“You’re far from the first merchant to come back, after all.”
Of course not, given how rowdy the town had been lately. She must have been inundated with questions from merchants by now.
“Got it in one.”
“A merchant’s heart drifts like sand, but then who am I to complain? I guess the world’s just what it is, and we all have to face reality some day.”
She was still facing him, but her eyes were on Holo. It was embarrassing, but at least Holo’s smile was a happy one.
“Reality, you say?”
She looked up at Lawrence, making it clear that smile wasn’t a fake one. She was a Wisewolf, so the girl would have to try harder to provoke her. That eased his mind, but only for a moment.
“The reality is that merchants work hard to earn their profits, but they are just as dull as that knife of yours.”
The waitress smiled again as Holo grabbed his collar. He gulped, wishing he could be anywhere but here.
“Um, well, to be honest I’m actually here to ask a couple of questions..”
“..what kind of questions?”
It took her a few seconds to reply, on account of having a staring contest with Holo. Thank goodness Cole wasn’t there, or he would see just how pathetic Lawrence really was.
“Well, first about the furs- whoa!”
The shell she was holding suddenly broke apart. It may have been because she was distracted, but it seemed more likely that she had done it intentionally. Before Lawrence could even wonder what she would do next, she popped the raw clam meat into her mouth. She then grabbed a small cup beside her and took a huge swig. Whatever it was, it seemed potent - possibly burning wine.
“Really? The furs?”
She was being coy again. It seemed like her default behavior. Yet another of her charming points as a waitress. She seemed to have realized how interested Holo was in the clam meat and wine. These two really were a dangerous match for each other..
“Um, well, no.. To be perfectly honest we’re stuck here for a while and I was hoping you could recommend a good inn.”
“Oh my..”
The girl pouted.
“Never have I been asked something so presumptuous.”
“..?”
Lawrence was caught so off-guard that his mind went blank. He just smiled at the girl blankly until Holo jumped in.
“Of course she means that you are already in the finest inn.”
“Wha..? Oh, geez..”
It finally made sense, but it took his breath away that Holo had to explain the joke to him. He could wheel and deal with the craftiest trader, but he was completely out of his element with these two.
What should he do? This was where Fran was going to send her map, so getting on their bad side wasn’t particularly wise. This place was a valuable resource to him. But he would also find himself staring at Holo’s fangs if he let the waitress lead him by the nose.
Why had he brought Holo here, of all places? His prayers intensified as he froze up completely in this hole he had dug himself into. He just wanted to pull the dirt in over himself.
“Ahahaha!”
Holo finally exploded into laughter.
“Hehehehe!”
She stared at Lawrence with pity, but was unable to stop laughing no matter how hard she tried. He was dumbfounded. Even the waitress had covered her mouth with her hand and was gently giggling behind it.
“..?”
Merchants never went somewhere without knowing the language being spoken, and they hated spending money on a translator even more. He was completely lost, and really only had one defense in such a situation.
He smiled sheepishly, realizing that this was the last refuge a merchant had. He nervously began laughing. The waitress finally burst out into peals of laughter as well. They all laughed until Holo had finally managed to calm down long enough to dry her tears.
“My, but are we ever fools!”
The waitress also had to dry her own tears, and take a sip of wine, and catch her breath before she could finally nod back.
“Oh, that we are! What a pickle that was! Oh my, that was too much..”
The waitress’s shoulders finally slumped and she dropped the piece of clam meat she had been holding over her plate. She then quickly shucked the few shells that remained, wiped her knife on her apron, and finally stood up.
“I’ve always liked them with salt, but strangely enough I’ve never thought of eating them without it.”
“Ah, yes. So you have an eye for cooking.. how promising.”
She chuckled a bit before waggling her knife at Lawrence.
“I recommend Sister Eunice’s lodge. I’m sure she’ll even give you a discount if you mention me.”
She earned another smile from him; a good merchant never forgot to smile in thanks.
“I appreciate it.”
“Jeez.. if that’s all you came for, then why don’t I cook your supper? I can deliver it to Eunice’s place.”
Lawrence peeked over at Holo for her approval, and saw the two girls smile at each other.
“Ok, ok, I get it.. you don’t want to be disturbed. I’ll have someone else bring it over if you’d like.”
She raised her hands in surrender, and Lawrence felt Holo’s foot lightly press down on his. It seemed he had barely passed somehow, even if he had no clue how to read the two girls in front of him.
“I’ll need some time to cook it, but it’ll be there before the sun sets. Just leave the selection to me, alright?”
“Alright then. Oh, but there’s one more of us, so please make sure it’s enough for three.”
“One more?”
The girl was quite surprised; Lawrence couldn’t help but smile back.
“Lucky for me, it’s not another girl.. just a lad we picked up along our way.”
“Oh, I see.. You’ll have to introduce us later, okay?”
She tapped the knife blade against her cheek menacingly. Cole wouldn’t stand a chance against her. She’d devour him whole. Lawrence didn’t need Holo’s help to understand this joke, so he shot her a playful glare.
“Ah, okay, okay..”
The girl surrendered, and fluttered her apron. Lawrence could finally sigh and relax. But he was forgetting the most important detail.
“Oh right.. and-”
“Hmm?”
The girl stopped dusting off her apron and looked up at him.
“I’m expecting a letter from Gerube, and I’m having it sent here since I have no address of my own.”
“Oh? I see. From whom?”
“Hugh, an art dealer.”
“Oh!”
Her apron fell as she exclaimed.
“That guy who looks like a hog? He comes by here once in a while, saying ‘I just can’t stay away from these delicious fish tails.’ He seems to eat them by the boatload.”
If he was so overweight, why would he come all this way to eat even more? Lawrence chuckled under his breath, knowing that Holo would be wondering the same thing.
“But why here?”
“Hmm?”
Lawrence wasn’t sure why she was asking. The girl had paused while raising her plate of clam meat to take it back to the kitchen.
“I mean why have it sent here? Surely you must have another place for such business?”
Was that loneliness he spied in her smile? He couldn’t tell for a moment, but decided she was probably just sincerely puzzled.
“Well, not really, I’m from pretty far away. It’s not a problem, is it?”
“Huh?”
She seemed genuinely surprised. Even Holo looked up at Lawrence in confusion.
“Well, if the deliverer is looking for another excuse to sample our cuisine, then who am I to stop him?”
She raised her chin with a smile.
“After all, it’s not like I can go all that way to deliver it to him. I’ll just take it as a compliment that he’d go out his way for my cooking.”
The
girl was probably quite famous. The Beast and Fish Tail was a name one heard all over the region, and she was the kind of girl that might have stolen his heart, had Lawrence not fallen for Holo already. He chuckled at himself as she vanished into the kitchen.
Their mission was accomplished, so Lawrence and Holo turned to head back to their wagon.
“I wonder if you would have laid in the dirt your entire life, had I not discovered you.”
He sighed, and decided to interpret her meaning this way: he was an uncut and unpolished gem that had one day captivated her.
“Probably.”
He gently took her hand and thanked God that he survived this ordeal in one piece.
* * *
Nothing made one quite as hungry as the smell of minced and salted garlic. It surprised Lawrence, but he was drunk before Holo for once. He couldn’t help but remember how she looked at him as she drank him under the table, then smiled at his unappealing drunken face while Cole helped him back to their room.
He woke up well after the sun had risen. His heavy head felt like it was full of sand. He stank of wine, and was all alone. He tried shaking the bleariness from his eyes, but that only intensified the hell he was seeing, so he clapped his cheeks with his palms and rose to his feet.
The metal jug on the table had been refilled, but it was so cold it was freezing over. He cautiously sipped at it while getting his bearings. Holo’s cloak and robe were gone, so she had left. He nervously checked his purse, but she hadn’t taken any money.
“Then where is she?”
He stretched and took a look outside, dazzled by the sun. As he squinted at the road, he saw a woman carrying a basket on her head, and a lad running next to her. It was quite an ordinary scene, so at least the town was in order.
He sighed and rubbed his beard before finally spotting something white in the distance. Upon closer observation, it was two people walking toward him.
* * *
“The church?”
He studied his reflection in the well’s water bucket as he asked Holo, who had seated herself next to him at the well.
“Mhm. It stank of wine and garlic, and Cole had been pleading with me to attend mass, so we went.”
Lawrence didn’t have any comment on the room’s smell; he was accustomed to waking up on the receiving end of that stench often enough. He wet his knife and began to shave.
“Was it crowded?”
“Very. Suspicious-looking people were not allowed in, but we were.”
A traveling nun and her child companion could squirm their way past the stubbornest of guards, so that was no surprise. But Lawrence was quite puzzled by Cole’s desire to attend mass. He was just interested in learning Church Law. Many of those who attended mass did so while believing in another God, so maybe that was it? Or was he really becoming a believer? Perhaps he really was just that simple and childish.
“I’m a bit surprised you agreed to enter the lair of your enemies.. I take it you were just in a good mood?”
Holo dangled her legs like a little girl as she sat on the well, making him suspect that she probably was in a good mood. It eased his mind to see her happy.
“Mhm. It made him smile, and it feels like forever since I saw him smile. At first it seemed forced, but he really does seem different after attending mass.”
She giggled, and Lawrence followed suit.
“Well, I guess even you can share him with others.”
Holo ignored him, evading the topic of her mixed feelings toward the Church. Instead she spoke in a proud, yet relaxed tone.
“I am above such matters. I know what things are truly important.”
Lawrence nearly cut himself at that, and checked his razor to make sure.
“..Such as?”
“Most things seem trivial when I see Cole smile.”
He could see her face reflected on his knife without looking at her, but he did so anyway as he resumed shaving.
“And I was overjoyed when he told me that he wished for me to join him.”
It was such an obvious joke that she laughed at having said it. Holo was generally honest about what she loved and hated.
“Even a simple-minded merchant like me knows you could just ask him.. so why haven’t you?”
Holo was quite upset that Cole wasn’t telling her what was bothering him, so Lawrence felt he should take this chance while they were alone to point that out, even if he was shaving. Holo reacted by hopping down and making some huffing and puffing noises. Lawrence was about to hop down as well, but it proved unnecessary. She spun around after two steps and finally replied.
“A Wisewolf has her reputation to maintain.”
He smiled at her joke, his back quaking with contained laughter.
“Whew, that’s a full-time job!”
He replied with mirth, and she wagged her tail in response.
“Yes, ’tis.”
He honestly couldn’t tell how much of her statement was actually true, but at least she wasn’t that way with him. She was openly sharing her thoughts and feelings with Lawrence, and that alone was enough to ease the lonely merchant in him. He suspected that she felt the same way, even if she kept her face hidden from view. That didn’t matter; he could sense the warmth of her aura and make an educated guess these days.
“Would it upset you if I say that I long to return to Yoitsu?”
Yoitsu was, of course, their final destination. The moment they arrived, their journey ended. But he was able to smile.
“No, because I too want to be wise someday.”
He suspected she was smiling at that. But she kept quiet, so he resumed shaving. After a time, she hopped back on the well beside him. Having finished shaving, he studied the results and watered the plants next to the well with what remained in the bucket.
Holo hopped aside, like a butterfly disturbed by his sudden movement. But after sheathing his knife and feeling his face, he realized she had moved back next to him. It seemed that she wanted him to take her hand, so that’s exactly what he began doing.
Unfortunately, just then, Cole made his appearance in the garden.
“Oh!”
Holo yelped at the sight of Cole holding a pan. Lawrence couldn’t hope to compete with food from the Beast and Fish Tail, no more than the innkeeper here could hope to do so. Holo shot off, leaving his hand at his side, grabbing thin air.
“..”
Holding hands was something important to merchants, and not just shaking them to seal a contract. He wasn’t sure if he should bother her with that detail, though, given how eagerly she was running off to Cole. That was good enough. If their trip had to end, the least he could do was let her laugh as heartily as she could right now. He stared at the sun for a moment before running off himself.
* * *
After eating breakfast, the three of them began walking around town. They were heading to Flynn, the merchant who was formerly a mercenary, and was now a “grocer.” In fact, he was still a provisioner for mercenaries on the side.
Lawrence couldn’t help but be nervous about that, in spite of his ability to remain calm when doing business. He firmly believed that merchants were willing to risk their own lives for profits, and many of them were desperate enough to be no better than thieves. Many merchants were, in fact, quite capable of outright robbery. And this man dealt with mercenaries.
Still, being a mercenary supplier in a city wasn’t as dangerous as being the traveling merchant who actually delivered the goods to them in the field. Such shippers were called frontier suppliers, and quickly became swept up in the pace of their customers.
It was a lucrative business, given how spendthrift mercenaries were. The lucky frontier supplier responsible for a successful mercenary band could earn enough to become a town merchant in just two or three years, even if they were a greenhorn.
Of course, that was just a rumor. A beautiful story like that meant very little to those who knew the true attitudes of mercenaries. Just finding a k
ind one was hard enough, let alone one that stayed alive for very long.
When mercenaries lost, they were robbed and probably killed. Any merchant supplying them was taking an incredible risk to do so. Such merchants had little in common with Lawrence, so he had good reason to be nervous.
This particular grocer was quite far from the market, and his shop looked just as atypical. But there was an air of excitement about the place, making Lawrence breathe in deeply and even causing Cole to swallow. Holo was the only one who ignored the mercenaries. In fact, she stretched and eyed the cats who were lazily basking in the sun around them.
“Alright, let’s go.”
Having finally willed himself forward, Lawrence reached out for the doorknob. Just his luck that it was opened as he reached for it.
“Alright then, I’m counting on you.”
“Ya know, it’s customary to show your softer side when you say something like that.”
“Ha! That was my softer side! That’s just how I fell out of the womb. My generals are the same way.”
A bearded man walked out past Lawrence, the type one didn’t need to get a good look at to realize they were a mercenary. Lawrence couldn’t tell whether the man was born that way or was just hard-bitten from years of experience, not with that wiry grey hair and face as red as a drunken man’s. He looked ready to burst into flames, and scar on his face that made it seem like opening his left eye didn’t happen easily. Lawrence wondered if the man even noticed him before the other man quipped about him.
“Oh ho, this guy looks promising. He should prove worthwhile.”
“Hmm? Hmmm..”
The scarred mercenary bent down and studied Lawrence carefully, like a creature that could scare a wolf away. He was the type that could kill with a smile. Lucky for Lawrence, he knew that neither fight nor flight were the appropriate responses. Acting tough or being cheerful would be equally bad. A quiet smile was the way to go.