Wolf & Parchment: New Theory Spice & Wolf, Vol. 4 Read online

  Copyright

  WOLF & PARCHMENT, Volume 4

  ISUNA HASEKURA

  Translation by Jasmine Bernhardt

  Cover art by Jyuu Ayakura

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  WOLF & PARCHMENT

  © Isuna Hasekura 2019

  First published in Japan in 2019 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.

  English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through TUTTLE-MORI AGENCY, INC., Tokyo.

  English translation © 2019 by Yen Press, LLC

  Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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  First Yen On Edition: December 2019

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Hasekura, Isuna, 1982– author. | Bernhardt, Jasmine, translator. | Ayakura, Jyuu, 1981– artist.

  Title: Wolf & Parchment : new theory Spice & Wolf / Isuna Hasekura ; translation by Jasmine Bernhardt ; cover art by Jyuu Ayakura.

  Other titles: Shinsetsu ookami to koshinryo: ookami to youhishi. English

  Description: First Yen On edition. | New York, NY : Yen On, 2017–

  Identifiers: LCCN 2017035577 | ISBN 9780316473453 (v. 1 : paperback) | ISBN 9781975326203 (v. 2 : paperback) | ISBN 9781975326555 (v. 3 : paperback) | ISBN 9781975359560 (v. 4 : paperback)

  Subjects: CYAC: Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. | Fantasy. | BISAC: FICTION / Fantasy / Historical.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.H2687 Wo 2017 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017035577

  ISBNs: 978-1-9753-5956-0 (paperback)

  978-1-9753-9933-7 (ebook)

  E3-20191028-JV-NF-ORI

  PROLOGUE

  We set sail from the northern islands to the second-largest port city in the Kingdom of Winfiel, Rausbourne. En route, we got caught in a storm and found ourselves in a port city called Desarev, where we uncovered crimes concerning the cathedral’s treasure. It was complicated, but we worked alongside Miss Ilenia, the avatar of a sheep who we met in town, and managed to resolve the incident peaceably…Our journey is going well. Everything is fine. Tote Col.

  “Phew…”

  Seated at his desk, Col put down the pen and sighed. Beyond the open window, the townscape was bathed in the red of the sunset. This region was already rife with the signs spring had arrived. The night air had grown warmer as of late, which was possibly why the town was so lively.

  He looked over his letter once again and found that his writing read a bit brusque. Though he considered adding more details, he did not make any move to pick up the pen again.

  The letter was addressed to Lawrence and his wife, Holo, the ones who had cared for Col during his childhood when he was at his wits’ end after running out of money while living as a wandering student. Lawrence used to be a traveling merchant and now ran a bathhouse named Spice and Wolf in the northern hot spring village of Nyohhira. Col had spent a good ten years working alongside them there, but he was never able to let go of his dream of becoming a priest, which led him to eventually make his way out into a world that was in the throes of the Church’s reformation. Ever since, he wrote letters updating them on his progress whenever he had a chance to breathe, but whenever he did, it always gave him slight—no, tremendous pangs of conscience.

  There was a good reason for that.

  “Brooother!”

  The door flew open without so much as a knock of warning, letting in the voice of an energetic young girl that echoed throughout the room.

  By the time Col noticed the soft, hurried footsteps approaching him, two arms wrapped around him from behind while he remained in his chair.

  “The festival’s getting really exciting! Let’s go, already!”

  The girl had her arms wrapped around his neck and giggled as she swayed to and fro.

  “C’mooon, Brother!”

  The source of Col’s distress whenever he wrote his letters was none other than this girl, Myuri, the sole daughter of Lawrence and Holo and the one who looked up to Col while calling him “Brother” her whole life.

  Her hair, a strange mixture of silver and ash, was inherited from her father, and her lovely reddish eyes and features came from her mother. She could easily be mistaken for a noble daughter if she acted with some grace, but either because of her youth or because she was a natural tomboy, boys’ clothes suited her incredibly well. Even now, she seemed very much at home in the outfit of a common workshop apprentice, with her hair tied roughly back…and it was at this moment that something dawned on him.

  “Myuri, why are you wearing that?”

  Myuri usually never wore clothes so plain. She preferred flashier outfits that Col considered a bit scandalous, both as a priest-in-training as well as her surrogate brother.

  “Obviously because they said girls aren’t allowed to participate in the festival the whole way through.”

  The word festival explained the lively commotion outside his window.

  But her answer left him with only more questions.

  “…Then, what were you planning on doing at the festival dressed like a boy?”

  “Huh? Can’t you tell? I’m gonna help carry the fish statue up the fire path to the tip of the cape. Oh, and I told them you were coming, too.”

  “You did…?”

  When he reflexively responded with that question, Myuri’s eyes widened.

  “Well, yeah! The townspeople think it’s all thanks to you that they can have a festival for the first time in years! It’d be rude if you didn’t show up!”

  Col and Myuri were currently staying in the port town of Desarev, famous for its festival, which consisted of preparing a path of burning firewood that led uphill to the promontory overlooking the town, carrying an effigy of a fish all the way to the top, then finally conducting a ritual at the cathedral there to send the fish off to heaven. This festival was the relic of an ancient time, persisting even after the fishing industry had become much more prosperous and the teachings of the Church had spread.

  For the past few years, all that had been put on hold as the standoff between Kingdom and Church worsened.

  The cathedral, official organizer of the festival, had kept its doors closed for three long years, and the archbishop, of all people, had the gall to abandon his post before running away. The only one left in his stead was a former shepherd who looked just like the archbishop and occasionally filled in for him during services. Further complicating things was an incident that soon arose revolving around the smuggling of the cath
edral’s treasures…which was the point where Col and Myuri became involved.

  It was only about ten days ago when they finally uncovered who was stealing and selling off the treasures. After they resolved the issue, the ex-shepherd-turned-fake-priest awakened to his newfound faith and announced that he himself was the archbishop and proposed an amicable settlement with the town.

  As wonderful as reconciliation between church and town may have been, the Kingdom and the Church were still diametrically opposed to each other, so there had been some uncertainty as to how things would turn out. On top of everything else, not only was the man calling himself the archbishop a fake, he actually made that fact clear to all the townsfolk.

  These circumstances made the results all the more surprising.

  The townsfolk had long been aware an imposter had taken the real archbishop’s place, and they rather liked the sincerity of this fake—of this former shepherd. In the end, the talks went disappointingly well. There had been no need for Col to put in a good word for him. After all, the ex-shepherd’s character was well respected by the townspeople and they didn’t harbor any meaningless grudges against the clergy as a whole.

  When the lower-ranking priests in town realized this, they also reportedly began to reopen their chapels and welcome people once again. The blessings of God had returned to a town in the Winfiel Kingdom for the first time in years.

  It was a fine example of how sometimes even seemingly irreparable conflicts could be solved if one side simply extended a hand.

  But of course, even if the town and cathedral were to make amends, there was still a mountain of things to talk about. It was a distinct possibility the main Church might not acknowledge this reconciliation. In the meanwhile, the first thing the townsfolk discussed was holding the festival, which had been canceled for the past few years, making it plain to see how trying the people’s lives had been recently. It had been only four days since Col received reports of the proposal to hold the festival once again and its immediate approval.

  No accomplishment of Col’s could be found within this string of events, and it was arguably thanks to the actions of the town’s inhabitants that faith and festivities were finally returning.

  He eloquently explained all of that to Myuri, but she hardly seemed impressed by the time he finished—in fact, she was pouting.

  “That’s all you ever say! You need to learn how to accept people’s thanks! Wait a—Hey!”

  Myuri yelled right into his ear and reached for the letter on the desk.

  “You’re sending lies to Mother and Father again!”

  His heart skipped a beat.

  “I—I have not written any lies.”

  That came out faster than he wanted. Myuri narrowed her eyes and stared at him.

  “You wrote about Ilenia, but you didn’t include a word about our big adventure. Write more! Why aren’t you saying anything about all the awesome stuff we did even after we worked our butts off?!”

  “Big adventure? How could I possibly write about that…?”

  Myuri was the only daughter of the two people to whom he owed most of his life. She had been caught up in incidents that threatened their very lives countless times all because Myuri was tagging along on Col’s journey. He could not even imagine how worried it would make her father, Lawrence, if he wrote honestly about everything that had happened. That was why he always omitted as much of the truth as he could to make events seem as harmless as possible.

  It was true that he fretted over whether that counted as lying or not, just like Myuri had claimed. If he was really thinking about Lawrence and Holo, then maybe the right thing to do was to tell them everything and let the concerned parents know what really happened.

  Though the thought had certainly crossed his mind, Col couldn’t bring himself to commit to that course of action.

  One reason was his lingering belief it was wrong to cause Lawrence and Holo unnecessary worry.

  And the other reason was…

  The cause of reason number two was staring straight at him with her red eyes.

  “And you didn’t write anything about us.”

  “Huh?”

  The moment he reacted, Col heard what sounded like flapping butterfly wings coming from Myuri’s head and the rustling of fur behind her.

  When he looked, he saw her wolf ears and tail had sprouted.

  “You didn’t write about how you said that if I want to be romantically involved with you, then I need to call you something else besides ‘Brother.’”

  “Gwuh—”

  His breath caught in his throat, and he soon found himself choking and coughing for a few moments. It was only Col who thought of their journey as one of brother and sister, despite not being related by blood. Myuri, on the other hand, had not joined him in his travels for such vague reasons. Whether it was due to her nature as a wolf or simply the conviction that was characteristic of girls her age, Myuri pursued him with everything at her disposal.

  There was no way Col could honestly pen the details of their journey and send them to her father, Lawrence, in Nyohhira, who was undoubtedly anxious about his daughter’s well-being.

  “M-Myuri!”

  “But that’s what you said, right? Though…I guess…I haven’t really called you anything else, huh?”

  Myuri pouted and dropped her chin onto his shoulder.

  She had been saying that she harbored genuine feelings for him, but Col could not even begin to consider striking up a romance with her. It was clearly strange to call a romantic interest “Brother” in the first place, and he could hardly imagine her calling him anything else.

  And so when he asked her, “What are you planning on calling me if we did end up in a relationship?” she had hemmed and hawed but, in the end, could only bring herself to call him “Brother.” Old habits died hard. It was unthinkable for him to suddenly start seeing her—a person he had been caring for since she was a baby, looking after her like his younger sister for all this time—as a woman.

  But of course, that hardly discouraged Myuri at all.

  “Guess it doesn’t matter. Oh, and make sure to say we spent a hot night under the same blanket together.”

  She wiggled, probably because she thought she was saying something alluring. Myuri was unparalleled in her innocent, childlike cuteness, but she still had a long way to go when it came to being seductive.

  Col replied calmly and coolly.

  “I will agree it was rather hot, but that was because we were locked in a small room that had been set on fire.”

  “I’m burning with passion is a thing people say, right?”

  Col sighed when Myuri giggled, then replied, “Either way, I cannot write that.”

  “Sheesh, you’re so shy, Brother!”

  Myuri didn’t even bother pretending that she was teasing him, instead rubbing her cheek against his as she wagged her tail. She was the very image of innocence, the cutest little sister in the entire world…and as he rubbed the spot between his eyebrows to allay his thoughts, he heard a soft groan of confusion come from Myuri.

  “Hey, Brother? Why didn’t you write anything about the edge of the western sea?”

  Her tone was serious, devoid of jokes or mischief.

  They had heard about the edge of the western sea from Ilenia, the sheep avatar who had joined Col and Myuri to chase after the culprit behind the cathedral treasure smuggling just the other day.

  There were legends that said by sailing due west across the sea from here, a whole new continent could be found. Ilenia’s grand dream was to create a country just for nonhumans there.

  “Shouldn’t we tell Mother about the land across the sea?”

  “I don’t know…”

  Myuri’s mother, Holo, was called the wisewolf, a being with a centuries-long life span. She appeared perpetually young, which made it difficult for her to live in any one area for an extended period of time. Even Myuri, who could hide her wolf ears and tail, had difficulties living i
n the human world. Talk of this new land was likely something that should be shared with Holo, who was very similar to the spirits of old.

  But Col thought it would be better not to say anything.

  “If we aren’t careful when we tell her about what’s beyond the western sea and Mr. Lawrence gets wind of it, what do you think would happen?”

  Myuri looked blankly at him and tilted her head.

  “What?”

  “This is Mr. Lawrence we’re talking about. There’s no doubt he would give up anything and everything for Ms. Holo—he’s liable to do something like organize a host of boats to take her to the land in the west, isn’t he?”

  “Yeah…”

  Lawrence and Holo had a reputation in Nyohhira as a couple of lovebirds, but their intimacy was probably stifling from their daughter’s perspective.

  “Besides, Ms. Holo prefers a quieter lifestyle and Mr. Lawrence always manages to put himself in harm’s way when it comes to adventuring. Isn’t that right?”

  He did not think he was in any place to talk, but then Myuri’s ears started twitching.

  “You’re right. That’s why Mother told me it’s important to keep a tight grip on the reins of foolish males,” she said and squeezed her arms around his neck even tighter.

  He was not going to bother guessing what that meant.

  “That is why writing about the land across the sea would only make her needlessly cross with us. Can’t you just imagine her glaring at us, saying, How dare you fill my husband’s head with such unnecessary information…?”

  Myuri frowned.

  “I can. I really can.”

  “That’s why we keep it a secret for now. We shall tell her when the time is right.”

  Compared to her life span, the time Holo could spend with Lawrence would be over in a flash, like the blink of an eye. The last thing Col wanted was to interrupt their relatively brief time together.

  “Heh-heh, and that means we get to keep another secret between us, Brother.”

  “What?”

  “We just keep adding to the list of things we can’t tell Father, don’t we?”

  Myuri’s choice of words sounded rather immoral, which seemed to delight her more than anything.