Town of Strife II Read online

  Copyright

  SPICE AND WOLF, Volume 9: The Town of Strife II

  ISUNA HASEKURA

  Cover art by Jyuu Ayakura

  Translation: Paul Starr

  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.

  OOKAMI TO KOSHINRYO Vol. 9

  © ISUNA HASEKURA 2008

  Edited by ASCII MEDIA WORKS

  First published in Japan in 2008 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.

  English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo.

  English translation © 2013 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 eBook Edition: March 2017

  Originally published in paperback in August 2013 by Yen On.

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  ISBN: 978-0-316-55909-6

  E3-20170221-JV-PC

  THE SETTING

  Kerube is a town divided by a river and a delta. The landowners on the north side of the river own the delta, which is an important commerce hub, but it was developed using loans made by wealthy merchants on the south side. Thus the northern landlords have been forced by the southern merchants to continue to pay large amounts of interest on their loan.

  THE KEY

  The Narwhal is a legendary creature, said to bestow long life and cure disease. It valuable enough to upend the delicate balance of power in Kerube.

  SUMMARY OF TOWN OF STRIFE I

  Seeking more information about the wolf bones, Lawrence, Holo, and Col arrive in Kerube. With a letter of introduction from Eve, they visit the Jean Company, which is rumored to be connected with the Debau Company—but Reynolds, the owner of the Jean Company, seems to think the wolf bones are a mere superstition.

  Later, in the delta marketplace, Lawrence happens upon Eve and learns of the situation between the north and south sides of Kerube. Eve has been pressed by the northern landlords into solving their territory dispute and has learned that Reynolds’s business profits are being stolen by those same landlords. Concluding that Reynolds is himself still searching for the wolf bones, Lawrence goes to see Kieman, the head of the local Rowen Trade Guild branch—but having done so, he becomes torn between trusting the Guild or Eve.

  Meanwhile, a legendary sea-beast is brought ashore—a narwhal. Eve contacts Lawrence and tells him of her plan to steal the narwhal away from the northern landlords. As Lawrence agonizes over what to do, he receives a letter from Kieman…

  INTERMISSION

  The human is a weak creature indeed.

  It has neither fangs nor claws nor wings on which to flee.

  So to protect themselves, humans must use their minds—technology, strategy, or…

  Every creature, human or animal, shares a common method of self-defense.

  And that is to form groups.

  A single sheep is weak. But a flock of thousands need not flinch at the attack of a few wolves.

  By functioning as part of that group, a single animal can find safety, surviving to leave behind descendants.

  Humans are the same; they come together to live in groups, and those groups eventually came to be called villages, then cities, as they drove back the darkness of the forest.

  But it is also the way of the world that groups formed to protect their members will struggle and fight with other such groups—for a group created for self-defense must necessarily regard outsiders as enemies.

  It is like a single great beast, and for a single powerless creature to receive the benefit of that beast’s claws and fangs, they must think of themselves first as part of that creature rather than as a single individual.

  When the beast turns right, they must turn right. When it runs left, they must run left. And when it wishes to eat fowl, a fowl they must hunt.

  Even if that fowl happens to be their own beloved songbird.

  The human is a weak creature indeed.

  Here in this world where the gods have long remained hidden in the mists, humans cannot survive on their own.

  So to protect themselves from the darkness of the forest, they become a single beast surrounded by walls of earth and stone.

  Even though they know full well that having borrowed that great beast’s power even once, they will never escape its yoke.

  Betrayal is never tolerated.

  Such is the only way to survive the storms of fate that buffet the world—by the bonds of blood and solidarity.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “We must leave this place,” Lawrence said bluntly. “And quickly, too.”

  He entered the room with long strides. On the table were the coins, the puzzle of which Col had solved, and Lawrence gathered them into his coin purse as though he were making a sandpile on a beach.

  The travelers’ life was one of casting off needless things.

  Everything they needed was already packed in a burlap bag in the room’s corner, and if flight was necessary, they could simply cinch the bag up, shoulder it, and run—it was far from rare to be attacked during the night, after all.

  “Come, you.”

  Lawrence looked up at the voice.

  It was the surprised face of his traveling companion, Holo.

  “What’s this, then?”

  In her hand was a letter written on a single piece of parchment.

  Inscribed on it was a statement in curt, undecorated letters, along with a bloodred wax seal in the bottom-right corner.

  It was addressed to none other than Lawrence, and the sender was the Rowen Trade Guild. For a traveling merchant like Lawrence, whose livelihood was ever uncertain, the group of comrade merchants was most encouraging.

  Its seal was a powerful shield in any town and could be a powerful weapon as well.

  And the guild had sent Lawrence a letter at the inn where he stayed on the north side of Kerube.

  “‘We seek now a brave merchant who fears neither witch nor alchemist. In consideration of both the wealth and progress of the guild, by all means, please…signed, Lud Kieman.’”

  Holo read the letter’s contents aloud smoothly and then looked to Lawrence curiously.

  Next to Holo, their other travel companion, Col, peered at the document in her hands.

  The letter was from Lud Kieman, chief trader of the Kerube branch of the Rowen Trade Guild, and its meaning was clear—there was no doubt that he was trying to get Lawrence’s cooperation, just as Eve said he would.

  He wanted to deliver the narwhal to Eve and to receive in return the titles for the land on the north side of the river, thereby transforming the balance of power in the town. The narwhal was a creature so valuable that it made such things possible.

&nb
sp; But neither Kieman nor Eve could trust the other. Each of them was far too hypocritical to shake hands over a contract. They needed someone to act as a middleman, a go-between. And if possible, someone whom they could each easily control.

  In the midst of heated competition over such vast profits, a merchant’s life was worth no more than a single grain of wheat.

  Lawrence could hear the crunch, crunch of creaking bones.

  Col and Holo’s lack of concern only further aggravated his nervousness. “Don’t you see? This is a summons from my guild,” he said by way of explanation, tying the burlap sack tightly closed.

  “Your guild?” came Holo’s reply, which made Lawrence stand and shake his head.

  “The name on the letter, there—that’s Lud Kieman, the manager of the local branch of my guild. Even if I don’t owe Kieman any favors directly, I owe my allegiance to the Rowen Trade Guild, whose delta house he manages. Do you understand what I’m saying? Kieman is using the reins of my obligation to the guild in order to put me in a terrible position!”

  Traders as powerless as traveling merchants can safely move from town to town only because of their guild attachments. Because the guild works tirelessly to acquire various rights and privileges in each town, its merchants could visit those towns and conduct business without worry.

  But being able to dine on the fruits plucked by the guild’s claws and teeth meant that when a merchant’s cooperation was asked, a member could not refuse it.

  Because no matter how absurd the request, the many privileges the merchant had so far enjoyed came at the cost of the hard labor of his comrades.

  Yet there was a limit to how obligated one could be.

  Kieman was scheming in service of his own self-interest and trying to pull Lawrence into those machinations.

  He would claim it was in the interests of the guild, and as long as his preparations were thorough, Lawrence would be unable to refuse lest he be branded a traitor by the guild. And there was another reason for Lawrence to be worried—the person with whom he’d only recently conversed in another building.

  If Kieman was the head of a great giant composed of an army of merchants, then his enemy was a wolf of equally impressive stature.

  And that wolf had unexpectedly asked Lawrence to betray the guild.

  Of course, she was waiting with the promise of dizzying profit, and indeed her proposal to Lawrence was just one part of a larger stratagem she had already set in motion.

  It was all but a forgone conclusion that a single traveling merchant would easily be swept away in this crimson maelstrom of money and chance.

  Between the gears of power and influence, the blood of a single human was generally of no great value.

  “We must leave the city. As soon as possible. Before we no longer can.”

  There was still time.

  Lawrence swallowed those words like a prayer. “Both of you, quickly,” he added.

  “Would you not calm yourself?” came Holo’s cool words, pouring over the scalding fires in his mind.

  Those words were like water spilling into boiling oil. Lawrence exploded in spite of himself. “I am quite calm!”

  Col stood next to Holo, holding a small wine cask, and he recoiled almost audibly at the sound. Beside him, the white down on Holo’s ears stirred the merest fraction.

  It was blazingly obvious which of the three was the least composed in the room.

  “—…”

  Lawrence put down his own load, looked up at the ceiling, then closed his eyes and drew a deep breath.

  He remembered that once when he had been on the verge of bankruptcy and ruin, he had slapped Holo’s hand away in anger.

  He asked himself if he had learned nothing since then.

  Inwardly, he cursed himself.

  “Well, there’s nothing wrong with a pliant male who bends like a green twig, but such a man can hardly be relied upon. A fool is so much the better for his obviousness.”

  Holo’s tail wagged as she stroked Col’s head; the boy watched the developments carefully.

  “Though possessing two eyes, most creatures can see but a single thing at a time. Do you know why males and females go to such lengths to bond with each other?”

  She took the wine cask from Col and pulled its cork free with her teeth. With a light gesture of her chin, she signaled for Col to take the cork from her.

  Col did as he was instructed as if well acquainted with the process.

  During that time, Holo’s eyes remained fixed on Lawrence. “I’m sure your common sense has led you to some sort of clear conclusion.”

  Lawrence didn’t have to ask what Holo would have added to that statement.

  The two of them, Holo and Col, sat side by side and regarded him. The pair looked somehow fragile in that moment, which made Lawrence feel like a villain.

  “Hmph. From twixt stalks of wheat, I once often witnessed such ill manners in the village.”

  Lawrence knew what Holo was trying to say.

  Col seemed to catch up a bit later, and when he looked away uneasily, Holo elbowed him, as if to say, “Spit it out.”

  “…My father…was often like this.”

  Lawrence had no room to protest that none of this was his fault. “…I am sorry. Still—”

  “Save your apologies. I want not answers. What I ask for is an explanation. We are not your followers. We’ve no obligation to do as you tell us. Do I not speak the truth?”

  She admonished him without anger, and her statement was effective because it was correct.

  The two were not the innocent, helpless people they appeared to be.

  They were each independent beings, perfectly capable of conceiving and carrying out their own plans.

  To arbitrarily decide what to do right in front of them was itself a sort of betrayal.

  “So then, what happened?” asked Holo, wearing a trace of a smile.

  Despite having castigated him for his narrow vision, she seemed to acknowledge that he must have his reasons.

  And stubbornness was not a merchant’s way.

  Lawrence shook his head—not to deny her words, but rather to clear his own mind.

  He recalled the exchange in which he had engaged earlier.

  “Eve invited me to act as her spy.”

  “Oh ho,” said Holo briefly, putting the wine to her lips. She meant for him to continue.

  “And the sender of that letter, Kieman, wants me to act as his spy as well.”

  “So you’re trapped, then.”

  Lawrence nodded and continued on to the subject that was the root of the trouble.

  “The reason for all of this is because the south side has captured a fishing boat from the north. That’s all it will take to spark the conflict between the poor north and the wealthy southern sides. The southerners resorted to this because they wanted the valuable catch of the northerner’s boat. Eve has been charged with returning the prize to the north, but the one who gave her the order is not doing so out of loyalty to the north, but rather for his own profit. And Eve is merely pretending to go along with this; she plans to betray the north and has asked me to help.”

  The matter wouldn’t be settled with mere hundreds of lumione.

  And yet she was perfectly willing to conduct this deal, the value of which extended into thousands of gold coins.

  “Quite a female,” declared Holo with an irritated smirk. Col seemed to be afraid of making a conversational misstep, so he stared off into space.

  “But since Eve declared her intention to betray the north, it’s likely she’s willing to betray anyone, is it not?”

  Theoretically, two negatives equaled a positive, and the enemy of one’s enemy was an ally. But only Eve knew whether her betrayal upon betrayal would work to her profit in the end.

  “’Tis a bog of doubt, then, aye. When even your own pack is trying to use you to their own ends, I suppose ’tis no surprise your face is white with worry.”

  Holo took a swig from t
he wine cask and burped.

  That she could say such things and drink wine as she did so was infuriating, but Lawrence only painted on a pained smile.

  Besides, as the saying went, knights who survived the battlefield were ever smiling, and merchants were no different.

  “Is there any solution that satisfies all parties?”

  “Since Eve isn’t truly working for the north, it shouldn’t matter to her where her profit comes from. Which means she shouldn’t mind receiving her share from the Rowen Trade Guild. It’s possible that both Eve and the guild could profit. So as long as she doesn’t decide to betray both me and the guild in order to take everything for herself, that could work.”

  “Hmm.”

  “Alternatively, I could act in favor of the guild’s profit and try to exclude Eve entirely.”

  “Mmm…So we must either throw ourselves on the mercy of a villain or be blindly optimistic, eh?”

  Otherwise, Lawrence would not be in this position—such was the logical conclusion.

  Lawrence nodded and put his hands on the table.

  “But this is all guesswork based on what I’ve been able to learn. In such a vast operation, there is too much I don’t know. If I get involved, I can’t help but be a pawn for those above me.”

  If Lawrence could plumb the depths of these schemes, he could turn them to his profit. But to do that, he had to understand exactly where those depths lay.

  “So you’re left with discretion being the better part of valor, eh?” said Holo.

  “Yes,” agreed Lawrence, taking the letter from Holo’s hands.

  As a lonely wandering merchant, how many times had the seal on that letter come to his aid? It was a magical emblem, both a powerful weapon and a sturdy shield.

  He’d never doubted its might.

  Which was why—now that its power was turned against him—he could see no alternative but escape.

  “So that vixen and your pack are fighting over the same prize, then? What might that be?”

  “Huh? Oh yes. It’s what you say you saw on the south side.”

  “Surely not the bones?”

  Lawrence and his party had come to the seaside town of Kerube, far from Holo’s homelands of Yoitsu, in search of a certain item—the bones of what was said to be a wolf-god worshipped in the mountains of Roef.