“The result of daily prayer, surely.” “Yes, I can’t help but think that I have God to thank for our meeting.”

Her bell rang out again, and Enek came streaking back to her side.

As the dry sound of Enek’s footfalls reached Lawrence’s ears, Holo stirred, leaning lightly against the inside of the wagon. It seemed true, surely, that she could detect the approach of a wolf even while sleeping.

“I met him after the almshouse had lost its land to a swindling merchant,” said Norah.

It pained Lawrence to hear of a fellow merchant’s misdeeds, but the fact was such things were common.

“When I found him, he was in a sad state, covered in wounds,” continued Norah.

“From wolves?”

Holo seemed to twitch. Perhaps she was only feigning sleep.

“No, I think it was brigands or mercenaries... There weren’t wolves in the area. He was wandering about at the base of a hill with this staff in his mouth.”

"I see."

Enek barked his pleasure at having his head petted.

Undoubtedly the dog hadn’t been the only one wandering half dead at the foot of that hill. Most of those who were driven from an almshouse would have likely died from hunger. The bond between the girl and dog — they had suffered great hardship together — was no superficial thing.

And the life of a shepherd was lonely and mean. Enek was surely a welcome companion.

Certainly better than the goods Lawrence found himself transporting. Horses, too, were poor conversationalists.

“Still, this is the first time I’ve had a shepherd offer their services as an escort.” “Hm?”

“Normally they’d refuse such a request, to say nothing of offering work,” he said with a laugh. A flustered Norah looked hastily at the ground.

“Um...” she began.

“What’s that?”

“I just... wanted to talk to someone...”

Apparently her way of clinging to her staff — which was taller than she — was something of a habit.

Still, Lawrence certainly understood her feelings.

Outside of townspeople, those who did not find themselves stricken by loneliness were few.

“Although there is one other thing,” the girl continued. Her demeanor brightened as she looked up. “I’d like to become a dressmaker.”

“Ah, so it’s the guild membership dues you need.”

Norah again seemed embarrassed by Lawrence’s words. Not being a merchant, it appeared she was unused to frank talk about money.

“They’re high nearly everywhere. Though not necessarily so in a new town.”

“Really? Is that true?” Her pretty brown eyes lit up with a frank anticipation that was entirely charming.

It was the fondest wish of most who lived by travel to settle in a town. Such a life was difficult even for an adult man, so the shepherdess must have felt the hardship still more keenly.

“Sometimes the guild dues are free, in newly founded towns.”

“F-free...,” whispered Norah with a countenance that betrayed her disbelief.

After days of enduring Holo’s japes, seeing such a guileless face put Lawrence’s heart at ease.

“If we meet any other merchants on the road, you should ask them if they know of any plans to found new towns in the area. If they know, they’ll probably be happy to tell you.”

Norah nodded, her face shining with good cheer, as if she had been told the whereabouts of some grand treasure.

If such news made her this happy, there was clearly value in telling her.

And there was something about the girl that made him want to help her — something clearly conveyed in the way she worked so hard with her slender arms.

He found himself wishing that the wolf nearby—who could make a sly old merchant into her plaything with a single word — would take a page out of the shepherdess’s book.

She’d be more likable that way, he thought to himself after a moment’s hesitation.

“Fewer towns have been founded recently, though, so you’d do well to save steadily as you pray for good fortune, of course,” said Lawrence.

“Yes. God can become angry if you rely on him too much.”

He’d thought the girl was serious, so her joking tone took him by surprise.

If Holo hadn’t been sleeping behind him, he would have invited her to sit in the driver’s seat.

The moment the thought crossed his mind, though, Holo stirred; Lawrence spoke up hastily. “Uh, er, so, speaking strictly from the standpoint of a merchant, you might make more money escorting my kind like this than you do tending sheep. Surely the territory disputes are difficult.”

“... They are,” said Norah with a pained smile after a short pause. “The safest places already have shepherds occupying them.”

“So all that’s left are wolf-strewn fields.”

“Yes.”

“Wolves certainly can be troublesome — ow!”

Lawrence felt a sudden pain in his buttock and rose involuntarily from the driver’s seat. Norah looked at him, puzzled, and he forced a smile before sitting back down.

Holo’s sleep was evidently feigned. She had pinched him soundly.

“I’m sure the wolves are only looking for food, but sometimes they take lives in the process... A safer place would be nice,” said Norah.

“Well, wolves are sly and treacherous creatures,” said Lawrence, partially to get even for the pinch.

“If I speak ill of them, they may hear, so I won’t.”

Norah’s humble manner was very charming, but Lawrence’s reply, “Indeed,” was mostly for the benefit of the wolf behind him.

“Still,” he continued, “if you’ve skill enough to defend your flock even through wolf-infested fields, shouldn’t your services be in great demand and your flock huge?”

“No, no, it’s only by the grace of God that I remain safe... and I’m thankful to have any work at all. A huge flock, I just couldn’t...”

Perhaps she was just being modest, but it seemed as though there was something else behind her sad smile. Lawrence couldn’t think of many possibilities. Was she dissatisfied with her employer?

Though he knew it wasn’t healthy, Lawrence’s inquisitive nature voiced itself again. “Well, then your employer has no eye for skill,” he said. “Mayhap it’s time for a change.”

Shepherds, after all, were merchants, too. It was only natural they should seek more favorable conditions.

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly!” gasped Norah, taken aback.

It didn’t seem like she was protesting out of fear of being heard, either. She was sincere.

“My apologies. I am sorry. As a merchant, I am always thinking of gains and losses.”

“N-no, it’s all right,” said Norah, as if surprised at her own outspokenness. “... Um,” she began.

“Yes?”

“I, I was wondering... do people change their employers... often?”

It was a strange question.

“Well, yes, I think it’s normal if one is unsatisfied with one’s terms of employment.”

I see...

When she talked like this, it sounded as if she was somehow dissatisfied.

Yet Norah’s total shock at the suggestion of changing those terms implied that she found the very idea outrageous. If that was the case, one might deduce the identity of her employer.

She had no relatives, so finding someone who would entrust his sheep to her would be difficult. Even the stoutest shepherd could expect to lose two sheep for every ten they herded — and such was an acceptable loss. It would be normal for someone to worry about a seemingly frail girl being able to bring back even half the flock.

Given that, whoever hired Norah had to be someone motivated by charity rather than self-interest.

In other words...

“If you don’t mind my asking, is your employer by any chance the Church?”

Norah’s expression was so stunned that Lawrence was glad he’d seen it. “How did you — ”

“Call it a merchant’s secret,” said Lawrence with a laugh. Holo stomped her foot lightly. “Don’t get cocky,” she seemed to be saying.

“Er, well... yes. I receive my flock from a priest of the Church, but...

“If it’s the Church, you should have no troubles with your work. You’ve found a good employer.”

Her employer was probably a priest connected with the almshouse she’d mentioned earlier. Personal connections were overwhelmingly more useful than either good fortune or strength.

“Yes, I was truly blessed,” answered Norah with a smile.

But to Lawrence, whose very livelihood was based on discerning the truth among flattery and lies, her smile was obviously false.

As Norah turned aside to work with Enek, Lawrence looked at Holo, who had been feigning sleep. Holo returned his gaze, then she sniffed and turned away, shutting her eyes.

If she’d spoken, she would likely have said something like, “I’ve no sympathy at all.”

“They’ve entrusted me with a flock,” said Norah, “and they’ve aided me in many other ways.”

She spoke as if to remind herself of the fact —it was pitiable to see.

The reason for Norah’s downcast expression was clear. The Church was not employing her. It was watching her.

Of course, at first it probably had been out of charity that they’d entrusted her with a flock —which is precisely why she never thought of changing employers.

Shepherds were often thought of as being vaguely heretical. They weathered constant accusations of being “the devil’s hands," so it was far from strange that the ever-suspicious Church would come to doubt a falsely accused woman who took such a job — all the more so when she excelled at it. It was just more evidence ol pagan magic.

Even the most oblivious person would eventually notice such suspicion.

At the same time, the shepherdess’s wages could not be high. She was worked hard for meager pay—there would certainly not be enough to set any aside. Lawrence guessed that was the reason she offered her services as an escort.

But Lawrence’s merchant sense told him not to get any more deeply involved in the issue.

His curiosity was sated. Pursuing it any further would make him responsible for further developments.

“I see,” he said. “I daresay you need not worry about finding a different employer.”

“Do you think so?” asked Norah.

“Yes — with the Church’s insistence on honorable poverty, your pay will always be a bit low, but so long as God doesn’t abandon us, the Church will always exist. You’ll not want for work. As long as you have work, you’ll eat. Isn’t that something to be thankful for?”

Having roused her concerns and suggested changing employers, Lawrence knew that the hard fact was nobody would hire a shepherd who’d caught the eye of the Church. It wouldn’t do for his actions to rob a lone girl of her livelihood.

Lawrence wasn’t lying, in any case, and Norah seemed to accept it. She nodded several times, slowly. “I suppose so,” she agreed.

It was true that having a job — any job — was good, but hope was important, too. Lawrence cleared his throat and spoke as cheerfully as he could manage.

“Anyway, I’ve many acquaintances in Ruvinheigen, so we’ll I ry asking there after any merchants that might need protection from wolves. After all, God never said anything about having a nice little sideline, eh?”

“Truly? Oh, thank you!”

Norah’s face lit up so brilliantly that Lawrence couldn’t help but be a bit smitten.

At such times, he was unable to muster his usual disdain for Weiz, the womanizing money changer in the port town of Pazzio.

But Norah was not a town girl nor was she an artisan girl or a shopgirl. She had a unique freshness to her. Part of it was a seri ous demeanor likely inherited from nuns at the almshouse, who had a slightly negative way of thinking, as if trying to suppress their feelings.

Norah seemed to have taken that unpleasant tendency and replaced it with something else.

It didn’t take a womanizer to notice it. Lawrence was willing to bet that Enek, who even now wagged his tail at Norah, was a male.

“Settling in a town is the dream of all who live by travel, after all.”

These words were still true.

Norah nodded and raised her staff high.

Her bell rang out and Enek bolted, turning the sheep neatly along the road.

They began to talk about food for traveling, becoming excited at the prospect.

Stretching across the wide plain, the road ahead was clear and easy.

Shepherds’ nights come early. They decide where to camp well before the sun sets and are already curled up and sleeping by the time its red disc is low in the sky and the peasants are heading home from the fields. They then rise once the sun is down and the roads free of traffic, and they pass the night with their dogs, watching over the flock.

When dawn begins to break, shepherds sleep on alternale shifts with their dogs. There is little time for sleep in the life ol a shepherd —one reason why the profession is such a hard one. The life of a merchant, who can count on a good night’s sleep, is easy by comparison.

“Hard work, this,” Lawrence muttered to no one in particular us he lay in the wagon bed, holding a piece of dried meat in his mouth. It wasn’t yet cold enough to bother with a fire.

He glanced frequently at Norah’s form, curled up like a stone by the roadside. He’d offered her the wagon bed, but she had begged off, saying this was how she always slept, before laying down in the meager padding afforded by the grass.

When he looked away from her, his eyes landed on Holo, who was at his right. Finally free from the prying eyes of humans, she had her tail out and had begun grooming it.

She never tires of that, thought Lawrence to himself as he looked at the busily grooming Holo, her profile the very image of seriousness. Suddenly she spoke, quietly.

“Daily care of one’s tail is important.”

For a moment Lawrence didn’t understand, but then he remembered what he’d just said a moment age to himself; she was merely responding. He chuckled soundlessly, and Holo glanced at him, a question in her eyes.

“Oh, you meant the child,” she said.

“Her name’s Norah Arendt,” explained Lawrence, amused at Holo’s derisive use of child to refer to the girl.

Holo looked past Lawrence at Norah, then back. Just as Lawrence opened his mouth, she snatched the jerky from it. Lawrence was stunned into silence for a moment. When he came to his senses and tried to take the meat back, he received such an evil eye from Holo that he withdrew his hand.

It wasn’t necessarily because of his teasing, but she was clearly in a foul temper.

She had gone out of her way to sit next to Lawrence as she groomed her tail, so presumably the object of her anger wasn’t him.

The source of her bad mood was obvious, really.

“Look, I did ask you,” said Lawrence.

It sounded like an excuse. Holo sniffed in irritation.

“Can’t even groom my tail in peace.”

“Why don’t you do it in the wagon bed?”

“Hmph. If I do it there..

“If you do it there, what?” Lawrence pressed the suddenly silent Holo, who sneered at him, the jerky still held between her teeth. Evidently she didn’t want to discuss the matter.

Lawrence wanted to know what she was going to say, but if he pushed any further, she would become genuinely angry.

He looked away from Holo, whose wounded-horse mood made her entirely too difficult to deal with, and put a leather flask filled with water to his lips.

Lawrence had just managed to stop thinking of her, and as the sun set, he considered starting a fire when Holo snapped at him. “You certainly seemed to enjoy your little chat with her,” she said.

“Hm? With Norah?”

Holo still had the stolen jerky in her mouth as she looked down at her tail — but her proud tail was obviously not what was on her mind.

“She wanted to talk. I didn’t have any reason to refuse, did I?”

Apparently the indulgence of a wisewolf was not so broad as to forgive pleasant conversation with a hated shepherd.

Holo had pretended to sleep the entire time. Norah had glanced at Holo and seemed inclined to engage the girl —who after all appeared to be roughly her age — in conversation bill had stopped at asking her name. If Holo had wanted to speak to Norah, there had been opportunities aplenty.

“Also, I haven’t spoken to a normal girl in some time,” said Lawrence jokingly as he looked back to Holo — and faltered at what he saw.

Holo’s expression had completely changed.

But it was nothing like the tears of jealousy he’d hoped to see.

She looked at him with nothing less than pity

“You couldn’t even tell that she hated speaking with you?”

“Huh... ?” said Lawrence, casting a look back in Norah’s direction, but stopped himself after a moment. As a merchant, he couldn’t keep falling for the same trick twice.

Pretending he hadn’t looked back at all, he calmed himself and remembered the words of a minstrel he’d once heard.

“Well, if she fell in love with me at first sight, she’d miss the fun of falling for me over weeks and months, eh?” he said.

Lawrence hadn’t been convinced by this statement when he’d first heard it, but saying it now lent it a kind of conviction. Perhaps it really was more fun to fall in love gradually, rather than all at once.

But apparently, it was too much for Holo.

Her mouth dropped open in shock, and the piece of jerky fell

lo the floor.

“I’ve some wit myself, eh?” said Lawrence.

He’d said it to get a laugh out of Holo, but he was also half-serious.

As soon as she heard it, the wave that hit Holo became a tsunami on its way back, and she exploded with laughter.

“Mmph...bu-ha-ha-ha! Oh, oh, that’s too good! Oh! Ha-ha-ha-ha!” Holo was doubled over, clutching her stomach, as she laughed, trying occasionally to stifle it only to dissolve into giggles yet again. Eventually her face turned red and she pitched forward into the pile of armor in the wagon bed, her pained laughter continuing.

Lawrence joined in at first, but as he saw more of Holo’s reaction, his expression darkened.

Her tail, fluffier than normal thanks to its recent grooming, slapped against the wagon bed, almost as if begging for help.

“Okay, that’s too much laughing.”

It was no longer funny.

“... Ye gods,” Lawrence muttered, taking another drink from the water flask, as if to wash down both the irritation at being laughed at, as well as the embarrassment he now felt for quoting a minstrel of all things.

“Haah. Whew. Oh... oh my. That was amusing.”

“Are you quite done?” inquired Lawrence with a sigh, looking off to the sun that now sank into the horizon. He didn’t much feel like looking at Holo, mistake or not.

“Mm. That was quite a trump card you had there.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Lawrence saw Holo nestled atop the pile of armor, her laughter-fatigued face angled toward him.

It was as though she was exhausted after an all-out sprint.

“Well, as long as you’re happy now.”

No matter how much she hated shepherds, Holo’s foul temper had been a bit too foul, Lawrence felt. It was hard to imagine that she was actually jealous of the conversation he’d had with the girl, nor was it true that she’d had absolutely no opportunity to groom her tail.

For a moment he wondered if it was simply shyness, but then he recalled their first meeting and decided that was entirely impossible.

“Hm? Happy?”

The wolf ears of the individual in question — which had become uncovered when she collapsed in laughter — now pricked up curiously as she regarded him with tear-blurred eyes, as thougli he had said something quite strange.

“You were in a foul temper earlier — because you couldn’t tend to your tail, you said.”

She seemed to remember something.

“Oh, quite,” she said, her face calm.

She hauled herself up off of the cargo, then plopped herself back down, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes.

Looking at her now, Lawrence thought she could not care less about whether or not she had sufficient opportunity for tail grooming. Had that just been an excuse to vent her irritation about something else entirely?

“Can’t be helped,” she said.

The tip of her tail slapped lightly against the floor of the wagon.

“Anyway, your trump card made me laugh so hard I turned giddy,” said Holo, chuckling at the memory. She then looked outside the wagon. “Is the child not cold, I wonder?”

Her observation brought Lawrence back to the present. The sun was mostly down, and the sky was a darkening blue. He had best build a fire.

He had heard that shepherds didn’t generally build fires,

I hough that was because they had to watch over and chase down their sheep, not out of any particular resistance to cold.

Lawrence mused on this as he looked at Norah, curled up on the grass’s paltry cushion.

He felt a sudden movement near his mouth and turned to find Holo thrusting a piece of jerky in his direction.

“Payment for your services as a jester.”

“Only one piece of jerky for such laugher?”

“Oh, you don’t want it?” taunted Holo, amused. Despite his embarrassment, Lawrence decided to accept the offering.

— but his teeth closed on air. Holo had drawn her hand back at the last moment.

The wisewolf snickered; Lawrence realized that going up against her was a fool’s errand. If she decided to be so childish, he could only ignore her.

If he didn’t build a fire soon, then they would all be eating dinner in the cold. Lawrence moved to get off the wagon, but Holo grabbed his sleeve and drew near.

Lawrence’s heart skipped a beat.

Her eyelashes still had traces of tears in them, which caught the red light of the setting sun.

“I do think, from time to time, that some raw mutton would be nice — what say you?”

With the mournful bleating of the sheep echoing through the twilight air, Holo’s words — spoken through her ever-keen fangs — could not have been entirely in jest.

After all, she was a wolf.

Lawrence patted Holo’s head as if chiding her for making a bail joke, then hopped off the wagon.

Holo’s lip curled in a brief snarl, but she soon smiled slightly and passed Lawrence the bundle of straw, tinder, and firewood.

Entering Ruvinheigen required passing through two separate

checkpoints. One controlled passage through the city walls, and

t he other was situated out on the main road, which encircled the sprawl of greater Ruvinheigen.

Owing to the heavy traffic in and out of a city this size, one had to obtain a passage document at the outer checkpoint in order t0 pass through the station at the city walls. Legitimate travelers would use the legal routes into the city, obtain proper documents, and pass through the walls — any who lacked the passage document would be turned away on the spot.

The checkpoints also provided some degree of control over the inevitable smuggling and counterfeiting that large cities attracted.

'the road that Lawrence and his companions took was evidently less traveled as their checkpoint — while not exactly crude — was rather simpler than checkpoints on more common routes, and the guard there seemed to know Norah. Using some strange power, she guided her sheep through the purposefully narrow checkpoint gate, and Lawrence followed after having his wares inspected.

The plain checkpoint stood in sharp contrast to the grand, august walls of Ruvinheigen.

It would be completely impossible to breach Ruvinheigen’s walls without control of the surrounding areas. Walls of earth and timber were spoken of with pride in other areas, but here a barrier of stone surrounded the city with lookout towers positioned at regular intervals. Ruvinheigen was nearer a castle than a city, and Holo let out an involuntary gasp of wonder as they regarded it from a convenient hill just past the first inspection point.

Just outside the walls were cultivated fields, and between the fields, roads stretched radially out from the city.

Here a group of pigs was driven by a farmer; there a long merchant caravan was visible. Farther in the distance, a white carpel moved slowly over the ground — probably a flock of sheep sonic shepherd had brought to pasture. Shepherds with flocks numbering over one hundred were not rare, but this shepherd was likely biding his time before finally bringing his sheep into Ruvinheigen to support the city’s consumption of meat.

Everything about the place was extraordinary.

Lawrence and his companions descended the hill and took one of the roads that ran between the fields.

The city was so large that from the hill it had seemed close, but traversing the distance took some time. Norah had to be care ful that her sheep didn’t eat the crops growing at either side of the road. At length, the group was close enough to make out the designs on the city walls.

At this point, Lawrence carefully produced two silver coins and held them out to Norah.

“Right, then, here’s your forty trie.”

Trie were simple copper coins. However, that many coins would be unwieldy, and Lawrence reckoned that the two silver coins he gave her could be exchanged for forty-five trie.

He had paid Norah extra because he felt indebted to her. He

and Holo had been fortunate not to encounter any wolves, but I -awrence was still impressed by the girl’s skill. Even Holo would concede it, and it was easy for Lawrence to see Norah distinguishing herself in the future. The extra money was just an investment to that end.

“Er, but, if I exchange this, won’t it come to more than...?”

“Call it an investment,” said Lawrence.

“An... investment?”

“Now that I know such a skilled shepherd, I might be able to turn a surprising profit on wool,” said Lawrence in a purposefully greedy tone. Norah laughed and grudgingly accepted the

Itwo silver coins.

“We’ll be at the Rowan Trade Guild for a while. If you’ve plans

to take your flock afield again, come by there first. I might be able

to introduce you to a merchant in need of escort.”

“I shall.”

“Oh, one last thing. The area where you can provide escort — is

It    just the route we took?”

“Er, I can go as far as Kaslata and Poroson. Oh, and also to Lamtra.”

Kaslata was a remote town with little to recommend it, and Lawrence was surprised to hear Norah mention Lamtra. Lamtra was one of the few places in the area not under the influence of Ruvinheigen, which controlled the rest of the region. It was not so very far north from the great city—Lawrence and his party ■ couId have gotten there by heading north from the midpoint of the road they had just taken. However, to reach Lamtra required passing through a dark and eerie forest, which even knights blanched at, so it had long resisted invasion from Ruvinheigen and was the only city where significant numbers of pagans still lived.

All the legitimate routes to Lamtra were incredibly roundabout, so Norah must not be suggesting she could provide escort along them. She clearly had confidence in her ability to navigate the forest.

If that was true, there were many merchants who would want to go with her.

“Lamtra, eh? I daresay you’ll have some business,” said Lawrence.

Norah’s face lit up. “Thank you very much!” she said, bowing low as if she was still living in an almshouse.

“My pleasure. Well, then, I’ll be entering from the southeast gate, so here’s where we part ways.”

“Certainly. I hope we meet again,” said Norah.

Lawrence nodded and reined his horse to the left as Norah rang her bell. Ruvinheigen was large enough to have no less than seventeen great gates. Between those were smaller gates used for large groups of sheep and other livestock, which Norah would have to use.

Also, given the city’s labyrinthine interior, it was common sense to enter via the gate nearest one’s destination — the city was just that big.

As they parted, Lawrence looked back over his shoulder at the girl and saw that Norah was still watching him and Holo. When she saw Lawrence turn, Norah waved wistfully to them.

He couldn’t very well not wave back, but he was afraid of being mocked by Holo. Lawrence stole a sideways glance at her, which the wolf girl noticed.

“You think me so ill-natured?”

Lawrence grinned, pained, then faced forward after returning Norah’s wave.

“Hmph. Well, now we’ll see how those honeyed peach preserves taste! I am surely looking forward to that.”

“Hm. So you remembered that, did you?” Lawrence said. As they approached the gate, he considered how much of his load of armor he would lose to the entrance tax.

“Surely you’re not saying you won’t buy any!” Holo was intimidating, despite her sweet smile and modestly tilted head.

Lawrence averted his eyes and muttered almost as if he were praying. “We can’t buy any if they aren’t selling any.”

“Well, naturally,” said Holo, as if entirely confident that the preserves would be for sale.

“Oh, and you probably know this already, but try to act a little more nunlike at the next checkpoint. They’ll be more lenient on a nun.”

“Hmph. I’m not so foolish as to stir up trouble in a city such as

I his. But do I even resemble a nun?”

“There’s no trouble on that count.”

As soon as he said it, Lawrence regretted it. Holo had endured much suffering at the hands of the Church. Saying she looked like a nun might make her angry.

“Heh, is that so?” Holo said, giggling. She seemed happy — surprisingly so.

“... What, you’re not angry?”

“Hm? Why would I be?”

“Well, I mean... the Church is your enemy, more or less.”

“Not necessarily. ’Tis the same as having someone like you around. Nuns are all fundamentally kind, and even a wolf like me can tell that most of them are quite lovely. Beauty transcends

species.”

For his part, Lawrence understood well enough but was mostly glad she wasn’t cross.

And it was true that many nuns were beautiful. This may well have been partially because they were so assiduously meek, pure, and ascetic, but there was also the fact that the illegitimate child of many a noble became a nun.

Many a beautiful woman contrived to use her beauty to become the mistress of a wealthy noble, and many a fetching noble daughter was seduced by a rake, who wielded poetry and art like a weapon.

Often the children resulting from such liaisons were more hale and healthy than their legitimate siblings — most likely because the men and women able to seduce nobility were formidable themselves.

Such children were the cause of a fair share of succession struggles, but most of them would enter an abbey—thus many of the abbey’s brothers and sisters were handsome indeed.

“I don’t think I could suffer the constant fasting, though,” said Holo.

Lawrence laughed openly.

As they progressed down the road that ran alongside the great wall, a lively group of people became visible at its end.

It was the southeast entrance.

The huge gate was flung open, and while some people entered the city, others left, setting out on their travels.

The inspections of people and goods were conducted as one passed through the walls, and despite the volume of traveler s. there was little waiting since so many inspectors were on duty.

However, unlike Poroson, not a single person bothered to form a line, so unless one was familiar with the protocol, it was possible to wind up standing outside the gate for hours. Lawrence knew the procedure, though, and he guided his horse forward, trying his best to avoid colliding with anyone; threading his way past less-knowledgeable folk; and finally arriving at the road that passed under the archway, carved out of the stone wall, which led into the city. In times of war, this was an important point to defend, so the walls here were very thick. Lawrence glanced up to see a thickly timbered gate suspended above the crowds, and with a chill, he wondered what would happen if it were to fall — though he’d never heard of such an accident. Just past the gate, there was an opening in the roof through which boiling

oil could be poured on invading enemies should they breach the wall. The stone around the opening was discolored, perhaps due to frequency of use.

Just past the walls was the inspection checkpoint, and beyond that, Lawrence could see the streets of Ruvinheigen.

Any large city hemmed in by walls — not just Ruvinheigen — had to expand upward, rather than outward, owing to limited space. Ruvinheigen was particularly challenged in this regard, and the city which greeted Lawrence was reminiscent of a ship’s hold piled high with goods. Several buildings looked ready to overflow at any moment. Still beyond those, he could see the high, high roof of Ruvinheigen’s great cathedral.

“You there, merchant!” a voice called out.

Lawrence shifted his attention to a guard wearing thin leather armor who pointed at him.

“Staring at the city will get you in an accident!” chided the guard.

“My apologies.”

There was a titter at Lawrence’s side.

“Next! Uh, you there! The merchant that just got scolded!”

It was difficult to navigate without a proper line. Lawrence choked down the embarrassing brand and guided his horse toward the inspector, bowing in greeting.

“Passage papers,” demanded the inspector impatiently.

“Right here.”

“Hm. Out of Poroson, eh? Your goods?”

“Twenty sets of armor.”

Commerce was prohibited outside the walls, so it was required t hat a merchant’s load match the travel document.

The inspector blinked rapidly. He seemed surprised.

“Armor? From Poroson?”

“Ah, yes. I bought them from the Latparron Company in Poroson. Is there a problem?”

Ruvinheigen had been founded when knights’ companies tasked with suppressing the pagans had set up fortifications, and to this day, the city remained an important supply depot for soldiers heading north. Weapons and armor from surrounding areas were imported here and flew off shelves immediately.

Lawrence was thus puzzled by the inspector’s reaction, but the official just shook his head and turned his attention to the wagon bed. The cart contained twenty sets of helms, gauntlets, breastplates, and greaves — all fashioned out of leather and chain mail. The wine had not been merchandise for sale but would still have been taxed. However, it had long since been drunk dry.

There was nothing suspicious, and the inspector seemed satisfied. He climbed atop the wagon to verify that no taxable items like gold or jewels were hidden within the armor; then, appeased, he climbed back down. He gave the bundle of firewood a cursory check, but hiding anything within it would have been impossible.

“This does seem like Poroson armor. Will you be paying in coin or stock?”

The armor was worth one hundred lumione total, so the 10 percent tax would amount to ten lumione.

Ten lumione itself came to more than three hundred pieces of trenni silver, and no merchant would travel carrying so much coin. It would have been inconvenient for the inspector to count out three hundred pieces even if Lawrence had them.

Handing over some of the armor itself as tax solved all these problems.

“Stock,” said Lawrence.

“Good answer,” replied the inspector, which elicited a sigh of relief from Lawrence. “Turn in two sets of armor over there,” he said, recording something with a quill on a piece of paper, which he handed to Lawrence.

Two suits of armor out of twenty satisfied the 10 percent tax.

Lawrence nodded after confirming the accuracy of the receipt.

For Holo’s part, she was every inch a nun and thus went unquestioned. This was a city of the Church, and suspicion of priests or nuns was likely more trouble than it was worth.

In any case, relieved that he’d gotten through the checkpoint smoothly, Lawrence descended from the wagon, then took hold of the reins, and walked on. It would only become more crowded — and thus dangerous — ahead.

The area around the tax collection point was like a war, a din of colliding languages and clothing. Lawrence could hear the same haggling and begging one heard at any site where taxes were remitted.

Naturally, he didn’t engage in anything so foolish as haggling over taxes and obediently handed over the required two suits of armor.

However, the clerk took a look at the receipt Lawrence received from the inspector and knitted his brow.

Lawrence was suddenly nervous — had there been some impropriety? But no, it seemed everything was in order.

Unclear as to what had just happened, Lawrence passed through the checkpoint and into the city, climbing back atop the wagon.

The reaction of the inspector on seeing the cargo of armor was a mystery, but Lawrence had made it through, so there no more cause for concern.

He muttered reassurances to himself, but a certain uneasiness remained.

“Hey, merchant,” said Holo.

Lawrence was suddenly unsettled at the sound of Holo’s voice, as though he was about to hear something unpleasant. “What?”

Holo spoke slowly in response to Lawrence’s question. “Mm. I

am hungry.”

Lawrence looked ahead again, ignoring both Holo’s complaint and his own lingering unease.

The great cathedral of Ruvinheigen is so massive that it is visible from anywhere in the city. The metropolis spreads out around the cathedral — the district closest to it is known as the old city, hemmed in by the old city walls, and surrounding those walls, in turn, is the rest of Ruvinheigen.

In the southern part of the roughly circular municipality was its biggest gate, and passing through the structure — which was large enough to allow siege engines through — there was a plaza so wide as to be the envy of any foreign king, with a fountain cre ated using the latest craftsmanship available in the south and a permanent marketplace.

Around the edges of the plaza sat the great trading firms of the region, the homes of true power and influence in the city, all _; linked at the eaves. Beyond them were smaller trading companies and the homes and shops of a wide variety of craftsmen.

The great cathedral stood in the middle of another of Ruvinheigen’s plazas, which were arranged as a great pentagon with the southern gate at its peak. Each plaza had its own char acteristics, almost like a city within a city.

Lawrence and Holo passed through the southeast entrance, and though the square they entered could hardly be compared to the great southern plaza, it was still sizable.

In the center of the square stood striking statues of knights, who had accomplished some memorable deed in the war against

the pagans, and saints, who had made some important contribution to the faith.

Scores of stalls were lined up in the plaza with people on straw mats hawking their wares within the structures.

There were no stalls around the bronze statues, though. Instead, an ensemble traded musical phrases with a minstrel playing a plain wooden flute while a famous troupe of comedic actors plied their trade. Mingling with the entertainers were pilgrim priests, clad in rags and wielding tattered books of scripture as they preached; t heir rapturously attentive disciples wore even worse clothing.

It seemed like the order of the day in the district was getting a light snack at one of the booths, watching the performers, and taking in a sermon after you had your fun.

After Lawrence and Holo arranged for a room at an inn and stabled the horse, they started for the trading house to begin their business arrangements when they found themselves drawn tnward the commotion of happy voices and delicious scents.

They held some fried lamprey eel, which seemed to be a popu-

lar snack. The sweetness of the oil masked the earthy smell of the stuff, and no sooner had you finished a piece than you wanted ■mother, which seemed to be human nature. The next thing Lawrence knew, he and Holo had stopped in front of a drink stand, taking in the comedy show over some beer.

"Mmm, that’s tasty,” said Holo after she drained one cup, and

wit    h foam still clinging to the corners of her mouth, she ordered another round. The barman was only too happy to serve such a profitable customer.

Having snacked on fried eel and beer all afternoon, Holo no longer looked anything like a nun.

The outfit she used upon entering the city would have been less

convincing because of Lawrence’s presence — nothing was fishier

than a person of faith traveling with a merchant, after all.

So Holo had switched her robe for a rabbit-skin cape, but she folded the robe up and wrapped it about her waist, using the resulting makeshift skirt to hide her tail. Her perpetually troublesome ears were concealed under a triangular kerchief.

Thus had Holo transformed from nun to town lass. The square was packed with girls who had abandoned work for an afternoon of fun, so she hardly stood out. The way she drank, with no regard for her coin purse, made it easy to think she was parting some guileless merchant from his money.

Actually, as Lawrence paid in advance, the barman seemed to think it was he who had been tripped up by this casually expen sive girl.

Lawrence gave the man a pained smile to deflect the issue, but the barman wasn’t necessarily wrong, either.

“The liquor is good and the people lively — ’tis a good city, no?”

“The liveliness comes at a price — we have to watch ourselves, especially around any knights or mercenaries. A quarrel with their ilk will be more trouble than we need.”

“You can count on me,” said Holo.

Lawrence sighed instead of voicing his thoughts on the matter. “Right, well, we should be moving on.”

He had finished his second beer while Holo had downed four in the same amount of time, so it seemed an opportune moment to leave.

“Mm? Already? I’ve not yet begun to drink.”

“You can drink more tonight. Let’s go.”

Looking back and forth from Lawrence to her cup, Holo finally seemed to give up and backed away from the stall. The barman called out “come again!” and his voice disappeared into the crowd alongside Lawrence and Holo.

“So, then, where do we go?”

“To the trading house — and at least wipe your mouth, hm?”

Only now aware of the foam at the corners of her mouth, Holo brought her sleeve to her lips as if to wipe them.

However, thinking better of this at the last second, she instead grabbed Lawrence’s sleeve and wiped her mouth on it.

“Why, you — I’ll remember that.”

“And yet you’ve already hit me,” said Holo, holding his head off with one hand and glaring at him, her other hand firmly clamped around Lawrence’s. Her anger at being poked lasted but a moment.

“Still,” she continued.

“Hm?”

“Why must you drag me along to this trading house? I’d just as soon drink my fill in the square.”

“It’s too dangerous to leave you alone,” warned Lawrence.

Holo looked blank for a moment, then giggled bashfully— perhaps she’d misunderstood.

“Mm, ’tis true. I am a bit too lovely to be left alone!”

It was true that Holo, with the fall of her red-brown hair swaying, tended to attract attention, and some of those who looked on must have envied Lawrence, who held her hand.

It wasn’t that he didn’t take a bit of pride in walking around with Holo, but the fact was that there was no telling what trouble he would get into if left on her own.

The square was a fun, lively place, but fun, lively places seemed to attract more than their share of trouble. If by some fluke her

true form was exposed there, it would be disastrous.

"No amount of loveliness will put Church guards or temple knights off your tail,” said Lawrence. “What ifyou get drunk and let your ears or tail show?”

“Why, I’ll just turn on them. I’ll grab you in my jaws, and we’ll dash from the city. I can surely leap over those walls. Isn’t there some old story about a knight and a princess like that?”

“What, the one where the knight rescues the captured princess?”

“That’s the one!” said Holo, amused. For Lawrence, there wasn't a trace of romance in the idea of Holo assuming her wolf form and escaping with him between her teeth.

Quite the contrary, just the thought of being clamped between those great jaws made Lawrence want to shudder.

“Well, don’t do that,” he said.

“Mm. If you’re the one that’s captured, there’s little gain in res cuing you.”

Lawrence made a pained expression and looked at Holo, who eyed him mischievously.

The two of them passed around the swirl of people and headed north on a narrow lane where storefronts stood under the sparkling, sunlit eaves that lined the block. There were no trading companies here, but rather buildings with merchant unions and trading houses. Some were economic associations created by mixed groups of merchants from different areas; others were buildings for craft unions created by textile merchants who cooperated regardless of their origin.

The world offered no protection for merchants who met with danger or accidents. Just as knights wore helms and breastplates, merchants banded together to assure their own safety. The latest economic alliances were a match for even a merchant’s worst enemy: a nation bent on abusing its power.

One famous story had eighteen regions and twenty-three guilds coming together in the most powerful economic alliance ever created, matching forces with an army fourteen thousand strong and claiming victory almost instantly. The union that was formed to preserve profits transcended borders and was a good example of the solidarity to which such groups could give rise.

For that reason, the buildings these unions and associations made use of were somehow quite orderly, and those that frequented them conducted themselves politely.

Without civility, a long-standing rivalry between (for example) a fishmonger and a butcher might escalate into violence and overflow into the town.

Such manners generally sprung from an aversion to sullying one’s organization’s good name, but they were still very important to merchants. Commerce depended on trust and reputation, after all.

“Right then, I’ve got business to take care of, so just wait here,” instructed Lawrence once they arrived at the trading house with which he was associated. He saw the building painted in the local style and could not help but feel a certain nostalgia. He kept it to himself, though, out of consideration for Holo, whose homeland was still far away.

Holo regarded him as he feigned indifference. “What, are you not going to bring me in and show me off to your old village mates?”

It seemed she had spotted the bit of pride he’d mustered along the way, but that wasn’t enough to bother him anymore.

“That would basically amount to a preamble to marriage. My town’s marriage ceremonies are quite rowdy — are you sure you’re up for that?”

This sort of thing was quite universal. Holo’s knowledge of the human world seemed to give her some idea.

She shook her head in distaste.

“I’ll be done soon. If you wait nicely, I’ll buy you some sweetbread,” said Lawrence.

“I’ll thank you not to treat me like a child.”

“Oh, you don’t want any?”

“I do.”

Lawrence couldn’t help but laugh at Holo’s serious reply, and leaving her there, he ascended the steps to the building and rapped on the door of the trading company. The door had no knocker, which was a sign that only members should knock.

After waiting some time, however, there was still no answer.

Lawrence ventured to open the door on his own. Given the time of day, it was possible that everyone was out in the marketplace — and as he expected, the interior was silent. The first floor was a spacious lobby set up as a drinking hall in which the members could relax, but the chairs were set atop the round tables, and a mop leaned against one wall. Evidently the room was being cleaned.

Nothing had changed in the year Lawrence had been away, save the hairline of the guild master who tended the front counter — which had receded. He imagined the master’s already large belly had grown larger, but unfortunately the man seemed to find it difficult to stand, so Lawrence couldn’t be sure.

The master lifted his gaze from the counter and with a friendly smile began his usual ribbing. “Well, now, what a poor merchant is this! Wandering around a trading house at this hour — cares not a whit for making money. You’d do better changing into a thief’s clothes and getting yourself to an alehouse!”

“The greatest merchants make money without dirtying their shoes with so much as a speck of dust; their only stain is the ink upon their fingers. Running around the marketplace all day is the sign of the third-rate merchant. Am I wrong?”

Every time they met like this, Lawrence used to get angry recalling the master’s inexplicable habit of jesting at him when he was a young apprentice. Somewhere along the line, he had learned to spar right back without getting flustered.

Lawrence easily returned the master’s jape, then straightened and brought his heels together smartly, squaring himself to the counter as he approached it.

The man ensconced behind the counter was squarely built and ■■lout and slapped his forehead at Lawrence’s reply, grinning. "You’ve gotten clever, boy. Welcome home, my son!”

“Stop the ‘my son’ nonsense.”

“What are you saying? All in the Rowen Trade Guild are my sons and daughters.”

The two shook hands over the familiar exchanges.

"And yet I know of all the times you wet your bedroll after we made camp — and is it not the teaching of God that a good father knows well his son? Or should I mention the time you stole the cash box and snuck off with your friends, trembling, to the whorehouse?”

"All right, all right. I’m Kraft Lawrence, then, son of the great lakob Tarantino.”

"So, Kraft my boy. You’re back in Ruvinheigen after a year gone. How fares our family in other towns?” Jakob's manner was as overbearing as always, and it hit Lawrence with all the harsh edge and warmth of liquor. The trading house was truly his homeland in a foreign city.

This was the kind of harsh hospitality he only tasted at home.

"They’re all doing well by the grace of the saints.”

"Good, good. Well, now, if you’ve gone the rounds among family, you must be fairly brimming with profit! If your purse is heavy, your trousers sag. If your trousers sag, the ladies won’t like you. And you, lad, are a vain one. Am I wrong?”

Lawrence had no comeback. Laughing at the master’s heavy-

handled way of seeking a contribution, he replied, “I’ve heard that the ability to handle figures gets bad with age, but old Jakob’s eyes are still sharp, I see.”

Lawrence seamlessly withdrew ten silver pieces from the purse fixed at his waist and slapped them down on the counter with .1 flourish.

If he’d grudgingly handed over two or three copper coins, he would have gotten an earful.

He wanted to show the old man up, and in any case, his prolil from the spice had been sizable. The generous donation was .1 kind of report that he was doing business on this scale now—and Jakob broke into a grin at it.

“Ha-ha-ha, the little bed wetter’s bringing in real silver now! How lovely.”

“Enough about the bed-wetting.”

“You still are one to me, boy.”

Lawrence shrugged, at which point Jakob’s laugh rang out again.

“Well, then, you’ve come all the way out here in the middle o| the day, so you must be here on business. You need a certificate?'

“Yes.”

“I surely look forward to the day when you’re a famous enough merchant that people flinch at the mention of your name,” said Jakob.

“You’re telling me,” agreed Lawrence — then remembered In had something else to mention. “Oh, right. Do you know of any traders in the guild that’re headed to Lamtra?”

Jakob placed a pen and ink pot on the desk, then looked up, and raised his eyebrows at Lawrence. “Now that’s a strange question,” he remarked.

“I was just thinking of providing a shortcut to Lamtra in exchange for a consideration..

Jakob’s gaze swung around for a moment before settling again on Lawrence. He wore a meaningful smile.

“Oh ho. Have you met a certain young shepherdess?”

Lawrence was taken so off guard that his breath momentarily

caught in his throat, but when he stopped to consider it, he found it was far from surprising that merchants in Ruvinheigen would know of Norah the shepherd girl.

Which meant that Lawrence’s radical idea had already occurred to others.

“You’re far from the first to have that idea, boy. Especially after the road that went through the area she wanders was finished. But nobody makes a business of that now, and nobody asks that girl for escort. Do you know why?” Jakob spoke smoothly as he wrote out the certificate.

Lawrence answered with a sigh, “Because there’s no business in it?”

Jakob nodded and looked up. “That girl’s the only one who wanders that area unscathed. Sure, Norah the Nymph’s pretty popular with her charm and skill, but I don’t have to tell you what the Church thinks about that. Nobody wants to get tangled up with those sons of bitches.”

He dipped the tip of his quill in the ink pot and continued, a malicious leer on his face. “I know Norah the Nymph is the type of girl you like, but here’s some free advice: Give it up.”

It was just everyday morning conversation, but it cut a little too close to the quick, and Lawrence could only offer a pained sort of smile in reply.

“So, who do I make the certificate out to? Or should I leave it blank?”

“No, make it out to the Remelio Company, please.”

Jakob paused again for a moment.

He looked back at Lawrence with the appraising eyes of a merchant.

“Remelio, eh? If you already know who you’re selling to..., you must be selling on margin, then, hmm?”

“Yes. Out of Poroson. Is there something I should know?” asked

Lawrence, only to be hit by a sudden, severe look that surfaced like a fish from the depths of a pond.

“Mm. Well, you’ll see when you get there. Here, your certificate.”

When a merchant first sold goods to a trading house, the worst problem he might encounter was if a competing merchant forced their prices down. Such things didn’t happen too often in smaller towns like Pazzio and Poroson, but Ruvinheigen was large, and because of the connections between the many trading firms and associations, it happened often. Ruvinheigen was an obvious place for large transactions, and the smaller transactions of individual merchants were like grains of sand.

Thus, Lawrence would state which trading guild he was associated with and make it clear that he could not be trifled with. With I he name of a guild behind him, he wouldn’t be treated badly.

“The Rowen Trade Guild is under the protection of Saint Lam-bardos. I’ll pray for your good fortune,” said Jakob.

“My thanks...

Lawrence took the certificate that proved his affiliation with the Rowen Trade Guild, vaguely thanking Jakob, who clearly knew more than he was saying.

Lawrence knew from experience that if he asked for more information, he would not get it.

However, in such situations, it was likely that he would come to the answer after either further thought or investigation.

What could it possibly be? he wondered.

“Yes, yes, you’ll see when you go. It’s you we’re talking about here, so I’m sure you’ll turn it to your advantage.” Jakob’s words only served to further confuse Lawrence, but if going to the trading house would lead to understanding, he had no choice but to advance. In all likelihood, some commodity’s price had destabilized, and the Remelio Company was in some kind of chaos.

Lawrence put the thought out of his mind, gave Jakob his thanks, and turned to leave. He had come here to sell his goods, and getting distracted before he did that accomplished nothing.

The moment he put his hand to the door, he was stopped short by Jakob’s voice.

Lawrence looked back and saw Jakob smiling pleasantly.

“Oh, and just you wait before getting involved with any girls, you hear? Even a mild one like Norah’s too much for you to handle — a city girl would take up all your profits just like that!”

There were windows in the guild house’s walls, but they were not made of glass like the great trading companies’ — instead oil-soaked sheets of linen cloth served as the panes. This let a bit of light in, but one could hardly see through them.

Yet it seemed Jakob had spotted Holo just beyond the door.

It was proof the man possessed the cunning to run a trade guild in a foreign land; his was far beyond that of a normal person.

“You can’t invest without capital.”

“Ha-ha! Well met, you bed wetter!”

Lawrence grinned sheepishly and opened the door; Jakob was still laughing when he closed it behind him.

He remembered his days as an apprentice. When faced with people like Jakob, he had been in such a hurry to grow up, to sur pass them. It was nostalgic, but bitter and biting at the same time.

Lawrence reflected on how young he still was as he looked toward the base of the stone steps. Just at that moment, Holo glanced over her shoulder at him.

“Oh, there he is. That’s my companion,” said Holo.

She was sitting at the base of the steps as she pointed rudely at him. In front of her were two boys, probably apprentices to some tradesman. They looked to be around fifteen or sixteen, about the same age Holo appeared. They were carrying packages, perhaps out on an errand for their parents.

The boys, just barely old enough to shave, regarded Lawrence with animosity after hearing Holo’s words. Dealing with them could have been a hassle, but they flinched slightly when Lawrence sighed.

There was a world of difference in the social position of a craftsman’s apprentice and a guild merchant. The boys had probably approached the obviously bored Holo, but now, confronted with Lawrence, they realized there was nothing they could do, so looking to each other, the two apprentices scampered off.

Holo giggled. “They were precious. Called me a beautiful rose, they did,” she said, laughing as she watched the boys dash off, but Lawrence’s face showed his distress.

“Don’t mess around with them. Apprentice boys are like wild dogs. You could get taken.”

“And in that case, you could come rescue me again. Am I wrong?” Faced with her unexpectedly guileless response, Lawrence couldn’t help but feel a bit happy, but his face remained stern. "Sure, I’d rescue you.”

Holo grinned and stood. “Of course, in the end, 7 was the one who rescued you.”

She had him there.

Lawrence covered his eyes out of irritation and descended the steps. She took his right arm, snickering.

“I don’t know what kind of return you’re expecting, but I’ll take that investment,” she said.

“... You heard all that?”

“My precious little ears can tell when you so much as twitch an eyebrow. So you have a thing for fair hair, do you?”

Lawrence only managed a confused “Huh?” at Holo’s utterly inexplicable reasoning before she continued.

"And so scrawny, too. Or do you like the careworn look? Or do you just have a thing for shepherdesses?”

Her rapid-fire interrogation made Lawrence think of a suspension bridge with its ropes being cut one after another. He stared at Holo, alarmed, but she just smiled back.

Her smile was the most frightening thing yet.

“Now wait just a minute — that’s just Master Jakob’s way of saying hello. If he’s got an opportunity, it’s like a game for him to say stuff like that. I’m not — ”

“Not what?” Lawrence saw in Holo’s eyes that she wouldn’t tolerate a lie.

He had no choice but to tell the truth. “W-well, sure, I thought Norah was nice. I can’t say our conversation wasn’t nice. But... that doesn’t mean I’m not thinking of you, or... well, it doesn't mean that.”

He got flustered halfway through, and it was suddenly very hard to face Holo. He’d never had to say anything like this in his entire life.

Having gotten it out, he took a deep breath. After composing himself a bit, he glanced over at his companion, who regarded him with a measure of surprise on her face.

“I was just teasing...”

The embarrassment and anger Lawrence felt at these words was sliced clean through by the smile Holo gave him.

“I didn’t think you’d take me at my word, there... it’s nice.”

She looked down and squeezed his arm just slightly.

For Lawrence, it hadn’t been the dissembling or prevarication of a business negotiation, but a way of seeing how close they could become.

Mostly unconscious of and unconcerned with how it might look, Lawrence moved to put his left arm around Holo but embraced only air.

She had soundlessly slipped from his grasp.

“Still, males are ever thus. They’ll say anything.”

Looking at her sad, serious manner, even Lawrence could easily imagine that sometime in Holo’s past, someone had said something careless and hurtful, something that she still felt resentment over.

But Lawrence was a merchant. He was always careful with his words.

“So — you’ll need to show me something. Do knights not entrust their swords and shields as proof of their good faith? You’re a merchant, so what will you show me?

Lawrence had also heard the tales of knights who would hand over their swords and shields — said to be their very souls — when swearing oaths of loyalty.

So what, then, of a merchant? The answer was obvious: money.

Lawrence could just imagine Holo’s unamused expression if he handed her a purse full of coins.

He needed to buy something for her, something that would both make her happy and stand for the money—his merchant’s soul — that he would unhesitatingly use for her sake.

The item that sprang immediately to mind was the ultimate luxury: honeyed peach preserves.

"Fine,” said Lawrence. “I’ll show you I don’t say such things lightly.”

Her eyes filled with a mixture of suspicion and anticipation.

If he could somehow answer the question in those red-brown pupils of hers, well — than honeyed peach preserves would be a bargain.

"I’ll buy you some honeyed peach...”

That was as far as Lawrence got before a strange feeling came over him, specifically regarding the triangular kerchief on Holo’s head.

Holo cocked her head curiously at the frozen Lawrence.

Then, with a quick “Oh,” she hastily put her hands to her head.

Don’t tell me you —,” Lawrence started.

“Wh-what? What’s wrong? You were about to say you would buy me something?”

He had to give her credit for staying shameless, but Lawrence wasn’t going to simply laugh this off.

Looking at the kerchief on her head made it obvious. Beneath it, her ears had been twitching strangely, vigorously. That was the proof.

This was all part of her plan.

“You know, there are some things you just can’t do!” he said.

Holo seemed to realize that her plan had failed, and now suddenly sullen, she stuck her lower lip out in a pout. “You said I should ask more charmingly!”

For a moment Lawrence didn’t follow her, but then he remembered their conversation on the outskirts of Poroson. Exasperated, he looked up to the heavens.

“No, I said you should ask nicely. I never said anything about feminine wiles!”

“But I was charming, was I not?”

Lawrence hated himself for not having a ready reply, and hated himself still more for not becoming angrier with her.

“Though I must say,” continued Holo, “you were twice as charming. That was far more exciting than if my plan had gone as I meant it to.”

Finally, at a loss for words, Lawrence simply walked down the road.

Holo laughed and followed him.

“Come now, don’t be angry!”

When he gave her a look that said “whose fault is that?” she just laughed at him harder.

“I was happy, though, truly. Are you still angry?”

Lawrence found his expression softened by the way Holo's swaying, chestnut-brown hair complemented her smile.

He suddenly very much wanted to share a drink with his reliably silent horse — who was male.

“Fine, I’m not mad. I’m not mad — okay?”

Holo let slip a private smile as if enjoying her victory, exhaling before she spoke again.

“It won’t do to get separated. May I take your hand?”

To return to their lodgings, they would have to reenter the crowded streets, but even separated from Lawrence, Holo would have no trouble finding her way.

So it was an obvious pretense.

She was a canny old wolf, indeed. Lawrence relented. “Yes, we mustn’t get separated,” he agreed.

Holo smiled, and her hand slipped into his.

All Lawrence could do was tighten his grip ever so slightly on that hand.

“So, what about my honeyed peach preserves?”

The cathedral bells rang out to signal noontime — and the beginning of a new battle.

The Remelio Company was a wholesaler that operated a shop in the Church city of Ruvinheigen.

Lawrence, betting that he would be able to turn a profit, had half threatened the Latparron Company into letting him buy up more armor than he had assets to secure. In order to pay them back, he planned to sell to the Remelio Company, which Latparron often dealt with — and there would be no need to return all

the way to Poroson to repay his debt. He’d just have them record it in their ledgers and that would be that.

He entered a street one block removed from a crowded main road and arrived at the Remelio Company.

It was the rear entrance, where a large area was reserved for loading and unloading goods.

In a city the size of Ruvinheigen, unloading goods through a shop’s front entrance was considered uncivilized. If you tried it on a street with heavy traffic, you’d be laughed at, at best, and at worst, you would not be able to sell your goods at all. In fact, in many places, merchants weren’t even supposed to take their wagons on streets with heavy traffic.

This was why, on the side streets running parallel to the main street, horses pulling wagons often outnumbered pedestrians. Lawrence knit his brows.

The area around the Remelio Company seemed oddly quiet.

“Is this company managed by monks?” Holo asked.

“With monks, I’d at least expect to hear prayers. But I don’t hear a thing.”

Holo, munching on a bread roll, lightly took off her kerchief and started to prick up her ears, but Lawrence had no time for such roundabout methods. He got off the driver’s seat, crossed the slope for wagons to pass through, and entered the loading dock.

Buildings were densely packed, and maintaining a loading dock in Ruvinheigen — a city where people constantly joked that buildings were so close together that “poor people can sleep between them standing up” — was not easy. Yet the Remelio Company’s dock could accommodate at least three wagons with space for easily a hundred sacks of wheat. There was a table for conducting negotiations and an exchange stand in the corner, and the walls were decorated with parchment on which blessings for good commerce had been written.

It was a magnificent dock.

But livestock feed was scattered everywhere, along with pieces of horse dung and the remains of this and that cargo. Clearly, no one was tending to its upkeep, and there was not a dockmaster in sight.

Business comes and goes, so it would not be outlandish to have times when there are simply no customers. But it was still common sense to keep your shop neat and tidy.

It was as if the company had been destroyed. Lawrence withdrew and got back in the wagon’s seat. Holo appeared to have finished her bread and now rummaged around for her meat pie, which, if Lawrence remembered correctly, was supposed to be his.

“If you eat that much, the sound of your chewing is going to wreck that hearing you’re so proud of.”

“Nicely put — but for the sake of my reputation, I should tell you I can hear the sound of someone in the building.”

Holo then bit down enthusiastically on the meat pie. She was clearly not going to have just a bit.

“There’s someone there?”

“Mm... mmph... mrgh. Seems dangerous, though. At the very least, it’s nothing pleasant.”

Hearing this, the five wooden stories of the Remelio Company, given the state of its loading dock, started to seem downright sinister. Nothing was so cursed as a trading company that had gone bankrupt. When that happened, the local church usually found itself very busy conducting funerals for the newly deceased.

“Well, there’s no point wandering around here. We can’t make money if we can’t sell the goods.”

“A meat pie’s no good until you eat it,” agreed Holo.

“I was saving that!”

Lawrence shot Holo a glare before moving the wagon and got an equally sour look for his trouble.

But perhaps eating the whole thing would have been a bit too much guilt — Holo split the pie and offered one half to Lawrence.

It was about a quarter of what he had originally planned to eat, hut as complaining might have cost him what little was left, he •Hatched the piece up.

Normally meat pies were made with ground beef that was approaching the expiration date set by the butchers guild, but here in Ruvinheigen, the meat pies were as noble as the city itself.

The meat was entirely tasty, and Lawrence ate his pie in two bitess as he drove the wagon up to the deserted loading dock.

The horse’s hooves clopped against the ground, and it seemed as though their familiar sound reached the ears of the people within. Lawrence drove the wagon up, climbing down from the driver’s seat just as the dockmaster finally emerged.

“I daresay there are a few hours left before the sabbath — so what is the matter?” said Lawrence.

“Er, well, that is...did sir come to the city today...?” The middle-aged dockmaster slurred his words initially, but his fat ulties seemed to return to him as he appraised Lawrence.

Those eyes were like a thief eyeing his mark’s coin purse, and Law-rence’s merchant instinct sensed danger. The dockmaster seemed ragged now that Lawrence got a look at him. This was a place of physical labor, so he would hardly be standing ramrod straight, but even so, Lawrence could tell if someone was filled with vigor.

This was not good. This was clearly not good.

“No, I came a few days ago. You know how it goes. Well, you seem busy, so I’ll come by later. I’m in no special hurry”

Lawrence avoided making eye contact, and without waiting for the dockmaster’s reply, he turned back to the wagon.

Holo seemed to sense something off as well. She looked to Law-rence questioningly but soon nodded. Despite her appearance as a normal town girl, her wits were extraordinary. She didn’t boast of being a wisewolf for nothing.

But the dockmaster did not give up so easily.

“Well, now, do wait just a moment, sir. I can tell sir is a trader of some repute. It would be rude of me to let sir leave empty-handed."

If Lawrence just refused the man, there was no telling how his reputation might spread around the city.

But the merchant blood fairly frothed in his veins.

Run, it said. This is dangerous.

“Not at all,” replied Lawrence. “I’m a merchant with little besides complaints to sell.”

It was only a third-rate merchant who was so clumsily self-effacing when selling. Humility was a virtue for men of the cloth, but for traders, it was like sticking one’s head in a noose.

But Lawrence had judged that escape was the best plan. Holo’s frozen posture reinforced this decision.

“Sir shouldn’t sell himself so cheaply! Even a blind beggar could tell sir is a man of stature!”

“Flattery will get you nowhere,” said Lawrence, sitting in the wagon seat and grabbing the reins. The dockmaster seemed to be able to tell that it was time to relent. He had been leaning forward so earnestly that he almost stumbled, but now he righted himself.

It seemed like Lawrence was off the hook, so he spoke briefly to the dockmaster. “Well, then, I’ll take my leave...”

“Yes... most unfortunate. I await sir’s return,” said the dock-master with an ingratiating smile. Lawrence took that as his cue to exit, so he started to move the wagon.

The dockmaster, however, took advantage of this small gap in Lawrence’s defense. “I believe I forgot to ask sir’s name,” he said. “Lawrence. From the Rowen Trade Guild.”

Lawrence gave his name without thinking, then suddenly, he wondered if giving his name to someone he didn’t know, in a situation he didn’t understand, was a mistake — but he could think of no reason why it would matter.

Most likely, the dockmaster simply hadn’t known what Lawrence had come to this place to do.

However —

“Lawrence, you say. Indeed. From the Latparron Company.”

The dockmaster grinned unpleasantly.

Ihe jolt that ran through Lawrence’s spine was impossible to describe.

There was no reason he could think of for the dockmaster to know his name.

“You were bringing some armor to our company, yes?”

Lawrence was suddenly nauseated as he sensed he had fallen into some kind of trap. His instinct screamed it at him.

He looked slowly over to the dockmaster.

It can’t be. It can’t be. It can’t be.

“Actually, last night a messenger on a fast horse came to us. The Latparron Company has had their obligations assigned to our company. So, you see, you have a debt to us, Mr. Lawrence.”

With those words, everything changed.

Normally, obligation transfers did not take place over messenger horse. But the abnormality made the transfer all the more believable — for example, if two companies were engaging In fraud.

If Lawrence hadn’t been sitting in the wagon, he would have collapsed.

Even sitting, he lurched over from the force of the words.

Holo, surprised, caught Lawrence as he toppled.

“What is wrong?” she asked.

He didn’t want to consider it.

The dockmaster answered for him.

“The merchant beside you has failed at business—just like us." His happiness was clearly no more than schadenfreude.

“What?” asked Holo.

Lawrence wished desperately for this all to be a dream.

“The price of armor must have plunged some time ago. The old fox at Latparron shifted his dead stock onto us.”

The future was dark.

“We’ve been had...”

Lawrence’s hoarse voice was all that tied him to reality.

"We both live by such agreements. You understand, right?”

These were the words every merchant feared.

And every merchant would lament his fate upon such a collapse.

“Of course I do. I’m a merchant, after all.” It was all Lawrence

could do to say even that much.

“It’s simple. Of the exactly one hundred lumione worth of armor you bought from the Latparron Company, you will need

to remit to us the amount recorded in the obligation deed, to wit — forty-seven and three-quarters lumione. You are aware of what this amounts to, correct?”

Remelio looked as stricken as Lawrence felt.

The man’s eyes and cheeks were sunken, his shirt hadn’t been changed in several days, and his eyes glittered strangely. He was not a big man to begin with, but Remelio’s weary, thin features made him look like a wounded bear cub.

He didn’t just seem wounded —he was wounded, nearly fatally.

Hans Remelio, the master of the Remelio Company, unconsciously  ran his hand through his slightly graying hair as he continued to press Lawrence.

“We’d like you to settle your debt immediately Otherwise..."

Lawrence thought about how much he would rather be threat ened at knifepoint than hear this.

“... We’ll have to demand that the Rowen Trade Guild assume the debt in your place.”

It was the threat every merchant who was attached to a trading house feared.

The guild was a merchant’s second home, but it could turn into an angry debt collector in the blink of an eye.

In that moment, merchants who go about their work, prepared to half abandon their homes, have nowhere to go for respite.

“Well, the term of the loan was through the day after tomorrow, so give me two days. I’ll pay back the forty-seven and three quarters lumione by then,” said Lawrence.

It was not an amount he could hope to collect in two days. Even if he were to call in all the credit from every conceivable source he had, the money wouldn’t amount to half of what he owed.

A person could live for three months on a single lumione. Even a child knew that forty-seven lumione was a huge amount of money

As did the bearlike master of the company, Remelio.

Ruin.

The word seemed to hang before Lawrence’s eyes.

“What do you wish to do with the armor you brought, Mr. Lawrence? It will only sell for a pittance if it even sells at all regardless of where you go.”

Remelio’s thin, derisive smile was not meant to mock Law rence.

After all, Remelio himself had been brought to the edge of ruin by the same plunge in armor prices that now threatened Lawrence.

Ruvinheigen served as a supply depot for knights, mercenaries, and missionaries heading north to suppress the pagans. Thus armor and scriptures were reliable sources of profit.

Every winter there was a major campaign. The march was timed to coincide with the birthday of Saint Ruvinheigen, and in order to equip the mercenaries and knight brigades that amassed from surrounding nations, goods like armor, scriptures, rations, cold-weather clothes, horses, and medicine all flew off the shelves.

This year the march had been hastily canceled. There was political unrest in the nation that stretched out between the pagan territories and the Ruvinheigen-controlled land where the battles normally occurred, and that nation’s disposition toward Ruvinheigen had suddenly soured. If it had been a normal nation that would have been one thing, but this particular nation bordered the pagan lands, and even within its borders, there were here and there pagan villages. One of the closest was Lamtra. Those who had to fight the pagans could cross into the other nation, but if they marched through it like they would any other year, there was no telling when the pagans, who silently watched them, might attack. The archbishop that controlled the grand diocese was in attendance, as were members of the imperial family from the south. They could not let the unthinkable happen.

Thus, the campaign was canceled.

As to how stricken the city’s merchants were because of this decision, one had to look no further than the predicament of the Remelio Company, which had operated in Ruvinheigen for many years. Even so, Lawrence should have realized something was

awry while he was traveling — if the mercenaries that fought in the battlegrounds of the north were wandering around Ruvinheigen,

there had clearly been some kind of change in the battlefield.

What’s more, given the drop in armor prices and the way Law-rence had learned of it, he had to assume that when he’d gotten the armor in Poroson, the master of the Latparron Company had al- ready known.

In other words, when he’d thought he was taking advantage of a weakness in order to force favorable terms for himself, he had actually been used.

Having sold devalued armor to Lawrence at such a price, the Latparron Company master was probably still laughing to him self. And because the price of armor had dropped so much, he knew that it would be either impossible for Lawrence to pay him back or would take a significant effort. Thus, he had sold the obligation to the long-standing Remelio Company, perhaps judging that it would salvage his position.

In the middle of all of this, Lawrence had drawn the worst lot.

It was a failure that made Lawrence want to tear his own limbs off.

And yet, Lawrence found some strength.

“I’ll sell it high somewhere. You’ll see. We’ll settle the debt in two days. Will that do?”

“Yes, we’ll be waiting.”

You could have put out a fire with the cold sweat that both men were bathed in, but somehow they managed to preserve the decency of a business negotiation.

They were both people, after all.

However, they were also both merchants.

Lawrence stood, and Remelio gave him some parting words.

“I should say,” he began, “that our company’s stalls are near I hr city gates. If you plan to use them, do let us know.”

In other words, don’t try to run away.

“I expect I’ll be busy with negotiations, so although I appreciate your informing me, I doubt I will use them.” If Holo had been there, Lawrence would have had to laugh at the battle of wills, but as both he and Remelio were on edge, he had to be honest.

Bankruptcy meant death in society. It would be better to be a beggar, shivering from cold and hunger. If creditors caught up with you, they would sell off everything you owned. Even your

hair would be cut off and sold for wigs — and if you had good teeth, they would be pulled and used for someone’s dentures. Your very freedom could be sold, and you could be made to toil as a slave in a mine or aboard a ship. And even that wasn’t the worst that could happen. If a nobleman or wealthy person demanded it, you might even pay with your very life — but you would have no grave, and none would mourn your passing.

That was the inevitable reality of bankruptcy.

“I’ll take my leave, then,” said Lawrence.

“We look forward to seeing you in two days. May God’s protection go with you.”

The weak devour the still weaker; it was the way of the world.

Nonetheless, Lawrence clenched his fists until his knuckles were white from the rage he felt.

But half of that anger was at himself. He could not undo this error.

Unescorted, he walked down from the negotiation room on the third floor to the loading dock on the first floor.

Holo was dressed as a town girl and was thus unable to be present for the negotiation; she waited in the driver’s seat of the wagon, watched over by someone from the trading company. The moment Lawrence emerged onto the dock, Holo turned around with a start.

Lawrence wondered how terrible he must look.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” he said, climbing onto the wagon. Holo gave a vague nod, peering at Lawrence curiously.

“Let’s go.”

Lawrence took the reins and ignored the dockmaster, heading the horse away from the loading dock. The dockmaster had apparently been informed of the situation in advance, so he silently watched Lawrence and Holo leave.

As they descended the slope from the dock down onto the cobbled street, Lawrence let slip a great sigh.

It escaped with all the anger, frustration, and regret piled up within him.

There was so much sheer defeat in the sigh that if a rabbit had been nearby, it might have died on the spot.

But it was not as though the sigh had taken Lawrence’s merchant sense from him.

This was no time for despair. His mind swirled with cold fury as he began to calculate how he might raise the funds.

... Hey.

A timid voice cut through his trance.

“Hm?”

“What.. .what happened?” Holo asked with an awkward, anxious smile — Holo, whose true wolf form Lawrence had fully accepted. She had surely overheard the conversation with Remelio, so her question must have some othef intent.

Lawrence imagined what he looked like to Holo.

Image was a merchant’s life. He took his hands off the reins and forced himself to relax his tense facial muscles.

“If you want to know what happened, the load behind us is worthless.”

“Mmph. Then I suppose I didn’t hear wrong.”

“Incidentally, this could mean bankruptcy for me.”

Holo’s face twisted, pained — perhaps she understood the ■sad fate that awaited the bankrupt, like a lamb being led to the ■slaughter. Then her expression changed.

Her cool wolf’s eyes regarded Lawrence evenly.

"Will you run?”

If I run once, I’ll be on the run forever. The information networks of the trade guilds and companies are like the very eyes of God. No matter where I went, if I tried to do business, I’d be found out immediately. I’d never be able to be a merchant

again.” “But the going rate for an injured animal to free itself is gnawing through its own limb. You won’t content yourself with that?”

“Impossible,” answered Lawrence flatly.

Holo turned away, as if thinking.

“If I pay back the equivalent of forty-seven lumione gold pieces, that’ll be enough. I still have my goods on hand. I can settle my debts here and sell the armor somewhere far away, where it'll fetch a decent price. It’s not impossible,” said Lawrence, as if it were simple. In reality, the ease with which he explained it was equivalent to the impossibility of the task.

But he had no other choice. His merchant’s spirit was part of it —if he tried to run, his life as a merchant was over. His only option was to struggle until the end.

After averting her gaze for a while, Holo turned back to Lawrence.

As if weary of looking at his stricken face, she smiled thinly “I’m Holo the Wisewolf. I’m sure I can be of some help.”

“This is rather different from covering your meals.”

Holo jabbed Lawrence in his side with her fist. “I said all along I’d pay for my own food.”

“I know, I know,” replied Lawrence as he brushed her fist away.

Holo’s eyebrows were raised as she sniffed slightly, her anger dissolved.

She looked expressionlessly at the horse. When she spoke, it was as though she was uttering a grave oath.

“If it becomes necessary, I swear on my honor to free you even if I must use the power within this wheat.”

Within the pouch that hung from Holo’s neck was the wheat that contained her essence. If she used it, she could easily return to her true form.

Yet Holo loathed above all else the terrified gazes of those who saw that form. Those reactions were a prison that condemned her to loneliness. She had once returned to that shape deep in the underground canals beneath the port city of Pazzio, but that had been because Holo herself was in danger.

This was different. The danger now confronted Lawrence alone.

He was meekly gratified that Holo was prepared to go to such lengths for his sake.

“You promised to accompany me back to the northlands. I can’t have you getting tripped up here.”

“I’ll keep that promise, and — ”

Lawrence closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“ — if it comes to it, I may need saving.”

Lawrence felt a new sense of relief, knowing that there was someone he could rely on.

Holo grinned. “Count on it,” she said.

“We’ll go to the guild house first. That’s all we can do.”

“Mm. If they’re truly your comrades they’ll come to your aid." She meant it as encouragement, but Lawrence knew all too well that the world was not so simple. In his ten years spent in the world of merchants, he had seen any number of people whose support would disappear as soon as you found yourself in a predicament.

“Right, I’m heading out for a moment, so you just wait here —" Holo stamped her foot before Lawrence could finish his sentence. “Do I look like the kind of ungrateful wolf that lets her companion face a crisis alone?”

“No, but — ”

“Do I?!”

She looked up at him, feet planted.

“You don’t, but that’s not the issue.”

“What is the issue, then?”

She moved aside for the moment, but the look in her eyes made it clear that she would block him again depending on Ins answer.

“The guild house is like home for merchants like me. You understand what bringing a girl home means, right?”

“It is not as though I’m playing at ignorance of the situation." “Explaining our situation is impossible! How am I supposed to account for my relationship to you?”

Holo would be burned at the stake as a demon if the Church was to find her. Although Jakob, who ran the guild house in this city, was an even more understanding man than himself, Lawrence knew that it would be a disaster if he for some reason decided to turn Holo in to the Church. And besides, many merchants from the Rowen area came through the guild — and not all of them were so understanding. He couldn’t risk it.

Lawrence would have to engage in at least a bit of deception in order to explain his connection to Holo. But could he pull it off? Jakob could spot a lie a hundred leagues away.

“Just claim we're lovers, then. ’Tis better by far than being left here,” said Holo.

It was clear she was worried about him.

Lawrence knew that if their positions were reversed, he would be angry if she tried to go off and solve her problems alone. He knew he would feel betrayed if she told him to “stay at the inn.”

Holo averted her eyes.

He would just have to pray.

“Fine. Come along. You’re the smart one, anyway.”

“Mm. You can rely on me.”

“However — ” Lawrence stepped aside to allow a traveler to enter the inn “— this is a business meeting. Don’t do anything crazy. That lot can give a rough welcome.” Lawrence said this with a tone that made it clear he would brook no argument on the matter — his colleagues’ idea of a welcome could be a real baptism by fire.

But Holo seemed happy as long as he was taking her with him. She nodded agreeably.

“Right then, let’s go.”

Let's!

The two walked off briskly and soon disappeared into the crowds.

lust as Lawrence was about to knock on the door of the guild house, someone came out.

It was obvious at a glance that he was a town merchant, but no sooner had he spotted Lawrence with surprise than his face soured and he looked away—he was clearly a messenger from the Remelio Company. The most likely scenario was that he

had come to inform the guild of Lawrence’s position and the possibility that the Remelio Company would turn to them to guarantee Lawrence’s debt.

Lawrence said nothing, simply giving way to the man as though he was no one in particular.

The merchant himself would probably never have deigned to undertake such a role if his own company were not in such dire straits. As it was, though the Remelio Company was trying to force Lawrence to pay up, the man practically scurried away from Lawrence.

A person who liked bringing others to ruin was actually rare among merchants, who spent their days trying to outwit their competitors. Destruction and competition were totally different things.

“I daresay I thought he was going to take a swing at you.” Holo seemed to have noticed that the man was from Remelio, but Law rence only gave a pained grin at her joke.

“At least he spared us the trouble of explaining the worst of the news. I should thank him.”

“I suppose it depends on perspective.”

Finally able to smile, Lawrence entered the guild house.

The merchants that dealt with fish, vegetables, and other perish-able goods had mostly concluded their work for the day. Unlike the morning when Lawrence had come, the guild was now filled with men sitting at the tables, drinking wine, and having a grand time. Lawrence could put a name to each face. Some raised a hand in greeting to him as soon as they noticed him.

However, when Holo entered just behind him, the activity came to a sudden stop, and a strange commotion rippled through the assemblage. It was like a sigh. And the look — calling it “envy " 0r “jealousy” didn’t do it justice. Holo was entirely indifferent to the situation, but Lawrence found it almost painful.

“Oh ho, this must be God’s will.”

Jakob was the first to speak —the smile he displayed failed to reach his eyes.

“You’ve caught a rare jewel here, Lawrence.”

Holo ignored the myriad eyes fixed on her and walked smoothly toward Jakob, leading Lawrence by the hand.

The fact that Jakob had called him Lawrence rather than Kraft stabbed at him.

It meant that Jakob would no longer treat him as a member of the guild, but only as a merchant like any other.

“I didn’t catch her — I was caught by her, Chief Tarantino.” Jakob grinned so widely his face became distorted, then he rose laboriously and patted Lawrence heavily on the shoulder, gesturing inside. “Let’s talk.”

The sharp-eyed merchants in the room had noticed the unusual mood of the exchange. None spoke.

Past the lobby was an enclosed courtyard. Looking out over the courtyard with its sparse seasonal decoration as he led them in, the giant Jakob spoke.

“Didn’t you pass the fellow from the Remelio Company?”

“I did. At the front door.”

“Ah. I thought you’d be lucky and miss him.”

“... Why is that?” Lawrence didn’t understand what Jakob was getting at, but he could see Jakob’s shoulders shaking with mirth. “Because there was no noise when we came to blows.”

Holo smirked slightly, and Lawrence relaxed.

Jakob opened the door to a room on the right side of the hallway they were in and motioned for the two to enter.

“This is where I work. There’ll be nobody to listen to our conversation here, so you can relax on that count,” said Jakob.

It was not a large room, but it gave the impression of housing limitless knowledge.

Looking through the open door, they could see the walls were

almost entirely covered with shelves, upon which rested carelessly stacked bundles of documents.

There was a small table in the middle of the room wedged between two simple couches of wood and leather construction.

Also facing the door was a desk piled high with a mountain of documents. Though paper was becoming less expensive with each passing year, there were still fine varieties to be had. It was proof that Jakob spared little expense in the preservation of knowledge. Even a well-regarded theologian might not have collected so much.

“Well, then, where shall we begin?”

Jakob faced the table and sat on one of the couches, which heaved a creaky sigh under his significant weight. Normally that was the seed from which a friendly chat would bloom, but in these circum-stances, it was only the authority that bore down on Lawrence.

Lawrence was glad Holo was beside him.

If he had been alone, his mind might simply have gone blank.

“First, I’d sure like to know who and what that beauty of yours is.” Jakob’s gaze fixed steadily on Lawrence.

It was admittedly preposterous for a merchant facing bankruptcy to be walking around with a town girl. Were Jakob a less patient man, he would have given Lawrence the boot as soon as he had shown up with Holo in tow.

“She’s a business partner. We’re traveling together.”

“Ho, a business partner?” Jakob looked at Holo for the first time, seeming to think this was a grand joke. Holo smiled and inclined her head.

“The Milone Company in Pazzio offered me one hundred forty trenni for the furs I was selling, but in the end, they bought them for a full two hundred trenni. She’s the one who made it happen "

Holo’s face betrayed a certain amount of pride in opposition to Jakob’s doubtful expression.

His doubt was understandable. If someone had told Lawrence a similar story, he would have assumed it to be a lie. The Milone Company was known in many nations, and those who worked for it were first-rate traders — bargaining them higher in price was not something that happened easily.

“I said it this morning when I was here. ‘You can’t invest without capital.’” Since the story of the furs was true, Lawrence spoke without fear.

He had not thought about whether Holo would be angry at him for talking about it, but she seemed to understand that it was for expediency’s sake.

Jakob closed his eyes, and strangely, his expression shifted.

“I don’t need to know the details. Your like does show up every once in a while, after all.”

“Huh?”

“One day they just show up at the guild, stunning beauty in tow, everything going well in business and life. And they never want to give details about the woman. So I don’t ask anymore.

the scriptures say not to open strange boxes, after all.”

Lawrence wondered if it was a trick to make him tell the truth, hut he didn’t know what purpose it would serve. He tried to rethink his position.

Perhaps the story of the cart horse turning into the goddess of fortune and traveling with a merchant was true.

Lawrence himself was traveling with a wolf spirit who had taken the form of a girl. Merchants like him were too realistic to assume they were somehow special.

"’Tis a prudent decision,” said Holo, which elicited a hearty laugh from Jakob.

“Well, then, let’s speak frankly then, shall we? If you two were ■ couple, I’d have tried to convince you to head straight to the church and make it official. But if you’re in business together, well, that’s different. You’ll hang together or hang separately—your partner’s fall is your own misfortune. The bonds of gold run thicker than blood!”

Jakob’s couch creaked.

“Let me get the story straight. The fellow from Remelio that just left told it like this: Kraft Lawrence, attached to the Rowen Trade Guild, bought one hundred lumione worth of armor from the Latparron Company in Poroson. Were liable for roughly half. Now the Remelio Company holds the debt. Is that it?” Lawrence nodded painfully.

“I didn’t hear what kind of armor it was, but the armor is going for about one-tenth what it previously was, so even if you sell it for that price, you’ve still got to make up about forty lumione. That comes out to fifteen hundred pieces of trenni silver.”

After all was said and done, Lawrence had come away with about a thousand pieces of silver from the Pazzio affair. Even if he were able to repeat the stunt, there would be debt left over.

“It looks like you were completely taken in by the Latparron Company. I won’t ask the details. From what I’ve heard, that won’t change the situation. No matter what anyone thinks, you got greedy and made a mistake. Is that right?”

“It is, exactly.”

Lawrence didn’t try to make excuses. Saying he had become greedy and failed summed up his predicament precisely.

“If you understand that, this will be a simple conversation. You must pay back on your own the debt that the guild will, in all likelihood, shoulder. When you meet with fraud or extortion, when you become sick or injured and suffer losses, we in the trade guild put our credit on the line to save you. But not this time. The only ones to come to your aid now will be the gods — ”

Jakob pointed a finger at Holo, who glanced at Lawrence.

“ — or that beauty.”

“I understand.”

Unlike craft guilds, a regional trade guild was built around assurances of mutual assistance. It ran on contributions from its members, and as Jakob said, it gave aid to merchants who had suffered misfortune and would otherwise be unable to get by. Members would also assemble in foreign lands to protest unfair treatment.

The guild had not been created to guarantee the debts of merchants whose greed led them to ruin.

In such cases, even if the guild temporarily assumed the liability, it would pursue repayment relentlessly. The other guild members wouldn’t stand for the loss, and it served as a lesson in the restraint of greed.

Jakob’s eyes were like bows drawn tight.

“Unfortunately, I’m not in a position where I can show you any compassion — and the reason why I must be so strict is just outside in the lobby. It is guild law. If it became known that this trade house goes easy on its members, it would be a target for riffraff from all around.”

“Of course. I myself would be angry if I heard some other member had been saved from his own failure.”

Lawrence put on a brave face, for if he didn’t, he would have collapsed.

“Also, you surely know this, but guild members are forbidden from lending money to each other. Neither can the guild lend you money. It would set a bad example.”

“I understand.”

Lawrence’s second home was barring its doors to him.

“Based on what the Remelio Company messenger told me, your obligation comes due in two days. Their own investments in armor have failed, so they’re feeling the heat as well. They won’t hesitate in demanding repayment. In other words, your failure will become public the day after tomorrow, and I’ll have to detain you. What have you concluded from this?” “If I do not collect forty-seven lumione in two days and pay the Remelio Company back, there is no future for me,” said Lawrence.

Jakob shook his head slowly, then looked down at the table. “That’s not quite true.”

There was a slight rustling sound next to Lawrence; probably Holo’s tail.

“You future will come,” continued Jakob. “But it will be black, bitter, and heavy.”

The implicit message was that suicide in the face of this bank-ruptcy would not be acceptable.

“Forty-seven lumione could be paid off in ten years of rowing on a trade ship — or working in a mine. Of course, you’d have to avoid injury and sickness.”

Anyone who had ever seen correspondence between a ship's captain and its owner knew that was pure fantasy. Nine-tenths of such correspondence was devoted to the captain requesting fresh rowers and the owner trying to make them last a little longer.

About 80 percent of rowers on long-distance ships were worthless after two years, another 10 percent were finished after two more years, and the remaining 10 percent — unbelievably strong bodied men — wound up on antipirate vessels and never returned. And even that was preferable to mine labor. Most miners died of lung disease within a year, and the lucky few who avoided such a fate died in collapsed tunnels.

In contrast, some who encountered misfortune might have their trade house cover their debts and then gradually repay then creditors at low interest — far better treatment.

Those who failed as a consequence of greed had to understand the seriousness of their crime.

“But it is not as though I wish death on you. Don’t forget that A sin must be punished — and it is my duty to enforce that simple principle.” “I understand.”

Lawrence looked into Jakob’s eyes. For the first time, a flicker of empathy appeared there.

“There’s nothing I can do besides wish you luck over the next two days, but if there is anything I can do, I will. Standard business assistance is no problem. Also, I trust you. I ought to tie you up for the next two days, but you can go free.”

The word trust weighed heavily on Lawrence’s shoulders.

Holo had promised to rescue him if it came to that.

But taking her up on that offer meant betraying the trust Jakob was showing him.

Lawrence wondered if he could do that.

He unconsciously muttered the problem to himself before speaking up.

“I thank you for your consideration. I’ll try to find the money in the next two days, somehow.”

“There are always possibilities in business — and some you can only see when you are in true danger.”

Lawrence’s heart thudded at the statement. It could be interpreted as suggesting illegal activity.

As the master of the Ruvinheigen branch of the Rowen Trade Guild, Jakob had to confront Lawrence with harsh reality, but he was also worried about the young merchant. A person who was capable only of severity would be unfit to be the master of the merchants’ second home.

“Have you anything you want to ask or say?”

Lawrence shook his head, but then spoke as something suddenly occurred to him.

"I want you to think of what you’ll say when I repay the money.”

lakob blinked, then laughed loudly. Ihe inappropriate timing of the joke made it all the funnier.

“I’ll think of something, don’t you worry! And you, my dear, have you anything to say?”

Lawrence was sure she would say something, but Holo surprisingly—shook her head wordlessly.

“Right, that should wrap things up. We shouldn’t talk too long. They’re a suspicious lot out there, you know. If rumors got around, it’ll be harder for you to act.”

Jakob stood from the couch, which creaked again. Lawrence and Holo did likewise.

Jakob and Lawrence knew it was a bad idea for merchants to wear dark expressions, so they made every effort to appear normal, as if the business they had just discussed was nothing more than a bit of small talk.

When the reached the lobby, Jakob returned to his usual spot and waved Lawrence off lightly.

Yet the people drinking wine in the lobby said nothing to him, as if they had sensed something was amiss.

Lawrence felt the weight of eyes on his back; he closed the door behind him and Holo as if to seal the guild members away.

They might even have been thinking about restraining him He couldn’t help but feel grateful at Jakob’s generosity in letting him go free.

“Well, we’ve got two days of freedom. We’ve no choice but to see what we can do with it,” murmured Lawrence to himself, but the notion of raising forty-seven lumione without any capital was delusional at best.

If there were any such method, the beggars of the world would all be rich men.

Yet he had to think of something.

If he didn’t, his future wasn’t worth contemplating.

His dream of having a shop would collapse; his recovery as a merchant would be hopeless; and his life would end either in thr gloom of a mine shaft or the bowels of a ship, where the cries of anguish were said to drown out the crashing of the waves.

He tried to buck himself up, to put on a brave face, but the more he tried to reassure himself, the more the impossibility of his situation closed in around him.

Jakob trusted Lawrence enough to give him his freedom for two days.

But now Lawrence began to wonder if it was just Jakob giving a doomed man his last days of freedom. As he thought about it realistically, raising forty-seven lumione in two days seemed

i mpossible.

He noticed his hand was trembling.

Shamed, Lawrence made a fist to stop the shaking. Then a small hand rested atop his.

It was Holo — he suddenly remembered she was there.

He wasn’t alone.

Coming to that realization, Lawrence found the composure to take a deep breath.

At this rate, he would break his promise to accompany Holo to the northlands.

His frozen mind began to turn. Holo noticed this and spoke.

“So. What will you do?”

“First, before we do any more thinking, we need to test something.”

“And that is?” Holo asked, looking up to Lawrence.

“Debt for debt.”

None can feel at ease when lending large amounts of money unless they are very wealthy or generous indeed.

On the other hand, one does not nag for repayment of a trivial loan unless they are especially petty or especially strapped for cash.

Debt was like a looming mud slide. Even if it were impossible to stop, if one could manage to divert it into other rivers, it could be managed.

One way to manage a debt of forty-seven lumione would be to borrow small amounts from many different people to pay it oil and then gradually pay each lender off in turn.

However.

“Well, well, Lawrence! It’s been a while. What’s your angle today?”

Every merchant Lawrence knew greeted him roughly the same upon seeing his face again, but when the talk came of lending their expressions grew grim.

“Five lumione? Sorry, friend, times are tough for me at the moment. It’s the end of the year, prices of wheat and meat are up, and I’ve got to lay in stock for spring. Sorry, I just...

Everyone gave the same answer, as if their responses had been prearranged. They were merchants just like him, sensitive to exactly what he was trying. If traveling merchants could just head to a company and borrow money instead of borrowing from their guild, that would put the trade companies in the same position that forced guilds to have rules against lending.

And no one wanted to load their goods aboard a sinking ship.

When Lawrence pressed them for even a single lumione, they regarded him as if he was especially foul smelling.

With no island to cling to, he was often just kicked out or sent off.

One who came not for commerce or negotiation but simply to borrow was little more than a thief.

That was common sense in the world of merchants.

“We’ll try another one.”

After Lawrence met back up with Holo, who waited outside the row of companies and mansions, he didn’t bother with a fifth rendition of that same line.

He had only put on a brave face for the first three stops, and Holo stopped asking him how it had gone after four.

As a “by the way” to his request for a short-term loan, Lawrence had asked after any opportunities for profit, but that, too, had withered into silence. After all, merchants used capital to turn a profit. It was obvious that without money on hand, there was nothing to be done.

Lawrence unconsciously quickened his pace as he walked, opening a bit of distance between himself and Holo.

When he noticed, he told himself to calm down, but the words merely echoed in his empty mind, and he began to find Holo’s words of encouragement irritating.

He was in a bad way.

Despite the chilly air that descended as night drew near, Lawrence’s forehead and throat were slick with sweat.

Though he had thought himself prepared, the reality of his circumstances affected him more than he’d anticipated. The seriousness of the situation seemed to spill out of him like water from an overtaxed ceramic cup.

Why had he made that deal in Poroson? The feelings of regret warred with the uselessness of such recriminations within him.

Again, Holo’s voice reminded Lawrence that he had put too much distance between them. He was assailed by an exhaustion that made him wonder if he would ever be able to walk again were he to stop.

But he had no time for exhaustion.

“Excuse me,” Lawrence asked at yet another door.

The bell signaling the close of the market rang; all the companies would soon be closing their doors for the day.

The ninth location Lawrence visited was already tidying up its loading dock, and a wooden sign was posted on the entrance, indicating that the day’s trading was over.

A trading company was home to the master and men work ing there, so it wasn’t as if no one was about. Lawrence used the knocker and took a deep breath.

He hadn’t many acquaintances left. The merchant had to gel someone to lend him money.

“Who is there?” asked the woman who opened the door. She was well built, and Lawrence remembered her face.

Just as Lawrence steeled himself to ask after the master, the woman looked back over her shoulder. Flustered, she went back into the house.

In her place appeared the master of the company.

“It has been a while, Mr. Lawrence.”

“It has. I’m very sorry to trouble you after the market’s closed, but I have a favor to ask...”

The first couple of stops Lawrence made, he had had the luxury of beginning with small talk, feigning normal business.

But he no longer possessed such a luxury. As he plunged into his request, the master regarded him scornfully.

“I happened to hear that you’ve been making the rounds with your request.”

“Er, yes... though it embarrasses me to say so...”

The ties between merchant companies in a city were strong. The master had clearly heard from one of the companies Law rence visited earlier.

“And it’s a sizable amount. Is this because of the drop in armor prices, I wonder?”

“Yes. I was naive and made a mistake.”

Even if he had to grovel and throw himself on the mercy of others, Lawrence had to borrow the money. Starting penniless and raising forty-seven lumione in two days was simply impossible.

And if he was refused here, he would be turned away at the gates everywhere else.

If even one of the other companies had lent to him, Lawrence felt that others would have too. But the fact that none had offered him aid made him wonder if they all thought his recovery so impossible that they wouldn’t bother lending.

Merchant companies were closely connected. Once a piece of information escaped, the news would be all over town in an instant.

The master’s tone was unchanged and cold.

“A naive mistake? I suppose it was at that.”

This was something that it didn’t take the skill of a merchant used to discerning others’ feelings to grasp.

This was not the tone of a man prepared to lend money.

The master furrowed his brow and let slip an exasperated sigh. It seemed as if he might have known that Lawrence had gotten greedy and amassed an oppressive debt by buying armor on margin.

Trustworthiness was a merchant’s life. If you couldn’t be trusted, none would extend their hand to aid you.

And your debt was your own responsibility—if you couldn’t pay it back, it was your own fault.

Lawrence hung his head, feeling the strength drain from him like so much water.

The master continued speaking.

“Yet only the gods can predict a sudden fall in price. It’s unfair to rebuke you for being unable to do so.”

Lawrence looked up in spite of himself. He saw a glimmer of hope. If he could get a loan here, it would be easier to get loans from others, and his skill as a traveling merchant would be acknowledged to a degree. If he promised to pay it back with interest, he might yet save himself.

Hope, he thought, dangled now before his eyes.

But when he looked at the master, the face that greeted him held only scorn in its eyes.

“If you’re in trouble, Mr. Lawrence, I thought that I might be able to be of some help to you. You’ve helped me turn a profit many a time. But while I’m a merchant, I also live by the teachings of God, and I need to know your sincerity.”

Lawrence did not understand what he was hearing, but none theless, he frantically began to formulate an excuse when he was cut off by the particularly mercantile form of the master's speech.

“You’ve got a woman in tow even as you make the rounds, depending on the compassion of others to lend you money? Preposterous. How far the Rowen Trade Guild has fallen!”

The words froze Lawrence cold as the master slammed the door in his face.

He could neither move forward nor backward.

It was as though he’d forgotten to breathe.

The closed door was so quiet it seemed painted on stone. It was surely as cold and heavy as stone. The door would not open again; Lawrence’s connections with the merchants of the city had been cut.

They would lend him no money.

He backed away unsteadily from the door, not of his own volition, but rather because his body seemed to move on its own. When he finally noticed his surroundings, he was standing in the middle of the street.

“Don’t just stand in the middle of the road!” the driver of a horse-drawn cart shouted at him, and like a stray dog, Lawrence moved to the edge of the lane.

What should I do? What should I do? What should I do?

The words passed endlessly before his eyes.

“Hey there. Are you all right?”

At the sound of the voice, Lawrence started.

“Your face is quite pale. Let’s hie to the inn — ”

Holo extended her hand by way of comfort, but Lawrence slapped it away.

“If only you hadn’t —,” he shouted. But by the time he realized his error, he was too late.