Spring Log

by Isuna Hasekura

  There was just one way everything could be settled peacefully.

  “…No harm in trying…hmm.”

  “At the worst, the Archbishop might think he was tricked by a fox.”

  “Mm…”

  Millike thought silently for a brief moment, and his beard quivered under his breath.

  “You’ve really thought about this. Is this how trade goes between merchants?”

  “I am not a merchant.” Lawrence shrugged and smiled. “I am the master of a bathhouse in Nyohhira, which sits between this world and the next.”

  Millike, astonished, waved his hand and returned to business.

  Lawrence, with his own feet, headed toward the room that was set aside for Selim. When he opened the door, there was Selim sitting on the bed, the candles in the room unlit. Perhaps she had heard Lawrence’s big footsteps and resigned herself to any kind of treatment.

  “We have a plan. Everything might end well for all of us.”

  Since he had said such a thing so suddenly, she did not seem surprised, but rather looked at Lawrence dubiously.

  “But it might end up a bit differently than how you dreamed,” he said as a disclaimer and then explained it to her.

  Selim was perplexed at first, but as she came to see the outcome, the color of her eyes suddenly changed.

  And Lawrence added one last thing.

  “I need your assistance.”

  She stood up, emboldened.

  “I will help.”

  Standing there was not a sorry sheep munching on grass. Supposing she were one, she was more like the brave sheep that was the last standing in that muddy square.

  Selim was a wolf. Once she decided on her prey, her expression mirrored that of Holo’s.

  “But I must confirm one thing with you.”

  “What is it?”

  Lawrence cleared his throat.

  “Well…Would there be any problem if I rode on your back?”

  He thought it polite to at least ask. She was of age, after all.

  “…As long as Lady Holo does not grow angry, then it is fine with me.”

  “She probably won’t.”

  “Heh-heh. Then all right. Mr. Lawrence, I will be sure to take you to Lenos.”

  “I’m only with you until the reception. Everything after that depends on your wits.”

  In the joy of being given a big responsibility, Selim beamed a smile that suited a girl her age and spoke.

  “I am confident I can portray a dreary nun very well.”

  She was actually a girl who could smile and joke like this.

  Lawrence nodded.

  “Let’s see if I agree with you.”

  Selim smiled uncomfortably, took a deep breath, and then exhaled slowly. There appeared the face of a nun who had never smiled before in her life.

  “Long ago in the mountains, there was a monastery. In those ruins, there is a grave, and there are those who are unearthing it. I am Selim. I am the nun whose grave is being robbed.”

  It was perfect.

  Together with Selim, Lawrence headed out past the walls, and this time with complete respect, he turned away as she changed.

  When prompted, he turned back, and there was a young-looking female wolf with beautiful silver fur that was two sizes smaller than Holo, but still much larger than a person.

  “…It is odd that you do not fear me.”

  “Mine is much scarier.”

  The feel about her was much different than Holo, but he was oddly touched when he realized that the way wolves smiled was the same.

  With the letter he had Millike prepare for him, the nun clothes, and Selim’s clothes on his back, he climbed up onto the silver wolf.

  “Then we shall go.”

  They immediately became the wind.

  It would take more than two full days on the legs of a wolf to reach Lenos, the town of fur and lumber. On human legs, one would have to prepare for a journey of ten days. Then, there was the archiepiscopate, which was the Church’s authority that spread throughout that region, and the archbishop, who could say the head of a herring was sacred and it would be so.

  According to Lawrence’s plan, Selim would sneak into the archbishop’s house and speak to him by his pillow.

  I am Sister Selim. Far to the north, I have slumbered under the blessings of God…

  It was all and well that she matured her faith deep in the mountains and was then called to God’s side, but the body she left behind, by a heavenly miracle, unseen, turned into silver. She was able to rest soundly because the creatures of the forest had no interest, but greedy humans were different. She was troubled for they were planning to dig up her grave, and she wanted the archbishop to help her in the name of God.

  It would be easy for wolf Selim to climb over the walls and sneak in.

  Two days later, bracing against the cold wind, they finally reached Lenos—a place he had not been to for a long time. Briefly savoring the nostalgia, they headed to their destination.

  The archbishop was asleep in his manor, which was like a noble’s mansion, built on the side of the giant cathedral.

  As the moon, as slim as a wolf claw, rose in the sky, Lawrence watched Selim disappear into the manor’s garden.

  The following day, Lawrence made himself seem timid and knocked on the gates of the great cathedral. “I am a humble peddler, but last night I had a dream that commanded me to guide the archbishop to Svernel…”

  The archbishop, who was visited last night in something that could have either been a dream or reality, seemed like he would not have doubted even the wildest of stories. He received Lawrence warmly, thinking he was truly a servant of God, and forgetting all his business, he immediately began to prepare for the journey.

  Then the archbishop headed straight for Svernel, and there was the Debau Company, who controlled the silver mining in the north, and the ones who had found silver while digging with the pope’s permit in hand, all sitting together silently, waiting. Moreover—they were in the middle of an ugly fight over the silver.

  The archbishop’s face went pale, since he seemed to think that only he knew what the silver was made of, and he intervened.

  Please wait, do not touch that silver! That is a holy woman who has been blessed by God!

  Those words also marked the birth of a pilgrimage tourist attraction.

  If the miracle of the holy woman really did happen, then the archbishop would not have handled the earth so carelessly after she stood by his side at night. Then the townspeople, no matter how greedy, would be unable to mine for silver. If they could not mine for silver, then the Debau Company had no need to bare its fangs.

  Then, if people came and offered money, they would be able to open a little inn there.

  “There were many rough edges, but it all rounded out quite nicely.”

  Holo was unusually impressed.

  “That’s only because you fought for it until the very end.”

  That was not modesty. The time when they would have been breathlessly convinced that something good was waiting for them at the end of the road had already passed. As it brought about peace, it also created a feeling similar to resignation that things that were meant to be would be.

  On their journey some ten-odd years ago, the one that would have cared the most about Aram and the others would definitely have been himself. He could imagine it—there was no mistaking that he would have raised a stink when he got a whiff of the profit he could make off a conflict of interest surrounding unexploited silver. In the process, he would have reached out a hand to Selim, unable to leave her out of the excitement; then Holo would grow jealous and there would have been a fight and a big commotion…

  But about that last part, it was not as though Lady Holo the Wisewolf had already forgiven him.

  “So, did you enjoy riding on that girl?” his wife inquired with a smile.

  And Lawrence lay in bed, and Holo sat in a chair beside it. She held a bowl full of porridge in one hand and
scooped some with a spoon and was feeding him.

  Though it was fine clinging to Selim’s back, heading to Lenos as a part of the plan, he could not win against his age. He had gotten all muddy and used up all his strength in the festival event, then traveled to Lenos for two whole days in the cold wind, and then turned right around and journeyed almost a week with the archbishop—there was no way he could have endured such an exhausting journey hale and hearty.

  That night after seeing through Svernel’s situation, he was seized by a high fever and collapsed.

  He had nightmares for three days and three nights, and his fever was only now subsiding.

  “She had silver fur.”

  “Hmm.”

  Holo blew on the porridge in the spoon to cool it down and fed it to him properly.

  “She was about two sizes smaller than you. A bit bigger than a big cow.”

  “Mm.”

  “I don’t really know how fast she was going.”

  She scooped up more from the bowl and blew on it.

  “And?”

  When she asked him that, he realized.

  She wanted to be mad.

  “Yeah…It might have been because she was young, but her fur was really soft— Mgh!”

  She shoved the spoon into his mouth as he spoke.

  Holo, smiling, rattled the spoon around in his mouth.

  Lawrence somehow bit into it and held fast until she let go.

  He had a feeling he knew why she wanted to be angry.

  “I couldn’t have predicted how it would end from the start. I was doing my best when I thought of how to round out those rough edges.”

  And he had not thought of what to do after he had grabbed a hold of those edges.

  Holo stared at Lawrence and slowly wagged her tail back and forth. She looked like a wolf who was ready to move immediately whether her prey ran left or right.

  He did not know how long the silence lasted, and when Holo slowly took the spoon from Lawrence’s hand, she scooped some more porridge and blew on it.

  Then, she ate it herself.

  “You fool.”

  Though since after eating some herself for a bit, she started to slowly feed Lawrence again, she was probably not truly angry at him. She might have gotten angry if he had lumped them together, like a dog asserting its territory.

  “Since we set that girl up as the holy woman, she can’t just hang around the inn at her own pilgrimage site.”

  So in terms of where she should go, there was a bathhouse right nearby that needed some help. Furthermore, that bathhouse was looking for people who would work hard and not be surprised even if they knew the secret that the mistress of the house had the ears and tails of an animal.

  Even Holo knew the answer of what she should do.

  But much like Lawrence knew all about Holo, Holo knew all about Lawrence.

  “You fancy the ill-fated, weak girls, aye? Mm?”

  She did not cool the porridge she scooped and, still hot, brought it close to his face.

  It is often said that one should not interfere with lover’s quarrels, but this porridge would soon interfere with his mouth.

  “But you, too…Hot! H— Ho!”

  In a fluster, he reached for the ale that sat by his bed.

  Holo paid no mind to him and simply ate the porridge in the spoon herself.

  “’Tis how I am adorably envious.”

  “…That was too much.”

  He did not have any burns, but his mouth stung.

  Lawrence spoke to Holo as she ate the porridge.

  “Thank you for looking after me.”

  Holo’s ears stood straight up.

  “I do not mind. I am the very model of a loving wife.”

  “Sure.”

  She was probably truly worried about him. When he finally woke up, the first thing he had said was that he was hungry, and she was so relieved that she was somehow irritated.

  Though she was called the wisewolf and had many things at her disposal, she could not completely control her own emotions sometimes.

  But he did not mind being played with because of that.

  “I want to go back to the bathhouse soon.”

  Holo, who ended up eating half of the porridge, gave a satisfied sigh and spoke.

  “Well, we have no work for a while. You must rest properly for now.”

  Prompted by her, he lay down in the bed, and she pulled the covers up over his shoulders.

  “See, good children must close their eyes now.”

  How old do you think I am? he thought, but he did not mind being treated like a child.

  As she gently kissed his forehead and cheeks, he drifted off into sleep.

  He felt as though he was with Holo all throughout his dreams.

  PARCHMENT AND GRAFFITI

  The mountains were dyed the color of fire in this busy season of preparing for winter.

  The hot spring village Nyohhira, deep in the northern mountains, saw the end of the short summer and was now just waiting for winter to come.

  The wind grew colder every day, and the sound of falling leaves occasionally brought about something that felt like sadness. There are those that called it depression, but it felt more like sleepiness. It was a drowsy time before the coming of a quiet winter.

  He did not hate it.

  “Mr. Lawrence, should I put the cheeses from Alvo in the cellar?”

  “Yeah, thanks, Col. Just put them anywhere…Whoa, they’re big.”

  That day, when it truly became fall, everyone was working hard in their preparations to fill the bellies of the guests who would come to this bathhouse in Nyohhira, Spice and Wolf. The two men were sorting out the goods they received from the neighboring village. The cheeses they stacked were each so large that a full grown adult could barely carry one.

  “The bigger they are, the more edible parts there are…Right?”

  “Because the hard, outer skin tastes terrible and is practically inedible, right? There’s less wasted in bigger cheese, but…This is huge. I think the mayor of Alvo would make more money if he quit and opened a cheese shop.”

  The inside of the gleaming, amber-colored cheese also felt quite substantial.

  “I’ve heard it’s hard to make them bigger. If you don’t strain the water well enough, apparently, it will get moldy inside.”

  “Then…let’s pray that we don’t cut it open to find it full of mold.”

  “Ha-ha. Their mayor has the heart of a craftsman, so I don’t think that’ll happen.” Lawrence, the master of Spice and Wolf, laughed. It has been ten-some years since he came to this land and started a bathhouse, and though he still could not get away from the other villagers’ newcomer treatment, he was already quite used to life here.

  And after traveling through many countries, pursuing theology and finally settling here for ten-some years, Col was keenly aware of how dreadful the flow of time was.

  “Then, I’ll go put these away…I’m a bit worried that the shelves might break since they’re so big, though.”

  It seemed too much to bring it up onto his shoulders, so though awkward, he held onto it with both hands like a baby lamb.

  As he tottered around to the back of the main building, he could hear the lively voices coming from the baths beyond the partition.

  Summer and winter were Nyohhira’s peak seasons, and it was now around the time when guests for the winter were starting to arrive.

  Most of the patrons were nobility or the directors of huge commercial firms or high-ranking clergy, so once they were finished managing the many festivals and events in the spring and fall, they would come to unwind.

  There were already several guests at Spice and Wolf, and they were lazily spending their day in the outdoor bath.

  As of yet, the number of guests were few, so the dancers and musicians who made their earnings in Nyohhira during the winter were nowhere to be seen, and it was quiet throughout town.

  What he could hear beyond the partitio
n was a rather heated commotion.

  “Wa-ha-ha-ha! You can do it!”

  “Here, drink, drink! Put your heart into it!”

  They were rather lively for how high the sun was in the sky.

  And for some reason, he could hear the clop, clop of a horse’s hooves on stone.

  What on earth was going on in there?

  Customers in the baths typically lost track of time once they became drunk. But that was usually when there were more people, more alcohol, and after they grew bored of staying in for a long while.

  But this made him a bit uneasy, and still holding the cheese, he waddled to the partition and peeked through the crack.

  “Make sure the rope doesn’t break! Did you tie it right?!”

  “Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Shield! The shield! The shield is…Ba-ha-ha-ha!”

  “Go, goddess of ours!”

  “Yes! May God watch over you!”

  It was an unusual amount of excitement. It seemed that guests from other bathhouses had come, too.

  The naked men were all generally holding a mug of drink in one hand, waving it around, and cheering.

  He could not see well through the steam of the baths, but he knew immediately what the clopping sound was coming from.

  It was a mule. A pack mule was stomping around by the side of the bath. There was a boy, a nervous expression on his face, trying to keep it calm. It was the boy who brought the goods from Alvo on his pack mule.

  But why was it in the bath?

  A clue to his question was the thick rope that extended from its yoke.

  The people were looking at the end of the taut rope, which went to the top of the bath.

  “…Wh-wha…”

  He was at a loss for words. There stood a girl, raising her hands to the cheers and smiling at everybody.

  She did not seem to mind that the men were naked and only wore thin linen wrapped around her chest and hips. Though since the baths were not separated by gender that in itself was not unusual, but she, for some reason, was wearing rough-looking gloves.

  “…Wh-what?”

  He had a fiercely unpleasant feeling.

  There in the middle of the cheers was the bathhouse owner’s—Lawrence’s—only daughter, Myuri.