Spring Log IV Page 5

  “That’s why I have to quickly sew them into my clothes to hide them before he finds out.”

  There were not too many notes, and Holo was dexterous, so the job was completed rather quickly.

  Yet, Selim still did not understand why Holo was doing this.

  “B-but, Lady Holo.”

  “Mm-hmm?”

  Selim opened her mouth in spite of herself only to recoil under Holo’s gaze.

  As she hesitated over whether she should say anything, she figured it would be stranger if she stayed quiet.

  “Erm…I believe Master Lawrence would be more than happy to help you search for our kin…”

  Even if she had not just discussed that very topic with him, she would have thought the same.

  Holo stared at Selim in return, then suddenly raised an eyebrow and smiled darkly.

  “Exactly. He would be so proactive about it; it would tire me terribly,” she said, sticking her tongue out as though she was going to belch. “After all this time has passed, I do not intend to obsess over things. All I would like is a slight hint. That is all.”

  Selim was taken by surprise at her unexpected response, and Holo offered a troubled smile.

  “You have been so considerate of me; your brother wrote down all sorts of things with such precision. But in reality, I have no intentions of an earnest search. Nothing will come of such a short jaunt anyway.”

  Those were Selim’s exact apprehensions. Holo possessed such great intellect that she had once been extolled as the wisewolf, and she had eyes sharp enough to see through anything. She was already well aware of how wide the world truly was.

  “U-um…”

  “And you wish to know why, no?”

  Holo’s question beat her to it, and Selim nodded as she tensed her shoulders.

  Holo continued to sew as she spoke with a carefree attitude.

  “’Tis all for that fool, you see.”

  She showed her fangs as though she was suppressing something, which was most likely her shy smile.

  “We cannot return to the village until we conclude everyone’s business, no?”

  Holo spoke carefully as she neatly sewed on another scrap of fabric, then squinted to make sure it did not stand out. It would likely not be noticed if she wore it normally.

  “However, he treats the old promise he solemnly swore to me with such gravity. Well, back in those days, he was also a massive fool who wandered into danger while insisting he would turn a profit. At least he says that he will no longer do such a thing. But still.” Holo stood from her chair and reached up to the ceiling to stretch. Her ears and tail shivered. “I do not wish to become his baggage. And I cannot bear the thought of the villagers saying this and that to him if he insists one day that we return to the village out of concern for me. That is when these notes will come into play.”

  “Oh…”

  When Selim responded absently, Holo folded the coat and the sash and cradled them in her arms.

  “Should I say that my friend could be just beyond this town, that fool would continue traveling, saying ’tis all for my sake.”

  Selim stood slack-jawed—but not because of what Holo was talking about.

  It was because she had just heard a very similar story.

  “And so I believe our return may be a little delayed because of that…I hope you will forgive us. I promise to repay you, in the name of the wisewolf.”

  They were exactly the same when it came to things like this; Selim felt like she was looking at an odd painting.

  It was like a picture of a staircase that seemed to endlessly go up that traveling street performers would parade around on the corner while shouting, The strange, the marvelous, the bizarre!

  Lawrence said he had decided to accept lots of requests from the villagers because Holo wanted to search for her old friend. On the other hand, Holo saw that Lawrence had taken on an enormous task from the villagers, and so she deliberately came up with a reason to continue their journey in order to ensure his work was properly completed.

  And both of them apologized to Selim, explaining that they might return later than expected.

  But both of them thought the real reason they would be late was because of the other, and they both believed they had to do these things out of concern for the other.

  “Oh, here comes the fool now.”

  Holo’s ears stood straight up as she shoved the coat and sash toward Selim.

  “Hold these.”

  “Oh, uh—”

  The moment after she spoke, Holo stroked her own ears, shook out her tail, and ran her fingers through her fur, nodding with a satisfied hum as she left the kitchen.

  “Oh, there you are. How long were you planning on snacking?”

  “Fool. I was doing no such thing.”

  “Oh? Then I’ll ask Miss Hanna.”

  “I mind not, but be prepared for your assumptions to be wrong.”

  Selim could hear the exchange from the other side of the wall.

  As she held to her chest the clothes Holo handed her, she felt for some reason like she wanted to cry.

  “Oh dear, a life on the road with this fool. I can hardly bear the thought.”

  “I could say the exact same thing.”

  They spoke spitefully to each other, yet they sounded like they were on the verge of bursting out into laughter.

  The two lived within their own fairy tale.

  Selim looked to Hanna, and when Hanna noticed Selim’s gaze, she turned up the corners of her mouth in a vague smile and gave an exaggerated shrug.

  Selim almost wanted to laugh at herself for being so worried about keeping the bathhouse running to the point where it was giving her nightmares.

  That was because—

  “Um—”

  Selim exited the kitchen, calling out to them, and the couple, walking side by side, turned toward her at the same time.

  “Um…”

  Selim swallowed and then spoke.

  “Please return from your travels quickly.”

  The words she was so convinced someone in her position could not possibly say came out with incredible ease.

  And then, the moment Holo and Lawrence heard her, they immediately pointed to each other as though they had planned it.

  ““That depends on—””

  They both spoke at the same time, and then they both regarded the other with a frown.

  “Why are you pointing at me?”

  “Yeah, exactly—I was about to ask you the same thing.”

  The two lived within their own fairy tale.

  It was then that Selim knew she could take care of the bathhouse while they were gone.

  That was because she understood the secret behind why this bathhouse thrived the way it did.

  “Heh-heh.”

  Selim giggled, making Lawrence and Holo both stare at her blankly, and then they started blaming each other for being laughed at.

  Selim laughed and laughed in a way she had forgotten to for years.

  They would return, and everyone here in this bathhouse would be waiting for them.

  This bathhouse had been created because the two were so happy, and people came here to watch them.

  The Nyohhira bathhouse Spice and Wolf.

  A renowned bathhouse said to be the spring of smiles and happiness.

  THE AUTUMN-COLORED SMILE AND WOLF

  If someone wanted to hold a lively conversation with a traveler who happened to be nearby, there were routine topics that could always be discussed.

  The state of safety in the area, the market price of various coins, which towns had the best food, and so on.

  There was, however, one topic that those who spent any serious time on the road could always lose themselves in.

  And that was the question of which season was ideal for travel.

  “Oh, I hate the hot and the cold.”

  “Then spring or autumn?”

  “Spring is not bad, but I cannot stand being so dreadfu
lly restless. The melting winter snows, after all, make it muddy as well.”

  The one speaking, combing fur spread across her lap as she sat on the driver’s perch of a cart, was a young girl, a hood completely covering her head. Generally speaking, she appeared plain, given that the only ornamentation on her person was a pouch hanging around her neck, but on closer inspection, the hems on her sleeves and on her sash were perfectly intact.

  The sight of a girl wearing plain yet well-made clothes combined with the long and beautiful flaxen-colored hair peeking out from under her hood pointed to the possibility that she was a traveling nun or perhaps a lady from a good house on her way to be courted at an arranged meeting in a faraway territory.

  The truth was that this girl was neither a nun nor a noble—or even a human.

  Her name was Holo. This was the avatar of a massive wolf who resided in wheat. She was once the ruler of a land called Yoitsu, and she had been worshipped as the god of the harvest in a land far to the south. The fur resting in her lap was not simply an accessory to warm her legs but her own tail that sprouted from her rear.

  “When we set out, it must be in autumn, like now. While the winds might be chilly, ’tis nice and warm when the sun peeks out, and I quite enjoy sipping on mulled spirits in the nighttime. And this calm, somewhat lonely air that carries us ever closer to winter. Does it not suit an intelligent wisewolf like me?”

  Holo, brushing her tail on the driver’s perch, seemed to be in a good mood as she chatted. Perhaps that was why the coat of fur on her tail seemed fluffier than usual.

  Sitting beside her was a former merchant, Lawrence. Over ten years ago, he had met Holo entirely by accident, and they ended up staying together after a considerable adventure. These days, they lived in the hot spring village of Nyohhira, and it would soon be a little over a decade since he first opened his bathhouse, Spice and Wolf.

  “True, the color of your fur pairs nicely with the fall colors of the forest.”

  Holo took great pride in her tail, and she was always genuinely happy whenever he complimented her wolf form’s fur.

  “But the real reason you like fall is because the food is so good in this season, isn’t it?”

  The reason Lawrence spoke with a wry smile was because Holo was stuffing her face at that very moment with roasted chestnuts even as she groomed herself.

  “There is no greater happiness in this world than eating good food.”

  His teasing did not discourage her; she devoured a roasted chestnut with a joyful smile and continued to care for her tail.

  With a small, tired sigh, Lawrence tightened his grip on the reins of the cart.

  “Well, it’s not like we’re on a penny-pinching journey to make a profit. We’ll enjoy ourselves and dine on anything good we find on the road.”

  Holo turned toward Lawrence with wide, wolf pup–like eyes and beamed in delight.

  Besides quick errands that briefly pulled them out of the village, it had been over ten years since Lawrence and Holo had last sat atop a rumbling cart together.

  Before opening up shop in Nyohhira, Lawrence could hardly have imagined a lifestyle where he stayed and lived in only one village. It was a given for a traveling merchant to cross vast distances, and of course he would often be filled with anticipation about when he might be able to set off to his next destination.

  But running a bathhouse was incredibly hectic, and more importantly, it was fun. Or perhaps it was more apt to say that after their daughter had been born, Lawrence had no time to pine for the road anymore. Ten years had passed by in a flash.

  Consequently, it was not Lawrence but Holo who had brought up the idea of leaving Nyohhira to travel around for a while.

  However, it went without saying that Holo was much more of a homebody. She was the type to be perfectly happy lazing around, drinking liquor in the baths all day, so of course she had her reasons for suggesting a trip.

  “Well, then…First, we should decide where to go, but I wonder where those two are now…Their last letter came from a town in the south of the Winfiel Kingdom, didn’t it?”

  A letter sat on top of the map that was unfolded across Lawrence’s lap. Two signatures adorned it—one belonged to Myuri, his and Holo’s only daughter. She was now maybe twelve or thirteen, which was right around the age when society expected them to start talking about marriage.

  The other signature belonged to Col, the young man who set off on a journey of his own in hopes of becoming a priest. His handwriting showed how earnest he was in pursuing his dream.

  He was someone Lawrence and Holo had come to know during their peddling journey, and he had helped run the bathhouse starting the day they opened. It was also probably apt to say that he had been taking care of Myuri ever since she was born.

  Back at home, Myuri obviously adored Col, calling him “Brother.”

  While they were not related by blood, they had a loving brother-sister bond.

  Lawrence had come to learn the previous winter that he was the only person watching over the pair who optimistically thought of their relationship that way. When Col had left the village to chase his dream of becoming a priest, Myuri also left to follow him.

  It came entirely out of left field for Lawrence, but his wife and Myuri’s mother, Holo, knew everything.

  Holo had let Myuri go, so there was nothing more Lawrence could do.

  Furthermore, he knew that one day he would have to send off his daughter to be married.

  And if the person she would marry was Col, then he had no complaints.

  While Lawrence tried to convince himself of that, he still felt uneasy on the inside.

  “They sent us a letter from waters much colder than Nyohhira at the beginning of spring.”

  Whether or not Holo knew how Lawrence felt on the inside, she fervently twisted the ends of the fur on her tail as she spoke, as though suddenly remembering.

  “Right. A region of islands up north that I’ve never been to. Afterward, they headed south to the Winfiel Kingdom, spent the spring there, let the summer pass, and now they’re somewhere in the southern part of the kingdom…There’s always so much time between their letters…I really think they must have had their struggles, even if they won’t write about them…”

  Lawrence knew well the dangers and hardships of traveling. He could not say anything so carefree as No news is good news.

  Bandits frequented roads, and there were plenty of crooks lurking within towns. Even barring those hazards, there was disease and injury to worry about. Anyone unlucky enough to be caught out in the rain or snow would quickly learn that it was entirely possible to die of the cold or starvation.

  As a father, Lawrence felt his heart almost rip apart when he thought of his adorable only daughter, but Holo spoke with something near indifference.

  “What are you saying? There must be more enjoyable things to do than penning letters to send us, no?”

  Lawrence turned to Holo. She must have reached a stopping point in her grooming, since she was cracking open more chestnuts, stuffing their contents into her mouth.

  “All the letters they send come bearing the scent of fun.”

  “…Fun…I guess so. Traveling is fun. All the delicious food and beautiful scenery can just snatch away your heart.”

  Lawrence was speaking more to himself than Holo, and Holo gave him a sidelong glance.

  “If that is what you believe, then I shall not say anything.”

  “…”

  He looked at her with the eyes of a sad puppy that had been mistreated.

  Holo didn’t think she had done anything mean, and in fact seemed rather exasperated with Lawrence’s inability to accept the inevitable.

  Of course, Lawrence was quite aware of the reality of the situation.

  He had steeled himself for it from the moment his daughter was born—she would certainly one day go to someone else.

  “…As long as they’re happy…Obviously, I’m fine with that…,” he said in a
thin voice, and Holo chuckled before leaning against him.

  “How it vexes me to see a fool be plagued by such foolish thoughts.”

  Holo’s vaunted tail rustled.

  “I am the only one who will stay by your side always. No matter what happens.”

  She offered him a kind smile and looked straight at him.

  The Holo he usually saw would often ask for a morning drink before falling back asleep, and it was a daily occurrence that she either refused to let go of the blankets or openly declared her desire to not work. There were even times when she would throw tantrums after hearing stories from their patrons about exotic delicacies of faraway lands because of how badly she wanted to eat them.

  That was why he often forgot that Holo was a centuries-old wisewolf.

  This trip was something she had suggested out of consideration for Lawrence.

  Perhaps they could see Myuri and Col once, either to calm down Lawrence, who was beside himself with worry about his daughter, or to help him accept things as they were.

  Lawrence was indescribably happy that Holo was showing him so much concern. He was honestly happier about that than being able to see Myuri.

  He didn’t need anything else as long as Holo was by his side.

  It was because he believed that from the bottom of his heart ever since long ago that he had extended his hand to Holo, the wolf who looked like a human.

  A smile broke out naturally on Lawrence’s face when he took in Holo’s sincere expression.

  “Yeah, you’re right. I have you.”

  When he said that, Holo grinned. It was the smile of a long-lived and kindhearted wisewolf.

  Lawrence gently wrapped his arm around Holo’s shoulder and pulled her closer. When he squeezed tighter, Holo’s tail started happily bouncing back and forth.

  Heading out on a journey like this was worthwhile even if only because it meant they would have more time alone together.

  “Oh.”

  “Hmm?”

  Holo stirred in Lawrence’s arms, and she looked up at him.

  “I believe we should head to Svernel first.”

  “Svernel?”

  It was the biggest town located near Nyohhira.