Wolf & Parchment, Volume 3 Read online

  Col knew the story because he had traveled with Myuri’s parents.

  It was not the sort of tale one simply happened upon but the kind that people would have had to search for before finally finding it.

  “According to legend, after the battle, the Moon-Hunting Bear disappeared across the sea to the west. I don’t think this bear—which is said to have unearthed mountains, thrown them into the sea, and created an island—would disguise itself as a human to live in this world now. But no one has seen it since then. There are too many humans to live hidden in this world. So I believe it.”

  “That the Moon-Hunting Bear…lives on the land at the edge of the sea?”

  Ilenia nodded.

  “What if the kingdom doesn’t merely believe that the long-indolent Church’s blade of faith would be unreliable in a fight with the demon, but that a visible fight over rights would just get in the way? In the war against the pagans many years ago, the Church managed to wrest away control over many spoils of war. They must think they can’t follow in those footsteps.”

  A single cook was good enough for the broth.

  “Don’t you think the reason why the kingdom is developing their shipbuilding technology so quickly and importing so much lumber from the mountains on the mainland is to prepare for a journey to the new world?”

  Nyohhira was rather remote in the mountains, but he knew that lumber flowed down the river from even deeper in the wilderness to be sold. The cloth woven in the villages dotted around deep in the mountains passed straight through Nyohhira to be sold in towns at the bottom of the river, and most of it became sails for ships.

  The buyers were in the Kingdom of Winfiel, because their production of long-distance trading ships was flourishing.

  “I believe that if the new world is the key in this story, it explains a great many of the kingdom’s actions. If we let this golden opportunity go, then we will forever live in the shadows of the human world. Gaining Saint Nex’s cloth from the cathedral in this town is a huge step toward freedom. So, please, I want you to help…No.”

  Like the poor begging for mercy before the Church, Ilenia faced Col and Myuri.

  “Why don’t you join me in my plans? We can make great progress with you, Master Col, and your unquestionable power in the human world, along with the power of a wolf, the ruler of the forests.”

  It may all have been Ilenia’s delusions. In studying faith, Col knew that sometimes, people only ever saw the things they wanted to see.

  Moreover, there was a reason he did not want to believe what she claimed so easily.

  If she was right, if it turned out to be true that everything going on was actually about the new world, that meant the kingdom was not paying attention to the true righteousness of faith at all. It meant that they were simply maneuvering to keep the new land all to themselves and were trying to abandon the Church.

  If that were the case, then those trying to right the wrongs of the Church, those who fought believing that a new faith would spread throughout the world were nothing but fools.

  They would be pawns in the political strife between those in power, and nothing would be solved for the people who stood at the bottom.

  There was malice in Ilenia’s story that Col did not want to believe.

  “Bro…ther?”

  Then Myuri whispered to him. She seemed uneasy because, to her, there was no reason not to cooperate with Ilenia.

  But he could not come to a decision so quickly.

  Ilenia’s story threatened to flip the world as Col knew it on its head. There was a new land at the edge of the sea, the Moon-Hunting Bear lived there, and the kingdom was trying to claim it to stake out a new country—there was absolutely no way he could believe that all at once. Not to mention that it would also mean the kingdom was facing off with the Church for such selfish interests.

  He wondered for a moment if Hyland knew about all this.

  On the other hand, if Ilenia’s dreams were a reality, then it would be great news for those who had no choice but to live out of sight from humans in this day and age. This was true for Myuri as well, who was finding life difficult. Even the embodiment of a whale, Autumn, who they had met in the northern islands, had been deeply hurt after losing his only companion. Had someone gotten close to him and become his friend, then he might have fulfilled a different role in the north.

  Much like how people gathered at the Church, nonhumans, too, needed a place to feel at peace.

  Should he not support those who saw the light of hope? At the very least, he should not be agitated or complacent.

  The commander of the mercenary company that bore the same name as Myuri once said the most dangerous thing in battle was not an encounter with a strong enemy, but stopping at a place after losing sight of how the battle was progressing.

  And so Col’s words formed quickly.

  “There are many parts of your story that I find hard to believe. And supposing that it is true, I have reason not to join you so easily. Even as Myuri’s older brother, I cannot agree with the current state of affairs.”

  “B-Brother?”

  Myuri tugged his sleeve, but he silenced her with his gaze.

  “May I ask for some time?”

  Ilenia did not look disappointed, dejected, or irritated. She stared straight at him, then pulled back the hand she held out. There was no mistaking that she was an excellent broker.

  “I understand.”

  Myuri watched in bewilderment as Ilenia bowed her head.

  “Shall I come to this ship for your response?”

  “No, we will come find you.”

  “Very well. I am staying at an inn called the Silver Bow. I have also made it my base for wool trade here, so if you give my name to any trading firm in town, you should be able to get confirmation right away.”

  She understood very well that he doubted her.

  It was a different sort of toughness than Myuri’s.

  Ilenia stood and bowed her head deeply, as though paying him homage. Then her horns vanished.

  “Thank you so much for helping me.”

  She opened the door. As the bright sunlight and busy sounds of the ship flooded in, it felt like time had started moving again. It was almost as though all the things they talked about in that room were merely a dream.

  Ilenia confidently crossed the ramp and stood at the pier. She gave them a weary and anxious smile, bowed shortly, then walked off.

  As her figure quickly vanished among the crowds, a long sigh escaped Col’s mouth.

  Everything that Ilenia had talked about was difficult to process. The reason why the kingdom and the Church were in conflict, how there was a land that no one had seen far to the west, and how the Moon-Hunting Bear lived there—it was all lined up neatly for him, and he felt as if he had been placed before an impossible mountain.

  “Brother?”

  Myuri murmured vacantly.

  “What should I get excited about first?”

  As she was the sort to get excited when she saw the place they processed wool, Col knew that he was not the only restless one. They both had to stay grounded.

  Col gripped her little hand and spoke.

  “No matter how much good food is set on the table, we can only eat so much at once.”

  He had to look into every detail. Like Sligh had said, it may have been by God’s will they had been blown in this direction.

  The lively bustle of the harbor rang uncomfortably in his ears.

  In one corner of the harbor, there were steps carved out of stone that led to the surface of the sea.

  Col placed his hands in the water as little waves lapped up against the shore, then clicked two silver coins together.

  “I thought my hearing was good, but can he really hear this?”

  Myuri stood beside him, doubtful.

  “I’ve heard that sound travels very well in the water…Well, if it doesn’t work, then we can just write a letter.”

  “Place your hands i
n the water and beat in the rhythm of a dance with a hard object. Then, wherever you are, I can generally reach you in one day.”

  The whale avatar they had met in the northern islands, Autumn, had told them that.

  Col felt bad for calling him not even a month after that offer, but he needed to ask someone who was of the sea.

  “‘And then throw in a piece of the Black-Mother.’”

  He produced a small black mass from a bag and threw it into the water. It was about as big as the tip of his pinkie and practically resembled rabbit droppings.

  It was a kind of gem called jet and had similar properties to amber.

  Myuri held another piece in her hand and was sniffing it, but she shrugged and returned it to the bag.

  “We will come back tomorrow morning.”

  He stood and they went back up the stairs. He wanted to ask Yosef about the rumors whispered among merchants involved in long-distance trade, but the man seemed busy, so he left it for later. Col could always ask at dinnertime.

  He wiped his hands and noticed Myuri was still standing at the bottom of the stairs, gazing out across the sea.

  “Is something the matter?”

  She shook her head, and then he came up the stairs.

  “When I was in Nyohhira, I thought the mountains went on forever, no matter where you went.”

  But in reality, the mountains ended where the fields spread below them and eventually reached the sea.

  Then what was at the end of the sea?

  Everyone who had seen these vast waters must have wondered it at least once.

  “I…was once told that there is a waterfall at the end of the sea.”

  It did not matter if that was true or not. Col thought of it as a stopgap explanation for a question with no answer that people sometimes thought about before falling asleep.

  “But it’s also true that answers like that from the Church have always been met with a question mark.”

  When he said that, Myuri looked up at him with curious, childlike eyes.

  “Because if there truly is a waterfall, then what is at the bottom of it? See?”

  “Then what is there? Does it keep going from land to sea to land to sea?”

  He could have tricked her in his answer.

  But he did not, since to treat her as a child would be doing her a disservice.

  “The alchemists trying to unlock the world’s secrets say that the world is round.”

  He balled up the handkerchief in his hands and showed it to her.

  “They say that the world looks like this, and if you keep going west, you’ll eventually come back from the east.”

  Those alchemists also said that there were several round worlds like this one and called them the sun, the moon, and the planets. The land they stood on was nothing more than one of those planets.

  The Church often grew agitated over that line of thought and refuted it.

  It differed too much from the worldview spoken of in the scripture.

  “So it doesn’t mean that there’s an end to the world, right?”

  Despite never stopping to consider the Church’s teachings, Myuri accepted that without a second thought. Though he had thought about denying it, too, there were great monks with years of experience in astronomy that came to Nyohhira who supported this idea. He wanted Myuri to learn correct knowledge, but the problem lay in deciding what was correct.

  While he thought about it, Myuri suddenly spoke in a cold voice he had never heard from her before.

  “Good. That means I’ll definitely find that Moon-Hunting Bear one day.”

  “…”

  Col was at a loss for words, and he looked at the girl walking beside him.

  There stood the figure of an innocent, tomboyish child who spent all her days getting angry and laughing.

  But in her red eyes was a wolf, harboring the colors of hate.

  “I was named after one of Mother’s old friends, right? I know that it killed her friend—”

  Col only let her say that much as he pulled her into a tight hug.

  There were people all around them, and he did not even consider that they would look at them oddly.

  People bumped into his shoulders as they busily moved about, but he did not budge.

  He held her slender frame tightly to put out the fire starting in the brush.

  He could not let the flame of revenge burn in such a young body and soul.

  “…This is one of the reasons why I cannot trust Miss Ilenia’s story.”

  The usual Myuri would hug him back or rub her face in his chest, even if she was fast asleep.

  But now her arms hung limp at her sides.

  “The existence of the Moon-Hunting Bear has a great meaning not just to your mother and her companions but also to all those from the age of spirits. If the legend is true, then I cannot imagine what Miss Ilenia plans to do when she confronts it.”

  If they intended to make a country for nonhumans in the new world, then they either had to accept the Moon-Hunting Bear as their king or drive it away. Guessing from the legends, he could not imagine it would end on a friendly note.

  Ilenia must have thought about it as well, so she must have had some sort of plan.

  Perhaps they would kill it.

  “At the very least, there is one thing I ask of you.”

  He let go of her, placed his hands firmly on her slender shoulders, and peered at her. Though she never breathed a word about it back in Nyohhira, this girl was strongly aware of the blood that flowed through her body. Even in the north, she had wondered if the legendary Black-Mother was a wolf deity, too.

  Myuri’s mother, the wisewolf Holo, had lost all her companions. Almost all of them died in the fight with the Moon-Hunting Bear. It must have been so painful for her, but she had lived for many years and had the skill to set aside problems she could not solve.

  But Myuri was young, and everything in her eyes shined with a new light. She likely wanted to find her kin who no longer existed except in the pages of a book and felt intense anger toward a being who had done them wrong.

  It was possible that he himself, a human, had no right to say anything to this girl. But before he was a human, he was Myuri’s brother.

  “Never, ever think about taking revenge. It happened long, long ago in an era long forgotten.”

  She did not respond, nor did she look at him.

  Instead, she dropped her head, as though nodding, and rested her face on his arms that gripped her shoulders.

  “Ever since we left the village, I sometimes feel more like a wolf than I ever thought I was.”

  Col felt nervous when she said that, but she lifted her head and looked straight at him, then smiled, uneasy.

  “Don’t make that face. As long as you hug me, I won’t go anywhere, Brother.”

  While he could have also taken that as a confession of decadent love, the reason Myuri calmed in his arms was not for a child’s simple reasons. Much like how he forced himself into abstinence and moderation for his faith, there were many things she persevered through without telling anyone.

  He did not think he could ease all her problems, but he would do all he could.

  “Please feel free to talk to me about anything. I’m not a very reliable brother, but I will risk everything to help you.”

  Myuri closed her eyes and offered him a refreshing smile, as though her cheek was being caressed by a sweet summer breeze.

  “Then marry me.”

  Her eyes opened, and they were filled with her usual mischief.

  “…No.”

  “Stingy.”

  “That is not what this is about.”

  As she chuckled, she took hold of him.

  He could tell she was hiding some deep feelings about the Moon-Hunting Bear, but forcing her to reveal them would make her consideration for him meaningless.

  Much like how she called him “Brother,” there were many things that could not change so easily. Myuri knew that very we
ll.

  “But a journey beyond the ends of the sea sounds like so much fun.”

  And that, too, was how she really felt. Col had many things to think about.

  “Here we go, out from the pot and into the fire.”

  He groaned, and Myuri replied.

  “I don’t think that has to be a bad thing.”

  Youth wasn’t simply about appearance.

  “You’re right. We will think positively.”

  Myuri smiled and nodded.

  And so, they casually went out into town to see what sort of reputation Ilenia had. Myuri also wanted to look at clothes, so as she picked some out at the front of the shop, Col asked about Ilenia.

  “A wool broker? Ha-ha, sir, how many brokers do you think there are in this town? They come in swarms from all over the mainland to import, so I can’t remember them all.”

  The first shopkeeper had answered curtly, so he steeled himself for the worst, but conversation with the next store owner went easily.

  “A girl with black hair that brokers wool? Yeah, I know her. Oh, miss, that’s top-quality sheepskin. There’s a secret to the tanning process. Plus, look, see how soft and light it is? Whatever you use it for, it’ll turn into a great product. And here we have a newly made coat, and here’s a rug…Huh? Oh right, the broker. She’s so young, but there are lots of faraway firms that trust her enough to go through her when buying our wool. What, you thinking about having her do some work for you and checking her out? Well, she does good work compared to some of the other idiots out there. I haven’t heard of her running off with payments or showing any favoritism, after all. Oh, and by the way, that sheepskin goes for about forty silver coins of the sun. How ’bout it?”

  Other shopkeepers responded in a similar way. It seemed common for merchants to have someone from their hometown or someone they could trust carry out trade in faraway lands where it wasn’t easy to travel. Ilenia apparently had a bit of influence in the wool trade, so she used her position for buying.

  Of course, that meant she had to be not only capable but also trustworthy. All the merchants who knew her wanted her to work in their home companies.

  “She’s the sort to fall in love with her employer.”