She made a marvelous howl, as if yelling at a pack of idiot males.
“Aoooooooooooo!!”
Even though they were inside a town’s walls, the townspeople were sensitive to wolves in the forests and mountains that lay just beyond.
Everyone became deathly still, as if cold water had been poured over the entire disturbance.
“The Debau Company’s impropriety must be redressed!”
Lawrence’s voice resounded.
The crowd’s gazes converged upon Lawrence at once.
“The Debau Company’s impropriety must be redressed!”
Hilde, too, looked up at Lawrence dumbfounded.
“The Debau Company’s impropriety must be redressed!”
As Lawrence spoke a third time, it was Yanarkin who moved.
“Wh-what are you saying! Impropriety?! Based on what evidence?!”
Evidence. Yes, evidence. There was no evidence.
Even if the logic added up, without evidence, he had nothing.
Lawrence’s head went blank. The rug had been pulled out from under him again.
Finding no comeback, nausea assaulted him.
That moment, Holo slapped his butt. As he looked at Holo, she turned her chin aside in an annoyed look.
“Have you no confidence, Lawrence? Evidence is support for your case, no more.”
Wisewolf Holo.
Lawrence looked out of the window, raising the paper in his hand.
“This is evidence! A Debau Company bill of exchange!”
A complete lie. Furthermore, even had it been real, it would not have been evidence of anything.
However, it brought results. Immediately.
“Wh-what is…! What evidence of anything is that?!”
Yanarkin had been unnerved. Lawrence had not been mistaken. This was the correct path.
Lawrence inhaled and shouted. “What are you saying, you who fling about coins deposited in Lesko for bills of exchange! That money was entrusted to you by others!”
Hilde was right. The Debau Company did not have the coin on hand to fund waging war. It certainly did not have money to pursue a battle to break down town gates that had been shut. Even if it did, it would interfere with issuing the new currency, which bound the lords and mercenaries to it.
But the Debau Company’s treasury contained all the coinage deposited when it issued bills of exchange.
Bills of exchange would eventually become coin once more, but there was a time lag. During that time, it was as if the Debau Company was borrowing the money. The money Yanarkin and the others were flinging about would eventually need to be replaced from somewhere to make the accounts balance.
If collections slowed because town gates had been shut, it would hinder repayment. Even more so, if everyone learned how money they had merely deposited was being used behind their backs, no one would want to use bills of exchange anymore.
If that happened, their financing would suddenly dry up.
“I think we should send a fast horse to Lesko and confirm the situation! This is a life-and-death issue for this town, indeed, all the northlands! There’s no reason to rush a decision whatsoever! Or is it that you wish to dazzle the townspeople with stolen money!”
At those words, many people’s heads pulled back.
As they regarded at one another’s faces, perhaps they were remembering what they looked like when they were picking up the scattered silver pieces – wretched, miserable, without a single shred of dignity.
Lawrence went to shout one final time.
However, his breath cut short and his head went dizzy. He had come to the limit of his physical strength.
His eyes were spinning; his legs were shaking. At the end of his vision, a broad smile came over Yanarkin.
This was bad. If he could not press his case, he would lose the crowd.
“Th-this is absurd! Of course this is not borrowed money! If we did such a thing, th-the Church would surely be angry! But, we, the Debau Company, bear the seal of the Church as well! The Church and the lords are with us because what we are doing is just!”
Here he was, speaking of the Church in the middle of the northlands. Proof enough he had lost his cool.
It was working.
“Then…!”
But right after Lawrence got that far, his throat felt pressure as if someone was pressing a lid on it as the edges of his vision wavered.
Grave wounds. Fever. Giddiness.
He had spoken too much.
Lawrence’s spine arched back from lack of breath. The edges of his vision were going black. His head was throbbing; his consciousness was growing distant. Even though he had the words to retort with, he lacked the strength to speak them.
Lawrence fell to his knees.
Strength. Once again, he lacked strength.
As Lawrence wept, an angel slapped his cheek.
“You truly are a fool.” Somehow managing to crouch against the window, he looked beside him. “But you are not alone any longer.”
Even if one person could not move forward alone, two people could.
That was the true meaning of his journey with Holo.
“My lines.”
And with Holo’s one sentence, he understood all. Holo had the appearance of a nun, and her skill in speech was magnificent enough to tie even merchants into knots.
Lawrence put his embarrassingly shaking hands on his knees, finally pulling his body together when it seemed like it would fall apart.
Even so, he could firmly say, never in his life had his heart ever been supported more.
“… Then, I ask you…”
“Then, I ask you!”
Holo’s voice reverberated like a bell. That it was a girl’s voice made its strength all that more poignant.
Furthermore, Holo seemed amused from the bottom of her heart, which reassured Lawrence tremendously.
“While you, fling silver coins about…”
“While you fling silver coins about!”
“You speak of… prosperity giving rise to new silver coins…”
“You speak of prosperity giving rise to new silver coins!”
Lawrence gave up on crouching against the windowsill and sat on the floor, resting his back against the wall.
“But these are not the Church’s teachings… for silver coins are silver coins. And if silver coins do give rise to anything, that…”
Holo yelled in a loud voice in accordance with Lawrence’s murmurs.
It was as if she were a shopgirl calling customers over to his store.
“That would be interest! The Church does not approve of interest! You, the thief, misusing the name of the Church! What is your objective?! Or is it on purpose that you anger the Church, invade a blameless land, bringing about destruction?!”
Holo had not been aimlessly journeying, either. She had read scripture together with Col and had observed many things this way and that. Lawrence thought so because he was not sure he had spoken the latter half of her lines properly.
But Holo’s speaking was so perfect, she could go preaching on the street just like that.
“Hff, hff.” As Holo finished speaking, Lawrence heard small, ragged breaths.
And after seeming to swallow once to get her breathing in order, Holo turned toward him.
Lawrence looked up at Holo and said, “Well done.”
The crowd outside was astir. Lawrence could not see from where he was, but Yanarkin was probably looking all around with tears on his face.
“S-silence, silence! Si– No, it’s not like that… listen to me, I-I only want to… to profit, profiting, is delight…”
He had fallen to pieces, no longer bearing any words worth speaking.
When, with Holo’s support, Lawrence somehow managed to get to his feet, Yanarkin was desperately searching for words, finally gazing all about at the crowd, looking like he was pleading for help. But now, the crowd all around him that he had dazzled so much by scattering silver coins about
merely gazed at him from afar.
Finally, Yanarkin thrust his quivering hand into the box he carried and flung silver coins out. The crowd surrounding him watched with their eyes, like a dove observing a thrown pebble, but not a single person stretched out his hand.
They had won. It was a complete victory.
They had won against those who would seize the hearts of men by scattering money about.
Hilde looked his way, and their eyes met.
Lawrence said nothing and closed his eyes, raising them toward the heavens.
“You who have just witnessed the courage of my comrades! Close the gates! A great army invades!”
As Hilde shouted, the crowd rushed as one. Soldiers joined them in ones and twos as well; they too loved their town, and they too held the power to determine what was just and what was unjust.
Finally, nearly all of them had joined the crowd, running off to prepare for the great army’s onslaught.
Yanarkin stood in terror as he watched the crowd go. As he regained his senses, he unsteadily pressed close to Hilde and latched onto him.
“D-don’t do anything rash! If you close the gates, th–they’ll blame me. They’ll kill me! They’ll rip me to pieces!”
It was all too pathetic how he pleaded for his life. Lawrence could not even summon anger over how he had made his gamble without a single thought about such a risk.
Even with Yanarkin grabbing him by the collar, Hilde made no move to resist. It was Moizi who peeled Yanarkin off him. Hilde’s silence was a de facto death sentence for Yanarkin. Finally, Yanarkin stopped struggling in Moizi’s arms, hanging his head in defeat.
Hilde shifted his gaze to Millike next. Even as those surrounding him lost their bearings, the man who governed the town council calmly watched the flow of the crowd from horseback.
He had not erred to think as he had.
But people were not quite that foolish, nor quite that wise.
Though Millike noticed Hilde’s gaze, silently trading glances with him, he suddenly spurred his horse, departing together with the few soldiers remaining with him. Moizi let go of Yanarkin, and Yanarkin stumbled after Millike and his men.
It seemed to be over.
Hilde and Moizi looked up at Lawrence from the street, waving their hands as if making a salute.
Lawrence made a light wave in return as he leaned on Holo’s shoulder.
Then, the two men set their subordinates in order and returned to the inn.
Lawrence finally made a sigh of relief and looked at Holo beside him.
But a moment later his vision blurred, and without understanding what had happened, he found himself fallen on the floor, gazing straight up at the ceiling.
At the same time, Lawrence realized not only that he had been slapped on the cheek, but also that a Holo-shaped rump sat on his chest while a deft tail lay atop his head.
“That you would sit quietly in a store from here on truly was just a dream…”
Holo turned tired eyes toward Lawrence as she sat on top of him, resting her elbows on his lap and her chin on her palms.
To gain Holo, he had to take responsibility and cease adventuring. Lawrence had taken Holo’s hand with every intention of doing so, but having watched the scene before her, it was quite natural to doubt him.
And yet, he thought, even if Holo would have left him for it, he would have done it anyway.
This was Holo, after all; surely she had realized how absurdly determined he was.
More than that, Holo had gone along with a great fool of a man’s pastime.
But even as he thought those things, he wanted to excuse it all with That’s just how it turned out; it couldn’t be helped.
And it went well, had it not?
Holo’s tail softly patted Lawrence’s cheek. Perhaps it was because she thought there might be even the slightest dissatisfaction on his face.
“I keep getting pulled along by no-good males.”
Lawrence replied to Holo’s oft-spoken words.
“But you love me anyway, don’t you?”
Holo looked taken back for a moment, not dismissing it out of hand like usual.
As Holo gazed into space, as if immersed in the aftershocks of the great tumult, she made very deliberate movements with the tip of her tail, took a deep breath, and said this.
“Certainly, that is where the problem lies.”
At the end, Holo glanced sideways at Lawrence, grinning and bearing it.
Chapter 12
Two men, death-defying even by the standards of the Myuri Mercenary Company, accompanied Yanarkin, wearing a face like a condemned criminal on his way to the guillotine, out of town with a handwritten letter. Their destination was the camp of the army commanded by the captain of a thousand.
Before any answer came back, Hilde headed to Millike’s residence for negotiations.
Holo wondered idly, What is there to negotiate over now?
But since Svernel was still the cornerstone of the intersection of the northlands, there were still things Hilde had to do.
It was good to have smashed Yanarkin’s plot and spurred the crowd into closing the town gates like chivalrous rogues. Upon learning of these facts, the troops under the command of the captain of a thousand would likely turn back the way they came.
But that did not mean everything had been resolved.
As the town was under the rule of Jean Millike aka Havlish the Third, Hilde required a certain level of trust between them. Hilde was, after all, on the inside of the walls; if Millike wanted, he could have his troops surround the inn and set it ablaze.
That aside, lingering hard feelings would leave Svernel a future source of trouble.
From Millike’s point of view, even if Hilde returned to the Debau Company in full glory, Millike could not know when he might be invaded, his political authority usurped.
Besides, Millike had that opaque confidence that suited him to ruling this town.
With this in mind, and as a person of the Debau Company, Hilde needed to build up a minimum of trust with Millike.
Therefore, Hilde heading to Millike’s residence without bringing anyone else along was to display Hilde’s good faith.
But Lawrence and the others were completely at a loss as to how he could actually win such trust from Millike. Proposing an agreement for the Debau Company not to interfere with Svernel held no potency whatsoever.
Hilde seemed to have a strong plan of attack, but Lawrence could not even picture it.
Moreover, as Millike might even kill him outright if things went poorly, those waiting back at the inn could not help but be concerned.
But a short time after sunset, Hilde returned safe and sound. While Lawrence and the others breathed a sigh of relief, the talks had apparently not concluded, for after a meal, Hilde returned to the residence to continue talks once more.
Unexpectedly, the second set of talks ended immediately.
Though joy was evident on Hilde’s face, Lawrence and the others were rocked back when Hilde revealed the details.
Hilde had proposed to use this town as a second mint for the Debau Company.
But in shifting the profit from issuing the new currency, would this not cause some other huge problem?
Lawrence and the others had thought so, but upon hearing Hilde’s plan, their concerns were quickly alleviated.
“And so, we must set alight the furnace of this town that has gone unused for so long.”
The town had no proper furnace in operation.
As the Debau Company’s mining interests prospered, foul talk of its mines had long held sway in the northlands. Originally, this town had smelted iron sands, too, but Millike had forbidden it out of fear of future consequences; thanks to that, though the town had obstinately refused to cooperate with the Debau Company, it retained its independence until the bitter end.
Though Millike had thought to cut the town off from the northlands’ foolish disturbances, he was well prepared should he ever c
hange his mind.
That being the case, the furnace needed to be brought back into working condition so that Hilde could implement his plan.
“All right! Move away from there! Put those holding rods around there… Hey, you! Dig that hole properly!”
It was Luward, leaning on a cane, barking orders in front of an old blast furnace, currently used for the storage of furs and amber that passed through the town. When he had learned how Lawrence and Hilde had fought fiercely while he slept, he had wept in self-derision.
Certainly, to the leader of a mercenary company, it was a mortifying, unbecoming failure.
Seeing his master like that, Moizi frankly asked Lawrence and Hilde for aid. Surely, he asked, is there not some important duty to assign him so that he might regain his honor?
Apparently that is when Hilde had issued his order to get the furnace back in working order.
Also, perhaps because the town’s residents had seen the tumult during daytime, there were many people concerning themselves with the defense of their own town’s walls. That, too, established the well-disciplined Myuri Mercenary Company as the most suitable for the physical labor.
“It’ll be finished by dawn, won’t it?”
Based on the expectation that an envoy would be returning with the reply to negotiations with the Debau Company force commanded by the captain of a thousand, Lawrence deduced that it was already near daybreak.
Hilde replied optimistically to Lawrence’s question as he beheld the Myuri Mercenary Company’s way of working.
“I think it will be all right.”
“I’m impressed that you thought of this, though.”
Lawrence spoke as he stood beside the entrance of the warehouse-turned-blast furnace, watching the ongoing work.
“I slapped my knee when I realized, you really are resolving things with money.”
They were watching the contents being cleaned out, a crack in the furnace being repaired, and the bellows being prepared and the equipment to make the bellows move when Lawrence spoke; Hilde merely laughed a little.
Right beside Lawrence stood a great merchant of which there were few.
That fact loosened Lawrence’s tongue a little as he continued.
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