Wolf & Parchment, Volume 3

by Isuna Hasekura

  He felt overwhelmed, but not because of Myuri.

  It was because Ilenia was staring at him with a defiant gaze, a fearless smile across her face.

  “Because Lady Bolan is planning on monopolizing our trade with the human world if we found our own country in the west. She only ever does things for profit. She decided to work with me not out of compassion but for coin. She would not be happy with such insignificance as titles.”

  Ilenia once said she wanted to get rich enough to bring her employer’s youth back.

  And her employer was just every bit a wolf in sheep’s clothing as she was.

  That was Col’s initial thought, but he realized his mistake.

  “You’re like a sheep in sheep’s clothing.”

  Ilenia stared blankly at him, then gave him a vague smile.

  “Is that a compliment?”

  “The next time someone likens me to a sheep, I will be proud.”

  She chuckled.

  “I’m going to look at the view a little more. Please, you two, go ahead and rest.”

  By her ambitious smile, he could clearly tell she did not say that out of consideration.

  It was as though she was telling them, if they did not believe her, they just needed to keep watching.

  Myuri was just about to bite into his arms, but he instead held her back even tighter, then spoke.

  “Then we shall do so.”

  Of course, Ilenia was not surprised. She smiled and tilted her head slightly in a nod.

  He coaxed Myuri and they returned to the cathedral, but for a little while, she was grouchy.

  She must have not liked how he doubted Ilenia but also the possibility that there was some sort of ulterior motive hidden in their words together.

  He was finally starting to understand what made her jealous.

  “Don’t go anywhere while I’m sleeping.”

  “Okay, okay.”

  She looked like she wanted to say more, but instead she wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes still sulking. He heard her snoozing peacefully soon after. He was just as tired.

  He drifted off in an instant, and the next time he opened his eyes, the man he was looking for stood before them, smiling wryly.

  “It has been quite the long while. How are your studies?”

  The man, who had a long beard and calm demeanor, was getting on in his years, and looked at the sleeping Myuri with narrowed eyes like a fond grandfather.

  “I’m sorry for having you come all the way here, Mr. Hilde.”

  Col adjusted his posture, and Myuri finally awoke.

  The one he had asked Autumn and the bird to bring from the mainland was a great merchant who kept the books at the Debau Company, whose power extended throughout the entirety of the northlands and was big enough to produce a currency called the coin of the sun and was also supporting their journey: Hilde Schnau.

  As a merchant, Ilenia of course knew Hilde’s name, but she was surprised to learn that he was not human. Hilde was the embodiment of a small rabbit, and with his small size, he managed to get here from Debau’s main branch with the cooperation of the bird and Autumn.

  “I heard the story on the way. Your judgment was correct in calling on me. This reminds me of Sir Lawrence from all those years ago.”

  Hilde gazed around the room where Sligh and the others were being held.

  “I’ve been keeping my eye on the Desarev trading house; they were making too much money. I was investigating, knowing they were up to no good, pilfering goods or the sort—smuggling, essentially, but to think they were stealing from the cathedral.”

  He sighed and shook his head.

  “I’ll deal with them. If you handed them over to the council, all they would do is send them to hang. I will make them tell me where the stolen treasure is, and I’ll have them work hard under my supervision for repayment. How does that sound?”

  Col agreed of course, but Ilenia and Autumn, as always, did not seem very enthusiastic.

  He dubiously wondered why they seemed that way, and Hilde’s shoulders shook in laughter.

  “No need to worry. I won’t be forcing them to work in the mines until they perish.”

  “Oh.”

  One of the few jobs just as cruel as rowing a galley was mining. Being exiled to a distant island was more than preferable to being chained up and fearing lung disease and cave-ins while working.

  That meant Autumn and Ilenia had quite forgiving hearts.

  The only one left was Myuri, and the girl who had cooked her breakfast in the fire that tried to kill them simply shrugged her shoulders in disinterest.

  And so it was settled.

  As Col sighed in relief, Hilde’s face scrunched when he caught a whiff of the burning odor that had hitched a ride on the wind, then spoke.

  “But how on earth did you manage to avoid staying trapped in that room and burned alive?”

  Col suddenly recalled something at Hilde’s curious question.

  “It was the protection of a relic. A true relic.”

  Though it had saved their lives, he completely forgot about it. He could not even say Once ashore, pray no more even in jest.

  He rushed to the vault, which was still hot even after such time passed, and he brought back the saint’s cloth.

  “This is it. We were saved by the cloth of Saint Nex.”

  “Oh?”

  As a servant of God, he proudly showed off the cloth, and Hilde just tilted his head, stroked it, then nodded slowly.

  He then looked at Col, his eyes apologetic.

  “Mr. Col, I know how fervently faithful you are.”

  After such a preliminary remark, he continued.

  “But this cloth did not save you with a saint’s protection.”

  He hesitated in his next words, and surprisingly, it was Ilenia who interjected.

  “What is this cloth made of anyway? I have no possible idea of what it might be.”

  Myuri looked on curiously, and even Autumn the whale seemed rather interested.

  Hilde looked around at the others, and after clearing his throat, he answered.

  “It’s ore.”

  Then, after a momentary blank stare, Myuri laughed and casually hit the man’s arm.

  “Old man Hilde, he’ll believe you, you know? He even says there’s a plant that sprouts sheep on its branches and that they make fabric out of that.”

  Col looked at Myuri, since that was just one legend about cotton, but Hilde did not even smile.

  “Well, it’s close to that, and I understand if you don’t believe it. But the world mercilessly smashes all conjecture and assumptions we have about it. This cloth is made from stone.”

  No matter how he looked at it, Col held cloth in his hands.

  But it was true that it did not catch fire, nor did it grow hot. There was no way it was a regular cloth, nor was it metal.

  “It’s called asbestos and is found in mines. Mining is the backbone of the Debau Company, but rarely do we ever see something as nice as this. It certainly is a miracle. I’ve truly seen something great here today.”

  It seemed Hilde was genuinely impressed.

  Col was even more shocked to learn that cloth could be woven out of stone than he was when he learned about the continent to the west.

  If that was possible, then anything could happen.

  Myuri was so surprised she was practically unconscious.

  “Well then, I will take care of my lowly subordinates. Why don’t you all return to town for now and get some rest?”

  They had spent the night in a burning vault. Their exhaustion would not disappear with a short nap.

  And finally, after hearing the secret of Saint Nex’s cloth, Col felt limp.

  Autumn was rather fond of such a large stone building and decided to stay and look at it for a while, so Col, Myuri, and Ilenia all left the cathedral.

  And as always, they were met with a beautiful view outside.

  A clear blue sky and the sm
ell of the sea on the wind. But within that mystical scenery were ships out fishing, departing trade ships, the lives of those who worked at the port, and seabirds flying freely through the air.

  The world was full of surprises, rich with change, and perhaps could never be forced into a single shape.

  So there were parts of it that could get better by their actions.

  It was hard for him to say that everything concerning the land to the west that Ilenia spoke about, and the truth about the Church in the kingdom, including Heir Klevend, was still uncertain.

  But suppose the truth about all that was headed in a bad direction, then he felt as though he could now stand up strongly against it.

  He grasped Myuri’s hand, and Ilenia smiled at them as they went down the stairs.

  They only realized that someone was approaching them on the steps after a flock of seabirds flew overhead.

  “Mr. Habbot?!”

  Col unwittingly called his name, and Habbot, who stared at his feet with a brooding expression as he walked, lifted his head as he jumped.

  “S-Sir Col?”

  His body then trembled, and he collapsed on the spot.

  Col frantically rushed to his side, and Habbot clasped his hands together in prayer to God.

  “I’m so glad you came back…I didn’t know if I could ever stand before God again…”

  He murmured on the verge of tears, but Col had something he wanted to ask.

  “Did you see Mr. Sligh?”

  “Yes.”

  Habbot continued, as though confessing to his sins.

  “He then told me I could either take the money or die. They were the ones who stole the treasure from the vault, right?”

  Ilenia’s thinking was correct in that Sligh either paid Habbot off or, at the worst, had him killed.

  “He must have already known I was a fake. I thought that even if I managed to make it to the council, they would not listen to a fake like me. So I took the sack of money.”

  Habbot spoke painfully, but he raised his head hopefully.

  Because he was here now.

  “I took the money, but my head was filled with other things. I am not the only one who knows about that vault. And if treasures were being stolen from it, then there needs to be a culprit. I knew immediately what they were going to do. I am a shepherd. I know very well who ends up being blamed in times like this.”

  Disaster was always brought from outside a community.

  And Col, Myuri, as well as Ilenia were not people of this town.

  “I thought, maybe I should just keep quiet and run away. I am just a shepherd. But…”

  After a night of anguish, Habbot had not run. The brooding face he wore as he walked up the steps suggested he was even ready to die for the justice that dwelled within him.

  As long as it was accompanied by a fine paper of authentication and genesis, then even the shabbiest of cloths could be sold as a relic. And though Habbot was a fake, he had spent many years in the cathedral, wearing the clothes of the clergy.

  “You are an excellent priest.”

  Col put his hand on Habbot’s shoulder and spoke.

  “You are more authentic than a real priest. I can attest to this.”

  Habbot looked at him and smiled bitterly, as if the sun was too bright.

  “God will show me what to do. But I want to somehow fulfill this temporary goal I have been given.”

  Once Habbot, playing the priest’s role, returned to the cathedral, Hilde’s job of dealing with the men would become much easier. Col told him that Hilde, a leader from the Debau Company, was there and praised him once again for mustering the courage to return to the cathedral.

  As they watched him walk up the steps, he straightened his back proudly.

  No one would believe him if he said he was only a shepherd.

  “He’s become the mask?”

  Myuri seemed convinced.

  “It certainly looks like it.”

  He said calmly to her that the world is not something to be tossed away, and she gripped his hand tightly.

  “Then I’m not gonna give up, either. If a shepherd can be a priest and a stone can become fabric, then it’s not like I can’t be your wife, right? …Ahem, Brother?”

  “…”

  She wore a dauntless smile as she said “Brother” deliberately. While he found himself speechless at such an outrageous display, Ilenia stood beside them, smiling and enjoying the show.

  “Well, for now I just want to take a bath and sleep in a big bed! I’m tired.”

  “If you don’t mind the inn where I’m staying, I can arrange a room for you quickly.”

  “I wanna sleep in Ilenia’s room. I think I’d have nice dreams there.”

  Ilenia looked a bit surprised, but she nodded with a smile.

  “You’re okay with that, right, Brother?”

  She continued the conversation on her own. He was a lamb, and she was a wolf.

  He could only shrug.

  The sun stood high above their heads, and the seabirds cried cheerfully.

  He prayed to God that this day and the next would be pleasant ones.

  AFTERWORD

  Sorry for canceling on you so suddenly, J-san.

  My manuscript was so late this time that I must start with a personal message. I am sorry to all parties involved.

  I remember that the third book of the series before Wolf & Parchment—Spice & Wolf—did not go according to plot at all, and the characters’ ages and positions all changed so drastically I had to start over from the beginning. It was such hard work, but I think I managed to hand it in on time back then…And then I realize I must be getting old…I can’t handle the time before deadlines like I used to. I think there are many of those among the readers who have been following the Wolf series since the beginning that are nodding right now! To the younger readers who have just picked up this series, please read this again in ten years. You will understand. And I will continue working hard to create books that my readers will retrieve from the shelves in another ten years.

  What a collection of nice thoughts.

  By the way, I bought a TV for the first time in my life the other day. In my teens, I believed that it was cool not to watch TV, and I just never got around to buying one until now, when I lost to the temptation of console games (I’ve always played games on PC).

  And screens now are super huge and very clear. Not only that, but OLED TVs have been released at long last, and I thought that it won’t be long until beautiful girls will be coming out of the screen. But the screens are so clear they hurt my eyes, and they’re expensive anyway, so I got a regular one. To my greater surprise, you can watch YouTube and Netflix on it. I didn’t understand when I saw those words in the control instructions at first. If you want to connect to the Internet, then you may as well have a browser. And since it’s a pain to use the remote, you may as well add a mouse and a keyboard for input, and while you’re at it, put lots of apps on it to use. That sounds like it could be a big business to me! I feel like I’ve seen a similar contraption somewhere before, though.

  Either way, whenever I venture out to the electronics store, I am surprised by how fast the world is moving. I hear a lot about AI, and I’ve heard there are authors making AI write novels. I have to catch up to the times…That is what I’m panicking about now. No, I should make sure I keep up with my deadlines before I keep up with the times.

  And that’s all for today.

  I will see you in the next volume.

  Isuna Hasekura

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