Spice and Wolf - Volume 24 - Chapter Ep

EPILOGUE

“How long has it been since I last saw you, Eve?!”

That was the very first thing Kieman said when he arrived at the Karlan council with Matthias and saw Eve.

“Do you need lumber that badly? Well, goodness me! Kerube has so much high-quality lumber from Lenos!”

Lawrence hung his head, as though trying to endure a headache in response to Kieman’s enthusiasm, but Holo was enjoying herself.

Eve, of course, did not outwardly show her surprise, but she glanced at Lawrence as he hung in the back, her sharp gaze asking him what the meaning of all this was.

Lawrence, putting on the performance of his lifetime, simply shrugged, acting as a victim who just so happened to get swept up in it all.

“You would not believe what happened when I went to Lord Matthias to discuss his debt. He said he simply could not stand the thought of his precious trees getting cut down, and he even had quite an argument with Lawrence! Lawrence, too, has interests in the Salonia wheat fields, so he, too, was quite upset about losing the forest. I simply could not ignore this problem! I thought long and hard about this!”

Kieman rambled on and on as though it were the truth, and Matthias stood beside him, silent.

Matthias had deliberately run some oil through his mustache to make it stand a bit on end, and he wore a rustic coat made from bear pelt.

He decided it would be much more effective to play the part of a stubborn lord, trying to keep his anger in check, who had come face-to-face with a woman he did not trust, instead of ranting endlessly about things that he was not familiar with.

“And once we collected the information—what do you know!” Kieman clapped his hands and grinned, bearing his canines. “It turned out you’d be making quite a profit out of this arrangement.”

It was Kieman’s idea to barge in on the Karlan council uninvited; they did not even let the city authorities know ahead of time.

He and Matthias decided that made it obvious that the plan came from a brazen representative from Kerube and a landowning noble who did not understand the subtleties of polite society. They would think it was unlikely the idea came from the former traveling merchant who stood quietly in the corner.

Of course, the Karlan authorities who did not know what was going on behind the scenes were clearly reeling and confounded by this development, worried that their entire project would soon be nothing but foam on the sea.

“And that is when my humble self thought, as a member of the Kerube City Council, why not link arms with Karlan by virtue of trade?!”

Eve was not the only one who exclaimed in surprise—those from Karlan did, too.

“Kerube is three, four times the size of this city and maybe even more, but we cannot trade in everything. And that is why I’ve decided to come to Karlan today. You venture in search for new horizons, so I am here to propose a product that would be perfect for you!”

The last dramatic sentence was not meant for Eve, but for the benefit of those sitting on the Karlan council. It sounded highly suspect, yes, but the letter Kieman produced from his pocket was not something the people of Karlan could turn down.

All eyes turned to rest on a plump merchant, who seemed to be the most important person on the council, who reluctantly reached to take the letter on behalf of the rest of the council.

“…Petition for long-term trade of woolen goods?”

When the merchant from Karlan read it out loud, Eve’s brow furrowed for the first time.

“Don’t sell the lumber you get from Tonneburg to the kingdom in exchange for wool. Why not stock up on woolen goods and export those instead?”

Those of the council curiously exchanged glances before one spoke up, “Honorable Kieman of Kerube, there are no cities in the vicinity that can manufacture enough woolen goods to sell. You must know this. From where are you proposing we purchase these things? As far as I’m aware, even your city buys them from faraway lands. Are you telling us to purchase it at an even greater price, then sell it ourselves?”

Kieman closed his eyes, nodding along as though deeply considering what the other was saying.

“No need to worry. The one who will be supplying you with the stock is Lord Tonneburg himself.”

With a gesture of his hand, all eyes turned to Matthias, like birds, but the sullen man made no movement, so their gazes went elsewhere again, like birds.

“L-Lady Bolan…”

From the way the councilmembers did not call her by her first name, it was clear there was a difference in status between them.

Eve, who sat silently and sullenly just as Matthias did, suddenly spoke up.

“I know how thread is supplied.”

The best merchants never lost composure in the face of unforeseen circumstances.

She was using every ounce of her ability to get a grasp on the situation before her, much like a mercenary would do in battle.

“With wood from the forest, you can make weaving tools and keep costs down. You can get the ash needed to wash the wool and the bark necessary for dyeing the wool in the forest as well. All the refugees you’ll be taking in will provide the hands needed to spin all that thread. However…” Eve paused. The kingdom produced plenty of wool but was not known for manufacturing woolen goods—as a merchant who hailed from this land, she knew this, and her tone made that obvious. “The problem is always going to be in the fabric-making process. You’ll need rivers to move the fulling mills, and plenty of water for the dyeing process.”

The kingdom had few mountains and few forests, which meant they were lacking in both the necessary ingredients for turning wool into fabric. And that meant it was much more profitable for them to sell on the wool raw instead of wasting time by spinning it. Once spun, places that offered jobs to those wanting to spin the wool would no longer buy it, which meant fewer buyers, and a waste of time.

But it was because of that, that only a small portion of the cost of a piece of clothing would find its way back to the kingdom.

“We have water,” Matthias spoke up at last. “But it is currently sealed.”

Eve frowned, but her eyes then widened like a gushing spring.

The wolf of the human realm immediately turned her attention to Lawrence and Holo.

Kieman followed her gaze and took the opportunity to speak up.

“I’d heard they’d so cleverly found a spring in Nyohhira. And not long ago in Salonia, they found a water vein by looking at maps as clues to the whereabouts of a river that was buried in ancient times.”

Eve was scarcely listening to what Kieman had to say, but she did not need to. She had immediately realized how Lawrence and Holo had really found the underground water, confirmed it was abundant enough for use, and how they should collect and use it.

As Lawrence stood there, thoroughly pretending like he had been dragged into this, Holo stood beside him with her chest puffed in pride.

“This means you can procure your fabric in Tonneburg. Then we in Kerube will order wool from the kingdom, and our great population will spin plenty of thread. And then, in return for the wool, we will provide the kingdom with lumber from Lenos. Karlan and Kerube will take the spun thread to weave it together, and have it fulled, or even perhaps dyed, in Tonneburg. The finished product will all be exported from Karlan. Naturally, I hope that you will offer us priority in purchasing the finished goods over other cities.”

When Kieman said that, the people from Karlan began whispering among themselves, as though relatively pleased with this deal.

“And so we shall repeat this every year. No one here will lose out with the proper price attached to it,” Kieman said, with a forced tone, and flashed a brilliant smile.

This meant he was doing the exact same thing in return to Eve, who was building a road all for herself with the materials she wanted, only going through the motions to seem justified.

No one was acting on evil motives, and no one was making excessive profits.

But the merchant who realized that the genius idea would not allow one single person to win out over the others if all goes well, would only lose all the extra money she thought she would be making.

No, Lawrence thought. Perhaps profit was only secondary for Eve.

That was because in the face of Kieman’s prideful win, Eve grit her teeth under her smile, yet that was not the expression one would make when embroiled in a family feud over gold.

They wore not the spiteful expressions of battling merchants, but of children quarreling with each other.

“The Kingdom of Winfiel will obtain lumber from us in Kerube in exchange for the wool you sell by your hand, Great Merchant Eve, and this budding harbor town of Karlan will trade in their new product of woolen goods, which will allow them to expand. Then Tonneburg will no longer have a reason to cut down swathes of their sacred wood. Oh, God! God bless us!”

Kieman, who most definitely did not believe in God, exclaimed this epiphany, yet the brazenness of it made it sound genuine. Either way, the Karlan officials were starting to understand the advantages of this new plan.

If they were to take in religious refugees on Eve’s request, then the city needed to find a trade that would last. There was a bit of unease as to whether or not the work of cutting down the Tonneburg Woods had the same longevity, and more importantly, the lord himself was not particularly enthused about the idea.

But if the chain of trade, including the entire process of converting raw wool into finished product, supplanted it, there could be nothing better.

Wool itself, after all, was always going to be well received, as were woolen goods.

“There we have it, Lady of the Bolan Company,” Kieman began, taking a step toward Eve. She stared up at him in return, but both of them were smiling.

“Did my defeat come about because I didn’t have them by my side?” Eve mused and closed her eyes, but then immediately opened them and looked to the people of Karlan. “So long as I can trade lumber for wool in the name of the kingdom, and in the name of faith, I am fine with this.”

The people of Karlan gathered around Kieman’s letter, and they all looked to the lord of Tonneburg with bated breath.

“I will need your knowledge and cooperation in order to create fabric in my territory, and I will need your boats in order to deliver the finished fabric to the necessary places.”

Those of Karlan then turned to Kieman.

“I have been tasked with helping those who have fallen on hard times in Kerube. You must understand. We need as much wool-spinning work as we can get.”

Even those who were searching for their own profits separately and ran the risk of all failing at the same time could have things change in their favor with one little factor. By deftly weaving all that together and adding new material to the mix, Eve had changed it even further.

The Karlan officials exchanged glances, then nodded.

“By God’s…graces!”

“By God’s graces!”

When they all joined in chorus, Eve was the only one who shrugged and took a swig of her stiff drink.

After a simple exchange of notes with the people of Karlan, Kieman mentioned needing to bring this to the attention of the Kerube council right away, so he procured a fast horse and left in high spirits. After watching Kieman leave from the council building, Matthias finally spoke up.

“I would like to give you thanks on behalf of myself and all my ancestors for protecting our forest.”

Meyer, who stood behind and a bit to the side of Matthias, dressed a little more formally than his usual farmer-like attire, looked as though he was about to cry. The suave airs he had put on when he first approached Lawrence were gone; perhaps he was typically like this when he wandered the forest, looking at the trees.

“Oh, it was nothing. Protecting the Tonneburg Woods was also protecting the Salonia wheat fields, and by extension, the dinner tables of those who live in the north, where wheat doesn’t grow.”

It was a bit of an exaggeration, but it was not a total lie.

And Lawrence, personally, wanted a different sort of reward.

“About your honor.”

“Yes?”

“I will carve your glory into the trunk of the forest’s greatest tree.”

Lawrence understood this was Matthias’s way of showing his deepest gratitude, but Lawrence instead said, “I appreciate it, and it is an honor. But I am an outsider. If possible, I’d prefer you’d carve my name in smaller writing on a smaller tree.”

What was the point in harming the forest’s greatest tree after going through all the trouble of trying to save the forest?

Holo, who would return at some point in the future, would surely prefer that as well.

“Hmm… I see. Goodness, if someone like you were a lord of Salonia, then I would work that much harder every day.”

Matthias clapped a hand to Lawrence’s shoulder. Those of the council called for him, and he turned to go back into the meeting hall. Meyer, who also turned to follow his master, stopped for a brief moment, stepped out of his way toward Lawrence, and whispered to him.

“I will prepare an excellent package for you containing all of the forest’s blessings, Sir Lawrence. Goodness me, I… I have no words to express my gratitude.”

He firmly grasped Lawrence’s hand, and Holo’s—whose eyes were shining when she heard the words excellent package containing all of the forest’s blessings—then rushed inside after Matthias.

“Hmm. ’Tis as though you are a real merchant of sorts.”

Everyone inside the council hall was filled with enthusiasm, hurriedly coming and going. Holo spoke quietly, feeling a bit out of place.

“Right?”

Lawrence looked aside to see Holo staring up at him. And after a moment, she chuckled, shrugged, and leaned into him.

“I am rather looking forward to see what sort of loving words you will have carved into the tree.”

Lawrence drew up his shoulders with a smile and said, “Me too.”

After a moment, who emerged from the assembly hall but Eve herself.

Holo offered her a mischievous smile, but Lawrence was nervous.

Watching her bark orders as she walked, like a real merchant of status, was honestly impressive, and it even made him a bit jealous.

Just as she was about to pass by Lawrence and Holo, as though she was paying no attention to them, suddenly stopped and said sharply, “Come to my inn later.”

And she left, without waiting for an answer.

Lawrence imagined the worst, but Holo’s tail was swishing back and forth as she licked her lips; she must have thought they were being invited to a feast. And considering Holo’s reaction, it was unlikely Eve was genuinely angry.

Afterward, the two returned to their own inn, took a small cask of the tavern’s best wine for a souvenir, then made their way over to Eve’s lodgings.

They knocked on the door, and when they were brought into the courtyard, they were met with a feast full of freshly grilled meats and fish.

Eve, in her chair, still seemed a bit sulky, but when she received her gift from Lawrence, she heaved a tired sigh.

“I won’t ask how much of that plan was your idea.”

It was as though she had been out enjoying a beautiful day when she got suddenly caught in a downpour, and at last made it home in a stupor. She spoke as she leaned back far in her chair.

“When did you realize this? The plan was supposed to be perfect.”

The way she spoke was not with a tone that blamed Lawrence for being a traitor, but almost complaining as though he had knitted the wrong pattern for her.

“It took a lot for me to realize that Kerube was being duped as well.”

Eve frowned, but the umbrella girl standing beside her smiled as she reached out to poke at the wrinkles between her master’s eyebrows.

“I know well how ferocious you can be. I thought so hard knowing you’d made sure everything was airtight. It was then that I realized that Kerube doesn’t have to be the bad guy in this situation.”

The secret to ruling over a land was to divide and conquer.

A ruler could easily control a people by making sure they never came together, and to make sure their interests conflicted with one another.

“If your old self were sitting there, you would have played the part of villain in order to show us that Kerube was evil. And I would’ve never imagined that Kerube was being toyed with, either.”

Eve had been skilled in concocting elaborate machinations in the past, too, but she was not truly irredeemable.

Her attachment to Col and Myuri was likely genuine.

Which meant that the shadier a project of hers felt, the wider were the gaps in its seams.

“Goodness. All of you are going to drive me mad.”

Eve took a swig of her ale—not wine this time—and tossed a few roasted beans in her mouth.

Just like old times, when she used to carry her own cargo and throw herself into the dangers of trade.

“You’ll still earn someone’s ire if you make a pretty penny out of this.”

The way Holo concentrated on her food made it seem as though Lawrence never fed her enough in general; Lawrence himself did not seem like he had really earned anything for himself. He was playing the part of calm and collected merchant as he always did.

“But I’m going to remember how you gifted that idiot gold on a platter.”

It seemed she was unhappy that Kieman got the upper hand over her this time.

“Well, I hope you send appropriate repayment to Kieman himself. From what I hear, he’ll happily take up your challenge.”

Yet again Eve stretched her smile into a grimace, and gulped down the rest of her ale.

Then, annoyed, she reached out to the plate of lamb ribs that Holo was hogging, deftly slipped by Holo’s defenses, and ripped into the meat as she started speaking again.

“That girl of yours sniffed out the feud between me and Kieman, and it seemed to amuse her. She thought we were friends. We’re obviously not.”

“What?”

Lawrence voiced his surprise, and Holo laughed beside him.

It was then that he recalled there was something he needed to ask.

“Oh, yes. About that.”

“What is it?”

Eve, who was trying to steal yet another piece of meat from Holo, glanced at Lawrence.

“You know where Col and Myuri are now, right?”

Holo pulled just a little too hard on a rib, and the soft, fatty meat fell from the bone. Eve immediately pinned it with her knife and drew it toward her, chuckling like a triumphant child.

“I don’t recommend seeing them.”

Lawrence thought he misheard her at first because she said it so casually.

“I’m being serious.”

She wiped away a drop of fat clinging to the corner of her mouth before turning to look at Lawrence.

“Not for your sake. But theirs.”

It did not seem like this was simple deception, but Lawrence could not help but glance in Holo’s direction, regardless.

“Would it weaken them?” Holo asked, crunching into cartilage.

Eve shrugged. “There are many people who keep a close eye on every single move of theirs. Picture their family coming in from the sticks, their idiot faces gawking at everything they see. What do you think would happen?”

People looking to use them would swarm them.

“Is that what things are like for them now?”

“Things are easy for them when they are in the kingdom—they have a lot of trustworthy allies around them there.”

For a brief moment, Lawrence pictured Myuri being spoiled rotten at the royal palace, and Col burying himself in the valuable tomes of a luxurious library, but there was no way to know if their life really was like that.

“I don’t know how you managed to get here, but you must’ve seen how much trouble they’re causing all over the world now that you’ve left Nyohhira, right?”

“We did. We even saw their mural in a port city called Atiph.”

Eve smiled at that.

“That’s what I’ve heard things are like in the north. But the farther south you go, the more serious things get.”

Eve turned her attention to Holo as she finished speaking, so Lawrence followed suit. He watched as Holo drank dry a mug of ale bigger than her head, and the hair on her ears bristled.

She burped. “I’d like wine next.”

The umbrella girl, watching in delight as Holo drank, seemed to at least understand some words. With a nod, she took Holo’s mug and walked off to the kitchen.

“Holo’s ears don’t shock her.”

“We have a sheep girl working for us, so.”

Lawrence recalled how Kieman mentioned that Eve was a good judge of wool.

That made sense now. Of course her trade would be going well.

“I understand your worry.” Eve dropped her gaze to the meat in her hands and shrugged. “I’m worried about them, too.”

Her facetious tone did show she was genuinely worried, but also stemmed from the embarrassment of knowing it was out of character for her.

“They are brilliant and straightforward, running at full speed along a path I never dared walk,” she said—she was a great merchant who had accumulated so much money she would never be able to spend all of it in her mortal life, yet there was envy in her expression. “If anyone dares to try and get in their way, I will go back to my old ways in a heartbeat.”

“Even if that anyone is their family?”

Eve did not answer. She only concentrated on her meat.

“You should go and see the world for yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. Walk the ground with your own two feet and you’ll hear about them more than you like. And if you still feel like you need to see them, do it then.”

Lawrence felt like he was being deceived somehow, and that was apparently obvious.

As she took the mug of wine from the umbrella girl, Holo turned a tired gaze to Lawrence.

“It seems all your old habits are still intact.”

“My habits?”

“Your lack of trust without looking, feeling, and holding things for yourself.”

As Eve sat opposite them, the corners of her lips curled upward.

“That’s where I always lose when I find myself relying on intrigue.”

“No drink suits every dish.”

There was a time and place for everything.

Lawrence was not sure if food and drink was the right way to describe that, but he got the gist of what they were trying to tell him.

“You mean to say there are other things we should be watching over.”

“Especially since they have left the nest.”

“Oh.”

Lawrence faltered; he was the one, after all, who commissioned a set of clothes for Myuri, hoping she would come back to the bathhouse because of it.

“You don’t need to worry about their immediate safety,” Eve said quietly and easily. “That innocent girl of yours is great at making friends like her. She has plenty of nonhumans on her side.”

“That many?”

Lawrence could tell by the way Eve smiled that she was exaggerating, but it did not seem to be a total lie.

“No need to protect them anymore. They’re having a great time in a world that you are not privy to. Know this, and give this world a little wander to convince yourself to give up.”

Her mischievous smile showed this was her payback for Kieman.

But he knew, at the same time, that it was the truth.

“I don’t think I’ve felt this way since I sold off the cart I used to trade with,” Lawrence muttered, and Holo patted him on the back.

It would have been nicer if her mouth had not been stuffed full of meat.

“And it’s surprisingly fun to travel without having to worry about trade. I’m your senior in that, you know.”

Eve once hid away in the hollow of a tree, nursing wounds that would not heal, moaning in pain. But even when that life became too painful, too foolish for her to bear, she had long lost the strength to pull herself out.

And that was when Holo came along and helped her out.

“There are plenty of foods I have yet to try, I reckon.”

“Should I get you a list?”

“You utter fool. That would sap the joy of finding them.”

As Lawrence watched the two wolves bicker, he brought his cup to his lips.

Eve was probably right. And there was no one sharper than Holo when it came to seeing the end of long roads.

Perhaps it was time to think about what the goal of seeing Col and Myuri actually meant.

Now they had a clear home to which they could return, and Col and Myuri themselves would come home if need be. Perhaps it was their job to make their beds, just in case they did.

“But that means,” Lawrence began. “Then maybe I should’ve taken all the credit for that idea.”

No amount of coin would ever be enough to pay for a world tour with a voracious wolf.

Holo’s large, red eyes blinked as she bit into the rare cut beef shoulder. “There is plenty of work to be done,” she said. “I doubt you will grow bored.”

She spoke brazenly.

Lawrence shrugged and took another sip of his drink.

He would be much too drunk, drinking on an empty stomach like this.

He had to remain sober so that Holo could eat and drink as much as she liked.

“May the road of trade last forever,” Eve smiled.

She glanced at the umbrella girl, signaling her to take up her instrument.

Though it was not too noisy, it was not too quiet, either—the feast felt like a seaside, summertime celebration, and it lasted well into the next day.