Spice & Wolf IV by Hasekura Isuna Page A

her eyes. He noticed her long eyelashes.
    Despite her stoicism, she was still a young woman.
    “What I saw...she began, trying to sit up. Lawrence extended his hand to help her, but she waved it off. “I’m fine.”
    She looked at Holo with neither malice nor fear, as though looking at heavy clouds that were finally beginning to shed rain “What I saw was not a dream, was it?”
    “ ’Twould be better for us if you were to think of it as such,” said Holo.
    “It is said that demons trick humans through dreams.”
    Though he could tell that Holo was not being entirely serious, Lawrence was less sure about Elsa.
    He looked at Holo; her annoyed expression suggested that she was at least partly in earnest.
    The tension between the two had more to do with conflicting personalities, Lawrence guessed, than it did with the fact that one was a devout member of the Church while the other was a spirit of the harvest.
    “So long as we reach our goal, we will disappear like a dream and trouble you no further. I ask you again: Will you show us the writings of Father Franz?” asked Lawrence, coming between the two.
    “I...I still cannot be sure that you were not sent from Enberch But if that is indeed the case...what is your goal?”
    Lawrence was unsure whether he should answer this question. He looked at Holo, who nodded slowly.
    “I wish to return to my home,” she said.
    “Your home...?”
    “But ages have passed since I was there. I have forgotten the way, and I know not if my old friends are well. Indeed, I cannot even be sure it still exists,” explained Holo plainly. “What would you do if you learned there might be someone who knew something of your home?”
    Even someone who had spent a lifetime in the same village would want to know how that village was viewed by others.
    It was all the more true for people who had left their homes.
    Elsa was silent for some time, and Holo did not press her.
    Her downcast eyes made it clear that she was deep in thought.
    Despite her youth, it was obvious that she was no maiden who blithely floated through life, picking flowers and singing songs.
    When Lawrence had claimed to want to confess his sins, he could tell that her solemnity was no affectation.
    Though she may have fainted upon first seeing Holo’s inhuman nature, Lawrence felt she was smart enough to make the best decision given the situation.
    Elsa put her hand to her chest and recited a prayer, then looked up. "I am a servant of God,” she said, continuing before Lawrence or Holo could interrupt. “But at the same time, I am Father, Franz’s successor.” She got off the bed, smoothing the wrinkles in her cassock, then clearing her throat. “I do not believe that you have been possessed by a demon, because Father Franz always said there was no such thing.”
    Lawrence was more than a little surprised at Elsa’s statement, but H olo’s expression seemed to say that as long as she could see the records, all was well.
    Eventually Holo seemed to become aware of Elsa’s willingness to give in, and though her face remained serious, the tip of her tail wagged restlessly.
    "Please come with me. I will show you.”
    For a moment Lawrence wondered if she had only said this to escape, but Holo followed without question, so evidently there was no need to worry.
    Once they came to the living room on the first floor, Elsa lightly touched the brick wall next to the fireplace with her fingers.
    Then coming to a particular stone, she slowly pulled it free.
    Having pulled it out like a drawer, Elsa turned the brick over, and a slender golden key fell into her hand.
    From behind, her form was every bit the stoic girl she was.
    She lit a candle and put it on a stand, then turned to Lawrence and Holo.
    “Let us go,” she said quietly, then walked down the hallway that continued deeper into the church.
     
    The church was deeper than Lawrence had guessed.
    Unlike the sanctuary, clean and well used thanks to constant prayer, the