Shaking his hand had a strange feeling to it.
As he looked over the bundles of paper and parchment piled up in the area in front of his chair, he realized this hand was as accustomed to holding a pen as a sword.
“You want to ask about the state of the town, you say?”
When Lawrence posed his question, Moizi’s large eyes widened and darted about like those of a small animal as he reflected the question back.
While Luward had evidently not explained Lawrence and Holo’s true nature, it also seemed Moizi understood who they were without needing to be told.
Even if that was not the case, Moizi set aside all of his own work and treated him as a privileged guest, as though he had been ordered to do so.
“Yes. This morning I went around town a little, but from the perspective of a merchant, everything I saw was of exceedingly deep interest.”
In particular, the slate upon which was written that craftsmen were not regulated.
What placed humans above animals was that no matter where or what the circumstances, they had law.
He had heard those words in some town or other, left behind by a ruler known as a great strategist.
Whatever town Lawrence visited as a merchant, the regulations on the craftsmen held a precise meaning and certainly not because the craftsmen hated them or similar reasons.
“Aye… certainly, there are a number of things in this town that differ from other towns.”
Having a large, rugged, highly experienced older man speaking to him so formally made Lawrence distinctly uncomfortable. Being an honored guest sounded about right, but he was dealing with Lawrence less like a youngster and more like a king.
Now he understood why Holo hated being treated like a god so much.
“I saw a slate in the artisans’ district that stated this town does not regulate craftsmen.”
As Lawrence spoke, Moizi turned away from the various bundles piled atop the table, glancing at him.
And then, as if a boulder was being forced out of shape, that rigid face broke into a broad smile.
“I see. So that was why the two of you stood frozen in front of the store for sale.”
Someone from the mercenary company must have seen them.
He thought his face must have been rather flushed, but he was not going to let hearing the literal truth knock him off stride. This was the only thing he could still do to show Holo a positive, smiling face.
Simply investigating how the Debau Company would move was, in the end, just something to do to confirm their concerns. However, Lawrence had a very different reason to come to this town: to examine it to see whether or not it was suitable for obtaining a store.
Furthermore, if there truly was no sign of the Debau Company waging war, and he was not traveling together to Yoitsu, Lawrence might have set up a store in this town without a care.
Either way, he needed to see if there was a good possibility.
“It is indeed so. Furthermore, I have heard that it has been so for quite some time.”
“In other words, even though other merchants are setting up shops in this town, there are still no regulations?”
Lawrence bowed his head as if drinking in the tension.
“That is correct.”
He was asking this while Holo was asleep because he did not want her to see him this nervous.
Lawrence was not immune to the desire to look good in front of Holo.
“In particular, there is no guild hall here belonging to the guild, which I am a member of. Or rather, someone from that guild pounded into me not to have anything to do with this place. However, viewed from another perspective…”
“It is the perfect opportunity to leap ahead of them, in other words?”
Indeed, the thinking of someone managing a mercenary company differed little from that of a merchant’s.
Perhaps they were closer to Lawrence than merchants who made unbreakable connections to other people and who, if not careful, would live as prisoners bound by them.
“Based on my experience being in this town a short while, I do not believe the regulations issue is a problem whatsoever.” Moizi spoke plainly and distinctly. “And, Master Lawrence, you noticed the state of the town, did you not?”
At the words Master Lawrence, his face took the form of a pained smile, but mercenaries like Moizi were extremely conscious of one another’s status when speaking. To laugh at Moizi’s seriously treating Lawrence as a superior out of a belief he was more than just a merchant would be extremely rude.
So Lawrence spoke seriously.
“Certainly, I thought it might be so. The artisans’ district resembled the towns in the south, and the youngster who takes care of this inn’s stable was not born in this region, either, was he?”
“You are indeed correct. This is a town of immigrants.”
Surely mercenaries who lived a life of war had a mountain of experience regarding colonies and their support.
“But it has not been for very long, nor have they spread word far and wide. No doubt they do not wish to antagonize towns and rulers in the vicinity. After all, it is some ways removed from the mountains that are the wellspring of the Debau Company’s abundant minerals.”
That had been on Lawrence’s mind as well. He had been certain that a company directly controlling mining interests would have a town at the entrance to the mountain range, conducting trade while keeping an eye on the miners.
“There is a populous town in the southern imperial outskirts, beyond Ploania and well to the south beyond that. It’s connected by sea-lanes to the western coastline. You seem to have come here from Lenos, but you were unable to gather much information about Lesko, I imagine?”
As Moizi spoke, Lawrence nodded. “The merchants of that town knew little about it.”
“It seems this was originally a town built by the Debau Company for only Debau Company people to live in. However, even though the town flaunts how full of activity it is, the Debau Company has become an unobtrusive presence, as if it gently misplaced the entire town.”
Certainly, he could understand this desire as well, coming from a company in direct control of a great mining belt with such a glittering gem of a town in its possession. If a traveling merchant went around well dressed and flaunting jewels on his person, it would surely be not wolves, but men who would attack first.
“The Debau Company did not easily come about its current status and profitability, after all. They have come this far by evading exploitation by numerous powerful parties, allying with one to foil another over and over again. The company grew by such dangerous methods largely because many people in it were refugees from their home nations with nothing left to lose and nowhere else to go.”
Moizi cut off his words and placed his hands firmly together, saying, “In other words,” with a gentle face.
Perhaps having seen worldly mercenaries that were the scum of the earth gathered together, he might feel quite a bit of kinship with the Debau Company.
“Those who have been hurt become gentler toward others. Well, even if that is overstating it, they have broken with past custom and prejudice. The Debau Company might be controlled by strange people, but more than that, they truly seem to believe you can assemble people in the name of freedom and have it work. The talk concerning the northlands… I presume you have heard from the captain?”
Lawrence remembered the conversation from the day before.
Luward had said the Debau Company might be trying to take control of the northlands, where everyone had varying interests, by utilizing and fulfilling those varying interests.
“I think it would be marvelous if it could be done, and it seems to be actually occurring. More than anything, the scale of quality from Lesko’s craftsmen is top-notch.”
As he remained seated at the table, the strategist twisted his body and grasped the hilt of a sword placed upon the wall. With a sliding sound, he drew it from its scabbard; from the faint blue reflection, it
seemed to be a fine sword, indeed.
“Today one cannot live by the sword alone, not only in the south but anywhere in this world.
“By sprinkling around ‘freedom’ as bait, one can assemble a mountain of unbelievably skilled individuals. Hence, this town.”
This said, he tossed the sword, skillfully sheathing it in its scabbard.
He may have been employed as a strategist, but clearly he was not a man of intellect alone.
Lawrence thought it was quite embarrassing that he was the younger man.
“This town shall develop in quite unbelievable ways in the days to come.”
Traveling merchants like Lawrence were people who brought themselves to newly founded towns wherever they were, seeing many things as they moved about the world.
However, mercenaries ran about the world in the midst of wars that sane people absolutely would not get anywhere close to. No doubt they had seen what towns were like before being burned to the ground, and what they were like after being rebuilt, and many other such sights.
Furthermore, he certainly did not look like someone you could say had a rash or overly optimistic personality.
Yet such a man as Moizi commented that this town would develop in unbelievable ways: this town, breaching past and custom, aiming to develop in the name of freedom.
Surely if all of this was true, many people, upon learning of the existence of this town, would have a single, unified reaction.
God has not abandoned us.
“So you see, Master Lawrence, I believe you would be absolutely correct to set up a store here.
“You were drawn in by talk of conflict, but having actually come, you have seen how it is. I believe that as a matter of fact, the Debau Company is highly unlikely to wage war.”
If the Debau Company truly was not waging war, this town would become the next thing to heaven for Lawrence’s kind.
The town being comparatively new, without deeply entrenched roots, made it a favorable place for not only Lawrence, who had lived on the road, but for Holo as well.
Lawrence had absolutely not given up on such absurd thoughts.
Just like Hugues, the sheep incarnation managing an art business in Kerube, even someone like Holo could intermingle with and live in the world of man. Diana, the bird incarnation residing with the alchemists, was such a case; so was Huskins, who as a shepherd made the kingdom of Winfiel a second home for fellow sheep.
With all these cases, they could surely become one more.
Certainly it was not wrong to think that if one lived in this world, good fortune would not favor oneself alone. Yet if there were previous examples, expecting to become one more was absolutely not some absurd delusion.
Lawrence swallowed his own saliva as if to calm himself.
Moizi gave a gentle laugh.
This must have been the look he gave to young men volunteering to join the unit.
Lawrence was enveloped by complex emotions, happiness and embarrassment and envy mixed together.
So, engaging in token resistance, he said this: “I’ve heard that the best chance for victory is just after the war is over, though.”
Moizi made a satisfied smile.
“It is good to be young.”
Lawrence laughed while thinking from the bottom of his heart, he was glad he had not brought Holo with him.
He was not by Holo’s side when she woke.
He had managed to at least avoid that mistake.
When Holo had not awoken by noontime, Lawrence had accepted Moizi’s invitation to eat with him and other mercenaries in the dining hall downstairs.
If they had met outside the town, they would have been divided into the hunters and the hunted, like wolves and sheep. Lawrence felt that Moizi had taken the initiative and spoken first precisely because he understood this dynamic.
Even so, they seemed to have much in common as mutual non-residents of the town.
Stories about the hardships of travel, using whatever tricks one could to make rations just a little tastier, and so forth created much merriment all around.
Luward, the captain, was absent on this occasion. It was said he had not returned to the inn after meeting with the leaders of other mercenary companies and nobility. The other members of the company revered Moizi, who substantially managed the company’s affairs while it lodged at the inn, as a respected father figure.
As Lawrence, who had spent most of his travels alone, beheld such mutual trust before him, he wanted to sulk that Holo was not like this.
However, as he thought that if he did succeed in setting up a company, he would surely have subordinates of his own, a talented right-hand man, people to eat breakfast and supper with, people whose lives were intertwined in his own, it became more enjoyable.
Of course, he wanted Holo closer to him than anyone when that time came.
That was why when Lawrence returned to their room after a while, he felt like Holo had looked for him a little when she had woken up. He even heard what seemed like a sigh of relief.
“Nguuh…”
Holo deftly papered it over with a yawn. She exuded her usual carefree nature as if her wounds were largely healed upon her waking, not the forced performance she had been putting on lately.
As she extended her yawn for a fair while, she finally went “Mm?” and finally noticed the paper in her hand.
It seemed all crumpled from her having not let go of it the entire time she was asleep.
She opened it up with a rustling sound. He heard her make a small “Mm” as she realized what it was.
“What about lunch?” Lawrence asked while stacking coins from his money on hand and arranging papers for calculations.
If people here lived a pious, orthodox life according to the ringing of church bells, they would not have been able to get a meal at this hour, but fortunately the influence of the Church seemed to be fairly restrained here. There were clergymen wandering about, but according to Moizi, they were all financially supported by the Debau Company. Many people wanted gold and silver to become something more than mere coins.
Even when Lawrence and Holo had visited Ruvinheigen, people’s reactions changed completely when the Church blessed gold, imbuing it with some kind of hidden power.
Merchants were surely just like associates of the Church just as their precious merchandise began their pilgrimage to their destination.
“Mm… just a bit.”
“There’s a mountain of berries packed in our luggage.”
These were leftovers from what had not been eaten during the feasts last night and this morning.
No doubt Holo was thinking to herself that she ought to have eaten more properly at the time.
Holo slowly lowered herself from the bed and fished in the luggage just as advised. She took berries from the pouches they had been packed in.
She rose up, walked over, and made a “Hup” sound as she hopped onto the edge of the same table.
Perhaps because the bed had first-class woolen blankets on it, they were extremely good at keeping one warm. As Holo’s body temperature was high to begin with, her damp, freshly woken body carried an even stronger Holo scent than usual.
“Decide how much you’re going to eat. We don’t have an endless supply.”
He frowned as he spoke, as if withstanding being literally distracted by her scent.
However, in practice Holo was less mature than a pup when there was food before her. Even if, several days later, they still had the berries she stubbornly clung to, the possibility of suffering from hunger was not nil.
Even so, Holo made a sigh of complaint as usual. He was happy to see her back to her usual form, but it made Lawrence brood over what he should say.
Holo tapped her foot as she stuffed berries back into the pouch, suddenly shooting Lawrence a look as she spoke. “Well, I shall do as you say for once.”
Holo spread the berries she was holding over the table as she drew the pouch shut. As Lawrence thought about
how rare this was, Holo selected one of the berries from those atop the table and gently pressed it against his lips.
“You seem to have endured enough, after all.”
Lawrence made an uh sound as the berry fell from his lips.
It certainly was not Lawrence’s imagination that Holo’s other hand was grabbing the collar of his coat as she spoke.
However, he could not have disputed he made that sound with an ulterior motive.
Thinking back to the alleyway, he glanced to see if Holo was angry.
Holo was not angry, but that smile seemed to hold its own troubles.
The instant after he realized she seemed disappointed, she flicked Lawrence’s forehead with her finger.
“Truly you understand nothing.”
“?”
Lawrence thought that even if he were to deny those words, he would only be making Holo add unnecessarily to them. Perhaps these were the bizarre complexities of a maiden’s heart he had heard tales of.
Lawrence picked up the fallen berry and brought it to his mouth. It was sour but faintly sweet.
Holo slid off the table, apparently simply out of thirst. She grabbed the water pitcher beside the bed, drank then and there, and began returning it to its place.
“So, what did you sneak off for while I was asleep?”
Thunk went the back of the pitcher’s neck as it came in contact with something.
He thought she was just thrusting her spear tip in the dark, but as he thought, I’m getting better at this, she said this: “Writing a letter to that shepherd girl, perhaps?”
For her to jump straight to that point, she must have taken note back in the artisans’ district.
Furthermore, the underside of her tone was snuggling into Lawrence’s back. It was like when she had said in an adorable voice, “Do not go thinking about other females,” or when she had said, “Do you understand who is the master of whom, I wonder?”
The moment she returns to form he gets this.
Lawrence made an annoyed face as he smiled, scratching his cheek.
“I’m sure you’d be in tears again if I snuck off and did that. I thought I’d write one after asking permission.”
“Aye. Good attitude.”
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