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  The light of the setting sun fell across her profile. “Indeed,” she said as Klass was at a loss for words.

  “It…it was you! You chased the wolves away!”

  “I merely happened to be sleeping nearby. They realized I was there and turned tail of their own accord.”

  The woman sounded almost bored. Klass swallowed after closing his gaping mouth.

  He’d heard many times of beings that looked human but were not who occasionally descended to grant good fortune or to play tricks on mortals.

  Klass spoke in a tremulous whisper. “Could you be a…a spirit—?”

  “Hardly!” said the woman with sudden irritation, tossing her head.

  But the mysterious part-beast person before him soon made an awkward face.

  “Hmph…well, ’tis true that some of your kind do call me such things. But I like it not.”

  Her expression of wry embarrassment at having shouted made her seem not so very much older than Klass.

  And her face was unmistakably beautiful.

  “H-how…shall I refer to you?” asked Klass, using the words he’d heard adults use in such situations, but the woman’s brows only knitted in further irritation.

  “I do not like that, either. And untangling your stumbling tongue is a nuisance.”

  Klass’s face felt hot at the teasing being directed at him, but thinking the girl was some kind of spirit, he looked down.

  Whereupon the sprit sighed and brought her face nearer to the ground.

  “Come, look up. I only thought to aid you in your difficult travels. I did not reveal myself to you to endure your worship.”

  He was too scared to look up.

  And yet, still timidly, he brought his gaze up to meet hers.

  “Heh. You’re still at the age where such an expression suits you.”

  The smile that greeted him when he looked up made him realize that there were many different kinds of smiles in the world. The instant he saw it, he looked down again, his face even redder than before but for a very different reason.

  This time the spirit did not become angry.

  “My name is Holo,” said the spirit briefly as she squatted down.

  It took Klass a few moments to realize that she’d introduced herself. “M-my name’s Klass…ma’am.”

  “No need for ‘ma’am’ here.”

  “R-right.”

  The spirit named Holo smiled bitterly and stood. “And this one’s name is Aryes?”

  “Y-yes, that’s right, but—”

  “How do I know?”

  Klass nodded.

  “Did you not call her name out so charmingly and so many times? ‘Aryes, Aryes!’?” said Holo, arms folded and clasping her own shoulders.

  Klass had finally regained his composure but reddened again at this.

  “I don’t know that shaking a weakened comrade so is a kindness, though.”

  Startled, Klass looked at Aryes’s face.

  “Having lost consciousness, I’m sure she’s calmed herself a bit. Just wipe her mouth clean and keep her warm now.”

  Nodding silently as though he had a piece of bread stuck in his throat, Klass moved Aryes from her unnatural-looking, collapsed position to a seemingly more comfortable state, then stood.

  Though the bag he’d dropped was not so great a distance away, he was worried about leaving Aryes alone and thus hesitated to fetch it.

  At which Holo said, “I’ll watch her for you,” then gestured to the bag with her chin.

  Klass finally started running, but when he turned around to look over his shoulder, he saw Holo crouching down by Aryes, murmuring something to her.

  He wondered if it was some sort of secret.

  “Honestly, if this were wintertime, you’d be dead on the roadside somewhere,” said Holo as she went through their things while Klass tended to Aryes. “You’ve no blankets! What were you intending to do in case of rain?”

  “Huh? Er…,” said Klass as he wiped Aryes’s mouth clean with a moistened cloth.

  Though he was trying to warm her up, he had no fuel for a fire, and as Holo pointed out, no blankets—so he was reduced to putting a simple jacket on her.

  “Take shelter somewhere…I suppose…”

  A sigh and a withering look were all that greeted him.

  Klass looked down in spite of himself.

  The fact was that there was no shelter to take as far as the eye could see.

  “’Twas on a lark I decided to follow the strange pair wandering away across these plains without so much as a spring or a river, but to think you’d have been so unprepared!”

  It angered Klass to hear her say this, but his fear kept him from saying anything.

  “And while we’re speaking of strange things, you’re odd companions indeed. Why are two children traveling alone?”

  Klass couldn’t help but look up sharply at the word children.

  While Holo seemed a few years older than him, she wasn’t so mature he’d call her an adult.

  “Foolish boy. I’m at least two centuries your elder.”

  “I-I’m sorry.” It was strange—having had it pointed out to him, he could now see it.

  After all, the girl was a spirit, so nothing about her would surprise him.

  Having convinced himself of this, he found there was no reason to hide anything, so he answered her question.

  Holo lay sideways, chewing noisily on a piece of oat bread she’d gotten out of Klass’s things, and as Klass told his tale she acknowledged it with flicks of her tail.

  “I daresay the mansion you were driven from was of a noble house called Antheo.”

  “Y-yes…you know them?”

  “I heard a bit about them in a town I was in not long ago—that there was an eccentric nobleman out in the countryside. But I see—so he’s dead, is he?”

  Klass didn’t know whether or not the lord of the mansion was an eccentric or not, but the word countryside bothered him.

  The mansion was a magnificent place, and there were at least twenty servants and stone buildings like the one Aryes had occupied.

  And nearby the estate there were grapevine trellises and villages, too.

  As Klass thought about it, he became aware of Holo grinning at him.

  “Indeed, you set out on a journey and were a helpless chick before long.”

  “…” He didn’t know why he was being laughed at, but it was frustrating, and Klass looked away.

  That seemed only to invite more laughter from Holo, who snickered covertly. “Be not angry, boy. Were you yourself not surprised at the size of the world?”

  Stunned, he looked back at Holo.

  “Nay, the reason I know that is because I felt the same way when I set out on my own travels.”

  Klass got the feeling that he was being manipulated this way and that, but she didn’t seem to be lying.

  “…Is that so?”

  “Aye. The world is vast indeed. And—”

  But her words cut off there. Klass followed her gaze and saw that at some point the sleeping Aryes’s eyes had opened slightly.

  “Aryes—” Klass called her name, forgetting all about Holo, and Aryes’s eyes focused on him many times faster than her usual rate of awakening.

  “Ah…wha—why—?”

  She sat up, not seeming to understand the reason for her current position. Klass hurriedly tried to explain.

  “You collapsed just a moment ago! Don’t you remember?”

  Having been reminded, she finally seemed to recall.

  A bit of a flush began to creep into her much-improved complexion.

  “As a servant of God, I am deeply ashamed. However, I am now well.”

  Despite the mere five days of their travel, Klass was beginning to understand her personality.

  Though he might tell her to sleep, her tone revealed whether she was likely to do so or not.

  He didn’t try to stop her awakening, and thus she quite obviously noticed Holo.

  �
��Oh, my…,” she murmured and then paused.

  The beast ears atop the head, the magnificent wolf tail—these were unmistakable signs of a spirit, and they were right before her eyes. Her surprise was understandable.

  Aryes stared openly at Holo’s inhuman attributes.

  Klass was suddenly very worried that Holo would become angry at the rather rude staring. And just the previous night, Aryes had thought wolves to be men.

  He would have to say something outrageous.

  Just as he’d come to that conclusion and was about to try to whisper in her ear, the frozen Aryes seemed to come to a sudden understanding and nodded convincingly. “Oh…you’re from far across the sea, aren’t you?”

  Klass was about to correct her mistaken notion—though the truth was just as strange—when Holo cut him off.

  “Aye. I’m called Holo, and I’ve traveled here from far in the north.”

  Far from being angry, she smiled as though amused, and her tail wagged happily as though emphasizing the fact.

  Aryes accepted the coat that Klass offered her, then bowed elegantly. “I am Aryes Belange,” she said.

  Klass had heard even kings bowed their heads before a spirit, and so while being in front of one was deeply intimidating, he found the idea of not knowing terrifying.

  But since he’d heard that spirits came from a land where only they lived, perhaps what Aryes had said was not actually mistaken.

  “So, how can we assist you?”

  This may have been appropriate back at the mansion, but here Klass couldn’t stop himself from speaking up. “N-no! Ho—Holo…she saved you, Aryes.”

  He stumbled over her name when he realized he didn’t know how polite he needed to be when referring to her.

  In that instant, he had avoided calling her “Lady Holo” after seeing the sharp glint in her amber eyes. For whatever reason, she seemed to hate such reverence.

  Aryes looked surprised anew and hastily corrected her sitting posture.

  Klass doubted that Aryes would be able to properly express her thanks, but that doubt lasted but a moment.

  Aryes straightened and suddenly looked surprisingly adult.

  “My sincere apologies—and again, my thanks,” she said, putting her hands together and bowing in much the same way she did when praying before a meal.

  Klass was stunned at Aryes’s composure, but when he looked at Holo, he saw she was delighted. He felt relief at having managed to avoid rousing her anger.

  Still, he was shocked that Aryes had revealed herself to be so levelheaded.

  “And if that is true, then I would very much like to repay the kindness you showed in saving me.”

  “Kindness, eh?”

  “Yes. Unfortunately we are but travelers and are limited in what we can offer.”

  This was like a different person from the Aryes who’d asked why the flowers in the field did not wither without vases.

  He suddenly felt shame at having so condescendingly explained so many things to her.

  “Hmph. I need no material goods. Instead, let me see…” Holo glanced at Klass.

  At the same time, Aryes, too, looked over her shoulder at him, and for some reason he suddenly felt like a frog enduring the gaze of a serpent.

  Though each of them was very different, somehow Klass got the feeling that he was the odd man out.

  Amused, Holo continued. “Would you let me travel with you for a while?”

  “Huh?!” Klass said without thinking and again felt himself under the gaze of the other two.

  It did not seem that any objections would be allowed.

  Then Aryes turned back to Holo, smiling, and spoke. “If it would please you to do so.”

  “I’m thankful.”

  The two nodded to each other like old friends, then just continued on with their conversation.

  Klass was not amused.

  And yet—he was not sure why he was unamused.

  “Well, my things are over yonder. Would you help me gather them?”

  “Ah, yes.” Aryes stood, and Klass stopped her.

  “Aryes, you rest.”

  “But—”

  “Just rest,” he repeated a bit more forcefully, and the surprised Aryes gave a hesitant nod.

  Holo watched the exchange amusedly, then said, “Over this way,” as she began to walk. “Heh. You needn’t have been so demanding,” she said, immediately taking the lead.

  “Uh…well…”

  “You could’ve merely said physical work is for men, nay?”

  She looked over her shoulder at him, and Klass could feel his face becoming hot under her gaze.

  Holo knew everything.

  She giggled. “Ah, such troubles!”

  Her tail swished happily beneath her cloak.

  “Still, I expect eight or nine of ten males would act the same way. ’Tis nothing you need worry over,” she said as though to encourage him, patting his back—none of this made Klass any happier.

  After all, her face was still smiling as though she might burst out laughing at any moment.

  “Oh, come now, I’m your ally.”

  You liar were the words that he felt in his heart.

  Even Klass knew when he was being teased.

  “Heh, ’tis true I’m making sport of you. However—” Holo took a quick step ahead of Klass, then turned and peered down at him from above.

  Her eyes were the eyes of a wolf gazing at its prey.

  Klass, entranced, could not bring himself to look away from those amber eyes.

  “Shall the three of us sleep together tonight? With you in the middle, of course.”

  No sooner had Klass heard those words than he imagined the scene and immediately thereafter tripped over his own feet.

  When Holo had asked to travel with Aryes and the two of them had looked at him, he’d felt like a frog under the eyes of a serpent for just this reason.

  Holo crouched down beside where Klass had fallen and spoke. “What, can you not wait until evening?” She smiled maliciously.

  But before Klass could feel anger at the jab, he realized he was comparing Holo’s smile with Aryes’s in his mind, and now at his wit’s end, he stayed prostrate on the ground.

  He could not help feeling as though he was a truly pathetic creature, indeed.

  When he hit his own head a few times and looked up, Holo spoke, her expression now gentle.

  “I’ll make a proper male of you yet.”

  Klass collapsed again.

  Thus the journey of the three fatigued travelers had begun.

  Klass awoke sneezing, the first sneeze he’d had in some time.

  I’ve been so warm these past few days and yet—he thought to himself, curled up in a blanket. But then he remembered that it was not so.

  Yesterday, for the first time in a while, he’d slept alone atop a hill, the horizon yet uninterrupted.

  Until then, he’d slept beside his traveling companion in order to conserve warmth—with a slightly odd girl named Aryes.

  Just thinking about it was enough to take the edge off the cold, but there was a good reason why he hadn’t been able to do it the previous night.

  Klass and Aryes, having been driven out of the mansion in which they’d lived, were slowly traveling a road that led to the sea and had encountered a mysterious guest. Her name was Holo, and she claimed to be Klass and Aryes’s senior by two centuries, despite looking merely Aryes’s age, or perhaps a little older. But as she had a beast’s ears atop her head, a wolf’s tail at her waist, and sharp fangs in her mouth, Klass could not doubt her claims about her age.

  And as for the reason Klass was enduring the cold and sleeping alone—that was Holo’s doing.

  “Let us all sleep together,” Holo had said the previous day.

  Klass had only been able to sleep with Aryes before that because of Aryes’s extreme naiveté—she didn’t realize Klass was a boy.

  But Holo was different.

  Holo had made the suggestion only t
o tease him.

  No matter how majestic a spirit she might be, he could not take her up on it.

  So in the end, Klass had borrowed the blanket and slept alone. Aryes and Holo had slept together, using their robe and cloak in place of the blanket—and yet Klass pictured the two of them curled up together fast asleep and could not help but feel he’d wasted an opportunity.

  Holo was surprisingly mean for a spirit, and Aryes was, well, Aryes and tended not to understand things very well, but there was no mistaking the fact that they were both beautiful.

  Of course, he couldn’t very well go and ask to be allowed between them now, but there would be no harm in just taking a look.

  So Klass told himself as he poked his head out of the blanket—and right in front of his eyes, there was Holo.

  “Shall I try to guess why you’re making such a face?” Holo yawned and seemed to be grooming her tail.

  Klass couldn’t hide his face back under the blanket but feebly shook his head nonetheless.

  “You’re the last.”

  As Klass slowly emerged from the blanket, he saw that Aryes was indeed awake and a short distance away was saying her morning prayers.

  He looked up at the sky, where God evidently was. It was cloudy again and a bit chilly.

  And speaking of gods, the god right in front of him, Holo, tossed her tail aside after grooming it for a while, then produced a crust of bread from within her own possessions and broke off a generous piece for Klass.

  Despite the fact that it was no harvest festival that day, it was wheat bread—wheat!

  “’Twas a gift. No need for restraint.”

  Even if he’d been told to restrain himself, Klass’s hand would’ve taken the bread of its own accord.

  Still, he was worried about Aryes, who flatly refused to eat breakfast.

  “Oh, that? I’ve already persuaded her. Look,” said Holo.

  She turned to Aryes, who was returning from her prayers, and tossed a piece of bread at her.

  Aryes hastily extended both hands and caught the bread against her chest, as though she were saving an infant. Even Klass, who was far from well mannered himself, was surprised at Holo’s impropriety. “Y-you’re throwing food—!”

  “It is the nature of the world that the wheat of the harvest will eventually return to the earth. Is there some reason I cannot throw bread, which is merely wheat ground into flour and baked?”