Free Spice & Wolf IV by Hasekura Isuna

said.
    “I shall. By the way—,” began Lawrence. Evan had already begun tending to the mortar now that its work was finished. “Do the church services here always begin so early?”
    Lawrence expected surprise from Evan, but the boy was only curious as he turned around. “Hm?” He then seemed to understand the implication behind the question and smiled. “No, hardly. It’s not bad in the summer, but I’m sure you’ll agree it’s far too cold to sleep in the millhouse in the winter. I sleep in the church.”
    Lawrence had already inferred as much, so it was easy for him to affect a natural “Ah, I see.” He continued. “Still, you seem to be quite close to Miss Elsa.”
    “Hm? Ah, well, ha-ha-ha...”
    If you mix pride, happiness, and embarrassment, add a bit of water, and knead until soft, you would wind up with something like Evan’s expression at that moment.
    Such a recipe would certainly rise well when baked in the fires of jealousy.
    “When we visited the church yesterday to ask for directions, we were treated with no small amount of disdain. She simply wouldn’t listen to anything I said. Yet this morning, she seemed as kind and gentle as the Holy Mother. Quite a surprise.”
    Evan laughed nervously. “Well, Elsa’s quite short-tempered for someone as timid as she is. Her shyness makes her like a wild rat when she first meets someone. If she really wants to follow in Father Franz’s footsteps, she’ll have to stop.” He disconnected the waterwheel from the mortar and adroitly refastened the rigging to the waterwheel.
    His smooth, competent movements combined with the words he spoke made Evan seem older than his years.
    “But still,” he continued, “it’s been some time since she’s been in such high spirits. I suppose your timing was bad. By yesterday evening, she was quite happy. Still...it’s odd. Why didn’t she mention you had visited? That girl usually tells me how many sneezes she’s had that day.”
    While Lawrence knew that Evan was only making idle conversation, he really had no interest in this.
    But if he wanted to get closer to Elsa, he needed to get Evan on board.
    “Surely it’s because in the end, I’m also a man,” he said.
    Evan was stunned silent for a moment, then burst out laughing. Finally he managed, “So she was worried I would get the wrong idea! That silly girl!”
    Lawrence looked at Evan and realized that he had much to learn from the lad despite his younger age.
    Problems of this sort were more complicated even than business.
    “But what would’ve made her so cheerful after being so irritable?” Evan’s face darkened. “Why do you ask?”
    “My own companion’s moods change more often than the mountain weather,” said Lawrence with a shrug.
    Evan paused, recalling Holo from his memory. He ultimately seemed to accept Lawrence’s statement.
    He flashed a sympathetic smile. “It must be quite rough going.”
    “It surely is.”
    “Sadly I don’t know how much I can explain. It’s simply that in Elsa’s case, a persistent problem has calmed down.”
    “Meaning?”
    “Well—,” Evan began but then cut himself off. “I was told not to talk about it to people from outside the village. If you simply must know, perhaps you might ask the elder...”
    “Ah, no, if you can’t talk about it, that’s fine.”
    Lawrence withdrew easily, but of course, there was a reason for that as well.
    He had already gathered more than enough information.
    But Evan seemed now to be worried he’d somehow aggrieved Lawrence. His face was suddenly apprehensive. He cast about for something to say. “Ah, but—I can say that if you go now, she’ll probably talk to you. She’s really not a bad person!”
    Given that even the village elder had pretended ignorance of the abbey, Lawrence doubted the problem would be so simple. But it would a good opportunity to go and talk to Elsa once more.
    In any case, he now had a plan.
    Assuming his predictions were correct, it