Holo looked at him as though she had been stabbed though the heart. Having nowhere to go, her hand hovered there in midair for a moment before she slowly lowered it.

She looked down, her face blank with neither anger or sadness on it.

“I’m... sorry...,” she managed in a strangled voice, but she did not offer her hand again.

Lawrence could do nothing but curse himself.

The sound of the appalling thing he had done pressed in on him.

“... I’m going back to the inn,” announced Holo quietly, walking off without a second look at Lawrence.

Holo could hear conversations within the next building, so she had certainly heard Lawrence’s exchange with the master.

Of course, she would feel responsible and want to get away—she had been worried enough about him to accompany him, after all.

Yet just because her actions had backfired, she hadn’t lightly apologized or acted confused; instead, she had been genuinely concerned for Lawrence. He knew it was the most appropriate response. He knew that, which made his treatment of her all the more reprehensible.

He couldn’t find the words to speak to Holo, whose back was disappearing into the crowds — and he didn’t have the courage, either.

Lawrence cursed himself again.

If the goddess of fortune existed, Lawrence wanted to punch her square in the face.

Lawrence finally returned to the inn only after the stalls that had permission to conduct business past sunset had closed their doors for the day.

He wanted to drown himself in wine, but he had no money and sensed that it would be a kind of betrayal.

Standing drunkenly before Holo — that was something he simply could not do.

It was his visits to the various trade companies that had kept him out so late.

If he abandoned pride and dignity altogether, he reasoned they would give him a bit of money simply to be rid of him.

In the end he’d gotten three lumione from four people. Three of them had told him he didn’t need to bother returning it. They knew who was borrowing, after all.

His goal of forty-seven lumione was still clearly distant. He had to take this small amount and multiply it significantly in the little time that remained. It was not as if his situation had improved. The relationships he had destroyed in order to raise even this much money were important, even necessary, for doing business.

There were essentially no legitimate opportunities that remained for making more money.

And in any case, there was something that had to be considered before that — something that had to be regained before he could even think of making more money — which is why he had gone thither and yon asking after loans with no care for the consequences.

The memory of how Holo’s hand felt when he unwittingly drove her away came back to him. Pain swirled in his chest, seeming to pierce his very heart.

When Lawrence entered the inn’s lobby, the sleepy innkeeper stood behind his counter, enduring a large yawn. The city required that the innkeeper remain awake until all the guests had returned to the inn. If a guest hadn’t returned by the next day, the town guard had to be notified.

It was a precaution against thieves and criminals entering the city and perpetrating foul deeds.

“Well, you’re back early” came the sarcastic greeting from the innkeeper. Lawrence waved it off and headed to his room.

It was a single room on the third floor. Lawrence didn’t want to consider the possibility that Holo had simply gone off somewhere else.

For the second time that day, he took a deep breath and opened the door.

Whether he opened the door slowly or quickly, the creaking would have been the same, so he did it briskly and entered.

Between the terrible building conditions and the huge number of travelers who passed through Ruvinheigen, a room with a bed was already fairly luxurious. This room, with its crude bed in the center, had a simple table by the window and still cost a pretty penny.

But now Lawrence was grateful it was so small.

If it had been even a little bit bigger, he probably would have hesitated to speak.

Holo was curled up on the bed, illuminated faintly by the moonlight that entered through a crack in the shuttered window.

“Holo.”

The brief utterance diffused in the small, dark room, and Lawrence was beset by the illusion that he had never said anything at all.

On the bed, Holo did not so much as move.

If she had never wanted to see his face again, she would not have come back to the inn. The fact that she was curled up there on the bed soothed him that much at least.

I m sorry.

Those were the only words he had, all he could think of to say, but Holo remained still.

He could not imagine that she was sleeping, so he took one step toward the bed and gulped.

Instantly, he felt a sharp sensation at his feet. He stepped back quickly as a sweaty chill ran up his spine, and the frightening feeling vanished.

He looked back and forth between Holo and his feet.

When someone is truly angry, Lawrence thought, just getting close to them can almost feel like being burned. Disbelieving, he slowly reached his hand out; it was met by an overwhelming aura. Her anger was literally palpable. There was a distinct layer of air that felt strangely hot and cold at the same time.

Lawrence steeled himself and reached his hand out again. It felt as if he were plunging his fist into burning sand laced with blades. His senses told him that his flesh was charring and being cut into pieces.

He remembered his first glimpse of Holo’s true form in the underground passageways.

He willed himself to take a step forward.

And in that moment.

There was a rustling sound, and just as Lawrence thought he saw Holo’s blanket move slightly, his hand was deflected by something hard. He saw her bristling tail had been flicked away, but a pain lingered in his hand, distinctly enough so that he didn't have time to wonder whether it was illusory or not.

Then he realized that Holo had felt the same pain when he struck her hand. Lawrence had been prepared for this reaction whereas his rejection of Holo came utterly without warning. The surprise alone must have hurt her.

Again, he cursed his own mistake.

Lawrence took a leather pouch out from underneath his shirt and tossed it onto the bed.

It was all the money he had spent the day burning bridges to acquire.

He had cashed in all the relationships he’d built up in this city.

“This is all the money I was able to get on my own. Three lumi-one. I still have to raise over forty more, but I’ve no way to do it. I can think of no way to use that as capital to raise what I need.”

It was like he was talking to a cobblestone, so complete was Holo’s lack of reaction. Still, Lawrence cleared his throat slightly and continued.

“All I can think of to do is take the money to a gambling house

and hope for luck. But if I give it to the person who really should have it, I feel it may yet increase. So I entrust it to you.”

Drunken singing could be heard from the street outside the window.

“And if everything goes bad, well, adding three lumione won’t make a difference anyway.”

Lawrence had sacrificed possibilities for cash half in the hopes that Holo would be able to use her wits to find a way to increase their funds and half because he wanted to leave her some money in the event that the worst happened.

Though it was only a verbal contract, Lawrence had promised to take her to the northlands, and parting on such bad terms would leave a bad taste in his mouth.

He felt that the least he could do for Holo, as a merchant, was

to give her some coin.

Still, there was no response.

He backed up a step, then turned, and pulled the door open,

going into the hall.

He couldn’t stay in the room when it was like that.

Lawrence descended the dark stairs and went outside, ignoring the rebuking voice of the innkeeper.

Off to his right, he heard the drunken singing that previously had filtered through the room’s window.

The town guard would soon be making the rounds. Having no particular place to go, Lawrence thought of going to see Jakob, who was quite involved with his problems at the moment. Since Lawrence had gone around practically forcing his request on every merchant in the vicinity, Jakob had undoubtedly received a flood of complaints.

But he stopped after taking a step.

The realization that tonight could well be his last opportunity to walk around as a free man seized his heart.

He looked up unconsciously. He started to angle his sights toward the room on the third floor where Holo was. Holo, who surely had some terrible knowledge that could help him now, Holo, who he couldn’t possibly ask a favor of now.

His gaze didn’t even reach the third floor before he stopped and lowered it.

Just as he resigned himself to go to the guild house, something hit him on the head.

Lawrence’s field of vision swam from the sudden shock, and he fell to his knees. The word robbery came to mind, and he reached for the dagger at his waist, but there was no assailant Instead came the distinctive clinking of coins jingling against one another...

He searched around and saw the bag containing the three precious lumione he had left on the bed.

“You fool” came the words above his head.

He looked up to be met with Holo’s scowl, as cold as moonlight.

“Get back in here, then,” she said and immediately disappeared into the room. Just as she did, the innkeeper opened his door and emerged.

If a traveler staying at an inn were to perpetrate any misdeeds, the innkeeper could also be held responsible. As someone going out in the middle of the night had to be up to no good, the innkeeper had come to bring Lawrence back in.

But Lawrence no longer had any reason to stay out.

He calmed himself and picked the purse up, holding it up lightly to the innkeeper.

“My companion threw it out the window, you see,” he said with a rueful smile.

The innkeeper made a put-upon face. “Try to keep it down, please,” he chided, opening the door.

Lawrence nodded cursorily and headed back up the stairs to the room.

In his hand was the purse with the three lumione.

He stood before the door to the first room on the third floor and opened it without much hesitation.

Holo had taken off her robe and sat cross-legged on a chair by the window.

“You fool” was the first thing she said.

Sorry.

Lawrence could think of no better reply. It accurately reflected what was in his heart but was too brief.

Yet no other words came.

“The money...” said Holo with equally short words, a displeased expression on her face. “How did you collect it?”

“You want to know?”

Holo looked away, as though presented with her least favorite food. “What was I to do, run off with your precious money?”

“That’s half the reason I collected it. If my failure means I can’t fulfill my end of the bargain, the least I could do is leave you some travel money — ”

He swallowed the rest of the sentence.

Holo still averted her gaze, her lips tight —but tears welled up in her eyes.

It was as if the emotion within her was overflowing, and she was trying desperately to hold it back.

Then a single tear sparkled as it fell. The dam had broken.

‘“Travel... money’... ?”

“Well, yes...”

“Of all the absurd..

Defiantly, Holo wiped her tears with both her sleeves, then stood, glaring at Lawrence, her eyes still blurry.

“It is my fault, is it not? If I were not here, you’d shoulder no debt! Why aren’t you angrier? If I were... if I were...!”

Her small fists quivered as the words within her became tears, overflowed, and fell.

Yet Lawrence did not understand.

Holo had come with Lawrence to the trade guild because she was ■■ worried about him. She certainly had not known that he would be turned down for loans because he had a woman with him.

And though it had been but a moment’s passion, he had slapped her hand away.

No matter how he considered it, he was the one at fault. He couldn’t find a reason to be angry with Holo.

“But I was the one at fault. You came along because you were worried about me. I can’t be angry at you for — ”

She looked at him sharply. The moment he started speaking, Holo turned and grabbed the back of the chair.

“You-”

She picked the chair up —

“-fool!”

Alarmed, Lawrence winced, but Holo did not throw the largish chair.

Soon he realized it took all her strength to lift the chair, and she couldn’t throw it.

“Urgh... damn this...” she said, perhaps cursing the heavier than expected chair — or perhaps Lawrence.

But there was one thing he knew. Holo’s thin arms could not hurl the chair by force of emotion alone. Her moonlit body leaned toward the window, hands still on the chair, eyes still glaring at Lawrence.

“Look out!”

Just as the chair leg clattered against the window frame, Lawrence sprang forward, grabbing the chair with his left hand and Holo’s thin wrist with his right.

Despite the fact that she had nearly fallen out the window, chair and all, Holo continued glaring at Lawrence.

Unable to bear that gaze, he looked away.

Not knowing what else to say, he pulled the chair away from her to set it back on the floor and Holo relinquished it unexpectedly readily.

Then, as if that chair had been the entirety of her anger, the strength drained from her small body.

“...You...”

Her eyes dropped as tears hit the floor; her voice was low.

“You’re so naive...

Lawrence put the chair down as she said it.

“I’m...naive?” he asked reflexively, so unexpected was her ■statement.

Holo nodded, childlike, her hands still balled up into fists.

“But.. .you are... are you not? No one would loan you money

because I was with you, yet... yet..

"I hit your hand away! I was mad at you — unjustifiably mad!”

Holo shook her head and hit Lawrence’s chest with her free hand.

Her face looked like she wanted to be angry, but she had forgot -ten how.

“I... I... I followed you because I was selfish. When it went awry, of course you were angry. But I never thought you’d hit my hand away like that, so I wanted to be angry—I wanted to, but...”

Lawrence started to understand now.

“H-how could I be angry at you when you looked at me like that?”

Holo wiped her tears again with her free hand.

“I became so foolishly vexed...”

She had been angry when he slapped her hand away, but looking at Lawrence’s face once he realized what he’d done had caused that anger to subside.

Lawrence thought he must have looked quite pathetic.

But that didn’t mean the rage inside Holo had entirely vanished. She had still been irritated at having her hand slapped.

And wanting to be truly furious but not being able to —that was only more frustrating.

She hadn’t responded to him when he returned to the inn because she had not known what to say. Her mind worked far faster than Lawrence’s, yet it had been thrown into confusion without a clear object for her anger.

Then, completely misunderstanding her, Lawrence left her at the inn with the three precious lumione.

That was like throwing oil on a fire.

Holo was already upset at herself for not being able to be properly indignant, and him leaving the coin with her only made it harder to be angry.

“I’m sorry... No, what I mean is, when I hit your hand away,

I thought I’d done something I’d never be able to take back, no matter how much I apologized,” said Lawrence slowly.

Holo looked at him with eyes that seemed tired of fighting.

She probably was tired. Despite her quick mind and quicker longue, she had been angry enough to try to pick up and throw .1 heavy chair. Her wolf form notwithstanding, Lawrence did not think that her small body could sustain such ferocity for long.

“Anyway, I... I just wanted to undo what I’d done. And if it didn't come across, well... I’m sorry.”

I.awrence inwardly cursed his limited eloquence. Holo lightly hit his chest again with her raised right hand.

“... Right, you.”

“Hm?”

“Just answer me one thing.”

Lawrence had no reason to refuse, so he nodded at Holo, whose hand clutched his shirt.

But Holo did not say anything immediately. She hesitated several times before finally speaking.

"Why... why are you so...”

She glanced up at him only for a moment.

...softhearted?” she finished and then looked immediately away, as if to escape.

Nonetheless, the whole of her attention was focused on Lawrence and Lawrence alone.

It    felt like she was anticipating something.

Her wolf ears, which until a moment ago drooped dejectedly, now pricked up slightly, and her tail swished just a bit.

Her small body was illuminated by the moonlight that fell through the open window.

The truth was the reason he had been so stunned by his own act- ions when he hit her and the reason he had so frantically gath-

ered travel money for her were one and the same: Holo was very special to him.

A nd that was surely the answer she wanted to hear.

Lawrence looked down at her and tried to answer.

When he opened his mouth to speak, he realized that what emerged was something other than what was in his heart.

“Just my personality, I guess.”

He was afraid of the reaction he would get if he answered honestly.

There was no telling what would come of a frontal assault on the unassailable Holo.

He feared her response, hence his answer. It seemed unfair.

It seemed a consequence of his own weakness.

However.

Y-you...

Just as he realized her hand was shaking, Holo smoothly slipped her wrist from his grasp, delivering a punch to his gut as she spoke.

“...Fool!”

Staggering back at the surprisingly forceful impact, he saw Holo glaring at him, still holding on to his clothes as if to prevail his escape.

“Y-your personality? Your personality? At least be a man and tell a lie worth falling for, you dunce!”

Lawrence winced in spite of himself. Holo could see through that much.

“S-sorry. The truth is — ”

But that’s as far as he got.

Still grabbing his collar, Holo grinned.

“Hear this, you. There are times when I want you to tell me something even if it’s a lie, and times when if you lie to me it makes me want to give your face a sound beating. Which of these do you think we now face?”

He was so stunned by her malicious smile that he barely managed to say, “The latter,” whereupon Holo gave a long-suffering sigh and shoved him away.

Her ears and tail twitched her displeasure. Her anger was easy to understand.

“Oh, you’re a rare dunce indeed! How many males are there in the world, do you think, who would not have managed to say, ‘I’m in love with you,’ or ‘You’re precious to me,’ or any other line to get a female to fall for him? I can see quite clearly what you are thinking, but I simply cannot believe it — I cannot believe you are such a soft touch!”

Her eyes had gone past amazement and into disdain, but she didn’t seem too irked.

Thinking about it the other way, Holo had wanted him to say it.

“But I suppose ’tis that same quality that lets me travel with you so easily. One can’t have everything one wants.”

Her comments were scattered, but Lawrence had no real rebuttal.

What had Holo really wanted him to feel when he delivered this supposed line?

Had she just been acting spoiled, teasing him? Or perhaps...

As soon as it occurred to Lawrence, Holo reached her hand smoothly over to him and drew him near.

Lawrence was immediately on guard for whatever she was planning, but she soon made her motive clear.

“Still, I did want to hear you say it. So come now, try again.”

All he could think of to say was “Give me a break, please,” but he knew doing so would call down a fiery wrath upon him.

Holo gave a slight cough and looked at him entirely expectant; Lawrence took a deep breath, preparing himself. The way she looked at him couldn’t possibly be an act.

“Why are you so softhearted?” she asked again.

She looked even more serious than before, her sad eyes glisten ing and her lip trembling slightly.

He could feel the blood rising to his face, but Lawrence steeled himself and spoke anyway.

“Because you’re very special to me.”

She looked happy—so happy that it couldn’t be an act — and bowed her head, resting it against his chest.

The unexpected gesture took Lawrence by surprise. Holo looked up at him, pouting, then took his arms and guided them around her back.

Apparently he was supposed to hold her.

It was so absurd and oddly endearing that he was stunned for a moment. Her tail swished as he embraced her slim body. It made him so happy, he dared to squeeze a bit tighter.

It was not long, but somehow the moment seemed to last.

Holo moved in his arms, which brought Lawrence back to himself — at which point, she laughed.

“Ha-ha-ha, what are we doing?”

“You made me do it!” said Lawrence, releasing her.

“Hee-hee. I suppose it was a good rehearsal for you,” said Holo mischievously.

Lawrence was in no mood to give her a serious reply.

When he slumped, she laughed hugely.

“Still, I must say —,” she said, apparently not finished. “Next time, just make me angry, yes? ’Tis nice you were so thoughtful but sometimes it is quicker to have a nice loud row and solve 0ur problems that way.”

It was a strange thing to say, but Lawrence couldn’t bring him self to disagree.

It was not an idea he would ever have come up with himself. But it seemed fresh and somehow warm to him.

“Right, then. Looking at your face I can imagine how you got the money together — how much?”

“Three lumione and two-sevenths.”

Her ears twitching, Holo again put her forehead against Lawrence’s chest. If she tried to blow her nose against him, he was going to push her away, but as she was just wiping her tears, he let her be.

When she finally looked up, she was back to her old self.

With a proud smile, she began to speak.

“You were right to count on my wit. I have a cunning plan.”

“Wha...what is it?”

Lawrence leaned forward unconsciously out of a mix of curios ity and surprise; Holo made a face and pulled away.

“Don’t look too forward to it, or else I’ll worry about not being able to do it,” prefaced Holo, and then she launched into a very brief description of her scheme.

It was simplicity and straightforwardness itself. It was so simple, in fact, that Lawrence’s eyes bulged.

“What think you? Can it be done?”

“I’m sure everyone’s thought the same thing, but it’s actually impossible. I’m sure there are those who’ve tried it and been caught."

“Oh, surely, if you have to get a bunch of different people to cooperate. You’d never make it past the first gate.”

Holo had suggested smuggling in gold, using an incredibly simple, straightforward method.

Lawrence would never have imagined Holo the Wisewolf could make such a dangerous, hopeless proposal.

Unsurprisingly, she then made the case for why the plan was in fact, possible.

“I swear on my own ears and tail, I happen to know exactly who we can count on to turn this plan into reality. From what I saw, she can certainly do it. In truth, I’m reluctant to ask her.

Even I can jump over the city walls if need be. But with your predicament, we don’t have that luxury.”

Lawrence, of course, soon understood who Holo was talking about.

Holo was almost certainly right as far as this person’s ability was concerned.

But smuggling gold into Ruvinheigen wasn’t simply a matter of getting it through the checkpoints. Being caught meant death, so everyone involved had to understand the risks and be willing to trust each other with their very lives.

There were many other problems, as well. There was no question that persuading the carrier was a daunting task. No matter how great the potential reward, you were still placing your life in the hands of another.

However, if smuggling gold in were a possibility, Lawrence could not afford to ignore it. It couldn’t be dismissed out of hand.

“So if help can be secured, you think it’s possible?” asked Lawrence.

“I should think so, as long as nothing extraordinary happens.”

I see...

Lawrence’s mind was already thinking about what would be necessary to smuggle in gold.

To even propose it, he and Holo would need to offer the carrier enough money to offset the danger and ensure his or her silence.

The amount they could make by smuggling in gold bought in some other town with the three lumione they had on hand wouldn’t he enough. They would lose all the potential profit just by compensating their partner. And compensation aside, it was doubtful that the gain made on three lumione could even approach the amount of Lawrence’s debt. They had to pull in more capital.

Holo, who said she could get past each checkpoint, realized this and suggested an alternate plan. Even if they proposed this plan to a potential investor, explaining the smuggling part would be a problem. Even more, they had to trust that the person lending them this money and aiding in the smuggling would not betray them. And those weren’t even the biggest problems. The biggest problem of all was that Lawrence had no time.

He was deep in thought when he felt a tug on his hand, bringing him out of his reverie.

He soon realized that nothing had pulled him — rather Holo had extricated her intertwined fingers from his and had withdrawn her hand.

“Right, I’ll leave you to work out the little details,” she said. “I’m going to sleep.”

She yawned, and then her tail flicked once in a sort of sigh as she walked slowly over to the bed.

“What, now?” Lawrence had planned on borrowing her intelligence again, but she had crawled under the plain blanket on the bed and popped out only her head to regard him.

“I know nothing of the city. I’ve nothing to offer save the fact that it is possible to get gold into the city.”

Lawrence internally conceded the point, at which Holo smiled.

“Or, what, do you want me to stay beside you there?”

Unfazed, Lawrence remembered the “rehearsal.” “I certainly do.”

“It’s cold, so no.”

Holo’s head disappeared beneath the blanket, but her tail—which seemed much warmer than the blanket — waved happily.

Lawrence took a deep breath, smiling at this, the sort of pleas ant exchange that never happened when one traveled alone.

If he didn’t figure something out between the sun rising and setting tomorrow, everything pleasant in his life would wind up sacrificed as an offering at the feet of the gods.

However, there was hope. He had no choice but to make that seed of hope bloom into a flower of success.

He sat in the chair Holo had lifted earlier and picked up the leather coin purse from the floor.

The familiar sound of jingling coins echoed in the quiet room.

A wagon clattered noisily along the cobblestone road, and Lawrence looked out the window to see the wagon’s bed piled high with produce — probably a merchant heading to the marketplace first thing in the morning. Other people started to emerge here and there as well.

Just as Lawrence thought that it was about time for the morning sermon bell, the great cathedral bells echoed out through the whitening morning sky. Despite the considerable distance, the weighty sound carried quite well.

Then, before the echo of the great bells had faded, the bells from the many smaller churches that dotted the city answered the call; a little riot of sound to start the morning.

The townspeople were used to this, but for travelers used to dawn breaking with naught but birdsong, it was a bit raucous. And to a wolf whose hearing far surpassed that of any human,

I he noise was more than a bit raucous. She moaned her displea-su re before rolling out of bed.

“Good morning.”

Holo said nothing, only nodding glumly.

“I’m hungry” were finally the first words from her mouth.

“If we head to the plaza, the stalls should be opening soon.”

“Mm,” said Holo, stretching almost catlike, then combing her silky hair. “So, having thought about it for a night, what do you think?”

“We can do it.”

It was such a short, blunt answer that Holo, who had finished with her hair and was now combing her much more important tail, looked up, surprised.

“That’s an awfully quick answer for you,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

Holo looked away purposely. Lawrence continued, ignor ing her.

“Although, in any case, there are two barriers we have to overcome.”

“Two?”

“In addition to whoever’s carrying the gold, we have to find an investor who will help us buy up our supply. The three lumione I have on hand won’t even be enough to compensate the carrier.”

Holo thought for a moment, then looked at Lawrence doubt fully. “There is one more problem, is there not? You only have today. Can you bring the gold into the city so quickly?”

The self-proclaimed wisewolf’s thinking was quick as usual.

But he’d had all night to think, and his mind had reached a place the wisewolf’s had yet to settle.

“Naturally I’ve thought of that. It seemed like the biggest problem to me, as well. Call it strange, call it a miracle, but there is a key to solving all of those problems.”

“Oh ho.”

Lawrence smiled proudly at Holo, who regarded him as a mas ter would a student about to be tested.

“We’ll get the Remelio Company to invest.”

Holo tilted her head slightly.

The Remelio Company was in the process of failing, just as Lawrence was. But it was hard to imagine that they were so stone broke that they would need to do the same kind of naive door knocking as Lawrence. They would probably have enough capital to fund one last attempt at a grand comeback, and those last precious funds would support the gold smuggling. Since the Remello Company itself was on the verge of ruin, they would have every reason to be interested in a reliable plan to move gold.

Such smuggling was extremely susceptible to betrayal. In other words, once the smuggling was proposed to them and they were on board, it would be bad for them if Lawrence preceded them on the road to ruin. There was no need for discretion on the part of those already headed for death. Lawrence would have only to say, “The Remelio Company is planning to smuggle gold,” and their plans for a comeback would be destroyed.

Thus, they would have no choice but to postpone the repayment of Lawrence’s debt, and in order to protect against betrayal, Lawrence had no choice but to make them his accomplice.

This was his conclusion the previous night.

“But, in any case, we still lack time.”

This was the biggest problem that faced them.

“Mm. Shall we then go right after breakfast?”

“Breakfast?”

“One can hardly fight on an empty stomach.”

Now that Holo mentioned it, Lawrence thought back and realized he had not had a bite since lunch the previous day, but either because of the all-nighter he had pulled or because of the intense work that was left to do, he did not have much appetite.

But Holo was entirely cheerful as she hopped off the bed, fastened her robe and skirt snugly around her waist, and put her kerchief on her head.

“Some meat would be nice!”

Even if he had been fit as a fiddle, Lawrence would have found the idea of meat first thing in the morning entirely distasteful.

After taking breakfast at a stall, Lawrence and Holo headed on foot to the Remelio Company. Since they weren’t arriving on a cart and horse, they called this time at the front door entrance.

As one might expect given that the entrance faced the street, it did not seem much different from normal, but once they opened the door, which bore no sign reading either open or closed, the unmistakable odor of financial troubles filled Lawrence’s nose.

It was clearly a different atmosphere from outside, where hope bloomed in the morning air. Here, despair lurked in every nook and cranny, and there was a hungry impatience, a feverish aura scattered throughout the place. The simple presence or absence of money could change the very atmosphere.

“Er, might I ask who is there?”

The middle-aged man who greeted them wore a hard expression; it was early for a sudden visit. Nonetheless, he was relatively calm and his voice polite. He was thin and probably always had been.

“My name is Lawrence. I visited yesterday. There is something I would very much like to speak with Mr. Remelio about...”

“Is that so? This way, please... Oh, I’m terribly sorry, your companion — ”

“She’s my apprentice. It’s convenient for her to be dressed as a town girl at the moment, but I look forward to her becoming a fine merchant woman in the near future. I’d like her to sit in on the meeting.”

Lawrence spun the great lie without any hesitation, and the man seemed to accept it. Female merchants were uncommon, and girls aiming to become one were even less so.

“If you’ll follow me, then...

Lawrence followed the man into the building, Holo trailing after him. The workers on the first-floor office sported blood shot, dark-circled eyes. Just like Lawrence’s previous days, they had been working frantically through the nights on ways to raise money most likely.

“Please wait here.”

They were led to a room on the third floor. This was probably the room normally used for negotiations about jewels, spices, and other high-priced items. Lawrence sat not on a plain cloth chair, but on an overstuffed couch with leather cushions.

“May I convey what your business with us is today, Mr. Lawrence?”

“I’d like to discuss a way to settle my debt with this company, and possibly for this company to settle its own debts as well,” said Lawrence smoothly and evenly, looking straight into the man’s eyes.

The man straightened as if struck by lightning, his eyes widening. He considered Lawrence with obvious doubt in his eyes, probably wondering if this visit to a struggling company was the last-ditch effort of a thief.

“Your doubt is entirely understandable. That is why I’d like to speak with Mr. Remelio as soon as possible.”

The man appeared flustered at having been seen through. “I will take the message to the master,” he said, taking his leave.

Eight or nine times out of ten, Remelio would have taken the bait — nothing Lawrence said was a lie. The only people who called on a company whose bankruptcy was near were those proposing liquidation arrangements. Merchants trying to salvage as much money as possible from a sinking ship would gather like ravenous ghosts. They could not possibly ignore someone coming along with even the flickering possibility of turning their fortunes around.

Holo’s gold-smuggling proposal would potentially yield enough profit to wipe out the Remelio Company’s vast debt, to say nothing of Lawrence’s relatively meager liability.

However, the plan would never succeed unless the Remelio Company was fully involved.

Additionally, if people in the company were caught, they wouldn’t be spared execution. The Remelio Company’s employees and their families would never be able to live in this city again. The danger was very real.

However, sitting and waiting would bring much the same outcome. Given that, the company would certainly take the chance. Then once Lawrence had repaid his debt, they would be able to lend on an absurd scale.

The greater the risk, the larger the potential gain.

It was the same as in Poroson when Lawrence had seen through the Latparron Company master’s cheat and forced him into a deal.

Lawrence chuckled ruefully to himself at the memory, but the past was done; there was only the future now.

He had to convince the Remelio Company to take the risk. That was the first mountain to climb. He took a deep breath and straightened himself, then felt eyes on his face. There was no one else in the room; it was Holo.

“I’m with you. Don’t worry” Holo gave him a lopsided smirk, exposing one sharp fang. It was a fearless smile.

“Yeah.”

Lawrence’s reply was short. His brevity was proportional to his trust in her. The closer a relationship, the less the need for lengthy contracts; the more a simple handshake suffices.

There was a knock at the door.

It opened, and there stood Hans Remelio, looking every bit as careworn as Lawrence.

“You said you have something important to discuss?”

The first step in the plan had been taken.

There was no need for elaborate tricks. First, Lawrence explained the objective.

Unsurprisingly, Remelio’s eyes became wide. “You don’t mean —he said.

“I mean exactly that,” said Lawrence, but soon the common sense he would expect from a merchant running a trading company in Ruvinheigen showed on Remelio’s face. It turned scornful as the master sat in a chair.

“I understand that your debt is a difficult one to repay, but I can’t have you making such ridiculous chatter.”

He began to stand, as if unwilling to waste any more time, when Lawrence stopped him.

“I’m sure there have been those who tried to smuggle gold this way before and were caught.”

“Well, if you understand that, this will go quickly. It’s easy for someone on the brink of ruin to mistake a reckless plan for a perfect one.”

It occurred to Lawrence that this statement was half aimed at Remelio himself, but he continued undaunted.

smuggling?”

Remelio looked at Lawrence gravely and sat back down. “What you propose is not possible. Someone so skilled as to be able to smuggle gold in would already be making plenty of money on his own. He wouldn’t cooperate. If you plan to bring in someone from outside, you might as well give up now. There’s no end to gold-smuggling plots like this, so inspections of anybody not registered with the city are especially thorough.”

Remelio’s objections were exactly the arguments Lawrence had been expecting.

“What if there were someone who was highly skilled but not making good money?”

“If he is so skilled, finding work in this city is not difficult. There’s already a shortage of labor.”

Remelio sat and waited for Lawrence’s reply.

His expression was faintly reminiscent of Holo’s the previous night.

He’d given his objection and waited for Lawrence’s counterobjection. He wanted to give up but couldn’t.

Lawrence took a deep breath.

“What if this skilled person had only ill-paying work in the city and a need for money? More importantly, what if this person’s current employer left something to be desired? I’m referring to the Church. Importing gold flies directly in the face of the Church. We’ll offer not only the opportunity for profit, but to exact some small revenge against the Church—it will be irresistible and the probability of betrayal very low, owing to a fair distaste for the employer.” “Th-that’s far too convenient a tale.”

“That’s when business is most profitable. Am I wrong?” Procuring produce when the crop has been bad, buying fash ions that go out of style only to find them booming in another

city—the biggest profits are realized from the most improbable coincidences.

Remelio’s face twisted.

He wanted to believe but couldn’t quite manage it.

“If I tell you this person’s name, I think you will be able to accept it.”

“I-in that case, why would you go to the trouble of coming to me and having another party demanding a share?”

Having established smuggling as the topic, Lawrence proceeded to this tangential problem, setting aside issues of possibility or impossibility.

“There are two reasons. The first is that the debt I owe this company comes due today, and at sundown I will surely be taken into custody in lieu of payment. The second is that this is all the coin I have on hand.”

Lawrence produced the coin purse, untied its drawstring, and emptied its contents onto the table.

It was a mixture of silver and copper coins totaling three lumione.

The coins glittered in Remelio’s eyes — Remelio, who faced bankruptcy, just as Lawrence did.

“It’s three lumione. If you want to know how I raised it, just ask around among the merchant houses; you’ll soon find out.”

Hearing this, Remelio took a deep breath.

Given the situation, he surely knew how Lawrence had collected the money.

“This is truly everything I have. I want you to take it as collateral and trust what I am saying.”

Lawrence leaned forward and looked straight into Remelio’s eyes.

“I also want you to suspend the repayment of my debt and for your company to finance the purchase of gold for us to smuggle.”

Remelio’s haggard face was covered in a cold sweat, wrinkles gathering at his chin.

The only reason he didn’t deny Lawrence and Holo on the spot was that he had just enough funds to finance the plan.

— And just enough hope to want to believe them.

All it would take was one more push, but if Lawrence pushed too hard, it would only make Remelio more doubtful.

Gold smuggling could yield enormous profit, but it came with terrible risk. And given the current condition of the Remelio Company, the deal to finance the smuggling could itself be seen as fraud.

There were plenty of people willing to destroy a struggling company in order to make a quick profit, so these, doubts were hardly strange.

Lawrence had to choose his words carefully.

But before he could —

“Listen, you,” said Holo.

Surprised, Remelio looked at Holo, blinking, as if only just now realizing that there was somebody else.

Lawrence, too, turned to Holo. Holo herself regarded the floor.

“Do you think you have the luxury of wavering?”

“Wha — ” Remelio was tongue-tied at the provocative, threatening question.

Thinking this an unwise approach, Lawrence was about to stop her. However —

“Another person left just now. Can you keep dillydallying like this?”

Transfixed by Holo’s sharp look, Remelio froze, as if he had swallowed a stone. “E-er...”

“I’ve excellent hearing. Shall I tell you about your workers and their plans being hatched downstairs right now? Their plans to escape while they can?”

“Uh—” “Whoops, there goes another one. At this rate the shop will be-”

“Stop!” cried Remelio, clutching his head.

Holo regarded the man, her expression entirely unperturbed.

Lawrence half agreed with her. A company was like a boat. If there is a hole in the hull and no hope of patching it, the crew ignored the captain and abandoned ship.

But it was clear enough that Holo had chosen that line of attack for a reason. She knew better than anyone the meaning of the word loneliness.

She certainly understood Remelio’s distress.

“Mr. Remelio,” began Lawrence mildly, having understood Holo’s angle. “I propose that you take these three lumione—everything I have — as a deposit and invest in gold. We know someone who will make the smuggling possible. If this person is paid well enough, trustworthiness is assured. And given your company, I’m sure you have a means to move the smuggled gold. What say you? If you’ll postpone my loan and give me a fair portion, I want to conduct this operation with no unfavorable conditions placed on you.”

A moment passed.

“What say you?”

Remelio looked down, head in hands.

Lawrence’s words, more seductive than wine, were surely filtering through the man’s mind now. He still hadn’t looked back up.

Time silently passed.

It was quiet, as if the entire company was focused on Remelio’s decision.

Just as Lawrence began to say, “Mr. Remelio,” the master finally spoke.

“All right.” He lifted his head, his face exhausted, a flame burning in his eyes. “Let’s do it.”

Lawrence stood up without thinking and extended his hand.

The two men, both of whom faced bankruptcy, shook.

“May God forgive us.”

After settling the arrangements regarding roles and compensation with the Remelio Company, Lawrence and Holo found themselves in front of a smallish church in the eastern part of Ruvinheigen. The level of ornamentation, the size of the bells, and so on were decided based on the chapel’s standing within the Church’s organization—the reasoning being that the higher the abbey, the closer to God it was.

The church Lawrence and Holo visited was in the bottom middle of that hierarchy. Its adornment was not at all poor, but for Ruvinheigen, the church was rather subdued.

It was just after noontime, and the midday service was in prog ress within the parish.

“Now, then,” said Holo abruptly, sitting on the stone steps as a hymn praising the holy mother wafted out of the chapel. “Think you can really pull one over on the girl?”

“Such things you say.”

“Am I wrong, then?” asked Holo, amused.

Lawrence made a stern face and stared straight ahead as hr answered. “You don’t change.”

He and Holo waited at the entrance of this house of worship because they had business with Norah the shepherdess. They did not know which church in particular she was affiliated with, but there weren’t many that housed a female shepherd. Their search had been quick.

And having gone to all the trouble of searching, they weren't here to make idle gossip.

They had come to ask her to play a crucial role in the gold smuggling operation — the carrier.

However, Norah was not facing financial ruin the way that Lawrence and the Remelio Company were. Still, proposing the gold-smuggling plan would certainly involve deception because they would need to make the profit that would come in with the plan’s success seem equal to the danger.

Any who smuggled gold bet their life on it — and nothing could compensate for loss of life. Yes, some fudging of the details would be necessary.

Yet both Norah’s skill as a shepherdess and her standing in the city were indispensable to their scheme.

And the merchant had faith that she would be their accomplice.

Lawrence felt a pang of conscience at treating someone’s heart as a commodity in the marketplace. If Norah had been a merchant, he would have no such compunctions, but she was an innocent shepherdess. Nonetheless, the fact was not lost on Lawrence’s keen merchant insight.

In addition to being a shepherd — and thus already regarded as vaguely heretical — she was a woman, which made her all the more likely to be a tool of demons. It was simple to conclude that the Church was not sheltering her out of some sense of charity, but rather to keep an eye on her. That was probably the root of her unease, which he had picked up on when talking to her about the shepherding work she did for the Church.

Also, though Norah had expressed her desire to save up enough money to become a dressmaker, it was not in the girl’s personality to be avaricious — and the extra income afforded by doing escort work did not give her that luxury. He could understand if she didn’t want to be exposed to a rather harsh work environment.

Toiling the day away doing the difficult work of a shepherd, yet never quite making ends meet — it would make it impossible to greet the morning with any joy. The future would stretch out endlessly ahead, holding only bitterness and suffering.

In contrast to that, Lawrence would propose the gold-smuggling stratagem to her: Rather than scraping tiny amounts of money together, she would make enough in one fell swoop to not only pay her guild membership dues, but also to end any worries about making ends meet. Sure, there was danger, but how could she let this opportunity pass? This was how he would persuade her.

Lawrence would hardly force her, so in that sense he wasn’t doing anything wrong, but he still had misgivings about using her adverse circumstances in this fashion.

Nonetheless, it had to be Norah.

The fact that she was a skilled shepherdess who could lead her small flock through wolf-infested areas, where few humans ventured; the fact that she was unsatisfied with her employer, the Church; the fact that she needed money to fulfill her dream—it truly seemed like every condition was divinely arranged specifically to help Lawrence succeed in smuggling gold into Ruvinheigen. It was impossible to imagine anyone better positioned to help them.

Yet Lawrence heaved a sigh. Convincing her still weighed on him.

While he was absorbed in thinking about it, Lawrence grew conscious of Holo’s eyes on him. He looked over and saw her grinning at him resignedly.

“You really are just too softhearted by half.”

It was what she had said yesterday. It was true that Lawrence was quite sentimental for a merchant. There were plenty of merchants who would happily bring misfortune to their families if it meant making money in the process.

“Still, though,” said Holo, standing and looking out over the ever-lively city street. “It’s thanks to that softheartedness that I ’ve been able to travel so easily,” she announced casually, descending a couple of the stone steps to stand next to Lawrence. “I suppose I’ll have to talk her into it. I need to be of some use, after all.”

She gave a thin smile, but her words lacked a certain spark Lawrence thought.

He studied her and sure enough, her eyes were downcast.

Maybe it was because he and Holo were close to the boisterous, busy lane, but she seemed smaller than usual.

“What, are you still thinking about yesterday?” he asked.

Holo shook her head but said nothing. It was an easy lie to see through.

“There’s no telling what would’ve happened back there if you hadn’t leaned on Remelio. I’d say you were plenty useful.”

Holo nodded; perhaps she accepted the truth of the statement, but her face remained crestfallen.

Lawrence patted her head lightly “I’ll talk to her myself. It was my eyes that were blinded by greed and got us into this mess, after all. It’d be absurd to make you do all the talking because of my reluctance.”

Though he was half trying to cheer up Holo and half being self-derisive, everything he said was certainly true.

“And anyway, if I let you help me too much, there’s no telling how much I’ll be taken advantage of later,” he said with a shrug.

After a moment, Holo looked up and smiled with a soft sigh. “And here I was thinking I’d be able to call in some favors later.”

“I certainly avoided quite a trap there,” joked Lawrence.

Holo casually put her arm to her forehead. “Indeed, you did, but you’re backing into a still larger trap. I don’t hunt a rabbit caught in a trap. ’Twould be too feeble.”

“Do you know the sort of wolf snare that uses a trapped rabbit as bait?”

“Make sure not to cower at the wolf howls when you set the trap. You’ll foul the snare else.”

It was the empty banter of familiarity.

Lawrence shook his head at the ridiculousness of it. Holo couldn’t contain herself anymore and started laughing.

“Anyway, merchants are like sabers — they’re no good if they’re not straight. They break otherwise,” said Lawrence mostly to himself, and then he cast his eyes to the sky, as if searching for the sound of the bells.

It was a beautiful blue sky with a scattering of clouds. He shifted his gaze to the east and spied a few more white clouds.

It was a fine day—and fine weather meant good business.

As Lawrence considered that, he heard a quiet knocking sound behind him —the chapel doors were opening. Lawrence and Holo backed away to the sides of the stone steps. Soon the congregation began to filter out of the church, their faces full of postprayer serenity as they descended the steps. The crowd divided into smaller groups as they dispersed to finish the day’s work—a scene that repeated itself daily.

At length, the exodus subsided.

There was once a time when it was groundlessly believed that the longer one remained in the church, the deeper one’s faith —until priests started becoming angry with anyone who lingered in the chapel. Now such things did not happen.

That said, it was not good to leave a church too quickly, lest it seem like one is trying to escape.

As a result, butchers, tanners, and other craftsmen likely to attract the Church’s baleful attention tended to leave the sanctuary more slowly.

As shepherds were counted among those suspicious professions, the shepherdess was last to leave. Her downcast eyes and reserved posture were no doubt due to the fact that the church was not a place of rest for her.

“Good day,” declared Lawrence as he stopped in front of Norah, smiling as pleasantly as he could manage. A good smile was an important part of negotiation.

“Er, L-Lawrence and... Holo, yes?” said Norah, reddening slightly and looking over at Holo, then back to Lawrence.

“It is clear that us happening to meet in front of a church is the will of God,” said Lawrence with a slightly grandiose gesture. Norah seemed to notice something and giggled in amusement. ■

“I won’t be fooled, Mr. Lawrence.”

“And thank heavens for that. I have heard that lately there are those at services who have drunk a bit too much of the holy blood.”

Lawrence was referring to wine. Were she drunk, he might be able to convince her to join him, but she might also lose her nerve or turn him down. He was glad for her sobriety.

“I cannot drink much wine, so I mostly avoid it,” she said with a shy smile, then looked around nervously. Perhaps she had been contacted with an offer of escort work.

Lawrence did not hesitate to use that expectation. “Actually, I am here about some work for you.”

Norah’s face lit up so quickly you could nearly hear it.

“This place being what it is, perhaps we should away to a stall somewhere...”

The reason Lawrence didn’t suggest a bar was because nothing would be more conspicuous given the hour. Secret negotiations were best conducted in busy public spaces.

Norah nodded agreeably. Lawrence began walking with Holo at his right side and Norah to his left, trailing behind him slightly.

The three strolled along the busy, boisterous lane until they passed through the crowds and arrived at the plaza.

The plaza was as loud and festive as ever, but fortune smiled on them as the trio found a table at a beer stall where Lawrence ordered beer for the lot of them. Ale was cheaper, but as Norah was with them, he couldn’t very well order any.

The service was quick but rough as the three cups arrived; Lawrence paid a pittance in silver for them, then put his hand to his mug.

“Here’s to our reunion.”

The tankards clacked together noisily.

“So, Norah, did you say you were able to go as far as Lamtra?”

Taken off guard by the sudden broaching of the subject of work, Norah, who hadn’t touched her beer, eyed Lawrence guardedly. Holo watched the two, nursing her drink.

“Y-yes, I can go that far.”

“Even bring your flock?”

“As long as it’s not too large.”

She answered so directly that Lawrence wondered how many times she had crossed the fields and forests on the way to Lamtrn.

But just to be sure, Lawrence glanced to Holo to check the truth of the statement. Holo nodded so imperceptibly that only Lawrence could tell.

Evidently Norah was not lying.

Lawrence took a deep breath to avoid arousing Norah’s suspicion. Being excessively roundabout might damage her resolve Better to plunge straight in.

“I want to hire you for a certain job. Compensation will be twenty lumione. Not in a cheap banknote, of course — it will he hard coin.”

Norah looked at him blankly, as though he were speaking in a foreign tongue. In fact, it took time for the words to penetrate her mind — it was as if they had been written down in some faraway land and sent to her.

To some people, twenty lumione was that much money.

“However, there is risk, and the compensation is only if we succeed. Failure earns us nothing.”

Looking at someone’s finger as it traced circles or x marks on a table was one way of telling if he or she was real and not a dream or hallucination.

Norah followed the movements of Lawrence’s finger, and it seemed that he was quite real.

Yet still she had trouble believing, it seemed.

“The job will be moving sheep — then moving them back again as safely as possible. That will be all we need of your services as a shepherd.”

Norah finally seemed to wrap her head around Lawrence’s proposal, and realizing that the work and the compensation he had offered were far from comparable, she began to voice her skepticism. Lawrence seemed to have been waiting for that and cut her off

“However, the work itself involves significant danger — proportional to the risk.”

Having explained the unimaginable profit, he now explained the risk. Both could inspire shock, but the first detail would leave a stronger impression.

“Nevertheless, the pay is twenty lumione. Even the highest guild dues are but a single lumione. You could rent a house and take care of your daily expenses, working without worry. With that much, you could easily buy your own business. You would be the mistress of Norah Dressmakers.”

Norah’s face was troubled and then on the verge of tears. The enormity of the amount of money seemed to be sinking in — and with it, undoubtedly, the concern over the danger.

She had taken the bait. Now the real challenge began. If he muddled his statements at all, she would clamp a shell around her like a clam.

“Oh, that’s right—had you planned to join the tailors guild in this city, Norah?”

She was waiting, prepared, to hear the bad news, but Lawrence seemed to have thrown her off the trail. Inside her head,

Lawrence knew thoughts raced of both the ridiculous amount of money and the fact that she had not yet heard the risk. There wasn’t much room to ponder extraneous things, so her answer should be quite honest, Lawrence thought.

“N-no, I was thinking a different town.”

“I see! Do you not like the sprawling size of this city compared with others? It can be quite hard to live in an unfamiliar city with no friends, I find.”

While her mind was occupied with other matters, she couldn 't easily voice her thoughts — such was the plan.

Norah nodded, looking troubled, saying nothing.

That was enough for Lawrence, whose merchant intuition told him a person’s heart based on the expression on their face.

The shepherdess’s mind was like glass to him.

“Well, I suppose you’ll want to get away from this city and its churches, won’t you?”

The trap was set.

Holo gave Lawrence an obvious look, but the result was instantaneous.

“N-no, I mean, not at all... Well, but...”

“The harder you work for them, the better you protect the sheep they’ve entrusted you, the more they’ll suspect you of witchcraft. Am I wrong?”

She froze, her head moving neither up nor down, left not right — Lawrence was spot on the mark.

“And as they try to expose you, you’ll have to venture where other shepherds would never go —because the alternatives are already taken by those selfsame shepherds, you said.”

That instant, Norah’s eyes snapped wide open, and she looked at Lawrence. Perhaps it was something she had vaguely consid ered before, since even if other shepherds had their territories, if she was willing to travel far enough, there would be safe places that remained.

“The priests will keep pushing you farther away until you're attacked by wolves or maybe mercenaries. And every day you’re not, they’ll suspect you of being a pagan.”

Lawrence clenched his fist under the table, as if to crush his guilty conscience.

He had lit a fire under the small doubt that had always lingered within Norah’s heart. There was no way to take it back. Whether it was true or not was irrelevant.

Merchants are like sabers — useless unless straight.

“I’ve been in a similar situation myself. Let me say it plainly.”

He looked straight at Norah and spoke in a voice just low enough for people around not to hear.

“The Church here is lower than pigs.”

Speaking ill of the Church was a serious crime. The shocked Norah peered around, the flames of her doubt suddenly scattered. Lawrence placed his elbows on the table and leaned forward.

“But we have a plan. We’ll give the Church some trouble, make some money, and head to a different town — that kind of plan.”

The flames of her doubt turned to anger and burned hotter, but once they burned out, they would leave behind the cinders of confidence. Within Norah, the seed of justified defiance would begin to flower.

Slowly, Lawrence articulated the heart of the matter.

“We will smuggle gold.”

Norah’s eyes widened, but she soon calmed herself. Surprise could, at best, only be felt as a slightly strong wind.

She finally spoke, her mind working again.

“But... what can I possibly do?”

It was a good question. Her skill as a shepherd wasn’t her only merit.

“As I’m sure you know, gold coming into the city is heavily regulated. Every road that enters Ruvinheigen has checkpoints and two stages of examination. If you hide something in your sleeves or among your luggage, they’ll find it on the spot. If you’re trying to bring in a lot of something, it’s even harder.”

Norah nodded fervently at Lawrence’s plain explanation, as though she was a devout believer listening to a sermon.

“We plan to get gold past the checkpoints by hiding it in the sheep’s stomachs.”

The look on Norah’s face was so astonished that Lawrence could practically hear her say, “Impossible,” but the notion gradually percolated through her mind, like water sinking into hard clay.

Many animals that eat grass year-round, including sheep, tend to swallow stones in the process. There was no reason not to scatter grains of gold among the grass and have the animals swallow them, though they might cough up gold during the long inspection process. And then there was Norah, who despite her skill as a shepherd, had but a small flock that she took far afield, wandering places where few humans traveled. When coming in from Poroson, the first checkpoint was a modest one; heavier traffic would mean a larger scale checkpoint.

Norah nodded slowly. “I see,” she murmured.

“But gold prices are absurdly high in any city affected by Ruvinheigen policy. That makes the pagan town of Lamtra the most convenient place from which to start. If you come via the safest routes from Lamtra, there’s a lot of traffic, and much of that territory has been claimed by other shepherds. This is what makes you perfect for the job. No one will find it suspicious that you’re bringing your sheep through a low-traffic route — and that route is the quickest path from Lamtra to boot.”

Lawrence paused, clearing his throat slightly and looking carefully at Norah before continuing.

“You’ve suffered at the hands of the Church in the city, Norah," he said sharply. “This is your best chance to turn the tables on them. The Church’s two biggest sources of income are tithes and the gold trade, after all. But if we’re caught, the punishments will be heavy, and once the job is done, we’ll have to leave the city to

be safe. And depending on circumstances, we may have to ask you to butcher the sheep.”

There were few shepherds who had never had to butcher an animal — and still fewer who didn’t find the job painful. It was a good way to measure her resolve.

“On the other hand, it’s twenty lumione,” Lawrence said.

You’re being unfair, he told himself, but the more unfair her situation seemed, the more effective the result.

Finally, the girl across the table from him — who had endured heat and cold, suspicious gazes, and terrible treatment, all the while silently tending her flock — weighed the profit, risk, and nature of the job and seemed to come to a conclusion.

Lawrence could see her eyes become calm.

Strong words were uttered from a small mouth.

“Please, let me do it.”

In that moment, Lawrence had convinced another person to make a bet with her own life.

Yet he swiftly aligned himself with Norah and extended his hand — it was that hand that reached out for his own future.

“I shall count on you.”

... And I on you.”

Now the promise was firm. Norah and Holo shook hands as well, and now all three of their fates were inextricably linked. All three would laugh together or all three would weep.

“Right, now for the details.”

Lawrence then asked Norah about when she would take the sheep, how many she would take, the specifics of the landscape around Lamtra, and how much gold she thought she could compel the sheep to swallow. He would take this information to the Remelio Company.

Midday passed in a twinkling, and by the time they finished talking, business was ending and the merchants and craftsmen appeared in the streets on their way home. Having left her beer untouched, Norah stood. She had absorbed everything while entirely sober and made her decision.

If Lawrence had thought otherwise, he would have followed Norah when she left, giving her parting thanks to the man who had brought such an extraordinary opportunity. He would have tried to convince her to rethink her position.

Lawrence drained the lukewarm beer in the cup in one go. It was bitter and unpleasant.

“Come, should you not be more happy? Everything has gone well and yet!” said Holo to Lawrence with a wry grin.

But Lawrence could not be unreservedly happy. He had persuaded Norah to choose a dangerous path.

“I don’t care how great the profit; nothing exists to balance out the wager of a person’s life,” he said.

“I suppose that’s true.”

“And just talking up the profit like that is the same as fraud. Merchants have always said that it’s a fool who’s bound by an unfair contract. But what is she? Just a shepherdess!”

Though all he had done was raise his voice, regret swirled within his chest.

If all he cared about was survival, he could have accepted Holo’s help, abandoning his life as a merchant and all the people in it.

But to Lawrence that was not so very different from death.

So he had leapt at the heaven-sent chance to turn Holo’s scheme into reality, tricking Norah into helping him.

He knew what he had done but couldn’t help regretting it.

“Come, now,” chided Holo after a time, swirling the remaining beer around in her cup as she stared at its contents.

Lawrence looked over; she kept her attention focused on the cup.

“Have you heard the terrible cry that a sheep makes when you tear out its throat?”

Lawrence’s breath caught at the sudden question. Holo finally faced him.

“Sheep have no fangs, no claws, no fleet feet with which to escape when wolves come flying across the field like arrows with claws, teeth, and speed to tear at their throats. What think you of this?”

Holo spoke as if making everyday conversation — and in truth, she was.

What she talked about happened frequently—no, more than frequently.

One hunted one’s food with every method available. It was simple, obvious.

“The death cry of a lamb is indescribable, yet my empty stomach complains constantly. If I must listen to one of them, I’ll lend my ear to the louder of the two, will I not?”

Lawrence understood.

If having to sacrifice something in order to survive was a sin, then the only path remaining was to die while fasting as a saint.

But that didn’t excuse just any behavior.

It took someone else saying what he needed to hear in order to free himself from the conflict.

“You’re not so very bad.”

Lawrence saw Holo smile at him helplessly and felt his black guilt melt away.

He had very much wanted to hear those words.

“Hmph. Such a spoiled boy.”

Lawrence made a grim face at having been seen through so easily, but Holo just finished off her beer and stood.

“Still, neither humans nor wolves can live alone. Sometimes one needs a pack mate to curl up with. Am I wrong?”

Surely this was the definition of flexible strength.

Lawrence nodded in acknowledgment of Holo’s smile and stood himself.

“Still, you’re quite the dangerous one,” she said.

She was probably talking about his skillful manipulation of Norah —but a fine merchant he would be if he could not do al least that much.

“You’d best believe it. Watch yourself, lest I trick you as well.”

Holo giggled. “I’ll look forward to that.” She laughed as thougli she truly did anticipate it, which made Lawrence wonder if he was not the one being led on. He didn’t say it, but as Holo let slip a private smile when they began to walk, it seemed best to assume she could see right through him.

“In any case, we’ve no choice but to try and make sure we all end up laughing,” said Lawrence.

“That’s the spirit. Still...”

Lawrence looked at Holo, who had trailed off in midsentence.

“... Would it not be even better for the two of us to have the last laugh?”

It was a seductive notion, but no —better that everyone was happy.

“You really are simply too softhearted.”

“Is that so bad?”

“Far from it.”

The two smiled slightly as they walked through the city.

The road ahead was far from bright, but each sensed in the other’s face that the future was clear enough.

The smuggling would succeed.

The thought was unfounded, but Lawrence believed it anyway.

“My name is Marten Liebert, of the Remelio Company.”

“Lawrence. And this is my companion, Holo.”

“Um, I’m N-Norah. Norah Arendt.”

The Church city of Ruvinheigen had many entrances and exits, and it was in a plaza just before the northeast gate that the three introductions were made.

The morning air before the market bell rang was crisp and pleasant, and the plaza, though still cluttered with litter from the previous night’s commotion, was somehow beautiful.

Among the people gathered there, only Holo had the luxury of looking at the city.

The faces of the other three were all drawn tight with nerves.

The crime of smuggling gold into Ruvinheigen carried heavy punishments, up to and including being drawn and quartered. Under normal circumstances, they would have met many times to ensure there were no unpleasant surprises, but unfortunately the situation did not allow that.

There were many creditors who wanted to crush and devour the Remelio Company. Even a firm facing bankruptcy had land and houses and accounts receivable — all of which could be converted to money.

These creditors could hardly wait for the loan deadlines, so the Remelio Company was under pressure to finish the gold smuggling quickly and turn the results into coin.

Thus, Norah picked up her sheep from the church right after morning services, then headed immediately to join up with the others. Evidently, she had not expected anybody besides Lawrence to be involved and was surprised to hear the Remelio Company’s name, but she kept any doubts to herself. She seemed prepared to play her part.

“Let us go, then. Business is like fresh fish in the kitchen,” declared Liebert. It spoils easily was the unspoken conclusion.

Liebert was the man Hans Remelio had entrusted with the role of smuggling in the gold. Lawrence had no objection, and of course, neither Norah nor Holo seemed opposed.

Arousing only the slightest curiosity from the sleepily yawning guards at the gate, they left the city of Ruvinheigen without incident.

Lawrence wore his usual merchant’s clothes; Liebert dressed in the kind of traveling clothes a city merchant might wear on a hunting trip. Holo had returned to her nun’s outfit, and Norah looked as she always did.

However, neither Lawrence nor Liebert used a wagon. Liebert sat astride his own horse, and Lawrence had put Holo upon another horse, which he led by the reins as he walked. The road was likely to be poor, and traveling without a wagon was significantly faster.

With Norah leading the way as she guided her seven sheep and her sheepdog Enek, the group headed northeast to the town of Lamtra.

It was like the road from Poroson — the route was unpopular with travelers, and the group went the entire day without encountering so much as one other person.

There was nothing worth calling conversation, and the only sounds were the bell on Norah’s staff and the bleating of her sheep.

The first interaction that even approached conversation came at sunset, when Norah stopped and began to make camp, which Liebert took issue with. With his almond-shaped eyes and smooth blond hair, he was every inch the spirited young employee entrusted with an important job. He advocated, in a rather high-strung fashion, for making more progress before stopping to camp.

But Liebert lacked travel experience. Once Lawrence explained things like how shepherds work and the risks of nighttime travel, Liebert was surprisingly understanding. He may have been high strung, but he was by no means unreasonable.

Far from it, in fact, Lawrence realized Liebert was probably a good-natured man under normal circumstances once he offered a sincere apology.

“I am sorry. The pressure is getting to me, I think.”

Liebert had been entrusted with the continued existence of the Remelio Company. Sealed securely in the inside of his coat was a note for buying up gold — in the amount of six hundred lumione. Even his master, Remelio, was probably clasping his hands in prayer back in Ruvinheigen.

“Well, unlike me, you’re carrying an entire company on your back. It’s to be expected,” said Lawrence. Liebert looked slightly relieved and smiled.

The night passed quietly, and soon it was morning.

Among townspeople, breakfast is often regarded as a luxury, and many do not take it — but for those who live by travel, it is common sense.

Thus, they set off with all but Liebert chewing away on flat bread and jerky.

They stopped again just before noon.

It was just at the crest of a small hill; the road beneath their feet headed straight east, bending south at the summit of the next hill. All around them grew grass ideal for grazing; it stretched out in every direction.

But the road now turned away from their destination. Faintly visible to the north was the dark green line of the forest, and tracing that line west, they could see the craggy faces of the steep hills in the distance.

They would be heading between the hills and the forest, across fields where no wagon rolled and no traveler’s foot trod.

The fields dividing the craggy hills, which were so rugged that they were impassable even on foot, from the thick, eerie forest (that even knights hesitated to enter) were the quickest path to Lamtra.

No one in their right mind would take that route, which despite its entirely mundane appearance was ineffably terrifying. Though Holo sniffed at rumors of pagan sorcerers summoning wolves, it was hard not to wonder at them.

Unless they navigated the pass and arrived safely in Lamtra and unless they returned with gold, none of them had a future. Their faces met, and they all nodded with unspoken understanding.

“If we encounter wolves, do not panic. We will arrive safely,” said Norah with surprising resolve — it was reassuring, though Holo did not seem to find it at all amusing.

No doubt Holo the Wisewolf had something to say. When Lawrence met her eyes, she sneered slightly, but she soon regained her composure.

“God’s protection be with us,” Liebert prayed.

The rest followed suit.

The weather was good.

There was an occasional wind that stirred the cold air, making it brush against the travelers’ cheeks, but as they were walking, it was easily ignored.

Norah headed up the group along with Liebert on horseback; behind them came the seven sheep; and trailing the sheep was Lawrence, leading the horse on which Holo rode.

The farther north through the fields that they headed, the closer the hills drew, nudging them toward the forest’s edge. They kept as close to the forest as they could, since the horses might injure themselves on rockier terrain. However, as they got close enough to make out the gloomy form of the forest, its eeriness grew.

It was hard to say, but Lawrence thought he might have just heard a wolf howl.

“Hey.”

“Hm?” “Do you think wolves will be a problem?” he asked, lowering his voice.

“No good. Were already surrounded.”

Even that obvious joke made his breath catch in his throat for a moment.

Holo chuckled soundlessly. “I can guarantee your safety The others, I don’t know about.”

“We’ll be in trouble unless everyone’s okay.”

“I truly do not know. The forest is downwind; if there are wolves, they’ve long since noticed us and started sharpening their fangs.”

Lawrence suddenly got the feeling that something in the forest was watching him.

He heard the sudden patter of an animal’s footfalls, and surprised, he turned to face the sound, seeing Enek run past him in a blur of black fur.

Enek chased after two stray sheep.

“Clever dog,” said Lawrence.

He had not meant anything by it, but Holo still sniffed in irritation.

“Being half-clever only invites death,” she said.

“... What do you mean?” he asked. It would be complicated if Liebert or Norah, ahead of them, were to overhear the conversation, so Lawrence spoke in a hushed voice.

On the horse above him, Holo wore a sour expression.

“That dog, it knows what I am.”

“It does?”

“Hiding my ears and tail will fool humans but not a dog. Ever since we first met, it’s been looking at me in the most irritating way.”

Lawrence could tell Enek had been looking at them, but he had not realized why

“But, here, what really irritates me” —Holo flicked her ears underneath her hood; she was quite angry—“is that dog’s eyes. Those eyes, they say, ‘Just you try touching the sheep. I’ll rip your throat out.’”

Lawrence smiled awkwardly, as if to say “surely not.” The flinty eyed look he got from Holo made him wince.

“Nothing makes me so angry as a dog that doesn’t know its place,” said Holo, looking away.

Perhaps dogs and wolves were enemies in much the same way that crows and doves were.

“And anyway, I am Holo the Wisewolf. I won’t fall for some mere dog’s provocation,” she complained with a scowl. It was nearly impossible not to laugh.

But since it would be a problem if Holo got angry, Lawrence stifled his chuckle. “Indeed, that dog is no match for you. You’re stronger, smarter, and your tail fur is finer.”

It was obvious flattery, and the last compliment seemed to work.

Holo’s ears pricked up beneath her hood, and her face broke into a proud smile that no mask of composure could hope to hide.

She giggled. “Well, I see you understand the way of it, then.”

It was true — Lawrence did understand by now how to handle Holo, but of course, he didn’t say that and only inclined his head in a vague bow.

Eventually the grass grew sparse and the ocher soil more prominent.

The hills that spread out to the west were closer than ever and looked like an angry sea.

The group continued down the road, though it barely rated as such when they had to cross large tree roots that occasionally slowed progress.

Soon the sound of the wind through the trees reached their ears

Yet still they pressed onward, passing the second night of the journey without incident.

According to Norah, if they left at daybreak the next morning, they would reach Lamtra by midday. Thus, they would have spent less than half the travel time that it normally would have taken to use the established route. Their route was closer to a third or a quarter of the distance. If this path was cleared, trade with Lamtra would become simple. Looking back on the distance they had covered thus far, Lawrence realized that wolves had not been a problem. It was easy to wish there was a more proper road.

Of course, a road would also make Lamtra much more susceptible to assault. Ruvinheigen would find it hard to tolerate a pagan city situated so close. That had not happened yet, which made it easy to suspect that Lamtra secretly paid Ruvinheigen specifically to prevent such a road’s construction. Wherever there is power, there is also bribery, after all.

After a bland dinner, Lawrence sat deep in thought as he sipped some wine Liebert had brought. With no one to talk to, he was left to his own devices.

Holo had quickly finished her own wine and was now wrapped up in a blanket, leaning against Lawrence, fast asleep. Liebert, tired and unaccustomed to travel, dozed before the campfire.

Lawrence looked around and spotted Norah a bit farther from the campfire, stroking Enek on her lap. Evidently, if she stayed too close to the fire, her eyes would become accustomed to the light and that could cause problems if something were to happen.

Norah seemed to notice Lawrence looking at her; she glanced over at him.

She looked down at her hands, then back up, smiling pleasantly.

For a moment Lawrence didn’t see why she was smiling, but then he looked down at his own hands and understood.

Holo snored away on Lawrence’s lap — “the same as me,” Norah’s smile said.

Lawrence, though, was quite afraid to stroke Holo’s hair. The wolf on his lap was far more fearsome than Enek.

As he looked at Holo, peaceful and innocent as she slept, the temptation to caress her grew keener. Surely there would be no problem if he mimicked Norah with Enek.

Liebert was asleep, and Norah minded her sheep as she tended to Enek.

Lawrence set down the roughly hewn wooden cup he held and slowly moved his hand toward Holo.

He had stroked her head many times before, but suddenly il now seemed somehow sacred.

His hand trembled. Then, at that moment —

Holo lifted her head up.

Lawrence hastily withdrew his hand; Holo eyed him warily but soon turned her attention elsewhere. Lawrence wondered whal was happening when he noticed that Norah had gotten to her feet, as had Enek, teeth bared.

Everywhere he looked it was the same — pitch-black forest.

“Mr. Lawrence, get back!” shouted Norah urgently, and mostly by reflex, the merchant tried to do as he was told, but he was caught on something and could not stand.

He turned only to find that it was Holo, holding fast to his clothes, keeping his hands behind him. He was about to protest when a warning glare from Holo over his shoulder pierced him. If he had to guess, the look meant something like “ignore the girl and get behind me.”

Holo seemed to harbor an intense hostility toward Norah, and afraid to oppose her, when Holo stood, Lawrence stayed behind her.

Norah was absorbed in her own work, ringing the bell on her staff and directing Enek, rounding up the sleeping sheep and bringing them closer to the campfire, and then tapping the sleeping Liebert on the shoulder. Finally, she threw several more pieces of firewood onto the campfire.

Norah’s movements were practiced and calm, and her awkward manner around other people reminded Lawrence of his own clumsiness when dealing with people outside of business.

Liebert finally awoke and, sensing the tense atmosphere, followed Norah’s and Holo’s gazes, searching for wolves.

He retreated, hand clutching his chest—no doubt feeling for the six hundred lumione note that was concealed there—as he got behind Enek, whose tail fur was standing on end as he bared his fangs.

The camp’s defense arrangements settled, the only sounds that remained were the uneasy baas of the sheep, Enek’s ragged breathing, and the crackling of the campfire.

There was no sound from the ebony woods. The moon was out, and there was no wind. Naturally being a mere merchant, Lawrence could hardly sense any presences in the forest.

But Norah, Enek, and Holo were utterly motionless as they looked into the woods.

For all he could tell, they might have been staring at catfish swimming in a black pond.

Strangely, he could not hear so much as a hint of a wolf’s howl. Lawrence had been attacked by wolves many times in his travels, and such attacks always came with howls. And yet none were audible.

He wondered if there really were any.

Time crawled by with agonizing slowness.

There was no baying. The only reason Lawrence could keep his guard up was Holo — he trusted her implicitly, and she was still the very picture of seriousness.

Liebert, seeing Norah and Holo as mere girls, was another matter entirely.

The color returned to his previously frightened, pale face, and he began to cast his gaze here and there doubtfully.

There was movement the instant he opened his mouth.

Norah held her staff in the crook of her right arm and with her left hand took hold of the horn affixed to her side. Holo saw the gesture and was unamused — perhaps because wolves and hunt ing horns were ever in conflict.

Just as wolves howled and bears scratched themselves on trees, shepherds announced their presence with the blow of a horn. No animal could reproduce that long, drawn-out note, which unmistakably betrayed the presence of a shepherd.

The note rang out in the night and was swallowed by the forest. If there were indeed wolves nearby, they now knew that a skilled shepherd was among them.

But still, no howling rang out. The group’s opponents main tained absolute silence.

... Did we chase them off?” asked Liebert uncertainly.

“I’m not sure... At the very least, they seem to have backed away"

Liebert knitted his brow at Norah’s vague answer, but seeing Enek stop baring his teeth and set about the work of rounding up the sheep, he accepted that the immediate danger had passed.

Perhaps he had decided that animals understood other animals.

“The wolves in this area are always like this. I hardly ever hear them howl, and they do not seem to attack — they just watch...

The young employee of the Remelio Company paled at Norah's words, as though she had been talking about corpses returning to life and rising from their graves. Liebert was more timid than he looked.

“’Tis a bit strange they don’t even howl,” murmured Holo, still looking into the forest. Liebert gave her a skeptical look—this town girl who wasn’t even a shepherd, what did she know of

wolves?

It wasn’t that Liebert had an especially bad disposition — many townspeople were like this, but their assumptions still grated on Holo’s nerves.

“It could be aught besides wolves. For example, the spirit of a traveler who died here.”

Liebert’s face went sheet white. The wisewolf had exposed his cowardice.

“Still-”

Holo tugged at Lawrence’s sleeve once she had finished teasing the poor lamb. Her voice was low, so Lawrence leaned down to put his ear level with her.

“I was half-serious. I have a bad feeling.”

This journey was no ordinary one. They had to make it safely to and from Lamtra. If the group failed, whether they ran or met their fate, Lawrence’s life as a merchant would be over.

He gave Holo a baleful look as if to say, “Don’t try to frighten me with your foolish stories,” but she just vaguely surveyed the forest.

Apparently she wasn’t joking.

“Hmm, we seem to be out of firewood,” said Norah brightly, perhaps to dispel the still-tense atmosphere. Lawrence agreed, and Holo finally averted her gaze from the forest and nodded. Liebert nodded as well, probably mostly out of a sense of obligation.

“I’ll just go gather some more then, shall I?” said Norah, perhaps confident in her night vision.

Lawrence felt bad leaving it just to her. “I’ll come as well.”

Holo chimed in. “As shall I.”

Not knowing the first thing about starting a campfire, Liebert had not raised a finger to tend it, but now he must have felt entirely ill at ease.

“I-I'll help, too!” he said, clearing his throat, afraid of being left all alone.

Holo smiled unpleasantly at him.

They walked into the forest to gather firewood, and Lawrence wondered if the bestial aura he felt was just his imagination.

Yet there were no further incidents, and the night passed quietly.

When Lamtra finally came into view, Lawrence breathed a sigh of genuine relief.

With the deep forest to their right and the rugged hills to the left, their passage had felt akin to going down an endless back alley,

But his sigh of relief did not come from reaching the end of that alley. He had experienced far worse trails many times in the past. No, the relief came from the fact that the strange gaze he had felt upon him the previous night was gone.

Lawrence knew it wasn’t simply his imagination since Holo and Norah had been continuously on guard as well. There was definitely something within the forest that separated Ruvinhei gen and Lamtra — something that even knight brigades feared.

Even so, they had made the trip out successfully, so the return trip should also be possible. Lawrence was still uneasy about it, but Norah was with them, and she had made the trek many times and never been attacked once. Relying on her shepherding skills — as well as Holo — would see them through somehow.

Then all they had to do was bring in the gold.

Lawrence was deep in thought as he watched Liebert head into town to make the purchase — there was no point in the lot of them filing into Lamtra.

“I hope everything goes well,” said Norah, no doubt referring to Liebert’s task.

So far, everything they did was perfectly legitimate, so there was little to worry about, but pointing that out seemed exces sive.

“Indeed,” replied Lawrence.

There was a reason he used his best merchant smile when he said this.

Norah was simply making small talk.

But in Lawrence’s heart, misgiving mingled with regret.

He worried that Norah didn’t truly understand the consequences that awaited them were they to fail. The shepherdess before him was the one who would be in the most danger when they moved the gold.

The gold would be hidden in the stomachs of her sheep when they passed the checkpoints. If one of the sheep should happen to cough up any of that gold, the shepherd responsible would face immediate punishment.

In contrast to that, if Liebert and Lawrence were to keep silent, they might be able make it through the checkpoint.

There was a huge difference in their risks. He wondered if Norah understood that.

Lawrence looked on as Norah tended to her flock as at any other time, petting Enek when he returned to her side after performing this or that task. The merchant felt he needed to ascertain Norah’s awareness of her peril.

It simply did not seem as though she grasped the difference between what could happen to her compared to what the people around her might face.

If so, taking advantage of her ignorance was not far from fraud. Lawrence considered this and concluded that his conscience was most definitely somewhere near the pit of his stomach.

Were Norah to learn that she would be made to take the fall if caught, she might refuse to cooperate, turning a cold shoulder to them. That had to be avoided. Thus, Lawrence kept silent.

“Now that I think of it...,” Norah piped up, jolting Lawrence out of his reverie.

However, when he lifted his head, he saw that she was not speaking to him.

Norah looked at Holo, who had plucked a single stalk of tall grass and was now wandering about aimlessly.

“Miss... Holo, I mean...” Norah hesitated after saying Holo’s name, perhaps needing to muster up more courage to speak.

Lawrence had noticed Norah trying to engage her female com panion several times, but Holo’s curtness made her hesitate.

In his mind, he encouraged her, but he was genuinely surprised at the words that next came out of her mouth.

“Do... Do you know a lot about wolves?”

Lawrence was shocked for a moment, but Holo — ever the canny Wisewolf— did not alter her expression a bit. She finally tilted her head curiously at Norah.

“Um, I mean...I just, last night you noticed the wolves so quickly, so I...

She trailed off there, perhaps because she wondered if Holo also had experience as a shepherd. Were that the case, it would be like one white crow finding another — one rare shepherdess meeting another would make for lively conversation.

If so, Holo’s unapproachable attitude left few opportunities to speak up.

“What? I simply noticed them, that’s all.”

“Oh, I see...”

“I mean, the men are generally useless, after all,” said Holo with a mischievous smile, glancing at Lawrence, who gave a small shrug in reply. “Don’t you think?” she finished.

“Um, I, I don’t...”

“Hmph. So you think you can count on that?” prodded Holo, pointing sharply. Norah followed where Holo indicated —

— only to meet Lawrence’s eyes.

In that moment, Norah looked genuinely awkward as she averted her eyes. Holo asked her again, and Norah glanced apologetically at Lawrence as she whispered something to Holo, who had drawn near the shepherdess.

Given the cheeky wolf’s smile, it had to be that kind of answer.

Lawrence watched and realized the conversation was about to turn farcical.

He waved his hand back and forth as if to admit defeat, while Holo and Nora laughed.

“In the first place, ’tis not strange to ask if someone like me, traveling alone with a man, knows a lot about wolves!”

Going by looks alone, Norah appeared to be the older of the two girls, but as soon as Holo spoke, she took the upper hand. She put one hand on her hip and held up the index finger of the other looking for all the world like a theologian giving a lecture.

“You see, the answer is completely self-evident! Because — ”

Because? Norah leaned forward as if to say.

“Because! Come nighttime, a wolf will always appear — tempted by this helpless, adorable rabbit. Surely you’ll agree that a rabbit who is devoured by a wolf every night could not fail to know something about wolves!”

Norah looked blank for a moment but soon understood what Holo meant. Her face turned beet red as she searched back and forth between Holo and Lawrence; then, embarrassed, she looked at her feet.

Holo giggled. “Ah, ’twas a lovely reaction. But no — my first answer is the one to remember,” she said delightedly, at which Norah blushed to her ears and averted her gaze as she seemed to remember something.

It then sounded like she raised her voice in a quiet “Oh.”

“In truth, it’s my companion that’s more like a rabbit. If I left him on his own, he’d likely die of loneliness.”

Holo whispered into Norah’s ear, but her voice was loud enough to reach Lawrence quite distinctly. He gave Holo a bitter smile, but it was Norah’s credulous nodding that hurt the most.

As if he really seemed that way.

“But, in any case, I just happened to notice the wolves last night.” In truth, it was not an obvious conclusion, but Norah had been sufficiently confused by Holo at this point that she seemed to accept it. She put her hands to her cheeks (the blush was now subsiding) and nodded.

Then taking a deep breath, she spoke, her nervousness evidently dispelled.

“Actually, I thought perhaps you were a shepherd, Miss Holo.” “Oh, because I was quick to notice the wolves?”

“Well, there is that, too,” admitted Norah, pausing to look at her black-furred companion, who was content to pause in his work while his mistress had her chat. “Actually, it was because Enek seems to be very aware of you.”

“Mm, is that so?” Holo —whose nerve was such that she had no trouble exposing her tail when she knew she would not be caught — smiled, totally unperturbed as she folded her arms and regarded Enek. “It’s hard to say in front of a pet dog, but I daresay he’s smitten with me.”

As if he had heard her, Enek looked back to Holo and then struck out once again to tend to the flock of sheep.

His mistress, on the other hand, was struck dumb by Holo’s words.

“Wha-what? Er, you mean, Enek is?”

“My, it’s nothing to be sad about. Any male will get overconfident if spoiled. I’m sure he’s quite important to you, but that only makes him feel secure that he’s gained your affection. There’s no mistake; he’ll go looking for others to frolic with. No matter how delicious the bread, sometimes you want soup.”

Perhaps feeling some sympathy with Holo’s intricate argument, Norah nodded, apparently impressed.

“Put another way, sometimes you have to be cold. It’s a good leash.”

Norah nodded firmly, as if she had been told some deep truth, but then called Enek’s name and crouched down to greet him.

She caught him head-on as he streaked over to her, then looked up to Holo, and smiled.

“If he ever has an affair, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good.”

The wrongly accused Enek barked once, but Norah put her arms around him, and he was soon calm.

“I think I’d like to indulge him as long as I can, though,” said Norah, lightly kissing Enek behind his dangling ears.

Holo looked on, a slight smile playing about her lips.

It was a somewhat bemused smile, inappropriate to the occasion, Lawrence realized, when Holo looked at him.

“Because... whether this job goes well or fails, I’ll be giving up my work as a shepherd,” said Norah quietly as she held Enek in her arms. It was clear that she had a firmly rational grasp of the situation and was prepared to act according to that understanding.

She understood both the position she had been placed in and the likely outcomes.

Lawrence’s concern was unnecessary.

Though Norah might have looked frail, she had survived being cast out of an almshouse and lived through any number of difficulties. She was no pampered noble’s daughter.

At the same time, Lawrence had renewed respect for Holo.

She had discerned Lawrence’s misgivings and, after seizing the conversational initiative from Norah, casually drawn out evidence of how prepared the girl actually was.

That explained Holo’s bemused smile earlier.

The merchant wondered if Holo’s pronouncement that men were generally useless was not necessarily off the mark.

Lawrence covered his eyes in defeat and then sprawled out on the ground to rest.

The autumn landscape was cold with the approaching winter, but the scattered clouds in the sky looked warm.

The smuggling would succeed.

Lawrence muttered encouragement to himself as a sheep meandered over and peered down at him.

After some time, Liebert returned, riding his horse back at a leisurely pace.

When one carries a large amount of money, he will see everyone around him as a thief, but true to his position as a trusted employee of a trading company in a big city, Liebert appeared unperturbed.

He produced a bag of gold grains just large enough to be held in one hand, and after all present had confirmed the bag’s contents, Liebert tucked it into the inside of his jacket, patting it lightly.

“Now all we have to do is make it safely back with this and feed it to the sheep at an opportune time,” he said as if to emphasize that any real problems would be from here on out. “Then once we’ve gotten them through the gates, the sheep will be received as previously discussed. Are we agreed?”

“We are,” said Norah with a nod.

Liebert faced straight ahead. “Then let us go. A golden tomorrow awaits us.”

The small band headed back onto the narrow path between forest and hills.

The next morning, Lawrence opened his eyes as he felt some thing cold on his face.

Is a sheep licking me again? he wondered, but he saw only the lead colored sky. Evidently there was going to be a rare autumn rain.

And it was cold. Lawrence lifted his head off the tree root he had been using as a pillow and saw that the fire had gone out. In order to have a small gap between the time Norah went to sleep and everyone awoke, one person had been tasked with having Norah awaken them early to tend the fire. That person was supposed to have been Liebert, but he lay there snoring away, firewood clasped in his arms.

It was so foolish that Lawrence could hardly be angry with him.

“... Mmph.”

Lawrence sat up, apparently awakening Holo, with whom he had shared a blanket.

Without so much as a “good morning,” she shot him a truly withering glare and yanked the blanket away.

“If you’re awake, you don’t need it” seemed to be her logic.

If he argued the point, she would likely become genuinely angry, so although it was a bit early for him, Lawrence forced himself up. He had to toss another log on the campfire. The sheep were all huddled together from the cold, and with no work to do, Enek slept stretched out by the cinders — nestled up to his beloved mistress, of course. Lawrence stood, joints creaking, and tossed a log onto the fire to get it started, glancing wearily at the comfortable-looking Enek.

As the dry wood began to crackle in the fire, Enek yawned con tentedly. Lawrence smiled; it reminded him of Holo.

Still, it was cold. It was as if winter had suddenly arrived.

The cause was obvious to Lawrence, looking at the weather, bill as they would be arriving in Ruvinheigen at midday the next day, he had wanted it to hold until then.

But the sky seemed unlikely to wait. Lawrence sniffed bitterly Rain would likely fall by the afternoon, surely by evening.

The trees were thick enough in the forest that the group could probably take shelter under them, but with the sheep along, that was hardly an option. The forest was an ominous one, too. Lawrence was not terrified of it, but neither was he eager to spend the night there. Using the edge of the trees as a rain shelter would be quite close enough.

Lawrence thought it over as he gazed into the growing campfire, and then something suddenly loomed over his back.

He didn’t have time to turn around before a familiar face appeared directly beside him.

It was Holo with the texture of the tree root she had slept on still imprinted on her face.

“’Tis warmer over here.”

Lawrence was not so humble as to take those words purely at face value.

Holo wrapped the blanket around Lawrence’s back and deliberately huddled under it with him again. Stealing the blanket away was all well and good, but perhaps she had decided that was excessive. Hunger and cold were every traveler’s companions, after all.

But as Holo had said nothing to apologize, Lawrence said nothing by way of forgiveness.

He stirred up the embers with a stick, then tossed it into the fire.

“Oh, that’s right,” he said casually. “Didn’t you say you could predict the weather?”

“Surely. It will rain just past midday today,” she replied sleepily.

“Anyone could tell that, looking at this sky,” teased Lawrence.

Instead of scowling, Holo bumped her head against his shoulder lightly.

“Wish we could take fast horses and make it to town before the rain. Anyway, what say you to some potato soup? It’s been warming by the fire.” “I’ve no complaints. Also —”

“Your tail grooming, right?” said Lawrence, lowering his voice still further.

Holo sighed and nodded. “I want to return to the inn as soon as we can. Though..

Her face was melancholy as she looked up at the sky.

A chill wind blew through her bangs, and she narrowed her eyes as though it had touched her long eyelashes.

“A rain is coming, though I haven’t wished it so.”

It was then that Lawrence remembered. When he had met Holo, she’d been the harvest god of a bountiful area. Farmers hated a chilly rain during the harvest months of autumn, so though she was far from the wheat fields now, such weather was not something she could welcome.

Though Holo herself hardly had good memories of the wheat fields, owing to the many things that had happened there, she had still been the god of the harvest.

It didn’t take a harvest god to find the cold rain distasteful. In the worse case, the rain might turn to sleet.

Lawrence got cold just thinking about it, and he briskly tossed another log onto the fire.

There was a bit more time before everybody woke up.

Yet he still hadn’t realized something.

Holo never said anything meaningless.

White breath trailed behind them as they walked. The exhalations warmed their cheeks momentarily, but with every breath, they soon turned to a painful chill.

The darkening sky had finally lost its patience, and just after midday, a thin drizzle began to fall as if shaved from some giant block of ice. Thus, Lawrence’s face was so cold he wondered if it had actually frozen, but whenever a bit of air found its way into his clothes, it was just pleasantly cool.

They ran — the people, the horses, the sheep, and the dog.

There were eyes on them, many of them. There were presences, too.

But no matter how watchful the group was, not a single howl was heard nor a single clump of fur seen, and eventually the weather and the hard effort robbed them of their ability to worry about wolves.

It was as if something had aimed for that gap.

By the time Holo noticed this, they were already surrounded by the wolves.

“Enek!”

Norah’s voice echoed, and Enek sprinted to the rear of the

flock in a blur of black fur and white breath, driving on a lagging lamb.

The lamb sprinted desperately but was unable to distinguish between dog and wolf, and a wolf’s howls echoed as if to mock it.

The situation was clear. The cry had come from a wolf atop the rocky hills to the right as it tried to collect the sheep. In contrast, little howling could be heard from the forest on the left side — what could be heard were footfalls and panting.

On the far side of the ferns and undergrowth beneath the trees, Lawrence and the others ran side by side. Lawrence and Holo sat astride their horse; likewise, Liebert rode his. Norah’s bangs were plastered to her forehead from the sleet and sweat as she used both Enek and her staff to control the sheep.

When it came to the wolves —well, if they were surrounded, that would be the end. Wolves hunted very carefully, making sure none in their pack was injured in the process. There would be no plan to use a single wolf as bait, nor would a single member make a heroic attack on its own. Wolves were cautious to the end and always conducted themselves with cunning.

Thus, if the group could put themselves in a position to kill jusl one wolf as the pack tried to tighten the noose, they could free themselves from any further harassment.

Lawrence listened to Holo’s hasty explanation and saw that Norah moved to do just that.

A single wolf was visible in brief flashes, trying to get ahead and cut off their route, but it would be instantly diverted by either Enek being sent out ahead or Lawrence himself plunging ahead.

When the wolves moved to slowly close the loop, the sheep would be made to dash in some wild direction, breaking the line. For a shepherd, sheep are not poor children to be protected, but a shield — a weapon to be wielded like any other.

It was not Lawrence’s or Liebert’s time to act. Liebert was fully engaged holding his reins in one hand and keeping the gold within his jacket secure with the other.

For his part, Lawrence could only ask Holo what he should do.

“What to do, eh?”

The road was terrible and much worse on the back of a trotting horse. Impacts were constant, and it felt like one’s head was about to separate from one’s body. Keeping Holo, who sat in front of him, from being thrown off was work enough.

“What to do, indeed.”

Her enunciation was bad, and not necessarily just because the bumpy ride made it easy to bite one’s tongue when talking.

“Listen — ”

“What?”

“About my explanation before — I take it back.”

“Explanation before?” Lawrence was about to ask when the grass diagonally behind them in the forest rustled, and immediately thereafter came the sound of claws digging into dirt.

Lawrence felt an intense chill run down his back, as if wings were about to sprout there. It was not a chill that could be described as merely hot or cold. It was a message of danger from the very grave.

“Enek!”

With nearly superhuman intuition, Norah sensed the attack as she ran well ahead with the sheep. She quickly raised her staff to summon her black-furred knight, but their last hope was the hill that lay ahead.

Naturally the wolves realized this as well.

A brown whirl came streaking at the legs of Lawrence’s horse.

It was do or die. Lawrence was about to pull back on the reins with all he had, but Holo put her hand out and stopped him.

Then looking over her shoulder, she spoke.

“Fall back.”

The reason Lawrence understood that she had spoken to none other than the wolves themselves was that the surging pack suddenly wheeled aside and stopped, as if struck by arrows.

Norah, Lawrence, and the others weren’t the only ones surprised. The bemusement of the halted wolves themselves was obvious just by looking at them.

Yet Lawrence could neither praise the feat as amazing nor give his thanks to Holo for saving them.

Holo’s normally red-brown eyes flashed ruby bright.

To look on her was to be afraid; Holo the Wisewolf was among them.

“The humans, as well.”

Her cold voice reminded Lawrence of when he’d first seen her true form.

“Youngsters these days, I suppose I could say.”

Lawrence wondered for a moment what she was talking about, when suddenly he realized what she meant.

Though the immediate danger had passed, Norah did not understand why; doubt tinged her face. But there was no time to think. Preparing to face whatever crisis came next, Enek steadily carried out the rapid-fire orders given to him by his mistress.

Liebert clung desperately to his horse, trying only to avoid dropping the gold.

If they kept going at this speed, they would be able to put the forest behind them by sundown.

And to put this danger behind them, they had no choice but to try.

Then it resounded.

At first it seemed like the wind — there was a whoosh as the icy drizzle was blown back momentarily into the sky.

But it was soon clear that this was a strange wind indeed.

A normal gale didn’t chill one’s core the way this one did.

The wind was immediately followed by the sound.

A tremendous, forest-splitting roar battered their eardrums from one side.

The overwhelming blast was enough to freeze a person’s breath.

The horses stopped. The sheep stopped. Even the gallant sheepdog was frozen in his tracks.

The violent roar seemed to nail everyone to the ground.

They stood as statues, looking into the forest.

“Listen —,” said Holo quietly to Lawrence. Everything was still; the only sound was the drizzle falling on the earth. “This is a trouble I must bear. When I send the girl and the kid on, you’ll have to stay back for a time as well.”

“Wha — why?”

There in the stillness, Norah and Liebert did not seem to take notice of Holo and Lawrence’s exchange as they glared unblink-ingly into the forest.

But it wasn’t that they hadn’t noticed.

It was the same as a hound that had cornered a bird — even as the hunter moved its hand to strike, the bird could not fly away.

They were unable to take their eyes off the forest.

“Because what’s in that forest is no normal wolf. You understand, yes?”

Holo slowly looked away from the forest, turning to Lawrence.

His legs went weak at those eyes.

Her expression was well past displeasure; her eyes flashed with such anger that Lawrence wondered if she might rage at the very cobblestones in the road.

Her breath was slow, like the breathing of a demon-horse in hell.

“If I go along with them, the pack will chase the sheep no longer. Those sheep are not their aim.”

She turned back to the forest.

“Such cheap bluster. Such rough pride. Both prized by the young, I suppose.”

Holo was still mostly within Lawrence’s arms, and she seemed almost to swell as she spoke.

It took Lawrence a moment to realize that it was from the swishing of her tail beneath her robe.

“Go! They won’t move until you speak. You’re my partner — and partners cooperate, do they not?”

Holo’s expression was suddenly softer, and Lawrence found himself nodding.

He was a merchant and generally hopeless at anything save business.

For Holo’s part, there was none who knew more of wolves than she did.

“We’ll take it from here. The two of you take the gold and go on as planned!” Lawrence hadn’t planned to shout, but Norah and Liebert snapped out of their reveries as though they had heard voices in the middle of the night.

There were no objections. In situations like this, to leave the seemingly weak ones behind as a sacrifice so that the strong can live on was a well-used tactic.

But they did look at him questioningly—“Is it really all right?” their eyes asked.

No matter how established the tactic, what was possible for a grizzled mercenary band was not so for a regular traveler.

“We shall meet at the walls of Ruvinheigen. And we’ll all lie rich.” Of course, Holo had no intentions of becoming a sacrifice, but there was no way for the others to know that. At the same time, she could not very well explain herself, so she just smiled lightly as she spoke.

She was taking advantage of human nature. People wouldn’t waste the sacrifice of someone facing near-certain death with a smile and a faint hope. A clever wolf knew how to use that fact.

Liebert was the first to nod his agreement, followed by Norah.

Norah waved her staff, and time seemed to start moving again.

“The fortunes of war be with you,” said Liebert. Norah gave Holo a look more eloquent than words and then soon turned away. As he heard the sound of the sheep starting to run, Liebert followed after them.

Holo watched all this, then turned to Lawrence.

“You’ll need to stay away. If you get close, it could go badly. You understand, I know.”

Instead of answering, Lawrence took Holo’s hand before she dismounted from the horse.

“I won’t let you lose,” he said.

Her hand was surprisingly hot, and she returned his squeeze.

“Were you a proper male, I’d at least get a kiss for my trouble here.” Holo grinned for a moment before her expression tightened, and she hopped off the horse.

“Oh, that’s right. Here, take this for me,” she said, undoing the sash at her waist and taking her robe off quickly.

Her flowing chestnut hair, pointed wolf ears, and fluffy wolf tail were all exposed.

As was the slightly swaying wheat-filled leather pouch around her neck.

“It is my hope that this will all conclude peacefully, but I don’t know how it will go. When we meet up again, it will be cold if I’m naked, and a bit of a problem for you, too, I should think,” she said with a smile and then looked to the forest, unmoving.