Spice & Wolf IV (25 page)

Beneath her hood, she looked sleepy.

She was well aware of what her role would soon be, so she seemed to be saying, “Let me rest until then.”

Lawrence suddenly looked back at Elsa. “We are planning to escape,” he said casually.

Elsa was unmoved. If anything, her face betrayed displeasure, as if she were dealing with a particularly dense and slow child. “I believe the time for escape has long passed.”

“Do you think Enberch already has the road under watch?”

“That may well be. If they have indeed planned all of this, then they would need you two as well.”

Elsa’s opinion reinforced Lawrence’s—which meant the same problem troubled both of them.

“The village’s suspicion is aimed at you and Evan. It will be difficult to defend yourselves. Yet if you run, it will be the same as admitting your guilt,” said Lawrence.

Had Elsa been a bit older and a man, she would have been able to easily inherit Father Franz’s great legacy, Lawrence felt.

“Regardless, even if the two of you managed to escape on horseback, you might not even make it past the villagers.”

“If my companion were merely the maiden she looks to be, that would be true.”

Lawrence got the sense that Holo’s ears twitched, perhaps due to her irritation at Elsa’s gaze.

“Speaking in terms of outcomes, we can escape. We can escape whenever we wish,” he said.

“Then...why aren’t you?”

Lawrence nodded. “First, we have not yet read through all the books in the cellar. Also, if we run, who do you think would be next in line to receive the villagers’ ire?”

Elsa did not so much as swallow.

Her quick, logical mind had already led her to that conclusion. and she already seemed to have been prepared to face it.

“I do not know how you plan to escape, but do you have confidence that you can take Evan with you?”

“Not only him, but you as well.”

For the first time, Elsa smiled. “Ridiculous,” it seemed to say." I will neither impede nor encourage your escape. As a villager, I cannot allow you to run as you are still the most suspicious party. But as a follower of the Church, I cannot allow you to be unjustly condemned and would hope for your successful flight.”

She must have thought Lawrence was cornered and speaking nonsense—thus the strange carelessness of her manner.

“In any case, regarding your first point, I have no reason to refuse you at this late hour. I would like to let you finish reading the books...” she continued.

“At this point, there’s but a single volume we’d like to see.” Holo shifted and said, “ ’Tis directly behind the altar. I’d like
to
read just that book...given the situation. I will not ask for more." Elsa closed her eyes slowly, seeming to come to a decision She may have decided to grant some grace to people who she
felt
would soon be dead.

She stood and opened the door.

“Wh-whoa!”

“Eavesdropping brings punishment,” said Elsa.

“Er, no, I didn’t mean to—”

“Honestly. It matters not either way. There is a book hidden behind the altar. Go fetch it, please.”

The discussion that had just taken place was not a loud one, so Lawrence was not sure whether Evan had heard it.

Evan hesitated for a moment but soon ran off down the hallway.

Elsa watched him go and seemed to murmur something under her breath, but Lawrence couldn’t catch what it was.

It might have been “If we could escape,” but before he could ask Holo, Elsa turned back to face him.

“I will not try to stop you from escaping. However”—she was every inch the noble clergywoman—“until you do, would you lend us your wisdom? There are none in this village who know well the ways of coin.”

Naturally Lawrence nodded. “I will, though I cannot guarantee that you will find my answers satisfying.”

Elsa blinked in surprise, then gave the same small smile she seemed to use on Evan. “It seems you merchants quite enjoy that line.”

“We are a careful lot,” said Lawrence, whereupon Holo stepped on his foot.

“I’ve brought the book.”

Evan must have found the book easily. He’d returned faster than Lawrence had expected.

“But...isn’t this one of the books of pagan legends? Why do you need it?” Evan asked.

Holo walked over to him and took—no, snatched—the book from him.

The contents of the book were something so important that Father Franz had been careful to record them impartially. Holo had no time for Evan’s questions.

Lawrence answered for her. “When one gets old, the ancient tales get more interesting.”

“Huh?” grunted Evan cluelessly.

Holo walked right past him and into the hallway.

It was obvious that she didn’t want to read the book while others looked on. Lawrence had Elsa light a candle for him, then placed it on a sconce, and followed after Holo.

When he arrived in the rear of the sanctuary, he found Holo crouched down, holding her knees like a scolded child.

“No matter how good your eyes are, you can’t read in the dark."

She hugged the book, trembling faintly.

Just when Lawrence wondered if she was crying, she looked up slowly. Her face betrayed no hint of weakness.

“Listen, you,” she began. “If I destroy this book in anger, will you make amends?”

She was not jesting. This was much more Holo-like than any tears would be.

Lawrence sighed and shrugged. “I don’t mind paying for it, but don’t tear pages out to dry your eyes.” He felt it was a fairly good line.

Holo grinned, showing her fangs as she looked up. “You’d happily buy my tears at a high price, though. ’Twould be a shame not to cry them.”

“There are many counterfeit gems in the world. I’d hate to purchase a fake.”

It was their usual banter.

They both laughed at the absurdity of it.

“Will you leave me alone for a while to read?” she asked.

“I shall. But tell me your thoughts when you’re finished.”

If possible, Lawrence wanted to be at her side as she read.

Saying so, however, risked her anger.

Worrying about someone was the same as not trusting them.

Holo was a proud wisewolf. Lawrence could plainly see that treating her like a delicate, weeping maiden would bring furious reprisals.

He would worry about her when she called upon him to do so.

Leaving Holo to her reading, he said no more, nor did he look back. Holo took a deep breath as though she had already forgotten his presence.

The next moment, he heard a decisive page flip.

As he walked down the dim hallway, Lawrence tapped his head with his closed fist, trying to think about something else.

Elsa had not given up on trying to restore the village’s position. If the knowledge and experience Lawrence possessed could be of any help, he would lend it.

Also, in the back of his mind, he was searching for the words he would need to persuade Evan to flee with him should the worst come to pass.

“Oh, Mr. Lawrence, aren’t you going to stay with her?” came Evan’s surprised query when Lawrence returned to the room.

Noticing the change in mood, Elsa casually withdrew her hand from Evan’s, wiping the corners of her eyes. Holo was never so sweet.

“Ah, if it would be better for me to be elsewhere, I can go.”

Elsa cleared her throat, and Evan looked blank.

Lawrence wondered if that was what he looked like from the outside, but he didn’t have the luxury of such pointless worries at the moment.

No doubt Elsa, too, would prefer to simply be at Evan’s side, never having to worry about anything.

She soon regained her neutral expression.

“Well, then, how can my knowledge and experience help you?”

“I heard from Elder Sem earlier that if all the wheat is returned, we will be short seventy
Iimar.”

The
Iimar
was a gold coin equal to twenty silver
trenni
pieces, which meant the debt would come to about fourteen hundred
trenni.

That was probably equivalent to the amount the town had spent on repairing their tools, laying in provisions for the winter, and on buying food, drink, and luxuries. Generously estimating Tereo’s population at one hundred households, that came to fourteen silver pieces for each one. The village’s farmland was not particularly large—fourteen silver pieces was far too high a figure.

“Even if they collect everything I own, it would be like scattering water on a hot cooking stone. If Enberch is the buyer, they'll beat the price down as low as they can. All the wheat in my cart would barely go for two hundred silver at best,” said Lawrence.

“That’s not all we lack. We can’t very well eat the seed grain that’s been stored in the granary, so we’ll need to come up with funds to purchase more to eat...,” said Elsa.

“Could we not test the returned wheat for poison by feeding small amounts of it to, say, dogs?” Evan asked.

In the worst case, that would be their only option.

But would the villagers be able to survive mainly on bread from possibly poisoned wheat clear through to the next year’s harvest ?

Unlikely.

“Khepas liquor is invisible, and even if you took a handful of safe wheat from a sack, the wheat directly beneath it might well be poisoned.”

Even supposing that Holo could tell poisoned wheat from safe, they would never be able to make the villagers trust her.

They could pick some flour at random and make a loaf of bread, but the next loaf might well be deadly.

“It is not hard to see that this is all Enberch’s doing. And yet we cannot expose them—why? Why is it that the first one to tell
a lie receives all the trust?” blurted Elsa, palm against her forehead.

Such things happened in business all the time.

Lawrence had seen any number of scuffles wherein the party to cast the first stone wound up winning.

It was a common saying that while God reveals the model for righteousness, He does not execute its proof.

Elsa’s feeling of powerlessness was understandable.

“Bemoaning our fate will get us nowhere,” said Lawrence.

Elsa nodded, her head still resting in her hand. She looked up and spoke. “True. I can’t very well cry now, my father...Father Franz, he would...would...”

“Elsa!”

Her legs seemed to lose all their strength, and she was about to collapse, but Evan managed to catch her just before she did.

She seemed exhausted, her eyes half-lidded and unfocused. She’d had her hand pressed to her head out of dizziness—anemia, perhaps.