Lawrence and Holo sat in the carriage Eve hired for them, traversing Karlan’s bumpy roads.
He thought the carriage was a bit much, considering Karlan was not all that big, but Eve was based away from the city center at the seaport.
“Why here?”
It was in an inconvenient spot, loud throughout the day with the constant loading and unloading of cargo, and it took the brunt of bad weather coming from the sea. The only buildings that stood here were warehouses owned by trading companies—it was hardly a place for a traveler with money to find a comfortable stay.
One of Eve’s underlings waited for their return at a big door, one half of the entrance open—it was clearly a loading dock. The windows on the second and third floors were reinforced with metal framing to withstand harsh wind and rain.
The walls even had metallic rat guards on them, ones that looked like decoration and were meant to keep away brazen thieves. It was immediately obvious that it was not comfortable inside.
“It’s what I’m used to. Whenever I sleep in an unfamiliar town, I always pick buildings reminiscent of the old eras of war.”
Lawrence’s smile in response was tense—what she said made it seem like she was still crossing dangerous bridges.
There was likely a reason she always stayed by the sea, too. It was easier to escape if the need ever arose.
“But it seems like you still need a few drinks, don’t you?”
Eve glanced behind Lawrence at Holo and smiled wryly. In Holo’s arms were packets stuffed with food, and the bag atop her head was filled with freshly baked bread.
“A feast always comes with food and drink.”
Though he would likely mask it as not wanting Holo to eat alone, Lawrence had scarcely eaten everything since the conversation had distracted him, and she had hopefully saved him a portion, too.
“There is no moon tonight, but no clouds either. Let’s head to the courtyard.”
Eve gave orders to her subordinates and led both of them inside.
The building was currently in use as a warehouse, so it was packed with cargo.
It was likely that Eve herself was doing some trading herself, but Lawrence also knew that stacking wares like this was a tactic to prevent attackers from swarming her at once. A friendly mercenary had told him that once.
Old buildings often came with a central courtyard where defenders could hole up in case of a siege. It was also a place where preserved foods could be buried in the ground, or alternatively it could be turned into a plot to grow food.
But the era where such things were needed was long past.
Now it was a neatly maintained garden, one with a few fruit-bearing trees.
A table was soon brought out, and candles were lit.
“Oh ho. Perhaps we should hold events like this at the bathhouse,” Holo suggested, but all the guests were thoroughly drunk come nightfall, and nothing this fancy ever took place.
“To our reunion.” Eve first lifted her glass for the toast. “But goodness me. Just look at you.”
Lawrence thought she was talking about Holo, who was busy chomping on her meat, but she was, in fact, looking at him.
“You live in the remote land of Nyohhira, running a bathhouse. You made that fairy tale come true. But here you are again, back in the mortal world. Making some quick coin?”
“We actually…left for a few reasons.”
Lawrence felt deflated, his response mumbled. It was almost hard to think that not long ago he was so worked up, he wanted to tie Eve to a chair and interrogate her. He found refuge in strong, good-quality wine.
“This fool worries for his daughter,” Holo interjected.
Eve nodded in understanding. “Col is a grown man now, after all.” She immediately understood, and she gave a strained smile.
“Reminds me of when my granddad used to be around.”
Eve used to be a daughter of nobility.
“The letters have stopped coming recently. And…” Lawrence glanced at Holo. “Without our noisy daughter and precious Col around, someone’s been feeling a little lonely. It’s quiet in the bathhouse now.”
Their days had been happy, but Holo had been afraid that they would slip from her fingers and forget it all.
The time she spent hugging her diary had lessened, perhaps because she had been enjoying the traveling, but Holo bared her canines when he brought it up.
“You’re so cute,” Eve smiled in her delight, and her gaze darted toward the entrance.
There came the girl who had been dancing at the tavern—she seemed refreshed, as though she had just come from the bath. She first gave Eve, and then Lawrence a willowy smile.
Eve said something to her in a foreign language, and then poured her a drink.
“All business talks go very smoothly whenever I bring her to the taverns,” Eve said. It sounded somewhat like an excuse, but Lawrence simply nodded in agreement.
“Now. I believe your wife will have explained to you that I’m not ruthlessly making money here.”
Lawrence took a sip of his wine, switching the gears in his head.
“Lord Tonneburg has informed me of the situation, too. He must offer the lumber from his forest in exchange for protection from the Twilight Cardinal.”
All things had a price. Yet the reason Col had left the bathhouse was because he had been unable to accept the Church’s blatant greed.
This whole plan seemed to be completely at odds with Col’s values.
“Let’s cut this problem down to size,” Eve said, putting her filled glass down. “We’ve received word that both Karlan and Tonneburg want to side with the Twilight Cardinal. That is the truth. But the lumber is not the price for that.”
“Then what is it for?”
“Wool.”
That caught Lawrence by such surprise that he found himself glancing toward Holo. Her cheeks were full of marinated beef shank as she stared at him blankly in return, which told him that Eve was not lying.
“I could make ridiculous amounts of money if I wanted. I am certainly in a position to do so. But I already decided that I would not betray little Col.”
Lawrence narrowed his eyes, doubtful, and Eve drew up her shoulders.
“Look, they got me over there, in one of the Winfiel ports. They’re as persistent as you used to be, and they sniffed out the false bottom of the hidden depths of my plans. It was awful. They had me screaming and running with my tail between my legs.”
Holo was laughing, but Lawrence was not entirely sure that had been mentioned in any of the letters.
Col must have smoothed the rough edges of the incidents on their journey when he wrote about them in their letters so that they would not worry. That was the sort of person he was.
“And whenever it seemed like he was going to give up, he always had that silver wolf by his side. She’s got way more energy than this wolf here. Only an idiot would make an enemy out of those two. And I am not an idiot.”
Eve was not spineless enough to choose to side with them simply because she liked them (or not).
Lawrence did not know what sort of plot she had concocted, but she had likely planted the seed of gold, taking advantage of the chaos across the world that surrounded the Church.
“It seems there is a clear line between loss and profit here,” Lawrence remarked. “I’m relieved.”
Eve jerked her chin. “And their affection for each other gives you two a run for your money. I had front row seats to that.”