Spice & Wolf II Read Free Page B

little!” Lawrence said. It was not clear if Holo was listening or not.
    “That’s a promise, then! You’ve promised!”
    “Okay, okay!”
    “So let us hurry on, then! Hurry, now!”
    “Stop grabbing me!”
    Lawrence shrugged her off, but Holo’s mind had wandered elsewhere. She seemed to look off into the distance and muttered .is she nibbled on the nail of her middle finger.
    “'They may sell out. Should it come to that...”
    Lawrence was beginning to regret having said anything about honeyed peach preserves, but it was too late for such regrets. If he dared to suggest he had decided not to buy any after all, it seemed likely she’d tear out his throat.

 

It didn’t matter that honeyed peach preserves weren’t something that traveling merchants could afford.
    “It’s not a question of selling out—they may not have any at all,” Lawrence said. “Just understand that.”
    “We are talking about peaches and honey, sir! It beggars belief. Peaches and honey.”
    “Are you even listening to me?”
    “Still, it’s hard to give up pears,” said Holo, turning to Lawrence and looking up at him.
    Lawrence’s only reply was to heave a long-suffering sigh.
     
    Lawrence planned to sell his pepper to the Latparron Trading Company, whose name was every bit as odd as the town in which it was located—Poroson.
    If one were to trace the name, it would surely hearken all the way back to the time before Poroson was a town and only pagans inhabited the area.
    The strange names were all that remained of the past, though. After all, everyone here was a true believer in the Church, from the tops of their heads to the tips of their toes.
    The Latparron Company would soon have its fiftieth master, and each seemed to be more devout than the last.
    Thus it was that no sooner had Lawrence called upon the company—which he’d not visited in half a year—than he was regaled with praise for the newly arrived priest, whose sermons he simply had to hear, as would they not save our very souls?
    Still worse, the master of the Latparron Company seemed to take Holo in her robes for a nun on pilgrimage and exhorted her to minister to Lawrence as well.
    Holo took the opportunity to rail at Lawrence at length, occasionally grinning in a way that only he could see.
    After some time, their preaching ended, and Lawrence swore to himself that he wouldn’t spare so much as a single coin for any honeyed peach preserves.
    “Well, then, that went a bit long, but shall we talk business now?”
    “I await your pleasure,” said Lawrence, clearly tired—but the Latparron master had put on his business face now, so Lawrence couldn’t let his guard down.
    It was possible that the master’s lengthy sermon was a tactic to wear his opponents down, making them easy prey.
    “So, what goods have you brought me this day?”
    “Right here,” said Lawrence, regaining his composure and bringing out the pepper-stuffed sack.
    “Oh, pepper!”
    Lawrence kept hidden his surprise at the master’s correct guess of the bag’s contents. “You know your goods,” he said.
    “It’s the smell!” said the master with a mischievous smile—but Lawrence knew pepper yet to be ground has little scent.
    Lawrence stole a sidelong glance at Holo, who looked on amused.
    “It seems I’m still a novice,” said Lawrence.
    “Just a matter of experience,” said the master. As far as Lawrence could tell from the man’s broad, easy manner, his mistaking Holo for a nun might also have been an act.
    “Still, Mr. Lawrence, you always bring the best goods at the most opportune time. By God’s grace, the hay grew well this year, and the pork has gotten fat merely walking the streets. Demand for pepper will be high for a while. Had you gotten here even a week sooner, I’d have been able to take it off your hands for a pittance!”
    Lawrence could only offer a pained smile in response to the cheerful man. The Latparron master had taken complete control of the