Col stopped and looked back at Lawrence; Holo, too, regarded him with her amber eyes. “What is it?” the boy asked.
Lawrence’s face was extremely serious as he spoke. “Just before you and I walked together yesterday, this wolf whispered something to you, didn’t she? What did she say?”
He’d been evaded once before, but Lawrence now asked again.
Col looked as though if he said anything, there would be no more talk of traveling. “Er..
He looked at Holo uncertainly, as though she’d told him not to say anything.
“If you say, there’s no telling what these fangs may do,” said Holo, baring those same fangs, but her voice made it clear she was smiling.
Col’s wide, intelligent eyes moved, and Lawrence could tell he was trying to divine the truth of Holo’s threat.
He soon seemed to arrive at the answer.
He smiled, nodded. “I’m sorry. I can’t say,” he replied, fully on Holo’s side now.
“Heh-heh-heh. Come now. Hurry and get on.”
Col bowed to Lawrence with an apologetic smile, then climbed on Holo’s back.
Lawrence could only scratch his head with a resigned sigh.
“What is the matter?” Holo’s stern wolf face was still capable of expressing subtle emotion. She had a malicious smile as she spoke through her sharp fangs.
“Not a thing.” Lawrence shrugged, then climbed on.
He had more or less expected that this was how things would be when Col joined them.
But if he was asked whether that was a bad thing, he could only shrug.
“Oh, one more thing,” said Lawrence as he sat astride Holo, behind the nervous Col. “What was the reason the chests didn’t add up?”
“Oh, that’s-”
Just as Col was about to answer, Holo silently got to her feet. “That’s something you should figure out for yourself ’ she said shortly.
“...What, you’ve understood it, too?” Lawrence asked in disbelief, at which Holo raised her chin slightly to regard him as her ears flicked.
“And why not? But one thing is certain” she said, beginning to walk slowly but gradually speeding up as she became used to the sensations of this form.
Soon she was moving quickly enough that the wind was bitingly cold unless her passengers crouched down.
“You’ll take more enjoyment from puzzling over the coins than from talking to me, will you not?” came her resentful sarcasm.
Immediately thereafter she increased her speed dramatically– which was surely done on purpose.
Lawrence grumbled as he tightened his grip on her fur and crouched lower.
Col sat in front of him, so when they crouched, the boy was half underneath him.
Which meant that when Col giggled, Lawrence knew.
The scenery began to blur.
The wind was like ice.
But there in the bitterly cold wind, Lawrence smiled faintly.
His heart was warm.
A journey of three unlikely companions.
Lawrence knew of a single word to describe the situation.
Yet he didn’t let it cross his lips.
He wouldn’t do that.
But when it came time to write of his travels with Holo, perhaps he would lightly write it there in the margins of the thick volume. Like this:
And so, the trio’s journey began.
Yes–yes, indeed.
It was very much like a rehearsal.
But no.
He wouldn’t write it.
Not in the actual book.
Carefully, so Holo wouldn’t notice, Lawrence smiled.
The journey had begun, full of hope–the journey to end the journey.
Afterword
It has been a while. I’m Hasekura Isuna, and this is the sixth volume of Spice and Wolf.
Time does fly! Just one month after I write this afterword will be the third Dengeki Novel Prize awards ceremony that I personally have attended.
Of course, that means deadlines come quickly, too. It’s certainly not my fault–it’s the flow of time that’s to blame. Stupid time!
Incidentally, I recently had the following conversation with a fellow author.
“Hasekura, how’re your stocks doing?”
“Oh, pretty good. Sometimes I make even [AMOUNT REDACTED] yen a day.”
“That much?”
“That much. When I make [AMOUNT REDACTED] in a day, though, it kinda makes me not want to do work.”
“Really? So when you take a loss, it makes you feel like you have to work harder, right?”
“No, actually. When I lose money, I feel awful, and work’s the last thing on my mind.”
“I see. So you work when the markets closed, then?”
The stock market closes on weekends and holidays.
I answered, “Are you crazy? Work on a weekend?”
So that’s how I’ve managed to plow through the sixth volume of Spice and Wolf. This volume had fewer economic elements, I think, so my plan is to really cram them into the next one. The manga adaptation is starting, and I think right about the time this afterword along with the rest of volume six makes it to bookstores, the anime broadcast will be imminent. I’ll try to work really hard so I don’t lose out to all that stuff!
Also, in reality I’m working about six days a week.
Let’s meet again in the next volume.
–Hasekura Isuna
Isuna Hasekura, Spice & Wolf VI
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