First he found her a seat at a table (which was still a bit moist with morning dew), then he ran to the shopkeeper (who was still preparing his stall for the day). The man looked at him with a mixture of admiration and contempt for bringing a girl here so early in the morning, but soon smiled and began serving them.
Lawrence paid the man with Plazi copper coins, which the moneychangers in Lenos had recommended. The man seemed uneasy, however. The exchange rate was apparently higher than Lawrence realized, but he just paid a bit more. He was too busy to worry about bargaining right now.
He returned to Holo and set some warm milk with honey and beer down next to her on the table. He then realized that the music he was hearing was just a troupe practicing on the street corner. It wasn’t very good. It would take them a while just to get through one song at this rate, and they were quite close to their table. He motioned to Holo to try the warm milk and bubbly ale, but she just picked up the milk with a bored look in her eyes. He didn’t mind drinking the entire beer on his own though, even if it was watered down. He just treated it like a chaser after a luxurious meal.
Lesco really was a lively place. Lots of people moved at their own pace, flowers sat on every windowsill, and with the sun shining so brightly it might as well not even be winter. It was amazing how different it was from all the rumors they’d heard.
Still, he was no longer surprised about his expectations being challenged. Holo wasn’t a dreamy-eyed little maiden. She must have realized that she might never see Myuri again, and tried her best to prepare for that. And so he wasn’t even surprised when she barely drank any of her milk and just made a blunt, half-hearted comment.
“I cannot smile right now.”
She wasn’t even looking at him, so he quickly averted his eyes and resumed staring at the practicing musicians.
“It’s alright.”
“Then.. thank you.”
She touched the fox scarf around her neck and continued.
“I.. am so relieved to hear you say that.”
He drank his beer, a bit disappointed by how watered-down it really was.
“I’m used to saying stupid things.”
Just like he did in the alley in Lenos. Holo didn’t seem to know whether to laugh or cry. In the end she slowly breathed in and out, and her suspicious smile was soon gone.
“Mind if I say something stupid right now?”
She was surprised by his sudden question, and slowly turned her eyes back to her cup of milk before nodding slightly.
“I only know what I was told last night. You were listening in, I’m sure?”
She nodded.
“Then you already know he’ll answer any question you might have for him. I’ll even join you, if you feel too awkward asking him yourself.”
The Wisewolf sharply looked at him, but her eyes soon fell back down and closed.
“I am staying out of this.”
“How rare to hear you say that.”
Her eyes reopened and mildly stared at him after he said that. He hadn’t yet won a smile, but her clear eyes were at least showing signs of life again. He could tell she was starting to feel a bit better.
“Then if you want, you can tell me about him instead.”
Of course he was talking about the time she spent with Myuri in Yoitsu, and whatever she felt like talking about. But she didn’t reply for a while, and just drank some more of her milk. Well, that was fine. If she’d rather not talk about it, he didn’t want to force her. In the end, she came up with a quip.
“I would really rather not see you jealous right now.”
He shrugged it off, just happy to see her trying to joke around again.
“Well, I guess I’ll just leave it at that. Who cares how much your rival’s earned as long as you both do well.”
Merchants liked to use that line in weddings. Holo just stared off into space toward the musicians, though he could tell from her subtle expression that she was feeling a bit better now.
“So should we continue our walk, or just sit here and listen to third-rate music?”
He wanted to gauge just how much her mood had improved. It must be painfully obvious that he was trying to comfort her, and indeed she pouted as though annoyed with him.
“You are the one who wanted to go outside.”
Being there for her sure wasn’t easy. She looked normal on the outside, but deep down she wasn’t comfortable with being shown affection. She was really emotional for a wolf, but at least her smile brought happiness to others.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Hmph.”
She then quickly downed her milk. The shopkeeper had given them a small cup of milk, seeing her size, but she still seemed to enjoy it. She set it down with a noisy clink, then dried her lips with her forearm and pointed at Lawrence’s chin as well.
“You want me to chug mine too?”
If he dared remind her that his was beer, she’d just call him something like a “useless male”. But he wasn’t against chugging the beer. He’d gladly play the fool for her. He’d been doing so since the day they’d met.
“..What?”
He’d finished and set his cup down already, but she was already waiting to smell his cup.
“That was little more than water.”
What a charmless girl. So hard to please. At least she was waving her hand, as if waiting for him to take it. He’d managed to snap her out of her depression, at least a little, so he gripped that hand tightly again, hoping that would be enough to keep her thoughts from drifting back to depression. She didn’t complain this time.
Unlike the lazy-looking square, the street with craftsmen seemed downright smart. The sounds of metal, wood and fur being processed were constant, providing the background beat to which the craftsmen happily worked. The roads here were much more curved compared to the arrow-straight main road. They were paved in large stones, too, like they would be in a southern city.
It looked like craftsmen had poured out of every entrance to work along the side of the street. Some had apprentices darting back and forth, others had huge hills of firewood beside them. Some of the buildings had smoke coming out of their chimneys; those were probably the metalsmiths.
A girl in a light dress and cobs, who seemed even younger than Holo, was pulling a nail out with her full body strength. Holo stopped at her shop, and listened to the smiths pounding metal against their anvils. They seemed to be curving sheet of metal into something rather splendid, and Holo finally smiled when she realized they were making stills.
“The base alcohol is heated in that wide part below, then the vapor goes up those pipes and cools at the top. Stronger drops of alcohol form at the top there, then drip down and collect in that part there.”
He pointed at a still from the street, and Holo’s keen interest made her want to take a closer look. Working craftsmen were generally gruff and easy to annoy, but they’d be more than happy to let a young girl like her take a tour of their shop. Here, however, they seemed too busy to even notice, as a young leaderly man kept barking orders.
“Most of these shops are working with metal.. it’s so obvious this town is run by Diva company..”
There were shops making things like nails and stills, but also locks, knives, and buckets. All of them seemed prosperous. Products were on display everywhere, perhaps to show off, given that such fine products were out of place this far in the north. Diva was a mining company, after all, so they needed to make sure a market existed for their minerals. Besides, fine products were a sign of prosperity. Buying them from the south was a waste of resources, and by the time items arrived they would be outdated anyway. It made more sense to hire good craftsmen like this.
Lawrence and Holo walked onward, and found a factory that made silverware. Mercifully, Holo had no interest in jewelry. That was a load off Lawrence’s mind. He shuddered to think of how quickly he would have been bankrupted if her taste in jewelry was the same as her taste in food.
“Jeez.. they really are impressive..”
He caught himself whispering, realizing that these products were even better than the delicate silverwork of Fran back in Gerube. They were also inexpensive, and would hold tremendous value. Wealthy mines sure had it good. That said, Fran’s skills were in demand because she was so good, and was one of a kind. Was Diva simply paying enough money to attract craftsmen from competitors without a fight? Or was there something more going on behind the scenes?
Lawrence swam in his thoughts for a while, and when he snapped back to reality he realized he’d been staring at the various products. Luckily, Holo had been browsing as well, looking at ceremonial swords and items that had decorations of birds and foxes on them. She may not have even noticed his state of mind, so he decided to play it off as if nothing had happened and just looked down at what she was eyeing.
“Would you like that one?”
She shook her head disinterestedly, so they continued wandering around. Lawrence’s mind kept wandering, however, impressed by how lively the street was compared to most districts like this. Most cities had more craftsmen then they needed, so they had to impose tariffs and taxes. But if all cities had the same rules, nothing would ever sell, so guildmasters had their work cut out for them.
Ultimately, cities generally put a limit on the number of workshops they housed. After a long, hard training period, apprentices would have to fight tooth and claw to earn a position somewhere. Most of them had to wander around looking for more practical experience. Sadly this often backfired, and when they returned they would have lost any clout they had to begin with. The craftiest of the bunch would marry the widow of a dead master, so masters were always paying close attention to what they ate and the rumors about them.
This all meant that most cities had a veneer of prosperity, but just under that surface there was great turbulence. Lesco, however, seemed free of all these concerns. It was nothing to be upset about, but there had to be a limit. Lawrence was doing his best to reason through this when he noticed a tablet next to one of the guild buildings they walked by. Both he and Holo froze when they read it, turned to face each other, then back to the tablet. They couldn’t believe what it said. Wrought large on the chunk of stone was the town’s creed.
“Lesco has no restrictions on craftsmen. We hope they will open workshops here, and work hard to hone their skills. We welcome the best of the best, as a free town for all.”
As Lawrence stared in disbelief, a seamstress caught his eye and spoke up.
“Are you travelers?”
She was an adult, yet wore a pincushion in her hair, full of needles. Her face and body both called to mind a puffy loaf of bread.
“I couldn’t believe it when I first came here either, but it’s true.”
She spoke of her fortune with a proud smile. She was holding some kind of costume she was working on, and they both saw hope and happiness on her face. It seemed Lesco might be the real deal after all. Lawrence was still trying to make sense of things after the woman had bid them farewell and walked away.
A town that placed no such restrictions on craftsmen generally only did so when a new guild was being formed and rules had yet to be established. He had never seen this level of freedom before. It was difficult to comprehend. An unrestricted town like this was like a garden built without a plan, but also without any walls.
Lawrence was already thinking about which of his friends to tell about this. Of course Norah, the shepherdess, would be first. She dreamed of becoming a seamstress, and that dream could come true here. She was in contact with the Rowen Trade Guild, so if he wrote her a letter, she should receive it.
Holo sighed as he considered these things. All of this was far from interesting to her, especially anything concerning Norah. Since his goal was to cheer Holo up, he quickly pushed these thoughts from his mind.
“Let’s go.”
He pulled her hand and took her to the next street, which was full of workshops for tailors and cobblers. Unlike the strength-based artistry of the previous street, this one was full of more dexterous work like cutting cloth. Rather than hammering like a drumbeat, this place had a softer song. These weren’t people working for the happiness of others, like street performers, they were people who were working for their own happiness.
It seemed to relax Holo to be around so many happy people. She smiled and sighed, listening to everyone else do the same as they hummed the same songs. They were all friends working in the same place; exactly the kind of place Norah would be suited to.
Lawrence had been trying to find something to say, but was at a loss. They browsed the various scarves, shales, and other clothing the locals girls wore, with him planning to buy them in lieu of being unable to comfort Holo otherwise. She didn’t seem to be against the notion, but she didn’t seem to want anything.
It might be because she was only interested in keeping her tail tidy, so she didn’t care about other finery, but it left Lawrence at a loss for what to do. He could figure out a merchants’ needs and wants, but the only way he could attract a girl was through her stomach. He hated himself for that.
The area they were in was also much larger than he expected, and Holo was already tired to begin with. She just wasn’t complaining because she knew he was doing this for her sake. But this was supposed to be about her, not him. Their whole excursion was starting to look like a failure. He probably should have just stayed in the square with her and relaxed.
His mind was beginning to wander in regret, but it was too late for that. Merchants knew better than to just regret things; they were supposed to turn regrets into profits. As such, he began looking around for a place for them to sit down. He’d fancied this a nice area for a pub or restaurant, but there were none. He felt it necessary to find one before Holo began feeling worse.
His anxiety grew as they came to the next street. It was a mix of shops and homes, with many people but a less lively atmosphere. Suddenly they then stopped, as if caught in a crowd of people, in front of an empty building. It wasn’t abandoned; it was tidy. The loading dock on the side, the room behind the slightly-ajar front door, and all of the chairs and shelves in view were clean.
With four floors, it was the type of building a company should immediately purchase and start working in. But it had no scent of life in it and it was no illusion. This town had enraptured Lawrence, and now when he read the posting on the door in front of him, Holo was suddenly flung from his mind entirely.
Twelve hundred Trenni silver, negotiable. Contact Ponds’ company.
The sunny and clear skies seemed to exist solely so he could focus on those words. There was a shop available in this lively, unrestricted town. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that time had stopped right along with his heartbeat. Even his blood had frozen.
By the time he recovered, he had no idea how long he’d been standing there. It just felt like he had suddenly been dropped into the middle of a crowd, the way he began hearing all the noise around him again. But he froze again, realizing that his hand no longer held another.
“Ho-”
He stopped in his tracks, seeing Holo at a stall buying some fried and honeyed bread. His hand instinctively flew to his waist, but his wallet was gone. He tied it to his body, to deter thieves, but the string had long since been untied. Holo simply chewed her bread, expressionless. He had no clue how angry she was, as she remained silent as she returned his wallet.
“..um?”
He tried to speak, but his vacant mind was having trouble turning. He desperately wanted to say something, but all he could do was watch as her hand stuffed some bread into his mouth.
“Mph! Hmm?”
She just stared at him as she kept pushing the bread into his mouth. Other people on the street began watching the spectacle. It was quite some time before she let him go. He was actually more surprised that she parted ways with food, but when she turned her palm upward he had even less of an idea how to respond to her.
“I want another one.”
He didn’t even think about how wasteful it might be, he just instinctively handed her more money and watched her head back to the stall. The shopkeeper stared at him until she spoke, then laughed and gave her an extra-large piece of bread dripping with honey. Her poker face remained even as she returned to his side.
“Finally. This is more like it.”
“Wha?”
He couldn’t help but ask as she just stared at another empty shop. Was she talking about the bread? He’d taken her outside to ease her mind, brought her everywhere he could, but it was sweets that finally lifted her spirits. His excitement over that revelation earned his foot a good stomp. So good that her foot remained on it for a while.
He’d willfully taken her outside, only to lose himself in the city and forget about her. He had wanted to cheer her up, and ended up staring at this shop instead. He’d even dropped his guard and lost his wallet, which was like losing his life, on top of forgetting Holo. Of course she was angry. No apology could make up for it.
“You forgot about me at that metal shop, too.”
Hearing that made him flinch.
“You turn into such a little kid when we shop around. What is this? What is that? How much is this? And that?”
The bread in her hand was probably hot, given how the honey had seeped into it. She would have normally devoured it right away, but she hadn’t even taken a single bite yet. She had to be angry, to the point where he really had no defense. Even trying to apologize would be like throwing oil onto a fire.
He turned into a puppy, just standing there hoping her rage would burn out sooner rather than later. But it turned out to be all that she wanted to say, and her foot was quickly lifted. After sighing, she even took his hand again. Even more stunning, that sigh seemed to be one of embarrassment.
“But now, finally.. this is more like it.”
“..?”
She looked up at him and started to polish the bread off in huge bites, clearly showing her displeasure.
Spice & Wolf XV (DWT) Page 5