Instruction: Given first part of the popular LightNovel spice and wolf as input, continue the story the best you can.

Input:
Holo shot him a suspicious look.
Lawrence had suffered numerous times when he had bit on money-making schemes.
He understood why Holo would be skeptical, but this was the very essence of easy profit.
"Just buy coins without purchasing goods at all."
Holo shot him an even more suspicious look.
"Here, if you pay twenty-seven trenni silver pieces, they'll give you one gold coin, yes? So, exchange silver for gold, take the river down past Lenos all the way to Kerube, and sell the gold pieces there for thirty-five silver coins or so. Having exchanged for silver, you return here, exchange it for gold again.
"Even though you started with twenty-seven silver coins, each return trip nets you one gold coin and eight silver coins. All you need to do is repeat it over and over."
Holo trained her intelligent amber pupils upon Lawrence, staring.
And after closing her eyes for what seemed to Lawrence to be a bit of a long time, she turned her chin the other way, her suspicious gaze alone turned toward him.
"If that was true, would not everyone be doing it?"
Lawrence nodded. He replied immediately: "They probably are."
Holo raised one eyebrow. Rolling her eyes like that, she began: "Assuming my thinking is correct...if everyone was doing that, this town would run out of gold coins and silver coins would increase, yes? So would not the price of gold coins rise and the price of silver coins fall? Should the prices here not fall in line with those of other towns sooner or later?"
Having granted her the premise, Holo the Wisewolf could see for herself where it led.
"That's correct. That's why I'm nervous."
"Whether to climb aboard while the situation lasts?"
Lawrence hesitated as to whether to nod or not, finally nodding.
Holo's exasperated face might well have been a natural reaction to seeing the color of Lawrence's eyes change when time was short for a chance to make money.
However, there probably existed a nearly three-tenths difference in the price of trenni silver pieces between Lesko and Kerube. If one could make such profit from transporting coins alone, they would be a very wealthy man in no time.
Besides, it was a matter that greatly affected the issue of setting up a store or not. If the difference at the coin market were to vanish, a store one should be able to buy for twelve hundred trenni silver pieces might shoot up in price to over fifteen hundred. For in this world, the bigger something was, the closer its price was based on the price of gold.
That three hundred silver coin surplus was the difference as to whether Lawrence could do business afterward or not.
"Well, such hardiness in you, I mind not."
"It's enough to make me want to run south with a bagful of silver coins right this moment."
Holo made a tepid laugh at Lawrence's words. However, the sigh that followed made Lawrence realize he had gotten carried away, snapping him back to his senses.
What came first, after all, was discovering the Debau Company's scheme, not to speak of making money.
As Lawrence cleared his throat to return the discussion to the Debau Company, Holo seemed not to notice Lawrence, staring off into the distance as she murmured.
"So, is there not something strange somewhere here?"
Holo was a complete outsider when it came to trading. Having said that, she was a sharper thinker than Lawrence, and he knew very well that an outside perspective was sometimes the best.
"Aye...it does feel like a strange story."
"Strange? In what way?"
"Mm...well...it's strange, but...how to put this..." Holo bit her bottom lip and groaned.
Perhaps because, viewed from nearby, she looked like she was in a bad mood, the people around them averted their gazes.
No one in these parts knew Lawrence's face, but they would likely remember the face of one with someone who stood out like Holo.
Just as he moved to whisper in Holo's ear that they should leave the marketplace...
"I have it!"
Holo spoke like a hen that had just laid an egg.

Output:
"Give me a break."
The center of the marketplace was more of a square than a street.
There were no stalls. Chairs that were just cut logs were placed so that passersby could take a break, with conversation blooming among many people.
Lawrence led Holo by the hand, seating both of them on log chairs as casually as he could manage.
When Lawrence asked, "And?" Holo used her usual "Heh-heh" with her nose held high.
"For a merchant like you not to notice..."
"...Well, pardon me."
"Well, of course, something of this level is obvious to me; I am Holo the Wisewolf, after all."
She was very confident, but in spite of calling it obvious, it had piqued her interest.
So there was some sort of trick at work?
As Lawrence drew his face closer, Holo spoke with a smile all over her face.
"If that story is true, why doesn't the Whatever Company do it?"
"...Eh?"
"According to that rather spirited old money changer, that company digs up and sells many things, and because it receives gold coins in return, gold coins are cheap here, yes?"
"Yeah."
"Then given that, 'tis a simple problem. Why does it not do so itself? 'Tis not strange?"
Lawrence started to say, "But that's...," but the words died on his lips.
"That company receives gold coins. So why does it not bring the entirety of those gold coins to another town? If it did so, it could exchange the whole lot for silver coins, could it not? Why does it not, then? 'Twould be the most profitable method."
Now that she mentioned it, it was.
But he felt like that reasoning had its own flaws.
What was strange about it? Certainly, the market price of trenni silver pieces was unusual, but there were often unusual things about market prices.
But this strangeness was not of that kind whatsoever.
This was something beyond his comprehension.
"No, there's something odd about that."
"Where is it odd?"
"No, it's really odd. What can this mean?"
As he scratched his head, he went over the facts once more.
This town had lumione gold pieces. This was gold the Debau Company had reaped in profit.
And since it was difficult to make small purchases with gold coins, naturally one exchanged them into other smaller currencies, silver and copper coins and the like. However, in doing so, the price would rise. It would inevitably rise. That was why a market price of one gold coin to twenty-seven silver coins was beyond belief.
That was fine.
Next was the idea of how to profit from the coin prices. That is, if one obtained gold coins here, changed them to silver coins in another town, and brought the silver coins back to change them into gold once more, one would profit.
That, too, was fine. Naturally, all traveling merchants would do so given the opportunity.
That brought the next problem.
That being the case, why did the Debau Company not do so by itself? If it brought all its gold coins and converted them to silver, it would make money hand over fist.
Yes. That meant since all of the gold coins in circulation in this town had been earned by the Debau Company, it was using the coin prices to profit; in other words, from receiving the commission from the silver coins people like Lawrence brought into the town.
So why did the Debau Company not do it itself?
Holo was right to point that out.
One gold coin to twenty-seven silver coins was close to eight silver coins' difference from other towns' market prices.
Put another way, they gave you a reward of eight silver coins for going through the time and trouble of going to another city to convert one's gold coins into silver.
That was strange.
It was very strange.
"They must have kind of a goal."
But what in the world might that be? He felt that even if they were waging war, it was still no reason to go through all this. Perhaps it was a scheme to take advantage of reminting or something similar, like when Lawrence had met Holo?


Instruction: Given first part of the popular LightNovel spice and wolf as input, continue the story the best you can.

Input:
"Give me a break."
The center of the marketplace was more of a square than a street.
There were no stalls. Chairs that were just cut logs were placed so that passersby could take a break, with conversation blooming among many people.
Lawrence led Holo by the hand, seating both of them on log chairs as casually as he could manage.
When Lawrence asked, "And?" Holo used her usual "Heh-heh" with her nose held high.
"For a merchant like you not to notice..."
"...Well, pardon me."
"Well, of course, something of this level is obvious to me; I am Holo the Wisewolf, after all."
She was very confident, but in spite of calling it obvious, it had piqued her interest.
So there was some sort of trick at work?
As Lawrence drew his face closer, Holo spoke with a smile all over her face.
"If that story is true, why doesn't the Whatever Company do it?"
"...Eh?"
"According to that rather spirited old money changer, that company digs up and sells many things, and because it receives gold coins in return, gold coins are cheap here, yes?"
"Yeah."
"Then given that, 'tis a simple problem. Why does it not do so itself? 'Tis not strange?"
Lawrence started to say, "But that's...," but the words died on his lips.
"That company receives gold coins. So why does it not bring the entirety of those gold coins to another town? If it did so, it could exchange the whole lot for silver coins, could it not? Why does it not, then? 'Twould be the most profitable method."
Now that she mentioned it, it was.
But he felt like that reasoning had its own flaws.
What was strange about it? Certainly, the market price of trenni silver pieces was unusual, but there were often unusual things about market prices.
But this strangeness was not of that kind whatsoever.
This was something beyond his comprehension.
"No, there's something odd about that."
"Where is it odd?"
"No, it's really odd. What can this mean?"
As he scratched his head, he went over the facts once more.
This town had lumione gold pieces. This was gold the Debau Company had reaped in profit.
And since it was difficult to make small purchases with gold coins, naturally one exchanged them into other smaller currencies, silver and copper coins and the like. However, in doing so, the price would rise. It would inevitably rise. That was why a market price of one gold coin to twenty-seven silver coins was beyond belief.
That was fine.
Next was the idea of how to profit from the coin prices. That is, if one obtained gold coins here, changed them to silver coins in another town, and brought the silver coins back to change them into gold once more, one would profit.
That, too, was fine. Naturally, all traveling merchants would do so given the opportunity.
That brought the next problem.
That being the case, why did the Debau Company not do so by itself? If it brought all its gold coins and converted them to silver, it would make money hand over fist.
Yes. That meant since all of the gold coins in circulation in this town had been earned by the Debau Company, it was using the coin prices to profit; in other words, from receiving the commission from the silver coins people like Lawrence brought into the town.
So why did the Debau Company not do it itself?
Holo was right to point that out.
One gold coin to twenty-seven silver coins was close to eight silver coins' difference from other towns' market prices.
Put another way, they gave you a reward of eight silver coins for going through the time and trouble of going to another city to convert one's gold coins into silver.
That was strange.
It was very strange.
"They must have kind of a goal."
But what in the world might that be? He felt that even if they were waging war, it was still no reason to go through all this. Perhaps it was a scheme to take advantage of reminting or something similar, like when Lawrence had met Holo?

Output:
Yet this town was peaceful and full of liveliness.
Furthermore, even with the unusual market price, everyone was calmly conducting business.
If the Debau Company's own exchange was converting one gold coin to twenty-seven silver coins without fail, there certainly was not any reason to rush over and exchange. Gold coins were too inconvenient for use in day-to-day life. It was more sensible to trade more, gather coins together, and then go exchange it.
Besides, even if one could profit from the coin prices of other towns in theory, the only ones who could do that in practice were nimble traveling merchants and large companies doing business in multiple towns. No doubt craftsmen would not even notice, and city merchants could hardly abandon their shops. In the first place, farmers with no way to know the market prices of different towns surely would not be thinking beyond Goodness, they sure sell a lot of things here.
What Lawrence still could not understand was he did not think the Debau Company could deliberately maintain these market prices except at substantial cost to itself.
As for why it would do such a thing, nothing made sense.
Come to think of it, the Debau Company was paying for the lodging expenses of mercenaries, the Myuri Mercenary Company included. The rumor was it was paying out twenty lumione gold pieces a day; at any rate, a large amount of money. What was behind such a lavish display? Was there a goal? Or were they simply making too much money?
They had discovered many strange things about the Debau Company, but this thing was truly a strange story.
What was the meaning of maintaining the market price at the cost of its own profits?
Lawrence put the question to Holo. "What do you think?" Then having so asked, something occurred to him. "Ah."
"You may well ask me, but..."
Alone and lost in his own thoughts, he did not have any kind of opinion.
As Lawrence looked up, thinking as much, Holo made an amused laugh, shaking her head and looking truly happy.
"It seems that little by little, I've gained a place in your mind."
For an instant, Lawrence did not understand the meaning of her words, but he realized it a few moments later.
What did he think?
Until now, he had been spending time in his own little world, unable to see anything around him as he thought.
"Aye. And, just to mention, you really should be more aware of how much you speak to yourself."
"Wha—?"
He hurriedly closed his mouth and looked all around, but of course, words could not be pulled back once spoken.
Holo guffawed at the silliness of it, laughing as she said, "I jest.
"Aye. I understand not the fine details but, at the very least, based on what I have observed, there is some structure at work, and its shape is a warped one. There is reason in this world, reason as unchanged by the centuries as I."
Holo's fearless smile was truly a thing of beauty. Bewitching, one might say.
Her fangs peeked just out under her lip, her eyes so fine that they cut into one like a sharp knife.
There were too many surprising things about the town of Lesko, or rather the movements of the Debau Company.
And at the very least, one of them was a bit too warped.
"So that company is indeed suspicious, 'tis it not?"
Lawrence looked about the town as he remained seated on the short-cut log.
A rural town full of liveliness.
A town like paradise itself for merchants and craftsmen.
But according to scripture, it was more difficult for people like Lawrence to go to heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.
"When a magician has a chicken lay a blue egg, and it's not a blue chicken, you know there has to be some trick."
"All the more when 'tis a goose laying a golden egg."
Even if a traveling merchant like Lawrence could do nothing about war and the like, anything related to trading was a different matter. Also, the more warped a construct was, the more it could be brought down by even a single ant-sized hole bored into it.


Instruction: Given first part of the popular LightNovel spice and wolf as input, continue the story the best you can.

Input:
Yet this town was peaceful and full of liveliness.
Furthermore, even with the unusual market price, everyone was calmly conducting business.
If the Debau Company's own exchange was converting one gold coin to twenty-seven silver coins without fail, there certainly was not any reason to rush over and exchange. Gold coins were too inconvenient for use in day-to-day life. It was more sensible to trade more, gather coins together, and then go exchange it.
Besides, even if one could profit from the coin prices of other towns in theory, the only ones who could do that in practice were nimble traveling merchants and large companies doing business in multiple towns. No doubt craftsmen would not even notice, and city merchants could hardly abandon their shops. In the first place, farmers with no way to know the market prices of different towns surely would not be thinking beyond Goodness, they sure sell a lot of things here.
What Lawrence still could not understand was he did not think the Debau Company could deliberately maintain these market prices except at substantial cost to itself.
As for why it would do such a thing, nothing made sense.
Come to think of it, the Debau Company was paying for the lodging expenses of mercenaries, the Myuri Mercenary Company included. The rumor was it was paying out twenty lumione gold pieces a day; at any rate, a large amount of money. What was behind such a lavish display? Was there a goal? Or were they simply making too much money?
They had discovered many strange things about the Debau Company, but this thing was truly a strange story.
What was the meaning of maintaining the market price at the cost of its own profits?
Lawrence put the question to Holo. "What do you think?" Then having so asked, something occurred to him. "Ah."
"You may well ask me, but..."
Alone and lost in his own thoughts, he did not have any kind of opinion.
As Lawrence looked up, thinking as much, Holo made an amused laugh, shaking her head and looking truly happy.
"It seems that little by little, I've gained a place in your mind."
For an instant, Lawrence did not understand the meaning of her words, but he realized it a few moments later.
What did he think?
Until now, he had been spending time in his own little world, unable to see anything around him as he thought.
"Aye. And, just to mention, you really should be more aware of how much you speak to yourself."
"Wha—?"
He hurriedly closed his mouth and looked all around, but of course, words could not be pulled back once spoken.
Holo guffawed at the silliness of it, laughing as she said, "I jest.
"Aye. I understand not the fine details but, at the very least, based on what I have observed, there is some structure at work, and its shape is a warped one. There is reason in this world, reason as unchanged by the centuries as I."
Holo's fearless smile was truly a thing of beauty. Bewitching, one might say.
Her fangs peeked just out under her lip, her eyes so fine that they cut into one like a sharp knife.
There were too many surprising things about the town of Lesko, or rather the movements of the Debau Company.
And at the very least, one of them was a bit too warped.
"So that company is indeed suspicious, 'tis it not?"
Lawrence looked about the town as he remained seated on the short-cut log.
A rural town full of liveliness.
A town like paradise itself for merchants and craftsmen.
But according to scripture, it was more difficult for people like Lawrence to go to heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.
"When a magician has a chicken lay a blue egg, and it's not a blue chicken, you know there has to be some trick."
"All the more when 'tis a goose laying a golden egg."
Even if a traveling merchant like Lawrence could do nothing about war and the like, anything related to trading was a different matter. Also, the more warped a construct was, the more it could be brought down by even a single ant-sized hole bored into it.

Output:
"Hmm, 'tis like that."
"Mm?"
As Lawrence was thinking of such things, Holo put her hands on her knees and rose up as she spoke.
"'Tis been a while since I remembered how we met."
Lawrence made a pleasant laugh as he watched Holo, reaching out to her with his hand largely without thinking.
Holo inclined her head as she took his hand.
It was exceedingly difficult to resist pulling her to him and hugging her then and there.
In attempting to unravel the Debau Company's plot they had found several oddities, but it was possible that these gave rise to yet other oddities. So they went to the marketplace once again.
If one traded long-distance between hostile nations, payment was usually measured based on lumione gold pieces. As coin market prices could vary between towns, one did so to make the calculations as uncomplicated as possible.
Therefore, if lumione gold pieces were cheap in this town, they had to think the calculations in lumione gold pieces were natural and reasonable where the town's merchandise was purchased, such as Kerube and towns farther south. If that was the case, the amount of money used for the purchases would be relatively cheap.
However, when they gathered stories from around the marketplace, the reality was quite the opposite, even right there.
"The folks that come here? Of course, they come from all over; we're a mining town, after all. Some folks hate to come, but they even come from the Dran Steppe up north and the Wessel region out east.
"Even if they trade locally, they'll never get anywhere. Here, they can sell everything they can haul, even if they've got to cross dangerous mountain trails to do it."
A general goods store owner with miscellaneous merchandise lined up on his shelves told them they rarely saw anyone from south of Lenos.
Whether handling dried fruit, sour-pickled vegetables, chicken, rabbit meat, fox and wolf pelts, or scrap iron, whether bringing them to sell or setting up their own stores in the unregulated marketplace, most came from places that could be lumped into the northlands. The general goods merchant himself apparently came from a cold village deep in the mountains.
They held no prejudices toward currencies that came to the town of Lesko via the south; to them, how easily a coin could be used held much more importance than which king had issued it.
Therefore, much of the merchandise that flowed into Lesko dribbled out of the northlands.
"Mmm..."
Having inquired all around, with the day beginning to wane, Lawrence sat on the short-cut log once again, making a sound from inside his throat.
Most foreign trade in Lesko came from the middle of the northlands, with barely any coming via the south except through the Debau Company. What came in from the south were mostly cereals such as wheat, with nearly everything else provided from here and there in the northlands. Most of the daily necessities and even luxuries used in town were largely made by the hands of local craftsmen.
Also, no one believed that war was going to break out.
The structure of trade was largely the same everywhere in the town.
As the coin price favored buyers of merchandise, merchandise flew from the shelves. The coin price favoring buyers should have meant sellers were at a disadvantage, but in the first place, much merchandise was carried in from remote places in the northlands starved of people to sell to. As products of high quality were made by craftsmen high in skill and morale, reaching the continent by ship from the south, everyone bought them, and the craftsmen in turn bought even more materials. Everything was going swimmingly.
As Moizi had said, freedom was the force that made the town run smoothly, to an extent that was almost eerie.
In the town's many circumstances, Lawrence might not have seen anything resembling a turbulent scheme by the Debau Company, but a number of oddities and the appearance of things going eerily well added up to the existence of something in his mind.


Instruction: Given first part of the popular LightNovel spice and wolf as input, continue the story the best you can.

Input:
"Hmm, 'tis like that."
"Mm?"
As Lawrence was thinking of such things, Holo put her hands on her knees and rose up as she spoke.
"'Tis been a while since I remembered how we met."
Lawrence made a pleasant laugh as he watched Holo, reaching out to her with his hand largely without thinking.
Holo inclined her head as she took his hand.
It was exceedingly difficult to resist pulling her to him and hugging her then and there.
In attempting to unravel the Debau Company's plot they had found several oddities, but it was possible that these gave rise to yet other oddities. So they went to the marketplace once again.
If one traded long-distance between hostile nations, payment was usually measured based on lumione gold pieces. As coin market prices could vary between towns, one did so to make the calculations as uncomplicated as possible.
Therefore, if lumione gold pieces were cheap in this town, they had to think the calculations in lumione gold pieces were natural and reasonable where the town's merchandise was purchased, such as Kerube and towns farther south. If that was the case, the amount of money used for the purchases would be relatively cheap.
However, when they gathered stories from around the marketplace, the reality was quite the opposite, even right there.
"The folks that come here? Of course, they come from all over; we're a mining town, after all. Some folks hate to come, but they even come from the Dran Steppe up north and the Wessel region out east.
"Even if they trade locally, they'll never get anywhere. Here, they can sell everything they can haul, even if they've got to cross dangerous mountain trails to do it."
A general goods store owner with miscellaneous merchandise lined up on his shelves told them they rarely saw anyone from south of Lenos.
Whether handling dried fruit, sour-pickled vegetables, chicken, rabbit meat, fox and wolf pelts, or scrap iron, whether bringing them to sell or setting up their own stores in the unregulated marketplace, most came from places that could be lumped into the northlands. The general goods merchant himself apparently came from a cold village deep in the mountains.
They held no prejudices toward currencies that came to the town of Lesko via the south; to them, how easily a coin could be used held much more importance than which king had issued it.
Therefore, much of the merchandise that flowed into Lesko dribbled out of the northlands.
"Mmm..."
Having inquired all around, with the day beginning to wane, Lawrence sat on the short-cut log once again, making a sound from inside his throat.
Most foreign trade in Lesko came from the middle of the northlands, with barely any coming via the south except through the Debau Company. What came in from the south were mostly cereals such as wheat, with nearly everything else provided from here and there in the northlands. Most of the daily necessities and even luxuries used in town were largely made by the hands of local craftsmen.
Also, no one believed that war was going to break out.
The structure of trade was largely the same everywhere in the town.
As the coin price favored buyers of merchandise, merchandise flew from the shelves. The coin price favoring buyers should have meant sellers were at a disadvantage, but in the first place, much merchandise was carried in from remote places in the northlands starved of people to sell to. As products of high quality were made by craftsmen high in skill and morale, reaching the continent by ship from the south, everyone bought them, and the craftsmen in turn bought even more materials. Everything was going swimmingly.
As Moizi had said, freedom was the force that made the town run smoothly, to an extent that was almost eerie.
In the town's many circumstances, Lawrence might not have seen anything resembling a turbulent scheme by the Debau Company, but a number of oddities and the appearance of things going eerily well added up to the existence of something in his mind.

Output:
"Perhaps we should return to the inn for now."
When Lawrence raised his face to Holo's words, she was rubbing a calf while sitting on a short-cut log.
When he saw that the hem of her robe had become filthy with dust at some point, he realized he had brought her quite a ways around.
"Ah, I suppose so...pacing back and forth while worrying really would be like a dog."
He had been trained to gather information with his feet and think on his feet, but unfortunately he was not alone at the moment.
"Aye. I am Holo the Wisewolf after all. Careful thinking suits me far better than does walking."
"With a drink in your hand?"
As Holo gave him a little glare, she stood up at the same time Lawrence did.
"I have gained a fair interest in trading, if not to the same degree as you."
More of the same consideration from before? Lawrence thought, but Holo paid him no heed and opened her mouth. "For instance..."
"I am unaccustomed to gathering pieces one after another and thinking of how to put them all together as you do. I am more accustomed and better suited to thinking of one thing very carefully."
"Certainly, you tend to repeat the same things over and over again."
Holo looked up at Lawrence, grinning and laughing, kicking him around the ankle.
"So, there's a part tugging at me concerning about this..."
"...Tugging at you?"
As Lawrence asked while extending his leg, Holo wore a serious expression and continued. "All this talk from you about coins reminds me of that bird country."
"Bird country? Ahh, the kingdom of Winfiel."
Holo nodded and continued.
"Why does this town not end up like that country?"
"Like that country?"
He parroted the question back, not understanding what she meant.
But Holo did not mock him for it, saying, "Aye."
"When we went around the marketplace, everyone there smelled of soil and water. People of the forests and mountains. That is to say, they do not come to this town very frequently. So I wondered, why do things not become like in that bird country?"
The sharper the person, the less one attached a conclusion at the end of a long explanation.
Feeling like he was being tested, Lawrence somehow turned his head around to follow Holo's logic.
"In...in other words...ah, you mean everyone selling their own cargo and returning home with coins in return."
"Aye. Perhaps 'tis gold coins, perhaps 'tis silver. I wonder if 'tis not silver?"
Lumione gold pieces held their value well but were much scarcer than trenni silver pieces.
Indeed, debasement of trenni silver pieces through reducing the silver content was no trivial matter, something he had experienced firsthand in the uproar when he had met Holo.
However, using gold coins when one made small purchases was simply too inconvenient. If one were going to exchange them sooner or later, they would be better off having silver coins to begin with.
As Lawrence thought about it, he went, "Mm?
"In other words, no matter how much time passes the number of silver coins isn't increasing; if they're not careful, they'll fall into a severe currency shortage just like Winfiel."
"And in that bird country, you could eat to your heart's content on a single coin, could you not?"
Holo's fangs were peeking out as she spoke, probably because all that walking around had stirred her hunger.
"But that isn't happening...Ah, that's right. Never mind the market price, there's no extreme currency shortage that we can see anywhere. Which means..."
"Someone is bringing in a great deal of it?"
"Yes. It's making me think that, too. Perhaps the huge price spike in silver coins in Lenos was because large quantities were flowing up here."
Lenos and Lesko were linked via the Roef River.
Perhaps someone astute had bought a large quantity of silver coins, or maybe people gained a great quantity from dealings during the disturbance over pelts. It was not strange at all to think that only a price fluctuation of that scale could drive silver coins out of an entire town.


Instruction: Given first part of the popular LightNovel spice and wolf as input, continue the story the best you can.

Input:
"Perhaps we should return to the inn for now."
When Lawrence raised his face to Holo's words, she was rubbing a calf while sitting on a short-cut log.
When he saw that the hem of her robe had become filthy with dust at some point, he realized he had brought her quite a ways around.
"Ah, I suppose so...pacing back and forth while worrying really would be like a dog."
He had been trained to gather information with his feet and think on his feet, but unfortunately he was not alone at the moment.
"Aye. I am Holo the Wisewolf after all. Careful thinking suits me far better than does walking."
"With a drink in your hand?"
As Holo gave him a little glare, she stood up at the same time Lawrence did.
"I have gained a fair interest in trading, if not to the same degree as you."
More of the same consideration from before? Lawrence thought, but Holo paid him no heed and opened her mouth. "For instance..."
"I am unaccustomed to gathering pieces one after another and thinking of how to put them all together as you do. I am more accustomed and better suited to thinking of one thing very carefully."
"Certainly, you tend to repeat the same things over and over again."
Holo looked up at Lawrence, grinning and laughing, kicking him around the ankle.
"So, there's a part tugging at me concerning about this..."
"...Tugging at you?"
As Lawrence asked while extending his leg, Holo wore a serious expression and continued. "All this talk from you about coins reminds me of that bird country."
"Bird country? Ahh, the kingdom of Winfiel."
Holo nodded and continued.
"Why does this town not end up like that country?"
"Like that country?"
He parroted the question back, not understanding what she meant.
But Holo did not mock him for it, saying, "Aye."
"When we went around the marketplace, everyone there smelled of soil and water. People of the forests and mountains. That is to say, they do not come to this town very frequently. So I wondered, why do things not become like in that bird country?"
The sharper the person, the less one attached a conclusion at the end of a long explanation.
Feeling like he was being tested, Lawrence somehow turned his head around to follow Holo's logic.
"In...in other words...ah, you mean everyone selling their own cargo and returning home with coins in return."
"Aye. Perhaps 'tis gold coins, perhaps 'tis silver. I wonder if 'tis not silver?"
Lumione gold pieces held their value well but were much scarcer than trenni silver pieces.
Indeed, debasement of trenni silver pieces through reducing the silver content was no trivial matter, something he had experienced firsthand in the uproar when he had met Holo.
However, using gold coins when one made small purchases was simply too inconvenient. If one were going to exchange them sooner or later, they would be better off having silver coins to begin with.
As Lawrence thought about it, he went, "Mm?
"In other words, no matter how much time passes the number of silver coins isn't increasing; if they're not careful, they'll fall into a severe currency shortage just like Winfiel."
"And in that bird country, you could eat to your heart's content on a single coin, could you not?"
Holo's fangs were peeking out as she spoke, probably because all that walking around had stirred her hunger.
"But that isn't happening...Ah, that's right. Never mind the market price, there's no extreme currency shortage that we can see anywhere. Which means..."
"Someone is bringing in a great deal of it?"
"Yes. It's making me think that, too. Perhaps the huge price spike in silver coins in Lenos was because large quantities were flowing up here."
Lenos and Lesko were linked via the Roef River.
Perhaps someone astute had bought a large quantity of silver coins, or maybe people gained a great quantity from dealings during the disturbance over pelts. It was not strange at all to think that only a price fluctuation of that scale could drive silver coins out of an entire town.

Output:
"Ah, and also."
"Mm?"
"This place is awash with silver, yes? I wonder why they do not mint it themselves?"
Lawrence momentarily considered it, but he immediately dismissed the thought.
"You need craftsmen to mint a coin, see. You need hammers for stamping. You engrave the design for the coin into metal. You put that below the base form of the coin and pound it from above. The craftsmen who make the hammers aren't likely to be let go by their king and to counterfeit them would be no different from an act of war against the kingdom of Trenni. Well, after that is the most important thing of all."
Lawrence dug an appropriate coin out of his wallet, saying this:
"Coins are always marked by the passage of time. They get shaved, they tarnish. If it's something new, you'll notice the new minting immediately. It pretty much can't be faked."
Holo looked over the coin thoroughly; she then looked at Lawrence.
"Certainly, no matter how skillfully you dress it up, you cannot erase the fresh scent."
Lawrence's cheek twitched for a moment, but he replied calmly.
"Well, that's why pure maidens like it; it's just like them."
Lawrence meant it as sarcasm, but it seemed to make Holo shamelessly happy.
But he corrected himself that if a misunderstanding improved her mood that, too, was fine.
"At any rate, someone has to be steady bringing in silver coins."
What bothered him was, how could you replenish such a large outflow of silver coins? He could not even imagine how many coins were in circulation in an entire town or how many of those coins left the town all together.
But given the town's gold and silver coin price differential, there had to be quite a few people sneaking out of town and sneaking back with silver coins. A large shipment of silver coins would require an armed escort and would spark a huge uproar, but a large number of travelers moving a little at a time might amount to the same thing.
Lawrence thought it must, but it just did not sit well.
But why?
When he had this feeling, it was usually because the answer was right under his nose.
Lawrence twisted his neck around and shifted to an exceedingly simple fact.
"Hey."
"Mm?"
Perhaps because it was getting late, the stalls that had been selling only snacks were putting out dishes that were more like dinners. Holo's face turned from the roadside stalls to Lawrence with a look of regret.
"What was the first impression you had of the Debau Company?"
"That one? That is..."
"Ah no. But how to put this...Er...all right, how about I put it like this. What did you expect this town to be like based on your impression of the Debau Company?"
Holo seemed to fume a bit from Lawrence's vague wording, but she thought a little and replied.
"Probably the same as you did. Besides, we heard from that dancer girl on the ship on the river; a place with a lot of money, but no place for people to live, she said."
"Yeah, she did say that. But that's probably what a town that really is the entrance to a mine is like."
"Aye. And we did not know that. That is to say, we had no way to imagine what this town's atmosphere was like. We were not able to gather any information at the prior towns, were we?"
Lawrence nodded.
As he nodded, he said, "So I was right."
"What about it?"
"Ah...er...I wondered if I'd missed something people had said or if I'd had a misconception about this town because of a failure of imagination."
"Indeed."
"But it doesn't feel like that. If you didn't hear anything, either, we really didn't hear anything about it.
"Which means, it truly is strange. Even the talk of a silver coin influx feels inconsistent...It's not the number of coins, it's more fundamental than...Er...wait. Transporting silver coins?"
Around the time Lawrence pondered whether to finish speaking or not, the two of them arrived back at the inn.
Part of the stone pillars in front of the building had been hollowed out, with candles within emanating a flickering light.


Instruction: Given first part of the popular LightNovel spice and wolf as input, continue the story the best you can.

Input:
"Ah, and also."
"Mm?"
"This place is awash with silver, yes? I wonder why they do not mint it themselves?"
Lawrence momentarily considered it, but he immediately dismissed the thought.
"You need craftsmen to mint a coin, see. You need hammers for stamping. You engrave the design for the coin into metal. You put that below the base form of the coin and pound it from above. The craftsmen who make the hammers aren't likely to be let go by their king and to counterfeit them would be no different from an act of war against the kingdom of Trenni. Well, after that is the most important thing of all."
Lawrence dug an appropriate coin out of his wallet, saying this:
"Coins are always marked by the passage of time. They get shaved, they tarnish. If it's something new, you'll notice the new minting immediately. It pretty much can't be faked."
Holo looked over the coin thoroughly; she then looked at Lawrence.
"Certainly, no matter how skillfully you dress it up, you cannot erase the fresh scent."
Lawrence's cheek twitched for a moment, but he replied calmly.
"Well, that's why pure maidens like it; it's just like them."
Lawrence meant it as sarcasm, but it seemed to make Holo shamelessly happy.
But he corrected himself that if a misunderstanding improved her mood that, too, was fine.
"At any rate, someone has to be steady bringing in silver coins."
What bothered him was, how could you replenish such a large outflow of silver coins? He could not even imagine how many coins were in circulation in an entire town or how many of those coins left the town all together.
But given the town's gold and silver coin price differential, there had to be quite a few people sneaking out of town and sneaking back with silver coins. A large shipment of silver coins would require an armed escort and would spark a huge uproar, but a large number of travelers moving a little at a time might amount to the same thing.
Lawrence thought it must, but it just did not sit well.
But why?
When he had this feeling, it was usually because the answer was right under his nose.
Lawrence twisted his neck around and shifted to an exceedingly simple fact.
"Hey."
"Mm?"
Perhaps because it was getting late, the stalls that had been selling only snacks were putting out dishes that were more like dinners. Holo's face turned from the roadside stalls to Lawrence with a look of regret.
"What was the first impression you had of the Debau Company?"
"That one? That is..."
"Ah no. But how to put this...Er...all right, how about I put it like this. What did you expect this town to be like based on your impression of the Debau Company?"
Holo seemed to fume a bit from Lawrence's vague wording, but she thought a little and replied.
"Probably the same as you did. Besides, we heard from that dancer girl on the ship on the river; a place with a lot of money, but no place for people to live, she said."
"Yeah, she did say that. But that's probably what a town that really is the entrance to a mine is like."
"Aye. And we did not know that. That is to say, we had no way to imagine what this town's atmosphere was like. We were not able to gather any information at the prior towns, were we?"
Lawrence nodded.
As he nodded, he said, "So I was right."
"What about it?"
"Ah...er...I wondered if I'd missed something people had said or if I'd had a misconception about this town because of a failure of imagination."
"Indeed."
"But it doesn't feel like that. If you didn't hear anything, either, we really didn't hear anything about it.
"Which means, it truly is strange. Even the talk of a silver coin influx feels inconsistent...It's not the number of coins, it's more fundamental than...Er...wait. Transporting silver coins?"
Around the time Lawrence pondered whether to finish speaking or not, the two of them arrived back at the inn.
Part of the stone pillars in front of the building had been hollowed out, with candles within emanating a flickering light.

Output:
The youngster was surely sighing in relief because he had been able to do many things today, just as the Myuri Mercenary Company from which Holo had received Myuri's message had done many things in its history.
The many people within the same receptacle known as the world were much like how various textiles were manufactured. There were vertical threads and horizontal threads crossing each other, and there were things that would not cross in a single lifetime.
Lawrence found it a very mysterious thing.
But that was why on occasion a mysterious thread was weaved into a mysterious cloth.
"Hey."
"Mm?"
Holo looked up at Lawrence as he called out to her.
They had exchanged ideas back and forth several times over; Lawrence thought it would be nice if it continued well after.
Of course, as he was not a fool, he did not expect they could simply repeat the same thing over and over again.
Even so, Lawrence hesitated for a while before finally saying this: "There's one obviously strange thing we discovered that bothers me more than the rest."
Holo lightly raised an eyebrow.
A moment later, she curled up the corner of her lip.
"I do not wish for preambles. What is it you wish to say?"
She knew all about his inability to let any stone go unturned.
Trying to hide his guilty conscience, Lawrence looked all around before looking down at Holo.
"It might sit poorly with you."
"And?"
"But...but through this we might be able to see the Debau Company's plan; furthermore, whether it's going to be bad for Yoitsu and the northlands. If it's not, this town might grant my longtime wish of having my own store."
It was probably because Lawrence spoke of such convenient possibilities with such a serious face.
Her eyebrow still raised, Holo made a strained laugh.
"Aye. And?"
Lawrence gazed straight into those red-ringed amber pupils. The shift from sunlight to candlelight as dusk fell over Lesko seemed to deepen those colors even further.
As usual, he needed to take a short breath before answering.
"I don't want you to hate me, but I won't kill my own curiosity, either."
Holo took in a breath that seemed to puff up her body and made a wolfish, bare-fanged smile.
"Mm. 'Tis not a problem, then. Though I know not what has come to your mind."
Holo took Lawrence's hand and the two walked side by side. As they entered the tavern, the mercenaries were already busy, dancing with girls that were probably office assistants rounded up from nearby stores.
In a corner of the tavern, Luward, Moizi, and two others were seated at a table and, unlike the others, were quietly eating their food. Perhaps sensing Lawrence's gaze, Luward noticed and raised his mug in a greeting.
As Lawrence could not go raising his voice here, he did as townspeople often did, making his own greeting by lightly raising his cap.
When Luward motioned to the table, Lawrence looked at Holo and nodded.
Lawrence put his hand on Holo's back, gentlemanly moving her forward through the congested tavern.
And instead of saying, "Don't drink too much," he leaned his mouth close to Holo's ears and said this: "Gold coins don't well up out of the ground like a spring. That being the case, either the Debau Company's hiding something or someone else is hiding what they're doing. Or perhaps both."
The pat he gave to her back must have looked to Luward and the others like encouragement to ease Holo's nerves.
However, it was not so. There were only so many actors dancing in the Debau Company's backyard. If someone was hiding something, the possibility that someone was a person very close by was very high.
Holo replied, "I see," nodding with a daring look.
Lawrence and Holo bounded to the mercenaries' dining table.
***
"Oh, you looked around town? Was there anything interesting?"
Luward was using polite language in front of Holo.
"Yes, several things."
The silverware was actual silver.
Furthermore, there were small utensils that resembled pitchforks that Lawrence had only heard rumors about.


Instruction: Given first part of the popular LightNovel spice and wolf as input, continue the story the best you can.

Input:
The youngster was surely sighing in relief because he had been able to do many things today, just as the Myuri Mercenary Company from which Holo had received Myuri's message had done many things in its history.
The many people within the same receptacle known as the world were much like how various textiles were manufactured. There were vertical threads and horizontal threads crossing each other, and there were things that would not cross in a single lifetime.
Lawrence found it a very mysterious thing.
But that was why on occasion a mysterious thread was weaved into a mysterious cloth.
"Hey."
"Mm?"
Holo looked up at Lawrence as he called out to her.
They had exchanged ideas back and forth several times over; Lawrence thought it would be nice if it continued well after.
Of course, as he was not a fool, he did not expect they could simply repeat the same thing over and over again.
Even so, Lawrence hesitated for a while before finally saying this: "There's one obviously strange thing we discovered that bothers me more than the rest."
Holo lightly raised an eyebrow.
A moment later, she curled up the corner of her lip.
"I do not wish for preambles. What is it you wish to say?"
She knew all about his inability to let any stone go unturned.
Trying to hide his guilty conscience, Lawrence looked all around before looking down at Holo.
"It might sit poorly with you."
"And?"
"But...but through this we might be able to see the Debau Company's plan; furthermore, whether it's going to be bad for Yoitsu and the northlands. If it's not, this town might grant my longtime wish of having my own store."
It was probably because Lawrence spoke of such convenient possibilities with such a serious face.
Her eyebrow still raised, Holo made a strained laugh.
"Aye. And?"
Lawrence gazed straight into those red-ringed amber pupils. The shift from sunlight to candlelight as dusk fell over Lesko seemed to deepen those colors even further.
As usual, he needed to take a short breath before answering.
"I don't want you to hate me, but I won't kill my own curiosity, either."
Holo took in a breath that seemed to puff up her body and made a wolfish, bare-fanged smile.
"Mm. 'Tis not a problem, then. Though I know not what has come to your mind."
Holo took Lawrence's hand and the two walked side by side. As they entered the tavern, the mercenaries were already busy, dancing with girls that were probably office assistants rounded up from nearby stores.
In a corner of the tavern, Luward, Moizi, and two others were seated at a table and, unlike the others, were quietly eating their food. Perhaps sensing Lawrence's gaze, Luward noticed and raised his mug in a greeting.
As Lawrence could not go raising his voice here, he did as townspeople often did, making his own greeting by lightly raising his cap.
When Luward motioned to the table, Lawrence looked at Holo and nodded.
Lawrence put his hand on Holo's back, gentlemanly moving her forward through the congested tavern.
And instead of saying, "Don't drink too much," he leaned his mouth close to Holo's ears and said this: "Gold coins don't well up out of the ground like a spring. That being the case, either the Debau Company's hiding something or someone else is hiding what they're doing. Or perhaps both."
The pat he gave to her back must have looked to Luward and the others like encouragement to ease Holo's nerves.
However, it was not so. There were only so many actors dancing in the Debau Company's backyard. If someone was hiding something, the possibility that someone was a person very close by was very high.
Holo replied, "I see," nodding with a daring look.
Lawrence and Holo bounded to the mercenaries' dining table.
***
"Oh, you looked around town? Was there anything interesting?"
Luward was using polite language in front of Holo.
"Yes, several things."
The silverware was actual silver.
Furthermore, there were small utensils that resembled pitchforks that Lawrence had only heard rumors about.

Output:
"We have merchants in our supply corps, but it feels odd to call them merchants. And Moizi here can do planning but not trading."
"Coins are too small for my hands."
Following in Luward's footsteps, Moizi showed off his rocklike hands, able to grip both sword and pen.
"So for that reason, we'd like to hear your opinion, Mr. Lawrence. For various reasons, we are not blessed with the opportunity to befriend a merchant very often."
He was a member of a mercenary band. It was said, when such a band passed through, not even a single turnip was left behind.
Having dinner and sharing quiet conversation with someone like Lawrence was a very unusual occurrence, to the point it still seemed to be throwing them off somewhat. Usually, they only spoke to merchants to extort money, to extort merchandise, or to ask questions under pain of decapitation or disembowelment.
Even if that was overstating the case, he did not think they would meet many merchants they could have a frank discussion with. At best, it would just be people with particular idiosyncrasies like those of the Delink Company and Philon Company.
But merchants neither frightened their enemies nor were frightened by them. That had to be rather difficult to deal with.
"I'm unsure I can fulfill such expectations, but..."
With a smiling face, Lawrence paused there, putting down the bread that was in his hand.
"...The thing that most surprised me is how cheap buildings are being sold."
"Ah, that's right...I heard from my subordinates that Mr. Lawrence and...Miss Holo had been in front of a building for sale."
Luward was unsure what honorific to use for Holo, but Holo grinned pleasantly back at him.
"Yes, I'm a little embarrassed at having been seen like that."
"You shouldn't be. Many of our members who survive over the years save up and find a town to live in. It's a dream we can understand."
Surely that was not simple flattery.
Luward and Moizi exchanged looks and cut the meat up, and in no time at all Holo's empty plate had been filled to the brim.
"But those prices really are low enough to shock, then?"
Luward was not a man capable only of swinging a sword.
"Yes. Furthermore, this town doesn't seem to have small annoying guilds."
"That's correct. A number of our men seem to be thinking about staying behind here as well. Some are getting on in years and feeling their old wounds."
Luward spoke as he looked around the inn like a king surveying a town from his castle.
Certainly, the Myuri Mercenary Company had many valiant veterans as befitted its history.
Excepting newly formed groups focusing only on the short-term, transitory issues of battle day after day, leaving midway to live in a town was probably fairly common. Perhaps the company had support from a variety of places thanks to that.
"Most of all, it's great to not have people asking questions."
So Luward said.
No guilds meant there was no one to inspect or monitor a person, either.
This town didn't even have walls.
"That's certainly the case. And there's money in it, too, I think."
Lawrence's words drew the gazes of everyone at the table.
Money was money no matter how you earned it.
That was not something mercenaries that had shed much blood could easily ignore.
"What do you mean?"
"The price of goods and the price of coin are both determined naturally, as if by the hand of God. Surely it is the same for the coin prices in this town. However, it is not always so."
With meat still impaled on Luward's pitchfork-like utensil, he looked at Lawrence, then at Moizi.
No doubt the care they put into the movements of their gazes and their speech were all on account of Holo.
Lawrence trusted in that and focused on his own speech.
"What appears to be decided by naturally comes from numerous people acting in their own interests."
Luward and the others, accustomed to predicting the movements of people on the battlefield and the movements of rulers atop maps, made various nods.


Instruction: Given first part of the popular LightNovel spice and wolf as input, continue the story the best you can.

Input:
"We have merchants in our supply corps, but it feels odd to call them merchants. And Moizi here can do planning but not trading."
"Coins are too small for my hands."
Following in Luward's footsteps, Moizi showed off his rocklike hands, able to grip both sword and pen.
"So for that reason, we'd like to hear your opinion, Mr. Lawrence. For various reasons, we are not blessed with the opportunity to befriend a merchant very often."
He was a member of a mercenary band. It was said, when such a band passed through, not even a single turnip was left behind.
Having dinner and sharing quiet conversation with someone like Lawrence was a very unusual occurrence, to the point it still seemed to be throwing them off somewhat. Usually, they only spoke to merchants to extort money, to extort merchandise, or to ask questions under pain of decapitation or disembowelment.
Even if that was overstating the case, he did not think they would meet many merchants they could have a frank discussion with. At best, it would just be people with particular idiosyncrasies like those of the Delink Company and Philon Company.
But merchants neither frightened their enemies nor were frightened by them. That had to be rather difficult to deal with.
"I'm unsure I can fulfill such expectations, but..."
With a smiling face, Lawrence paused there, putting down the bread that was in his hand.
"...The thing that most surprised me is how cheap buildings are being sold."
"Ah, that's right...I heard from my subordinates that Mr. Lawrence and...Miss Holo had been in front of a building for sale."
Luward was unsure what honorific to use for Holo, but Holo grinned pleasantly back at him.
"Yes, I'm a little embarrassed at having been seen like that."
"You shouldn't be. Many of our members who survive over the years save up and find a town to live in. It's a dream we can understand."
Surely that was not simple flattery.
Luward and Moizi exchanged looks and cut the meat up, and in no time at all Holo's empty plate had been filled to the brim.
"But those prices really are low enough to shock, then?"
Luward was not a man capable only of swinging a sword.
"Yes. Furthermore, this town doesn't seem to have small annoying guilds."
"That's correct. A number of our men seem to be thinking about staying behind here as well. Some are getting on in years and feeling their old wounds."
Luward spoke as he looked around the inn like a king surveying a town from his castle.
Certainly, the Myuri Mercenary Company had many valiant veterans as befitted its history.
Excepting newly formed groups focusing only on the short-term, transitory issues of battle day after day, leaving midway to live in a town was probably fairly common. Perhaps the company had support from a variety of places thanks to that.
"Most of all, it's great to not have people asking questions."
So Luward said.
No guilds meant there was no one to inspect or monitor a person, either.
This town didn't even have walls.
"That's certainly the case. And there's money in it, too, I think."
Lawrence's words drew the gazes of everyone at the table.
Money was money no matter how you earned it.
That was not something mercenaries that had shed much blood could easily ignore.
"What do you mean?"
"The price of goods and the price of coin are both determined naturally, as if by the hand of God. Surely it is the same for the coin prices in this town. However, it is not always so."
With meat still impaled on Luward's pitchfork-like utensil, he looked at Lawrence, then at Moizi.
No doubt the care they put into the movements of their gazes and their speech were all on account of Holo.
Lawrence trusted in that and focused on his own speech.
"What appears to be decided by naturally comes from numerous people acting in their own interests."
Luward and the others, accustomed to predicting the movements of people on the battlefield and the movements of rulers atop maps, made various nods.

Output:
He had meant to close his mouth if anyone raised an objection, but everyone at the table was listening closely to Lawrence's story.
Like wolves, their ears were open no matter which way their feet pointed.
"In other words, let's say there's an unusual deviation in this town's prices, say in coins, trenni silver pieces in this case. Even if they accumulated in this town by natural circumstance, there would absolutely not be an accumulation of silver coins alone."
That would be like having the white of an egg in the center.
Luward, who favored the showy, glanced up at the ceiling slightly as he interjected.
"So there has to be someone bringing coins in."
"That's right. And when one person moves, it always attracts the attention of other people. After all, I didn't have any idea about this town's currency movements whatsoever."
He leaped one step beyond his logic.
The audience, led step-by-step through Lawrence's story, looked completely left behind.
***
Everyone craned their necks forward to hear how Lawrence's story continued.
If this were a negotiating table, here was where merchants would decapitate these men of the blade in one fell swoop, making a killing.
"Even in Lenos, there was extremely little information about this town. In other words, it means virtually no one travels from there to here."
Even if such people remained silent about the price that was the seed of their profit, it was difficult to believe they could all keep silent about their destination. If one told people they had gone somewhere, those they left behind in town took an interest in where they had gone. Unless everyone was in on it, the state of the town was bound to get out. Surely it was more natural to think that the lack of that was due less to everyone being secretive, but rather to a simple lack of migration.
As a matter of fact, Lawrence and Holo had passed very few people on the road to Lesko.
Migrants had surely come out of the western harbor, Kerube, and went farther north, probably arriving by ship at places that could not even be called towns running along the base of the mountains.
As liberal as Lesko was, people were ignorant of it to a curious degree.
"At first, I thought the price slippage was a recent, sudden thing, but when going around the marketplace I had no sense of that whatsoever. In the first place, when asking questions of people who'd come here from various places in the northlands, I felt like they were obtaining trenni silver pieces. A currency you can put faith into is a precious thing after all. And having obtained trenni silver pieces, a strong currency they can have faith in, they apparently return to their homelands. That being the case, the constant outflow of silver coins should give rise to a sudden currency shortage. I've seen it with my own eyes in the kingdom of Winfiel. The movements of currency, in other words, the movements of merchants, are very sensitive, like rats fleeing the sinking ship."
Amid the tumult all around them, the atmosphere at the table altered somewhat.
Glances were being exchanged and Lawrence could hear various sounds. He was not surprised that only Luward kept his eyes squarely on Lawrence the entire time.
"I thought that perhaps the Debau Company was bringing silver coins in itself, but if that were indeed the case, someone would notice. As the Debau Company is maintaining the prices of gold and silver coins by guaranteeing the rate of exchange, the difference in the price of gold and silver coins can't be explained any other way. So, there's only one possibility I could think of."
"Someone's secretly bringing coins in through the back door?"
Luward was staring squarely at Lawrence.
It might have been a warning shot in one sense. After all, no doubt Luward was sharp enough to anticipate what Lawrence would say next.
Lawrence lightly rubbed his nose, wiped the bread crumbs off his lap, and spoke slowly.


Instruction: Given first part of the popular LightNovel spice and wolf as input, continue the story the best you can.

Input:
He had meant to close his mouth if anyone raised an objection, but everyone at the table was listening closely to Lawrence's story.
Like wolves, their ears were open no matter which way their feet pointed.
"In other words, let's say there's an unusual deviation in this town's prices, say in coins, trenni silver pieces in this case. Even if they accumulated in this town by natural circumstance, there would absolutely not be an accumulation of silver coins alone."
That would be like having the white of an egg in the center.
Luward, who favored the showy, glanced up at the ceiling slightly as he interjected.
"So there has to be someone bringing coins in."
"That's right. And when one person moves, it always attracts the attention of other people. After all, I didn't have any idea about this town's currency movements whatsoever."
He leaped one step beyond his logic.
The audience, led step-by-step through Lawrence's story, looked completely left behind.
***
Everyone craned their necks forward to hear how Lawrence's story continued.
If this were a negotiating table, here was where merchants would decapitate these men of the blade in one fell swoop, making a killing.
"Even in Lenos, there was extremely little information about this town. In other words, it means virtually no one travels from there to here."
Even if such people remained silent about the price that was the seed of their profit, it was difficult to believe they could all keep silent about their destination. If one told people they had gone somewhere, those they left behind in town took an interest in where they had gone. Unless everyone was in on it, the state of the town was bound to get out. Surely it was more natural to think that the lack of that was due less to everyone being secretive, but rather to a simple lack of migration.
As a matter of fact, Lawrence and Holo had passed very few people on the road to Lesko.
Migrants had surely come out of the western harbor, Kerube, and went farther north, probably arriving by ship at places that could not even be called towns running along the base of the mountains.
As liberal as Lesko was, people were ignorant of it to a curious degree.
"At first, I thought the price slippage was a recent, sudden thing, but when going around the marketplace I had no sense of that whatsoever. In the first place, when asking questions of people who'd come here from various places in the northlands, I felt like they were obtaining trenni silver pieces. A currency you can put faith into is a precious thing after all. And having obtained trenni silver pieces, a strong currency they can have faith in, they apparently return to their homelands. That being the case, the constant outflow of silver coins should give rise to a sudden currency shortage. I've seen it with my own eyes in the kingdom of Winfiel. The movements of currency, in other words, the movements of merchants, are very sensitive, like rats fleeing the sinking ship."
Amid the tumult all around them, the atmosphere at the table altered somewhat.
Glances were being exchanged and Lawrence could hear various sounds. He was not surprised that only Luward kept his eyes squarely on Lawrence the entire time.
"I thought that perhaps the Debau Company was bringing silver coins in itself, but if that were indeed the case, someone would notice. As the Debau Company is maintaining the prices of gold and silver coins by guaranteeing the rate of exchange, the difference in the price of gold and silver coins can't be explained any other way. So, there's only one possibility I could think of."
"Someone's secretly bringing coins in through the back door?"
Luward was staring squarely at Lawrence.
It might have been a warning shot in one sense. After all, no doubt Luward was sharp enough to anticipate what Lawrence would say next.
Lawrence lightly rubbed his nose, wiped the bread crumbs off his lap, and spoke slowly.

Output:
On the surface, it was a statement with no connection to the conversation until this moment.
What was frightening about the people at the table was how their gestures were completely unchanged from before as they adopted combat stances. As a matter of fact, he felt like a little bird under the glare of a hunting dog, not knowing if it would pounce. He did not think the people making a ruckus all around had noticed.
No doubt he would be completely unable to stand up to this if Holo was not at his side.
Luward watched Lawrence for a while before finally opening his mouth.
"Why do you say that?"
A calm smile remained on his lips as he cut the steak at hand with a knife. It was of rare quality, boiled, fried, and liberally treated with spices. Unlike the black-roasted exterior, the interior of the meat was red and very juicy.
Luward brought it to his mouth, for eating meat dripping with blood was the duty of the strong.
It seemed that when it came to negotiations, Luward had more experience than Lawrence.
"Because for a merchant like me, buying a store is a once-in-a-lifetime affair. I want to be sure of what's going on in this town and also to predict where it is going."
Those with no knowledge of the matter would no doubt think they were having two separate conversations.
However, Luward asked nothing in return; nor did anyone else at the table.
As a result of thinking together with Holo before coming to the inn and ruling out one possibility after another, Lawrence had arrived at an exceedingly simple conclusion.
For there to not be a shortage of currency in spite of it being carried out, someone had to be supplying more. Transporting that much coinage was quite an undertaking; otherwise the large number of people heading for the town of Lesko would draw attention from people, like it or not.
That being the case, barring transport by ghosts or money changing conducted by fairies, someone had to be secretly bringing silver coins in.
For anything involving trade, there was always a cause and an effect.
One needed people who would not be asked where they had been and who could move a large quantity of goods without arousing suspicion.
Calmly searching for people who fulfilled those conditions, he found that the answer was largely right before his eyes.
"That is kept secret."
Luward spoke bluntly after wiping his lip.
Surely the true meaning of those words was that Lawrence's thinking was correct.
That Holo reached out to her wine-filled tankard for the first time was further proof.
Luward lightly rubbed the edge of his ear.
As he did so, the tension around the table seemed to recede at once.
"That is kept secret. It's one reason to be moving around with a large amount of cargo, after all."
Moizi looked at Luward with a fair bit of surprise, but Luward dismissed the gaze of the fatherlike figure with a wave. The hand he waved was directed toward Holo, who was stuffing her cheeks with dove potpie.
"She's running low on wine, Moizi."
Moizi hurriedly poured more wine into Holo's tankard. Of course, she was not low on wine at all.
He had surely noticed Holo had been shifting her gaze across the table the whole time, monitoring them for any change in posture and the like. Even if he had inherited nothing from Myuri but the name, he did foster a certain wolflike cunning and sharpness.
No doubt that made Holo happy, Lawrence thought.
She immediately drank half the tankard at once, seemingly to display her thanks and appreciation for the gesture.
"Furthermore, we're a large family. Lodging at an inn requires a lot of food. Just sending people out to buy it every day is quite something."
As Luward spoke what seemed like gossip, he distributed soup rich in vegetables and thickened with bread to his men.
Lawrence immediately understood that Luward was giving him an opportunity to speak.
"It must be even harder procuring supplies like shoes and clothing."


Instruction: Given first part of the popular LightNovel spice and wolf as input, continue the story the best you can.

Input:
On the surface, it was a statement with no connection to the conversation until this moment.
What was frightening about the people at the table was how their gestures were completely unchanged from before as they adopted combat stances. As a matter of fact, he felt like a little bird under the glare of a hunting dog, not knowing if it would pounce. He did not think the people making a ruckus all around had noticed.
No doubt he would be completely unable to stand up to this if Holo was not at his side.
Luward watched Lawrence for a while before finally opening his mouth.
"Why do you say that?"
A calm smile remained on his lips as he cut the steak at hand with a knife. It was of rare quality, boiled, fried, and liberally treated with spices. Unlike the black-roasted exterior, the interior of the meat was red and very juicy.
Luward brought it to his mouth, for eating meat dripping with blood was the duty of the strong.
It seemed that when it came to negotiations, Luward had more experience than Lawrence.
"Because for a merchant like me, buying a store is a once-in-a-lifetime affair. I want to be sure of what's going on in this town and also to predict where it is going."
Those with no knowledge of the matter would no doubt think they were having two separate conversations.
However, Luward asked nothing in return; nor did anyone else at the table.
As a result of thinking together with Holo before coming to the inn and ruling out one possibility after another, Lawrence had arrived at an exceedingly simple conclusion.
For there to not be a shortage of currency in spite of it being carried out, someone had to be supplying more. Transporting that much coinage was quite an undertaking; otherwise the large number of people heading for the town of Lesko would draw attention from people, like it or not.
That being the case, barring transport by ghosts or money changing conducted by fairies, someone had to be secretly bringing silver coins in.
For anything involving trade, there was always a cause and an effect.
One needed people who would not be asked where they had been and who could move a large quantity of goods without arousing suspicion.
Calmly searching for people who fulfilled those conditions, he found that the answer was largely right before his eyes.
"That is kept secret."
Luward spoke bluntly after wiping his lip.
Surely the true meaning of those words was that Lawrence's thinking was correct.
That Holo reached out to her wine-filled tankard for the first time was further proof.
Luward lightly rubbed the edge of his ear.
As he did so, the tension around the table seemed to recede at once.
"That is kept secret. It's one reason to be moving around with a large amount of cargo, after all."
Moizi looked at Luward with a fair bit of surprise, but Luward dismissed the gaze of the fatherlike figure with a wave. The hand he waved was directed toward Holo, who was stuffing her cheeks with dove potpie.
"She's running low on wine, Moizi."
Moizi hurriedly poured more wine into Holo's tankard. Of course, she was not low on wine at all.
He had surely noticed Holo had been shifting her gaze across the table the whole time, monitoring them for any change in posture and the like. Even if he had inherited nothing from Myuri but the name, he did foster a certain wolflike cunning and sharpness.
No doubt that made Holo happy, Lawrence thought.
She immediately drank half the tankard at once, seemingly to display her thanks and appreciation for the gesture.
"Furthermore, we're a large family. Lodging at an inn requires a lot of food. Just sending people out to buy it every day is quite something."
As Luward spoke what seemed like gossip, he distributed soup rich in vegetables and thickened with bread to his men.
Lawrence immediately understood that Luward was giving him an opportunity to speak.
"It must be even harder procuring supplies like shoes and clothing."

Output:
A moment later, the flow of money connected inside of Lawrence.
The final thing he wished to know was why the Debau Company had constructed this flow of money.
"If you like, Mr. Lawrence," Luward said briefly, "I'll bring some wine up after the meal."
Meaning, they had reached the limit of what could be discussed here.
Lawrence nodded, replying, "I'd like that very much."
When Lawrence asked to be excused from the dinner table, Luward had readily assented.
His polishing up a plan with Holo was fine; fleeing a turbulent atmosphere was also fine.
Lawrence did not know if Luward was thinking along those lines, but at any rate he was not coercing Lawrence to stay with him at all.
That being the case, facing a group differing from beasts only out of a lack of fangs and claws was terribly exhausting.
Perhaps also because of all the walking during the day, he bid good night to Holo and collapsed onto the bed.
"Heh-heh. It seems you have been hard at work."
Holo sat beside Lawrence, lazily kicking off her shoes.
Being seated right beside him, Holo's tail came right against Lawrence's face.
Her tail, slightly more disheveled than usual, had a familiar, dusty scent to it.
"So in the end, they are the ones bringing silver coins in?"
"So it seems. The rumors of war might have unwittingly been spread by the mercenaries themselves, too."
"Mm?"
Holo turned toward Lawrence at the same time he was brushing her tail, which was tickling his nose, away with his hand.
Holo brushed her tail against Lawrence's face with an amused look. When Lawrence displayed no reaction whatsoever, the self-styled wisewolf ceased her teasing.
"Through the market price and other things, the Debau Company lets it be known to mercenaries that they can make huge profits purely by bringing in a large quantity of silver coins. Since there are no bandits with the nerve to attack hardened mercenaries, they can make an easy profit in confidence. However, since it's idiotic for the mercenaries to talk about how they're making money when heading to Lesko, they spread rumors of Lesko invading the northlands instead."
Holo nodded with an "Indeed" as she lay down on her side, resting her chin on her hands above Lawrence's hip.
"But for what purpose?"
"Yes. That's the part I don't understand well. If they just want to bring silver coins in, they're better off doing it themselves. Maybe having these rumors spread is itself the objective."
Based on the premise that merchants never do anything that is meaningless, it followed that if they were doing something, they definitely had a reason for it and also a specific outcome they were aiming for.
"Let's say the Debau Company is plotting something for the northlands. So, to gather deeply suspicious, excellent knights and mercenaries together, they must first lure them in with easy profits. After that, the masses spread rumors all around about the first group to come, and armed with information that they really are moving north, others assemble on their own. In other words, the Debau Company can lure numerous knights and mercenaries even without paying them."
The more knights and mercenaries assembled in one place, the more people believed something was going to happen.
When one tells people they have sold something at the marketplace, it becomes a fact known to all.
One cannot sell something no one has ever heard of, but if there are three or four who have heard, that was a different story. That was why when merchants paid money to hire three or four people as decoys, they were able to assemble a large crowd of curious people to sell to.
"But just gathering knights and mercenaries together doesn't make them useful in a war..."
"You use what you assemble. The reasoning is sound."
So Holo said, but Lawrence could not accept it. And this certainly was not a special thought limited to Lawrence alone.


Instruction: Given first part of the popular LightNovel spice and wolf as input, continue the story the best you can.

Input:
A moment later, the flow of money connected inside of Lawrence.
The final thing he wished to know was why the Debau Company had constructed this flow of money.
"If you like, Mr. Lawrence," Luward said briefly, "I'll bring some wine up after the meal."
Meaning, they had reached the limit of what could be discussed here.
Lawrence nodded, replying, "I'd like that very much."
When Lawrence asked to be excused from the dinner table, Luward had readily assented.
His polishing up a plan with Holo was fine; fleeing a turbulent atmosphere was also fine.
Lawrence did not know if Luward was thinking along those lines, but at any rate he was not coercing Lawrence to stay with him at all.
That being the case, facing a group differing from beasts only out of a lack of fangs and claws was terribly exhausting.
Perhaps also because of all the walking during the day, he bid good night to Holo and collapsed onto the bed.
"Heh-heh. It seems you have been hard at work."
Holo sat beside Lawrence, lazily kicking off her shoes.
Being seated right beside him, Holo's tail came right against Lawrence's face.
Her tail, slightly more disheveled than usual, had a familiar, dusty scent to it.
"So in the end, they are the ones bringing silver coins in?"
"So it seems. The rumors of war might have unwittingly been spread by the mercenaries themselves, too."
"Mm?"
Holo turned toward Lawrence at the same time he was brushing her tail, which was tickling his nose, away with his hand.
Holo brushed her tail against Lawrence's face with an amused look. When Lawrence displayed no reaction whatsoever, the self-styled wisewolf ceased her teasing.
"Through the market price and other things, the Debau Company lets it be known to mercenaries that they can make huge profits purely by bringing in a large quantity of silver coins. Since there are no bandits with the nerve to attack hardened mercenaries, they can make an easy profit in confidence. However, since it's idiotic for the mercenaries to talk about how they're making money when heading to Lesko, they spread rumors of Lesko invading the northlands instead."
Holo nodded with an "Indeed" as she lay down on her side, resting her chin on her hands above Lawrence's hip.
"But for what purpose?"
"Yes. That's the part I don't understand well. If they just want to bring silver coins in, they're better off doing it themselves. Maybe having these rumors spread is itself the objective."
Based on the premise that merchants never do anything that is meaningless, it followed that if they were doing something, they definitely had a reason for it and also a specific outcome they were aiming for.
"Let's say the Debau Company is plotting something for the northlands. So, to gather deeply suspicious, excellent knights and mercenaries together, they must first lure them in with easy profits. After that, the masses spread rumors all around about the first group to come, and armed with information that they really are moving north, others assemble on their own. In other words, the Debau Company can lure numerous knights and mercenaries even without paying them."
The more knights and mercenaries assembled in one place, the more people believed something was going to happen.
When one tells people they have sold something at the marketplace, it becomes a fact known to all.
One cannot sell something no one has ever heard of, but if there are three or four who have heard, that was a different story. That was why when merchants paid money to hire three or four people as decoys, they were able to assemble a large crowd of curious people to sell to.
"But just gathering knights and mercenaries together doesn't make them useful in a war..."
"You use what you assemble. The reasoning is sound."
So Holo said, but Lawrence could not accept it. And this certainly was not a special thought limited to Lawrence alone.

Output:
"Indeed?"
"This town's great liveliness is a somewhat forced performance."
Though at his words, Holo twitched her nose and went, "Such a performance is meaningless," Lawrence gave a strained smile and continued.
"Apparently the Debau Company is supplying money throughout the town through paying compensation for their inn lodging costs, shouldering the burden of paying for their tools, daily necessities, and so forth. At the very least, that's what Luward seems to think. That being the case, the Debau Company is clearly using its own money to make the town go well. I don't think the Debau Company, having gone this far for a town it built itself, would wreck it all with just one war."
The losses and gains did not add up. The Debau Company stationed mercenaries in the town and even used compensating their living expenses to boost local trade. In doing so, people came from all over the northlands to sell their wares. When they came, they surely bought a variety of high-quality, hand-crafted products, enriching the craftsmen.
If you were trying to develop a town, this was a supreme way to go about it.
But what reason did they have to do all of this?
The first time they had heard of the Debau Company was in the middle of chasing down stories of bones of an ancient wolf being like Holo. This being part of a plan to plunge the northlands into war and chaos, they were indignant and found it unforgivable.
Even if that had not been the truth of the matter, first impressions were not so easily wiped away. Perhaps their being unable to think of what the Debau Company was planning was because the facts before their eyes differed from the impression inside their heads.
In truth, they were still twisting around inside Lawrence's head.
That strain was what brought a little smile out of Holo.
"Did you notice something?"
When Lawrence sat up, forgetting that Holo was resting her head in her hands atop his hip, her head fell from its perch. Holo swatted his rump with a miffed look.
"Not really. I merely think that thinking of war in terms of profit and loss is absurd."
As she spoke, strength leaked back out of Lawrence's body.
"Well...that's true. Rulers start wars for all sorts of banal reasons, like grudges over disputes that have lasted for years and so forth, but...merchants never fight to defend anything except their own profits."
"Defend?"
Lawrence replied to Holo's one-word question as he looked at the wall.
"Right. Most of the tragedies of the world come about from trying to defend something. The foremost among these is territory."
Lawrence shifted his gaze from the wall to Holo over his shoulder.
"I'm sure you've experienced it? Something someone won't yield to another, even land that will never budge an inch, with people trampling on it like the approach of the largest storm. That's why tragedies take place."
What made people regard merchants as cowards to be scorned was the belief that when the going got tough, they would grab their wallets and make a run for it. And as a matter of fact, traveling merchants did exactly that.
The more things one had to defend, the less mobile they were, and the easier it was for them to get wrapped up in tragedy during a crisis.
His encountering Holo was a good example.
Perhaps she somehow sensed what Lawrence was thinking. Holo ground her elbows into his hip and made a sigh.
"Well, then, is the Whatever Company in this town truly making a move on the northlands and indeed Yoitsu for trifling profits?"
Though she understood in her head to some degree, actually getting the words out of her mouth seemed exceedingly difficult for her.
Lawrence paused for a little while before making a small nod.
"There's no hatred, resentment, or religious fervor in this town. I'm a merchant as well, but since laying eyes on this town, everything's been about trade. If the Debau Company is plotting a war, surely it has no other reason for which to fight."


Instruction: Given first part of the popular LightNovel spice and wolf as input, continue the story the best you can.

Input:
"Indeed?"
"This town's great liveliness is a somewhat forced performance."
Though at his words, Holo twitched her nose and went, "Such a performance is meaningless," Lawrence gave a strained smile and continued.
"Apparently the Debau Company is supplying money throughout the town through paying compensation for their inn lodging costs, shouldering the burden of paying for their tools, daily necessities, and so forth. At the very least, that's what Luward seems to think. That being the case, the Debau Company is clearly using its own money to make the town go well. I don't think the Debau Company, having gone this far for a town it built itself, would wreck it all with just one war."
The losses and gains did not add up. The Debau Company stationed mercenaries in the town and even used compensating their living expenses to boost local trade. In doing so, people came from all over the northlands to sell their wares. When they came, they surely bought a variety of high-quality, hand-crafted products, enriching the craftsmen.
If you were trying to develop a town, this was a supreme way to go about it.
But what reason did they have to do all of this?
The first time they had heard of the Debau Company was in the middle of chasing down stories of bones of an ancient wolf being like Holo. This being part of a plan to plunge the northlands into war and chaos, they were indignant and found it unforgivable.
Even if that had not been the truth of the matter, first impressions were not so easily wiped away. Perhaps their being unable to think of what the Debau Company was planning was because the facts before their eyes differed from the impression inside their heads.
In truth, they were still twisting around inside Lawrence's head.
That strain was what brought a little smile out of Holo.
"Did you notice something?"
When Lawrence sat up, forgetting that Holo was resting her head in her hands atop his hip, her head fell from its perch. Holo swatted his rump with a miffed look.
"Not really. I merely think that thinking of war in terms of profit and loss is absurd."
As she spoke, strength leaked back out of Lawrence's body.
"Well...that's true. Rulers start wars for all sorts of banal reasons, like grudges over disputes that have lasted for years and so forth, but...merchants never fight to defend anything except their own profits."
"Defend?"
Lawrence replied to Holo's one-word question as he looked at the wall.
"Right. Most of the tragedies of the world come about from trying to defend something. The foremost among these is territory."
Lawrence shifted his gaze from the wall to Holo over his shoulder.
"I'm sure you've experienced it? Something someone won't yield to another, even land that will never budge an inch, with people trampling on it like the approach of the largest storm. That's why tragedies take place."
What made people regard merchants as cowards to be scorned was the belief that when the going got tough, they would grab their wallets and make a run for it. And as a matter of fact, traveling merchants did exactly that.
The more things one had to defend, the less mobile they were, and the easier it was for them to get wrapped up in tragedy during a crisis.
His encountering Holo was a good example.
Perhaps she somehow sensed what Lawrence was thinking. Holo ground her elbows into his hip and made a sigh.
"Well, then, is the Whatever Company in this town truly making a move on the northlands and indeed Yoitsu for trifling profits?"
Though she understood in her head to some degree, actually getting the words out of her mouth seemed exceedingly difficult for her.
Lawrence paused for a little while before making a small nod.
"There's no hatred, resentment, or religious fervor in this town. I'm a merchant as well, but since laying eyes on this town, everything's been about trade. If the Debau Company is plotting a war, surely it has no other reason for which to fight."

Output:
But what if this was a simple matter of profit and calculations based on that?
The humans of Pasloe had opposed Holo for the village's profit and to sever ties with "the old era."
That had been reason enough to fight with unyielding rage.
That was why the possibility that the Debau Company truly was fighting for nothing more than its own profit gave Holo such a feeling of disappointment and exhaustion.
"...It feels like a stupid thing to be timid, fearful, and to sharpen one's fangs over..."
"You probably felt the same way when we entered the town."
Holo nodded a bit after a pause.
"Well, that's all fine. No war, no one unhappy, me being able to get my own store..."
Lawrence said it like he was talking in his sleep, and in truth, it was very close to that.
As Holo had said something very similar about the Debau Company herself, Lawrence's saying something similar brought out a smile.
She stopped resting her head on her hands and perched her chin atop Lawrence's left shoulder.
"And you would be close to me afterwards?"
There was but a short distance between Lesko and Yoitsu.
Close enough for Holo to run off there whenever she felt homesick.
"Of course."
At Lawrence's straight reply, Holo made a happy face and rubbed against his shoulder.
It was quiet, and they'd both had a bit of wine.
If Lawrence was judging according to common sense, he felt he would trust the momentum and play this by the book.
But he had failed in Lenos by doing so. He could not break the mood after working so hard to establish it.
Lawrence moved his body lightly, using his arm to pull Holo's body up his; rubbed her head; and got up.
"I'd love to sleep like this, but there are still things I'd like to ask Mr. Luward and the others."
He spoke with clarity, as if brushing off the alcohol and fatigue within him with a different vigor.
But as Holo remained lying on the bed, looking up at Lawrence, dumbfounded, he stopped, a forced smile on his face.
"What is it?"
When Lawrence asked, Holo gently and deliberately brushed Lawrence's hand off the top of her head and seemed tired as she got up.
"Nothing really."
He did not think it was really nothing, but having said that, it did not feel like a time or place to inquire further.
Perhaps he had been wrong once again?
Lawrence thought as much, but the now-risen Holo, as if to calm Lawrence down, turned her right palm toward him.
"No, 'tis fine."
Holo made her brief statement, turned her head away, and gave a long sigh.
Rather than being angry, she seemed exasperated from the bottom of her heart.
In Holo's case he was afraid that could easily turn into anger, but when she finished her sigh, the look on her face was like a mother tired out by her children.
"Well, I suppose right now investigating what that company is scheming should come first."
While she smiled with all her might, she could not hide a strange sense of fatigue.
Even so, somehow Lawrence matched Holo with a nod.
Holo got down from the bed and put on her shoes. She put on her girdle and robe and, with an "Mhmm," stretched up high.
Lawrence, unable to neatly digest the situation, had watched Holo's small back from atop the bed, but after she stretched, dangled, and lowered her arms, from behind she indeed looked angry somehow.
"Hey, get up. Someone is coming to call us right now."
But the face Holo turned toward him was not angry.
Her tail was hidden under her robe so he could not see it.
He did not really understand it, but even as Holo sighed, she made no move to leave Lawrence's side.
Surely, just as Lawrence and Holo had exchanged opinions, Luward and the others had thought between them how to handle this. The one who came calling for Lawrence was not the youngster, but one of the young men who had been sitting at Luward's table. He appeared a fair bit younger than Luward, putting him at perhaps five or six years younger than Lawrence.