“Gosh, don’t get so mad at me.”
“Y-y-you…”
“Don’t worry, brother, your purity is safe,” she said and pressed a slender finger against his lips. Obedience, purity, and asceticism were the three virtues that those who decided to serve God vowed to adhere to. Of course, it was not as though Myuri was thinking in a way that followed the teachings of a kind God.
However, Col did not know what to say to this sinful, frightening girl. And what’s more, he did not know how to deal with the feelings that had welled up when their eyes met.
“…That’s enough for today.”
“What? Really?” Myuri exclaimed happily and jumped up from her chair. She unwrapped the blanket from around herself and neatly laid it on the bed.
When he pinched the flame on the candle, like killing a bug, the room fell into darkness. He slowly approached Myuri, who had not touched her blanket yet, from behind.
As though she had sensed him, she quickly whipped around.
“B-brother?”
Col did not reply and just reached out—
And took in his hand his own blanket.
“I will sleep on the floor.”
“Huh?”
“I will sleep on the floor.”
His reply was curt as he wrapped himself in the blanket and lay down on the floor.
“Huh, brother? Hey, wait, what, why?”
She truly sounded upset by this, but he would not have any of it.
“I came because it’s too cold to sleep by myself…”
He reclined on the cold, hard floor and faced away from her.
He wrapped the blanket tightly around himself and single-mindedly recited the scripture.
May God protect me. May God forgive me for my sins…
“Hey, brother!”
He did not budge. Should he move, there were many things that could get messy.
After that, Myuri slept on her own and gave several fake-sounding sneezes, but in the end she slept soundly.
For several days afterward, she was just a bit more obedient.
She probably thought that Col was mad at her, but he was not.
It was for the foolish reason that he could not seriously look at her without becoming embarrassed.
The daughter of the wisewolf, Myuri.
She had quite the future ahead of her.
AFTERWORD
Wh-what…? You should have made up your mind that day, five years ago…!
Mwa-ha-ha-ha! Did I not say I was immortal?! I will come back to life over and over. Yes, over and over!
While that is not true, it is my first new book in five years. Isuna Hasekura here.
This book is comprised of three short stories that were printed in Dengeki Bunko Magazine’s special home page (discussed later) and one new short novella. Chronologically, this takes place ten-some years after book 17.
The reason why I decided to publish this new novel was because I did not have any money…No, it was because when I was looking over material for a different series, May Your Soul Rest in Magdala, there were many things that had me thinking, This would fit Spice and Wolf much better than Magdala, and the manga version, drawn by Keito Koume-sensei, was plunging into the climax, so my supervisor’s suggestion of publishing a short story collection in combination with promoting the manga version served as its inception. And then there was also the fact that it was the tenth anniversary of my first book, so my supervisor said we should do many things for that, and so we did.
But when I set out to write it, Holo and Lawrence’s antics were not much of a problem, but the two children turned out to be much more of a handful than I thought, so I was in trouble. And then I remembered the old saying: “Let the troubled child go.”
So without delay, I have written about Holo and Lawrence’s daily lives after book 17, but since the children also went on a journey…I also wrote about their story. Please check out Wolf and Parchment, also on sale this month! As the subtitle says, “The New Spice and Wolf,” they are connected, but it is all right if you only read that one. It is a story about Col, who is the main character, and how he gets tossed around by Holo and Lawrence’s daughter. She also tosses around her ears and tail! The last story in this book is about these two new main characters.
Furthermore, there will be at least one more short collection for Spice and Wolf, so look forward to it and please take a look at Koume-sensei’s exciting comic version of Spice and Wolf!
Also, the short stories we plan to publish in this new book are posted every month at Spice and Wolf & Isuna Hasekura 10th Anniversary Official Site (I get embarrassed writing that out myself). You can read them for free, so if there are those that cannot wait for the book, please take a visit. There are announcements for other tenth anniversary event things besides S&W, so please keep an eye out.
The URL is http://hasekuraisuna.jp.
Well then, I will keep working hard for the decade to come.
—Isuna Hasekura
Thank you for buying this ebook, published by Yen On.
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