Though the market bell would not ring for some time, there seemed to be a tacit approval for doing early deals. Once Lawrence reached that stand, he caught sight of merchants approaching the master occasionally to whisper a few words. Once a number of deals had been reached, the master would quietly replace the relevant wooden placards.
The master didn’t update the prices and line numbers immediately, probably to keep others from knowing exactly who had purchased pyrite and at what price.
But in any case, the number of people waiting to buy kept rising.
Just as Lawrence was estimating the total amount being spent, a figure appeared at the edge of his vision.
He looked. It was Amati.
Lawrence had seen Amati before Amati had spotted him the previous night, but the young merchant was sharp-eyed enough not to let chances for profit escape. His gaze was every bit as keen as Lawrence’s, and he soon caught sight of his rival.
A friendly greeting would hardly have been appropriate.
But since Lawrence had arranged to collect the cash he was owed upon the sounding of the bell that opened the marketplace, he could hardly ignore Amati, either.
Just as he considered this, Amati revealed a smile and nodded slightly.
Lawrence was taken aback for a moment but soon understood the reason.
Beside Amati was Holo.
For whatever reason, she was not dressed as a town girl, but instead wore her nun’s robes. Three pure white feathers, vivid enough to be visible at a distance, were affixed to her hood.
She looked steadily at the stone seller’s stall, not once meeting Lawrence’s eye.
Heat rose in his belly at Amati’s smile.
Holo whispered something in Amati’s ear before the young merchant made his way through the gathered merchants toward Lawrence, and Lawrence feigned total serenity, as if the anger he felt did not exist.
He had confidence that as long as he did not have to fool Holo, his charade would go unchallenged.
“Good morning, Mr. Lawrence.”
“And to you.”
It took some effort for Lawrence to maintain his facade in the face of Amati’s pleasant greeting.
“Things are going to become quite hectic once the bell rings, so I thought it would be best to turn this over to you ahead of time,” said Amati, producing a small bag from near his breast.
In size it was more of a coin purse than anything else. “What’s this?” Lawrence asked, having expected Amati to give him the agreed-upon silver coins.
The bag was far too small to carry three hundred pieces of silver.
“This is the promised amount,” said Amati.
Having no other choice, Lawrence suspiciously accepted the bag.
When he opened the bag’s mouth and looked inside, his eyes widened.
“It might have been a bit presumptuous of me,” said Amati, “but three hundred silver pieces would be quite cumbersome, so I took the liberty of remitting in gold limar coins.”
Though it was hard to imagine how he’d managed to obtain them, the bag was indeed filled with gold coins.
The gold limar was not as valuable as the lumione, but it was a widely circulated coin within Ploania, the country in which Kumersun was situated. It was worth about twenty trenni.
But managing to obtain this amount during a currency shortage—the service charge must have been incredibly steep.
The only reason to do it was for Amati to prove how much coin he had on hand—it was a psychological attack.
Amati had Holo in tow, too, probably as another way to divert Lawrence’s attention.
Lawrence had inadvertently widened his eyes in surprise, so there could be no concealing his perturbation.
“I’ve used today’s exchange rate to prepare the amount. Fourteen gold limar.”
“...Understood. I accept.”
“Do you not wish to count the coins?”
Normally saying “There’s no need,” as Lawrence did, should’ve shown confidence, but now it just seemed as though he was merely pretending at strength.
“In that case, I’d like the contract for three hundred silver.”
Lawrence only did so after being asked.
Amati was still one step ahead of him.
Once the cash and the partially fulfilled contract had been exchanged, Amati was even the first to say, “Very well.”
As he watched Amati’s receding form, one ill realization after another flashed through Lawrence’s mind.
When they had signed the contract the previous day, Amati may have claimed to have insufficient cash as an excuse to provide the horses in lieu of coin.
Always keeping a certain amount of cash on hand was a trait shared by all merchants.
What was worse, Amati had surely searched out and bought pyrite just as Lawrence had.
If Amati had gathered enough, all he would require was a very small increase in price.
Thinking back on the way Amati had just bowed so gracefully and turned around after accepting the contract, Lawrence could not believe that it had been a bluff.
Just how much pyrite had the boy managed to buy?
Lawrence feigned rubbing his nose and instead bit his thumbnail.
His original plan had been to observe carefully and then begin selling off quantities of pyrite starting at noon to check the rising price.
Suddenly Lawrence wondered if he should move more quickly.
But Diana’s messenger had not arrived yet.
Until he knew whether or not he would be able to obtain the necessary amounts, Lawrence couldn’t act.
He could purchase more pyrite using the gold Amati had paid him but if Diana’s negotiations on his behalf succeeded and he received another four hundred silver pieces’ worth, that would also be a problem.
He’d set aside money to pay Diana with so that was not an issue, but he would have too much of the mineral.
Of course, he’d been purchasing pyrite in order to be able to force a drop in its price, and he’d been careful to buy just enough to be able to control that drop, in order to avoid his own bankruptcy.
Admittedly, if Lawrence was willing to ruin himself in order to stop Amati for Holo’s sake, she might finally accept his sincerity.
Of course, the story would not end so easily—he still needed to live on something after that.
The weight of reality bore down on him heavier than the gold coins in his hand.
The stone shop’s price board was updated again.
It seemed someone had just bought a large amount of pyrite; both the prices and the line numbers jumped dramatically.
How much would Amati’s pyrite be worth after this jump?
Lawrence felt unable to simply stand by and do nothing.
But losing his cool could lead to defeat.
He closed his eyes, lowered the hand with the fingernails he’d been biting from his mouth, and took a deep breath.
Everything he had been thinking was all due to Amati’s bluffing.
After all, behind Amati was Holo. If Lawrence could just discern everyone’s ulterior motives, he would be fine.
Just then, the clear tone of a ringing bell swept overhead.
It was the signal for the market to open.
The battle had begun.
The charged atmosphere seemed to induce everyone to stay scrupulously honest and calm.
They had been waiting for some time in front of the stone seller's stand but only began to move once the bell rang.
An examination of the crown revealed travelers and farmers furtively selling small quantities of pyrite—but the small-scale selling only served to further heat the marketplace.
In a situation where none were willing to sell, the only people with an advantage were those who already had a large stock of pyrite—it was thanks to the small-scale selling along with new buyers that kept people excited and close to the stall’s front.
Since each person there thought they had a chance to
profit, none left.
Given such an environment, it would take a serious amount of pyrite in order to force the price down—nothing less would do.
The price board, which occasionally disappeared behind the heads of the people in the crowd, was a thermometer for the marketplace, and it was constantly rising.
Diana’s messenger still had not arrived.
If her negotiations failed, he would have to take action quickly.
The thoughts pained him as he stared at the price board, and suddenly Amati appeared in his field of vision in front of the stall.
Panic washed over Lawrence, and he wanted to dash forward, clutching the bag of what pyrite he had to his breast.
But if that was Amati’s plan to shake him up, such a move could be disastrous. If Lawrence sold off only a middling amount, it would just increase demand as buyers assumed they would be able to purchase pyrite so long as they waited long enough, and as the line grew longer, the price would continue to rise.
Lawrence controlled his urge to sell, praying that this was a ploy on Amati’s part.
Then he realized something.
Holo was gone.
Lawrence glanced around and saw that at some point Holo had moved outside of the strange crowd of people and was looking at him.
When their eyes met, she narrowed hers in displeasure, then turned, and began to walk away.
As he saw this, sweat sprung upon Lawrence’s back.
This had to be a trap that Holo was hinting at.
If she had heard of the circumstances surrounding pyrite from Amati, it was entirely possible she’d contrived a way to trap Lawrence. Someone as clever as Holo would surely notice things that Amati would miss, even if he was the one explaining the situation to her.
And Holo excelled at discerning what was in people’s hearts. She was unparalleled at such times.
As soon as he thought of this, Lawrence was assaulted by a vision of the quagmire that surrounded him.
No matter where he stepped, he would sink into the mud; no matter whose movements he watched, they would be illusions.
Lawrence suspected darkly that this was all part of Holo’s plan.
The terror of having a sly wolf circling him thus sunk into his body.
Yet Lawrence couldn’t abandon hope that Holo was merely doing this out of some perverse obstinacy.
The poisons of assumption and doubt penetrated his mind.
He stared blankly at the price board, though this was not his intention. It was simply all he could do at the moment.
The price of pyrite continued to inch upward.
Fortunately, since the price was already so preposterously inflated, the rate of the increase was quite slow.
Still, if the price continued to increase at this rate, it would certainly reach by noon the 20 percent needed by Amati.
To Lawrence’s knowledge, Amati’s current stock of pyrite was worth eight hundred silver pieces. If the price rose twenty percent, he would need only forty more silver pieces to reach the required thousand.
And if all he needed was forty coins, Amati would surely be able to produce them.
He could sell whatever of his fortune he needed to and complete the contract on the spot. If that happened, the margin sale poison that Lawrence counted on would undoubtedly have little effect.
Where was Diana’s messenger?
Lawrence muttered to himself, a consuming panic sinking into his gut.
Even if he was to start scrambling to buy pyrite now, how much would he be able to collect?
It was not like the previous night, where the market had already closed and no one knew whether the price would rise or fall next—no, now it was utterly obvious that the price was rising.
Anybody who had pyrite knew it was like free money—nobody would sell to him under such circumstances.
The realization hit him—his plan could only succeed if he got the pyrite from Diana, and at this rate, he might wind up taking a huge blow from Amati because of the margin-selling contract, as well.
Lawrence rubbed his eye and thought hard. He had planned to pursue his goal coolly and logically, but he was starting to feel as though he’d been forced into a complete dead end.
No, he told himself.
He knew what the problem was.
It was not because of the fluctuating price of pyrite.
Behind that was the fact that he now regarded Holo with despair rather than trust.
She had arrived with Amati at the marketplace—it was possible that rather than meeting up in the morning, they’d spent the night together.
Holo might have invited Amati back to the inn after Lawrence had arranged the margin-selling contract with him.
Depending on the circumstances, she might even have shown him her ears and tail and told him the truth of her existence.
Lawrence wanted to believe such a thing was impossible, but he remembered that Holo had revealed her true nature to him the same day they’d met. It was the height of folly to believe that she had somehow marked him and only him as particularly open-minded.
Amati was clearly and madly in love with Holo; no doubt she could evaluate anyone as quickly as she had Lawrence.
And what if Amati had accepted her?
He remembered the young merchants smile only moments ago.
Holo feared being alone.
And Lawrence was not sure that she wanted to be with him and only him.
The realization that he should not be thinking this way hit him, and his legs nearly collapsed under him at the shock of it.
It was out of sheer luck that he didn’t fall.
Suddenly a murmur ran through the crowd, bringing Lawrence back to himself.
He turned to look at the oohs! that arose, only to see that the price of the most expensive pyrite had jumped significantly.
Someone had put in a large bid.
Its acceptance meant that others would soon follow suit.
It might already be impossible to stop Amati from fulfilling the contract.
The fact that there was still no word from Diana suggested that the other party might be being stubborn; if the price of pyrite continued to rise, that would only make them more reluctant to sell.
It was looking more and more as if Lawrence should abandon that hope and take action now.
The weapons he had on hand were four hundred silver pieces’ worth of pyrite, along with the rumor that Landt had been given to spread.
It was such a pathetic arsenal that Lawrence wanted to laugh. He now seriously doubted the idea he’d had such faith in the previous day, that a mere rumor could do any damage. Only yesterday it had been his secret weapon, the product of his years of experience.
It was becoming more and more clear to him just how drunk he must have been.
He realized he was already trying to think of a contingency plan.
If he did nothing, he would still receive one thousand silver pieces from Amati, which would leave him a tidy profit even after subtracting the losses from the margin selling.
Lawrence was disgusted by how much lighter this made him feel
...If you could receive a thousand silver coins for me, it would not be so regrettable to let me go—Holo’s accusation hit him.
Lawrence remembered the letter from Diana that was tucked near his breast.
It was the information that would help him find Holo’s home of Yoitsu. Perhaps he no longer had any right to hold this letter.
I’m just a lowly merchant. Lawrence thought to himself as he looked around for Holo.
The events that happened in the port town of Pazzio and the Church city of Ruvinheigen had been but a dream.
As soon as the thought struck him, he realized that it seemed to be exactly so.
Lawrence smiled weakly as he looked into the hotly swirling crowd, but Holo was nowhere to be found, so he moved elsewhere.
Some time had passed since the opening of the market, but the day's festival had not yet started, so
more and more people seemed to be making their way in.
Holo remained elusive.
Cursing his inability to find her now—now of all times!—he realized something.
After he’d met her gaze in the crowd, Holo had walked away.
Had she simply left right then and there?
If so, where had she gone? Had she decided his failure was a foregone conclusion, Lawrence wondered, and returned to the inn?
It would stand to reason.
The idea was so humiliating that Lawrence felt broken just thinking it—and yet he believed it himself.
He wanted some wine.
Immediately after the thought occurred to him, he uttered a small, questioning sound. “Huh?”
He’d been scanning a fairly small area, so his eyes were bound to notice the detail eventually.
Amati had entered his field of vision, which caused Lawrence to make a noise of confusion and surprise.
Amati s right hand was pressed up against his chest, probably holding a bag of coin and pyrite.
The problem was not in what he was doing, but rather the expression of concern on his face and the way that he looked here and there, searching for something—just like Lawrence.
Lawrence suspected Amati of putting on some kind of act.
But then by some miracle, the crowd between them thinned, and Amati noticed Lawrence. He was clearly surprised to see his rival.
And then Lawrence glimpsed a look of relief on Amati's face. Though the crowd quickly closed in around them and blocked Lawrence’s view again, there was no mistaking what he had seen.
A single thought jumped out at Lawrence.
Amati—like him—was looking for Holo. Not only that, Amati had been relieved to see that Holo wasn’t with Lawrence.
Lawrence felt a thump, as though someone’s shoulder had bumped into him from behind.
He turned to see one mercantile-looking fellow talking excitedly with another.
That’s odd, he said to himself, whereupon he felt the same thump reverberate from his back to his chest.
Then he realized.
It was the pounding of his heart.
Amati had been frantically looking for Holo and was obviously very worried that she would be with Lawrence.
The young merchant did not trust her fully.