help them, and then naturally, they would help him if their roles were reversed.

But Millike’s expression did not waver.

“I want to ask you something. Did you really come here not knowing about that ore?”

Selim gulped as Millike’s sharp gaze bore deep into her.

Lawrence remembered trade negotiations from long ago. This was the atmosphere of that dried-up world, where no one could easily trust another, where they should not easily believe anyone.

What Millike was most afraid of was Selim pretending to be an innocent traveler while aiming to open a mine. He could not be sure that nonhumans did not work as agents for humans. If he lent them a hand, simply because they were both like him, then it could lead to the town’s destruction.

There came a third voice.

“Well, ’tis likely true.”

It was Holo.

“Should she be lying, then I may as well sew my ears closed.”

She removed her hood and showed her wolf ears, and they twitched. She was able to discern lies with her hearing.

“Should their goal be gold or silver or whatnot, would they ask the townspeople to identify what they unearthed if they did have these ulterior motives? ’Twould be announcing that they search for treasure.”

It was unthinkable. With some tools and a bit of knowledge, they would be able to figure it out themselves. If their goal was ore, then they would have completed the preparations for it already.

“Well…I suppose your brother had no choice but to travel to the dig site with the townspeople. There is no depending on the ones who intruded and demanded he take them there.”

Selim nodded uncomfortably at Holo’s words.

“Then from what I’ve heard, there is no proper road to where the holes are. Then this might also mean he’s buying time. Though the townspeople may be red in the face, they cannot move until they confirm how much treasure they may obtain from the mountain. Then again, the boy Aram has realized that he has stepped into something terrible, but has, on second thought, decided that it might become more complicated should he act without understanding the situation. Buy time and rely on what he can. Well, ’tis good judgment.”

“Save for the one who is going to solve this problem in the meantime.”

Millike, who was being depended on to fulfill such a role, sighed, feeling annoyed.

“Considering the situation, they probably found silver in the mountains. And how are we supposed to explain this to someone who doesn’t know how much trouble finding silver in this area means? What’s more, the owner of that land isn’t anyone around here—it’s the pope!”

His long beard and hair seemed to quiver in anger.

Even now, Selim seemed as though she might cry out of guilt, so Lawrence piped in.

“Do you think the Debau Company would intervene and settle this nicely for us?”

It was troublesome that they found silver here because the Debau Company, who had unified this region into its current state, maintained its power through the circulation of silver coins.

If some stranger came and opened up a silver mine within their sphere of influence and then used that silver to mint coins, then it would be a clear violation of territorial sovereignty.

And since there were great concessions that came with the circulation of coin, Debau was incredibly sensitive about the treatment of silver, which was the foundation for their currency. The money changers’ association president also complained about that.

But the same could be said about the opposite. If they were to sell land with silver in it to the Debau Company, then they probably would not be angry. Rather, they would gladly buy it.

They should think that why the association members were so angry and forced Aram to take them to the dig site was because the picture was clear.

But Millike gave a sigh that sounded like it came from the depths of hell.

“The pope printed that permit. Afterward, he might hear that a large amount of silver was discovered there. That’s more than enough reason to spark a war.”

What was written on the permit was not the written will of God.

How many large companies went bankrupt after they lent money to royalty and titled nobility, only to have them annul their debts?

“Then what shall we do?”

Millike groaned.

“In reality…the only thing that could happen is that the Debau Company would buy the silver they find there and put the bill into the pope’s pocket. That’s what they have in common.”

Though the pope at the head temple of the Church had fallen from a position of ultimate power, he was still a prominent figure in this world. What’s more, there were those in this land who despised the Debau Company. By the logic that the enemies of enemies were friends, then it was entirely possible there existed people who might purposefully instigate a confrontation between the pope and Debau.

And if it came to war, then there was no doubt that Svernel would become one of the main battlefields.

This was the worst possible outcome for Millike, who wanted to protect his town, and also for Lawrence, who was a person from the town of Nyohhira, which depended solely on Svernel for the distribution of their materials.

An oppressive air lay heavily over them all, and there came a small voice that sounded out of place.

“Um…”

It was Selim.

“Wh-what should…we…do…”

She and Aram came, burning with hope, from the south. They had no malicious intent, and they had no way of knowing that they would dig something up in the mountains. Rather, it was much more common for someone to mine, knowing there was silver, and instead run into trouble.

This was the meaning of too much luck becoming a curse.

“There’s nothing to be done. If we offered compensation to the pope, it wouldn’t be worth it if we don’t exploit the ore on a large scale. Secretly doing leisurely things such as running a bathhouse wouldn’t be possible.”

“N-no…”

Rather, it would not be unusual if they were held responsible for bringing a complicated problem to this land. Millike did not say that, though, as it was the least he could do to console her.

With her rough hands, Selim gripped her clothes.

“There at least would be jobs at the mine. All you can do is save your money and go to a new land.”

They coordinated with the associations in town, and all that was left was to wait for water to appear. They had only just barely touched their dream, and the disappointment was staggering. Selim reeled, and she sunk to the floor.

Millike did not say anything to her and only slightly narrowed his eyes.

“First, we need to contact the Debau Company. It would be best to have everyone from Debau here and ready when the ones who went to check on the mining come back. We can’t give those greedy folk time to do anything.”

As Millike spoke, he looked at everyone in the room in turn, as though confirming the order of things. Lawrence, Selim, and then finally, Holo.

“…You treat me like a post-horse.”

“How much do you think all the sugared candy you ate cost?”

The bowl, which was filled with candy, had at some point become empty.

“And you should be on good terms with the rabbit in Debau Company.”

The one who kept accounts there was not human, but the embodiment of a rabbit. With him, Lawrence and Holo had escaped to this city and had history of planning a comeback.

“Honestly…When we finally get out of the village, things go wrong.”

“W-wait.”

The one that interjected as Holo reluctantly agreed was Selim, who had been so dazed until then.

“P-please let me do it.”

Holo did not look at Selim, but at Millike, and tilted her head.

Millike was expressionless, either because it was his natural face or because he was a man with power that was used to passing cold judgment, and he looked down at Selim.

“If you are volunteering to work because you feel responsible, then no. You have no stock in the Debau Company and doing needless work now will just cause more problems.”

Thoughtless charity would not help anyone.

But this would have Selim completely left out. The situation would be taken care of in a way that was completely out of her hands. Lawrence, who was nothing but a simple salesman, knew well the feeling of being left behind by the system.

It was all because of bad luck and bad chances.

“And, Wisewolf Holo, I want you to go see Aram first. Delay their journey as much as you can. I’m sure wolves can communicate with each other without the townspeople realizing.”

“So rough for a wolf handler,” Holo said discontentedly as she stood from her chair.

“And? Troublesome ones like yourself enjoy writing all the time, aye? Should you have something I should bring, prepare it quickly. The sun will soon set.”

“I will do so shortly.”

Passing by Selim, who still sat on the floor, Millike left the room.

Millike was cold to everybody. The only thing he considered precious was this town.

“Can you stand?”

Lawrence, obliged, helped her up, and Selim finally snapped back to the present.

And when she did, the reality of the situation seemed to catch up to her at the same time. Tears pooled in her eyes.

It was difficult to hold back tears once they started. When she did, Lawrence first realized how young she truly was. Selim and Aram had an innocent dream that was fitting for their youth. If there was light at the end of the path, they believed in just that.

“Hey, young girls shouldn’t cry over things like that.”

Selim looked quite like his daughter Myuri, and as he held her up by the shoulders, Holo stared at them. Of course, on purpose.

“It’s not your fault, and they won’t take the permit for free.”

Like Millike had said, if they were to open a mine, there was an option for them to earn money there.

But at any rate, the wandering lifestyle still waited for them afterward.

“Or…”

Lawrence began to speak, but then hesitated. Even if he asked them to come work at his bathhouse, there was no way he could take in all of them. In the end, it was a hopeless situation. If he had vast amounts of money, he would lend it to them so they would be able to build their own bathhouse deep in the mountains of Nyohhira.

But unfortunately, even if he knew all the ways of the world, there were still some things that could not be done.

That was why preachers always had to teach people about good lifestyles.

“We can also ask the people at the Debau Company if they have jobs, so we can keep you two as close together as possible.”

Having watched Myuri, he knew that the tears of younglings fell like jewels.

Selim, too, tears still rolling down her cheek like small stones, looked at Lawrence.

He hoped the reason why she harbored no grudges was because of her personality. Hoped that it was not resignation simply because the hopes they held onto until now had been crushed in the end.

“Thank…you…so much…”

She thanked him with a hoarse voice and looked down.

Lawrence could only pat her thin shoulders.

Then he looked at Holo, suggesting that they leave her alone for now, and left the room.

“Hmm…”

The one that sighed when they exited to the hallway was not Lawrence, but Holo.

“Is there nothing that can be done?”

She looked as though she was enduring the pain and looked beyond the closed door.

She had acted like it had nothing to do with her, but she was much more openhearted than Lawrence. She was the one that wanted to help the most in that room.

“Probably not. We can only hope for a miracle.”

The world was endless, and wherever one went, it already belonged to somebody.

“A miracle, hmm.”

Holo murmured and took a deep breath.

“Would you be angry with me if I became an enemy of humanity?”

If he gave an easy answer, Holo would scorn him. And if he trusted her, then the words came naturally.

“If you became my enemy or if you broke everything I kept dear. But I know you won’t. So I’ll listen. What’s your idea?”

“…I do not like it when you make my head hurt like that.”

He would take that as a compliment.

“I cannot create miracles, but I believe I can create the opposite of miracles.”

But Holo did have some crazy ideas.

“The opposite of miracles?”

“A curse.”

The sun was already starting to set, and it was dim inside the building.

It was the time when demons hid in the darkness everywhere—around the corners, beside the bookshelves.

“I recall a fairy tale. Men filled with greed are led by their guide to the place where treasure lies. They thought the guide an honest one, but the shadow he cast by the bonfire had fangs.”

It was certainly the type of story to scare children, but Lawrence unwittingly showed a twitching smile.

Usually, he would let it pass as a silly story, but he thought carefully about it.

The situation now was exactly the same as that fairy tale.

“Once they enter the mountains, it will not end safely. Demons of the mountains spread rumors of treasure. Those monks from long ago lost their fear of such a thing.”

Then, the people would not go near the mountain, and the stories of silver would grow vague.

Though there were reckless ones who thought, Damn the stories, and ventured up anyway, but they would be surrounded by wolves deep in the mountains.

And there, they would also find a giant wolf who could easily swallow a person whole.

“You can’t.”

That voice echoed coolly in the cold hallway.

“The people of today’s world are not afraid of the dark forests.”

It was Millike, holding a letter. It had not been rolled yet, and when he gave it a light shake, the sand to dry the ink scattered to the ground.

“They move about in confusion in the forest, and perhaps after being bitten a bit, they’ll leave. But the next time they come, they will just bring heaps of boiling oil and torches. They’ll set fire to the mountain and burn it all down, along with whatever nasty thing lives there.”

That way they would expose the darkness of the forest, where the demons and spirits lived, to the light.

“Sometimes, people like Aram come to this town from the south. Without the blessing of wits to live in the human world, and yet those who no longer have a place to hide themselves. They reluctantly hope to survive in the north because they think there are still untouched lands.”

Though there were some here and there, they were places that were incredibly difficult to live in. It was different from the south, where it was warm, where the tree limbs grew heavy with ripened fruit, where one could find wild honey to eat.

“That is why since they came pretending to be monks, they succeeded. If it were a sanctuary, people would still pay some respect.”

They had many choices. There would be no way to know which one was the best choice.

And it was not easy to pretend to be a monk. Since Svernel was now a town that celebrated the Revitalization Festival of the Patron Saint on a grand scale, if new monks came to the ruins of the monastery, then there would be fervent believers that might go to pray. It was only a matter of time before someone found out.

“Well, it seems the ink’s dry. Take this to Hilde at Debau. It has the gist of the situation and the plan in it.”

He rolled it up and tied it with an odd string.

“You use such old things.”

Holo smiled dryly, and Lawrence finally realized the string was likely Millike’s hair.

“Sealing wax will break in the cold, and this is proof of my identity.”

“’Tis true.”

“I’ll have a carriage take you outside the wall.”

Things were moving along quickly. There was no time for sentimentality or to leave any aftertaste.

No one spoke of Selim, and when they exited the government building, they climbed onto the driver’s perch of the carriage Millike had prepared for them, and Lawrence gripped the reins.

Night had already fallen on the town, but the town was instead dyed a madder-lake red.

Lit all throughout town were not lamps, but fires to roast the meat.

“Looks delicious…”

Her words were carefree, but her heart was not in it.

She was likely still unwilling to move ahead in her mind as they left Selim and the others behind.

“You can eat as much as you like when we get back.”

Lawrence stuck to Holo’s topic.

The two things he learned as he grew older were that he had to understand the things he could and could not do in this world, as well as the boldness to pretend he had not realized certain things.

Conversation did not spark between them, and the carriage passed slowly through the town.

Then, they could see the square at the end of the road. The torches shone brightly, and they could see well the large statue of the saint.

“What would they gain from such a thing?”

“Who knows? It might be to protect them from illness or to keep away enemies from outside. At the end of the festival they light it on fire, and that is when the saint gives his body to God in our place. Then in thanks, they take the ashes and bury them at the base of the city walls. There are several saints with stories like that, and maybe it really happened in an old era.”

The townspeople explained this and that to him when they were making the statue, but it was nothing new.

“It must be quite troublesome to be a saint or whatnot. Even after you die and become ashes, you still must work for the town.”

“It’s better to be ashes, I think. There’s a famous church that houses the body of a saint that shriveled up a thousand years ago. Every single day pilgrims come to his side as he sleeps and offer prayers. It can’t be possible for him to sleep well like that.”

“I would not mind being worshipped about once a year…”

Holo spoke, and she looked straight at him.

“If you’re going to watch me for a thousand years, at least just eat me,” said Lawrence.

Holo bared her fangs and cackled.

“But pilgrimage sites make a lot of money. It’s fine if towns like these know they’re fake from the start, but there are many places that say they have the real remains of saints.”

“Hmm? How does one know if ’tis a fake? Should they be dead, would it not be difficult to tell?”

“It’s easy. Saint Alviross had five arms, and Saint Heres had two heads. The thing that makes me laugh the most is Martyr Rudeon’s bones. There are three bodies of his, and they’re all different sizes. They say they’re his bones from when he was very little, then bones from his childhood, then from when he was adolescent.”

“Hmm? Is there something odd about that?”

Her response was nonchalant. Rather, Lawrence even thought that she was teasing him.

“…He couldn’t have molted like a shrimp or crab. Why would one human leave multiple skeletons?”

“Oh.”

It seemed that she really did not notice. Holo hit Lawrence’s arm, even though she was the one that misunderstood and exposed her foolishness.

“Even though everyone knew at first that they weren’t real, as time passed everyone started to think of them that way. That’s why, as they bury the ashes of the burned statue under the walls, I’m sure at some point they might believe that the ashes of the saint are really buried there.”

“Humans are foolish.”

Holo was smiling softly, as though remembering a funny dream she had the previous night, either because she was exasperated or because she thought the foolishness of humans endearing.

“But if they are, why not take advantage of that?”

“Take advantage?”

“You should concoct something fake and make the monastery in the mountains its pilgrimage site and whatnot.”

He stared back at Holo not because he was surprised at such a reckless idea. He was surprised that she had not yet given up on Selim and the others.

Lawrence pulled on the reins, and the horses stopped. Holo did not ask why they did so.

“I will work my hardest, and when I open a new bathhouse, I also have the option of hiring them.”

“I have no doubts that if you save enough money for that, you will go through with it.”

Holo was not stupid. She of course knew how much time and money it would cost to open a new business.

“Holo…”

“Apologies. ’Twas nonsense. I wanted an excuse.”

She tried her best, but it was no use.

When Lawrence did not respond, Holo gave a strong smile.

“Let me off. I know what we must do.”

So that this would not end up in trouble with the pope, they would have the Debau Company settle it for them. Aram and Selim would have to give up. Lawrence and Holo themselves would watch the festival, then return to Nyohhira. Everything would pass without incident.

But Millike had said that Aram and the others were much like themselves from ten years ago.

Then, they had drawn in their own luck. At the very end, they did.

He could only think that their luck was good. He had used all the knowledge he knew, and if he had not depended on Holo in the end, it would not have come to fruition, even if he did know how to do it.

That was luck.

Aram and the others did not have that.

“I think it would be great, really, if we could use your pilgrimage site idea.”

Lawrence held the reins again and smacked the rump of the horse.

“…”

Holo did not look at him and nodded meekly.

“Even if the roads are bad—no, because the roads are bad, people will come and give lots of tithes. If you annexed an inn there, you would already have many guests. It’s much easier than running a bathhouse. You just need to be careful that someone won’t steal the holy artifacts on display.”

The carriage headed toward the city wall, and there were fewer and fewer people.

“It’s not a bathhouse, so it wouldn’t conflict with Nyohhira. Rather, pilgrims on their way home might even stop by at Nyohhira. And everyone would be happy.”

He added that they might come to quarrel over the distribution of food and drink, though.

“But even if we made up some artifacts, it would be difficult to have them recognized as the real thing. We don’t have that problem in the bathhouses. As long as we have spring water, no one will doubt us.”

Declining towns always thought at least once to change their town into a pilgrimage site as a way to revive themselves.

“Typically, you need to get approval from the center of the Church, or at least the archbishop. For that, you need proof that it’s a real miracle, or if not, a mountain of gold nuggets that could be considered nothing but a miracle.”

Because the designation was a method to get rich, it required the appropriate amount of payment. Since this was all the Church was ever doing, they had likely lost some of their authority.

“Well, the most I am able to do is mostly child’s play.”

Holo was the embodiment of a wolf who lived in wheat and had watched over the growing golden fields. Once, she had shown him a seed immediately turning into a stalk of wheat.

“That might come in handy, depending on the situation.”

The place in question was too cold to grow wheat, so it would be too unnatural.

“And there’s also your miraculous appetite.”

“Fool.”

Holo stomped on Lawrence’s foot.

Then, her foot resting on his in place of holding hands, she spoke.

“Do you think we can do it if I show my true form?”

“Everyone will be surprised, but that’s different than a miracle.”

Holo had showed all the cards in her hand, but none of them would help. The carriage reached the city gates at the wall.

They had to give in to the reality that confronted them.

“For now, let’s leave the town and go where there’s no one else. I have to wrap your clothes around your neck.”

“There were no walls where the Debau Company was. I hope they do not mind my intruding as a wolf.”

“Mr. Hilde is the embodiment of a rabbit. I don’t think he’d want a wolf standing by his pillow at night.”

“Heh-heh. Of course.”

“Well, it’s a lot of work, but thank you. Nyohhira’s survival depends on this, too.”

“Leave it to me.”

Using the pass they received from Millike, they exited the walls, and it suddenly felt colder. Inside and outside the walls were two different worlds.

“But if you run fast, you can get to the Debau Company in Lesko in one night. It takes three days hurrying with human legs. That in itself is a miracle.”

“Hmm. They, too, should just become merchants. They could deliver faster than anyone, running around with goods on their back.”

He thought it was possible at first, but he calmly thought about it and shook his head.

“People would wonder how they carried it. They might think magic or something nefarious was at play. They might think that someone is there that shouldn’t be.”

“The human world is quite troublesome.”

As Holo spoke, she began to remove her clothes, as though determining that no one was around.

For the moment, he averted his gaze out of respect, but his eyes suddenly went to the walls.

There were small nails evenly spaced along the wall. They looked like small mounds, and it was probably where they buried the ashes of the saint’s statue.

Luckily, since they were not the real ashes, there was no tired expression of the saint, sitting on the mounds being made to protect the town, nor did the saint have to endure a coughing fit every year after they dug the holes and added new ashes.

“Ha-ha.”

It was when he imagined that and laughed.

He thought he saw Selim sitting on a mound, looking at him.

“What is it?”

Holo, removing her last piece of clothing, noticed Lawrence.

Lawrence tried his hardest to think of the meaning of what he had just seen.

Sitting on the mound, the saint, who should not be there.

This, too, was a common type of narrative in the Church.

The most conspicuous example was grave robbing.

“…Hey.”

Not looking away from the mounds, he swallowed, and then spoke.

“I want to ask something.”

“What is it?”

He jumped a little because her voice was rather close.

He turned around, and Holo was practically whispering in his ear.

“’Tis been a long time since I’ve seen that expression.”

Holo narrowed her eyes, grinning. Her tail wagged happily.

“…I might not be able to live up to your expectations…There is a chance you might become angry.”

“Hmm?” Holo said, and her animal ears twitched, as if saying, Say what you want to say.

Lawrence once again put together the plan in his head and thought it over.

It could work, but there were parts of it that might offend Holo.

Lawrence spoke slowly of the ridiculous plan that had popped into his head, and approaching the delicate parts, he said:

“Would you get angry if I sat atop another woman?”

Holo’s smile clearly changed to a forced one.

Then, she spoke.

“I trust you. I shall not grow angry over every single thing. And I have sharp eyes and ears.”

And of course, sharp fangs.

But the way she spoke was her mark of approval.

“Of course, ’tis the only choice with your plan.”

“You go ahead and follow Mr. Millike’s plan, because I don’t know if this will work out well.”

“Hmm. I, too, wish to run freely by myself sometimes.”

She removed her last piece of clothing, intentionally threw it at Lawrence, and jumped from the carriage, now naked.

“Are you forgetting your praise?” She was not the least bit embarrassed.

Instead, she seemed cold.

“This reminds me of old times,” Lawence said, and Holo widened her eyes in surprise, then immediately laughed.

“Fool.”

In that moment, she returned to a giant wolf.

“My clothes,” she said to him, and Lawrence hurriedly folded the clothes she had scattered everywhere and gathered them with a string. Like a big dog, she was bumping his head with her nose the entire time.

“I’m counting on you.”

The wolf’s sharp, magnificent eyes stared at Lawrence.

“You as well.”

Holo swiftly stood and gazed out at the horizon.

“Should those fools make a small village of wolves, then we know what the name of their patron saint shall be.”

He could tell she was smiling with that fanged mouth.

And before Lawrence could say anything, Holo dashed off like the wind.

He wiped off the mud she had splattered on him as she ran off, likely on purpose, until he could no longer see her.

“Honestly…”

He swore, but his face smiled.

He made Holo expect quite a bit from this. If this ended in a fruitless delight, then he did not know what she would do to him.

“Well then, let’s go make miracles!”

With newfound energy, he jumped onto the driver’s perch of the wagon.

When Lawrence returned to the city government building, he summoned Millike.

He told him about his plan and saw how it made the other man wear a clear frown.

Though he had that expression, Millike did not say no.

“This way, the Debau Company will calm down, the Church will save face, and Aram and the others can live there.”

There was just one way everything could be settled peacefully.

“…No harm in trying…hmm.”

“At the worst, the Archbishop might think he was tricked by a fox.”

“Mm…”

Millike thought silently for a brief moment, and his beard quivered under his breath.

“You’ve really thought about this. Is this how trade goes between merchants?”

“I am not a merchant.” Lawrence shrugged and smiled. “I am the master of a bathhouse in Nyohhira, which sits between this world and the next.”

Millike, astonished, waved his hand and returned to business.

Lawrence, with his own feet, headed toward the room that was set aside for Selim. When he opened the door, there was Selim sitting on the bed, the candles in the room unlit. Perhaps she had heard Lawrence’s big footsteps and resigned herself to any kind of treatment.

“We have a plan. Everything might end well for all of us.”

Since he had said such a thing so suddenly, she did not seem surprised, but rather looked at Lawrence dubiously.

“But it might end up a bit differently than how you dreamed,” he said as a disclaimer and then explained it to her.

Selim was perplexed at first, but as she came to see the outcome, the color of her eyes suddenly changed.

And Lawrence added one last thing.

“I need your assistance.”

She stood up, emboldened.

“I will help.”

Standing there was not a sorry sheep munching on grass. Supposing she were one, she was more like the brave sheep that was the last standing in that muddy square.

Selim was a wolf. Once she decided on her prey, her expression mirrored that of Holo’s.

“But I must confirm one thing with you.”

“What is it?”

Lawrence cleared his throat.

“Well…Would there be any problem if I rode on your back?”

He thought it polite to at least ask. She was of age, after all.

“…As long as Lady Holo does not grow angry, then it is fine with me.”

“She probably won’t.”

“Heh-heh. Then all right. Mr. Lawrence, I will be sure to take you to Lenos.”

“I’m only with you until the reception. Everything after that depends on your wits.”

In the joy of being given a big responsibility, Selim beamed a smile that suited a girl her age and spoke.

“I am confident I can portray a dreary nun very well.”

She was actually a girl who could smile and joke like this.

Lawrence nodded.

“Let’s see if I agree with you.”

Selim smiled uncomfortably, took a deep breath, and then exhaled slowly. There appeared the face of a nun who had never smiled before in her life.

“Long ago in the mountains, there was a monastery. In those ruins, there is a grave, and there are those who are unearthing it. I am Selim. I am the nun whose grave is being robbed.”

It was perfect.

Together with Selim, Lawrence headed out past the walls, and this time with complete respect, he turned away as she changed.

When prompted, he turned back, and there was a young-looking female wolf with beautiful silver fur that was two sizes smaller than Holo, but still much larger than a person.

“…It is odd that you do not fear me.”

“Mine is much scarier.”

The feel about her was much different than Holo, but he was oddly touched when he realized that the way wolves smiled was the same.

With the letter he had Millike prepare for him, the nun clothes, and Selim’s clothes on his back, he climbed up onto the silver wolf.

“Then we shall go.”

They immediately became the wind.

It would take more than two full days on the legs of a wolf to reach Lenos, the town of fur and lumber. On human legs, one would have to prepare for a journey of ten days. Then, there was the archiepiscopate, which was the Church’s authority that spread throughout that region, and the archbishop, who could say the head of a herring was sacred and it would be so.

According to Lawrence’s plan, Selim would sneak into the archbishop’s house and speak to him by his pillow.

I am Sister Selim. Far to the north, I have slumbered under the blessings of God…

It was all and well that she matured her faith deep in the mountains and was then called to God’s side, but the body she left behind, by a heavenly miracle, unseen, turned into silver. She was able to rest soundly because the creatures of the forest had no interest, but greedy humans were different. She was troubled for they were planning to dig up her grave, and she wanted the archbishop to help her in the name of God.

It would be easy for wolf Selim to climb over the walls and sneak in.

Two days later, bracing against the cold wind, they finally reached Lenos—a place he had not been to for a long time. Briefly savoring the nostalgia, they headed to their destination.

The archbishop was asleep in his manor, which was like a noble’s mansion, built on the side of the giant cathedral.

As the moon, as slim as a wolf claw, rose in the sky, Lawrence watched Selim disappear into the manor’s garden.

The following day, Lawrence made himself seem timid and knocked on the gates of the great cathedral. “I am a humble peddler, but last night I had a dream that commanded me to guide the archbishop to Svernel…”

The archbishop, who was visited last night in something that could have either been a dream or reality, seemed like he would not have doubted even the wildest of stories. He received Lawrence warmly, thinking he was truly a servant of God, and forgetting all his business, he immediately began to prepare for the journey.

Then the archbishop headed straight for Svernel, and there was the Debau Company, who controlled the silver mining in the north, and the ones who had found silver while digging with the pope’s permit in hand, all sitting together silently, waiting. Moreover—they were in the middle of an ugly fight over the silver.

The archbishop’s face went pale, since he seemed to think that only he knew what the silver was made of, and he intervened.

Please wait, do not touch that silver! That is a holy woman who has been blessed by God!

Those words also marked the birth of a pilgrimage tourist attraction.

If the miracle of the holy woman really did happen, then the archbishop would not have handled the earth so carelessly after she stood by his side at night. Then the townspeople, no matter how greedy, would be unable to mine for silver. If they could not mine for silver, then the Debau Company had no need to bare its fangs.

Then, if people came and offered money, they would be able to open a little inn there.

“There were many rough edges, but it all rounded out quite nicely.”

Holo was unusually impressed.

“That’s only because you fought for it until the very end.”

That was not modesty. The time when they would have been breathlessly convinced that something good was waiting for them at the end of the road had already passed. As it brought about peace, it also created a feeling similar to resignation that things that were meant to be would be.

On their journey some ten-odd years ago, the one that would have cared the most about Aram and the others would definitely have been himself. He could imagine it—there was no mistaking that he would have raised a stink when he got a whiff of the profit he could make off a conflict of interest surrounding unexploited silver. In the process, he would have reached out a hand to Selim, unable to leave her out of the excitement; then Holo would grow jealous and there would have been a fight and a big commotion…

But about that last part, it was not as though Lady Holo the Wisewolf had already forgiven him.

“So, did you enjoy riding on that girl?” his wife inquired with a smile.

And Lawrence lay in bed, and Holo sat in a chair beside it. She held a bowl full of porridge in one hand and scooped some with a spoon and was feeding him.

Though it was fine clinging to Selim’s back, heading to Lenos as a part of the plan, he could not win against his age. He had gotten all muddy and used up all his strength in the festival event, then traveled to Lenos for two whole days in the cold wind, and then turned right around and journeyed almost a week with the archbishop—there was no way he could have endured such an exhausting journey hale and hearty.

That night after seeing through Svernel’s situation, he was seized by a high fever and collapsed.

He had nightmares for three days and three nights, and his fever was only now subsiding.

“She had silver fur.”

“Hmm.”

Holo blew on the porridge in the spoon to cool it down and fed it to him properly.

“She was about two sizes smaller than you. A bit bigger than a big cow.”

“Mm.”

“I don’t really know how fast she was going.”

She scooped up more from the bowl and blew on it.

“And?”

When she asked him that, he realized.

She wanted to be mad.

“Yeah…It might have been because she was young, but her fur was really soft— Mgh!”

She shoved the spoon into his mouth as he spoke.

Holo, smiling, rattled the spoon around in his mouth.

Lawrence somehow bit into it and held fast until she let go.

He had a feeling he knew why she wanted to be angry.

“I couldn’t have predicted how it would end from the start. I was doing my best when I thought of how to round out those rough edges.”

And he had not thought of what to do after he had grabbed a hold of those edges.

Holo stared at Lawrence and slowly wagged her tail back and forth. She looked like a wolf who was ready to move immediately whether her prey ran left or right.

He did not know how long the silence lasted, and when Holo slowly took the spoon from Lawrence’s hand, she scooped some more porridge and blew on it.

Then, she ate it herself.

“You fool.”

Though since after eating some herself for a bit, she started to slowly feed Lawrence again, she was probably not truly angry at him. She might have gotten angry if he had lumped them together, like a dog asserting its territory.

“Since we set that girl up as the holy woman, she can’t just hang around the inn at her own pilgrimage site.”

So in terms of where she should go, there was a bathhouse right nearby that needed some help. Furthermore, that bathhouse was looking for people who would work hard and not be surprised even if they knew the secret that the mistress of the house had the ears and tails of an animal.

Even Holo knew the answer of what she should do.

But much like Lawrence knew all about Holo, Holo knew all about Lawrence.

“You fancy the ill-fated, weak girls, aye? Mm?”

She did not cool the porridge she scooped and, still hot, brought it close to his face.

It is often said that one should not interfere with lover’s quarrels, but this porridge would soon interfere with his mouth.

“But you, too…Hot! H— Ho!”

In a fluster, he reached for the ale that sat by his bed.

Holo paid no mind to him and simply ate the porridge in the spoon herself.

“’Tis how I am adorably envious.”

“…That was too much.”

He did not have any burns, but his mouth stung.

Lawrence spoke to Holo as she ate the porridge.

“Thank you for looking after me.”

Holo’s ears stood straight up.

“I do not mind. I am the very model of a loving wife.”

“Sure.”

She was probably truly worried about him. When he finally woke up, the first thing he had said was that he was hungry, and she was so relieved that she was somehow irritated.

Though she was called the wisewolf and had many things at her disposal, she could not completely control her own emotions sometimes.

But he did not mind being played with because of that.

“I want to go back to the bathhouse soon.”

Holo, who ended up eating half of the porridge, gave a satisfied sigh and spoke.

“Well, we have no work for a while. You must rest properly for now.”

Prompted by her, he lay down in the bed, and she pulled the covers up over his shoulders.

“See, good children must close their eyes now.”

How old do you think I am? he thought, but he did not mind being treated like a child.

As she gently kissed his forehead and cheeks, he drifted off into sleep.

He felt as though he was with Holo all throughout his dreams.