Spice and Wolf - Volume 19 - Chapter 2

SWEET FANGS AND WOLF

The snow was melting, the festivals celebrating the coming spring had ended, and a season of fresh green had arrived.

There was still time before the guests seeking to escape the heat of summer showed themselves, while the noisiest and most frantic season of winter was still some ways away. The village had calmed some, as the buildings were being mended or rebuilt in preparation for the next season, and every bathhouse was quiet.

The bathhouse Col worked at, Spice and Wolf, was no exception. There were no guests; the master, Lawrence, had gone to a village assembly, and his wife, Holo, had curiously tagged along for once. The more likely story was that it was a meeting only in name and was actually a drinking party with lots of good seasonal food. The woman in charge of Spice and Wolf’s kitchen, Hanna, had also gone out to gather mushrooms and mountain vegetables and such. And so, having worked throughout the morning, Col found himself bored before lunch.

It was times like these he should have cracked open his theology texts to study God’s teachings, but there was time and, more importantly, lots of hot water. Before helping himself to the lunch that Hanna had left for him, he took a dip in the empty baths and sighed under the blue sky. It was such a comfortable and quiet time.

Beside him sat the sweet mead that had recently become a regular part of his diet. With a twinge of regret for his laziness, he took a sip and leaned his head back toward the heavens, spreading before him as one beautiful blue sky.

There was nothing else he could wish for, and he even felt like he was approaching the happiness God’s teachings spoke about. Closer than he ever could from opening his theology texts…

“Ah…”

He wanted it to last forever.

He placed his work and his disciplined devotion to study on the side and indulged himself in a bout of laziness, when—

“Broootheeer!”

Col thought he could just make out a distant voice.

For a moment, he thought he had dozed off and imagined it in a dream, but then he heard it again, more clearly.

“Brotheeer!”

It seemed that Myuri, who had gone to play in the river, had returned. The only daughter of the master of Spice and Wolf, Lawrence, and his wife, Holo, Myuri often called him “brother” in admiration. She was about twelve or thirteen and was about the right age if she were to be married off early, and when he thought about that, he grew a bit sad.

That being said, lately, he was concerned in a completely opposite manner.

“I’m in the bath!”

He called to her, but before long, he could hear her feet slapping against the ground, finally followed by Myuri appearing in the baths.

“There you are! Brother!!”

When she looked at him, her face instantly lit up.

Though her facial features and eye color were the same as her mother’s, the two smiled differently. Holo’s smile had a softness to it, like slowly being boiled in honey, but Myuri’s was exactly like the summer sun.

It shone brightly and sometimes burned others.

“Brother! Look, look! Look at this! Isn’t it cool?!”

She shook the cage she held with both arms and jogged over to him. Her clothes were soaked because she had probably been so focused on playing in the river that she had fallen in several times.

She was covered with countless fresh cuts, her energy and innocence unchanged since childhood, and her smile was filled with a charm that could not help but elicit a similar response from those who saw it. She had a great power to make others feel her youth and naïveté.

But at a certain point, her smile became concerning.

“Myuri, if you run like that—”

—You’ll slip was how he planned to complete his thought, but he never had a chance.

Myuri had been so fixated on running that when she tried to stop at the edge of the bath, her feet completely flew out from under her.

“Huh?”

Then, she, along with the cage she carried, plunged directly into the bath.

“…”

The spray covered Col’s head, and beyond his dripping wet bangs, he could see bubbles gathering on the surface of the water. Girls of twelve or thirteen were encouraged to learn embroidery and cooking, instructed not to show their teeth when they smiled, and taught how to shyly tilt their heads. But all these things were so far removed from Myuri’s daily life.

He would be sad if Myuri, who he had taken care of as his own sister, were to be married off, but recently, he was starting to worry whether anyone would take her as a bride. He sighed and went to pull Myuri up, as she had yet to come up on her own, but then he realized—

Something was moving in the water.

“Pwah!”

Myuri finally lifted her head above the water.

“Myuri, what on earth have you—?”

“Brother! Don’t just stand there!”

She did not even look at him as she stared into the water and braced herself for something.

Then slowly, she submerged herself completely into the water, and this time, her face and arms immediately returned to the surface.

“Hey…Stay still!”

She shouted at a fat, round lamprey eel dancing in her grip.

“Ah, ah, it’s gonna get away, it’s gonna—Eek!”

The lamprey slipped out of her hands, and Myuri, chasing after it in a strange stance, dove into the water again.

It seemed that the wriggling in the water had been the prey Myuri caught in the river. A little farther away, a large trout energetically jumped in and out of the water.

Col stood before Myuri and the fish splashing about in the bathwater, took a deep breath, then exhaled.

“Myuri!”

His calm and peaceful moment had vanished in an instant.

When Col told this story, the person placing a skewered fish over the red-hot coals in the hearth chuckled. She had flaxen-colored hair and red eyes, and her face was the same as Myuri’s. Their physiques were even similar; she did not look much older than fourteen, and if she stayed silent she was nothing but a pretty little girl. However, her smile inspired an odd feeling in all who saw it. That was likely due to the grimness of living such a terribly long time.

Myuri’s mother, Holo, was not human. On the wall, illuminated by the light of the hearth, was a shadow of her large triangular ears and her tail. She was the avatar of a wolf, called Holo the Wisewolf, who was once worshipped as a god and lived in wheat and would live on for hundreds of years.

“It is not funny. We were lucky that there are no guests here during this season.”

“What, with fish in the bath, it shall save us some time when we must collect snacks to go with our drink, will it not?”

Holo’s response was one of amusement.

The fish they managed to rescue from those that Myuri had thrown into the baths were left to live in a barrel filled with water while the rest had been boiled. It seemed like a waste to throw them out, but it also did not seem appropriate to offer such things to the other villagers, so they smoked some of them while the rest were grilled and salted for their meal.

The reason they did not think to use the fish in a hot pot was because it seemed sad to boil the poor things even more.

“And so where has that fool gone?” Holo asked as she sprinkled more salt onto the fish before licking her fingers.

“Mr. Lawrence scolded her, so now she should be cutting firewood.”

Then Holo looked up from the fish, which made a juicy sizzling sound as it cooked.

“Hmm?”

Then, the large, triangular ears on the top of her head twitched. Though she was hundreds of years older than him and the wife of the bathhouse master, Col thought her ears and fuzzy tail were, to speak frankly, very cute. When he was younger, she had allowed him to cling to that tail countless times.

“Is something the matter?”

“Mm. ’Tis much too quiet for woodcutting.”

There were no guests at the bathhouse, and it was silent all around. It was almost quiet enough to hear a mouse yawn.

If Holo, whose vaunted ears were literally as sharp as a wolf’s, said so, then there was significance to this silence.

“Mr. Lawrence should be watching over her…”

“My dear husband had plenty of drink. He may very well be sleeping.”

Holo, too, had had plenty to drink.

“I’ll go check.”

Col stood, and Holo called after him.

“Mm. Ah, while you’re gone, please place the raisins in water.”

“Raisins?”

He turned around, and Holo’s eyes glittered as she wagged her tail.

“’Tis a gift from someone who had traveled south. They were given to us at the meeting. They are quite sweet eaten as they are, but I was told after steeping them overnight in water, using that water in bread dough will make for a very sweet and delicious bread.”

Holo was many times more childish than Myuri when it came to food.

But raisin bread did sound good.

“Little Col, you are fond of sweets, are you not? ’Tis well to sample some before putting them in the water. I grant you permission in my name.”

She called him the way she used to back when he first met Holo and Lawrence as a young boy, and he felt a little embarrassed.

But he still preferred sweet mead to bitter ale even though he had grown up, so he could not protest her treating him like a child.

“Thank you. I’ll try some.”

“Go ahead.”

Holo sent him off, her interest already returned to the frying fish. A small smile appeared on Col’s face, and then he headed toward the back of the building.

It was still quiet as he walked along the dark corridor, and he could not hear a single noise. If Myuri were really splitting logs, then he should have been able to hear chopping noises. The firewood shed was next to the kitchen, so first he peeked into the cooking area.

But he could not spot the raisins that Holo mentioned. Perhaps Lawrence used them as bait to lure Myuri into chopping wood. Thinking this, Col went outside and peered inside the firewood shed. Lit by the stars and the moon, leaning against a mountain of logs was the master, Lawrence, fast asleep.

“…Mr. Lawrence.”

Col murmured, irritated, and Lawrence’s breath paused for a moment with a “Ngh,” but his quiet snoozing started soon again. He still looked young, similar to how he was when they first met, but he always said self-deprecatingly that he could not hold his liquor as well as he used to now that he had grown older, and it seemed that was no exaggeration.

And of course, Myuri was nowhere to be seen. There was a blanket over Lawrence’s body, and Col could guess that was Myuri’s work. He wished to think that, of course, it was a daughter’s consideration for her father, but it was more likely a scheme to make sure her father did not get too angry that she skipped out on chopping wood.

Perhaps it was his weakness as a father, but Lawrence had never lost his temper with Myuri even once.

“But where has she gone?”

Holo and Lawrence returned home before dinner, and once her father learned of what happened, he immediately ordered Myuri to cut wood. She was probably hungry. Not only had she inherited Holo’s face and red eyes but also her appetite. It was unthinkable for her to go to bed without eating.

As he considered this, he could hear the sounds of water splashing over Lawrence’s soft snoring.

“She’s in the baths?”

A little ways away from the firewood shed, Col emerged onto the stone path extending out from the bathhouse.

He followed it and arrived at the wide-open outdoor baths, but at the entrance, he already found traces of Myuri’s presence.

“…How many times do I have to tell her not to throw her clothes everywhere before she’ll stop…?”

He grumbled with a sigh and began collecting her scattered clothes. He folded each piece carefully, and as he at last bundled the pile with her waist wrap, he could hear her voice coming from the other side of the partition.

“Come on, you can do it!”

Whatever she was doing, it sounded like she having quite a time. It could be that children from other bathhouses had come over to play. They were all infamously naughty children, but Myuri stood out even among them, and she was naturally their boss.

Wondering what they were doing at this hour, he rounded the partition, and his jaw dropped.

He let the nicely folded pile of Myuri’s clothes fall to the floor at the absurd sight.

“Ah-ha-ha-ha! Mm?”

A stark-naked Myuri noticed Col.

The light of the stars and the moon was much brighter than any candle, clearly illuminating the scene. Myuri, her hair of ash with silver flecks inherited from her father, wagged her fluffy tail of the same color as she stood proudly on the rocks surrounding the edge of the bath without a single stitch on.

This time, Col set aside his disappointment in her lack of shame as a young maiden. He even forgave how the wolf ears and tail she inherited from Holo, which she usually kept hidden, were out in the open.

He could even ignore the hemp sack she gripped in her right hand, and the mountain of what seemed to be raisins, freshly hoisted from the bag, in her left hand.

No, the true problem lay where Myuri was looking.

On the small island in the middle of the bath, two bears stood face-to-face.

“Myuri…Wh-what are…?”

“Ah-ha-ha, Brother! Just in time!”

Myuri spun around, nimbly skipped over to him, and threw herself into his chest without any reserve or consideration.

Though she was thin and delicate and he stood one head above her, she was tomboyish and had the intensity of youth about her.

Col managed to catch her, but before he could launch into a scolding, she lifted her head.

“See, see, Brother? Look at that!”

Beaming and using the hand with which she gripped the sack, she pointed to the center island.

“Wh-what are you doing? And are those the raisins that were a gift for Miss Holo and Mr. Lawrence?”

When he pointed that out, Myuri looked at her own hands in surprise, but she immediately smiled.

“Eh-heh-heh. Do you want some?”

“Myuri!”

He promptly admonished her, and she tensed her shoulders, flattened her ears, and closed her eyes.

However, she did not let go of the raisins, and even when he reached out to take them back, she spun around to evade him.

“Come on, Brother, stop being so loud.”

He felt a headache coming on as she complained. He was starting to lose track of what he should be angry about, but for now, he was certain that his main concern was the bears, glaring at each other in the center island.

“No, tell me what that is.”

Nyohhira was a place nestled deep in the mountains, and one could come across wild animals even within the village. If anything, the bathhouses beyond the center of the village were intruding on the territory of those who dwelled in the surrounding forests. Of these, wolves and bears were the most feared. At a normal bathhouse, this would have caused a commotion that would draw the attention of the entire village.

“That? They said they wanted to have some raisins, so I said that whoever wins the fight can have some.”

“…A fight?”

“Yeah. No biting or scratching. I don’t want them getting hurt. The one that falls into the water first loses.”

Myuri, an avatar of a wolf like her mother, seemed to be able to communicate with the forest animals. It was almost like a fairy tale. But if it was, then Myuri infused a limitless innocence into the story, almost to the point of cruelty.

“N-no, if you make those two bears fight…”

Lawrence had insisted they install a center island in the baths, and he worked incredibly hard to put the stones together so that the musicians would have a place to perform elegantly. It was a jewel of his sweat and toil, and of course, he only ever imagined that humans would be standing on it. As the bears stared intently at each other, circling while watching for any stray moves, the edges of the island were already falling apart. Once the fight began in earnest, Col could already imagine how the island would end up.

But even if he tried to stop the bears, he did not think that they would understand him.

Would it be a better idea to get Holo’s help?

As he was considering this, the naked Myuri thrust the raisins up high.

“Hey, if you wish to have these, you shall show me your strength!”

She made her declaration, perhaps imitating how her mother spoke.

And the bears, with their appetites and pride on the line, menacingly bared their fangs at each other.

Please stop.

Before Col could say it, Myuri carried on.

“Ready…Fight!”

With an earth-rumbling growl, the bears began to fight. Their frightening strength raised waves in the bath, and the center island trembled, as though in fear.

Every time a stone fell into the water, there was a loud plop, plop.

As Col helplessly watched the bears, now standing on two legs while pushing and jostling each other, he noticed Myuri had come to stand next to him.

“Hey, Brother?”

At some point, he had begun to feel a bit of fear whenever he heard “Brother.”

Lit by the stars and moon, Myuri’s unclad body looked like it had been sculpted from silver and ice. She was looking up at him with an adorable smile.

“Brother, who do you think will win?”

Absolutely unfettered innocence.

Before long, a corner of the island collapsed, and both bears fell into the water.

In the morning, after removing all the water from the bath, the day was spent rebuilding the center island that the bear fight had destroyed. This involved carefully piling up rocks each roughly the size of a small dog. It was simple and backbreaking work. Col’s spine ached and his arms were throbbing. But luckily, the center island was sturdier than he had assumed, and it was not completely broken. Now that he thought about it, Holo occasionally assumed her giant wolf form and slept there as well. And when they removed all the water, they found the remains of several fish that Myuri had dropped in the bath the day before, so it was a good opportunity to clean.

Even so, he still knit his eyebrows and let out a sigh.

“I’m sorry that it’s always like this…Col.”

As though sensing his displeasure, Lawrence, stacking stones with a pale face, spoke weakly.

Though he seemed hungover, the bathhouse master was someone with a strong sense of responsibility, so he would not leave the cleanup for his daughter’s misconduct to another alone.

“I don’t think Myuri means any harm, but…I don’t think she knows when to stop…”

“N-no, it’s not…”

Placing another stone on the pile, Col cut himself short and offered a feeble laugh.

“Well…I suppose…just a little…”

His hand lifted another heavy rock into place with a clack, and he was suddenly reminded of his own anxiety.

“But, I swear, where on earth has she run off to on her own?”

Lawrence, who saw the terrible state of the baths in the morning, was merciless in admonishing her for once, but it must have fallen on deaf—or wolf—ears. The girl was nowhere to be found.

Even if she were around, her small arms would find it tough to lift many of those stones, so it would have only created unnecessary trouble. That being said, showing sincerity was important. If she simply sat at the side and reflected on her actions quietly, that would have been enough whether she helped or not.

“If she only behaved a little better, then there would be no cuter daughter…”

Lawrence sounded exactly like an overly fond parent, but it was true that if Myuri behaved, there was no one more adorable. She smiled a lot, was always cheerful, and was constantly full of energy, though she also had some thoughtful parts. She may have been a prankster, but she was not naturally malicious.

She did not have to be wise and crafty like her mother, Holo, but if only she could be slightly more obedient. As the pair ruminated over the thought while collecting the stones scattered about the bath floor, they could hear Holo’s distant voice.

“Dear.”

Though it was not loud by any means, her voice sounded like it had been carried in on the wind. There was a certain softness to Holo’s tone when she called Lawrence “dear,” and that might have been why.

Col looked up, and Holo was standing on the path to the bathhouse. An apron she did not often wear was tied around her waist, and her arms up to her elbows were completely white. It seemed she was trying to make the raisin bread.

“Come take a look at the fire on the stove. I do not know how strong it must be.”

“Ah…Miss Hanna isn’t back yet?”

“’Tis a good season. Well, perhaps ’tis well she stretches her wings once in a while.”

Hanna, like Holo, was not human and was the embodiment of a bird or something of the sort. She was a talented woman who worked harder than anyone else in the kitchen, but things like this did happen sometimes.

“But the fire, dear.”

“Ah, um.”

Lawrence glanced at Col.

“Please, go ahead.”

He did not smile at them because they were his employers. It was simply that he was happy watching the village’s most renowned couple of lovebirds.

“Sorry. I’ll be right back.”

“I have some prepared for you, too, little Col. Look forward to it for me.”

Holo spoke and turned on her heel, and Lawrence followed.

Col saw them off as Holo slowly leaned her face in toward Lawrence, and he scratched the tip of her nose.

Holo’s tail, which was exposed since there were no guests around, swished about happily.

His strain from stacking stones softened as he watched them go together.

He recentered himself and started piling stones one by one, when a chill suddenly shot down his spine.

Or perhaps, it was a premonition.

“Broootheeer!”

He heard Myuri’s voice, who was liable to kick everything about with a smile, and he felt his gut tense up. Even Myuri was so busy in the summer, and especially in the winter, that she did not have any free time to be mischievous, but when there was a moment of respite, like during the current season, someone had to deal with all her energy.

Col placed another stone on the pile, sighed, and as he was about to turn around, a great shock hit his lower back.

“Guh?!”

“Brother!”

His chest thudded against the pile of rocks, but Myuri pulled his arm back with a cackle.

“Hey, hey, Brother! Listen, listen!”

“…”

Coughing, he turned toward her only to see mud plastered on her cheeks, spiderwebs in her hair, and she must have been attacked by swarms of horseflies as her bare arms were covered in bug bites.

There was no chance for him to ask where she had been and what she had done, since Myuri, like a little puppy chasing after a thrown ball, excitedly popped out her wolf ears and tail that she typically kept hidden as she continued to rattle on.

“So! I found something really cool in the forest! You’ll be so surprised, Brother! So, like, let me take you into the forest, and we’ll get your—”

She only got that far.

Col understood now that, like a bath, there was only so much he could hold in.

“Um…ah, Bro…ther?”

Even Myuri noticed his expression. Her ears lowered, and her tail drooped lifelessly. Lawrence could never bring himself to really get angry at her because she was his adorable daughter, but Col was different. Though they were not related by blood, he still thought of her as his cute little sister, so he had to be strict with her.

“Myuri.”

When he said her name, she recoiled.

And yet, though there was a troubled expression on her face, she still hesitantly opened her mouth.

“S…so, yeah? I’ll…take you to the forest, okay?”

He felt a sort of slight respect for how she was still trying to get him to play with her, but this time she had crossed the line.

He looked fixedly and quietly at her, then spoke.

“That’s enough.”

Myuri was not a little kid, and she was naturally a smart girl. She knew exactly what his curt words meant.

She froze, like she had been struck in the heart with a cursed arrow, and stared up at him in a daze.

“I have work to do.”

He was happy that she looked up to him like an older brother, but he could not always treat her like a small child.

He needed to admonish her as the closest thing she had to an actual older brother.

“I need to lift more stones, so please move.”

He spoke with even less emotion, crouched down, and raised another piece. It was a part of the island that broke because she convinced two bears to fight. Even if she could not lift a stone, he would still forgive her if she felt responsibility for what happened the night before and sat quietly to the side.

But after Lawrence scolded her, she had run off and been gone all day. It seemed she had decided to spend time in idle amusement in the forest after seeing and listening to him.

Her mother Holo occasionally spent a fair amount of time wandering outside, but she was old enough to know self-control. Someone had to teach this young, energetic silver wolf discretion.

“…”

“…”

She did not speak, and as she stared at his work, it did not seem she would move, either. She was used to being reprimanded or chided, and there were even some times when she was actually happy to be scolded. However, she was not used to someone pushing her away so coolly, and her mood would quickly sour if the only responses she received were inattentive grunts.

Of course, if she showed that she was willing to apologize and reflect on her actions, then everything would end quickly, and in reality, Col was not angry but rather a little sad. Myuri did not mind at all that someone else had to clean up after her, and she left the work behind while she went somewhere to play. He did not want Myuri to be a girl like that.

Whenever he placed another stone on the pile and the now-familiar clack resounded, Myuri shrunk even smaller. He did not even have to look at her to know that she was about to cry.

She gripped her hands in front of her and let go and repeated this for a while, simply standing there. When Lawrence scolded her, she would look upset, but that was all an act. But at the moment, there was no need for Myuri to pretend.

After placing an especially large stone on top with a thud, Col sighed.

“If you are not planning to help, then go back to your room.”

He wanted her to reflect on her actions.

Myuri tensed her body so much that the tips of hair atop her flattened ears seemed to quiver, but she finally nodded. Or perhaps she just barely managed to hold back tears and had been hunched over.

Either way, she hung her head, looking like the light inside her had been snuffed out as she took one, then two steps back.

She waited for a moment, probably expecting him to say something kind to her. But he only ignored her and continued stacking rocks, so she gave up, turned her back, and pattered off.

Col watched Myuri’s back recede as she left the waterless bath and headed toward her room, and she looked like she was constantly wiping her face. Seeing that made his heart ache, but it was necessary for her to grow.

Then during lunch, if he asked if she thought about what she did, she would probably be her normal, bright self again.

He continued stacking stones as he mused about all this, and when the sun rose to the highest point in the sky, the main part of his work had mostly been completed. All that was left was to have someone from the village who was well-known for being an expert at arranging stonework to place wedged wood between the pieces to make sure everything stayed in place. It was not enough to simply pile stones one on top of the other—much like experience and human relationships.

Col stretched out his back, flexed his arms, and breathed a heavy sigh. He was thirsty and hungry.

Holo should have gotten around to baking the raisin bread by then, and he would love to have it with a bit of mead. If Holo, who loved to drink, saw him indulge in having sweets with sweets, she would probably be exasperated.

But he suddenly wondered if there was any more mead left in storage. The main ingredient for mead was honey, an incredible sweetener on its own as well as a preservative, so it was certainly not cheap. Additionally, mead was too sweet for the regular drinkers in the village, so its production was often low priority.

As he walked, he thought of what to do in order to secure himself some honey, which was starting to appear in shops during this season when new greenery appeared. Just then, Holo appeared from the main building.

“Oh, your stomach is quite on time.”

It seemed she had been about to call him in for lunch.

“I could tell from where the sun is in the sky.”

Col pointed to the heavens, and after Holo stared up at the sky in a childlike manner, she faced him again and nodded.

“You have always been the logical sort, little Col.”

“Please stop calling me ‘little.’”

He protested with a wry smile, and Holo waved her tail, which was a size bigger than Myuri’s.

“No matter how much time passes, you are all the same as children.”

There was not much he could say about that to the wisewolf Holo, who would live on for hundreds of years.

“Why do you insist that you are not children, then quarrel so?”

Her riddle-like way of speaking was due to her typical playfulness, but the topic made Col pay closer attention.

“Quarrel?”

He asked for clarification, and she crossed her arms in disappointment.

“My charming little daughter has been crying. If you were not as good as one of my own, little Col, then I would bite your head off.”

She was looking hard at him with the same eyes and face as Myuri, but the air about her was different.

Perhaps she had not come to call him in for lunch but instead to discuss this.

“Er, but, well…”

He wanted to say, I would not make Myuri cry for no reason, but Holo stopped him with an irritated smile and a mischievous poke to the chest.

“I know the situation. Bears that Myuri stirred up broke the island in the bath, and while you were fixing it, the girl left to run about in the mountains. Well, it is quite right that even my mild and fair dear would grow angry.”

If she knew that much, then why did she sound like she was on Myuri’s side?

Holo was the strictest with Myuri in the bathhouse, and she was not a soft touch. The only person that Myuri obeyed absolutely was her mother. The problem was that the most authoritative figure in the household almost never put in a word to her. Perhaps that was a wolf’s way of raising children, but it was sometimes irritating.

And so it was odd that Holo would be taking Myuri’s side, and Col could only stand there, confused.

“Hmm. Well, if you do not understand, then I must continue calling you ‘little.’”

He was like a chick with a piece of eggshell still stuck to his bottom.

The wisewolf narrowed her eyes in affection.

“Myuri is most certainly a tomboy, but she is no fool.”

“That’s…right.”

“And she adores you.”

Holo chuckled in a teasing manner, but Col never once doubted that Myuri was attached to him.

“Of course, I feel the same about her as well. She is very important to me. Which is why I want her to know composure and discretion.”

“Hmph.”

Holo’s expression fell at that. She removed the finger from his chest only to poke him again with a bit more force.

“Both males in this family cloud their vision obsessing over things that do not matter.”

Before he could ask what that meant, Holo turned on her heel and began walking back toward the bathhouse.

“M-Miss Holo?”

“Myuri cried herself hoarse, and now she sleeps from exhaustion. I shall be holding on to your raisin bread until you two make up.”

Then she returned inside the bathhouse.

Col stood rooted to the spot, now alone.

Make up?

But there was nothing to reconcile. What happened between him and Myuri was not a quarrel. That was something he did because he wanted her to know what was right. There was no part that involved her.

He had been so confident, but he lost his footing listening to Holo and seeing how she acted.

Perhaps if all he wanted to do was teach her what was right, then he should have told her calmly in an easy-to-understand way. He had not needed to choose the method that would hurt her the most.

So then, why did he act like that?

He slowly dusted off his memory, and there he found a simple sentiment.

He only wanted her to apologize. It was not about what was right, nor did he want her to promise that she would never pull any more pranks—he only wanted her to say, “Sorry.”

Then, even if she had gone to spend time in the forest, he would not have minded so much. Her small arms would not have been much help in stacking stones, and having her sit to the side with a blue expression would have accomplished nothing but troubling him.

And more than anything, it was because he wanted her to always be smiling.

“…Aghh, I get it…”

He recalled how he felt then and placed his hand on his forehead in exasperation.

That was because he had tried to hurt Myuri on purpose.

Myuri was precious to him, and he was always thinking about her. He was irritated with himself that he treated her so poorly despite that. This was not about what was right under the teachings of God or anything else.

When he realized this, it was most certainly a quarrel.

However, it was fact that Myuri had gone out to play without a single word of apology, and the whole beginning of this affair was surely her fault alone. He felt like the scales did not quite balance out. It was odd that Holo would take Myuri’s side the way she did. That was to say nothing of how she told him that she was withholding his share of raisin bread, as though both parties were to blame. Wondering if maybe he should show how he could act like an adult, he considered that it was likely Holo was actually treating him, Myuri, and even Lawrence the same as children.

Standing in the middle of the path, he tilted his head in puzzlement.

Something was odd.

What was he missing…? As he contemplated this, he could hear footsteps echo from the front entrance to the bathhouse. It was not likely a guest during this time of year, so it was probably someone from the village.

But this visitor did not knock on the door, and he could tell by the sound that they changed direction. The footfalls approached Col, and slipping easily through the space between the trees planted for privacy was a familiar face.

“Wah!”

The intruder jumped and let out a cry. He had probably not expected anyone.

“Hello, Kalm.”

It was a boy from a nearby bathhouse who was the same age as Myuri and her playmate.

He must have come looking for her to join a game, but he was rather heavily armed. He carried a long stick and what seemed like a big folded linen sack was bound to his shoulder. Even stranger was the bundle of conifer branches, still with plenty of needles attached, that he held at his side.

It was impossible to even guess what sort of game they would be playing.

“Oh, it’s Col. Hello. Where’s Myuri? We’ve been waiting for her at home, but she hasn’t showed up.”

“Myuri? Umm…”

There was no way he could say that he had made her cry, which tired her out, and she was now sleeping. Naturally, he stumbled over his words.

Then, he picked up on the fact that Kalm mentioned they had waited for her at home.

“Do you have a playdate with Myuri?”

“Yes. We were going into the forest. Dadd…Father was going to come with us, so I finished helping him, got ready, and waited.”

When he corrected himself to say “father,” Col could tell that it was the display of a young man showing off, and he could not help but smile, but something was strange. They were planning on bringing Kalm’s father into the forest, too?

That was a bit much for children’s games. Then, he remembered what Myuri had said when she came into the bath.

“So! I found something really cool in the forest! You’ll be so surprised, Brother!”

Something “really cool” that required an adult from the village to be around…That meant that it had to be something like actual hunting. But if so, Kalm’s equipment did not seem to match up.

Then, he recalled the rest of what Myuri had said.

“So, like, let me take you into the forest, and we’ll get your—”

What exactly had she wanted to do?

“Well, since Myuri was the one who found it, could you tell her that she’ll get her share, even if she doesn’t come with us? Other people might take it if they find it before us, so we have to go quickly.”

The boy, Kalm, adjusted the sack on his shoulder as he spoke.

“I went out to look quite a bit, though I can’t match what the adults can do. But Myuri is fine going places adults are too scared to go, so she found something insane.”

Kalm spoke excitedly, and Col remembered what she had looked like when she came to him eagerly in a happy mood. In a word, tattered.

“Um, what was it that Myuri found in the mountains?”

What constricted his heart was a feeling awfully similar to regret.

He should have asked Myuri that question, not Kalm.

“Oh, she didn’t tell you?”

Kalm seemed surprised before he grinned.

“An insanely huge beehive. Then, she came to Father because she wanted him to make some mead.”

Kalm’s father, Cyrus, was a master brewer, one of the best in the village. More importantly, he mentioned mead.

Myuri was of that age where she was eager to grow up, so she was waiting for her chance to have her turn with alcohol. But this time, there was no mistaking her goal.

Myuri had reflected on what she did. She knew it was her fault, realized that she would be useless in stacking the stones back up, and understood perfectly that a simple apology would not be enough, so she thought of the best thing she could do and set out immediately.

Because she knew that he had taken a liking to mead recently.

Why had he not listened to her then? If only he had listened to what she had to say, there was no doubt he would have been overjoyed at her thoughtfulness.

Of course Holo became be angry.

If Col had just trusted Myuri a little more, then this misunderstanding would never have come about.

“Kalm.”

“Yes?”

Col spoke to the boy.

“Would it be all right if I went instead?”

Kalm stared at him wide-eyed for a second before shrugging his shoulders like an adult, then spoke.

“You’ll get stung a lot, though.”

It was exactly what he wanted.

Punishment must be accompanied by pain.

Whether his face or arms, Col wrapped as much of his body in cloth as he could, then chased the angry bees away with smoke from the burning young conifer branches and finally speared the hive with a stick before dropping it into the sack. Afterward, he closed the sack and ran for it.

It was easier said than done.

But he finally returned to the Spice and Wolf bathhouse as the sun began to set, and when Holo came out to greet him, she leaped back in surprise.

“…You are looking quite handsome.”

With a wry smile, her eyes gave the impression that she was complimenting someone who had grown up.

“Where’s Myuri?”

“In her room. That carefree girl is still moping about. It was surely quite a weight for her to bear, yes?”

She held back nothing, the blame clearly ringing in her words.

“It seems you have done your part, however.”

Holo moved to the side and allowed him passage. He had a feeling that she and Lawrence had faced similar situations many times.

“Oh, Miss Holo, there’s a favor I’d like to ask of you.”

“Mm? What might that be?”

“I’d like you to taste this for me.”

When the honest Holo heard the word taste, her ears stood straight up. She looked at the barrel he held in his arms and grinned.

“’Twould be my pleasure.”

They went into the kitchen and began preparing various things. Then Col headed toward Myuri’s room.

He knocked, but there was no answer.

She might have been sleeping, but quickly growing anxious that she might still be crying, Col placed his ear to the door.

It was quiet.

He knocked again, then took a deep breath and opened the door.

“Myuri?”

After opening it slightly, he called her name. If a pillow or a carafe or even jeers flew his way, then he would give her some more time.

However, there seemed to be no particular rejection on her part so he opened the door completely. Myuri was curled up on the bed, spectacularly covered from head to toe in a blanket.

“…”

Her current state was an indication that she did not want anyone to see her face, and it almost seemed like a joke.

But if they took the first awkward step toward making up, then surely, as the elder of the two, it was Col’s responsibility to make the first move.

“Myuri.”

He called her name again, and the bundle stirred.

“Come on, cheer up now.”

He spoke as if he was pleading with her, and a corner of the round balled-up blanket opened slightly.

“…You’re the one who’s mad.”

It sounded like she was sulking, but it was a weak voice, one that would shatter if he tapped it slightly.

“I’m not angry anymore.”

He pulled the chair from the desk, placed it beside the bed, and sat down.

“Will you show me your face?”

“…”

He could only see the hand that gripped the blanket.

It was a small, delicate hand.

“…Bro…ther?”

The familiar word echoed from the small gap in the blanket.

“What is it?”

“…I’m…sorry.”

Though he had heard that phrase before, it almost felt like it was his first time.

“B-but, you know, um, I, um—”

“Myuri.”

As he said her name, Myuri, who was about to try explaining herself with a shaky voice that made it sound like she would start crying again, shrunk farther into her blanket like a hermit crab.

Col sighed, as if to relax himself, then continued.

“Miss Holo told me about it earlier, but your voice really is terrible.”

“…”

Her voice was cracked and dry. There was a pain to it, as though it had been worn thin, and just listening to it made him want to cough. She had cried her eyes out, dehydrating herself, then likely kept crying despite that.

Col had done something terrible.

Myuri could fall from a cliff, end up covered in blood even as she smiled, but the heart inside her small body was still very delicate.

“I brought medicine. It will be good for your throat.”

“…”

Myuri rustled about, in order to find a place to poke her face out from the shell.

“Miss Holo helped me. She has given her guarantee for its flavor.”

He took the spoon sitting in the small wooden cup he held in his hands, mixed it once more, and scooped some up.

“Mm. Delicious.”

He gave it a taste, and it really was quite good.

As Myuri had not even eaten lunch, it immediately caught her interest.

“Do you want any?”

Though she had hesitated before, she peeked out from beneath the blankets.

“…Yes.”

She looked like she had just recovered from illness. Her hair was a tangled mess from being in bed, and her face was puffed up.

The area around her eyes, which looked listless, was especially bright red and swollen, giving her the appearance of a corpse.

When Col thought about how he was the reason why she ended up like this, his heart ached, but he knew how to fix things.

He presented the spoon to Myuri, and the worn-out girl did not even lift herself when she opened her mouth, readily accepting it.

It was right after that when her drooping wolf ears suddenly stood up straight.

“Th-this—”

Myuri was surprised, and then she finally noticed how Col looked.

“B-b-brother, your face…”

“I did not expect that taking down a beehive would be such a hassle.”

No matter how much armor he donned, the bees would slip in somewhere and sting him.

Every bit of him had swollen up, and it seemed like it would be hard to even wash his own face for a while.

“How is the medicine, by the way? This is squeezed juice of ginger added to honey, then mixed with a bit of wine. I’ve heard that royal songstresses have this when they catch colds.”

Myuri looked back and forth between his face and the cup in his hand before she finally smiled slightly.

“It’s good.”

“That’s good.”

“I want more.”

Col got the sense that she was returning to her regular self, but of course, he did not discourage her.

He scooped another spoonful and fed her. Myuri happily flopped her tail about.

“Oh, but if I have too much, you won’t…”

“It’s all right. A waterfall of honey came out of the beehive. And as there is both honey and wine in this, if we leave it too long, it will become alcohol. Eat it quickly.”

“…I wanna try the alcohol one.”

“You may not.”

Myuri puffed out her cheeks, and it seemed everything was back to normal.

But when she deliberately deflated her cheeks, Col was shocked when he got the feeling she would start crying again the moment she smiled.

As a matter of fact, she was already rubbing at her eyes as she smiled.

“Brother, you dummy.”

There was no need to inquire further as to what she meant.

“I’m sorry.”

Then, with a satisfied smile, Myuri opened her mouth in a request for more honey, but suddenly, she looked at him and her expression told him she had noticed something.

“What is it?”

As soon as he asked, she leaned forward without any notice and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He heard the telltale smooch, then Myuri backed away slowly.

It was so sudden. She smiled at him with her head tilted to the side, but he could not move. She, of course, knew he lived strictly by the teachings of God and had taken vows of abstinence. She always teased and played with that understanding.

“Myuri, do I need to lecture you again?”

“It wasn’t a prank. I heard that the fastest way to heal beestings is to suck out the poison. It’s a cure!”

She always had a quip prepared.

And she loved pranks more than anything.

“I tried it with my arms and stuff, but…”

Myuri slowly placed her fingers on the collar of her clothes, then quickly turned the back of her neck to him.

“I was stung here, too.”

There was definitely a sting mark on her thin, white neck. She had also pulled her collar quite low, and baring her pale neck like that was dreadfully sensational, so it was less of a beesting and more a stab to Col’s eye. Her actions were too suggestive, likely due to the influence of the musicians and dancer girls who came to the bathhouse and thought it was funny to teach her these things.

But Myuri was Myuri. The alluring aura that was much too old for her vanished in an instant, and her tail began to thump on the bed. She was having too much fun with her prank. She leaned forward even more.

Realizing it was the regular Myuri he knew well, Col was able to react with a cool head. He retrieved cartilage from a shell at his chest, and rubbed it on her neck, as she cheerfully had her eyes closed, waiting for a kiss.

“This is medicine from Mr. Cyrus. He said it works very well.”

He deliberately smiled at her, and Myuri pursed her lips and furrowed her eyebrows, as if it was not a joke.

“Sheesh, Brother, you don’t understand anything!”

“I do, too. I see through all of your tricks.”

“Boo!”

She shouted, then opened her mouth wide.

“Honey!”

It was an unladylike sight, as she opened her mouth so wide that he could see the back of her throat, but it oddly suited her. And he felt like he had seen this somewhere before.

He scooped some honey and brought the spoon to her mouth, which closed around it with a sharp sound. Then, he remembered. That wide-open mouth foretold that one day Myuri would bite him on the head.

“Do you want more?”

And yet, he posed his question calmly, without getting flustered.

At the very least, as long as there was good food around, she would be in a good mood.

“Yeah!”

Her voice rang throughout the dusk in the season of new green.