All those superstitions about the undead in cold, rural villages undoubtedly originated from sightings of travelers in this state.
“Cole.”
Hearing Lawrence call his name made the boy, who truly seemed undead, return an empty gaze.
“Just smile - it’ll all be better before you know it.”
Cole’s solitary travels prior to meeting them had probably already taught him this wisdom. He nodded his head with a forced smile.
“Then let’s go eat. Pisky should already have arranged dinner for us with the inn.”
“Alright..”
Cole rose to his feet. While the worldly boy removed his snow-covered coat, Lawrence took the opportunity to approach Holo, who hadn’t budged an inch after she collapsed. He removed her hood.
“I’m sure you already know this, but you won’t be able to sleep just by lying down like this. Your body will feel much better if you go have a drink of wine someplace warm.”
Sleepiness and fatigue seemed somewhat familiar, but they were two very different things. Holo’s ears drooped and quivered meekly as if to say, “I already know that.” But she still made no effort to rise, like a person unable to bring themselves to climb out of their warm covers despite knowing it was time to get up.
Having no choice he picked her up - only to discover a look on her face like a princess under a sleeping curse, awaiting a hero to rouse her with a magic kiss. But he was no hero. Undoing her actual plague-like curse would require a very different kind of magic.
“I’ve heard they distill their liquor here to such a concentration that even the tiniest spark will set it ablaze.”
Her drooping ears shot up like tents the moment he whispered that into them. She cast a questioning glance at him, wordlessly asking “is that true?”
“Anything more watery than that’ll quickly freeze around here, so to stay warm they have to make liquor that won’t even freeze in ice. Even if it’s colder than ice, the moment you drink it you’ll be filled with a burning sensation.”
Her eyes glimmered with renewed light. She gulped, as if to free herself from the shackles of her curse, then lifted herself up, swaying unsteadily. Her drooping tail, which had looked like it belonged to a wild dog that hadn’t eaten in three days, finally seemed re-energized.
“..Although I’m afraid sauerkraut might be all we have to go with our liquor.”
He opted to clarify this up front, fearing her outrage if he kept it to himself. She momentarily seemed to lose her balance as she climbed out of bed, but the allure of the liquor was strong enough for her to regain it after considerable effort.
“It is better than nothing.”
“That’s a very good attitude to take.”
Their interactions made him recall something as they left their room. When they stopped at a certain town, Holo drank a kind of burning wine and commented that it reminded her of her homeland’s liquor. That must have been a wonderful sensation to complement the liquor.. it might even be its own form of nutrition when one was this fatigued. It would be another two days before they reached the Brondel Monastery, so he carried her on his back while silently counting the coins in his wallet.
* * *
The food here’s expensive, tastes awful, and smells just as bad.
That was a line even a child could memorize, and more easily than a Bible verse. The stench of garlic wafting over from the table next to theirs was a quiet testament to the fact. Using garlic was synonymous with being poor. Despite his conviction that he’d always eaten modestly, even Lawrence’s impression was that his meals had been luxurious compared to this.
Cole’s stomach was the only one rumbling at the smell from the other table. After all, he’d been had nothing but dried turnips on his previous travels. But despite having not smelled it for a long time now, Lawrence couldn’t find his appetite.. much less the keen-nosed Holo.
In spite of their reaction they were very fortunate, and not because they paid a lot or because the kitchen had somehow run out of garlic. Pisky had anticipated their reaction and cooked their food himself.
“Since I travel frequently in the north, I help out with cooking whenever I’m snowed in. Thus I’ve learned to do it myself.”
He had placed a bowl of delicious, lightly-seasoned mutton soup on their table. “Lightly seasoned” soup was usually ginger, green onions, dried mutton and sheep’s leg bones stewed in very salty water. But this soup also contained a very special ingredient.
Pisky lowered his face before finally unveiling what ingredient was. It was none other than what was being voraciously eaten by the travelers at the table next to theirs: garlic. Adding a small amount of garlic was the secret behind this transparent broth with a thin greasy skin forming on it.
Soaking in that bowl of mutton soup was a loaf of oat bread, which was normally difficult to eat on its own. This way, however, one could drink the soup while letting it soak into the bread. The result was no longer an ordeal to force down, having being transformed into something quite palatable instead.
Lawrence felt nothing but gratitude toward Pisky, thankful not only for the deliciousness of the food but also because it distracted Holo; she had all but forgotten the strong, highly-distilled liquor he had brought up earlier.
“Water you take on the road with you tends to become distasteful, so if there aren’t pools or rivers around then you can just boil it with ingredients like this and it’s no longer a problem.”
Holo was continuously chewing on the mutton with wooden spoon in hand. She was already on her third bowl. Even Cole, who was normally restrained, went for seconds. It was a testament to how delicious it truly was.
“It’s quite amazing that you can even use murky water to make something this tasty. But this is only really possible when you’re traveling with a number of others, isn’t it? If you made this all the time when traveling alone, it seems it would be quite a waste of money.”
“Exactly so. I’ve often traveled in teams of merchants, so even at my age I’ve had plenty of training in this.”
For business or safety, traveling in a group was more beneficial than traveling alone. Pisky, however, was revealing the acuteness unique to somehow who’d had to endure many solitary journeys.
Watching him called to Lawrence’s mind the image of a lone, proud merchant climbing a steep cliff. That being said, he seemed well aware that he gave off that impression, and explained that he often found himself described that way by others.
“But that’s something in the past. Even when we merchants band together, we always remain a team.. never a family.”
“In a moment of crisis, the key to gauging profit lies in whether or not one can survive.”
Pisky shrugged, though one corner of his mouth was raised as he answered.
“Correct.”
Lawrence had occasionally traveled with other merchants before he began sitting alone in the driver’s seat of his cart. When business was good he’d travel with the same group for a while. He couldn’t pinpoint when he finally stopped traveling with others. Perhaps he’d grown tired of the attitude of grouping only over a common desire for money, but the real reason he decided to stop was surely the same reason Pisky had stopped.
When such a group was attacked by a pack of wolves, each of them fled while praying to the gods that the wolves would single out someone else. When the wolves finally chose their victim, the one who drew the short end of the stick would cry out “save me” in an unbearably chilling and tragic manner.
“And it’s not as though I’m unaware that a group of traveling merchants can’t compete against a town’s merchants. I ultimately decided to become a town merchant’s subordinate. In exchange for some of my freedom I can always head to designated towns knowing that I’ll be welcomed there by smiling comrades. Indeed, that’s a rare kind of reward.”
Holo had begun drinking her liquor, but it couldn’t have been because she was already full. Pisky’s words were likely stirring up a lot of memories insid
e of her. Anyone who’d lived the life of a traveler, Cole included, could understand exactly what Pisky was talking about.
“By that token, if it was the Ruvik Alliance’s membership that welcomed you then the rewards would be far greater.”
“Of course, and it would let you grow your business ambitions as well.”
“I see. Yet despite the change in lifestyle, your cooking skills don’t seem to have dulled.. ah, my apologies. I’m just having a hard time drawing a connection between your adept traveling skills and your excellent culinary skills.”
“Haha! You’re certainly not the first one to say that. The truth is that I still prepare meals for a lot of people during my travels, like I’m doing now.”
Lawrence had heard that a lot of sightseers had crowded into the Brondel Monastery. But going by Pisky’s tone, his side job of leading sightseers to the monastery wasn’t exactly a flourishing business. But when he’d introduced himself, he’d mentioned that his job was relaying information and transporting goods for the Ruvik Alliance. As such, the possibilities for what he was actually doing were very limited.
“Hehehe.. every experienced merchant asks me the same question, Mr. Lawrence, and in turn my answer’s always the same.”
With a cheerful smile he swept his gaze over to Holo and Cole and spoke dramatically.
“My journey is still only beginning. I have time enough to think.”
A merchant without curiosity was like a clergyman without faith, so him saying something like this was a surefire way to get his audience into a thinking frame of mind. On the back of a horse surrounded by cold silence, thinking was the perfect way to kill some time.
“Just so you know, I don’t often go to the Brondel Monastery.”
On this kind of boring journey, a mealtime guessing game would surely earn Pisky a lot of praise. He’d surely hook his audience with this act that it was just another piece of merchandise he was proud of. And indeed, Holo continued her meal with an expression saying “I have no interest in such boring games,” but the meat in her bowl wasn’t decreasing. As expected, the straightforward Cole was utterly frozen, spoon in hand, staring at the wood grain patterns of the table.
Their reactions must have enjoyable to the one providing their entertainment, but it made Lawrence feel a bit frustrated. Only veteran merchants would react as he had to Pisky, and only veteran merchants would know the answer to his riddle. Not only that, but even if the answer was worth a laugh or two, Pisky surely couldn’t be sure what part of it his audience would end up laughing at. Lawrence himself would be laughing uncomfortably, being troubled by the answer.
“Now then, I don’t want anyone to lose any sleep thinking this one over, so feel free to just up and ask me. I’ll gladly reveal the answer, anytime.”
Pisky’s final challenge was enough to deepen the furrow on the brows of the two easily-tempted individuals before them, and guaranteed they would lose sleep over it. If Lawrence didn’t make a move and speak up, they’d likely be frozen in thought for God knows how long.
“Besides, if you work too hard to figure it out you’ll just get hungry again, and the answer isn’t going to fill your stomach.”
Since an empty stomach was also a guarantee they’d be alert on this boring journey, the two of them snapped back to reality in surprise and resumed eating. Lawrence and Pisky shared a glance and chuckled softly. It didn’t matter what anyone else said, a joyous meal was the finest of luxuries to Lawrence.
“If only the Brondel Monastery was all the way at the end of the Earth.”
“I may be good, but I couldn’t possibly have enough riddles for that kind of trip.”
Laughing, dining, and drinking; that was how they all spent their evening.
* * *
It began snowing hard on the next day. It was fortunate that a strong wind wasn’t blowing as well, or the thumbnail-sized snowflakes blowing around would reduce their visibility drastically. Of course, they pulled their hoods down so low that their visibility was already reduced to just whatever their white breath didn’t obscure.
But that was hardly an obstacle for their horse’s driver, who had forty years of experience riding back and forth on this route. It was as normal to him as the intricate web-like network of trade was to an elderly town merchant seated behind a counter and losing his sight.
Once they’d left their lodge, that reticent driver led their horse on as a steady pace across the white plains, having replaced the cart with a sled. They moved without stopping, since even a brief pause would be enough to completely cover them in snow. The scenery that greeted them as they pressed on was always white, followed by more white.
After finishing his lunch, Cole couldn’t help but doze off on the horse’s back. They were only on a horse, but that was still frighteningly high up off the ground. If he fell off, he could be gravely injured. Concerned, Lawrence took out some rope he’d prepared and was about to tie it around Cole and Holo when he noticed that Holo wasn’t in the deep slumber he assumed she’d be in, and had her arms wrapped tightly around Cole.
“Oh, you’re awake?”
The snow wasn’t just lowering their visibility, but was dampening the sounds around them as well. In spite of the silence, Lawrence could barely even hear his own voice. It stood to reason that Pisky wouldn’t hear them from his horse, trailing behind them.
“I am not.”
He almost laughed out loud at her reply, voiced as if she was half-asleep. But he knew better; she was responding that way because she was in a bad mood, likely grumpy because of Pisky’s riddle from dinner the previous evening. It wasn’t a riddle one could simply think through. In fact, even a merchant wouldn’t be able to guess the answer.
Cole had quickly given up on it and gone to bed, but with her title of Wisewolf at stake it seemed that Holo had pondered over it long and hard. Of course she couldn’t keep herself from acting in a manner that suggested, “If it was a riddle with great meaning, fine, but how foolish it was to spend all night struggling for the answer to an inconsequential one.”
Being unable to find the answer must have been enraging. Naturally, Lawrence knew that when she was in such a childish frame of mind, she’d purposely steal glances at him. She would get him to laugh at her displeasure and say “What, are you stumped?” before quickly revealing the answer. That was the way she usually solved such problems.
But Lawrence hadn’t let her. In fact he wished she’d forget about it altogether, if at all possible. He was somewhat apprehensive about the answer. So despite feeling like he was being overly sensitive, and having accidentally avoided her glance the first time, he did so intentionally the second time. And the third. And the fourth.
Holo had grown visibly upset after going through such pains to dig out the answer. At this point, he couldn’t even engineer one designed to make her laugh heartily - it would just make her angrier. It was more difficult to reveal it each time he avoided her glance, and now he’d have to keep it from her entirely. If only he’d known this would happen, he would’ve just blurted it out right away, but it was far too late for that.
* * *
“That is basically the gist of it.”
It was only the second time Holo had spoken to Lawrence that day, but the conversation was one-sided. She rambled on and on, mixing in only a few frustrated sighs, until she finally came to her conclusion. Cole listened to her speech, stunned, as he busily hung their traveling clothes on a suspended rope to dry.
After dinner, they’d only just noticed that she’d left the room for quite some time when she finally returned and immediately dove straight into the topic. No wonder Cole reacted the way he did. Lawrence was nothing short of impressed that her train of thought had managed to arrive at this conclusion.
“You’re exactly right..”
“You foolish twit!”
He had no excuse, so he could only earnestly reply. For her part she also replied earnestly, with quite a scolding. Despite her anger, seeing him
act so ridiculously seemed to burn out her rage quite quickly. The moment she sat down she asked Cole to bring her liquor, savagely bit the cork off, and drank it immediately.
“That odd behavior of yours just made me want to know the answer all the more. Who would have thought-”
“So you went and asked for the answer?”
It wasn’t so long ago that Cole would have trembled at the slightest hint of Holo’s anger, but now he was even brave enough to ask her such a question as she handed him the cork.
“Aye. I said that I had lost sleep trying to figure it out, and was ridiculed for it. Me! Holo the Wisewolf!”
“I was once taught in school that ‘there are some things you will never know without asking’. So what was the answer?”
Hearing the boy say this while continuing his task of hanging their clothes, Holo didn’t answer. Instead she turned her gaze to Lawrence, with a look saying “it is too much trouble, you explain it.” In truth, she probably was too lazy to explain it. With distilled liquor in one hand, she ate some dried meat with the other.
“A person like Pisky is rare indeed, being used to traveling alone yet somehow still preparing meals for groups of people. He must be involved in establishing new towns or markets. Since he mentioned that he frequently lead the way for many people, he was probably referring to pioneers trying to begin a new life in a new land.”
“So that’s what it was..”
Even while listening to Lawrence with an impressed look on his face, Cole managed to finish his task with a practiced hand and check on their stove’s condition. Their lodge didn’t have fireplaces, nor was the air circulation ideal, so controlling a fire’s strength would be difficult.
“Basically, those going on such journeys aren’t accustomed to traveling. So one who couldn’t properly equip them all or make quick decisions would have a very tough time with this job.”
“In truth, from the perspective of one experienced with leading a pack, that male does indeed appear very reliable. He is straightforward, and a good speaker on top of that.”
Holo’s eyes were half-closed as she squinted directly at Lawrence, who coughed. Cole continued with a wry smile.