Spice and Wolf, Vol. 3

by Isuna Hasekura

  "All that's needed is for the value of pyrite to depreciate.”

  After saying this out loud, Lawrence laughed with an extremely foolish look on his face. He was making fun of himself for only being able to come so far in trying to imitate Horo.

  If it were really possible for the price of pyrite to depreciate, that would of course be good reason for him to shout for joy.

  Yet, the market value of pyrite was rising steadily, showing no signs at all of falling. In any case, the rise in pyrite value was already beyond the realm of ten times or twenty times. The value of pyrite would continue to climb up, and"And?”

  Lawrence paused in his tracks, having realized something important.

  "Ten times? Twenty times? In that case. thirty times would come next? And what about after that?" Lawrence felt as if he could see Horo laughing at him through her nose.

  The price of pyrite could not possibly rise indefinitely. There was a rule in this kind of popular business, and the rule was that the moment of collapse would come sooner or later.

  Lawrence almost let out a whimper-like cry, hastily covering his mouth and swallowing the sound back in. If that were true, then there were two points that needed to be considered.

  The first was when this moment of collapse would arrive, and the second, whether it was possible to cause Amati to fall in.

  Lawrence, who still had a hand over his mouth, contemplated this as he continued to walk.

  Even if the price of pyrite were to crash, would Amati really fall into the storm of collapse and allow himself to suffer such great losses so carelessly, without taking any kind of action? Lawrence did not think so, because that would be gravely underestimating Amati.

  What this meant was, Lawrence needed to do a bit of work in that area. As long as he was able to substantiate the problem, Lawrence believed that his intellect did not lose to Horo's.

  The ideal deal (note: not the most graceful use of language I admit.›‹) began to surface in Lawrence's mind, and a cold and heavy feeling settled at the bottom of his heart, a familiar feeling that Lawrence had experienced many times before. This feeling was not based on reason, but was rather an instinct that foretold of the coming decisive battle.

  Lawrence took a deep breath, and began contemplating the most important point, which was at what point the crash would occur.

  It needn't be said that the market value of pyrite would not go on increasing abnormally forever, but the question was, when would it start to drop? Moreover, Lawrence had no idea whether it was possible for the drop to occur before the contract deadline arranged between him and Amati, in other words, before sunset the next day.

  Even a fortuneteller would probably be unable to foretell the moment of the crash. Besides the almighty God, no one could predict that.

  However, an image formed before Lawrence's eyes, the image of villagers of a large wheat-producing region attempting to use the power of humans to complete a task that had long been controlled by the gods.

  Rather than wait around anxiously for the gods to determine the moment of the crash, why not make a decision for them instead?

  Just as this wildly arrogant idea surfaced in Lawrence's mind, the sound of cheers came from the distance, and he lifted his gaze.

  Unconsciously, Lawrence had already walked a great distance, arriving once again at the intersection at the center of town.

  The wheat puppets at the intersection crashed into one another along with the sound of angry roars. With every collision, pieces of wheat broken off during the crash would fly out and fall to the ground, arousing a wave of cheers. The sight was almost like a real battlefield.

  Overwhelmed by such a spirit, Lawrence could not help throwing aside the plan that he had been turning over in his head to watch the festival for quite some time. He suddenly noticed something, and returned to his senses.

  In that moment, Lawrence could even feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Amati.

  The figure of Amati appeared before his eyes.

  To run into Amati so coincidentally among such a huge crowd of people, could this possibly be a joke from God? Lawrence immediately threw away such an idea, realizing that this must have some kind of significance, even if it were in fact a coincidence. Lawrence was standing right in the center of Kumerson.

  That was the intersection of the main streets leading north, south, east, and west. Amati was walking with his back to the inn where Horo was.

  Then, Amati stopped in his tracks, and gradually turned his head.

  For a moment, Lawrence thought Amati was looking in his direction, but Amati did not notice him at all. Lawrence immediately followed the direction of Amati's gaze with his own eyes.

  He of course knew where Amati's gaze was directed. However, he simply had to know what Amati saw.

  The place Amati had turned back and looked towards after walking off slowly.

  At the second-floor window of the inn facing the main street, the sight of Horo with the scarf wound about her neck appeared.

  Lawrence felt a wave of anxiety like an abdominal pain, a fretfulness nearing anger surround his stomach, giving him a feeling of particular bitterness.

  As if it gave her much warmth, Horo moved her mouth close to the scarf, and nodded her head lightly. On the other hand, Amati pressed a hand to his chest, like a religious knight bearing absolute faith in his goddess.

  Lawrence did not know whether Horo had invited Amati into her room, or Amati had shamelessly barged in. However, based on the ways things looked right now, Lawrence did not have much optimistic evidence to overrule his heart's suspicions.

  After that, Amati immediately turned about and made off with his back to the inn. Seeing Amati leaving hurriedly with his body leaning forward slightly as if running away from something, Lawrence's suspicions only grew deeper.

  In the blink of an eye, Amati's form had disappeared amongst the crowds, and Lawrence shifted his gaze back toward the inn room.

  And then, he inhaled sharply.

  Because he was sure that Horo was looking in his direction.

  Since even Lawrence was able to discover Amati amongst the crowd, there was no reason to believe that the sharp-sighted Horo would not be able to discover Lawrence within the same crowd.

  Yet, Horo did not turn away immediately. Of course, she did not smile either, but simply gazed at Lawrence. After an uncertain amount of time had gone by, just as Lawrence was about to let out the breath he had inhaled, Horo suddenly moved away from the window.

  If Horo had simply closed the window then, Lawrence would perhaps have lost his motivation.

  Yet, even though Horo had left the window side, she did not close the window, but left it wide open instead.

  The wooden window seemed to possess an attraction that pulled on Lawrence's feet, causing him to walk in the direction of the inn.

  Lawrence was of course not so naive as to believe that Horo and Amati had simply talked through the window.

  Due to the fact that Horo was not a simple city girl, and because Amati's feelings for Horo were just then in a state that was anything but level-headed, Lawrence of course had good reason to believe that the two must have discussed something within the room.

  Even so, Horo had not appeared flustered or surprised, but had only gazed quietly at Lawrence. This was because Horo had not done anything that Lawrence could not know about.

  What this meant, then, was that Horo was intentionally provoking Lawrence.

  And what man was there in this world who could remain perfectly unmoved when provoked? Lawrence recalled the conversation he had had with Horo in Rubinhaigen. He felt that Horo would definitely understand if he simply revealed his honest thoughts.

  Lawrence made his resolve from the bottom of his heart as he moved towards the inn.

  As soon as Lawrence opened the front door of the inn, the cheerful scene of a feast met his eyes.

  Each table was filled with all sorts of different foods. The people there conversed
or sang as they indulged in drink.

  The thought that he and Horo should have been sitting happily at one of these tables caused Lawrence to sigh involuntarily despite being a merchant who took pride in not having the word "regret" in his dictionary.

  However, there must have been a chance to reverse the situation. If Horo held a completely rejecting attitude, she should have closed the window.

  Lawrence held such a confidence as he stepped onto the staircase leading to the second floor next to the bar counter.

  The moment Lawrence stepped onto the staircase, someone called out to him. "Mr. Lawrence.”

  Lawrence, who was not particularly calm inside to begin with, looked back in surprise, and the one who had spoken appeared startled as well.

  The innkeeper who had called Lawrence, was leaning out slightly from the bar counter and blinking continually.

  "…Sorry. What is it?" asked Lawrence.

  "Ah, it's like this, I have been asked to pass this letter on to you, Mr. Lawrence.”

  Hearing the word "letter," Lawrence could not help feeling a wave of apprehension in his chest. He coughed once to calm himself back down.

  Lawrence walked down the steps, approached the counter and received the letter from the innkeeper's hand. "Who was this letter sent by?”

  "It was your companion, delivered just now.”

  Lawrence's expression did not change one bit, which made him want to praise himself.

  It went without saying that the man, as innkeeper, had knowledge of all the guests staying at the inn as well as anyone entering or leaving.

  After Lawrence had gone out alone leaving Horo at the inn, Amati had paid her a visit in his absence, and Horo who had received the visit chose not to speak directly to Lawrence, but passed the message to Lawrence via letter instead.

  If the innkeeper, seeing such an interaction between the two, did not suspect anything odd at all, that would truly be remarkable.

  Yet, the innkeeper was looking at Lawrence with an expression that seemed to say he knew nothing at all. Town merchants possessed deep lateral connections.

  Lawrence felt that rumors would be sure to spread immediately if he did not behave in a somewhat dignified manner.

  "May I borrow some light?”

  Lawrence did his very best to speak with a calm tone. Hearing this, the innkeeper nodded lightly and took a silver candle stand from behind him.

  Not using animal fat, Lawrence could not help worrying that the apprehensive spirit hidden under his outer mask would be revealed under the intense light of the candle.

  In his heart, Lawrence laughed coldly at himself for having such thoughts. Pulling out the knife sheathed at his waist, he carefully peeled away the wax on the letter.

  Although the innkeeper moved quite some distance away as if to indicate that he would not peek rudely at the letter's contents, Lawrence still felt the innkeeper glance in his direction every now and then.

  Lawrence gave a light cough before opening the letter and taking out its contents.

  The envelope contained a piece of sheepskin paper, along with a normal sheet of paper.

  Lawrence could feel his heart beating hard, but if he hesitated now, it would mean that he distrusted Horo. Concerning the possibilities, it would not be surprising even if the letter's contents called for reconciliation. Slowly, Lawrence opened the folded paper, and a few grains of sand fell from the paper as he did so. Lawrence guessed that the grains of sand were used to quickly dry off the ink, which also led him to the conclusion that Horo had just finished writing the letter not long before. Was it a breakup letter, or a reconciliatory one?

  The words on the letter jumped out at Lawrence's eyes.

  Two hundred silver coins in cash, approoimately three hundred silver coins worth of pyrite on hand. roperty that can be sold off..

  Seeing such a direct description with no introductory words whatsoever, Lawrence lifted his head in amazement.

  Cash? Pyrite?

  Lawrence had originally expected words that would seemingly allow him to hear Horo's voice speaking written in the letter, but what was actually there was merely a cold, unsympathetic sequence of words.

  Even so, Lawrence directed his sights to the paper once again. Its content caused him to grit his teeth involuntarily.

  …Three hundred silver coins worth of pyrite on hand. roperty that can be sold off worth approoimately two hundred silver coins.

  There was no need for Lawrence to rack his brains to know that this was a list of Amati's fortunes.

  Just like a solid piece of bread that had been sprinkled with hot water, Lawrence felt all the strength in his body drain away slowly.

  Horo had invited Amati into the room in order to obtain this information from his own mouth. If this were really true, Horo must have done so for Lawrence's sake.

  This was roundabout reconciliatory letter from Horo.

  Even though a smile surfaced involuntarily on his face, Lawrence had not the slightest intention of hiding it. In addition, the line The above was written in my place by someone else was written at the very end of the verbal description.

  There were many who could read yet could not write. After obtaining this information, Horo must have used going to the washroom as an excuse to leave the room, and then requested a passing merchant's help in writing down these contents. Because Lawrence had seen Amati's writing on the contract, he was sure that this handwriting did not belong to Amati.

  Lawrence carefully refolded the letter hiding a value well beyond a thousand gold pieces and placed it back in his bosom. He then picked up the sheet of sheepskin paper.

  Perhaps Horo had used some kind of trick to deceive Amati into signing a contract of startling content, Lawrence thought to himself.

  In his mind, the image of the proud and satisfied figure of Amati who had just met privately with Horo surfaced.

  –Horo does want to travel with meLawrence was intoxicated with such a sense of security and superiority as he unfolded the sheepskin paper without the least bit of hesitation.

  In the name of God..

  The handwriting on the sheepskin paper had a powerful, dignified appearance. No doubt about it, this was Amati's handwriting.

  Lawrence did the best he could to keep his anxious mood in check, and continued reading. His gaze followed the first line, the second line, the third line…

  And thenThe two, under the above declaration, will become formally married.

  The moment Lawrence finished reading the entire sentence, he felt as if the world had begun to spin. "….Huh?”

  Lawrence murmured. The utterance felt like it had come from a great distance.

  Despite having closed his eyes, he could still clearly see the contents of the document he had just read. A marriage certificate.

  On the marriage certificate declared with God as witness was written the names of fishmonger Fermi Amati and Horo.

  The spot for the signature of Horo's custodian remained blank.

  However, as soon as the name of the custodian was filled in the blank spot and the document stamped and sent to any town church, Amati and Horo would be able to become formally wed.

  Horo's name was written in an ugly hand.

  One could tell in a single glance that the words were written by someone who knew not how to write but was simply imitating.

  Before Lawrence's eyes, the image of Horo watching Amati setting down the words as she clumsily signed her own name on the certificate appeared.

  Lawrence took out the letter with a hidden value greater than a thousand gold pieces that he had tucked into his bosom, unfolded the paper and reread its contents.

  What was written on the letter was surely a list of Amati's property, because the numbers indicated were not unrealistic amounts, but sums that Amati quite possibly possessed.

  However, Horo asking for the sum of money that the property amounted to was not in order to help Lawrence, but to inform him of just how harsh the current situation was.r />
  Why would Horo do such a thing? Lawrence felt foolish for even having such a question. Viewed along with the marriage certificate, the answer was readily apparent.

  Amati was only a step away from completing his contract with Lawrence, and Horo was planning on leaving Lawrence.

  Lawrence and Horo had originally come together by chance.

  Despite being young, reckless, straightforward but successful and totally in love with himself, perhaps Horo considered such an Amati to be a suitable new companion.

  Lawrence could not find any evidence that could overturn such an argument.

  Even if Lawrence were to clutch the certificate tightly, run to the second floor and ask Horo not to marry, surely he would be easily repelled by Horo, whose skill was top-notch.

  In that case, Lawrence had no choice but to persevere in his resolve.

  The fact that Horo would reveal Amati's list of property was undoubtedly to indicate to Lawrence that if he could successfully defeat Amati, she would be willing to listen to his explanation. On the other hand, it also meant that if he could not manage to do so, there would be no room for discussion.

  There is indeed a way to defeat Amati. Relax, there is hope yet.

  Telling himself this, Lawrence quickly put away the letter and marriage certificate, and looking toward the innkeeper said: "Please take out all the cash I have stored up here.”

  From Lawrence's point of view, traveling with Horo was more precious than a thousand pieces of gold.

  It was possible to render Amati penniless without breaking the law.

  However, the problem was whether Amati would be willing to accept a deal that held such a possibility. According to Lawrence's prediction, it was very possible that Amati was not familiar with the type of deal he was planning to propose. This was not because Lawrence looked down on Amati, but because Amati would not encounter such a deal in his line of business.

  Faced with an unfamiliar deal, it was natural that no one would accept.

  Plus there was the fact that the one proposing the deal was Lawrence, fit to be called Amati's nemesis.

  As such, the odds of Amati accepting the deal were one to nine at best. Even if it were through methods of incitement or provocation, Lawrence needed to get Amati to accept the deal somehow.