Spice & Wolf III

by Isuna Hasekura

  Landt’s happy expression was even more appealing than the boy’s normal, overachieving nature usually tended to be.

  There was little doubt that Mark treasured the lad as he would his own child.

  “A merchant makes plans, predicts the outcome, and always holds the results up to the light of reality. Understand?”

  Landt nodded politely at what appeared to be an unconnected statement.

  “If selling one item causes something to change thus, another item will cause it to change so. Such hypotheses are also impor­tant, you see.”

  Landt nodded again. Lawrence knelt down so he was close to the boy’s face and spoke.

  “But if I’m honest, these hypotheses can be anything you might like them to be. If you make too many, you’ll become lost, seeing danger and risk in every deal you do. To avoid that, you need some kind of guidepost—something to believe. It’s the one thing every merchant needs.”

  The young Landt looked something like a real merchant as he nodded. “I see,” he said.

  “If you can believe in that guidepost, then no matter how absurd the idea it leads you to...

  Lawrence looked up, closing his eyes.

  “...You can trust it.”

  Even so, a voice in Lawrence’s head told him it was impossible.

  And yet when he looked at Holo, he was almost convinced.

  There was a chance—a small chance—that Holo’s choice of dress said something.

  Despite the idea’s outlandishness, if he was to put it to the test, it might well prove to be true.

  But this idea required that one condition had to be met.

  It was what Lawrence had forgotten earlier—namely, the pos­sibility that Holo had in fact not abandoned him.

  Considering this now was just the kind of thing a stubbornly optimistic merchant, who never gave up, would do.

  At this stage of the game, it seemed far better to think as much than to continue trying to stop Amati—it was enough to make Lawrence think he was in some kind of fantastic dream.

  He had no idea what Landt had heard from Mark that made the boy so willing to help him.

  In any case, it was clear that Landt told the truth when he said he liked Holo.

  It was impressive that he’d been able to admit that in front of Lawrence. Were their places reversed, Lawrence was not at all sure he would have been able to do the same.

  Before a display of such courage, it was the least Lawrence could do to live up to this idea of the fearlessly optimistic mer­chant.

  Lawrence patted Landt on the shoulder, took a deep breath, and spoke. “Once I sell my stones at the stall, start spreading the rumor I asked you to.”

  Landt’s face lit up. He nodded his head, once again the consummate apprentice.

  “Good lad.”

  Lawrence was about to turn around, but he stopped short.

  Landt’s eyes were full of questions, but Lawrence was the one who asked, “Do you believe in the gods?”

  The boy was unsurprisingly dumbstruck.

  Lawrence chuckled and repeated himself. “There’s a good lad,” he said before walking away.

  He had 250 silver pieces’ worth of pyrite on hand. Tallying up the purchase line markers on the board showed that there was already four hundred silver pieces’ worth of orders waiting—even if Lawrence sold all the pyrite he had on hand, it would have no real effect.

  But no—it would have an effect. If his new assumption was correct, it had to. He glanced back at Holo for just a moment; she was still standing by Amati.

  Just one second would be enough—if Holo would just look in his direction for a moment, that would be enough.

  And then—

  Lawrence stood in front of the stone seller's stall. The influx of orders had slowed; the shopkeeper, having finally regained a mea­sure of calm, looked at Lawrence with a face that said, “Yes?” He then smiled, an expression that seemed to add, “You’re making out pretty well today.”

  Despite no words being exchanged, Lawrence nodded. He was about to make a lot more.

  He thrust the bag of pyrite he’d received from Landt toward the stone seller and spoke. “I’m selling.”

  The shopkeeper received a cut from each transaction, so he smiled heartily and nodded, but then he looked strangely stunned.

  Lawrence closed his eyes and smiled.

  He had been right.

  “Master, I too shall sell.”

  The voice actually made Lawrence nostalgic.

  With a loud thud, a bag of pyrite at least twice the size of Law­rence's was slammed down on the counter.

  Lawrence glanced sideways, and there was Holo, looking ready to bite his head off.

  “You fool,” she said.

  Lawrence’s only response to her accusation was a smile and a heartfelt “Sorry.”

  The shopkeeper stood there, amazed for a while, and then he quickly ordered his apprentices to remove all the purchase line placards from the price board.

  The two bags together came to at least 650 silver pieces’ worth of pyrite.

  The amount Holo had was appraised before the day’s bump in price, so it was probably worth even more than that. The mysterious party that had bought pyrite from Diana was, of course, Holo.

  Put simply, nearly a thousand silver pieces’ worth of pyrite had been sold all at once.

  There was no room for demand to push the price up in the face of that.

  Lawrence plucked at one of the white feathers affixed to Holo’s robe. “She’s quite the grown-up beauty, unlike a certain someone I could name,” he said.

  Holo jabbed Lawrence’s side with her fist.

  But then her hand remained there.

  That was enough, Lawrence thought.

  Though behind them a crazed mob pushed and shoved, Lawrence would not take his hand from hers.

  He did want to show off to Amati, though.

  Lawrence smirked at himself for being so childish.

  Epilogue

  The price crashed in an instant.

  There were a few purchases that came in after all the existing purchase orders were filled, but the sale of close to one thousand silver pieces’ worth of pyrite tipped the market in favor of selling, and the price soon dived.

  The ones who were least fortunate—who held that old maid card in the end—were those who’d been waiting just a bit longer to sell their stock at the highest-possible price.

  Even the sharp-eyed merchants who noticed Lawrence and Holo’s actions and sold as quickly as they could had taken losses.

  Amati’s fate went without saying—he had been unable to sell off the margin contract.

  Just a moment ago, Amati had been witness to Holo dashing forward with a large bag and had reached out to stop her—and there he stood in the same pose, frozen in shock.

  No doubt Holo’s betrayal came as a far worse shock than the margin certificate he held now turning worthless.

  On that point, Lawrence had sympathy for him. Holo clearly had no intention of ever staying with him and had, in fact, sepa­rated from him in a particularly cruel way.

  Evidently Amati had said something to Holo that she simply could not abide.

  Lawrence didn’t dare ask Holo what it was for fear of her response, but he still wanted to know, if only so he wouldn’t make the same mistake himself.

  “So, this contract is over, then?” Holo asked, not even bothering to look up as she groomed her tail. Lawrence had just returned from finishing the contract with Amati and thanking Mark for his trouble.

  There was still an edge to Holo’s voice and not just because the two had only just finished a battle of wills.

  Lawrence, of course, knew the reason.

  He set his things down, took a chair, and replied. “It’s over, all right. As cleanly as we could ever hope.”

  It was not a joke.

  He had indeed just finalized the contract with Amati, who looked like his spirit had left his body.

  In the en
d, Amati hadn’t actually lost money. Against the mar gin loss he’d taken because of Lawrence, Amati had made a bit more on intermediary sales of pyrite.

  Yet Lawrence understood Amati’s despair all too well—up until not long ago, he too had felt every bit as low

  In the end, Amati had been unable to meet the conditions of the contract that would’ve allowed him to propose marriage to Holo, and as for the margin sale of pyrite, that was completed when Lawrence handed over the bag, which was by that time essentially worthless.

  He’d been worried about the possibility of Amati losing his temper, so Lawrence had asked the chief of the guild house to act as mediator. “This is your punishment for trying to take another man’s woman,” the guild master had said to Amati.

  Whether or not Holo was in fact “Lawrence’s woman,” at least the proud Amati had learned a lesson.

  As Lawrence briefly explained all this, Holo, who was sitting on the bed, stopped grooming her tail and gave Lawrence an apprais­ing look.

  “Surely you do not think that this is all over and done with.”

  She seemed to be trying to decide just how harsh his punish­ment should be.

  Lawrence understood the mistake he had made.

  He stood and raised both hands in a gesture of contrition. “I’m sorry.”

  Holo was unmoved. “Do you truly know where you went wrong?”

  It was a pathetic way for a grown man to be scolded, but Law­rence had no choice but to endure it.

  “I know.”

  Holo’s wolf ears pricked up.

  “At least...I think I know.”

  Holo exhaled through her nose and folded her arms in expec­tant displeasure.

  A mere “I’m sorry” was not going to suffice.

  Lawrence screwed up his courage and apologized as best he knew how.

  “When I started doing things on my own after the contract with Amati, I was being utterly self-centered.”

  Despite the all-consuming panic he’d felt, not only had all his frantic efforts to stop Amati come to nothing, he had been—just as he said—completely self-centered.

  “The point is...my biggest mistake was not trusting you.”

  Holo looked away, turning only a single ear toward Lawrence.

  “I shall hear you out,” she seemed to be saying.

  Her unpleasant attitude was of course frustrating, but Lawrence had to admit he didn’t have a foot to stand on.

  He looked up at the ceiling before he continued.

  “The feathers you attached to your hood—those were to let me know you’d bought pyrite from Diana.”

  Holo nodded, irritated.

  “Yet when Amati sold his pyrite at the stall, trying to bluff me, I thought it was a trap you’d set for me.”

  “Wha—,” Holo said in a small voice; Lawrence hastily shut his mouth.

  He realized he’d said something he shouldn’t have said, but it was too late. Holo uncrossed her legs and hung one off the edge of the bed. “What exactly do you mean by that?” she asked.

  Holo’s chestnut brown eyes shone dully.

  “I thought it was a ruse to fool me into acting too soon. When I saw Amati make his move, I assumed you were completely on his side—the white feathers were the furthest thing from my mind. But—the truth was just the opposite...wasn’t it?”

  It certainly was, Holo’s eyes seemed to say.

  Of course, now he understood her intention.

  “You wanted to tell me that Amati had fully enough pyrite on hand and that I should move quickly to sell mine off. Right?”

  Lawrence had not trusted Holo, but Holo had trusted Lawrence.

  That was the crux of the matter.

  Holo had made Amati take an action that Lawrence could make no sense of, and for his part, Lawrence had decided it was not just Amati trying to destroy his confidence, but that Holo had also turned hostile and was trying to force him into a trap.

  The only part Lawrence had been correct about was in assuming that Holo knew what he planned to do.

  If Lawrence had but noticed the white feathers and made eye contact with Holo, she would have sold her pyrite with him right there on the spot.

  “Honestly...” muttered Holo.

  She gestured with her chin for Lawrence to continue.

  “And before that, the fact that you would sign the marriage cer­tificate with Amati, that was...”

  It was humiliating, but he had to keep going.

  “...It was to make it easy for me to be angry...Wasn’t it?”

  Holo’s ears twitched, and she took a deep breath.

  It seemed likely that she was becoming increasingly angrier as the memories came back to her.

  She must have been waiting for Lawrence to come running up to the second floor at any moment, marriage certificate in hand.

  And yet no matter how long she waited, he had not come—she might have waited until dawn.

  Lawrence counted himself lucky that she hadn’t torn his throat out.

  “Didn’t I tell you in Ruvinheigen? Don’t be clever and subtle all the time—tell me what you’re thinking! If we can just yell at each other, problems get solved a lot faster.”

  Holo scratched the base of her ears, as though she could not possibly become any angrier.

  She’d purposely been unperturbed when Lawrence saw Amati walking out of the inn and even had a marriage certificate ready, all to make Lawrence angry, all to make it easier for him to speak his mind.

  And Lawrence had thought she was notifying him of her intentions.

  And now that he thought about it, Lawrence realized that the situation there in the inn had been a perfect one—perfect for him to pour out his heart and admit to Holo that he did not want her to accept Amati’s proposal.

  If he’d only said as much—it would’ve been enough.

  “So I was wrong from the start.”

  Holo drew in her chin and gave Lawrence a look that went past displeasure right on into resentment.

  That was how far wrong he’d gone.

  “When...when you lost control because of the business of Yoitsu...that last apology you gave me, that was—”

  ...I am sorry, she had said that night, her voice hoarse.

  “—That was because you’d come to your senses...wasn’t it?”

  Holo glared at Lawrence. She glared, and her fangs showed.

  After her onslaught of verbal abuse, filled with ill intent and distortions, Holo had realized how awful she was being.

  Yet she had not continued to be stubborn.

  She had apologized immediately with all sincerity.

  But Lawrence had only made things worse by taking her apol­ogy as the final word that sealed away her heart.

  He had been reaching out to her but stopped short.

  If he’d managed to say something then, Lawrence thought, he might have been able to salvage the situation.

  Holo must have been stunned.

  She had truly apologized for the terrible things she said after losing her temper, but instead of accepting the apology, Lawrence had backed out of the room and run.

  She was no fool; Holo must have seen that Lawrence misunder­stood her.

  Yet having realized this, Holo thought that chasing Lawrence down just to explain how he was mistaken would have been ridiculous.

  She must have assumed he would realize his mistake much sooner.

  Her eyes were now full of anger at Lawrence’s failure to see this.

  “You—you fool!” she shouted, standing up from the bed. “They say, ‘A fool’s errand is worse than sloth,’ it is even so! Not only did you render useless my efforts, but you thought I was your enemy? And then for some reason, you go and pursue that contract with the boy! Do you have any notion how difficult that made things for me? We may have only met recently, you and I, but I’m of the feeling that we share an uncommon bond! Am I deluding myself? Or do you really—”

  “I wish to continue traveling with you.”

/>   There were only a few steps between the desk and the bed. Human and wolf, merchant and nonmerchant—separated by only a few steps.

  If Lawrence but reached his hand out, it would soon reach her. “My life has been naught but business from dawn to dusk, and I plan to keep it that way. Just think of me as a little slow when it comes to anything besides business.”

  Holo’s expression turned sulky.

  “And yet—I do wish to travel with you.”

  “Well...what am I to you?”

  It was the question he’d been unable to answer.

  Now, however, he was completely certain.

  “It cannot be explained in words.”

  Holo’s eyes widened, her ears pricked up, and then—

  And then she laughed, so frustrated with Lawrence she was fit to cry. “What sort of dried-up old line is that?”

  “Ah, but I thought dried jerky was your favorite!”

  Holo chuckled, her fangs bared, her mouth very near Law­rence’s hand. “I hate it!”

  Lawrence felt pain shoot through his palm, but he quietly accepted it as his punishment.

  “Though I do have one question for you,” said Lawrence finally. “Oh?” said Holo. She looked up after biting Lawrence’s hand with considerable anger.

  “How did you know there was pyrite in the alchemists’ quarter—wait, no, Amati probably told you. What I want to know is, how did you get Diana to sell it to you? I just can’t see it.”

  Holo looked out the window as if to say, “Oh, that?”

  Dusk had arrived, and the second evening’s festivities were about to begin.

  It seemed that the same giant puppets from the first night were being used, though they were much the worse for wear. Half of the large lupine shapes had lost their heads. The participants’ fatigue was obvious, even from a distance, as they tottered along. Some even fell on their bottoms—and not in jest.

  Yet the column marched on, pulled forward by the sounds of flutes and drums.

  Holo looked back to Lawrence; her eyes beckoned him to join her at the window.

  Having no reason to refuse, he did so.

  “The boy Amati told me everything he knew, so I was able to make a fair guess at what you were planning. But your plan was, well—I should compliment you.”