Spice & Wolf III (16 page)

“So did you accept this contract?”

“I did.”

“Mm...” she said vaguely, looking back down at her tail. Holo was unimpressed; Lawrence felt sorry for Amati.

He looked out the wooden window, telling himself there was nothing to be worried about, when Holo spoke abruptly.

“Listen, you.”

“What?”

“What will you do if the boy actually gives you the money?”

He knew if he answered by saying “What do you mean, what will I do?” she would be unamused.

When she asked him questions like this, Holo wanted to know the first thing that came to his mind.

Lawrence pretended to think about it for a moment and then purposely gave a less-than-ideal answer. “After I’d calculated the amount you’ve used, I’d give it to you.”

Holo’s ears moved up slowly and she narrowed her eyes. “Do not test me.”

“It’s a bit unfair that I’m the only one who’s tested, eh?”

“Hmph.” Holo sniffed, unamused, then looked back down at the tail she tended to.

Lawrence had purposefully avoided saying the first thing that came to mind.

He wanted to test whether she had noticed that fact.

“If Amati should fulfill his part of the contract, I will certainly fulfill mine,” he said.

“Oh ho.” Holo didn’t look up, but Lawrence could tell she wasn’t really looking at her tail, either.

“Of course, you’ve been free all along. You may act as you wish.”

“Brimming with confidence, aren’t you?” Holo straightened her legs and dangled them off the edge of the bed.

It looked as if she was getting ready to spring upon him like she so often did, and Lawrence flinched but regained his composure and answered.

“It’s not confidence. I merely trust you.”

That was one way to put it.

There were any number of ways to indicate the same idea, but this one seemed the most gallant.

Holo was speechless for a moment, but her quick wits divined this soon enough.

She smiled and then stood up suddenly.

“In truth, you’re much more charming when you’re nervous.”

“Even I can tell how much I’ve matured.”

“So it’s more adult to simply pretend composure?”

“Isn’t it?”

“Having room to boast because you’ve seen a gamble that’s to your advantage just means you’re a bit clever. It does not an adult make.”

Hearing the sage words of the centuries-old wisewolf, Lawrence made a suspicious expression, as though he were the subject of a shady sales pitch.

“For example, when Amati proposed the contract to you, would it not have been more admirable to refuse it?”

Far from it,
Lawrence was about to say, but Holo cut him off. “But you looked around and judged whether or not you would be embarrassed.”

“Uh—”

“Consider if our positions had been reversed. For example, thus—”

Holo cleared her throat, put her right hand to her breast, and began to recite:

“I cannot consider entering into such a contract. I wish to stay always with Lawrence. It may be a bond of debt that binds us, but it is still a bond. No matter how many different threads may entwine us, I cannot bear to cut even a one. Even if it shames me, I cannot accept your contract—or some such statement. What do you think?”

It was like a scene from a stage play.

Holo’s expression had been absolutely serious, and her words echoed in Lawrence’s heart.

“If someone said something like that about me, I would be beside myself with joy, I daresay,” said Holo.

That was undoubtedly a joke, but she had a point.

Lawrence was not willing to simply admit her correctness—doing so was tantamount to admitting he was a coward who had only accepted the contract in order to avoid embarrassment. And in any case, being so frank and open in front of so many people was all well and good, but it would have had consequences.

“Well, that might have been the manly thing to do, but whether or not it’s the adult thing to do is another issue.”

Holo folded her arms, looking aside and nodding minutely. “True. It might be both the action of a good male and a reckless, youthful thing to do. One might be happy to hear it, but it is still rather rich.”

“You see?”

“Mm. Now that I think on it, the actions that make a good male and those that make a good adult may be mutually exclusive. A good male is like a child. A good adult has a measure of cowardice.”

It was easy to imagine a stalwart knight drawing his sword in anger at Holo’s light dismissal of the male sex.

Lawrence naturally felt obligated to strike back. “Well then, how would Holo the Wisewolf, who is both a good woman and a good adult, respond to such a proposal?”

Holo’s smile remained.

Her arms still folded, she replied, “Why, I would smile and accept it, of course.”

Her light, effortless smile as she so easily claimed to agree to the contract made Lawrence realize just how profound her confidence and ease was.

He would have had no such ideas.

It truly was Holo the Wisewolf that stood before him.

“Of course, upon accepting the contract, I would return to the inn and, saying nothing, draw near to you like so—she continued, unfolding her arms and walking toward Lawrence, backing him up against the windowsill. She reached out to him. “Then I would look down...Her ears and tail drooped, her shoulders slumped, and she looked positively miserable. If this was a trap, it would be impossible to see through.

Holo’s snicker that came soon after was genuinely frightening.

“Still,” she said lightly, “you’re a good enough merchant. You entered the contract because you think you can win. No doubt you’ll do some under-the-table deals just to make sure.”

Holo looked back up, her tail and ears flicking playfully. She spun around and arrived smoothly at Lawrence’s side.

He soon understood what she was getting at.

“‘Take me to the festival,’ is it?”

“Surely a fine merchant like yourself isn’t shy of bribery to fulfill a contract, right?”

Lawrence’s contract with Amati did not directly involve Holo, but the true issue was whether or not Amati’s marriage proposal would succeed. To put it bluntly, one thousand pieces of silver might or might not find their way into Lawrence’s pocket depending entirely on Holo’s mood.

For his part, Lawrence could hardly afford
not
to bribe Holo, on whose judgment this all depended.

“Well, I’ve got to go gather information on Amati either way. I may as well bring you along.”

“What you mean is you’ll take me to the festival and gather information on the way.”

“Fine, fine,” Lawrence replied, sighing as Holo jabbed him in the ribs.

The first thing that needed to be investigated was Amati’s assets.

Batos had said the boy was going to use some not altogether admirable methods to get the cash, which Lawrence guessed was probably true. He couldn’t imagine that Amati could produce a thousand
trenni
out of nowhere.

But it would be trouble if Amati actually pulled it off, so Lawrence headed to Mark’s stall to ask his cooperation.

As Mark kept his stall open for the duration of the fair, he had missed the commotion at the guild hall and so readily agreed to help. With rumors spreading like wildfire but so few merchants having actually seen Holo’s face, Lawrence’s bringing her along to the stall was quite effective.

If it meant Mark would get to see the developments from a front-row seat, Lawrence thought it was a small price to pay for whatever favors were required.

“And anyway, it won’t be me that’s running about the town,” Mark added.

Lawrence felt bad for Mark’s young apprentice, but his was a path every merchant had to travel—it was a complicated emotion.

“Still, is it all right to be running around with the beautiful maiden of the hour?”

“She wants to see the Laddora festival. And besides, if I locked her up in the inn, it really would look like I was keeping her bound by debt.”

“So Sir Lawrence says, but what is the truth of it?” Mark asked Holo, smiling. Holo was dressed in her usual town-girl clothes with the fox skin muffler Amati had given her wrapped around her neck. She seemed to understand what Mark was getting at. “The truth is just that. I am bound by heavy chains of debt. Through them I can see no tomorrow, and from them I cannot escape. If you were to free me from them, I would happily coat myself in wheat flour working for you.”

Mark’s face immediately split as he erupted with raucous laughter. “Bwa-ha-ha! Oh, that poor Amati lad. Lawrence is the one bound by you, aye!”

Lawrence looked away, not deigning to respond. He could see clearly enough that going up against both Mark
and
Holo would lead only to frustration.

Perhaps as a reward for his daily good conduct, Lawrence’s savior appeared. Marks apprentice arrived, pushing his way through the crowds.

“I’ve checked it out,” he said to Mark.

“Oh? Well done. What do you have?”

The apprentice greeted Lawrence and Holo as he delivered his report to Mark

There was no question that what he wanted was not a reward from Lawrence or Mark, but a smile from Holo.

Understanding this, she graced him with her loveliest, most demure smile. Holo’s undeniable mischief caused the poor boy to turn red all the way to his ears.

“So what have you learned?” Mark grinned at his apprentice, who flailed for a moment before answering. Knowing Mark, Lawrence was sure the poor lad had been teased for some time.

“Ah, yes. Er, according to the taxation records, he was taxed on two hundred
irehd”

“Two hundred
irehd,
eh? So that’d make it...what, about eight hundred
trenni
that Amati has on hand that the city council is aware of.”

With a few exceptions, every merchant with a certain amount of assets was subject to taxation. The amount was recorded in the tax ledger, and anyone with a reason to do so could examine the records. Mark had gone through his acquaintances to take a look at Amati's tax records.