Spice & Wolf Omnibus

by Isuna Hasekura

  If someone was observing both armies facing off from the outside, he would surely think as much.

  “Everyone’s blades are smeared with grease, right?”

  Those were the words that came out from Luward’s mouth. With the blade smeared with grease, a sword was no different than a stick. According to the script, the Myuri Mercenary Company realized it could not shake off the Hugo Mercenary Company if it continued to flee, so it decided to turn and strike back, girding itself for one final battle.

  Lawrence was suspicious as to whether they could pull this performance off, but Moizi handled command extremely well. Perhaps the Hugo Mercenary Company also had a keen understanding of how it might best be driven back at such a time.

  At any rate, even knowing it was all a show, Lawrence and the others’ flight, carrying them into the valley and up the hill, was quite suspenseful.

  “Yes. They seem to be using rather well-worn weapons as well. They’ll say they broke during combat and request compensation, I imagine.”

  “Ha, makes me jealous… How about we do that, too?” Luward turned his head back as he asked.

  Of course, he was not asking Lawrence, directing his question at Hilde, who Lawrence carried in the wicker cage.

  Hilde made only a flick of his ears out of the cage; his face never rose from its side. Though their de facto employer, he was a prudent merchant, careful about what he promised, both in print and by words alone.

  Luward simmered as he smiled, but Moizi did not seem to notice.

  “Well, the biggest concern is moving exactly according to plan. No oversights, right?”

  “Correct. They are reasonable people as well. As they have made their preparations, it should all go well.”

  “I see.”

  As Luward spoke, he took in a deep breath. The way he raised his brow and then narrowed his eyes was no doubt because he knew just how absurd this so-called battle was.

  However, the battle would accomplish the triple feat of having no meaningless fatalities, leaving as few grudges between them and the enemy as possible, and mutually protecting their favorable relationships with their employers. Though it might have been absurd, unimportant it was not.

  At any rate, there was nothing for Luward to gain by thinking about it by himself. As mercenaries built up their reputations over long careers, there were many things they needed to understand as implicit problems that could not be resolved with money alone, nor that could be glossed over with bluster and conciliation.

  There lay the crystallization of the will of the many that approved of the mercenary life.

  A traveling merchant came to glimpse at the various worlds of various professions. Few among them had problems that could be resolved with money alone.

  By Lawrence’s thinking, it would have been nice if there were a few more problems that could be resolved with money; Hilde had supported the Debau Company with that very concept in mind. However, sometimes things in this small world were settled by absurd, splendid performances onstage.

  The huge man on the opposite hill with his arms folded, looking in their direction, was no doubt Rebonato. Lawrence saw a Moizi-like blaze in how he looked. His long, frizzy red hair went in all directions, and his face was sunburned even in this season. He was so muscular that merely folding his arms seemed to threaten to rip his clothes apart.

  Rebonato made a small nod as he looked at Luward. After glancing at Moizi to make sure, Luward nodded back.

  Even with this many people in one place, one could not even hear a cough.

  As a cold wind blew gently, Rebonato lit the match.

  “So now that you see you can’t run you’re minded to fight! We, the Hugo Mercenary Company, will show our respect for the Myuri Mercenary Company’s banner and fight with all our strength!”

  Sound traveled poorly on the snow-covered roads. In spite of that, Rebonato’s booming voice made them feel like he had reached out and touched them right on their own hill.

  Luward was the one who responded.

  He slowly drew the sword hanging from his hip, raising it high above his head as he replied.

  “We advance, our destinies granted by God! Those who live by the sword must sometimes turn our backs against God himself and accept the stigma of apostates! However, what they cannot endure is the stigma of foully attacking their enemy’s back! We desire to put our lives on the line for the sake of the much-reputed Hugo Mercenary Company’s honor!”

  Lawrence did not know if their lines were scripted, but they nearly made him laugh, all the more so because he knew what was about to happen would be a large-scale farce.

  Even from a distance, Rebonato’s look of rage was apparent; worked up even before, he was now all the angrier. Standing next to him, the overseer from the Debau Company seemed quite indignant at Luward’s speech.

  As the overseer was the only one in all this playing his role seriously, it was impressive.

  Or perhaps, in a certain sense, both Luward and Rebonato were taking this very seriously.

  If this was a ritual that was part of their being mercenaries, it might well be so.

  Holo would have been quite pleased to see this.

  “Very well! No doubt the war god Rajitel will reveal the truth!” As Rebonato spoke those words, he took his ax from his hip and swung it high; the mercenaries deployed along the slope brought their weapons to bear all at once.

  The sight of over a hundred men readying swords and spears in unison was not something one saw very often.

  As a man who had been stirred by tales of the slaying of dragons, Lawrence’s heart quivered at the sight.

  “A worthy foe! Attack!!”

  With those words, Luward signaled the start of the battle.

  The next moment, the troops ran down the slopes like avalanches.

  Perhaps the merchant serving as overseer – the same age as or a little younger than Lawrence – was caught up in the moment, raising his voice in such excitement, one half-expected that if someone handed him a sword, he would run to join the battle himself.

  Certainly, in the face of a scene like this, few young men were able to keep their cool.

  That was true even for a merchant who mocked the stupidity of war, scorning it as unprofitable.

  Lawrence felt as though he understood why many men continued to make their living at war, even though it was dangerous, made them hated by the world, and that he absolutely could not call it profitable. This excitement was difficult to taste any other way.

  This was where someone might ask, Which side is stronger? Yet the answer was so simple, even a baby that had not spoken his first words could understand.

  If Holo were here, Lawrence had no doubt she would get annoyed and start cheering the friendly forces on. Depending on the situation, she might even take wolf form and leap into the fray herself.

  Easily able to imagine the sight, Lawrence made a small chuckle to himself.

  That moment–

  There was a small rustle of movement within the wicker cage Lawrence carried securely within his arms.

  Just after he realized Hilde had raised his head, he heard these words from behind.

  “What is so amusing?”

  “What do you mean, what? It’s obv–”

  Lawrence smiled as he began to answer, turning around, and only then realized what his eyes were seeing.

  It was Holo.

  “Holo!”

  Lawrence immediately raised his voice. Holo closed her eyes, looking annoyed.

  And his voice made the others around them realize the presence of an intruder.

  A girl like Holo walking all around the place should stand out, but no one had noticed her at all. That’s a wolf for you, he supposed.

  “When… did you get back?”

  “I returned to the town the day before yesterday, but ’twas delayed a bit there.”

  Holo seemed a bit tired compared to when he had last seen her. Her hood and the face beneath it seemed dusty some
how.

  When he thought more deeply about it, Holo had just returned from a journey that would have taken some seven days on human feet. No horse would have survived being pushed so recklessly.

  But more than all of that, though it had only been a few days, the sight of her made him as happy as if it had been several years.

  “I see… I mean, I’m glad you’re sa–”

  But as Lawrence tried to speak, Holo interrupted him with a wave. “So? What is the hare doing here?”

  Lawrence’s mouth hung open as if to continue his earlier words. He remembered when as an apprentice he had become separated from his master in an unfamiliar city, and when he thought he had finally found his master, it turned out to be someone else.

  He faintly recalled that something like this had happened once before. It was when Holo had been captured in Pazzio, when Lawrence had been waiting for Holo in the subterranean passage.

  “Things went in a completely different direction than we expected.”

  Luward was the one who answered. Though Holo could keep her hood lowered and hide her tail to look like a normal girl, there was no way they could allow Hilde to speak where people could see.

  “Do not tell me you fell for honeyed words and promises?”

  Luward made a pained laugh at Holo’s sarcastic words. As that had been precisely the case, he made no reply.

  “Hmph. Well, we heard most of the story back in town. I can deduce the rest.”

  “We?”

  When Lawrence asked, Holo made an annoyed-looking wave toward him and pointed above her head.

  As Lawrence and Luward looked to the sky, there was a single bird flying above them in a circle.

  “I shall ask for the details later. First, what are you doing? Using pig’s blood even; is there some kind of festival afoot?” Perhaps it was to be expected that Holo instantly understood it was a farce.

  “Maybe it’s easiest to call it mercenaries putting on an act together?”

  Holo made a voiceless laugh at Luward’s words. Mixed with the circumstances, she might have understood a very great deal from what those words indicated. “Putting on an act is very important. Everyone has their role to play, after all.”

  “I’m happy that you understand. I feared I might be muddying the name of Myuri with this farce.”

  “I might well be angry if ’twere done poorly.”

  Luward pursed his lips as he made a funny face.

  “But ’tis well done. Myuri was quite fond of playing tricks upon others, after all.”

  Luward, who had purposefully put on a look of surprise, was genuinely amazed by Holo’s words.

  And as a smiling face seemingly burst forth, he turned toward the banner they flew, looking back at Holo once more.

  “Is that so?!”

  “It is. However, males of all sorts like this sort of thing, do they not? Provided that they are not sweaty-palmed fools, that is.”

  Holo clapped Lawrence on the back as if she might or might not be referring to him.

  Though he wanted to say something in return, he made no protest, for it was the truth.

  “I suppose that’s true not just of mercenaries, but everyone who lives on the battlefield. Well, it might be hard to watch, but please bear it a bit longer. The curtain will rise very shortly.”

  “So it would seem. So that’s why you’re sneaking something off toward the mountain?”

  Moizi, who had only just finished giving orders for advancing in formation toward the valley, turned in shock at Holo’s nonchalant words. She really was a wolf, noticing every little thing.

  “That is correct.”

  “And this is because you want those great sleds and so forth to move forward, is it not?”

  The slumping of Luward’s shoulders indicated “it is as you say.”

  “Thanks to that, ’twas hard for me to find anywhere to hide, you see.”

  “A place to hide?”

  “Indeed. Well, then, ’tis not your place to mind the hare forever.”

  With that, Holo roughly snatched the wicker cage up out of Lawrence’s hands. Even the ever calm and composed Hilde poked his head out of a fold of his blanket, shaken by such treatment.

  “Hm. So this is why I caught the scent of blood. Damned fool.”

  Speaking while making a teasing face, Holo swayed the cage from side to side and shook it up and down.

  Hilde had no option but to endure it.

  Under the blanket, he was not a frog caught in the gaze of a snake, but a hare under the gaze of a wolf.

  Holo’s teasing of Hilde having brightened her somber mood, she pushed the cage onto a nearby youngster. “Hold this, will you?”

  Already bewildered by a girl suddenly appearing in the center of their unit and being treated with respect by their captain for some unfathomable reason, the youngster, even more bewildered, looked to his captain, hoping to be rescued.

  “Take good care of it. It’s an important hare.”

  “Aye, I’m counting on it. Come, you, let us be off.” As the hesitant youngster found himself pressed by his captain’s command and Holo’s smiling face, Holo grabbed Lawrence’s hand and walked off. Lawrence was not the only one at a loss.

  “Where are you going?”

  Luward asked the extremely pertinent question.

  Holo, who was already dragging Lawrence along as she strode off, suddenly stopped, turning around. “I hid a certain something in the mountains. I must go retrieve it.”

  “If that’s the case, I can send one of my men to…”

  Holo momentarily let go of Lawrence’s hand as Luward made his offer, perhaps made out of respect to Holo, and looked squarely at Luward as she replied, “Though I am grateful for your concern, this fool would sulk soon enough.”

  Holo poked a finger into Lawrence’s belly.

  Certainly Lawrence had said he would take all responsibility for the forbidden book and so forth when asking Holo to help. For the text to bypass Lawrence and go straight to Luward and Hilde would be a rather dull affair.

  But just as Lawrence was about to protest that he was not such a child, Holo instantly turned back around and seized Lawrence’s hand. Looking over her shoulder, she said this.

  “That being so, wait just a bit. I shall return soon enough.”

  Luward gave a vague reply as he watched them go. “Ah, yes…”

  Keeping Lawrence’s hand in her grip, Holo advanced farther and farther until they reached a place that no sign of conflict reached. Ahead there remained distinct tracks of sleds and those transporting them.

  The smallest set of tracks mingled with the others before splitting off midway and heading toward the mountains.

  “So, that’s where you came here from?”

  “Aye. When I heard sounds of fighting, I really thought I might have to join the battle as a wolf.”

  There had been times when he might well have prayed for salvation from Holo, so he could not just laugh it off. However, since he knew what was behind the curtain of the grand farce, he forced a bitter laugh.

  “It was a close call, then. If that’d happened the whole thing would’ve been a waste.”

  “If Luis hadn’t told me, it would have been a much closer thing.”

  “Luis?” Lawrence echoed back as Holo pulled up the hem of her robe as she climbed the slope of the mountain she had descended from.

  “Do not make that face. There. There.”

  She pointed to the sky.

  “It’s rare for you to remember a name.”

  As Lawrence spoke, Holo made a satisfied smile and laughed as if she had found a fun new toy.

  “What, are you jealous?”

  She was irritatingly accurate.

  “Well, judging from your look after you noticed I was there, ’tis surely that as well. What had you so flustered? You were like a dog who had not seen his master in ages.”

  Holo smiled teasingly as she climbed the slope farther on her own.

  Thoug
h mortified, Lawrence could not find any words to reply with. Even so, he made his usual resigned sigh and trod up the slope as they retraced her footsteps.

  Goodness, he had been looking forward to their reunion, but it had been a storm of invective.

  Unlike the light-footed Holo, Lawrence’s legs became mired where the falling snow had grown thick. When he pulled his legs out of the snow, the malicious Holo hurled even more abuse at him.

  Just because they had been apart a while did not mean she would be happy when they had reunited.

  When he had been waiting for Holo in the subterranean aqueducts of Pazzio included, did she even realize how much he had worried about her? Certainly, this time there was little direct cause for concern. But by its very nature, one never knew what travel would bring.

  In particular, on Lawrence’s side, it had been entirely possible that one mistake would have truly ended in death. Leaving Holo’s concern for Lawrence aside, it would have been nice if Holo had worried about Lawrence just a little more.

  Was he wrong to expect such a thing? I’m being quite irrational, he was well aware, yet knowing that did not keep out the spontaneous thought.

  He kept pulling his legs out when they became stuck, searched for the next reliable foothold, and used trees to pull himself up the suddenly steepening slope. Since he could not lift his gaze, he had no idea how far Holo had gone. He could not even hear her footsteps anymore.

  If it was going to be like this, I should have waited downhill.

  But the instant he stopped to catch his breath, making a sigh…

  “Hng, wha–!”

  Lawrence sustained a heavy impact with sky and earth switching places.

  The terror of climbing a slope and going backward down it can only be appreciated by those who have experienced it. The world turned on its head.

  However, somehow Lawrence’s body came to a complete stop in deep snow before rolling over.

  “… Urgh…”

  Rustle, rustle. Along with the dizziness of his head and the oppressive feeling of something mounted atop his chest, he heard the rustling of snow. It seemed snow had fallen right on him from the treetops.