“But I fear we cannot do any of those things until we have the map and know where we are going.. so what else do you have planned?”
“Hmm? Just a relaxing stroll to waste some time.”
She suddenly spun around excitedly.
“I know! Let us return to the inn for a good row!”
He knew she was saying that on purpose, but he wasn’t sure if she meant it. She was just as stubborn as Elsa, after all. Maybe she really did want to get in a fight. He regretted having nothing more important planned, but it was too late; Holo’s mind was obviously made up.
He did his best to tuck his concerns away, and just be happy that Holo was happy. Maybe he was the one going crazy? He considered confiding in Cole to make sure, but his thoughts were interrupted by a tug of his earlobe.
“What are you waiting for? I have made up my mind.”
Lawrence had honestly never suspected that wolves could be so amazingly stubborn. Her tail wagged all the way to the inn, and then all the way up the stairs. Her mood was truly excellent. If she was in wolf-form it might have been difficult to tell all of this, but in her human form it was painfully obvious.
She even hopped past the last stair steps like a little girl, making Lawrence sigh. She might be in a good mood, but that only made him worry more. He hoped she was only doing this to make him nervous, but knowing how stubborn she and Elsa were, he couldn’t quite be certain.
Did he really have that little faith in Holo? He knew things would be fine in the end, but that didn’t make it any easier to stomach this. He also knew how dangerous it was to think that way.
By the time they made it to their room, his arms were folded across his chest in nervousness. Holo was already way ahead of him, and her hand was on the door knob.. and then her happy expression suddenly vanished.
“What is it?”
As he asked, he heard another voice call to him from down the hall.
“Mr. Lawrence!”
It was Lou Loah. Holo’s happiness had been completely washed away like she had been doused by a bucket of cold water. She turned to face Lou unpleasantly, but Lawrence gently pushed her from behind. Lou’s face had “please come alone” written on it so plainly that he felt compelled to do so.
“You go in first without me.”
Holo’s keen eyes were at least as good as his own, so despite her dissatisfaction she still acceded to his request.
“Be sure to join me as soon as you are done.”
She didn’t even look at him to confirm that he was really alright with this, she just went ahead. Whether she trusted him or not, or just wanted to save herself, he couldn’t tell. Lou took off his hat and greeted Lawrence properly as Holo closed the door behind her. Lawrence felt strangely lonesome when he saw that, but he still put on his business smile.
“How can I help you?”
“Well.. it’s nothing big..”
Lou pointed downstairs, at the bar on the first floor. Lawrence had no reason to refuse, so he joined him. Compared to Holo, Lou made quite a clamor as he walked down a flight of stairs. It made Lawrence wonder if powerful people got fat intentionally just to have such an overwhelming presence.
* * *
It was still bright outside, so the bar was quite dead. Aside from two people who looked like travelers sitting by the door, drinking and chatting, there was just Lou and Lawrence sitting at the table farthest from them.
They ordered two glasses of wine from the friendly bartender, and Lou alternately stared at the man and Lawrence but said nothing. He still said nothing after receiving his wine; he just stared at it until Lawrence had already taken his third sip.
“You have connections with Delink Company, yes?”
Lou cringed a little after saying that, as if he was expecting to be beaten. But in spite of his timid appearance, he still asked Lawrence that question. If it was an act, he was really good at it. Lawrence would be surprised if it wasn’t, though, since it had the well-practiced air of a man who did this routinely in order to fool others into a false sense of superiority.
“So you were following me?”
Lawrence set his glass down and stole a glance at the bartender, who was writing something down. Lawrence remembered the feeling of being watched he had back when he met Eringin. It turned out it wasn’t just a feeling after all, it was Lou Loah.
“Yes and no; I was actually following Mr. Eringin.”
Lawrence nodded, but there was no way he could trust Lou now. Especially now that he knew the man was after Father Franz’s books in Elsa’s church in Tereo. He was already waiting for Lou to find a way to use him, Tereo’s savior, to convince Elsa to show him those books. It was just the kind of thing Lawrence had learned to anticipate from fellow merchants.
“Mind telling me why?”
Lou swallowed before answering.
“I’m looking to borrow money from him.”
Lawrence was surprised by the direct reply. Lou truly was a master of controlling a conversation. Lawrence was beginning to regret coming alone.
“I’ve been looking for a way to meet with him, and now I think I’ve found one.”
Lawrence was too busy thinking to reply. Lou clearly had designs to have him introduce him to Delink Company.
“They’re a pretty.. troublesome company. If you’re serious about borrowing money from them..”
Lawrence didn’t finish his statement, but Lou nodded anyhow. It seemed he already knew what he was going to say.
“Yeah, I know. This isn’t my first time in Lenos. I realize what kind of business they deal in.”
Lou knew Flynn, who was pretty atypical himself, so that checked out. Lawrence decided he didn’t have to play the saint after all, if Lou knew what he was getting himself into.
“But even so, I still want to borrow money from people like them, if possible.”
“People like them?”
“Right. People who don’t care about politics or rules or beliefs, just interest rates. Someone like me can only borrow money from places like that, you know.”
He finally smiled strangely and took a sip of his wine. He’d truly polished his routine to a mirror finish.
“I’ll go anywhere that’ll lend me a thousand Trenni without asking me any questions.”
Maybe his head was just so big it made his eyes look small. If he wanted to, he could look like a rabbit.. or like a cruel insect. Judging by his tone, a thousand Trenni was him being conservative. Clearly he wanted to state a much higher number.
“Well, I know someone from Delink, but I can’t say I know them well enough to-”
“Do it and I’ll pay you three hundred Trenni for your trouble.”
Lou’s lips clasped tightly shut after his proclamation. Lawrence wanted to squeeze out a reply, but didn’t know what he could possibly say. It was clear that Lou hadn’t even brought out his big guns yet, and it wasn’t like Lawrence had any real reason to refuse him as it was. Three hundred Trenni.. was a lot of money. Well worth the effort. It was certainly worth thinking over at least, so Lawrence did so before he answered.
“I’ve made a choice to stop risking my life for money.”
His problems would be endless if Lou caused Delink any grief. It wasn’t something Lawrence could put a price tag on. As expected, however, Lou was far from giving up.
“Yeah, I heard from Flynn that you’re a careful guy. You’re heading north, right?”
“..”
Lawrence stared Lou down, but he could see the writing on the wall: this deal was decided long before he sat down with Lou to begin with. He had to avert his eyes from the grin on Lou’s face, the kind worn by someone who held all the best cards in the deck.
“Any apprentice knows that a chain is no stronger than its weakest link.”
He had been waiting for Lawrence on purpose. He must have popped in on Elsa and Cole while Holo and Lawrence were out, and wrangled all the secrets he could out of them. They weren’t the kind who could mount a defense
against Lou’s type, and Lou didn’t even make any bones about it.
“I have a feeling that I’ll get some help from fellow lovers of the northlands.”
Such insidious words weren’t normally used by merchants; they were the domain of diplomats sent to coerce other nations into cooperating. Lou placed his hands on the table, and joined them together so they resembled a big ball of dough, just being put into the oven to be baked. Lawrence knew he had to tiptoe, or it would be his face swelling up shortly.
“And what do you intend to purchase with this loan?”
Lou had clearly been hoping to work Lawrence into a corner where he would start asking such questions. He was on the road to a deal now, and the wrinkles caused by his newfound smile were quite shady.
“A banned book.”
Hearing these words were enough to cool Lawrence’s mind.
“About a banned craft. I want to get my hands on it.”
The man before Lawrence frequented Flynn’s supply depot for mercenaries, and was a friend of the outstanding Father Franz, never giving up on the dead monk’s library of books. His greed was obvious. But so was his loyalty to his own desires, and the fact that he wasn’t joking or lying. Lawrence continued his questions.
“..Alchemy?”
Lou’s meaty neck flexed, but his eyes remained on Lawrence.
“Mining.”
The time to reveal his card had come.
“Let’s just say it’s not the kind of thing you’d want Diva to get their hands on first.”
* * *
Of all the crafts to have an advantage in, boating and metallurgy were the two where even the slightest edge was worth more than one could imagine. Forget comparisons to sharper weapons and stronger spells; it was more like being able to turn sardines into sharks.
When one considered just how ruthlessly people behaved when they had such an advantage, it was no surprise that it was kept secret or intentionally destroyed. It didn’t take a lot to see why. Even the most powerful king was just a guy with a crown on his noggin, but knowledge spread like dandelion seeds.. all it took was a sudden gust of wind.
Mining was so lucrative for a few powerful people, and took so much planning, that it was only natural to suspect Lou’s motives. But he was right: if what he implied was true, then it would be a disaster if Diva got this book first. No one in the north would wish for such a thing to happen unless they were more fond of blankets and cold stone houses than sunny days in a forest.
It was all too obvious how Holo would feel about this. But Lawrence did his best to remain cool and collected.
“Can you tell me anything else?”
“Not before I hear your reply.”
Lou bent his body and pushed against the table, looking like a bag of grapes being pressed. He left, leaving Lawrence alone with two glasses of wine at the table. The bartender kept his eye on Lawrence after that, but Lawrence paid no mind to him and just stared at the ceiling for a while.
When all was said and done, he really didn’t get the feeling that Lou was trying to trap him in any way. The Roam river that passed by Lenos had two sources: the base of the mountains in Diva’s control, and the mountains of northeastern Ploania. If Lou was to be believed, the book had to be in the northeastern mountains. Of course Lou wouldn’t have confirmed that just yet, so Lawrence didn’t bother asking.
He did, however, ask why they would have such a book in the first place. Lou simply told him that there was an old monastery there, built over two hundred years earlier. A decade ago it had burned down after being struck by lightning, and when the local lord had it rebuilt, they found an underground chamber that even the abbot of the monastery was unfamiliar with.
It was filled with books, most of them written in an ancient tongue the lord had no knowledge of. Even the wise monks were unable to decipher them, so they brought in scholars to determine their contents. To this day, they still haven’t deciphered all of the books. Some were written in exotic desert languages, or were simply too ancient to make out.
The books from desert nations were worrisome, since they might be heretical works that would end the careers of the monks working at the monastery. As such, the lord decided to sell them to a collector in order to raise funds to rebuild the monastery. Of course, he still kept a catalog of their titles, just in case.
And now, that same lord was going bankrupt after being a bit too happy to donate to the Church. A company had floated him a loan, taking some of his treasures as collateral, and one of those treasures was that catalog. The company had little use for it, but a book dealer might.. so they had called in a certain Mr. Loah.
A southern book dealer could beat even a northern scholar. The scholar needed to read a book word for word, but the dealer only needed to hear the title and a summary. A scholar might eventually become familiar with a century of books, but a book dealer would be familiar with thousands of years of titles. Of course, when Lou spotted the titles of banned books in that catalog, he immediately bought it. He then tracked those books down, until he finally located one of them.
The techniques it described might be devastating in the wrong hands, but since nobody knew that, it had remained perfectly preserved for all those years. That sort of thing happened all the time. A Cardinal might even hang a satirical picture of the Pope in his room, if he didn’t know the truth.
Lou wasn’t sure if the current owner of the book realized its worth, but he hoped not. It seemed even Lou got serious when the time came to do business. As he got lost in his analysis of the book, he realized what it actually contained, and that no one else seemed to realize it yet. They eventually would, of course, especially now that they knew Lou was after it.
Any savvy businessman would jump at the chance to beat Lou to the punch now. People might walk past a coin lying on the road, but they certainly wouldn’t ignore it. The moment others took an active interest in it however, it wouldn’t matter if it was just the fevered dream of a madman.. everyone would begin hunting for it.
Lou had gone to Flynn for money first, but of course, Lawrence now knew why Flynn couldn’t do so. Given the situation in town, Flynn was in the same boat the Beast and Fish Tail were in. His entire shop was full of goods, to the point where he couldn’t even offer others a room. He surely had no cash to spare, and if he did he’d be far better off spending it on more goods.
“What a surprisingly tidy affair.”
Lawrence heard himself murmuring out loud as he sought another perspective on the topic. His old self would never have hesitated to earn three hundred silvers just for an introduction. But he had good reasons to hesitate now. Lou could be working for Delink to manipulate Lawrence, and even if he wasn’t, it could bring trouble if he actually bought the book. The current owner may know nothing about its true worth, but leaving it on their shelf might just be the wiser course of action.
In the end though, when Diva learned of this, they would do anything to get their hands on it. It was simply a matter of time. A collector often had far too many books to study, and so a key title like this might end up sitting on their shelf for years. But that also meant that if Lawrence could trust Lou, it was a window of opportunity too wide to just pass by.
If only there weren’t so many problems to worry about. Introducing Lou to Delink would probably end up with him getting the loan, but what if Lou was just trying to get his foot in the door to exact revenge on them? Lawrence certainly wouldn’t emerge unscathed. Earning the wrath of the Delink company was something he shuddered to consider.
Beyond that, even if things were on the up and up, he would have to keep tabs on Lou the entire time. Otherwise Lou might just pocket his loan and run, leading to nothing but a huge waste of time. He hadn’t told Lawrence where the book was, and it would probably be some town in the middle of nowhere.
Just the nearest town in Ploania was ten days away, and the capital was twenty days away. And that wasn’t even counting the return trips. This whole enterprise would probab
ly take a month or two, and by then the seasons would have changed and it would be a new year. Watermills would be turning, and Lawrence would have lived to see another spring.
But he wasn’t a noble. He couldn’t just sit back and enjoy the change of seasons. The trading route he had inherited from his master was a year-long trip, which was why he couldn’t afford to give Holo much more than a season of his life to get her home. He would give his life up for her, gladly, but he wasn’t the only person that would be troubled by that.
He wasn’t being arrogant when he considered how the remote villages that relied on him would be affected. A mountain village too risky for others to visit in the winter might have to subsist on moss if he didn’t make it there. Traveling merchants really did make that kind of a difference in his world. Every month he tarried meant another month they might suffer.
He could really only afford to choose one: bringing Holo back to her nearby home of Yoitsu, or pursuing this banned book.
“..”
His eyes closed in thought once again. His promise to Holo was to take her home, and bid her a smiling farewell. Not to deal with any threats to her homeland from some dangerous mining book. Besides, even she knew he was no legendary hero.
He downed the rest of his wine in an effort to send all of these concerns to the bottom of his belly, then stood up. Just knowing about this made him want to do something about it. Hugh was right to ignore Diva Company’s ambitions. Wanting to change them didn’t mean you could. So wasn’t it understandable to just live your own life instead?
Of course it was.
* * *
Without Holo there, the stairs sounded hollow. It grated his nerves. He probably looked pathetic, too. As he walked up to the door, he took a deep breath before opening it. But that breath didn’t come out as the voice he wanted it to. He was completely dumbfounded by what he saw.
“What are you doing?”
He only got the slightest peek from Holo and Elsa, but Cole stared at him like he was begging to be saved.