Spice & Wolf Omnibus

by Isuna Hasekura

  Though the same went for the wagons belonging to the mercenary company, Lawrence’s baggage was for his own benefit and had little to do with the mercenaries themselves.

  Neither Luward nor Moizi had shown any sign of displeasure whatsoever, but the same did not go for their subordinates.

  Getting someone to help a person get a stuck wagon wheel out of the snow was no different than finding a needle in a haystack.

  Besides, Lawrence had other reasons for his mood not lightening the entire time. Luward and Moizi had clearly anticipated it when they had looked at the spread-out map.

  Even as a person thought, If we’re lucky, the season will soon be over, one also thought, Isn’t it time already? Won’t it ever change?, and so on. And thanks to a single sentence thrown their way, the predeparture nighttime meal was long exhausted, with the time now reaching the beloved hour of breakfast.

  The slope suddenly increased, the road narrowed, and the horse-drawn wagon was no longer able to progress. At Moizi’s command, the mercenary group’s baggage was brought down from its wagons, and the horse-drawn wagons were overturned on the spot. Experienced hands removed the wheels of the wagons with sleds installed in their stead. Such equipment was natural for those considering marching an army through the winter. However, Lawrence’s horse-drawn wagon was not so well made as to have such tricks in store.

  Though it was not a cheap thing, either.

  Not having had the courage to sit on the wagon bed on this winter road from the start, Lawrence had been walking ahead of his horse, leading it by the reins the whole time, but thanks to that, now that they were stopped his sweat was rapidly cooling his body.

  Even so, the chill he felt that moment was not because of the cold. It was because Moizi came rushing over during a pause between giving orders.

  “Mr. Lawrence.”

  It was not unusual for a mercenary on the march to bear a grim face.

  However, to a merchant’s eyes, accustomed to reading the expressions on people’s faces, Lawrence could clearly see that he had come to say something unpalatable.

  “The wagon, you mean?”

  So, when Lawrence said it first, Moizi looked at Lawrence with earnest eyes, his expression not softening one fragment as he nodded. “It must be a difficult decision for a merchant.”

  Abandon your wagon, in other words.

  For the independent selling everything save his life for the sake of money, buying one was the fulfillment of a fond wish. The assets Lawrence had amassed for several years that had ridden with him served as proof that he was a proper traveling merchant.

  The odds of losing it during his travels had not been low. There were times when his wagon wheels had been stuck in the mud while traveling alone, and he wondered if it was all over. Even so, right now the wagon wheels were neither stuck in snow nor broken.

  But to advance any farther, it had to be abandoned.

  “I knew this was coming.”

  Lawrence managed to smile, stoutly waving it off.

  It was much harder than walking away from the deposit he had paid for the store.

  The other party was a mercenary who had surely been at harsher negotiation tables than most merchants. No doubt he easily grasped the gloom behind Lawrence’s expression. Even so, be wasted no meaningless words of sympathy, making an austere nod.

  And he raised his hand to call someone, giving orders to switch the baggage onto the horse, and what could not be loaded moved to the company’s sleds.

  “Then, let us be off,” said Moizi.

  Just like that, it was over.

  The switch from wheels to skids ended shortly after. Time was precious, and the road was long.

  Without pausing for breath, the mercenaries resumed their advance.

  Illuminated by torchlight, the snow-packed road made an eerie white glimmer.

  When Lawrence turned around, his wagon stood silent atop the white road.

  It was not that anything was getting any worse at this point.

  It was just that, to a traveling merchant such as himself, the sense of loss was like leaving part of himself behind.

  Perhaps it would have been a bit easier with Holo there, but he did not know when the rendezvous would take place.

  If things went poorly, it was possible Lawrence would be discarded on the side of the road, just like his wagon. It was not impossible at all that it might come to battle.

  As his wagon vanished into the darkness, it remained in the back of his mind like an ill omen.

  Afterward, they advanced across a number of roads, arriving at a small unoccupied traveler’s lodge.

  They rested to change shifts, and finally, dawn broke.

  It was not the morning sun that Luward had yearned for, but a thinly clouded dawn instead.

  They said it would take three to four days to reach Svernel. Though the distance was not so great, moving a large number of people over snowy mountain roads made for slow movement by its nature. However, as the same would be true for any pursuer, when Luward and Moizi had spoken about coming affairs, they had no concerns with the speed of their advance.

  More than that, since Hilde’s stratagem had driven Luward and his men into the narrow mountain roads by denying them any other choice, what they needed to think of above all else was what to do once they emerged from the mountain roads.

  “The first thing that stands out is that Svernel holds a strategic position in the northlands.”

  It was when they were emerging from their first rest break at a small lodge for merchants that warded off the cold, something ever present wherever in snowy regions.

  Inside the tent where crucial decisions were to be made concerning their advance, Moizi was the first to speak.

  “However, I have my doubts as to whether any proper military strength can be raised there.”

  “In other words, even including us won’t change the situation by much.”

  The reason Moizi did not reply was not because there was any room for uncertainty in what was said. It was because as Luward’s eyes gazed at the spread-out map, he could confirm it with his own eyes.

  “There are the letters Mr. Lawrence received, but…”

  With that said, Lawrence looked over the letters spread out to the side of the map. They were written by Hilde’s own hand and bore the stamp of the Debau Company. The text was concise and precise, giving the reader the strong impression that the writer was highly capable.

  However, the smudged characters, from not having given the ink time to dry, made it plain to any observer they had been penned in haste. Furthermore, despite the gravity of their contents, the letters had not been sealed with wax.

  “How about heading north from Svernel and requesting the cooperation of the former lord?”

  “Klaus von Havlish the Third, you say. Certainly he has not cooperated with the Debau Company whatsoever, but I would not call him part of the rebel faction.”

  “What’s his disposition?”

  As Luward asked, Moizi spent a while in silence, stroking his beard.

  “I have heard no rumors of valor concerning him. His territory must be fairly broad. He controls a number of roads that reach the north side of the mountain range. To head farther north from Svernel, using one such road is inevitable. Meaning trade to the north side of the mountain range cannot occur without passing through Havlish’s lands. The same stands if the Debau Company went there in search of new mining sites.”

  “So he’s the type who likes to collect tolls and loaf around the castle counting his coins.”

  “Most likely. Surely the man surviving to this point is a simple matter of geography. The present lord aside, his ancestors were probably benevolent.”

  “We can’t rely on him, then,” Luward said with a groan.

  Dawn had broken, but the direction of the wind made for snowy weather.

  With clouds in the sky, the day would be short. In that meaning as well, they had no time to think deeply about the matter.<
br />
  “So, we really don’t have any sane choice other than to enter the town of Svernel. But…” Luward sighed as he spoke. “We can’t escape any farther north. Am I right?”

  “Yes. The food stores cannot take it. If we slip past Svernel, there are only run-down villages along the way to the next proper town. Even if they ‘cooperate,’ I am doubtful we can live off it.”

  Even if they consumed a village’s food like a plague of locusts, a run-down hamlet’s food stores had limits. And it was the coldest part of winter.

  The first customer Lawrence ever gained as a traveling merchant was from such a village, forsaken by other traveling merchants. That was why he was painfully aware of the condition of such a place in the deep of winter.

  Even if Luward and his men did go to one, it would without doubt lead to the complete destruction of the village.

  “It’s perfect. The hole we’ve been driven into has a dead end.” The wounds seemed very fresh as Luward spelled it out.

  However, this was certainly not some special kind of wisdom that came exclusively to those being pursued.

  There was one other reason why Hilde’s strategy was so remarkable.

  And this was the preeminent reason why Lawrence, a mere traveling merchant, was part of this meeting.

  “So, when do you think Miss Holo will rendezvous with us?” Luward spoke while his gaze remained down upon the map.

  Holo’s existence was akin to what the joker was to card games. The lone trump card capable of felling even an emperor.

  “She expected to return to Lesko today or tomorrow at earliest.”

  But it was scarcely possible every last thing had gone according to plan.

  “Once she arrives in Lesko, she’ll realize the Debau Company has been taken over. I wonder what she’ll do after that? Look for us, probably.”

  Lawrence wanted to praise Hilde for having seemingly taken truly everything into account while making preparations.

  “He referred to this possibility when handing me the letter at the inn. It seemed he’d always planned to go to Svernel should anything happen. Mr. Hilde apparently worked it out with his companion who headed to Kieschen with Holo.”

  “In other words…”

  Luward took in a large breath, his body seemingly growing as large as a bear’s.

  Apparently, clearing the air required chilling his insides first.

  “… He instigated all this to get his paws on military might.”

  Neither Luward nor his men had actually seen Holo in her wolf form. However, the legends that told of Holo that Lawrence had heard here and there hardly did her justice.

  “If you’re thrown into battle empty-handed, all you think of is running away. But if you have a weapon in your hands, even a small one, you can show a lot of bravery, even in a reckless situation. That is why you tie a spear to the hands of new recruits for their first battle but… who knew the same could be done to us.”

  “I’m sorry, but can we really trust Miss Holo so far?”

  Flattery was not the job of a strategist.

  At Moizi’s misgivings, Luward raised an eyebrow as his chin twitched. “That’s what has Mr. Lawrence so calm, isn’t it?”

  Those were by no means words of praise.

  But it was the truth.

  “… Yes. If Holo can rendezvous with us, certainly that would mean great military strength. However–”

  Holo had no intention of doing battle.

  Luward interrupted Lawrence with a wave of his hand. “You can save the rest. What I want now are facts.”

  He had been brushed off. It twisted his gut how he could be a traveling merchant and still be treated as less than a person.

  “So Svernel really has to be our objective.”

  It was a strategic point in the northlands where those opposed to the Debau Company were said to be gathering.

  In the first place, in the event of war, Luward and Moizi had planned to make money off those fleeing toward the outskirts of Yoitsu. This was also for the purpose of preventing the wounded and fleeing from heading to Yoitsu and threatening the livelihoods of those who dwelled in the villages there.

  By that thinking, for the Myuri Mercenary Company to deliberately head to Svernel, premised on the thought of joining the rebellion there, was a bad joke indeed.

  But Luward was not some mere beaten dog driven into a corner by a hare.

  As he gazed at the map, he added, with a lighthearted tone such as one would use to say, Let’s go have a drink…

  “I mean, all we have to do is rob enough food and run.”

  Lawrence had let it slip from the forefront of mind, but these were mercenaries.

  “All right, forward march!” shouted Luward.

  They were reliable men, but they lived in a different world.

  Right now, there was no wisewolf beside him. He would have liked to hear her make a small chuckle at the foolishness of humans.

  Hilde awoke sometime after they took breakfast and set out.

  Anyone would have found the head of a marching army and his strategist taking care of a hare to be odd – and people ignorant of Hilde’s true nature all the more so.

  In the end, the plate came around to Lawrence once more.

  “Fatten him up well,” said the mercenary with a laugh, handing Lawrence the wicker cage that held Hilde.

  Not that Luward or Moizi had said it, but rumors steadily broadened to the effect a merchant’s scheme had forced Luward and his men to head to Svernel. So it was easy for them to identify who was responsible.

  The mercenaries around Lawrence did not come close, opening the distance both in front and behind him. At this range, should any sign of betrayal present itself, he could be instantly slain in a wall of spears.

  It was a bitter pill to swallow.

  Even though Hilde had awoken, he did not carelessly raise his voice, carefully assessing the situation instead.

  “We can speak a little.”

  As Lawrence spoke, he brought a damp cloth near Hilde’s lips. After taking a sniff, Hilde took the moisture into his mouth, clumsily drinking with a radiant twinkle in his eyes.

  “… To Svernel?”

  It was a curt question.

  And with those two words, Lawrence was certain that Hilde’s earlier question had been a complete and utter fabrication.

  “Just as you planned.”

  The least Lawrence could do was to answer with rancor. His words made Hilde hold his breath for a moment and then slowly exhale. Lawrence brought the cloth close to his lips once more; Hilde drank more steadily than earlier.

  “Right now… where are we?”

  The murmur of his voice was by no means restraint on his part. From the luster of his coat, he truly did not have the energy for more.

  “We entered the mountain passes and left a small mountain lodge this morning. Right now, I see two mountains to the east and one mountain to the north.”

  If he had a sense of geography, that would surely suffice. Hilde nodded. “And Miss Holo?”

  Then, that question. Everyone was depending on Holo. The tightening in his chest every time it came up might have been him feeling responsible he could not shoulder burdens as heavy as Holo, or perhaps it was simple jealousy.

  Probably both, he thought.

  “Not yet. However, if she returns to Lesko, you said you’d planned to head to Svernel, yes?”

  “… Yes. There are… limited routes between both places. My flying companion will likely find us immediately…”

  Humans were limited to land and sea, but the sky was for birds alone. Lawrence did not bother to nod as he pulled out some bread with a rustle, showing it to Hilde. “Food?”

  “… I am unsure if I can hold it down.”

  “Let’s moisten it, then.”

  Lawrence had taken care of numerous weakened animals in his travels as a merchant. He had even pulverized wheat or beans, added hot water, and packed the paste into their mouths, forcibly
if necessary.

  But since Hilde could understand speech, there was no need to force his mouth open.

  “I do think this is quite strange.”

  Lawrence seemingly smeared the moistened bread on Hilde’s mouth to put it in, dripping the water in the cloth down to his lips. Hilde’s eyes narrowed. It seemed hard for him, but he finally swallowed it down. After repeating this a few more times, Hilde listlessly shook his head side to side. “… Pathetic.”

  “Hm?”

  “For me… to end up like this…” Hilde’s feeble-sounding voice brought a strained smile to Lawrence.

  It was certainly not a smile of unnecessary sympathy for the wounded.

  No, it was a smile directed at himself.

  “With a single utterance, you bound Mr. Luward’s thoughts to your own will. You’ve amassed a great fortune and left everyone guessing whether you’ll move left or right. And now you want even more?”

  Hilde kept Lawrence in the corner of his eye. There was an unfathomable prudence in his eyes. Even in his weakened state, his eyes betrayed no hint of emotion. Within his heavy ingenuity and intellect lay a deep sense of caution.

  “True… if one desires too much, one will fail.”

  “Like your enemy.”

  At Lawrence’s words, Hilde closed his eyes and made a painful-sounding laugh.

  “Pursuit?”

  “None at the moment. But if it comes, we should hear of it from the lookouts today or tomorrow.”

  It would come. The addition of one small mercenary band to the enemy could be dismissed as trivial. While that might be so, right about now the town had to be in an uproar at Hilde’s disappearance. One could call it human nature to put two and two together.

  It was hard to believe a person such as Hilde would be ignored.

  “Right now, you should sleep. I may be envious, but you are a splendid merchant. I think, when the time comes, your wisdom will prove very valuable, far more than that of a mere traveling merchant like myself.”

  He could only admire Hilde for deploying a strategy Lawrence could not even grasp the whole splendor of. Furthermore, he had Luward, the leader of an army on the march, in his grasp, and Lawrence himself had become akin to a hostage left alive because he was on such good terms with Holo.