Spice and Wolf - Volume 4 - Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

Lawrence had been concerned that Elsa and Evan would have trouble getting their things together quickly, but perhaps thanks to Evan’s long-standing desire to leave, they were prepared in short order.

The supplies they had prepared contained nothing unnecessary, save perhaps for a battered book of scriptures. It was a passing grade.

“The passage?”

“I’ve found it,” said Lawrence. “It’s blocked by a wall.”

Directly opposite the foot of the staircase leading down to the cellar, there was a section of bare wall where no bookshelves had been set.

Once he knew that there was a passage out of the cellar, that was the first place Lawrence looked. After knocking a few times upon the wall, it was clear that beyond it was a hollow space. He kicked at it, causing cracks to form in the mortar between stones and eventually breaking through.

Beyond the wall was a perfectly round tunnel—so round it was eerie.

It was less a passageway and more of a cave or den of sorts.

“Shall we?” said Lawrence.

Under the watchful gaze of the Holy Mother, Evan and Elsa nodded.

Iima was probably still above them at the church door, keeping the villagers from doing anything reckless.

Lawrence took a deep breath and, candle in hand, headed into the tunnel. Holo followed immediately behind him with Elsa and Evan bringing up the rear.

There were still many unread books in the cellar. In one of them may well have been tales of Holo’s old companions.

And from a strictly mercantile point of view, the magnificently bound volumes were worth a fortune.

Lawrence very badly wished to bring one with him in order to add to their meager travel funds, but he didn’t have the nerve to try and bring a book chock-full of pagan stories along on such a trip.

In case of trouble, a book was silent and unhelpful, whereas the strange girl with her ears and tail could muster eloquence that no merchant could match.

And so Lawrence stepped farther into the tunnel.

His body was immediately surrounded by a strange chill. The tunnel was not high enough for him to stand up straight; he had to duck his head slightly to pass. It was narrow enough that he could touch both sides simultaneously with his outstretched hands. Fortunately, the air did not seem stale or moldy.

Candle in hand, Lawrence saw that the tunnel was as strangely circular as it had first appeared to be with large stones here and there deliberately and cleanly chiseled into the proper shape.

And yet the tunnel was not straight; it wound to and fro.

If the builders had not intended for the tunnel to be perfectly straight, then why go to all the trouble of deliberately carving it into these contortions? It made no sense to Lawrence.

The passage also had a raw, animalistic smell, which conveyed a sense of unease wholly different from the smells that filled the sewers of Pazzio.

Lawrence held the candle in his right hand and Holo’s hand in his left. He could sense a slight nervousness coming from her.

All were silent as they walked.

They had decided that Iima would close the entrance to the cellar after a time, but Lawrence now found himself worrying about whether she would open it back up for them should this tunnel turn out not to have an exit.

They proceeded forward nonetheless, undaunted. The passage had no branches off it despite its winding nature.

If a fork were to appear in the path, Lawrence knew he would probably succumb to the pressure and speak.

Silently, silently, they walked farther along the passageway. It was hard to know how much time had passed, but eventually they could detect snatches of fresh air amid the fetid smell in the tunnel.

“We are close,” murmured Holo, which elicited an obvious sigh of relief from Evan.

Taking care not to let the candle blow out, Lawrence quickened his pace.

Urged on by the unbearable eeriness of the tunnel, he saw moonlight in the space of time that it took to take three breaths.

Trees grew thickly around the tunnel’s other entrance, which made Lawrence assume that it was hidden between crags. But no—as he approached, he soon saw that was not the case at all.

The entrance was wide, seeming to almost gulp down the moonlight.

He had assumed the entrance would be situated in a hidden, inconspicuous location, but before it stood something that was distinctly altarlike.

As he approached to get a better look, Lawrence saw that a broad, flat stone had been placed carefully upon four square rocks. Upon the flat stone lay some dried fruit and wheat.

Surely not, Lawrence murmured to himself.

Holo likewise seemed to notice and looked at Lawrence.

A moment later, Elsa’s voice called out, “Th-this is—”

“Ha! Oh, this is great,” said Evan, laughing.

The tunnel that led from the church seemed to pass through a hill at the outskirts of the village, emerging on the opposite side.

If they followed the gentle slope down, there was a scattering of forest, and past that could be seen the faint reflection of moonlight off the brook.

When all four had exited the tunnel and made sure there were no villagers nearby, they looked back at the hole.

“Mr. Lawrence, do you know what that hole is?” Elsa asked.

“Not really.”

“It’s the burrow that Lord Truyeo used when he came from the far north to hibernate long, long ago.”

Lawrence had more or less guessed as much upon seeing the altar with the offerings on it, but his face still betrayed surprise when his suspicions were confirmed.

“Every year for sowing and harvest, the villagers come here to give prayers and celebrate. We don’t usually participate, but…why would the church passageway lead here?”

“I don’t know why, but it’s certainly clever. The villagers would never dare to enter,” said Lawrence.

Still, there were things about the tunnel that were strange.

If Father Franz had dug it, it was impossible to imagine that the villagers wouldn’t have noticed him doing so, and in any case, the villagers had been worshipping Truyeo long before the church was built.

Lawrence looked at Holo as he thought it over and saw that she was staring vaguely at the cave’s entrance.

Suddenly he understood—the strange twisting of the tunnel, the perfectly carved rocks here and there, and the complete lack of any bats despite the perfection of the cave.

And there was that raw, fetid smell.

Noticing Lawrence’s look, Holo smiled, then turned to look at the moon that hung in the night sky.

“Come, staying here is like asking them to find us! Let us first head down to the brook,” she said.

There were no arguments.

Elsa and Evan trotted through the dry grass of the hillside as Lawrence blew the candle out and took one last look over the area.

“Is this den real?” He hadn’t dared ask the question in front of Elsa and Evan.

“There was a great snake here. As to how long ago, that even I cannot tell.”

It might not even have been Truyeo.

It might have been sheer coincidence that the church’s cellar intersected with the path of the den. Properly speaking, the cellar had been constructed in the middle of the den, which probably continued past the cellar in the opposite direction.

Lawrence had no idea whether or not there truly was a giant snake curled up somewhere deeper within.

Holo regarded the entrance somehow both sadly and fondly as she spoke. “It just happened to make a burrow here, and yet people continuously come to worship. I doubt it has ever been able to get a proper nap.”

“That’s not the kind of thing a merchant who superstitiously follows the paths of the saints wants to hear.”

Holo smiled and shrugged. “’Tis hardly my fault humans are such queer creatures that they must find something to worship.” Her smile turned malicious. “Do you not wish to worship me?”

Lawrence knew she hated being worshipped and feared as a god, so she was clearly not being serious.

Yet he had no ready retort.

After all, when she was in a foul temper, he would offer her sacrifices to calm her.

Lawrence sighed and looked away; Holo chuckled.

Suddenly he felt her take his hand. “Let us go,” she said, pulling him along as she ran down the hillside.

He looked at her face in profile. She seemed less satisfied over her teasing of him and more relieved about something.

Perhaps seeing the den of Truyeo, who the villagers all worshipped, reminded her of her own past and the village she had once inhabited.

It was surely out of embarrassment over turning suddenly sentimental that Holo had resorted to teasing Lawrence.

She continued to run under the moonlight.

Aside from pretending not to notice, there was little Lawrence could do to help her with these pangs of weakness.

It made him feel completely useless, and yet Holo was still willing to take his hand.

Maybe this was the perfect distance to maintain, he mused—with just a bit of loneliness.

Such were the thoughts that occupied his mind as they descended the face of the hill to catch up with the pair that had reached the riverbank ahead of them.

“So, how do we escape?” asked Evan.

Lawrence handed the question off to Holo.

“We’ll need to first make for Enberch.”

“Huh?”

“We’ve been there once before. We’ll need some sense of the lay of the land if we’re to escape undetected.”

Evan nodded, as if to say, “Oh, I see.”

But Holo still looked vaguely displeased as she kicked pebbles around by the bank of the brook. She sighed. “Let me just say this,” she said, facing Evan and Elsa, who were still holding hands. “If you cower in fear, I’ll devour the both of you.”

Lawrence fought back the urge to point out that this statement itself was threatening enough. Holo was probably aware of that.

She was like a child who knew her demands were unreasonable but could not help making them anyway.

The two nodded, unsurprisingly taken aback by Holo’s manner. Holo looked to one side, seeming somewhat embarrassed herself. “Both of you! Turn around and look the other way! And you—”

“Right,” said Lawrence.

Holo pulled her hood back and removed her cape. She handed her clothes to Lawrence piece by piece as she removed each item.

Just watching her was enough to make Lawrence feel cold. Evan looked over his shoulder, apparently unable to resist peeking at the sudden sound of clothes rustling.

Holo did not have to snap at him because Elsa did it for her.

Lawrence sympathized with Evan.

“Truly, why is the human form so weak against cold?” Holo complained.

“It makes me chilly just looking at you,” said Lawrence.

“Hmph.”

She took off her shoes and tossed them to Lawrence, then finally removed the pouch containing wheat grains that dangled from her neck.

There they stood amid the bare-branched trees dimly lit by the moon.

The brook reflected the moonlight like a mirror.

Before that brook stood a strange girl with keen wolf ears and a fluffy tail that seemed to be the only warm part of her body.

It truly was a vision from a dream before daybreak.

White puffs of breath escaped from Holo’s mouth. She suddenly looked at Lawrence.

“Do you want words of praise now?” he asked with a shrug.

Holo gave him a defeated smile in return.

Lawrence turned his back to her, looking away.

There beneath the sparkling moonlight, the maiden became a wolf.

This world did not belong solely to the Church.

The proof of that was now no farther away than the opposite bank of the babbling brook.

“My fur truly is the finest.”

Lawrence turned and looked at the source of the low, rumbling voice and was met by a pair of red-tinged eyes shining back at him, bright as the moon.

“If you ever wish to sell it, just say the word,” said Lawrence.

Holo curled her lips back, revealing a row of sharp teeth.

He knew her well enough to understand this was a smile.

Now all that remained was the test of Elsa and Evan. Holo seemed to sigh, looking at their shapes, their backs still turned in the gloom.

“Hmph. Well, I cannot say my expectations were high. Come, climb upon me. ’Twill be bothersome if we’re discovered.”

A bird stalked by a dog lacks the strength to take off and fly, and despite Holo’s words, this was so of Elsa and Evan.

It was not until Lawrence circled around to stand in front of Elsa and Evan and gestured with his chin that they could bring themselves to turn around.

Even Lawrence had been terrified almost past the ability to stand when he had seen Holo’s true form for the first time.

In his mind, he applauded the couple for not fainting dead away.

“This is naught but a dream before daybreak, remember?” he said, looking particularly at Elsa.

They neither cried out nor tried to run, merely looking back at Lawrence for a moment before facing Holo again.

“So Father Franz wasn’t lying,” murmured Evan, which elicited a long-fanged smile from Holo.

“Come, let’s get on,” said Lawrence.

Holo heaved a great, weary sigh, then crouched down low.

Lawrence, Elsa, and Evan all climbed upon her back, each gripping her stiff, bristly fur.

“If you should fall, I will pick you up with my mouth. Be prepared.”

Evidently this was Holo’s standard warning when bearing humans on her back.

Elsa and Evan took the warning to heart, tightening their grip on her fur, which gave Holo a chuckle.

“Let us be off, then.”

She ran, every bit a wolf.

Riding on Holo’s back was like plunging into freezing water.

Her feet were terrifyingly swift. She traced a wide circle around the village, then made for Enberch, arriving almost immediately at the path she and Lawrence had taken into Tereo with the wagon.

Elsa and Evan were meanwhile feeling something well past mere terror.

Though they shivered uncontrollably, they themselves had no sense of whether this was out of cold or fear.

The path along which Holo ran was barely a path at all; her passengers would be pressed against her back one instant, only to be nearly flung off the next. They could not relax for a moment.

Lawrence clung to Holo’s fur with all his might, praying that Elsa and Evan behind him would not be tossed off.

It was hard to know how much time had passed, but after a span that seemed at once to be a crushing eternity and a brief nap, Holo’s run slowed to a stop, and she crouched down again.

No one asked if they had been spotted.

Holo was unquestionably the least tired of them all, despite carrying three people on her back.

Lawrence’s body was stiff and cramped, and he could not so much as loosen his hands’ grip on Holo’s fur—yet he could hear her tail brushing across the grassy ground.

She did not order her passengers off.

Holo no doubt understood that they could barely move.

She knew that if she had continued to run, one of her three passengers would surely have given out and fallen.

“…How far have we come?” It took Lawrence some time to muster the strength to ask a question.

“Halfway.”

“So is this a break, or—,” began Lawrence, when behind him, the exhausted Elsa and Evan seemed to twitch at the alternative.

Holo noticed their reaction as well.

“Our flight would be for naught if you die on the way. We’ve come far enough that it would take a horse some time to catch up. We’ll rest awhile.”

The news of their escape from Tereo could only travel as fast as a horse could gallop.

They could afford to rest until then.

At Holo’s words, Lawrence felt fatigue press down on him.

“Don’t sleep on top of me. Climb down.”

She sounded displeased, so Lawrence and Evan were able to somehow climb down—but Elsa was at her limit and had to be lifted off of Holo’s back.

Lawrence wanted to light a fire for warmth, but Holo had stopped in a small patch of woods between hills along the path that linked Enberch and Tereo—as long as they stayed quiet, they would not be discovered. Lighting a fire, however, would make them much easier to spot.

In any case, the problem of warmth was quickly solved.

They were, after all, right next to a giant ball of fur.

“I suddenly feel like a mother.”

Holo’s deep voice rumbled deep in Lawrence’s stomach as he leaned against her.

Elsa and Evan wrapped themselves in a blanket they had brought from the church, snuggling up against Holo, and Holo curled her great tail around the three of them.

Her fur was so warm that Lawrence could not even remember if he’d smiled the rueful smile he felt at her words, so quickly had he fallen asleep.

Though merchants can sleep under nearly any circumstances, Lawrence did not sleep especially soundly.

Holo shifted slightly, and he awoke.

The sky had lightened; the morning mist was thin.

Lawrence stood, careful not to wake the still-sleeping Elsa and Evan who lay beside him. His body felt lighter as he slowly stretched himself out.

He gave himself one final, great stretch, arms reaching high, then relaxed with a sigh.

His mind was filled with what they had yet to do.

No matter which town he and Holo decided to go to, they would not be able to just drop Elsa and Evan off. All they could do was return briefly to Kumersun, explain the situation to the trade guild, and obtain its protection—then use the guild’s connections to negotiate with Enberch and Tereo.

Next, he would reclaim the money he had deposited at the guild and make for Lenos.

That was more or less the whole of it.

He noticed that Holo was looking at him.

Even lying down as she was, her form was huge, though he no longer found it terrifying so much as mysterious.

Holo gazed at him for some time, as though she was an elaborate puppet constructed as a jest by some god. Eventually she looked away.

“What is it?”

Lawrence approached her, his feet rustling through the dry leaves underfoot. She gave him a weary look, then gestured with her chin.

Since she was clearly not demanding to have her neck scratched, Holo must be pointing at something, Lawrence decided.

Just past the hill lay the road that connected Enberch and Tereo.

He soon understood.

“So it’s safe to look, eh?”

Holo did not answer, instead yawning hugely and resting her head on her forepaws. Her ears flicked twice, three times.

Lawrence took her actions as an affirmative but still made his way over the hill with his body low and his footfalls light.

It was obvious who would be coming up the path at this hour.

He drew close to the hill’s peak, keeping his head even lower as he carefully took sight of the path.

In his first quick glance, he saw no one, but when he looked farther out, Lawrence was able to hear a quiet jumble of noises coming from the direction of Enberch.

Soon after he heard the sound, he caught sight of its source, hazy in the morning mist.

It was the caravan returning Tereo’s wheat.

Which meant that Enberch’s messenger had already reached Tereo, and depending on the specifics of the message, the villagers might have already forced their way into the church searching for Lawrence and company.

He wondered if Iima, having aided their escape, would be safe.

Her position within the village was a strong one, so she would probably be fine—but he still worried a bit for her safety.

This was immaterial, though—none of them could ever return to Tereo.

Just then, he heard the rustle of footsteps behind him. He looked back.

It was Evan.

“How is she?” Lawrence asked.

Evan nodded—evidently Elsa was fine. He then crouched down next to Lawrence, looking off into the distance. “Are they from Enberch?”

“Must be.”

“Huh.” Evan wore a complicated expression, as though he both longed for a weapon with which to charge the procession and was glad he had no such weapon.

Lawrence looked from Evan to Holo behind them.

Holo was still lying there asleep with Elsa leaning against her.

Elsa seemed to be awake, but she stared listlessly off into space.

“Is Miss Elsa truly well?” Lawrence asked.

She had fainted from anemia, after all, then spent the night on the move.

As he considered what lay ahead of them, Elsa’s condition weighed heavy on Lawrence’s mind.

“Hard to say,” said Evan. “Her complexion is well enough, but she seems to be thinking something over.”

“Thinking?”

Evan nodded.

If this was all Evan could say, then Elsa must not have told him what was on her mind. Having been forced to suddenly leave her home, though, it was hardly surprising that she was dazed and contemplative.

Evan turned and looked back at Elsa. Lawrence caught sight of his expression—he looked like a faithful dog who wanted nothing more than to rush to her side.

But Evan seemed to understand that she was best left alone for a time.

Evan forced his gaze back to the caravan from Enberch, which was now quite a bit closer.

“It’s a sizable group,” he said.

“They’re probably returning all of the wheat purchased from Tereo. And those long sticks the men around the wagons are holding—spears surely.”

The spearmen were merely in case the caravan met resistance from the villagers, but they lent the procession an imposing, sinister air.

“Say, Mr. Lawrence—”

“Mm?”

“Could we not ask your…um…the goddess that carried us here?”

Though Evan lowered his voice, Holo would surely hear this.

She pretended not to, though.

“Ask her what?” Lawrence prompted.

“To…to kill them all.”

When all else failed, ask the gods—humans were ever thus.

And their requests were often absurd in scale.

“Suppose she did agree to such a request. It would certainly be done. But then Enberch would simply send an army to Tereo. And we can’t fight every army they could send.”

Evan nodded, as though he had known what the answer would be. “I suppose.”

The caravan had come quite close now.

The pair crouched and looked on.

“So what shall we do next?”

“I am planning to make for a town named Kumersun first. If we can make it there, our lives will no longer be in danger. After that, well—we’ll figure that out once we’re there.”

“I see…”

“You should think about what you want to do. We’ve a connection, you and I—I’ll do what I can to help,” said Lawrence.

Evan closed his eyes and smiled. “Thank you.”

The caravan that carried with it Tereo’s undoing traveled noisily along the path, disturbing the morning peace.

It included perhaps fifteen wagons with perhaps twenty spearmen to guard the caravan.

However, what grabbed Lawrence’s attention the most was a group at the rear of the procession, who were dressed somewhat differently from the rest.

The horse carrying the last cart had blinders and saddle flaps that indicated a high-ranking member of the clergy, and it was surrounded by four men bearing shields with several lower ranking clergymen in travel clothes following behind on foot.

“So that’s how it is,” Lawrence murmured.

Ridelius’s Hellfire had been mixed in with Tereo’s wheat harvest, and a citizen of Enberch had died from it.

But unless the poison wheat had been there from the very beginning, there could not possibly have been any similar deaths in Tereo.

Enberch was going to use this to its advantage.

They would claim the absence of poison victims in Tereo was proof that the village was being protected by evil spirits and that all the villagers were guilty of heresy.

“Let’s go back,” said Lawrence.

Evan nodded wordlessly, seeming to have vaguely perceived something himself.

Lawrence descended the hill and returned to Holo. Elsa gave him a questioning look, which he pretended not to notice.

Whatever she might ask, the answer was that Tereo’s position was hopeless.

“We’ll go a bit farther, then take breakfast,” said Lawrence.

Elsa dropped her gaze, as if she had realized something.

She said nothing but stood, which prompted Holo to stand up as well.

Evan and Lawrence split the luggage-bearing duties, and the four started to walk with Holo in the lead.

The dry leaves crunched underfoot.

The first one to stop walking was Evan, followed by Lawrence.

Holo proceeded a few more steps, then stopped, looking back.

“Elsa?” asked Evan.

Elsa stood there still, her body wrapped in a blanket.

She stared at the ground.

Evan exchanged looks with Lawrence, then nodded and started to approach Elsa.

That very moment, Elsa spoke.

“Holo…” She was not addressing Evan. “Are you…really a god?”

Holo said nothing initially, merely swishing her tail once. She then turned to face Elsa. “I am Holo, the Wisewolf of Yoitsu. Long have I been called a god,” said Holo, sitting and looking directly at Elsa.

The answer surprised Lawrence.

Even more surprising was Holo’s expression as she regarded Elsa; it was very serious but not unkind.

“I dwell within the wheat and can take both wolf and human form. Humans worship me as the god of the bountiful harvest, and I am able to respond to their prayers.”

Holo seemed to have understood something.

Elsa tightened the blanket that she had wrapped around her body and over her shoulder. Holo had discerned the thoughts that lay within the girl’s breast, hidden beneath her crossed arms and blanket.

Holo must have seen the girl’s worry, or else she would never have called herself a god.

“Bountiful harvest? Does that…Are you then Truyeo’s—”

“The answer to that question is already within you.” Holo bared her teeth, perhaps in some approximation of a rueful grin.

Elsa ducked her head in a slight nod. “Truyeo is Truyeo. You are you.”

Holo half laughed and half sighed, and the dry leaves at her feet danced in the air.

Her amber eyes were filled with a kindness Lawrence had never seen.

If gods did exist, surely they were something like this with eyes that inspired reverence but not fear.

Elsa looked up.

“…If that is true, then—”

“The question you would ask…,” said Holo, her tail brushing audibly across the leaves.

Elsa swallowed her words but still looked up at Holo.

“…It should not be asked of me,” Holo finished.

Instantly Elsa’s face twisted, a tear rolling down her right cheek.

Evan took that as a sign. He rushed to her side and embraced her.

Elsa sniffed a few times, nodding her head as if to show that she was, in fact, well. She sighed, the breath escaping whitely from her mouth.

“I am Father Franz’s successor. That much I can say for certain.”

“Oh, indeed?”

Elsa smiled at Holo’s purely rhetorical question.

It was a fresh smile, the result of tossing aside a heavy burden.

Perhaps she had realized Father Franz’s true aim in collecting stories of the pagan gods.

No—she had probably known long ago when Father Franz had told her of his secret cellar.

She had simply refused to understand.

It was just as Iima had said.

The world was vast, but the villagers’ minds were narrow.

Elsa had come to realize that vastness. Her next words came naturally.

“I’m returning to the village.”

“Wha—,” came Evan’s strangled reply.

Before he could say anything more, Elsa unwrapped the blanket she wore and thrust it into his hands.

“I am sorry, Mr. Lawrence.”

While he was not sure for what precisely she was apologizing, it seemed an appropriate statement nonetheless.

Lawrence nodded, saying nothing.

Evan’s acceptance, however, would be harder won.

“What’s the point in going back to the village?! Even if you do, it’s already too late for—”

“And yet I must.”

“Why?!”

Evan took a step toward her, but Elsa was unmoved. “I am responsible for the church. I cannot abandon the villagers.”

Evan reeled as though he had been physically struck. He staggered back.

“Evan—be a fine merchant, will you?”

Elsa finally pushed him away, then dashed off in the direction of the village.

Running at a woman’s pace and taking rests, she would probably reach Tereo by evening.

Though he didn’t wish to think about it, Lawrence knew all too well what waited for her when she arrived.

“Mr. L-Lawrence.” Evan looked devastated and on the verge of tears.

Lawrence was astonished by Elsa’s words. “It seems she wants you to be a fine merchant.”

“…!” Evan’s face twisted in fury; he seemed ready to fly at Lawrence.

Yet Lawrence continued coolly. “A merchant must be able to logically weigh gain against loss. Can you do that?”

Evan looked like a child seeing an optical illusion for the first time. He stopped in his tracks.

“No matter how stout of heart she may be, no matter how firm her resolve, that doesn’t mean she is never uncertain.” Lawrence shrugged and continued. “Merchants must weigh gain against loss. You want to be a merchant, do you not?”

Evan clenched his teeth, closing his eyes and squeezing his fists.

He tossed the supplies he was carrying aside, then turned and ran.

Lawrence sensed Holo approaching from behind. He turned. “So, what shall we—,” he began but was unable to finish.

His body was knocked to the ground as easily as a withered tree by Holo’s massive paw.

“Was I wrong?”

Holo’s paw pressed down against Lawrence’s chest, two of her claws making grinding noises as they pierced the earth next to Lawrence’s head.

“Was I wrong?” she asked again, her eyes burning redly, her teeth bared and close.

Lawrence could feel himself sinking into the soft ground.

If she put even a bit more weight on him, she would crush his rib cage.

Still, he managed to force a few words out. “Who…who can judge such a thing?”

Holo shook her great head. “I cannot. Still, I…I…”

“If you fight for your home, even against hopeless odds…” Lawrence put his hand on Holo’s paw. “…At least you’ll have no regrets.”

Lawrence felt Holo bristle.

He was going to be crushed.

Just as fear was about to overcome rational thought, Holo’s form vanished.

If someone had told Lawrence he’d been dreaming, he would have believed the person.

Holo’s small hand grasped his neck softly, her light body atop his.

“My claws can crush boulders. I can defeat any number of humans.”

“As I well know.”

“None in Yoitsu can best me. Not human, wolf, deer, or boar.”

“What of a bear?” Lawrence did not refer to an ordinary bear.

“Could I have matched the Moon-Hunting Bear?” It was not sadness that kept her from crying, but anger.

Lawrence did not spare her feelings. “Surely not.”

At that moment, Holo raised her right hand, which had previously held Lawrence’s throat. “At least it would have been a great battle. At least the tale of Yoitsu could’ve amounted to three pages in Father Franz’s books.”

Her hand fell weakly against Lawrence’s chest.

“I don’t know whether that is true. Still, this is all hypothetical. Am I wrong?” said Lawrence.

“…You are not,” said Holo, lightly hitting his chest yet again.

“If shortly after you left Yoitsu, you had heard that the Moon-Hunting Bear was coming, I’ve no doubt you would have rushed back. But that is not what happened. We don’t know how much time passed between when you left and disaster came to Yoitsu, but in any case it happened while you could not have known of it.”

Holo had seen Elsa’s thoughts.

Should she abandon her village? Or should she fight on despite being shunned, despite there being no chance of victory? This was the choice Elsa faced.

Holo had never been given that choice—by the time she learned of her village’s fate, it was all over.

What would Holo have felt, seeing Elsa thus?

She would have wanted Elsa to choose the path of least regret.

But by doing so Elsa made Holo see with perfect clarity the path she herself had never been able to take.

“I cannot abandon the villagers,” Elsa had said—but to Holo, those words crossed time and space, accusing her.

So it was that Lawrence came at her from the same time and place. “The fact that you’re not crying shows that you yourself understand how foolish it is to feel this way.”

“I—!” Holo bared her sharp teeth, eyes red with anger.

But Lawrence was unworried as he let Holo sit there on his chest. He brushed aside a bit of mulch that remained from when she had pushed him over.

“I know that,” she finished.

Lawrence sighed and propped himself up on his elbows.

Still straddling him, Holo looked away like a scolded child.

She slid stiffly to one side, moving her legs together to sit on Lawrence’s right leg, finally offering her hand.

Lawrence took it and sat up, pulling his body from where it had half sunk into the soft earth. He sighed, fatigue showing on his face.

“What excuse were you going to give Elsa and Evan if they’d returned?”

The still-unclothed Holo turned away from Lawrence. “What do you mean, what excuse?”

“For killing me.”

Holo gave a rare look of genuine embarrassment, then wrinkled her nose. “Were I a human female, you’d have no cause to complain if I killed you.”

“I’d have no ability to complain, being dead.”

Holo looked so cold that Lawrence wanted to hold her simply to warm her up. She looked up at his face and waited for him to continue.

“What do you wish to do?” he asked.

“That’s what I should ask you.”

Holo’s quick retort took him by surprise. He looked up at the sky.

Even now, Holo was still Holo.

She would always be grabbing the reins.

Lawrence embraced her. “Just you wait,” he said as payback for that ever-present rein grabbing.

She shifted slightly in his embrace. “Can we not do something for them?” she asked, obviously referring to Elsa, Evan, and the village of Tereo. “Yoitsu can no longer be saved, but this village might yet be.”

“I’m a simple traveling merchant.”

Holo’s tail swished audibly. “I am not a simple wolf.”

She was offering her complete cooperation.

Yet even with that, what could possibly be done?

She could not very well kill every person she didn’t happen to like.

“The problem is the poison wheat, yes? If it’s mixed in with the good wheat, I can still tell the difference.”

“I’ve thought of that. I don’t think that can help us.”

“So there is no way to make them believe, then.”

“Short of a miracle, I don’t think so.” Lawrence paused, then said it again, “Short of a miracle…”

“What is it?”

Lawrence’s eyes moved to and fro, trying to connect the thoughts that filled his mind.

He had considered that Holo would be able to distinguish poison wheat from good. What had stopped him short was how to convince others of the wheat’s purity—or lack thereof.

Somewhere, he had heard of a similar story.

But where?

He flipped through his memories rapidly.

What finally emerged was an image of Elsa and her church.

“That’s right…a miracle…”

“Mm.”

“What do you think is the single best way for the Church to increase its followers?”

Holo made a face as though she had been made fun of. “Producing a miracle?”

“Quite. But a miracle’s fruit is always half-seed. They are not what they seem.”

Now it was Holo whose gaze darted to and fro as she chased her own frantic thoughts.

“So it would need to be something that the eye can see…,” she said thoughtfully. “Indeed. You—give me my wheat.”

Lawrence pointed at the bags he had dropped when Holo had pushed him over.

“Then reach out and fetch it for me.” Evidently she had no intention of moving from her place on his lap.

Realizing that quibbling would be pointless, Lawrence twisted around as he was told, reaching out and grabbing the sack in question, then pulling it closer to extract the pouch of wheat from within—the pouch of wheat in which Holo dwelled.

“Here,” said Lawrence.

“Mm. Now watch closely.”

She took a grain of wheat from the pouch, and placing it in the palm of her hand, she took a deep breath.

The next moment—

“Wha—!”

Before Lawrence’s eyes the grain quivered minutely, then cracked, sending a green shoot straight up, which lengthened into a white stem as it pushed skyward, its green leaves expanding outward.

Soon a new ear of wheat appeared, sagging as it ripened and the once–green wheat stalk turned golden brown.

The process had taken but a moment.

“That is about as far as it goes, and I cannot do many at once. Also”—Holo held the wheat stalk that she had grown, tickling Lawrence’s nose with the top of the wheat ear—“as you can see, this miracle, too, has seeds within it.”

“If I were to laugh, it would hardly sound natural.”

Holo frowned and thrust the stalk at Lawrence. “Well? This is all I can do that is visible to the eye. Well, this and assuming my wolf form.”

“No, this will be quite enough,” said Lawrence. He took the wheat from Holo’s hand and continued. “All that remains is to see if Elsa will accept this trick. Also—”

“Is there more?”

Lawrence nodded. “Still…,” he muttered, shaking his head. “Then it will be time to show my skill as a merchant.”

Even showing beyond all doubt which of the wheat returned by Enberch was poisonous and which was safe would not instantly deliver Tereo from the danger it faced.

By Sem’s estimate, the funds they would owe Tereo would come to around seventy limar. Without addressing that shortfall, the villagers could still be devoured by Enberch.

Even if Enberch had poisoned the wheat to seize control of Tereo, even if the townspeople recognized Holo’s miracle, and even if they accepted her judgment on the good wheat and the bad, they would still not buy back the wheat they had returned.

This meant that wheat would still need to be turned to cash somehow.

If it came to that point, this fell within the purview of a merchant.

And Lawrence was a merchant.

“Right. Let us return,” said Lawrence.

“Hmph. And here sit I, freezing my tail off.”

Holo stood, blocking Lawrence’s vision with a quick swish of her tail—and in that instant, she was a wolf again.

“You seem disappointed,” she said with a grin of bared teeth.

Lawrence shrugged. “You seem happy.”

They caught up with Elsa and Evan very quickly.

It was midday when the group arrived in Tereo.

Elsa had been unexpectedly quick to accept Lawrence’s proposal.

Perhaps she had understood that without a plan, her resolve alone would not be enough to save the village.

Even a day earlier, she would have been unable to make such a decision.

“I still believe in my God—the God who is supreme among gods and creator of all,” she said firmly, standing before Holo’s wolf form—a form she had seen for the first time just hours earlier.

She displayed no fear in the face of a being that could swallow her in one bite or rip her to shreds with a wave of its paw.

Holo glared at Elsa wordlessly, showing her rows of sharp teeth.

Evan swallowed and looked on, but Holo knew the world well enough to understand that she did not stand at its peak.

She soon closed her terrible jaws and turned away indignantly.

“Now we must determine just how we will show this to the villagers.”

“Have you any ideas?”

They were gathered at the peak of a hill outside Tereo, near Evan’s millhouse. Holo stood watch.

“No matter the product, purchasing it at the source yields the greatest gain,” said Lawrence.

“So, once the village has been cornered—?” asked Evan.

Lawrence nodded.

Evan continued. “Based on what we saw this morning, it looks like Bishop Van has come as well.”

“Bishop Van, eh?”

The bishop’s arrival meant that Enberch planned to corner Tereo both financially and religiously, but it also meant that there might be an opportunity to turn the situation around—a situation that earlier in the morning had seemed utterly hopeless.

It was even better, in fact, if the Church leader of Enberch was present.

No one was more qualified to witness a miracle than Bishop Van, after all.

“The group from Enberch brought spearmen with them—they will have no patience for any objections from Tereo. I highly doubt the negotiations will happen in a civilized fashion,” said Lawrence.

“I do not think Elder Sem will incite the villagers to take up arms, either,” said Elsa.

“Not that the villagers would have courage enough to do that anyway,” added Evan. His criticism was not inaccurate.

Given all that, the best time for Lawrence and company to make their appearance was clear.

“Then we should go in after Sem has bowed to Enberch’s demands,” said Elsa.

“The miracle will happen as I’ve just explained,” said Lawrence.

Elsa nodded, looking at Evan. “Evan, will you be all right?”

She referred to the task that had fallen to him.

More than anyone else’s, his life was at risk.

And more than anyone else, he had to trust Holo.

He looked at Holo. “Why, it’s nothing—if I should eat the poisoned wheat, you have but to kill me before I die of the poison.” His fingers trembled slightly.

He had no doubt said this to appear strong before Elsa, but Holo did not fault him for that.

“I shall swallow you in a single bite. It won’t hurt a bit,” she answered gleefully.

“Then once we’ve produced this miracle, we’ll leave the financial dealings to you, Mr. Lawrence,” said Elsa.

“Obviously we hope they will simply take the wheat back on the spot, but yes—I’ll handle it.”

Elsa nodded and put her hands together. “May God’s blessing go with us.”

Holo then spoke quietly.

“They have come.”