Milicky was the child of a spirit and a human, and had outlived his own wife. He now watched over her final resting place, so he likely had some choice thoughts to share with Holo on such an event. The two of them saw eye to eye, and even sent each other gifts of wine from time to time.
Lawrence’s project was well-suited for the furnace in Sovereign, where the first of Diva’s gold coins had been minted. They had been there when the furnace was relit; it was the same time that he and Holo had sworn to continue walking side by side for good. The best silversmiths were in Sovereign, so it stood to reason that they were the best-suited place for this task.
After all, he and Holo wanted it to be perfect. They were quite anxiously waiting to see how it turned out, this signboard for their inn that would be hung up above the main entrance for the first time today.
“Mr. Lawrence, Ms. Holo!”
It was Moid, the tall and prominent staff sergeant of the Myuri Mercenaries, who spoke first, but Myuri looked taller and stronger since they last saw him. There even seemed to be an aura glowing around him, owing to the sun being behind him. The illusion made Lawrence smile involuntarily.
“Long time no see.”
Myuri spoke calmly as he extended his right hand to Lawrence, then shook his hand forcefully. He would have knelt down in front of Holo, but she stopped him. He was from Yoitsu, and had succeeded her old friend’s name, but Holo didn’t want to see him give her respect that way even if she was the symbol on his band’s flag. He settled for kissing her hand instead.
“You are becoming a fine male.”
“Thank you.”
She was grateful that his family had long kept a secret message for her, and was of course proud of the descendants of her old friend.
“It seems women only grow more beautiful with each passing..”
Holo cut him off.
“..?”
“Ho, ho, ho..”
She laughed and tilted her head before looking away at the carriage behind him.
“Is it there?”
“Ah.. yes. Hey, you!”
Myuri wasn’t very experienced with such things, even if he was now old enough to no longer be called “the young master.”
“We were more careful with this than any of our previous jobs.”
The increased number of wounds on his face made his smile look rather frightening. He’d survived many dangerous situations, and at this rate he would be even more intimidating than Moid when he made it to that age.
“Shall we hang it now?”
“No, let us wait for the others.”
Holo directed her next words at Lawrence.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, after all.. just as we planned.”
“Understood. Then let’s just have a sneak peek for now.”
It was a gigantic metallic oval of a sign. A grown man could barely lift it. Putting some sort of image on it would be overdoing it, so Lawrence specifically asked to just have their shop’s name carved onto it.
“What do you guys think of it?”
Lawrence asked Myuri and Moid as they effortlessly held up the sign.
“It’s.. almost too perfect. We were shocked.”
“Here’s hoping you’ll think the same of my inn.”
For the first time ever, Myuri and Moid openly laughed at one of his jokes.
“After all, I made sure it would be good enough to relax even the toughest of mercenaries.”
“Hey! Everyone’s on their way!”
Despite his words, Lawrence instantly grew nervous when he heard Moid shout out. He saw people coming up the slope between the trees. Eve, Norah, and the other women were first. He couldn’t believe all five of them actually came. He couldn’t fathom why they would show up, but.. well as long as Holo was happy.
He still hadn’t figured out what had made her so angry a while back, so he decided to just bury the issue. After all, he didn’t want their banquet to be spoiled by something like that. Only mirth was welcome at a celebration like this.
“Oh, that is right..”
Holo suddenly started talking as they held hands, preparing to welcome their guests.
“Hmm?”
“I really should have asked you before..”
“What?”
What had he missed this time?
“Well, the name..”
“Huh?”
Lawrence didn’t get it, so he continued.
“But we chose the name already, didn’t we? I mean, I guess we can change it, but it looked like you really liked the name-”
Holo flashed him a glare and he stopped. It wasn’t anger in her eyes. Nor sadness, nor surprise. In fact, the sweet smile that spread across her face only made him even more nervous, because he couldn’t quite understand why she was so happy.
“I.. don’t get it.”
He chose honesty.
“You really do not, do you?”
He look up at the sky, then back at her. She laughed, said “oh my,” and then sighed.
“When you failed to notice something so obvious, I thought you were acting the fool.”
His mind was in tatters. What was she talking about? Their guests were arriving, and he wasn’t in any shape to think about such things right now. There was Weiz, and the dog that was always at his master’s side, Enek. Everyone walking up the slope was precious to him, but he all he could do was stare past them, lost in amazement. Surely she didn’t mean-
“Are you serious?!”
He was practically screaming at her, and everyone stopped talking when they heard him. What kind of welcome was this? Everyone glared at him darkly until Holo laughed. Still holding his one hand, she reached over and placed his other one on her belly.
“It seems you are no longer confused why I wanted everyone to come.”
Her answer was punctuated by her squinting as though she was fighting back tears of joy. Every muscle in her face was put into her smile.
“We must show off!”
Dignity was the furthest thing from her mind as she rose up on her tiptoes and raised her chin. He never expected her to act this way in public, and was already hearing the inevitable screams of his future child ringing in his mind, but rather than sighing he grabbed Holo tightly in his arms, feeling like the luckiest man alive.
That was how the legendary hot springs resort “Spice and Wolf” was first unveiled to the public.
The traveling merchant and the dark grey knight
It was amazing how quickly an abandoned building would deteriorate. Windows broke, the floors warped, the roof collapsed. Even this formerly-impressive roof now offered less cover from the rain than it once had. At least the foundation of this building was solid, so the walls and floor were still intact. Lawrence had taken shelter from the rain here, forced to tie his horse to a nearby pillar so he could light a fire in what cover remained. He could see the thick, dark clouds looming down on him through the holes in the roof.
“How is it possible for the fire to not be lit yet?”
A thin girl walked over to him, splashing the water off of her robe. She too had taken shelter in the building, appearing every bit like a loyal nun living the life of a saint.. at least until she quickly began disrobing in front of him. Her long auburn hair made her seem almost like a noblewoman, save for the pair of canine ears on her head. Behind her waist was a matching tail, betraying that she was no ordinary maiden. Lawrence had been an independent merchant for seven years, but the girl with him now was centuries older: the self-titled Wisewolf.
“Sure must be nice to complain and wring out your robe while others are doing all the work.”
Starting a fire basically meant sparking some flint over dry grass, then spreading that flame to large bits of hay, and finally firewood. Having wrung her robe out, Holo put it back on just as Lawrence was lighting hay. She regarded him coolly.
“I guess the flames of your wrath aren’t going to speed this up after all.”
Holo didn’t res
pond to his teasing. She ignored him entirely and knelt down beside the fire, warming her hands as he carved off bits of wood with his dagger. It wasn’t long before the fire was burning quite fiercely.
“That was a close one, wasn’t it?”
Lawrence continued the conversation as he carved a few thin branches.
“Well, nobody asked a certain fool of a merchant to refrain from loading his wagon down with heavy goods. No small wonder we were slowed down to the point that I was almost forced to sleep in the rain.”
She spread a tanned animal hide blanket on the ground and laid down on it. She was talking about the salted herring that Lawrence’s friend had strong-armed him into delivering on his behalf several days ago. Carting such goods around was slow-going and (as if to mock them) they were finally caught in the rain. But what Holo truly despised was the pungent herring. She had to rest here, either sleeping or tending to her fur while her nose wrinkled at the smell.
“I guess we reap what we sow.”
Having sharpened the wooden sticks, Lawrence then pulled out a few fish from their cargo and skewered them for roasting. As part of their payment, they were allowed to eat up to ten of them. Lawrence considered putting more effort into cooking the rare treat. He wanted to wrap them in tree bark and cook them in a fire pit, with onions, garlic, and maybe some cream. But that would be too delicious. He knew that Holo would never be able to accept anything less than that, and it would be on her mind every time they ate. Prudence was the way to go.
“Mmm.. at least these fish smell good after being roasted.”
Her tail was wagging as she listened to the greasy fish crackling in the fire. Lawrence smiled as he dumped all the trimmings from his carving into the fire.
“At least we won’t have to worry about the smell attracting too much wildlife. Except any mice that live here, I’ll wager.”
As the fish roasted Holo kept reaching out to sample it. Each time she touched one, she then licked the salty oil off of her finger. She truly looked like a puppy as she did that, but of course Lawrence wouldn’t dare to risk saying that out loud.
“Not likely. Only humans would live in a place like this.”
Having worked up her appetite, Holo was busily licking the salt off the herrings that weren’t being cooked as she continued talking.
“I wonder why there is a fortress like this here to begin with..?”
She stared up at the hole-filled roof like a curious child. Her question wasn’t asked to get an answer, but rather because it was strange to see an abandoned outpost like this. Anyone would marvel at the sight of it, especially if they were spending the night there.
“It makes me wonder how you knew it was here? The moment you realized it was going to rain, you immediately changed our course to come here, did you not?”
It seemed that licking the salt off the herring wasn’t going to be enough for Holo. She took up one of the sharpened sticks and after a moment of nervous waiting, Lawrence watched her skewer the largest herring she could find as if to declare “this is mine.”
“I’ve been here before. Granted, I was lost on my first visit.”
Holo showed a face of understanding before looking around.
“Was it already in such disarray at that time?”
“No. It wasn’t empty back then; it’s really fallen apart since three years ago.”
Holo flipped over the fish as he spoke. It seemed like she couldn’t wait much longer.
“Someone was living here?”
“Mhm. An odd man.”
Lawrence chuckled, but Holo didn’t fail to notice the sigh he was concealing. She looked up at him inquisitively, and he looked up and shook his head.
“I mean, how could someone who isolated himself in the middle of nowhere not be odd?”
“Hmm.. I see..”
She looked at him, making it clear that what she really meant to say was “why were you sighing?” Lawrence could tell, but he kept his eyes glued on the fire.
“Was he that unpleasant?”
Her voice betrayed that she wasn’t pleased, so Lawrence looked up. Her face didn’t match the tone, however. She almost seemed sad.
“..Not really..”
Lawrence didn’t want to tell this story to anyone, least of all Holo, but he knew that the harder he tried to hide it, the more she would want to find out. However, she seemed to sense his reluctance and opted to not press the issue. At least not directly; her ears still drooped down.
“You never wish to share your past with me.”
She snatched one of the fish, clearly being petulant on purpose. Lawrence didn’t really have to tell her everything, after all. She just wanted to guilt him into sharing this one. To enhance the effect, she acted like she couldn’t wait any longer and bit into the fish before it was ready. It was a big bite, too, so that oil was left oozing down her face. That meant he was going to have to wipe it off for her, and say something to keep her from teasing him about it.
“Wouldn’t you rather hear about something less boring, to take your mind off this dismal trip?”
“If it is to take my mind off this dismal trip, then a boring and long story would be best.”
She had already eaten half the fish in a flash, and moved on to rudely gulping wine straight from the bottle. She wasn’t going to stop behaving like this until he told her the story; this was the closest to begging she was capable of. He put on his best expression of unwillingness, then sighed for good measure before holding his dagger over the fire.
“See this dagger?”
With that, his tale began.
“There are words etched onto it.”
It was a quality dagger. Any carpenter would be happy to have one like it. It had saved his life on several occasions, and proven its worth with many uses. That said, it really didn’t suit a traveling peddler like Lawrence. Holo stuffed the rest of the fish in her mouth and scooted under his arm, studying the dagger like a nosy cat.
“Mmph mm mm may?”
She couldn’t talk with the fish in her mouth, but she didn’t need to for him to recognize that she wanted to know what the words were. He showed her the words as he read them out loud.
“God is merciful.”
Holo seemed surprised, probably because she expected something more grandiose was better-suited for a weapon. And she would be right; armor, hammers, broad swords and lances all had more interesting things to say. Only a dagger carried by knight would have something like this written on it. Even Lawrence had wondered about this practice, until he came to this outpost.
“The older a man gets, the more direct his words. They like to use the word ‘mercy’ on their daggers.”
Holo nodded, clearly interested. She turned the dagger under the firelight, then closed her eyes as though she had blinded herself.
“Hehe.. of course, I got this dagger from a pretty old guy.”
He received the dagger back from Holo and stared at it’s aged hilt for a while. It had been three years. Back then, he never would have imagined he’d meet someone like Holo. He’d been lost that day, and was overjoyed when he stumbled across this place. Soon he came to realize it was the home of the Devil himself - and busy merchants like him didn’t just throw titles like that around.
In fact, anyone who spotted an outpost like this on an empty plain would feel a sense of dread. Especially one on a lonely hill jutting up from the earth like a claw. It was like a little piece of hell on earth, like an executioner’s domain. Even Lawrence thought he could see the Grim Reaper floating around that place.
But Lawrence had pinched one too many pennies, and didn’t buy enough food for his trip. He had eaten the last morsels on the previous night, and unlike a horse, he couldn’t eat grass to survive. In fact he might have to kill his horse at this rate, and that just wasn’t an option to him - traveling merchants viewed the loss of their horse as tantamount to declaring bankruptcy.
He was being punished by the Almighty for his success. At least
that’s what anyone in his circumstances would have felt, between their pangs of resentment and starvation. He was passing out at the time, so the welcome he received was a rude one indeed. It woke him up good and proper, like a huge bug had whizzed by his ears, and hit a tree behind him. But it was no bug. Lawrence instinctively jumped off his horse and hid under it: he was being shot at.
“I’m just a traveling merchant! I’m lost!”
His shout was answered by two more arrows, but the fact that they missed his horse showed the skill of his assailant. No further arrows flew after that, but that just meant he planned to shoot Lawrence when he got back out from under his horse. Lawrence couldn’t budge an inch. Someone was approaching Lawrence, but not from the outpost - they had been hidden on the slope somewhere. Lawrence stole a cowardly glance from between his horse’s legs and saw it was a man. The man then stopped.
“You say you’re traveling merchant?”
The man’s hoarse voice might have been an affect, but his old age was clearly no lie.
“Yes!”
The men knelt down when he heard that, and Lawrence finally saw that the man was shorter than his grizzled voice let on.
“Then thank God He averted that arrow.. it’s lucky I didn’t kill you!”
The man was smiling, but Lawrence wasn’t sure what kind of smile it was. As the man rose to his feet again, he turned around. Lawrence was still wondering if he was safe when the man turned back around to face him again.
“Hey, what are you doing here anyway? You say you’re lost?”
Lawrence slowly crept out from under his horse as the man pointed at the house on the hill.
“I don’t mind letting you stay the night if you’ll honor my request.”
How could a lowly archer say that on behalf of the outpost? He spoke like he owned the place. And yet, as the man smiled to introduce himself, Lawrence noticed that he still didn’t seem to be missing any teeth - odd for his age.
“My name’s Fred. I manage the Roam outpost on behalf of Count Richard Phil. I’m the one in charge here.”
He’d seen right through Lawrence. He looked up at the building and smiled, finally relaxing.
“That said, it’s been a long time since I shot at a man.. good thing I missed.”