Spring Log IV

by Isuna Hasekura

  When the governor-general gave his message, the mixing girls all elegantly bowed. Such polite etiquette shone brilliantly against the worn-out clothing they wore.

  “Father.” The governor-general stepped forward and kneeled before the priests.

  His act, resembling a noble confessing his faith, looked like it belonged in a play at a festival.

  “We certainly are greedy merchants. That is something I cannot deny. But these women are different. They support the livelihood of the people of this town from places unseen, and I believe they are the very ones who should be bathed in the light of God.”

  “Er…um…?”

  The priest gave a confused nod and turned to look at the women.

  They were all grasping the Church crests before their chests. Their gazes were trained downward and they looked so devout, their actions stirring up sympathy to anyone watching.

  “B-but, but so? I understand who they are, but how are they related to you? You…deal with herring eggs, right? Do they not mix wheat?”

  When the priest asked, the eyes of the great merchant who was the governor-general glinted.

  “Wheat is a seasonal item, which means there are times of the year in which they are not mixing wheat. Once they’ve delivered the wheat for winter sowing, do you know what they will be mixing instead?”

  “Huh? N-no…”

  The governor-general then said, “Herring eggs.”

  That was the reason why Holo asked for Lawrence’s help after catching wind of the problem from the other girls. At the herring egg exchange, there were merchants who watched the bets until the very end, separate from the merchants who took part in it. It was because of these merchants, who collected the herring eggs, that the fishermen brought the herring to this town. And much like wheat, herring eggs could not simply sit in barrels and be okay.

  Many merchants did not know that, and of course there was no way for the clergy to know that, since they had never eaten herring eggs before, which was why they so easily said they were going to close the exchange.

  “There are two kinds of exchanges when it comes to herring eggs. That is simply because there are two kinds of herring eggs that are being dealt with.”

  “O-oh?”

  “First, the dried eggs. Sunny days are necessary to dry them, and the girls work hard every day to do just that as well as mixing and managing them—and that is why they never spoil.”

  “O-oh…”

  “Next, there are salted eggs. Herring eggs are used as bait to lure in sardines in the southern sea, and the salted ones bring in more bites than the dried ones. That is why those sell for a much higher price, but they are also a handful to manage. Imagine a large barrel full of salt water with herring eggs steeped in it. These frail girls take paddles much too big for them and mix them around countless times in one day. O, Father, please have mercy. They work so hard every day so that it is not just this town but all the people of the south who may have sardines on their humble dinner tables.”

  The priest had nothing to interject against the governor-general’s fluid speech.

  Then Lawrence, just as he had done in their meeting beforehand, made a slight signal with his hand.

  One of the mixing girls who received his signal promptly dropped to her knees.

  “If you pity us, then please lend us your hand so that the herring may find their way here to this town in the future…”

  After her emotional plea, the rest of the girls kneeled on the spot, and they all chanted in chorus.

  ““Please have mercy on us…””

  With the unfortunate girls pleading before them, the priests, who had turned the exchange into a scapegoat for the sake of asceticism and fairness, were at a loss for words. Without the exchange, all the transactions surrounding herring would also vanish from the town. Namely, it would be taking away the women’s livelihood.

  But when Lawrence estimated that the hardheaded young priest would say, What is evil is evil, Lawrence leaned over and whispered to him.

  “Father, a lake looks like it has clear water because all the dirt has thickly accumulated at the bottom.”

  “Wh—?”

  “They say that clear water will not breed fish.”

  The governor-general whispered into his other ear.

  “Again, we vow to offer meals to the poor…day workers like the mixing girls, for example; to redo the inside; and to turn the exchange into a place where we will never forget our faith. Of course”—the governor-general puffed out his chest—“we have heard your scolding, Father, and have awoken to our faiths. Proof of your skill as a priest will live on in the exchange for generations to come.”

  One could not save up money in heaven, but one could save up one’s virtues. So even if they did not take a monetary bribe, a different sort of potion should be able to work on the priests—that was the plan that Lawrence had come up with.

  But the priest’s mouth was pursed tightly shut and his face tense, wondering if there was something wrong about this. Perhaps he was being tricked by the merchants’ eloquence.

  Just to make doubly sure, the governor-general pulled out a single piece of paper from his breast pocket and showed it to the priest.

  “This is what we are planning on changing the inside to look like, by the way. We are hoping to have the figure standing here be you, Father.”

  The priest’s eyes widened, and he almost unconsciously turned to look behind him.

  What he was looking at were men, ropes wrapped around their bodies and suspended from the ceiling, trying to hang up a painting.

  There was a sketch of a painting on the paper that the governor-general produced.

  It was a very stereotypical religious image, like the painting of Col and Myuri that the church was planning on putting up.

  There was a mountain of herring in the background, with the merchants and the mixing girls piously on their knees, praying. It was none other than the young priest who was leading the men and women on a path to heaven.

  The governor-general calling the young priest the Twilight Archbishop was the correct indication.

  Lawrence knew that well, since he had cared for Col since he was a child.

  This young man was clearly trying to copy Col.

  “What do you think, Father?”

  The young priest snapped back to reality.

  “Oh, uh…um…”

  The young priest, now floundering, looked to the older priests for their judgment, but they had been taken up by other merchants discussing this and that. No one outclassed greedy merchants when it came to sweet-talking priests.

  “Father?”

  The governor-general asked a second time, and the young priest’s eyes darted from him to Lawrence and to the mixing girls.

  And finally, he painfully closed his eyes.

  “…I…understand…I will retract my orders. The exchange will remain open…”

  When he said that, the mixing girls rejoiced more than anyone else; they stood and cheered.

  The priest still seemed somewhat perplexed, but he could not take it back now.

  And it was clear that his gaze was glued to the draft of the picture.

  “B-by the way…”

  “Yes?”

  The priest spoke softly, losing his nerve beneath the governor-general’s kind smile.

  “Will it obviously be me?”

  It was hard to live a life entirely devoid of desire.

  That was why Lawrence and merchants like him existed in this world.

  “Of course.”

  When the governor-general said that, he pulled the young priest into a detailed chat about the picture. It looked exactly like a snake catching a mouse, but Lawrence decided not to let that bother him.

  It seemed like things had reached a settlement, so he gave a tired sigh of relief and made his way toward the entrance of the nave.

  Both young and old, all the mixing girls held one another’s hands in joy.

  T
hen the dancing girl, having noticed Lawrence, slipped to the front with an alluring carriage and embraced Lawrence in a fully theatrical manner.

  “Oh, master!”

  When the familiar dancing girl hugged him, Lawrence smiled wryly.

  Of course, since the dancing girl danced in Nyohhira, she knew plenty about Spice and Wolf.

  She quickly let go and pulled him toward his real owner.

  “Why do you look so embarrassed?”

  Holo stood before him and said exactly what she had promised she would say.

  The mixing girls around them seemed to be enjoying it.

  “The money I bet is coming back. Of course I’m embarrassed.”

  When Lawrence said that, Holo lifted the hem of her skirt and kicked Lawrence’s legs.

  It was a stock interaction between a strong-willed wife and a weak-willed husband that one often saw in street performances.

  Lawrence smiled bitterly in response to the chuckling mixing girls, then took Holo and the dancing girl from the nave and to the aisle.

  “But you really helped us out. Letting you write the outline for the whole show created something fantastic.”

  Even though she had blended in completely with the other mixing girls not too long ago, her rustic clothes seemed just like a costume. She was a top-tier dancer, which likely meant she was also a fantastic actress. High-class guests gathered at Nyohhira, so competition was fierce.

  “It’s nothing. I’ve had to entertain plenty of the stiff type like that in Nyohhira. Line delivery and favorable actions are my forte.”

  Unlike Holo, the dancing girl gave a sensual smile.

  The dancing girl had taken on the governor-general’s lines, his behavior, as well as directing how the mixing girls should act, especially since they did not know how to pray at a church.

  Just as wheat passed through the hands of many on its way from the fields to the table, this turnabout drama was also the result of the help of many.

  “And you will introduce me to that bearded merchant, right? He seems to have quite the assets.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  And the dancing girl asked for a price herself. It was a transaction of a good merchant.

  “I need to have him buy me ermine fur before I start work in the winter.”

  When she said that, her profile looked like that of a hunter.

  As Lawrence wore a taut smile, there was a tug on his sleeve.

  “Dear.”

  Holo, who was wearing a triangular headkerchief and had her sleeves rolled up to work as a mixing girl, looked exactly like a local working woman. The image of her like this was so fresh, he found himself falling for her a little again.

  “I am a bit peckish.”

  The dancing girl got the message, gave a small smile, and then returned to the nave in order to rejoin the other mixing girls.

  Lawrence gave a small sigh, took Holo’s hand, and left the church as everyone was hurriedly working for the event tomorrow.

  “Honestly, I swear, perhaps we have cleaned up a bit of Myuri and little Col’s mess now,” Holo said, stretching out both her arms as though her shoulders were stiff, perhaps because she had been acting as a pure and faithful mixing girl.

  “I didn’t end up losing the money I bet, so things are all settled,” Lawrence responded, squinting at the bright morning townscape before him.

  “You never change…is what I would say, but ’twas what helped us this time.”

  “I guess,” Lawrence responded and smiled.

  An odd silence then fell between them.

  Lawrence had realized that she had been acting strange for a little while now. Despite how she was blunt about many things, there were only an odd few she was reserved about.

  But he found it cute when she was like this, so he pretended not to notice.

  “Then should we grab a drink somewhere and head back to the room?” he proposed deliberately, and Holo’s head snapped up, as though she was returning to reality, and she gave a vague response of acknowledgment.

  Lawrence stared at her and could not help but grin; Holo immediately widened her eyes.

  “You are truly wicked!”

  “Ha-ha, I don’t want to hear that from you.”

  Lawrence laughed, and Holo violently smacked him on the arm.

  She then grabbed his wrist and said, “And? What is it?”

  She might get honestly angry with him if he teased her too much.

  He obediently replied.

  “They’re going to use you as a reference in the picture they’re painting for the exchange.”

  Holo’s eyes widened, and her ears piqued, almost lifting up her headkerchief.

  “I want you to praise my brainpower, since I was the one who suggested remodeling the exchange on a quick decision.”

  He could not order a painting with his own money, but he could with others’.

  There were plenty of massively rich people at that exchange who Lawrence barely held a candle to.

  “And they said they’ll put me at the front of the praying merchants.”

  When he said that, Holo stared at him blankly and almost missed a step on the stone staircase.

  Lawrence hurriedly held her up before wrapping his arm around her back, tightening his arm as he spoke.

  “They say that paintings painted with stucco will last for a hundred years. No matter how much time passes, if you come here in the future, you—”

  Lawrence decided not to say the rest.

  When Holo next came alone to this town to see the painting, Lawrence would not be alive.

  There was no need to say that.

  Instead, he said this:

  “So, well, if there are any requests you want to make, now’s your chance.”

  “…Sniff…O-oh?”

  When Holo lifted her head, her eyes brimming with tears either from joy that they would both live on forever in a painting or perhaps because she thought about parting with Lawrence, he grinned at her.

  “Like if you want your boobs to be bigger than Myuri’s picture.”

  Holo, astonished, changed her expression in an instant like a magician and grabbed at Lawrence’s beard.

  “You fool!”

  Holo yelled out loud in front of the church as people came and went. Many immediately turned to stare at them, but when they saw a girl obviously dressed as a mixing girl arguing with an unpolished-looking merchant, it was a common sight for them. It was just a regular lovers’ quarrel—everyone returned to their work and their business.

  Lawrence waited until they all looked away before turning back to the huffy Holo.

  “I’m going to have them paint me a little younger, actually,” he responded, rubbing his beard after Holo had tugged on it.

  Holo twisted a brow in annoyance, moved her mouth reproachfully as though she was calling him an idiot, but she said nothing in the end.

  She instead gave a tired sigh and took Lawrence’s hand.

  “You will be like that until you die, I see.”

  It was unclear if she was complimenting him or not, so Lawrence had no choice but to answer so:

  “You’re telling me that?”

  “Hmph. I am like a stone that has traveled down a long river; I can get no rounder or smoother than I already am. There is nothing to fix here.”

  “But you’ve found yourself in plenty of trouble clinging to food for that.”

  “Pardon? You have no right to say that to me. You have gone to gambling again and hid it from me!”

  “But it all turned out okay in the end, didn’t it? What’s so bad about that?”

  “You fool, ’tis only because I was working as a mixing girl. Without me, you—”

  Just as Holo was about to argue vehemently, Lawrence leaned over her and lifted her up on her side as though she was his new bride.

  “Oh, right. Without you, I’d be dead in a ditch somewhere right about now, and I’d never want to travel alone ever again.”

&nb
sp; Holo’s red eyes widened and stared at Lawrence.

  And then, slowly, her expression softened.

  “Fool.”

  They were right in front of the church.

  When Holo clung to Lawrence’s neck, the bell in the bell tower rang, signaling noontime, almost as though it were blessing them—

  “Oh, ’tis noon. I would like meat for lunch.”

  Holo immediately returned to her normal self and said that.

  “…What happened to my innocent bride?”

  When Lawrence asked, Holo shrugged and motioned for him to put her down.

  Even though he had lifted her up, fully acting like they were just married, Lawrence was disappointed at Holo’s cold response, but he still put her down without much choice.

  She cracked her neck, as though her shoulders were stiff, and then smiled at him dauntlessly.

  “I was just hoping for a feast that rivals a wedding celebration.”

  The nightmares he had of budgeting when they exchanged their vows came back to haunt him.

  He thought about how he was human, and she was a wolf.

  It was clear who was in charge here.

  “Two silvers, max.”

  When Lawrence said that, Holo leaped to cling to his arm like a frivolous girl.

  “No need to be so stingy. Your bets always go well in the end, do they not? Oh, is that why you brought up sardines before?”

  Holo the Wisewolf was so sharp when it came to things like that.

  “…Three silvers.”

  “Five.”

  She did not show any hint of willingness to compromise.

  But her tail was flicking back and forth happily.

  Lawrence looked up to the sun and sighed.

  “Fine, five.”

  “Mmm!”

  Holo responded with gusto and stretched.

  “’Tis why you are my favorite, dearest.”

  She then kissed him on the cheek. It was pleasant, but that cost him five silver.

  All he could do was laugh it off as a bad bargain.

  “I’m drinking, too. That’s five for both.”