It shone when brushed properly with a comb, so it was rather fun hair to braid.
He split her hair into three—left, right, and center—braided both the left and right sections, then braided it all again to do up the middle part.
This braiding style took some time, but the dancing girls who frequented the bathhouse had taught him how to do it.
When it was finished, everyone downstairs would stare wide-eyed.
Yet, the one whose hair was being braided did not seem to care herself.
“Siiigh…Am I gonna have to wear these clothes and this annoying hair all the time?”
Like a toddler wriggling in a net, Myuri wriggled more in the clothes that were now trying to tie her down.
“Not every day, of course, no. You will not be able to help with the bathhouse wearing clothes like this. But you will need to look and act more like a lady than you have been until now.”
“…”
Instead of saying anything, Myuri gave a deep sigh.
“You cannot always be a child.”
He was used to Myuri never knowing when to quit. While she made him worry, that was part of what made her so cute; he smiled as he started finishing off the braid.
“And when you think about getting married, there are things you will have to start getting used to.”
When he said that, Myuri spoke as she kicked her feet.
“I’m not gonna get married. Father said I didn’t have to.”
Lawrence had a weak spot for his only daughter, so he sometimes said things like that, and Holo would pinch his butt.
Col understood how Lawrence felt and smiled, almost agreeing with him, and then sighed.
“Yes, but that cannot happen. That is how society works.”
Like how ash would return to ash and dust would return to dust.
People must live according to the flow of the world that God had decided on.
“But I’d rather just stay with you.”
Myuri whined, sulking, and leaned onto Col again.
She depended on him and looked up to him, and Col of course adored her.
But it was also the truth that there was a hint of bitterness in his smile.
“Is that because you can be as selfish as you want when you’re with me?”
Myuri looked up to him from below his chin.
They were reproachful, dissatisfied eyes.
“No.”
Col shrugged, and Myuri rammed her head straight into Col’s chest.
Col accepted it with a smile and patted her on the head.
“What I hope for is for you to be with the person you think is the most precious to you and for you to live a happy life.”
“But that’s why—”
Just as Myuri was going to argue, Col gently hugged her from behind.
“If you act properly, you will have wonderful appeal. But you must polish a gem in order to have it shine. You must polish yourself a little more so that whoever it is you want to turn around and notice you, will.”
Myuri seemed even more dissatisfied. She got enjoyment out of running around the mountains with a piece of dried meat in her mouth, so perhaps she did not understand him when he talked about these things.
But they were still incredibly important.
When he tapped Myuri’s arm very carefully to make that clear, she suddenly stirred in his arms.
“Hey, does that mean you think so, too, Brother?”
“Hmm?”
When he asked in response, Myuri turned around to look at him.
She looked more mature than usual, perhaps because he was finished braiding her hair.
“Do you want to marry a girl with pretty clothes, too?”
It was a truly childish question, and Col smiled softly and responded to it.
“I want to be a priest in the future…But sure. I would like a girl who wears proper clothes and has a ladylike smile, instead of one who dresses like a bandit and wipes her nose on her sleeve.”
Myuri stared at Col, as though she were a baby hearing words for the first time.
Then, once what he said reached her, she looked back at him with a rather docile expression.
Perhaps she finally understood?
As Col felt some relief, Myuri looked back at him again.
And this time with oddly more vigor.
“Fine, then I’ll do that,” she said and smiled.
It was unusual for her to listen on the first go, and that made Col happy.
“Do you understand?”
“Yeah.”
Myuri’s ears and tail flitted around, and Col showed her a smile in return.
“Now shall we go show everyone how you look as your new you?”
He patted her on the shoulder, and she stood, though uncomfortably.
She was truly beautiful with her braided hair and in her fantastic outfit.
“You look lovely.”
“Really?”
“Yes, of course.”
When he responded, she smiled brightly.
“Come now—it would be trouble if you fell, so grab on to me.”
Col held out his hand and Myuri softly took it, then immediately adjusted her hand.
She then squeezed hard.
“Hey, Brother?”
Myuri spoke just as the two were about to leave the room.
“What is it?”
Col looked to her when she called for him, but she simply smiled and said nothing.
“?” Col tilted his head, and Myuri grabbed his arm and opened the door.
“It’s nothing. I’m hungry, though!”
“Myuri, that is what you need to fix.”
Myuri turned around, stuck her tongue out impishly, then cackled.
Col sighed, but he did not hate it when she acted like that.
They made their way down the hall, and they could clearly hear the commotion coming from downstairs. There were voices celebrating a memorable landmark of the bathhouse that the former merchant and the wolf who was once extoled as the wisewolf had built. And now, a newly born lady was making her way down. As her pseudo–older brother, Col felt his heart brimming with happiness as he took her along by the hand.
But that was perhaps why he did not notice.
Myuri had a particular smile on her face as she walked beside Col.
“Brother, can you braid my hair again?”
He would not laugh and point out that she had so hated it not too long ago. Just as a pupa would suddenly transform into a butterfly one day, girls were also sudden creatures like that.
“Yes, of course.”
Myuri drew up her shoulders in happiness and leaned against him.
When they went downstairs and showed themselves, the already lively atmosphere in the great hall boiled over. As Myuri seemed more okay with being pampered than he’d thought, Col was simply happy to see her grow.
That was why, in the end, Col would not realize for some time.
This had been the birth of a new feeling inside the little wolf’s small heart.
And that silver wolf was cunning and meticulous.
“Brother?”
Myuri, who was being celebrated by everyone like a new bride, peered up at Col.
“What is it?”
Col responded defenselessly, and Myuri gave a smile that matched that of her mother, Holo.
“I’m a little self-conscious.”
Col, the lamb of God that he was, responded like a sheep.
“I am very proud to see you grow up.”
Myuri grinned mischievously.
Before Lawrence in tears over his daughter growing up; Holo cackling, already drunk; and Luward fawning over Myuri as though she were his own niece, Col genuinely thought that.
But smiling beside him was the daughter of the wisewolf.
The bathhouse had reached a milestone. Myuri had grown from a child to an adult.
And days of a new sort of worry were just about to begin for Col.
AFTERW
ORD
Hello, it’s me, Hasekura. I’m sorry it’s been such a long time…I’ve been starting all my writing with that sentence almost every day now. I’m really sorry it’s been such a long time…
A great writer once recommended that we write short stories every month or at other set intervals, because it will become a book before we know it, and I now truly feel like that was 100 percent accurate. It’s a little strange—I had no idea I had written so much for this short story collection, either.
Also, this time I got to use some topics that I had been hoping to bring up but never really had the chance to, so I am happy. I am sure that anyone else who is interested in the Middle Ages has wondered about the story of the bees, as well as the original story in this book! The related articles on Wikipedia said that they were all thrown away in Europe, but they were such a valuable source of protein, so I really wondered if that was true, but I finally stumbled upon some literature that detailed how they were used. Well, to tell the truth, when I later did a search on related terms, I immediately found the answer on Yahoo! Answers, so I kind of became engrossed in a sense of emptiness…I keep telling myself that the joy of stumbling across something you want to learn about while reading through a thick book is something we can’t experience through Internet searches!
By the way, the Spice and Wolf series has mostly been inspired by books about things north of the Pyrenees, but as of late, I have been reading books that are set more recently and farther south about the modern Mediterranean region, as well as about the Middle East. They are so full of things I don’t know, and it is very interesting. I have not decided if Holo and company will be going to the desert, but I have been dreaming lately of maybe writing about it in a different series or something.
Also, I have been recently pushing forward with creating content in VR. That’s the main reason why there haven’t been any books coming out…
And the currently in-development project is also now being called Spice and Wolf VR! I have been making this by taking full advantage of my position as the original author, while also gaining the cooperation of everyone else involved. In addition to the original VR animated scenarios, there are also some mini games where you can pet Holo’s tail.
Please feel free to search for it.
And so, now that I have filled up this page, I will be taking my leave for a time.
I hope to see you again in the next volume.
Isuna Hasekura
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