Those same men were not yet awake, and Lawrence realized that at the moment, he was the only one up.
No one would wake up because of the cold, and it wasn’t as though they had napped the previous day on the river.
This sensation had lasted but a few days, but it made Lawrence feel very nostalgic.
The days when he’d done business all day long, holding each spare moment precious.
It felt the same as those days.
When the breaking dawn meant a new opportunity for profit, if life was a gamble, then dawn was another card.
Another card. Another. And another.
Even if there was no progress, that was fun, too.
It felt the same as those days.
Had he woken feeling this way before, since the reality of the end of his travels with Holo had begun to sink in? Had he not been afraid of dawn’s break?
Though he knew well that with a journey came parting, that didn’t make it any easier. He doubted even Holo the Wisewolf could restrain that feeling.
So could he, a mere human, hope to?
And then, there came this first pleasant waking in some time. But he knew the reason.
In Lenos, they had declared their intention to end their travels with a smile.
Last night they had decided how they would reach that goal.
They would continue this carefree travel, and then at Yoitsu, it would be “fare thee well.” “What think you?” Holo had said.
For the merchant who dedicated his days to profit and the ferocious wolf, “carefree travel” was an impossibility.
Which made him as excited as a child.
Even though he had no idea if the story was true. And if it was true, the probability that it would lead to a painful outcome for Holo was very high.
And yet Lawrence did not think it was imprudent.
After all–
“Mmchoo–”
Lawrence heard a sneeze from under the blanket.
When conducting negotiations in a cramped inn, one had to be careful that the people sleeping nearby were truly sleeping and not feigning sleep in order to eavesdrop.
Sneezes and coughs and the sounds of swallowing – all were proof that someone was awake.
Lawrence peeled the blanket back to see Holo rubbing her nose.
She soon noticed him and turned her gaze toward him. Her eyes were not drowsy the way they typically were.
“Mmph… ’Tis the first pleasant awakening in some time.”
After all–
Lawrence thought Holo felt the same way he did.
“So you’re really going, eh?”
The sun was now fully risen, and the area buzzed with activity as the boatmen readied for departure.
Ragusa left his own boat in the care of a fellow boatman and strode about cockily, arms folded, watching the proceedings.
The boatmen congratulated each other on their heroic deeds in saving the ship the night before, as was apparently their custom.
But even Ragusa’s heroic manner, as though he were the true hero of the night, fell apart when Lawrence informed him of their intention to end their downriver journey here and return to Lenos.
“I-I know we were delayed a night here, but it’ll be an express trip the rest of the way! We’ll make up the delay in no time!” he said insistently.
But Lawrence only answered with reason. “No, Kerube was a bit too far out of our way to begin with. Having had a night to think it over, we’ve decided to head back.”
“Urgh… right, then. It’s a mark on my reputation as a boatman, but… I suppose there’s nothing for it.”
Ragusa wouldn’t have looked this upset even if he’d lost his coin purse – so Lawrence started to feel bad for lying to him.
The truth was, Lawrence and company were not returning to Lenos at all, but were planning to get to Kerube one step ahead of the rest.
The reason Lawrence went to the trouble of lying to get off the boat was that their method of arriving there was not something he could explain to just anyone.
“I imagine that we can make it back within a day – and of course, my first voyage in quite some time was excellent.”
Ragusa smiled ruefully at the obvious idle chatter in the midst of a business negotiation, then sighed.
His acceptance was very boatman-like.
“Ah, well. For every meeting, there is a parting. I’m a boatman that connects towns. No doubt I’ll have a chance to carry the same travelers again,” said Ragusa, offering his hand.
Lawrence had shaken hands with the man when he’d boarded and now shook hands to leave.
Voyages like this put them quite literally in the same boat.
And the man responsible for Lawrence’s life was nearly a friend.
“Indeed. I am a traveling merchant, after all. I’m sure I’ll come this way again,” Lawrence said, taking the man’s thick hand in his.
“Right then. Tote Col – mind you well the things I’ve taught you.”
“Wha–? Oh! Y-yes sir!” said Col hastily; he had been standing next to Lawrence, nodding off.
Previously Col had been set to work in Ragusa’s boat, standing watch in case another vessel was swept away.
Evidently he’d been angling for some money.
Seeing this, Lawrence couldn’t help but soften his expression. Ragusa had secretly given Col’s wages – and they were generous wages – to Lawrence, with instructions to give them to Col once they’d reached Kerube. Col wouldn’t worry about food for a week.
“Incidentally, Mr. Ragusa.”
“Mm?”
“No stealing a march on me now,” warned Lawrence, and Ragusa laughed hugely.
There was no doubt Ragusa would have tried to tempt the lad into his service by the time they got to Kerube.
Col had his own goals.
But if Ragusa twisted his arm enough, Col might find himself nodding his agreement. It might not have been any of his business, but Lawrence wanted to help the boy accomplish his own goals.
Thus, his words to Ragusa.
The redoubtable boatman heaved an amused sigh. “Fine then. I promise. I’m a boatman – I won’t tell a lie.”
Each traveler had his or her own reasons for their journey.
Ragusa surely understood that better than anyone.
The men held each other’s gazes and chuckled.
Lawrence could understand the feeling of having let the big fish that was Col get away, though it was yet too soon for Lawrence to be considering taking the boy as his own apprentice.
“Still–” said Ragusa, grabbing Lawrence’s shoulder suddenly and pulling him close. “You won’t go quarreling with your companion over anything quite that foolish again, will you now?”
He meant Holo.
Lawrence glanced over at her, moving only his eyes. She grinned at him from underneath her hood.
As he brought his gaze back around, he glimpsed Col giving him a sympathetic smile, which was even worse.
“I know, I know. I won’t.”
“Mark my words – you can’t buy love with gold. Your merchant’s common sense won’t work there. Don’t forget that!”
It was a teeth-grindingly tiresome thing to hear.
But also true.
“I’ll carve it on my heart,” said Lawrence, and only then did Ragusa release him, as if to say, “Well, that’s all right then.”
Ragusa’s face was now bright and cheerful as he refolded his arms, as though his sadness from a moment ago had been a lie.
There with his chest thrust out, he was every inch a boatman.
Lawrence let himself wonder for a moment if in ten or fifteen years he, too, would have this sort of presence.
But piling any more words up now would have made this act of their travels a bit dull.
He took Holo’s hand, at which she nodded, her expression composed.
“Well then, we’ll be off,” said Lawrence.
“Uh, wait–!”
; At Col’s call, the pair looked back.
For just a moment, Lawrence considered that if Col were to ask to become his apprentice right there, he would be genuinely conflicted.
Col stammered there for a moment, as though unsure why he had called out. But then he said simply, “Thank you for everything!”
Col, who had called out “Master!” at their first meeting.
His manner just then was as though he was a true apprentice – the truth within the lie.
“Good luck to you,” said Lawrence, and he and Holo began walking.
Several times he was tempted to turn around and look, but in the end, he did not.
The reason why was obvious.
Next to him, Holo seemed like she wanted to turn and look even more.
“So we’ll head down along the river and get to whatever this port town is, and then what?” asked Holo, looking ahead with unnatural determination.
“Mm, once we get to Kerube, we’ll catch Eve.”
They had discussed it the previous night. There was no need to reconfirm the plan, but Holo probably wanted to change the subject from Col.
“So we’ll catch the vixen, and in exchange for her profits, we’ll make her tell us what she knows.”
“She conspired with the Church to smuggle goods, so if it’s about towns along this river, she should have all the inside information.”
“Hmph. So long as we get even with her, any reason will do.”
Lawrence chuckled; that one statement was not necessarily a lie.
He would have to be very careful that they didn’t get into a fight.
“But still, ’tis sometimes nice to take my wolf form and run ’neath the sun’s rays. My legs can easily overtake any ship, no matter how far a lead it might have.”
This was the reason they had gotten off Ragusa’s boat.
It would no longer be fast enough to catch up with Eve.
But since catching a horse would be even more impossible, this was the only other way.
“Then, once we’ve strong-armed whatever that company was called, we’ll come back up the river to the town from yesterday. And after that?”
“The Jean Company, yes. And we’re not going to strong-arm them. We don’t have the resources for that. I just want to put out some feelers. And after that…” Lawrence looked far off into the distance, then back at Holo. “We’ll decide when we get there.”
Holo knitted her brow at this, but this alone could not be helped.
What Holo truly hated was that the conversation would end here.
“Always so stubborn,” said Lawrence with a smile.
“Who’s stubborn?” asked the stubborn Holo.
She was apparently determined to feign ignorance.
Instead of challenging her on it, Lawrence decided to get right to the point. “It looked like you wanted to bring Col along.”
Holo’s lips visibly curled into a sneer. “I was only trying to bring him over so that when I leave, you wouldn’t be too lonely. If you’ve no use for him, there’s no need, is there?” she shot back, her speech rapid-fire.
It had actually been a simple explanation, free of emotion.
But Lawrence said nothing and just looked at Holo.
He knew that she understood well enough herself.
As he expected, eventually she could take it no longer, and she finally spoke.
“You’ve gotten rather tough.”
Her expression was hardly one he would expect a compliment to come from, but he took it as a compliment nonetheless.
Holo seemed to resign herself. “I don’t remember when it was, but once I met a boy and girl about his age on my travels,” she said, exasperated.
“Oh?”
“The pair were like baby chicks and didn’t know right from left. Nothing is more dangerous than such ignorance. I cared for them for a while, traveling with them. It was rather fun, in truth. This makes me think of that.”
No doubt she meant it.
But the truth of something was not everything.
“Also, I simply like the boy,” confessed Holo flatly. “Is that enough for you?”
She looked up at Lawrence through narrowed eyes.
“Would you really turn jealous of a child like that?” her impatient eyes demanded.
“I wish I could say, ‘Right then, let’s bring him along,’ of course–” Lawrence shrugged. “But I can’t.”
“I’ll just bet.”
One reason was because he was about to approach some dangerous business dealings.
Another reason was that it would make hiding Holo’s true identity continuously difficult.
And the last reason–
“What’s the last reason?” it was Holo’s turn to ask.
If he didn’t spit it out, she’d tear his throat out.
“I like traveling with just us two.”
But there was no longer any stubbornness or embarrassment in saying so.
Therefore, it was not something Holo would tease him about.
It was hasty to believe that familiarity bred contempt.
At Lawrence’s words, Holo’s expression suggested that she understood, and her hand squirmed a little ticklishly in his.
“I guessed the reasons were something like those, yes. And also–”
“Also?”
“You said it when we first met him, did you not? That if he wouldn’t seek his own salvation, you wouldn’t venture to help him.”
Which meant that if Col didn’t ask to come along, Lawrence wouldn’t offer.
Lawrence was about to reply, but stopped.
He thought of Col, stumbling over his words as they parted.
Surely he had been about to ask to be taken along.
Col surely had overheard Lawrence and Holo’s conversation about the wolf-god’s bones.
And if so, then he could hardly fail to take interest – having himself come from a village not so very far from Yoitsu.
If Lawrence intended to verify the truth of the stories, Col might well wish to know.
It was entirely plausible.
But when he had become tongue-tied, the reason it had tortured him so was no doubt because logic told him to return to school as quickly as possible.
Lawrence was sure this was true. “Well, even if he’d asked to come along on our travels, I would have refused.”
Holo was about to protest that that wasn’t what he’d promised, but without some selectivity, she would be in trouble.
“Now if he’d said, ‘If you turn me down, I’m prepared to die,’ I might think about it.”
“So you’re saying you don’t want anybody interfering with the two of us for less than that, then?”
A short pause.
“Fine, fine.”
“I’m sorry, did you say something?”
“I did not.”
Though their words seemed meant to drive each other away, the two continued to hold hands as they walked.
Lawrence, of course, understood that Holo had unilaterally decided to get close.
As for what Holo was thinking – it went without saying.
“Well then, do you think we can safely stray from the road now?”
Even if they were to look behind them, Ragusa and Col were out of sight.
The Roam River flowed silently beside them, and no one was around.
If they were to walk at a right angle to the river, they would be in the middle of vast plains. And there, Holo could become a wolf unwatched by human eyes.
Fixing his grip on Holo’s hand, Lawrence started to head into the unpopulated wilderness.
And then–
“What’s wrong?”
Holo had stopped.
He looked back at her, assuming she was playing at something, but she was looking dumbly back down the river.
“Is there something there?”
Lawrence felt a faint premonition.
And it must be said, a certain anticipation.
Near
a town was one thing, but farther out than that, and these roads were near deserted come early morning.
Yet Lawrence saw a single figure running toward them up the road.
Still and silent, he stole a glance at Holo’s face as she watched the figure and sighed, amused. “You certainly do like children.”
Holo’s ears twitched.
To Lawrence’s faint surprise, it was close to the same twitch she used when he’d made a verbal slip.
What did he say wrong? Lawrence thought it over and could think of nothing.
Without looking at him, Holo spoke. “And what if I were to answer that I do like children – what would you do then?”
It was a strange question.
“What would I do? I don’t suppose I’d do any– ah…”
He had unconsciously let go of Holo’s hand, but Holo would hardly let him escape.
She snatched his hand up as though she were a cat catching a butterfly and pulled him back in.
Beneath her hood she wore a combative smile.
“I do like children, don’t I? Do I not?”
“Urgh…” Lawrence cursed his careless choice of words.
“Hmm? What’s that?” Holo’s tail flicked rapidly.
Lawrence could think of no objections or retorts.
The only thing to do would be to change the subject by force.
Just then, Holo gave up her attack. “Ah, well, I am the one who came to travel with you, after all. I’ll leave such decisions in your hands,” she said, stepping away from him.
Lawrence had a nervous sweat on his back – but the figure’s identity went without saying.
Col was heading toward them.
And he had hardly been sent to deliver some forgotten article.
Lawrence cleared his throat, trying to clear his verbal failure from a moment before.
From Holo’s chuckling, there would be no further pursuit.
“Well, if we wind up traveling together, you’re not going to be able to groom yourself as you please,” said Lawrence.
Holo gave a great sigh; it was not a joke, and Lawrence winced.
“Males always think themselves special,” she said.
“…”
“Think of where he’s from. I suppose we’ll just have to see whether or not he finds my form terrifying.”
Lawrence did not reply to those words, as Holo’s face was suddenly timid.
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