Spice and Wolf, Vol. 4 (light novel): Volume 4 (SPICE AND WOLF LIGHT NOVEL SC, Band 4) - Softcover

Hasekura, Isuna

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0759531080 ISBN 13: 9780759531086

Verlag: Yen Press, 2011

Inhaltsangabe

A disgruntled goddess joins a travelling merchant in the fourth installment of the prose series that inspired the New York Times bestselling manga.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Isuna Hasekura's debut novel, SPICE AND WOLF, earned the Silver Prize in the 2005 Dengeki Novel Prize with the series going on to total seventeen novels and both manga and anime adaptations.

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Spice and Wolf, Vol. 4

By Hasekura, Isuna

Yen Press

Copyright © 2011 Hasekura, Isuna
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9780759531086

CHAPTER ONE

The six days of winter travel had taken a toll on his body.

While it was fortunate that there had been no snow, cold was still cold.

What blankets he had were bought by the bundle and closer to softish boards than proper bedding. Anything that could plausibly ward off the chill had been stuffed under those blankets.

The warmest thing of all, naturally, would have been another warm-bodied creature, ideally one with fur.

If said creature could talk, though, well—that would be a problem.

“I cannot but muse that I am on the losing end of this bargain, ’tis true.”

The sky was growing faintly brighter, the last vestiges of the night still caressing his face as though reluctant to leave.

Normally after being awakened by the cold, he would stare up at the paling sky for a time, unwilling to emerge from the blankets—but today his furred companion was obviously in a terrible temper.

“Look, I said I was sorry.”

“Oh, aye, if it’s a question of who is in the wrong and who should be apologizing, ’tis you and sure enough. I help ease night’s chill as I can, and I’m even generous enough not to charge you for the favor.”

The young man buried underneath the blankets, his face exposed and looking up at the sky, was Kraft Lawrence. He turned his head to the left.

Lawrence had been on his own as a merchant since he was eighteen—seven years now—and he had a fair amount of confidence in his ability to talk around even the most unreasonable of customers.

But even this seasoned merchant found himself at a loss for words when confronted by his companion, who lay to his right, directing at him a displeased stream of words with a sharp gaze to match.

The girl with her dark red eyes and flaxen hair was named Holo.

It was a rare name, but that was not the only rare thing about her.

After all, she sported a pair of keen, beastlike ears atop her head, and a splendid wolf tail sprouted from her waist.

“And yet! There are things one may do and things one may not, nay?”

Holo would not have been as angry, presumably, if Lawrence had done something as easily understood as assaulting her in her bed while his wits were still dulled by sleep.

She would have simply mocked him mercilessly until he could barely stand, laughed a hearty laugh, and called it a day.

But no—the reason Lawrence endured this ceaseless stream of recrimination was because he had done something unforgivable.

What had he done? Owing to the cold, he’d unconsciously nestled his feet on Holo’s furry tail. Worse, when he turned over in his sleep, he had caught her fur.

The centuries-old Holo, the self-styled wisewolf, the girl who was sometimes called a goddess (though she hated it) had uttered a piercing, girlish cry—the pain alone must have been insult enough.

Nevertheless, Lawrence felt a bit aggrieved at his subsequent treatment. He had been asleep, after all.

Despite the fact that even now Holo continued to rail at him, the instant his feet tangled in her fur and he stepped on her tail, she had punched him hard, twice, in the face.

Surely that was punishment enough, he felt.

“ ’Tis bad enough that you humans tread so easily upon one’s feet when you are fully awake. But even when you are asleep! But lo—this tail is my pride! The only proof that I am me!”

Though the tail that Lawrence had rolled over was unharmed, a bit of fur had come free.

More than any pain, it was that indignity that infuriated Holo so.

Worse, before he’d rolled over, his feet seemed to have flattened a section of fur on her tail as they slept.

After staring dazedly at her tail for a moment, Holo tackled Lawrence, who had sensed that the situation was turning ugly and tried to escape from underneath the blankets, and she began to verbally assault him.

When angered, most would either turn cold and cruel or demand a duel of some kind. Holo’s method of reprisal was far more effective.

It had been quite warm sleeping underneath the blankets with Holo, and the hour was just before dawn, and Lawrence’s body was beleaguered after many days of winter travel.

It would hardly have been surprising if he began to doze off in the face of such unrelenting abuse.

If Lawrence’s face betrayed even a hint of sleepiness, though, no doubt he would never hear the end of it.

It was like torture.

Holo would have made an excellent sheriff.

“Honestly, though…”

The interrogation did not cease until Holo exhausted herself with anger and dozed off again.

Lawrence was well aware that Holo’s wrath was something to be feared and that anger could take many forms. He’d had no particular desire to discover yet another facet of it, but discover it he had—and having done so, he started the wagon moving along.

Worn out by her own tirade, Holo had stolen the blankets entirely and curled up like a caterpillar against the cold.

But she wasn’t in the wagon bed. Instead, she lay sideways in the driver’s seat, her head resting upon Lawrence’s lap.

She certainly looked suitably meek and lovely, but given the timing… No, the depth of her calculation was frightening.

If she’d bared her teeth, that would have given Lawrence an excuse to fight back. If she’d ignored him, he could have ignored her in turn.

But forcing her head onto the merchant’s lap only further worsened his position.

He couldn’t get angry; he couldn’t ignore her. And if she were to beg him for something to eat, he’d be unable to refuse her. Her actions, after all, made it clear that she was mollified.

Though the sun had now risen, taking the chill off the morning air, the sigh that came from Lawrence’s mouth was a heavy one.

Despite warning himself that he would need to be more careful of Holo’s tail in the future, it was hard to resist such warmth when camping in the winter.

If there had been a god to ask, he would’ve prayed: “What should I do?”

But then the mute morning travels came to an unexpectedly sudden end.

As the pair had not passed anyone so far that day, Lawrence assumed that they had a long way yet to go. But as they crested a small hill, a town came into view.

He’d never been to this region before and lacked any sense of the lay of the land.

It was slightly to the east of the central region of Ploania, a vast nation that was home to both pagans and church followers. Lawrence wasn’t sure about the military importance of the area, but he knew it held little to interest a merchant such as himself.

The only reason he was here at all was because of the devilish girl who lay asleep on his lap.

He was guiding her back to her homeland, Yoitsu.

Because of the centuries that had passed since she had left, her memories of the details of the place were blurry and dim. Much had changed in the world over such a span of time, and Holo was eager to learn even the tiniest rumor of her homeland—all the more so now that she had learned of the legend recounting Yoitsu’s destruction.

Six days earlier in the town of Kumersun, they’d made...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Yen Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2011
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0759531080
• ISBN 13: 9780759531086
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 256
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Hachette Ireland, Hachette UK; info@hbgi.ie; ; Castlecourt Centre 8; Dublin 15; D15 XTP3; Irland