Her face relaxed as she looked at him expectantly. He smiled and continued.
“Why don’t you just teach them how to farm wheat?”
His joke seemed to hit her so hard she didn’t even know whether to get angry. Her face first filled with mixed emotions, then her cheeks puffed out and she turned away.
“But really, even just a tiny bit of wisdom would make these people very appreciative. After all, some of them are farmers without even knowing what a sheepfold is. I’m sure you have something sagely to offer them, yes?”
He added one final line.
“And the happier they are, the more profit I can earn.”
She turned to him with a look in her eyes as if she was about to burst into tears. Clearly she wanted to say, “you are being too cunning.”
“Um.. uh..”
“Come now, you’re overthinking things. Surely you have something to offer?”
He smiled as he spoke, and her eyes finally closed to think. She frowned, her ears moving around under her hood. She has one heck of a loyalty streak, he thought. She was far too rational for her own good. Turning away - still smiling - he looked up leisurely at the birds high up in the sky. Just then-
“Mr. Lawrence.”
He heard someone calling to him from the distance, and turned back to the village.
“Mr. Lawrence.”
He turned around to see the village elder calling to him from behind them.
“Ah, sorry, my translation isn’t quite..”
“No, no! That’s not why I’m here. I hate to bother you with something else, having already for your help in translating, but there is something I would like to bounce off you..”
“Bounce off me?”
Lawrence did his best to hide his excitement, knowing it was probably another issue of resource-distribution troubling the village. He stole a sideways glance at Holo, who seemed like she could care less.
“Well, if there’s anything I can do to help, please name it.”
Holo’s devil-may-care attitude made a smile creep onto his face, and seeing that warm smile and hearing his offer made the elder relax somewhat.
“I truly thank you. Actually, we’ve been having more and more problems like this recently, so I was hoping to borrow your wisdom..”
“My wisdom?”
The elder put on a look of defeat as Lawrence smiled, then started explaining the problem.
* * *
Lawrence hung his head in frustration, seeing how much of the wooden slate remained to be translated compared to the amount he’d written on the parchment. The problem the elder described existed in every village.
Villages normally had ways to solve such problems, perhaps by using the authority of the Church, a village elder, or a certificate issued by a neighboring lord. Some even had legal systems that were inviolable. But a village like this one had no such means.
They often crumbled quickly, lacking a strong unifying force. That’s the crisis they were facing here, and as Lawrence had guessed it was to do with land distribution issues the elder had just asked him about.
It seemed the feudal lord had originally defined a random area to serve as the village’s perimeter, and left it up to them to divide the land amongst themselves according to the sizes they had been individually allotted.
And therein lay the rub: they were only told how much each person should have, but not precisely how to carve up the total land to make sure everyone got their fair share.
“So, up until now they just casually chose bits of land, and it was not until the first dispute happened that they realized such a haphazard arrangement would cause problems.”
“Yes, at first, with so much unassigned land there wouldn’t be any problems. But if they just divided up the land without careful planning.. well, I could draw a simple diagram and they would understand. At some point they’d be left with a bunch of scattered slivers of land no one would want.”
“Rather than drawing them a diagram, I would rather you show them by breaking up a loaf of thin bread.”
Holo spoke happily as she sat on the table.
“You mean oat bread? But oat bread is tough.. I’m sure you don’t find it all that tasty, huh?”
“Well, the taste might not be grand, but it has an addictive texture to it. These fangs of mine sometimes itch with an unbearable longing..”
Seeing her reveal a toothy grin made him feel unconsciously nervous.
“But then again, I feel your teeth are more fearful compared to mine.”
“Huh?”
Lawrence stupidly asked without thinking. She placed a hand on her chest and replied.
“After all I might be bitten and be afflicted by your poison.”
He didn’t reply, other than to lower his head back between his hands in contemplation. After the chicken running around outside clucked a third time, Holo gave him a kick and spoke with a sour expression.
“Is that business more important than talking to me?”
“Of course.”
“What!”
He’d just instinctively replied without thinking, but when he saw how wide her eyes had opened and how tense her ears were he realized how badly he’d misspoken.
“W-well.. all I mean is that if I don’t honor the elder’s request, I can’t earn their favor. It’s true, isn’t it, that our chance to make money here will only last so long, while we have plenty of time to talk later?”
“Then just pray that my good intentions shan’t be something so ephemeral!”
She spun away, having shouted at him.
Lawrence was confident he could remain in good favor with those he’d only met briefly, but such thin tactics meant nothing in the face of Holo.
Even so, this chance in the village was quite a rare and precious one, judging from how willing the elder was to confide in him on topics that were so important. If he didn’t meet their expectations they’d likely view him in disappointment and he’d squander that chance.
Love couldn’t be bought, it was true, but favors could be converted into wealth.
“..”
He was at a loss for words, but it was only because his mind was busy turning in an effort to consider the matter at hand. Still, he was just sitting there unable to do anything. He’d never encountered this kind of problem when he traveled on his own, and had been taught nothing to help him cope with it.
In the end, though, he was aware of what was most important to him if he had to wait for the scales of his mind to balance things out. And yet, just as he opened his mouth, having chosen what to say-
“You truly are stupid. I can only question your learning ability.”
Being seated on his table meant that, naturally, she was higher up than he was. No one would be happy with such arrogance right now, but her red-tinged amber eyes made it clear that she wasn’t going to accept any kind of resistance. He didn’t know this from reason, but simply from having experienced traveling with her for so long.
“What did I just tell you? What did I say, in spite of how embarrassing it was? Here I am right beside you, and yet you cast me aside to mull things over on your own..”
“Ah..”
That’s right, she did just complain about that. She was feeling left out, and yet here he was repeating the same mistake as she stared at him. Rather than apologizing, he had to ask the question.
“Then.. will you l-lend me.. your wisdom?”
After he’d stuttered out his line, she squinted, continuing to stare at him with a solemn look on her face. Her tail wagged softly to and fro, like a scale balancing out whether to accept or reject him. But ultimately, it stopped with her sigh.
“Perhaps I am the most foolish one here.”
He didn’t even have time to consider what she meant before she suddenly continued. He could only straighten his back and offer his undivided attention.
“Tsk. I mean, I only know about the methods that the people in Pasloe always used that angered me.”
“..Well, rocks and wood can be moved, so they’re not suitable to mark boundaries.. it’s almost impossible to define boundaries in the first place, and if anyone tried to do so with words, it would only lead to disputes.”
Unless a god were to intervene, a perfect solution didn’t exist. More pressing was their need to formulate a solution that all the villagers would accept for its accuracy and fairness.
They had gone so far as to request Lawrence’s help, and if he simply handed them the most obvious solution it would only disappoint them. Holo wasn’t planning on revealing her true form, was she? Just as that thought surfaced, she gently poked him and spoke.
“Fool. Have you forgotten what it was that drove me to tears in Pasloe?”
Then, if she wasn’t thinking of feigning divine intervention, all that could be done was to gather the villagers and make them decide on boundaries once and for all and imprint them in their memories.
“But how the heck do we accomplish that? Only someone who can trace the stars can measure things that accurately. I suppose we could also judge it based on certain landmarks, like a sailor might, but it would be impossible to permanently record that in words.. a map based on that would just be too vague..”
Maps only used by travelers could be simple and not cause major problems. However, what the village needed was a map that could serve as the basis for their land distribution issues.
“Yesterday, you mentioned that people’s memories are unreliable, did you not?”
“Huh? Yeah, that’s right. That’s why we have to write things down.”
“Very well, and people believe that what is written will not change. I understand that, but do humans truly have such unreliable memories.”
He didn’t know what she meant, so he replied the only way he could.
“Well, when people are up against one another, memories are hardly objective enough to base decisions on. That, and such things need to be remembered for years.. decades, even.”
She listened to him intently before replying.
“Well, you are right.”
After expressing her acknowledgment, she continued.
“Then.. how about something like this?”
She happily hopped in beside his ear and spoke into it quietly. Upon hearing her, he stared at her in surprise. The Wisewolf shook her head happily.
“As you say, jotting down a landmark will not suffice. But should we consider the combination of multiple landmarks, we can be far more accurate. This was how I navigated the mountains. There was a ridge in every direction I could use to judge my location..”
The villagers shouldn’t have any problem understanding that, but disputes arose wherever written records were not made. And people were extra anxious when it came to boundaries.
“And, there truly are memories in this world that everyone can accept and agree upon.”
Her idea definitely should work for everyone. At least it was better than anything he’d come up with. And so, he rose from his chair, and took her hand in his.
* * *
No matter the era, maintaining records was always challenging. Even Holo’s hometown of Yoitsu could only preserve records successfully by carving them carefully into stone walls or keeping them in dimly-lit basements. And only a couple of people knew how to maintain them, and only the gods knew if they had survived over all those centuries.
It was clear how unreliable verbal records were, given the sheer number of disputes that existed where parties clung to their own stories and stubbornly refused to come to a consensus. They would always have to struggle, racking their brains hard to come up with a means for such decades-long disputes to be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.
One way to resolve this was overheard by Holo when she dwelled in fields of wheat.
“Mr. Lawrence. We’re all here.”
“Excellent. Then, who will be the representative?”
“By the grace of God there just happens to be a suitable candidate right here in the village.”
When the elder had heard the plan from Lawrence, he reacted much the same way Lawrence had when he heard the plan from Holo: is that really a good idea? But he also soon realized that it might just be feasible.
It required no special skills, tools, or expenses, and yet it was something anyone could accept and clearly recall, even decades later. The elder immediately called everyone around the well, which would be the cornerstone of their record.
What remained was deciding who would be the instigator. After careful deliberation, Holo was chosen. Not simply because she was a neutral party, but also because she felt like the best person for the job.
The villagers were only told they were being gathered to settle their boundary disputes. They were all regarding the situation with suspicion, so it was no surprise that they would be wearing such expressions. After all, they had been searching for a universally-acceptable method for a while now, but to no avail.
The elder placed his hand on Holo’s shoulder and coughed.
“I pledge to the Almighty God, in the name of myself and the village, to settle the issues of land distribution that plague us all by placing a permanent record here.”
He had allegedly once been a cow-herder in a vast field, so while his voice was somewhat hoarse it still rang out loudly and clearly.
“You have all been gathered here to bear witness to the establishment of the village’s boundary markers, and to ensure that today’s events shall be remembered if a dispute should arise again decades in the future.”
Disregarding Lawrence’s own appearance, Holo had lowered her head to appear as pitiable as possible to evoke sympathy. Given her restraint at the previous night’s banquet, everyone seemed to be under the assumption that she genuinely was a nun. She seemed a natural fit for this role.
Once more the elder coughed, and continued.
“Our two wise guests have revealed to us this ritual, with a long history of use in such land-distribution disputes. As the elder of this village, I have suggested our candidate representative.”
He then pushed a boy forward, who appeared to be no older than five. His large, round eyes and lovely golden hair called to mind the image of an angel, but he had no idea what was being asked of him, or what would be done to him. All he knew was that he had been suddenly surrounded by adults with serious looks on their faces. He was obviously tense and nervous, but the elder continued regardless.
“Any objections?”
Several villagers looked at each other, yet didn’t object. Their reaction was predictable for those who had never witnessed this kind of ceremony. Lawrence had, however, assured the elder that even if they still had reservations after the ritual was performed, they could still be convinced.
“Then let us begin.”
Not a peep was heard from the crowd. The elder quietly spoke into the boy’s ear, then pushed him closer to Lawrence and Holo. He staggered a few steps, turned back to the elder for a moment, and then timidly faced the travelers at the elder’s urging. Even adults feared travelers in a village like this, so as he slowly approached them his eyes wandered restlessly back to the crowd; undoubtedly looking at his mother, Lawrence thought.
“We’re all counting on you.”
Lawrence spoke with a smile as the boy approached, and held out his hand. The boy took that hand nervously and gave a vague reply, whereupon Lawrence pointed at Holo beside them. She wasn’t tall, and yet the boy was shorter still.
From that distance he could clearly see her face, in spite of the hood over her lowered head. But when he straightened his back in surprise, and smiled shyly, Lawrence knew that Holo had flashed him a smile. Given how kindly he returned that smile as he took her hand, it seemed likely that there were no young girls in this village.
“I am named Holo, what about you?”
“Um.. Co-Corolli.”
“Hmm.. Corolli.. a fine name.”
He shrank back in embarrassment from her praise and stroking his h
ead, but he looked very happy. Based on his appearance he might have even forgotten that a ceremony was about to take place.
“Well then, Corolli. We will be playing a little game next. Hmm, worry not, it shan’t be hard at all.”
His face stiffened, having remembered why he was there in the first place. And yet, all it took was a hug for a brave look to gradually surface on his face. It seemed that all men were the same, no matter their age.
“First, we shall pray to the north.”
“Pray?”
“Indeed, whichever prayer you like. You pray every day, yes?”
Holo was, of course, somewhat aware of the Church’s rituals. The boy nodded and brought his hands together, albeit a bit clumsily.
“The north has its own angels and spirits, as does the south. If you simply say a prayer like, ‘I wish for delicious food,’ it just might come true.”
She flashed him a wily smile, and he returned it. At her urging he began praying to the north.
“When angels and spirits decide to listen to one’s wishes, they will show signs. You must remember well the locations and shapes of the rivers and hills. Do not miss the signs.”
He nodded as she spoke, then opened his eyes wide and worked hard to engrave the scenery before him into his mind, swallowing nervously as he prayed.
North, East, South, West.
By the time he finished praying in each of the four directions, he had surely thought of every delicious dish he knew.
“Ah, well done.. and now, Corolli..”
This was the crucial point. The boy looked up at her like a loyal dog.
“Angels and spirits love smiles, so give them a big wide one.”
The boy obediently opened his mouth into a wide, teeth-revealing grin, the brightest expression he could manage. At that very instant, something shot through the air with a swish, and a split-second later a loud crack was heard.
“Wha!”
All the villagers watching from the sidelines gasped in unison at the scene that just unfolded. They stared in shock at what they had just witnessed. Holo waved her hand a bit with a wry smile; she had obviously used all of her strength, not holding back in the slightest.
Spice & Wolf XI (DWT) Page 4
