But either way, Lawrence was pleased. This meant he had taken another step into the village circle.
“So let’s leave this for today and feast. I’m curious to see how the first brew of cider turned out this year.”
The other bathhouse owners applauded in agreement, and everyone quickly began preparations.
While it was not as busy as winter, many of the assembly members greatly looked forward to the opportunity to drink while the sun was still high in the sky during the frantic summer.
“We gathered a lot of mushrooms this summer. Hey, how’s the charcoal looking?!”
Everyone started bringing in food and casks of alcohol.
Lawrence was usually careful during the normal parties, but today it looked like he could enjoy the drink.
Holo might get angry if he came home red-faced, but he thought that maybe, just today, she would allow it.
While the coin problem hung over them like a dark cloud, the survey for the road leading to Aram’s village was going smoothly.
“And then, whenever I sat down, they cut fresh grass and lay it down for me, and whenever we crossed a slight ledge, the men carried me, and occasionally they created a simple palanquin of sticks and let me sit on it.”
Holo lay on her stomach, her tail waving about, and trilled as Lawrence massaged her feet.
“I truly felt like a princess. Perhaps such a thing once in a while would not be so bad.”
And who is it that’s gallantly working hard right now to treat you like a princess? Lawrence was about to ask, but he kept it to himself. Since it seemed as though she got along with Aram and the hunters whom she had accompanied on the road survey, there was little reason to make her feel worse while she was enjoying herself.
“I thought that Aram boy was a rude child at first, too, but he is quite all right. His nose is rather sharp in the forest. The hunters are quite skilled for humans as well. They know well the rules of the forest. There would have been no problem without me.”
It was extremely unusual for Holo to compliment others. Or perhaps the reason for such an assessment was the three rabbits hanging from her waist and the several delicious-looking brown mushrooms as big as her face strapped to her back today when she came home from the survey.
“Then I guess we can build a road, huh?”
“Mm…Oohh, harder…”
Holo was without a doubt tired from all the walking, so when Lawrence pressed firmly on the back of her feet, the hairs on her tail stood on edge and she groaned.
“Hooh…And? How was it for you?”
Holo stayed in place as she spoke, lying on her stomach and hugging a pillow.
“How was what for me?”
“Was there not an assembly today?”
She typically never asked how the assembly went. Those were usually times when Lawrence had too much to drink. As he wondered if the smell really did linger that much, Holo’s tail bent deftly and smacked his hand.
“You fool. I can tell when you are in high spirits.”
It was almost as though she was saying that she could see through it all, despite having her eyes closed.
But since she really did see through him, Lawrence began to gently massage her calves as though apologizing for underestimating her.
“Yeah, something great happened. You remember when we planned that fake funeral and tried it out, right? It might actually happen.”
“Oh ho.”
And it might solve their problem with the coins.
The others around him would acknowledge him if he managed to solve one of the village’s big problems.
“And because of your help, I might finally become a member of the village.”
“Mm. That’s…that’s…gre…at…”
As Lawrence happily poured his gratitude into Holo’s leg massage, her tail eventually flopped over to the right and was still.
He took a look and saw she was asleep, and quiet snores came from her half-opened mouth.
The night was still young, and it was typically around the time when she would be sipping on her ale, poking her nose into Lawrence’s business as he took care of documents. She had her fill of dinner today, but she had not drunk much. Perhaps walking around the mountain in her human form was much more relaxing than she thought it would be.
Lawrence gently stroked Holo’s head and pulled the covers up over her. He thought about doing some writing work afterward, but when he watched her as she breathed soundly and comfortably, he no longer felt like it.
He blew out the candle and quietly slipped under the covers so as not to wake Holo, but then he realized she was hogging the pillow.
Come on, Lawrence thought as he closed his eyes, and he, too, fell asleep in an instant.
While there were so many things going on, such as the shortage of coins and the road survey, time passed as they just concentrated on the work before them. Holo leaving every morning with a rucksack became a familiar sight, and then at night they would tell each other what happened during the day as they fell asleep.
As for the funeral, they were in the middle of a busy season, so for the moment it was on hold until the beginning of autumn, but the coin problem grew worse day by day. Talk about calling in a stonemason to make stone coins and, since they may as well try, going down the mountain to gather change from various towns started to come up in regular conversation among the bathhouse owners.
While the former might not have been possible, the latter gave them a little hope.
While not as much as winter, this was still a busy season, so the problem was who from the village could go down and gather coins, but Lawrence had a slight hunch as to whom this sort of job might be given.
He anxiously thought about what he could do, since if the other villagers asked him to go, then he would have to close the bathhouse as he watched Holo off that morning as he always did.
She seemed to be rather enjoying walking around the mountain, since today she also brought with her a sack, possibly for gathering mushrooms or nuts or the sort. He imagined her greedily stuffing it full and coming home with shaky steps under the weight. As he wondered if he should prepare some good ale for her, he dried out the sulfur powder from the springs in an empty area before the bathhouse.
Then, as lunch time grew nearer, he looked up.
Holo had appeared from behind a tree, and for a few seconds, he doubted what he saw.
“…Huh? Wh-what’s wrong?”
It would have been cute if she came home during lunch to see him because she was lonely, but they had known each other for a long time. He noticed how glum she looked.
Holo wordlessly emerged from the forest, stood before Lawrence, and sighed.
“It has become complicated.”
Holo grumbled, and her gaze suddenly snapped to something behind him. Lawrence turned around, and there was Selim, carrying a basket to collect the drying sulfur powder.
“Aram and the others are still keeping watch in the mountain. Only I have returned to call on someone.”
Selim’s eyes widened when she heard her brother’s name.
Lawrence’s brow furrowed when he heard her say “keeping watch.”
“Is there something dangerous?”
The village of Nyohhira lay on the utmost frontier. And those who always needed to keep away from the eyes of humans ran and hid in places like this.
“’Tis not impossible, they said.”
“…Hmm?”
He was even more puzzled at Holo’s noncommittal response, and she let out a long, deep sigh.
“I wish little Col were here…”
The wrinkles between Lawrence’s brow deepened when he heard the unexpected name.
“Col?”
Col, who they had met over ten years ago when Lawrence was traveling together as a merchant with Holo, had supported the bathhouse business for a long time.
Lawrence could only think of one thing if they needed Col’s help. He lowered his voice and spoke.
Their only daughter, Myuri, was an unapologetic tomboy and loved pranks. He could not count all the dangerous pranks she had pulled that would cause the villagers to faint if they found out.
Myuri looked up to Col as an older brother and clung to him, so when she caused problems, Col was typically the one to resolve them. That was what Lawrence was reminded of, but when he saw Holo’s wry smile, he realized that he was wrong.
“Because little Col and Myuri go so well together?”
Lawrence flinched at Holo’s teasing, and it seemed that Holo finally overcame the nervousness stuck in her throat.
“’Tis not it. Little Col’s, you know. That difficult knowledge of his.”
“Col’s…the Church?”
Holo had said it was complicated.
Lawrence placed both hands on his wife’s small shoulders and asked her as the master of the bathhouse.
“What happened?”
What Holo mentioned was certainly complicated.
He was not physically strong, nor did he have the money to solve every problem.
What Lawrence did have was the knowledge he cultivated as a merchant and quite a few connections.
“I really apologize for how sudden this is.”
“Oh no, I always appreciate what you do, Sir Lawrence.”
Walking along the mountain road, his beard and hair still damp as they swayed in the wind, was an abbot of stocky build. Luckily, it was before he had anything to drink, so they told him what the situation was as he lounged in the baths and had him accompany them.
“And I hate to remind you again, but…”
Lawrence spoke as they walked the path, but the abbot raised his hand, as though telling him he did not need to finish.
“I am aware. This is Nyohhira, where God’s eyes cannot see beyond the steam of the baths. Rather, I am the one who must give you my continual thanks.”
Holo glowered at the two men for their blatant exchange.
This white-bearded abbot was the head of a large monastery called the Harivel Monastery and had come at the very end of spring to ask an odd favor from Lawrence.
To put it simply, the winds of the Church’s revolution blew throughout the towns, and the churches and monasteries that had amassed assets were being used as scapegoats. And so he had asked for Lawrence’s help to distribute the monastery’s assets to those who needed it the most.
Of course, “distribute to those who needed it the most” meant “find someone who will buy it for the highest price.”
With his knowledge as a former traveling merchant, the wide network he had cultivated, and his recollection of the rules of the different kinds of merchants, Lawrence decided to help out this man to the best of his ability.
And he had to ask for a favor in return.
It was the thing that Holo and the others found by chance as they went to survey the road.
They asked the abbot to inspect it.
“What you found in the mountains was a deceased traveler wearing a suspicious crest, was it?”
The abbot inquired as he walked at a brisk pace along the mountain path.
Lawrence responded.
“It looked like the body has been there a while. They perished in a very small cave.”
Though Lawrence did not give all the details, he appeared to get the gist of the situation.
“May God watch over them,” the abbot murmured. “In reality, there are many heretics who run to the northlands. Because inquisitors also sneak into the north after them, they would be very guarded in public. Myself and my colleagues all believe that there would be no more reason to live if Nyohhira became mixed up in the inquisition and we no longer could bathe in these waters.”
“Thank you.”
Since it took several days to travel to the nearest town and the nearby communities would know right away if someone got lost, then there was absolutely no doubt that the person found in the cave had a reason for coming into the mountains.
Though it was immediately clear that it was not a regular traveler by the strange crest in his luggage, they did not know who he might be. Holo and the others could not reach a conclusion, nor could they dig a hole and bury him and pretend they had not seen him. After worrying about it, they apparently decided to let Holo go back to the village and find someone they could trust.
They took a quick break along the way, and after a bit more walking, Aram and a hunter shouldering a bow came to greet them. Once they arrived, another woodcutter had started a fire beside the thicket.
Lawrence was surprised to see how close it was to the village. The only way into the cave in question was through a crack in the fern-covered rock, and it was hard to spot even after someone pointed it out to him.
“Take care not to slip.”
Following the hunter’s guidance, Lawrence and the others slid through the crack and down into the cave.
“Mm-hmm…Ha-ha, it’s like a venture down into hell.”
The abbot looked unsteady with his large body, but he managed to get down safely.
It looked like a dark hole from the outside but was surprisingly bright with the light filtering in.
“It’s the perfect hiding spot.”
The inside of the cave was about as big as a shed, and the temperature was cool even in this season. Once they caught a whiff of the particular smell of wet stone, they spotted a small stream of fresh water in the corner.
It was not very deep, and they saw the body in question immediately.
Like the holy man he was, the abbot gripped the crest of the Church that hung from his neck and offered a prayer.
“May God grant peace to this wandering soul.”
The body was not covered in bugs, and perhaps it had simply lost its water content. From the way it leaned up against the wall, legs splayed, Lawrence thought it practically looked like an old man from a charcoal-burning hut had a drink of ale and fell asleep on the spot.
It was not unusual to find corpses on the road back when Lawrence was traveling around, but he almost never saw one in such a pristine location. There was water, and fruits hung from the ceiling, so perhaps the life drained from this person slowly as he ate and drank and passed in his sleep.
Lawrence was not sure if he should take that as him prolonging his own pain, or if he should say that he was holding out hope until the bitter end.
It was just a feeling, but looking at the body, he thought it might be the latter.
“He looks as though he was just awake only moments ago.”
What the abbot said was not an exaggeration. The body had shown no indication of having been eaten by bugs or mice. His left arm hugged the bag that sat on his stomach, and his right hand held something that looked like a paper. From far away, he looked like an old man who fell asleep while reading it.
“It seems…he must have been caring for his tools or recalling his work.”
Lawrence realized it for the first time when the abbot mentioned it. Perhaps because of the long years and months they had been there and how they were covered not in rust but something of a black mosslike substance—it was hard to tell at first, but there was a line of tools by the body. They were all within reach from where the body sat, as if he was opening a store.
“A hammer, chisel, file…and this must be a saw. Is that a letter in his hand? No…”
“It’s…”
What the abbot reached for was not flimsy paper but parchment, which could keep for a thousand years in the right conditions. Since it had not been wet, it was in perfect shape.
But the moment they saw what was on it, both Lawrence and the abbot were at a loss for words.
Holo gripped Lawrence’s arm so hard it hurt, and he glanced at her.
Her face was tense and slightly pale.
She had not been glum when she appeared at the bathhouse earlier. She was nervous.
There were countless pictures of wol
ves on the parchment that the body held. There were some that looked normal and some with two heads. Some were baring their fangs, others were holding things in their mouth—various kinds of wolves filled the page.
“A wolf faith?”
The pagans that the Church censured always brought to mind people who worshipped toads, but Lawrence knew there were many kinds of faith in the world. There were some who worshipped large rocks or giant trees and even springs of water, and there were those who revered eagles, bears, and even fish. Wolves were just as popular as eagles.
He knew the reason why Aram and Holo, who had found the body, pretended they had not noticed it.
And the reason why Holo the worrywart was afraid it might lead to bigger problems.
They could tell that it would lead to an uproar if they suspected a heretic who worshipped wolves had snuck their way into the mountain.
“But this is not enough for us to say anything. What’s inside this bag is…”
After a quick prayer, the abbot carefully reached out to the bag the body held. He moved the arm away like a dried branch, and when he opened up the hemp rucksack, a large centipede slithered out from inside.
“Apologies. You were sleeping, weren’t you?”
The abbot did not seem at all bothered, and after watching the insect exit, he pulled out the bag’s contents. What came out was a heavy-looking metallic rod. It was not covered in any moss, nor had it lost its original shine. It appeared to be the right size to be a handle for a hand ax, and when the abbot held it aloft, the rod looked like the base for a fancy candlestick.
However, Lawrence recognized the object, and it wasn’t unknown to the abbot, either.
“Hmm.”
His sigh was more relieved than bewildered or puzzled.
“It does not seem this will become a heretical problem.”
The abbot then handed the item to Lawrence. It was heavy and cold.
Holo’s eyes widened as she stared hard at it.
It was the second time in his life he had held an object like this.
“Is this…a coin embosser?”
Spring Log III Page 10
