Spice & Wolf Omnibus

by Isuna Hasekura

  “–We must, no matter the cost.”

  Lawrence nodded, looking down at the box that was so packed with bones on the desk.

  Normally, even when a trading company somewhere was searching for goods, they would not be sent so very many.

  But be they the bones of dog, cat, sheep, cow, or swine, the fact that this company had collected so many was because everybody in this town knew that the Jean Company was not conducting sensible business.

  For it to be sensible business, someone would have had to be paying a fair price for sensible goods.

  But if it was not sensible business, it was possible that money would be paid for even nonsensical goods.

  And there existed the strong possibility that the Jean Company, and the Debau Company above them, might pay money for worthless bones if they thought the clergy who had given the original order would be satisfied.

  And there were bones all over the place.

  Making a small bet on that possibility was not a bad bet at all.

  The most inconvenienced party was the Jean Company, who wound up playing bookmaker to those bets.

  “And so it turned into quite a commotion, because some were saying that if the real bones were found, they would be paid a thousand, two thousand lumione for them.”

  “So–” It was Col who spoke up as Reynolds paused and smiled self-deprecatingly. “–So, did you find the bones?”

  Reynolds’s eyes, like pure glass beads beneath his drooping lids, showed no emotion but shifted for just a moment.

  The question was a naive one and a breach of merchant conversation etiquette.

  But those glassy eyes soon shifted back to ones befitting an easy-going shopkeeper, content to sit behind his desk and wait for customers as he watched his chickens peck at the floor.

  A merchant had no call to turn angry at a naive question. Rather than show anger, he would treat the question appropriately.

  Which meant that the merchant talk was now over.

  “Heh. If I had, I’d be sitting at a golden desk right about now. Of course, at the time, rumors that I’d already found the bones and made a huge profit were flying around left and right, and I was attacked who knows how many times. But a little thought made it obvious. Just who had ever paid that much gold coin for something without attracting the attention of others?”

  His teasing tone came from the fact that it was an absurd notion.

  If this company had been paid a thousand gold coins, anybody doing business would notice the movement of money immediately.

  It was the same as moving a mountain – even if you did it in the dead of night, people were going to notice come morning.

  It was not something you could hide.

  Col seemed to have realized that.

  He nodded, crestfallen, but thanking Reynolds for answering his question.

  That moment, Reynolds’s eyes widened in surprise – Lawrence was laughing.

  Even if the question itself had been a terrible breach of merchant etiquette, Col’s polite thanks for the answer showed the kind of manners that most apprentices failed to remember even after a sound whipping.

  He might have been sitting reluctantly behind the desk of his trading company, but Reynolds had a good merchant’s eye; there was no doubt about that.

  So he turned that merchant’s eye to Lawrence.

  “You’ve got yourself a fine apprentice there, Mr. Lawrence.”

  The eye of a hawk who’s spotted its prey.

  Surely that was no exaggeration.

  “He’s not my apprentice.”

  “Surely–!” said Reynolds, shocked, as though he simply could not believe it. When his gaze fell to Col, Lawrence immediately spoke.

  “He’s a future scholar of Church law. If I said he was my apprentice, I’d never be able to pass through the gates of Heaven.”

  Reynolds seemed not to know what sort of expression to make.

  If Lawrence could ever surprise Holo enough for her to make that face, he was sure he would be able to grab her reins on the spot.

  So surprised was Reynolds that he slapped his own forehead, totally at a loss. “Hrrrm! Born in the northlands, a future Church law scholar, and chasing tales of the god of his hometown… Well, I certainly see why that wolf woman would put her trust in a merchant like you. You seem like you’re on a very complicated – and truly enviable – journey.”

  For merchants, who were keenly aware of human connections and influence, a future Church law scholar was like a golden egg – one whose eventual value could be roughly guessed based on his current manners and personality.

  You’d always want to invest in someone whose future was bright.

  The notion radiated off of Reynolds, but his gaze suddenly shifted to Holo and then to Lawrence. “So then, is this one from a famous convent somewhere?”

  Holo, too, would have noticed the man’s predatory, hawklike gaze on Col.

  But Reynolds hadn’t used that gaze on Holo.

  He was asking Lawrence the question either because he felt bad about ignoring Holo or he simply wanted to make small talk.

  But there was no chance that Holo was going to be satisfied with such slight treatment.

  So then, how best to raise her worth?

  That was one calculation she could perform as fast as any merchant.

  No sooner had Holo heard Reynolds’s words than she hid herself behind Lawrence, clutching his clothes.

  As though she were a shy maiden, fearful of strangers. As though she were claiming Lawrence as her guardian.

  If merchants coveted even the possessions of the gods, then surely it was their nature to covet the things of other humans all the more.

  The effect was perfect.

  “Bwa-ha-ha-ha!” Reynolds burst out laughing, and Lawrence realized that Holo was peering out from behind him with a malicious smile on her face.

  The ineffable battle of wits had two or three layers now.

  Reynolds’s hearty laughter came from his realization that he had been completely fooled. “What fine guests you all are! What say you to this? It’ll be midday soon. Shall we all take a meal in celebration of our meeting?”

  Lawrence, for his part, was quite happy with the proposal. Conversation with Reynolds was entirely stimulating. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d love to.”

  “What wonderful fortune. I’ll summon one of my men to prepare some food. However” – here Reynolds’s gaze moved behind Lawrence to the Jean Company loading dock – “to do that I’ll need a single healthy chicken, but today it seems there isn’t a chicken to be found.”

  “Ah!” exclaimed Col, at which Holo looked askance.

  When they’d pecked at Col’s sandals, Holo had chased them around with a fierce enough gaze to give even another wolf pause, and now there was not a single chicken to be seen anywhere on the loading dock.

  “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like you to call over my neighbors for dinner,” said Reynolds with an impish, childlike smile, which Col flailed at and Holo reluctantly went to capture a chicken.

  Chicken and grape wine.

  Bread and salt were necessary to live, but chicken and wine were probably two of the things necessary to truly enjoy life.

  And all the more so when they were an unexpected treat.

  Holo dug in before even hearing Reynolds’s “Please, eat,” while Col ate with the proper Church manners expected of a future scholar of law.

  Col was surely the only one impressed with how grand Reynolds was to treat them to such a feast after they had so casually asked him about the wolf remains.

  There at the meal table, amid the easy small talk, he told them about the great commotion two years earlier, when tales of the bones were at high tide, and what happened after that.

  But merchants were always looking for payment.

  Lawrence was worried about that payment, but it became clear only when they were about to part ways.

  Reynolds sought Lawrence’s handshake. “My regards
to Eve Bolan.” He held Lawrence’s hand firmly.

  His eye was every bit that of a shrewd merchant.

  Perhaps he wanted them to convey to her that he had told her customers all about the wolf remains and treated them to a good meal besides.

  Perhaps he did it to strengthen his ties to Eve, thereby increasing his own business.

  But while Reynolds’s Jean Company might have looked shabby, it should have already been well connected to the Debau Company and its mining profits.

  It was possible that Reynolds’s experience with Eve had been so auspicious that he did not have very much to gain.

  Or perhaps Eve was just that influential.

  There were many things to worry about, but Lawrence had to be thankful for the kindness they were shown.

  Lawrence returned Reynolds’s grasp heartily, then put the Jean Company behind him.

  While Reynolds had been reluctant to get out of his chair when they had arrived, now that they were leaving, he saw them off from beneath the trading house’s eaves.

  “Now, then,” Lawrence murmured to himself.

  He had easily achieved his goal.

  But he could not deny that in all of his conversation with Reynolds, something in the twists and turns failed to add up.

  The state of the Jean Company, the moment when Lawrence had given Reynolds the letter he had gotten from Eve, and even Reynolds’s actions just a moment ago, when they were parting ways.

  None of that led directly to the tale of the wolf remains, but the actions of merchants were often connected in surprising ways.

  Deep in contemplation, Lawrence stroked his beard lightly.

  “So, what shall we do?” His thoughts were interrupted by Holo.

  And the moment he looked at Holo’s face, he thought of the poultry they had been treated to not long ago.

  The meal in question had seen the chicken thighs boiled, then covered in a sauce made from vinegar, a touch of sweet herbs, and crushed mustard seed – a true delicacy.

  As to how magnificent it had actually been – well, there was still a fragment of the sweet herbs stuck to the corner of Holo’s mouth.

  Lawrence flicked it off with a finger, and Holo closed one eye in irritation.

  But Lawrence soon realized that she was not trying to hide embarrassment at being treated like a child.

  Holo had looked away and given Col a quick wink.

  Col, while surprised, also looked impressed and nodded. Lawrence watched all this and sighed.

  Evidently Holo had put Col to a bet as to whether Lawrence would brush the herb crumb off her mouth.

  “Yes… what, indeed,” Lawrence murmured. There was no profit in her game. Lawrence pretended not to notice the wink.

  “He told us everything a lot more easily than I was expecting. It’s kind of disappointing, isn’t it?”

  “Oh?”

  “I was sure he’d try to hide more from us,” said Col.

  At Col’s words, it was now Lawrence’s turn to shoot Holo a quick glance.

  Their gazes met for a moment, and they both looked away quickly.

  That had to mean that Holo had realized something during the earlier conversation.

  Lawrence chose his words and spoke. “… Yes, well. We’ve confirmed that the Church believed the story from Rupi to be true, which means that there was something for them to believe in. Which is a big step forward.”

  Col nodded several times, his face serious.

  However, if Holo was feeling something ominous from Reynolds’s words and actions, then things might not be so simple.

  As the ensuing question would be hard to answer, Lawrence refrained from mentioning this to Col.

  Col was simply too kind.

  Even for someone as cynical as Holo, talking about her homeland was a dangerous proposition.

  It would be best to wait for the right moment and explain things carefully.

  “But there is one unfortunate thing.”

  “…?” Col looked up at Lawrence, his head cocked in a question.

  “Since we learned what we needed to know so easily, it looks like we won’t need to use our trump card.”

  “Ah… you mean about the copper coins?”

  Fifty-seven boxes packed with copper coins coming down the river had – after crossing the sea from the Jean Company – become sixty boxes, which was quite mysterious.

  Lawrence suspected that this might be a vulnerable spot for the Jean Company.

  If the Jean Company had tried to hide the story of the wolf remains, he could have used it to shake them down, and he had explained as much to Col.

  However, because he had assumed that the simple fact of the box count not adding up would be sufficient leverage on the Jean Company, Lawrence still had not heard the reason of the discrepancy from Col.

  Lawrence had not, of course, figured it out on his own.

  “Well, if there’s no reason to use it, you can just tell me once our journey’s over, by way of thanks.”

  Col, who had understood the reason all by himself, nodded, then gave a satisfied smile.

  “Now then, as far as this all goes, about all we can do is go back to Eve and thank her, gathering some information along the way. And we shouldn’t hurry too much. We don’t want to be suspected of anything.”

  “… Er, so… because if there’s anyone seriously following us, we’ll wind up making them think we’re up to something, right?”

  The boy’s constant studiousness was certainly admirable.

  Lawrence nodded. “Reynolds and Eve didn’t mind telling us all about the wolf remains because they’ve both thought the whole thing through and decided it’s nonsense. If they hear anything that gives it the ring of truth, they’ll both shut their mouths on the spot.”

  “So if we keep searching for the tale too seriously, they’ll start to wonder if we’ve discovered a key that proves the story is true.”

  And, of course, the key that proved the story was true was none other than Holo’s existence.

  Col was well aware of that as he held up his right index finger, with an expression on his face as if he were a chef explaining that a dish’s secret ingredient was just a dash of fresh herbs.

  Or like a puppy proudly performing a trick he had just learned.

  But he did not seem cheeky or arrogant, probably because Col himself was affecting the proud attitude purposefully.

  He was just genuinely friendly.

  “But the irony is that we can ask about it so easily because nobody believes it’s true. Even though we’re asking so we can figure out the truth.”

  “It’s also a question of faith. You have to have the courage to believe you’re right even when everyone around you says you’re wrong.”

  Col nodded gravely.

  “So this would be one way to put that into practice: If a priest asks God if the people can be saved and gets no reply, it’s not because God is being careless, but rather the question is…?”

  The future Church law scholar rang like a cast bell when struck. “The question’s obvious is the reason.”

  This kind of calm, pleasant intellectual discussion was a bit different from what he had with Holo.

  Lawrence had heard that true scholars had conversations like this from morning till night, and he felt like he understood why.

  The two were walking aimlessly as they talked, and somewhere along the line, Col had begun walking beside Lawrence, which was not bad at all.

  If they were to walk like this for another ten years, he was sure Col would become a dear friend.

  When Lawrence thought on it, he started to look forward to the future in spite of himself.

  But someone came between the two.

  Someone who had been left out of the conversation – Holo.

  “Seems like pleasant chat’s happening right before me,” she said, her face a bit annoyed.

  Lawrence decided it was better not to try to analyze what that statement might mean.

&nbs
p; “If there is no need to go straight back to that vixen’s burrow, then I’ve a place I’d like to go.”

  “And that is?” asked Lawrence, and Holo pointed to the mouth of the river.

  “That lively looking place.”

  It went without saying that she meant the marketplace on the delta.

  Her tail was wagging beneath her robe, and she was probably anticipating eating something tasty.

  From the stimulating intellectual conversation with Col, they had returned to the usual obvious topics.

  Lawrence directed his eyes past Holo to Col.

  Col nodded a little hesitantly.

  About half of Holo’s desire to go to the delta was for her own sake – the other half was for Col’s.

  It was difficult to weigh the merits of Col’s intellectual conversation against Holo’s frank obviousness – because Holo’s words always concealed something else.

  So Lawrence replied, hiding something in his words to Holo as well.

  “You only ever think about food,” he said as though at a loss, at which Holo’s amber eyes rolled and her upper lip curled into a sneering smile.

  “I am always thinking about you, as well,” she said in a higher, flattering tone, clinging to Lawrence’s arm.

  Lawrence had forgotten to put an herb crumb in the corner of his own mouth, so this made them even.

  Col’s face turned red, and he seemed not to know where he should look.

  Lawrence could not help feeling a little bit superior, but he also could not simply enjoy it.

  As to why, that was because in exchange for her performance, Holo would be expecting compensation.

  “That’s because I am your food.” Lawrence paid his price, which made Holo grin, her ears moving enough to nearly brush her hood back.

  “So you’ll loosen your purse strings a bit for me?”

  Lawrence looked at Col.

  “What do you think?” his gaze asked.

  And when it came to this sort of verbal sparring, Col was able to answer as well as Holo. “I think you’ll need to get a room.”

  “Yes, I do need some wine,” said Lawrence, wrapping up Col’s perfect joke.

  The delta in the town of Kerube had a large reservoir in the center.