Spice and Wolf - Volume 21 - Chapter 2

THE AUTUMN-COLORED SMILE AND WOLF

If someone wanted to hold a lively conversation with a traveler who happened to be nearby, there were routine topics that could always be discussed.

The state of safety in the area, the market price of various coins, which towns had the best food, and so on.

There was, however, one topic that those who spent any serious time on the road could always lose themselves in.

And that was the question of which season was ideal for travel.

“Oh, I hate the hot and the cold.”

“Then spring or autumn?”

“Spring is not bad, but I cannot stand being so dreadfully restless. The melting winter snows, after all, make it muddy as well.”

The one speaking, combing fur spread across her lap as she sat on the driver’s perch of a cart, was a young girl, a hood completely covering her head. Generally speaking, she appeared plain, given that the only ornamentation on her person was a pouch hanging around her neck, but on closer inspection, the hems on her sleeves and on her sash were perfectly intact.

The sight of a girl wearing plain yet well-made clothes combined with the long and beautiful flaxen-colored hair peeking out from under her hood pointed to the possibility that she was a traveling nun or perhaps a lady from a good house on her way to be courted at an arranged meeting in a faraway territory.

The truth was that this girl was neither a nun nor a noble—or even a human.

Her name was Holo. This was the avatar of a massive wolf who resided in wheat. She was once the ruler of a land called Yoitsu, and she had been worshipped as the god of the harvest in a land far to the south. The fur resting in her lap was not simply an accessory to warm her legs but her own tail that sprouted from her rear.

“When we set out, it must be in autumn, like now. While the winds might be chilly, ’tis nice and warm when the sun peeks out, and I quite enjoy sipping on mulled spirits in the nighttime. And this calm, somewhat lonely air that carries us ever closer to winter. Does it not suit an intelligent wisewolf like me?”

Holo, brushing her tail on the driver’s perch, seemed to be in a good mood as she chatted. Perhaps that was why the coat of fur on her tail seemed fluffier than usual.

Sitting beside her was a former merchant, Lawrence. Over ten years ago, he had met Holo entirely by accident, and they ended up staying together after a considerable adventure. These days, they lived in the hot spring village of Nyohhira, and it would soon be a little over a decade since he first opened his bathhouse, Spice and Wolf.

“True, the color of your fur pairs nicely with the fall colors of the forest.”

Holo took great pride in her tail, and she was always genuinely happy whenever he complimented her wolf form’s fur.

“But the real reason you like fall is because the food is so good in this season, isn’t it?”

The reason Lawrence spoke with a wry smile was because Holo was stuffing her face at that very moment with roasted chestnuts even as she groomed herself.

“There is no greater happiness in this world than eating good food.”

His teasing did not discourage her; she devoured a roasted chestnut with a joyful smile and continued to care for her tail.

With a small, tired sigh, Lawrence tightened his grip on the reins of the cart.

“Well, it’s not like we’re on a penny-pinching journey to make a profit. We’ll enjoy ourselves and dine on anything good we find on the road.”

Holo turned toward Lawrence with wide, wolf pup–like eyes and beamed in delight.

Besides quick errands that briefly pulled them out of the village, it had been over ten years since Lawrence and Holo had last sat atop a rumbling cart together.

Before opening up shop in Nyohhira, Lawrence could hardly have imagined a lifestyle where he stayed and lived in only one village. It was a given for a traveling merchant to cross vast distances, and of course he would often be filled with anticipation about when he might be able to set off to his next destination.

But running a bathhouse was incredibly hectic, and more importantly, it was fun. Or perhaps it was more apt to say that after their daughter had been born, Lawrence had no time to pine for the road anymore. Ten years had passed by in a flash.

Consequently, it was not Lawrence but Holo who had brought up the idea of leaving Nyohhira to travel around for a while.

However, it went without saying that Holo was much more of a homebody. She was the type to be perfectly happy lazing around, drinking liquor in the baths all day, so of course she had her reasons for suggesting a trip.

“Well, then…First, we should decide where to go, but I wonder where those two are now…Their last letter came from a town in the south of the Winfiel Kingdom, didn’t it?”

A letter sat on top of the map that was unfolded across Lawrence’s lap. Two signatures adorned it—one belonged to Myuri, his and Holo’s only daughter. She was now maybe twelve or thirteen, which was right around the age when society expected them to start talking about marriage.

The other signature belonged to Col, the young man who set off on a journey of his own in hopes of becoming a priest. His handwriting showed how earnest he was in pursuing his dream.

He was someone Lawrence and Holo had come to know during their peddling journey, and he had helped run the bathhouse starting the day they opened. It was also probably apt to say that he had been taking care of Myuri ever since she was born.

Back at home, Myuri obviously adored Col, calling him “Brother.”

While they were not related by blood, they had a loving brother-sister bond.

Lawrence had come to learn the previous winter that he was the only person watching over the pair who optimistically thought of their relationship that way. When Col had left the village to chase his dream of becoming a priest, Myuri also left to follow him.

It came entirely out of left field for Lawrence, but his wife and Myuri’s mother, Holo, knew everything.

Holo had let Myuri go, so there was nothing more Lawrence could do.

Furthermore, he knew that one day he would have to send off his daughter to be married.

And if the person she would marry was Col, then he had no complaints.

While Lawrence tried to convince himself of that, he still felt uneasy on the inside.

“They sent us a letter from waters much colder than Nyohhira at the beginning of spring.”

Whether or not Holo knew how Lawrence felt on the inside, she fervently twisted the ends of the fur on her tail as she spoke, as though suddenly remembering.

“Right. A region of islands up north that I’ve never been to. Afterward, they headed south to the Winfiel Kingdom, spent the spring there, let the summer pass, and now they’re somewhere in the southern part of the kingdom…There’s always so much time between their letters…I really think they must have had their struggles, even if they won’t write about them…”

Lawrence knew well the dangers and hardships of traveling. He could not say anything so carefree as No news is good news.

Bandits frequented roads, and there were plenty of crooks lurking within towns. Even barring those hazards, there was disease and injury to worry about. Anyone unlucky enough to be caught out in the rain or snow would quickly learn that it was entirely possible to die of the cold or starvation.

As a father, Lawrence felt his heart almost rip apart when he thought of his adorable only daughter, but Holo spoke with something near indifference.

“What are you saying? There must be more enjoyable things to do than penning letters to send us, no?”

Lawrence turned to Holo. She must have reached a stopping point in her grooming, since she was cracking open more chestnuts, stuffing their contents into her mouth.

“All the letters they send come bearing the scent of fun.”

“…Fun…I guess so. Traveling is fun. All the delicious food and beautiful scenery can just snatch away your heart.”

Lawrence was speaking more to himself than Holo, and Holo gave him a sidelong glance.

“If that is what you believe, then I shall not say anything.”

“…”

He looked at her with the eyes of a sad puppy that had been mistreated.

Holo didn’t think she had done anything mean, and in fact seemed rather exasperated with Lawrence’s inability to accept the inevitable.

Of course, Lawrence was quite aware of the reality of the situation.

He had steeled himself for it from the moment his daughter was born—she would certainly one day go to someone else.

“…As long as they’re happy…Obviously, I’m fine with that…,” he said in a thin voice, and Holo chuckled before leaning against him.

“How it vexes me to see a fool be plagued by such foolish thoughts.”

Holo’s vaunted tail rustled.

“I am the only one who will stay by your side always. No matter what happens.”

She offered him a kind smile and looked straight at him.

The Holo he usually saw would often ask for a morning drink before falling back asleep, and it was a daily occurrence that she either refused to let go of the blankets or openly declared her desire to not work. There were even times when she would throw tantrums after hearing stories from their patrons about exotic delicacies of faraway lands because of how badly she wanted to eat them.

That was why he often forgot that Holo was a centuries-old wisewolf.

This trip was something she had suggested out of consideration for Lawrence.

Perhaps they could see Myuri and Col once, either to calm down Lawrence, who was beside himself with worry about his daughter, or to help him accept things as they were.

Lawrence was indescribably happy that Holo was showing him so much concern. He was honestly happier about that than being able to see Myuri.

He didn’t need anything else as long as Holo was by his side.

It was because he believed that from the bottom of his heart ever since long ago that he had extended his hand to Holo, the wolf who looked like a human.

A smile broke out naturally on Lawrence’s face when he took in Holo’s sincere expression.

“Yeah, you’re right. I have you.”

When he said that, Holo grinned. It was the smile of a long-lived and kindhearted wisewolf.

Lawrence gently wrapped his arm around Holo’s shoulder and pulled her closer. When he squeezed tighter, Holo’s tail started happily bouncing back and forth.

Heading out on a journey like this was worthwhile even if only because it meant they would have more time alone together.

“Oh.”

“Hmm?”

Holo stirred in Lawrence’s arms, and she looked up at him.

“I believe we should head to Svernel first.”

“Svernel?”

It was the biggest town located near Nyohhira.

“Mm. The sheep and pigs and chickens there must have gotten plump over the summer, no? And that fool Millike must be around as well. I like it because there are always sweets.”

Millike was another animal avatar who had a centuries-long life span like Holo. He was also a man of influence in Svernel.

While the two of them always looked like they did not get along, they were surprisingly good friends.

The last time Holo and Lawrence visited him, they were served sweets that were sugared purple flower petals.

“…We’d be farther from the sea if we went to Svernel,” Lawrence replied, his eyes dropping to the map, and he suddenly felt a gaze boring into his cheek.

“We are not in a hurry.”

“Well, yeah, that’s true…,” Lawrence said, looking at the cheerful Holo with a cool gaze. “Don’t tell me you acted so admirably just now all to convince me to take a detour to Svernel…”

“Wh—?”

Holo’s wolf ears stood up straight and she widened her eyes, at a loss for words.

“I…I was simply thinking of you…”

Her ears drooped, her shoulders sagged, and her tail slumped; her entire body seemed to deflate.

Her slender frame made things worse—she looked so pitiful, but it wasn’t as if Lawrence had lived with her for over a decade with nothing to show for it.

“Honeyed peaches.”

“…”

Holo’s wolf ears perked up even though she clearly didn’t intend for them to do so.

Lawrence regarded her with narrowed eyes, and she opened hers again to glare back.

“Is that all you think of me?!”

He would never doubt the depth of Holo’s concern for him, but ulterior motives were ulterior motives.

“We just started our trip. If we indulge in luxuries from the get-go, we won’t have any money left for the rest of it.”

“You fool! Are you not supposed to be selling the cargo behind us in the first place?! A town filled with lots of people will be a good opportunity for you!”

Holo was referring to the great number of sacks piled on the cart bed. Inside was sulfur powder, sourced from the Nyohhira hot springs, given to them by the other bathhouse owners when they found out the couple was going on a trip, so it could be sold along the way.

It had been over ten years since Lawrence first opened his bathhouse in the village, but since he was still considered the newcomer, he didn’t hold a very influential position. When his seniors asked him to do something, he couldn’t refuse.

Lawrence would have to sell all the cargo while he and Holo were on the road, but sheer quantity made that difficult.

“The Nyohhira bathhouses order everything from Svernel. The market there is fully stocked with the sulfur from the baths, so we won’t have much luck selling there.”

“Grrr…”

“Let’s head west and follow the river down to a port town called Atiph. The catches should’ve all been unloaded by this time of year, so the town should be overflowing with fish. They’re all fatty and really good.”

“Fish do not fill me up…Ooh…stuffed chicken…roasted pig…beef shoulder…”

Holo groaned in a faint voice like a maidservant who never received enough food.

Just a moment earlier, she had been stuffing her face full of roasted chestnuts—Lawrence could feel only exasperation.

Well, perhaps she simply craved something savory after feasting on the sweet chestnuts.

“You say that, but I can easily see you asking for seconds of those fish dishes in Atiph.”

Deep in the mountains of Nyohhira, river fish aside, most of the fare that crossed their tables was cured. Most seafood consisted of herring, though cod and flounder sometimes made an appearance. It was typically not the kind of food most people wanted to eat every day.

But fresh fish that couldn’t be had anywhere but seaside towns could be boiled or fried.

“And if the point is to find a place where we can trade, then you should know that Atiph probably has fresh wine.”

Holo’s ears perked.

“They might have dried grapes or, if we’re lucky, fresh ones.”

Grapes could be found only in places that were relatively warm, so it was normally uncommon to find them fresh in this region.

Holo turned away in a huff with no intention of listening to Lawrence, but she swallowed.

“Well?”

She stayed quiet.

There was only the clip, clop of the horse’s hooves and the rattling of the cart.

Above them on the road that cut through the forest, several little birds flew by, singing.

When Lawrence peered up at the sky and squinted, appreciating the fine season, he felt a headbutt on his shoulder.

“…You fool,” a sulking Holo said curtly. She had apparently given up.

Seeing Holo acting so childishly, Lawrence found himself smiling wryly. But some of that sentiment was also directed toward himself.

He had fought his share of battles with Holo’s appetite in the bathhouse, of course. However, that duty generally fell to their worker Hanna, who was in charge of the kitchen, so this was the first time in a while that Lawrence got to do this head-on; it not only brought back memories, but it was also rather fun.

They had always been like this when he was traveling as a merchant.

A smile broke out on his face because he so adored these conversations of theirs.

“It finally feels like we’re on a journey.”

His manner of speech sounded so different that Holo’s ears and tail stood on end.

Not long after, Holo begrudgingly stared up at Lawrence.

“Then—”

“Well, making my heart flutter still won’t loosen my purse strings.”

When he said that, Holo responded with a dejected look.

“Hmph. ’Twould be much too pitiful to be swindled out of it all right from the start.”

“You say that all the time.”

“What does that mean?”

“What about it?”

As they talked, the cart rolled lazily down the road.

In the end, they both stared at each other and burst out laughing.

There was a river that flowed through the mountain hot spring village of Nyohhira, so visitors often came and went by boat when they were in a hurry or when the snowdrifts swelled.

But when it came to loading a horse and cart on board, it became necessary to rent a ship with enough space to accommodate them, and a single crewman wouldn’t cut it.

After reviewing their budget and other considerations, Lawrence and Holo had finally departed on their journey atop their cart, and even after the sky started to display the colors of evening, they were still on the road. They strung a tarp between two trees, and at the small firepit they had shaped with rows of stones, Holo sat hugging her knees, pouting.

“…Camping straightaway…”

They had thought it might be possible to reach an inn at the nearest checkpoint if they tried their best, but it had been so long since they last took a cart along a mountain road, and they went slower than they had hoped.

“A soft bed…a thick blanket…a warm bath…plenty of meat and wine…”

Holo murmured, as though believing that if she closed her eyes and prayed, what she wanted most would surely appear right before her, but Lawrence ignored her pleas and handed her a dark piece of bread that was half-wheat and half-rye.

“Come on—we got this bread baked for us. It has some rye mixed in. Doesn’t it remind you of the good old days?”

On their previous peddling journey, Holo and Lawrence had rarely ever gotten to eat white wheat bread. They often dejectedly dunked wood-hard black loaves of rye in ale to soften them as much as they could.

Holo, now entirely used to the idle life of their bathhouse, regarded Lawrence’s cheerfulness with absolute disbelief.

“Why not just have regular wheat bread…?”

“Pure wheat bread goes bad fast. It might be fine in the dead of winter, but some days are still warm this time of year, and that will be especially true once we get off the mountain.”

Lawrence placed a small iron pot onto the firepit as he spoke, cutting thin slices of cured meat and putting them in.

Holo finally sighed, giving in as she started munching on her bread now that she had confirmed the presence of meat.

“Cut thicker slices.”

“Frugality, frugality.”

Holo glared at Lawrence with teary eyes as he quickly put away the hunk of cured meat.

“If we have any spare change left over, we’ll treat ourselves on the way back.”

When he offered Holo his merchant’s smile, the centuries-old, self-proclaimed wisewolf pouted and frowned like a little girl.

“You fool…Come now—fry the meat. This dark bread is so bitter and sour, I cannot stand it without meat.”

“Yeah, just wait a second…Hoo, ho…Hmm?”

Lawrence was hunched over, striking the flint together, but the tinder of plant buds didn’t react at all.

“It is dry, right…? Here we go…”

He clacked the stones together again, but they weren’t making sparks very well. He never kindled the fires himself at the bathhouse, so he was entirely out of practice.

After a short struggle, Lawrence’s hands and hunched back started to ache, so he stretched out with a groan. That was when he noticed Holo’s cool stare.

“…Just…just a little more.”

“I hope so,” Holo said with a sigh, and Lawrence started striking the flint together again, refusing to give up.

He then heard three very deliberate-sounding yawns from Holo, but the fire still would not light.

“…I should’ve practiced before we left…”

“I worry for the future.”

He looked reproachfully at Holo as she muttered, but she turned away.

“Mrgh…”

As he stayed crouched, striking the flints together, all sorts of spots on his body began to hurt. His joints were clearly stiffer than they used to be.

He was amazed, finally understanding what it meant to get older, and came back to his senses when Holo remarked, “Honestly,” with a sigh. “If anger could start fires, then all I would have to do is tease you.”

Holo obviously had no intentions of blaming him anymore, and her attitude invited Lawrence to give an indignant response.

“No, if that was the case, then things would be faster if I invited a passing shepherdess to eat with us.”

“Oh, and what does that mean?”

“The Great Wisewolf should know what that means right away.”

Lawrence and Holo glared at each other and then sighed at the same time.

“’Tis fine, since we are not in the cold of winter yet, but…hard, dark bread and raw cured meat horrify me. Shall I make a quick run back to the bathhouse to retrieve some live coals for today?”

Holo’s true form was a massive, towering wolf; it would be easy for her to cross three mountains in a single night.

“No…Let’s leave that as our last resort…I appreciate the offer, though.”

“Hmm? Very well, then. I know you have your pride as a boy.”

Holo teased him, but he no longer believed that he would be able to kindle a satisfying fire.

“Considering how this is going, I feel like Myuri would be able to thrive outside the village much better than we can…”

Lawrence was truly upset at how pitiful he felt, and Holo, who was fundamentally a kind person, offered a troubled smile.

“True. She manages to hunt in the mountains in her human form, after all. Even I cannot do such a thing.”

While she could display her power as a wolf in all sorts of important ways, Holo was generally the little girl she appeared to be when in her human form.

On the other hand, though Myuri had the same physique as Holo, she could nimbly run through the mountains like an animal even while in human form. And above all, the most surprising things were her technical ability and intelligence. She could create traps to ensnare game, butcher her catch, tan the hide, dry the meat; then once she kindled a fire using her drilling technique, relying on her slender arms and untiring strength, she could string a bow with an animal’s tendon as she waited for the meat to cook.

She could flourish on her own in the mountains if they sent her out there.

“Mm, indeed. That little fool did try it once before, no?”

“Hmm?”

Holo stood as though recalling something, leaving the canopy to approach the cart.

As Lawrence wondered what she was doing, she pulled out a bag from the luggage piled on the cart bed.

“See, she once heard that the yellow powder could be used as kindling and made such a commotion when she tried it in the hearth, remember?”

“Right.”

Lawrence instantly remembered and smiled wryly.

When he recalled that moment, he could actually detect the bitter taste filling his mouth again.

“She learned that from Mr. Luward, didn’t she? A way to start a fire quickly.”

“Why not give it a go? I’m sure ’twould not be a problem if it smells foul…Well, I shall still separate myself,” Holo said as she placed the bag before him. It was stuffed with the sulfur powder harvested from the baths.

“I’ve heard that a pure hunk of sulfur is better for kindling, but…Well, I’ll give it a shot.”

He suspected that his trouble was because of his failure to use the flint effectively in the first place, but Holo wasn’t alone in rejecting the idea of camping outside without a fire. Lawrence decided to try everything he could, so he scattered the sulfur onto the tinder and even rubbed some on the dried grasses and twigs.

He then crouched down and struck the flint together…and a bright-red flame suddenly burst from the cottony tinder.

“Ooh!”

Even though it wouldn’t have been such an event way back when, Lawrence could not help voicing his delight. The sulfur probably had very little to do with it; he was sure he had recovered his strength after a bit of a rest.

Either way, he didn’t plan on letting the embers go to waste, so he covered them with his hand, breathed on them, and once smoke started to rise, he transferred the flame to the dried grass. It grew larger in an instant.

Why, it’s easy after all.

Lawrence got up with a radiant look, and just as he was about to say those exact words to Holo, he realized she was gone. He looked around the area and found her hiding behind a distant tree, only her face showing.

“You don’t have to be so…”

It happened just as Lawrence started laughing.

He then heard a sputtering noise as though something was burning. He turned around and saw thick smoke rising from the fire.

Immediately afterward, he covered his face once he noticed the offensive stench.

It was metallic, like charred iron—the smell of sulfur. The discomfort didn’t stop at his nose—it left a bitter taste in his mouth and brought tears to his eyes.

“…!”

The odor was repulsive enough in his memory, but facing it in reality proved it smelled much worse than he remembered.

When Myuri had thrown the powder into the hearth without thinking, Lawrence could detect the nasty tang throughout the house for nearly a week afterward, and Holo had been sniffing it for nearly a month.

Not even Lawrence could bear the smoke anymore, so he ran toward Holo.

“You fool! Don’t come this way!”

Holo genuinely rejected him, as though the day they exchanged vows of love to stay together until death had never happened. Though Lawrence was slightly hurt, he stopped in his tracks because he saw Holo was holding bread.

He did not want to eat his dinner by that hellish fire, either.

He held his breath and returned to the fire, collecting his bread and the small cask full of ale before rushing to Holo.

Holo seemed grumpy as her nose wrinkled at his approach, but when Lawrence handed her the cask of ale, she reluctantly allowed him to sit next to her.

But she still gave Lawrence a displeased sniff and scrunched up her face.

“You shall be sleeping on your own tonight.”

Lawrence glared at her—Who was it again who suggested we use the powder?—but Holo wrapped her arms around her prized tail as though protecting it. She probably could not stand the thought of her fluffy tail smelling bad, especially considering how she painstakingly took care of it with rose oil.

Though true winter was still a while away, the mountain nights were cold. Having Holo’s fluffy tail and her childlike high body temperature made a big difference.

But that said, if he forced her to sleep together, she might actually grow angry with him.

Lawrence sighed, stared at the smoke billowing from the fire, and then sighed again.

Seeing how the first day of their trip had turned out made him worry about what was to come.

The next morning, Lawrence awoke with a sneeze, only to find Holo already sitting on the driver’s perch.

She was concentrating on writing something, probably her diary; she had not been able to write the night before because she refused to get close to the fire.

It frightened him slightly to imagine what sort of curses and complaints she was writing about him.

Whether it was because the sulfur powder had completely burned away or because his nose simply got used to the smell, he had managed to fall asleep by the fire the night before when it stopped smelling too terrible. Now, in the white ashes, the charcoal was glowing red.

“Is the smell gone?”

When Lawrence asked, Holo gave a big sigh. It was not terribly cold, but the air was damp, so her white breath danced in the morning sun.

“Somehow. Honestly, ’twould be very effective if you sold that as wolf repellent.”

“…I’ll think about it.”

Holo had meant it as a joke, so she flinched in response to Lawrence’s sincere reply.

“I guess we’ll have breakfast for now…We couldn’t eat anything warm last night.”

“You ate the meat from the pot, no?”

Lawrence shrugged as he added more fuel to the ash.

“I told you that it didn’t smell as bad as I thought it would, but you didn’t believe me.”

Holo groaned and stepped down from the driver’s perch.

“The sulfur on the cart is not as terrible, but you must quickly do something about all this.”

Last night, she had slept in the gaps between the bags of sulfur on the cart.

“You always used to get mad when I put something on the cart on our old trip. Fish, metal, anything.”

Once the fire started growing, Lawrence set up the iron pot, filling it with the cured meat and some eggs they had brought from Nyohhira. As long as the shells didn’t break, eggs kept well and added variety to meals, which made them valuable. They were often buried inside things like flour when stored for travel. Of course, on this trip, they were being kept inside the sulfur powder. As long as the eggs weren’t left in the bags for too long, the contents shouldn’t start tasting like the powder they were packed in.

“I would not be so angry if you brought along anything more delicious. Something like dried fruits or perhaps sugared ones.”

Her tail wagged as she spoke in rapt attention.

“Fool. Sweets are expensive.”

As Lawrence copied Holo’s usual insult, he made a slice in some bread, scooped up a serving of fried egg and cured meat with a spatula just as it was done cooking, then stuffed it into the bread along with a topping of cheese.

“Here.”

“Hmm.”

Holo took the bread, and just as he thought she would bite right into it, she stared fixedly at it.

“What is it?”

“Hmm.”

Holo stayed in place, her head hanging low from staring down at her food, only lifting her gaze to look at Lawrence.

“I did not eat any meat yesterday. I believe I should receive more now to make up for lost meat.”

He was astonished by the extent of her gluttony first thing in the morning, but he collected himself—he should not give in to her cajoling.

“No. Trips have itineraries. You know from our previous peddling journey that not sticking to the plan will land us in trouble.”

Holo always seemed like she wanted to do things her way, but she understood when pushing and prodding wouldn’t get her anywhere and could pull back at those times. That was because she could see the difference from Lawrence’s usual demeanor that often led to him spoiling her whenever she pressured him.

That was why when he spoke firmly for a change, Holo was evidently dissatisfied, but she nodded reluctantly.

“You have always been blockheaded.”

“Call it being careful.”

Holo glanced at Lawrence and shrugged.

That was most likely a sign that she was surprised he had the nerve to call himself that when thinking back on their old travels together. On his journey with her, he often tried showing off in front of her, intentionally getting himself involved in risky business.

And more importantly, not even a full day had passed since the night they ran into trouble with just one campfire. Lawrence was not very convincing.

“…Yesterday was our first day on the road in a long time. Things will go smoother from now on.”

He could not help but say that, sounding as though he was making excuses.

Holo, her mouth firmly attached to a bite of egg yolk, flitted her ears about as though reluctantly believing him.

Afterward, they reached the checkpoint along the river. Of all the tolls on the waterway, this one was the first or second largest. It was rather lively, considering it was also treated as the ending point of the highway that stretched all the way from the southern reaches of the continent.

Grains, processed meat, and metalwork flowed here from the continent; furs and lumber came from upstream; the bounties of the ocean and imports from faraway countries came from down the river.

Holo and Lawrence considered staying the night at an inn beside the checkpoint, but they arrived just before noon, so they simply broke for a meal and departed after a short break.

While they were doing so, the innkeeper suggested that they use a boat after hearing they were traveling along the river to reach the sea.

He was rather enthusiastic, but inns standing along the river often jointly owned boats with boatmen who went up and down the waterway, so convincing a guest to book passage on their boats meant innkeepers could make money from them twice over.

Monks not used to going abroad might readily take up the offer, but Lawrence was a former traveling merchant.

Holo hated camping outside and wanted to take the boat, but when Lawrence told her that the quality of food would go down accordingly after subtracting the price of the boat ride, she reluctantly accepted traveling across land.

Four days had gone by since they departed from Nyohhira.

“…So? What is it?”

Holo sat hunched over on the driver’s perch, resting her chin in her palm.

Lawrence, in contrast, held a map in one hand as he wandered in circles, puzzled.

“…I’m lost.”

Lawrence spoke in a frail voice, as though sentencing himself to death, fearfully looking up at Holo.

Holo did not smile at him kindly from her perch, but she was not angry, either.

“Hmm, I thought this might happen.”

“Maybe it really was out of kindness that you suggested taking a boat…”

He knew where it had all gone wrong.

He did not think there would be a problem, since the path that followed the river went all the way to the sea, but there had been a terrible landslide along the way, so the road depicted on the map had become blocked off.

And so they traveled along the new path that the locals had set out, but that one ended up crossing the roads that the hunters and woodcutters used, so Holo and Lawrence ended up becoming lost along the way there.

The road was smooth and wide enough for a cart to pass through, and there were charcoal huts dotting the trail, so he had assumed that it was a commercial road. By the time he had realized that there shouldn’t be any well-used charcoal huts on a new road, they had already cut across a bluff, passed over a ridge, and finally found themselves deep within woods that did not appear on their map at all.

“This is no longer my territory. Luckily, it does not seem there are any nuisances nearby.”

Holo turned toward the sky and sniffed the air.

She might have been looking up, but the flora here was completely different from what populated Nyohhira, with incredibly tall and wide trees growing here and there that almost entirely blocked out the sky.

The light barely reached the ground, so there were very few shorter trees, which actually made it quite easy for the cart to travel along the road.

Though it was dense, they could see oddly deep into the forest; sometimes Lawrence sensed a strange gaze on him, which made him shiver.

Those glances mostly belonged to foxes and deer, so as long as he was with Holo, the king of kings of the forest, there was hardly anything he needed to fear.

But Lawrence was human. He felt an instinctual fear of the abyss of the woods.

“This seems to be a land humans rarely ever enter. The path, too, is less a road and more a nicely flattened channel made by the natural streams of water that appear during heavy rain. There are quite a number of fallen leaves, which make it hard to tell for certain.”

Indeed—places similar to this that were very much like traps for humans existed in the mountains.

Luckily, their cart was stuffed with bags of terrible-smelling sulfur, and Holo had the nose of a wolf.

If all they needed to do was turn back, then there would be no problem.

“…Let’s retrace our steps. We won’t be able to tell which way we’re going, since we can’t know the position of the sun in a forest as thick as this.”

Just as Lawrence got ready to bring the horse around, he realized something.

Holo had gone entirely expressionless.

Lawrence was ashamed of how much of an idiot he was and spoke.

“You can be mad at me.”

That would put him more at ease.

Holo stared at Lawrence blankly.

“Mm-hmm…Mad?”

Lawrence shrugged in resignation, and Holo glanced around the area before sniffing.

“’Tis a regular thing for you to boast about taking care of everything.”

There was no bite or malice in her words, but that just made them hurt even more. Worse, Lawrence had no room to make excuses, so he had no right to be cross with her.

“Besides, ’tis not terrible that we came here.”

“…?”

Holo’s voice was calm like the forest in the rain.

“’Tis a nice wood.”

Even though they ended up lost as a result of skimping on boat fees, Holo wore a faint smile.

This was much more unsettling than having her hurl abuse at him, but the reason Lawrence suddenly started panicking a little was because he got the sense that Holo might suddenly vanish among the trees.

He hurriedly shook his head and looked around him at the woods once more.

“Nice…? It looks like a normal forest to me…”

Rather, without many shorter trees and much underbrush, it seemed like a forest of little value to Lawrence. The wind did not find its way in easily, either, given how thick the canopy was, which meant that it would be hard to find mushrooms. If anyone started cutting down the massive trees, which represented the sole source of value in this forest, the whole area would soon be barren.

“It may seem that way to you, but…’tis the scent.”

Holo closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Lawrence followed suit. He felt comforted by the smell of humus, but it was a common smell.

“Perhaps a human nose cannot tell. ’Tis the smell of syrup. The whole forest smells sweet. I think…these large trees are filled with syrup.”

“It doesn’t seem like there any are flowering, but…sap? If we can get some sap, we might be able to make a little side money.”

If they mixed some with glue, then they could use it to fill in gaps or to add flavor to distilled spirits.

However, Holo looked at him with a strained smile when he spoke like a merchant.

“That is what you always say.”

“It’s important. I have a big eater at home, you know.”

“And my master has no sense of direction.”

He could not argue with her in this situation.

Lawrence gave up on a counterattack and led the horse at a walk.

“You’ll have to tell me where to go. Or should we just press on and hope we come across a road that leads to the ocean?”

Holo seemed somewhat reluctant when she stared deep into the woods, eventually sighing lightly.

“Should I return to my wolf form, I will be able to sniff out the right direction straightaway. But even if I do, this cart cannot go straight through here. I believe it will be faster in the end if we return to a man-made road for now.”

A forest with cliffs was also bound to have marshes. Getting lost, even with Holo beside him, was because not all roads stayed straight. But just as Lawrence was about to apologize to Holo for his foolishness, something happened.

“Hmm?”

Holo sat up straight and stared into space.

“What is it?”

Holo’s ears twitched left and right. Her ears were good enough to hear a flea cough.

There was no doubt that she would hear it right away if anybody tried to sneak up on them.

“What’s wrong? Is it a bear or a stray? Or…bandits?”

Lawrence immediately leaped onto the driver’s perch and took the dagger out from under his seat.

It was impossible to avoid danger during travel.

Just as he readied himself for whatever might come at them, Holo spoke.

“’Tis a bee. Unusual for this season.”

“A bee?”

Before long, Lawrence could also hear the faint hum of wings.

But as he sat there, looking around trying to spot one, Holo suddenly grabbed his arm.

Her nails painfully dug into him.

“Wh-what?! Ouch, what’s—?”

Holo’s widening eyes cut Lawrence off, and the fur covering her ears and tail stood on end like a stiff brush.

“Oh, ah, ooh…”

Holo’s voice barely made any coherent sounds, rumbling in the depths of her throat. Lawrence thought at first that there might be a huge swarm of bees approaching, but what slipped out from behind one of the large trees was just a single, regular bee.

But the moment he thought something seemed a little off, Holo screamed.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”

Lawrence did not even have the time to be shocked by the scream the likes of which he had never heard coming from her before. She rubbed her face against his chest like a rabbit trying to crawl into its hole. Her ears lay flat on her head and her tail was puffed and swollen, like she was under a thundercloud.

He was puzzled, unsure of what was causing such alarm. Then he noticed the single bee lazily drawing closer.

It did not seem particularly angry. In fact, the bee seemed more confused as to why humans were there.

But as the buzzing grew louder, Holo started to tremble harder. It worried him—he had no idea she was so scared of bees. She loved honey and happily ate bee larvae fried in oil because it was hot and delicious like lily buds. Or perhaps it was because this was a special sort of bee? The bee was indeed a little odd. Its black-and-yellow-striped pattern seemed typical, but for some reason, a white string hung from its body.

Lawrence stared at the bee as it buzzed overhead.

Holo shivered in his arms like a squirrel afraid of a rampaging dragon.

As Lawrence watched the bee leisurely passing before them, he noticed something.

“Oh, it’s…”

He unconsciously reached out.

He caught it easily.

It being the string hanging from the bee.

Lawrence immediately undid the hand towel on his waist and suddenly wrapped it around the struggling bee.

While he listened to the angry buzzing, he realized that Holo was staring at him, all the color having drained from her face.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

Holo wouldn’t have made such a face even if he suddenly threw everything in his wallet onto the street. She gave a sidelong glance at the bundle of cloth like it was an atrocious thing and then immediately hid her face again.

“Throw it away, quickly!”

Lawrence shrugged and said, “What’s the matter? It’s just a bee.”

Holo immediately tensed.

She had many traits that were maiden-like, but he felt like being afraid of bees was not one of them.

“Don’t tell me this is a bee that’s like one of you?”

—A creature that lived for centuries, that understood the human language, like a spirit of the forest.

If that was true, then he thought this was very rude of her, but Holo buried herself deeper into his chest and shook her head. Her tail was still quivering.

It was then that Lawrence, with a questioning look, peered at the bee angrily buzzing its wings inside the cloth.

“I—I…I cannot…”

“Hmm?”

“I cannot…bear it…”

Holo spoke weakly, her voice shaky due to her tears.

“That insect is being eaten by another insect…is it not? It sickens me to think of it…”

“Oh…Ohhh.”

When she said that, it finally clicked.

People had their strengths and their weaknesses. Even the most stalwart of soldiers could find themselves frozen in a high place, and the most devout of monks who loved all of creation could still lose themselves when faced with a spider.

He had never heard of Holo being unable to handle bees and other bugs. But there were some things she simply could not deal with on an instinctual level. That turned out to be insects afflicted by parasites. Anyone who traveled through mountains and forests would sometimes come across unsettling sights that could be thought of only as the darker parts of the world.

“Hmm…But…”

When Lawrence brought the cloth closer to Holo, she shrank back, almost rolling off the driver’s perch.

“Eek!”

“H-hey, come on—that’s dangerous.”

“N-no! No!”

While he thought about how cute she was when she was this desperate, Lawrence spoke.

“The thing hanging from the bee isn’t a parasite. It’s just a string.”

Holo shook her head, as though declaring that she wouldn’t be fooled by his lies.

But when Lawrence sighed with a troubled smile, Holo finally lifted her head slightly.

“R-really…?”

As Holo’s childlike attitude stirred something in his heart he had never felt before, Lawrence responded.

“Yeah. I’m sure.”

Holo must have been able to hear that he was not lying, but he also understood why she still doubted him nonetheless.

“Th-then…why is it…here…?”

“You’re asking why there’s a bee with a string around it, right? A bear can’t use a spool, after all.”

But Lawrence had an idea.

“You said not many people enter this forest, right?”

“…? Y-yes.”

Holo raised her head and responded, but when the bee in the cloth buzzed, she tensed up again.

“I think someone might be poaching the bees.”

“…”

Holo stared at Lawrence with widened eyes and then looked to the cloth.

“…Do you mean to say ’tis a marker?”

Of course the wisewolf would sniff that out.

“But I have never seen such a thing in Nyohhira…”

“It’s because the mountains are treacherous out there. You wouldn’t be able to follow a bee in those parts. But this forest has great sight lines, so you can tie a string around a bee as a flag and follow it back to its hive. But…if they’re doing this here, then it’s a poacher who doesn’t want anyone else to see them. Nobles and people like that normally own forests, so beehive hunting costs money.”

“Mm…So that means…” Holo peered up at Lawrence. “There…is a hive nearby…?”

“I don’t know if it would be full of honey at this time of year, though.”

The harvest time for beehives was between spring and early summer.

But hives filled to the brim with honey could be worth harvesting even in the dead of winter.

Holo rubbed her watering eyes and sniffed.

“A beehive…”

“That sure cheered you up.”

Holo pouted and glared at him when he teased her.

“Should we follow it?”

Holo had large, triangular animal ears and a fluffy tail. She seemed like the type who would run at full speed after a leather ball stuffed with sheep’s wool.

She would rage at being treated like a dog, but her tail was already restlessly whipping back and forth.

“But a bee’s territory can be large. Do we…have time?”

On the surface, Holo always seemed to want things to go her way, but this was her true nature. Whenever something she truly wanted appeared before her, she hesitated. She had been the same way with Lawrence. It had been Holo who once upon a time wanted to end their journey together before she fell even more in love with him.

On the other hand, Lawrence was a merchant. He greedily reached out to anything he realized he wanted.

And Holo’s smile sat at the very top of it all.

“I guess we’re not enjoying the true pleasures of travel as planned, are we?” He then added, “We had a rough time starting a fire, and now we’ve veered way off track.”

Holo raised her shoulders and giggled.

Lawrence acted clownishly as he rubbed Holo’s cheek with the back of his finger.

“Plus, I got to see a side of my traveling partner I had no idea existed.”

Even though he knew Holo down to the direction of the swirl of hair at the base of her tail, he never thought she would hate the sight of one bug being consumed by another so much that it would make her cry.

Realizing that one of her weaknesses had been discovered, Holo stared up at Lawrence with a frown.

“…Fool.”

Lawrence was confident that he could easily love her for another hundred years.

“Then I guess we’ll go chase the bee. We’ll be fine leaving the cart here, right?”

“This is not a place for humans to enter. There are likely no thieves around. As for our surroundings…I believe this spot should be fine because of the smell.”

“Right, the sulfur. Should we take a bag and scatter the powder on the path?”

“Hmm. Let me think…Ah, I see. Heh-heh.”

Lawrence looked to her, and she was delightfully giggling.

“’Twas part of a fairy tale, no? Children lost in the woods, leaving a trail of bread crumbs to find their way home…”

“Yeah, there is a story like that, but you look like you came straight from a fairy tale yourself.”

Holo blinked and then smiled.

Lawrence handed the bundle of cloth to Holo and then immediately started collecting tools that would come in handy for quickly harvesting a beehive. He retrieved an empty linen bag; a pole usually used for propping up a tent corner, measuring the depth of mud, or chasing away stray dogs; some firewood; and a set of flint. Then he gathered all the spare cloth he could find to cover his face and body.

And lastly, sulfur powder to mark their path.

“All right, now we can go.”

Holo nodded firmly and unfurled the bundled cloth.

They thought the furious bee might sting them at first, but after buzzing in circles out of evident confusion, it flew off, heading deeper into the woods.

Holo and Lawrence weren’t following very fast, but since they were walking with their eyes on the string, Lawrence tripped and almost fell more than once.

Holo’s physical strength matched that of the young girl she appeared to be, but her wolflike qualities were obvious, given the way she skillfully threaded through the mountainous terrain. She turned around to watch Lawrence stumble along, then immediately walked backward nonchalantly toward him, grinning all the while.

“Come now—you must give it your all to keep up.”

She whirled around and leaped off.

Her fluffy tail bounced about before him, and Lawrence found himself relying on her tail’s guidance to stay on course.

He frantically followed after her as she walked lightly, crunching the leaves beneath her steps and bounding over massive tree roots.

She occasionally looked back, a happy, joyful, and teasing smile playing across her face.

Even back at the bathhouse, Holo often teased him about failing to stay in shape, so he defiantly managed to at least keep his footing. However, she seemed to enjoy watching him do that as well.

After the distance between them grew to a certain point, Holo stopped, perhaps because the bee had also stopped somewhere, allowing Lawrence to finally catch up to her.

“Phew, hah…I’m not really sure if I’m following the bee or you anymore.”

He breathed hard and aired out his clothes. The air was mostly still in this forest, so it felt dreadfully humid when they moved about.

“Is it because you are always so enraptured by my tail? Are you having a good time?”

Holo showed not a hint of appreciation for his hard work, but Lawrence found himself following that mischievous smile of hers.

“Oh yes, this is just the best,” he responded with displeasure, and Holo chuckled, then looked up with a hum.

“We begin anew.”

“Okay, okay.”

The bee flew from the tree, staggering through the air. Lawrence occasionally dropped some sulfur so they would not forget the way back to the cart.

At this point, for all intents and purposes, Lawrence had no idea where the cart might be. They were so far from any sort of civilization that if Holo abandoned him, then he surely would wind up dead in a ditch somewhere. But when that crossed his mind, he doubted that he would be able to live at all if she did such a thing, the thought of which brought a wry smile to his face.

“Listen.”

Holo abruptly stopped and called out to him, bringing him to a sudden halt.

“Hmm? Whatever is the matter?”

She peered at him questioningly, but he brushed it off, pretending he had sweat in his eye.

“No, what’s up with you?”

“Mm-hmm. The hive is near. The buzz is loud. ’Tis quite large.”

Her bright, fang-baring grin was so charming, it was almost unbelievable that she had been shaking in his arms just minutes before.

Their peaceful, repetitive life in the bathhouse was also undeniably wonderful.

But traveling together was just one surprise after another. It was a chance to discover the unexpected side of people.

And it was all the more fun with a partner as emotive as Holo.

“What shall we do next?”

With her varied expressions, she quickly put on a more serious one as she spoke.

And he could tell that she was not as serious as she seemed.

“What do you mean? The best thing would be to have you go take the hive in your wolf form. You have thick fur. You probably won’t get stung too much.”

After turning to him with a reproachful look, her intentions to do no such thing clear, she offered him a flirting smile, typical of a girl who knew how cute she was.

“Are you not averse to relying on my wolf powers?”

“…”

That was true, but that issue had more to do with his pride, so it was not a problem when it came to harvesting beehives in the forest…is what he wanted to tell her, but arguing with her would just be a waste of breath.

Not only had they gotten a late start and ended up having to sleep roughly on the very first day, he had been unable to light a fire, and after everything else, he had gotten them lost.

If he could not manage to recover here, then he had no idea what Holo might coax out of him in the future.

“I guess it’s a knight’s job to walk into the jaws of death for his princess.”

Lawrence lowered the load from his shoulders, crouched down, and started getting ready. Holo cackled and remarked, “What an unreliable knight you are,” as she hung over Lawrence’s back and wrapped her arms around him.

He was glad she was in a good mood.

Lawrence wrapped cloth over his face, neck, wrists, and ankles, leaving only his eyes exposed before starting the fire.

It lit immediately.

“We chase the bees away with smoke, yes?” Holo confirmed with him.

Lawrence attached the twigs to the end of the pole in the shape of a bird’s nest, drove the butt into the ground at his feet, and placed the slightly damp leaves on top with the embers.

White smoke soon began billowing upward.

“This little smoke is mostly just for peace of mind.”

“Is that so?”

“If we burned so much that we found it hard to breathe, then it would definitely be effective, but…Well, there’s so much foliage underneath the hive that I’m sure the fire would spread…What is it?”

Holo was staring off into space in response to Lawrence’s explanation. For a moment, he entertained the idea that perhaps she pitied how her husband would be stung all over, but instead, she pointed.

“Why not use that?”

“What?”

She was suggesting that they use the devil’s powder that summoned hell itself when a single pinch of the substance was added to a fire.

“Well, that’s…”

Lawrence faltered but then decided it was worth it.

“We’ll give it a try. Now that you mention it, we don’t usually see any bugs in Nyohhira.”

The smell of sulfur permeated the village they called home. Plenty of withered trees could be found throughout the area around Nyohhira as well, so it was understandable that many depictions of hell were described with the odor of burning sulfur.

“Also.”

“Mm?”

Holo stared blankly, and Lawrence proudly spoke.

“If this goes well, we can tap into a whole new market for all that powder.”

Holo, who had said herself that it would be effective as wolf repellent, shot him a grim smile.

“You would make money even if you slipped down into that hell the Church speaks of so often.”

How lucky Lawrence was as a merchant to hear such a compliment.

In the end, they managed to collect the hive. It was on the larger side, so they could expect to harvest quite a lot of honey from it.

The price he paid for it was a bitterness he felt deep in his lungs whenever he coughed, plus three stings on his face, two on his neck, and five apiece on his hands and legs, plus the burning stench of sulfur that came off him in waves, so potent that even he could smell it.

But his prize?

A smile from Holo so great that it made her eyes literally sparkle.

“Mmmmmm! So sweet!”

The hive was so grand that simply smoking it had not been enough to kill the bees inside. They would have to keep it in a sack and process it later, but before they put it away, Holo had broken off a piece of the hive, saying it was for “taste testing,” and stuck her spoon into it.

Honey immediately trickled out and clung viscously to her spoon. It had a deeper color than the honey Lawrence usually saw and practically resembled hard candy.

Ultimately, the honey was so good that Holo’s tail waved energetically even as she brought the spoon to her mouth and caused her to raise her voice in a cry of delight right after.

“Let me have a lick,” Lawrence requested, and Holo, sitting on the driver’s perch, looked at him like he was a dreaded debt collector.

After grudgingly shutting her eyes, as though to say she knew that the one who had bravely volunteered himself to obtain this honey for her was none other than Lawrence, Holo extended her spoon toward him.

With a tired smile, Lawrence scooped a bit onto his pinkie and had a taste. He was struck by a heady sweetness that did not belie the honey’s impressive appearance.

And not only was it sweet, but there was also a peculiar scent about it, as though the honey carried the faint fragrance reminiscent of a decomposing tree, imparting a sense of what it smelled like deep inside a forest. Naturally, it had an excellent effect on the taste, giving its flavor more depth.

“This is incredible. What kind of syrup is it?”

“You can taste it as well, no?” Holo said, savoring the honey as she licked the spoon. “’Tis born of the large trees in this forest. Syrup of the trees.”

“Tree syrup…Sap, huh? Interesting.”

Now that he thought back on it, the bee had stopped at a tree on the way back to the hive.

Lawrence learned that day that bees did not collect nectar only from flowers.

“I wonder if the poacher knew the secret of the nectar here.”

Someone else had wrapped a string around the bee before they arrived.

“I wonder as well. Bees always cross unbelievable distances. Perhaps it got collared when it became lost on a faraway mountain.”

Whoever attached the string to their guide had not found the beehive, so what Holo said was entirely possible.

“But boy, we sure picked up a big one.”

Lawrence had finished putting away the tools he had used to secure the hive and was reexamining the large sack sitting on the cart bed.

“I wasn’t sure what was going to happen for a second there.”

This deed of his should have been enough to clear his name of the trip’s earlier blunders, and he wouldn’t be surprised to have a little left over after the exchange.

Holo, still greedily licking her wooden spoon, noticed Lawrence’s gaze on her and huffed.

“Were you planning to curry my favor with sweets?”

Her reddish-amber eyes stared straight at him, but Lawrence paid them no mind as he climbed up onto the driver’s perch and sat next to her. She deliberately pinched her nose and scooted away from him.

“Of course I am. If we take that into the next town, we could get enough honey to fill an entire hand bucket.”

“Ooooooh.”

Seeing how Holo’s eyes glittered in expectation, Lawrence didn’t even bother with a wry smile.

He flicked the reins, and the horse moved forward.

“Sheesh, good and back luck really are two sides of the same coin, aren’t they?”

A great man once said that good fortune and ill fortune were interwoven, like a rope. Lawrence was certain those wise words were perfectly accurate.

“I would prefer it if you could find a coin with good luck on both sides, though.”

When Holo spoke spitefully, Lawrence had a response ready.

“Don’t you always crave something salty right after eating sweets? It’s the same thing.”

“Perhaps you are right.”

Holo then placed her hand on Lawrence’s, which gripped the reins, and snuggled up to him.

“We got lost because a salty someone skimped on a boat. I sure hope that I am treated veeery well in the next town.”

“Huh? Wait, that was—”

“‘That was’ what exactly, hmm?”

Lawrence was at a loss for words in the face of Holo’s bright smile.

When she cocked her head slightly, he finally released the breath he had been holding.

“The price we get for the honey. That’s your limit.”

Lawrence glanced over to Holo, and she beamed, pleased.

“Ha-ha. What a fun trip, no?”

She squeezed her arms around him tighter, clinging to him.

Maybe he should point out that she never complained about him being smelly at times like this.

But even if Holo was behaving rather deliberately, that didn’t necessarily mean she was acting that way only for show.

Lawrence could see the difference between his beloved wife’s real and fake smiles.

“Yeah, it’s fun. So, so fun,” Lawrence said. “I’m here with you, after all. Of course it’s going to be fun.”

Holo’s eyes widened, and her ears and tail began to twitch.

They were deep in the woods, far from any human settlement.

Making the excuse to no one in particular, Lawrence wanted people to know that if anyone could smell something particularly sweet nearby, it had to be the beehive in the back and nothing else.