Wolf & Parchment, Volume 3

by Isuna Hasekura

  Col first cleared his throat, drawing her attention to him, then introduced himself.

  “My name is Tote Col. That is my traveling companion, Myuri. She is the kin of wolves, but she doesn’t bite.”

  When he explained, she looked at him, then back to Myuri.

  She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out, and he could tell she had not entirely calmed down yet.

  He poured some water from the pitcher into a small cup and handed it to her.

  She accepted it but did not drink from it and took a deep breath instead.

  “…My apologies. It was so sudden, I was shocked…”

  Field sheep sometimes fainted at the slightest loud noise. It was likely that she could not handle meeting a wolf so suddenly.

  It was still rude, however, to faint upon seeing someone. She gave Myuri a proper apology, who had been trying to shrink herself down as much as she could, and relieved, she shook her head, then drew close to Col.

  “You lost consciousness in front of the cathedral, so we carried you to the harbor. I could not carry you all the way to where we are staying, so I’ve brought you here to our ship.”

  As though she had finally understood what was going on, she nodded slowly.

  Then she adjusted her clothes and sat at the edge of the bed.

  “Thank you for helping me.”

  “Of course. I’m glad to see you’re not hurt.”

  The priest had been much too violent for the sake of a mere argument. It was entirely possible she could have been seriously injured if she had been struck in the wrong place when the priest tossed her out.

  “But I hope you don’t mind me asking you what you were doing at the cathedral?”

  He broached the subject with the intention of making small talk, but her expression was immediately marred by tension.

  He had hoped he could hide who he was while still somehow feeling out what her intentions were, but that seemed much too self-centered.

  Though he hesitated slightly, he decided avoiding lies would be for his benefit later.

  “If you tell me your story, I may be able to help you.”

  “…How?”

  The girl’s curiosity was piqued, and Col offered a response.

  “It’s likely that I am the person from the northern islands that you have been searching for.”

  The girl held her breath and looked around. He could understand somewhat why she looked so tense.

  There were any number of bad things that could happen after being brought into someone’s base and probed for answers.

  “We are not surrounded or anything like that. This ship was caught up in a storm, and the crew is busy with repairs and inspections on deck.”

  While she seemed somewhat satisfied with that explanation, he could easily tell that she was straining her ears.

  Of course, Col too could hear the wholesome scene coming from the rest of the ship.

  “Will you tell me what happened?”

  When he asked this, the girl tightened her hands, which rested on her knees, into fists, and her whole body tensed.

  However, her downcast face was not stubborn, simply hesitant.

  The girl had surely not intended to tell them that she was the embodiment of a sheep. She certainly hadn’t expected a wolf girl to be here, either.

  He understood how she felt, so he sat quietly and waited.

  Not only that, the girl seemed intelligent, and for the levelheaded air around her, she also gave off a feeling of bravery.

  Just as he expected, it was not long before she lifted her head.

  “…May I ask just one thing?”

  “Of course.”

  “Do you…understand us?”

  The question was directed at Col.

  In a room with a sheep, a wolf, and a human, the odd one out was the human.

  “I cannot be entirely sure that I truly understand you, but I am doing all that I can to.”

  He wanted to answer honestly but ended up only addressing the issue in a roundabout way. It was no surprise when the girl gave him a doubtful look, but when Myuri saw this, she spoke up.

  “Brother understands us. Because I’m gonna marry him!”

  “Wha—?”

  Col could not tell whose cry of surprise that was, but Myuri pounced at him, and he hurriedly tore her away.

  “I said nothing of the sort.”

  He pushed her off, but she just clung to his arm again before speaking up.

  “You show faith through actions, not words, right?”

  “That’s…”

  He might have said that when he lectured her once.

  “Anyway, we will talk about this later—”

  As they argued, the sheep girl, who had sat uneasily on the bed until that moment, stared blankly at them.

  “I’m so sorry you had to see that…”

  Dizzied by shame as he tried to admonish Myuri, he heard the soft sound of rustling linen. It was the girl, who could no longer hold back her laughter. At the same time, a meaningful smile had appeared on Myuri’s face. It seemed she had acted childish on purpose to cheer the sheep girl up.

  But he sensed an ulterior motive, as though she was saying, If things go well, so he poked her on the head.

  “You two are quite close.”

  The sheep girl’s tension had eased with her laughter.

  “But…married? Aren’t you…brother and sister?”

  I swear—he cursed Myuri.

  “This girl is the daughter of my master, and I have worked as her pseudo-elder brother since she was born. This is typical of young girls.”

  When he said that, Myuri dug her nails into his arm, and he decided he would rather have that than her fangs. The sheep girl understood it all in just one breath. She nodded deeply.

  “Not only are you looking for me but you also have sheep horns. I could not simply leave you be.”

  There was no doubt that Myuri clinging to his arm was more convincing than a thousand words.

  He could tell by how her face was set that she had made up her mind. She immediately adjusted her posture and introduced herself.

  “My name is Ilenia Gisele. I was born and raised in a faraway land of blue seas. I work for a trading firm from a distant country, and I normally broker wool in the kingdom.”

  Since she was a sheep girl who purchased wool, she must have been quite the reputable broker.

  His thoughts must have shown plainly on his face since the girl smiled childishly, fitting for her age—or at least for how old she appeared to be.

  “But at the moment, I am temporarily working as a tax collector.”

  “Tax collector?”

  Col could not contain his surprise, and Ilenia produced the parchment from her breast pocket.

  “I purchased a tax-collecting permit issued under the name of Heir Klevend of the Kingdom of Winfiel, and I was trying to make collections from the cathedral.”

  He had heard once from Myuri’s father, the former merchant Lawrence, that it was fairly common to collect taxes through agents. Collecting taxes was quite an undertaking, so those in power would auction off those rights. If those who obtained them could collect the full amount, then they would profit from the difference of whatever they had paid in the auction.

  Of course, it was an immense loss of profits if the buyer was not able to collect enough. There were very few people who would happily pay taxes to begin with.

  “So you were thrown out?”

  The girl nodded, took a deep breath, then spoke with a formal expression.

  “But I did not start this to simply get rich quickly. I believe that meeting you here was fate.”

  He shamelessly thought about how exaggerated that sounded.

  Was not acting as tax-collecting agent just for pocket change?

  It was just as he was thinking about that.

  “Collecting taxes is just one part of my overall plan.”

  Col found himself perplexed, and he responded
in spite of himself.

  “I’m sorry…but what?”

  Ilenia leaned forward and spoke.

  “I want to create a country just for nonhumans like us.”

  “…”

  Speechless, he looked back at Ilenia, and her black eyes stared at him fearlessly.

  “Wherever we go, we must stay out of sight of humans and live in secret. There are those who gather as many friends as they can and live that way. But I don’t want that—I want to create a place that will sit proudly on a map.”

  “That’s—”

  Logical thoughts ran about in his head. For nonhumans to live in this world, they either had to keep quiet deep in the forest, disguise themselves as humans while melding seamlessly into daily life, or slip between the cracks of human systems.

  In the modern world, there was no such thing as land that belonged to no one.

  He reached one conclusion rather quickly.

  “Are you trying to start a war?”

  He knew well the great power of nonhumans. He knew of the large fangs and sharp claws that belonged to giant wolves. He knew stories of armies of a hundred being scattered in an instant.

  War was certainly possible if she was gathering all the nonhumans in the world.

  It had of course crossed his mind before, whenever he caught a glimpse of the strength of those who once lived in the old age of spirits.

  However, he recalled what he had once heard from someone whose true form was a gigantic, towering wisewolf.

  Even if they could defeat humans, they could not win against the human world.

  The era where everything was determined by fang and claw was over.

  Those who did not understand that were the young and ignorant ones, who would have listened to this girl’s story eagerly.

  Ilenia, however, studied him warily before she continued.

  “Anyone who deals with long-distance trade has heard the rumors at least once, that there’s a land no one has seen at the edge of the sea far west of the kingdom. We will build our country there.”

  Myuri was digging her nails so deep into his arm it was beginning to hurt. She was already obsessed with adventure, and she was staring at Ilenia with wide eyes.

  “If we can obtain that land, we will build a country where we do not have to hide who we are. No, not will—have to. You understand how wonderful this is, right…Myuri?”

  Myuri had gazed at the large world map posted on the wall at the trading house in Atiph. The world was so big, and their home of Nyohhira was like a smudge in the corner.

  But no matter where she went on that map, there was no place where she could freely reveal her true form.

  She would surely say that no matter where she was, there was nowhere that could make her feel at ease, so she would take his hand, while claiming that the only place she felt safe was in his arms.

  “You mean…I can be in my wolf form all the time?”

  “Of course. You may live freely with your brother in any form you like.”

  Her last sentence possessed the flair of a skilled merchant, but it seemed to have worked on Myuri.

  She was not gripping his arm with strength but with heat.

  “B-but what does this have to do with collecting taxes?”

  Col tugged on Myuri’s hand to bring her back to her senses as she had become totally enraptured. That story that was like opening the seal on a jar, letting loose a giant snake that could swallow a cow.

  Was Ilenia creating such a fantastic tale to confuse them?

  “Tax collecting is just an excuse. I am after a relic that has been kept in the cathedral after many years of accumulating wealth.”

  He remembered the word SWINDLER! plastered on the door.

  “As a wool broker, I have visited a great number of monasteries that raise sheep. I’ve also investigated what sort of relics which monasteries will buy, and I came across word that the cathedral in this town had possibly bought something that could be a cloth belonging to Saint Nex.”

  Col knew of Saint Nex. He was originally a cloth merchant who had amassed great wealth, but after receiving a revelation from God, he donated all his wealth to the poor, then became a saint who devoted his life to faith. He was often made the patron saint of craftsman associations that dealt with fabric and thread. Typical prayers to him included pleas that the thread they spun would not tear, that their fabric would not be eaten by bugs, and that there were no fires.

  He was a rather plain saint, not quite matching up to the grandiose vision Ilenia talked about.

  Col felt that relics such as a stone that God stepped on when he once descended to earth or a sword left behind by the seventh angel would be much more suited for such an extravagant story.

  A saint who touched winding rods and rolls of fabric was not that reliable.

  “What would you do with that cloth? Would you draw a map to that land you spoke about?”

  “Unfortunately, no, it’s not for a map. But you were close, in a way, because it will guide us to the new world. We will use it to make our sails.”

  “Sails?”

  “The cloth of Saint Nex is blessed and sanctified. It is supposedly the strongest cloth imaginable in this world. Whether that legend is true or just an exaggeration, I think there could be nothing more perfect to use for a ship that will travel to the end of the sea.”

  “Do you plan on making that ship?”

  “If possible, I want to find the ark that God sent when a great flood covered the entire world.”

  It was hard to tell if Ilenia was joking or if she was serious.

  But he saw in her the strength of a sheep traveling the wastelands, perhaps because her hooves were firmly planted in the ground.

  “Of course, I personally don’t believe in the God who everyone talks about, so I’m not trying to make a ship filled with saintly, miraculous relics. It will be a tribute to someone who wants to build a ship like that.”

  There was a strong smile on Ilenia’s face, her excitement growing as she talked about her dreams.

  “They say that one of the kingdom’s adventuring ships once traveled to the new world. No one besides the kingdom has these voyage logs and sea charts. My plan is to gather and present relics that might offer the most protection on the journey, and once they set off for the new world again, they will include our ship in the fleet. I made my bid on the collection permit so that I had an excuse to open the doors to churches and cathedrals. If they cooperate in paying taxes, then I, of course, will happily earn the kingdom’s good favor. In the end, I see this tax collection as a way to save money for our journey to the new world.”

  This did not sound like something she had thought up just the other day.

  There was an odd realism to it.

  “B-but there are talks that the kingdom and the Church might go to war. The war with the pagans lasted for decades, and this one might endure for just as long. I don’t know if this is the time to be dreaming up such adventures…”

  Then Ilenia shook her head. Her body language showed that he was completely off the mark, as if she was talking to an unreasonable child.

  “What would you say if I told you the reason the kingdom and Church opposed each other was for that very reason?”

  His thoughts ground to a halt.

  “…What?”

  “They say that the reasons are because the kingdom confronted the Church about taxes and how the Church has misbehaved for so long. But don’t you think it’s strange? I think it’s much too long overdue, and the kingdom is also profiting from this corruption. Not only that, but there have been absolutely no negotiations with other countries. While some have stood up in indignation since then, that is quite unnatural. It almost seems like the kingdom is trying to place distance between them and the Church on purpose.”

  However, Col himself had been so moved when he heard the story that he left the village, so he did not think it was strange.

  “I…don’t know about that. The flame
s of revolution have actually been set ablaze in Atiph. Here in the kingdom, the scripture is being translated into the common language, so that the faith of the people may be…”

  “I understand you don’t believe me right away. But I am positive that the new world exists. No, all of us nonhumans, all of us who others say are possessed by demons, need to be certain that it does.”

  If she were willing to say that much, she must have had some sort of clue.

  The sheep girl firmly lowered her head, much like how rams did when they fought.

  “They say that only a few survivors returned in just one ship from the new world. I heard that the surviving sailors said that the land at the edge of the sea was home to a demon. Their companions were ripped to shreds by it. It gave off a roar that could split the sea, and it was so big that every footprint it made left a lake behind. When the sailors barely escaped with their lives under the cover of night, jumping into their ship after they managed to get offshore, they turned around, and there, they finally got a good look at the whole demon. It was so massive, it could sit on a mountain, and its outstretched paw could reach the moon in the sky—”

  At that moment, Col could not believe it. He knew this story.

  There was once a monk who had gathered all the remaining myths from around the world. He had collected the tales of pagan gods to see whether or not the God that he believed in existed. A wolf that lived in wheat. A sheep of golden wool that walked leisurely across the plains. A snake so gigantic the weather between its head and tail were different. A huge deer with living trees growing from its head that lived for an eternity. The prominent figures from these stories, which had been thought of as senseless pagan fantasies, had one peculiar thing in common—at a certain point in time, they all suddenly disappeared. Though human power was absolutely no match for them, they had abruptly disappeared from the face of history.

  People say they had lost their lives in a mythical battle.

  A fight against the king of kings in the era of forests and spirits.

  “The Moon-Hunting…Bear…”

  They had been scattered by this tyrant.

  “Anyone who knows the tale will immediately think of that. And humans who know the story of the Moon-Hunting Bear are few and far between.”