Dog-Catchers
“I’m getting sick of this racket,” Skinny muttered.
“You say that every time. If you’ve got time to whine, then get back to work.”
Despite Bear’s grumbling, Skinny sat down anyway.
He settled into one of the children’s chairs and lit a cigarette stub.
“You can’t even go a moment without smoking again.”
“Hey. Don’t start nagging me too. A man’s got to have at least one pleasure.”
A snort of laughter answered him.
Unlike Skinny, Bear dropped himself onto the floor and pulled out a flask.
“Look at this bastard. Yelling at me for smoking earlier, and now—”
“You not drinking?”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t.”
And just like that, a drinking session began with no side dishes and no ceremony.
The two men cackled as they tipped back the bottle. How long did they spend exchanging useless chatter and filthy jokes?
“So how much is left?”
“Hell if I know. If I knew that, I wouldn’t be here.”
At last, the topic changed.
Bear set the bottle down and shuddered.
“Come on. Seriously, how are we supposed to recover all the crumbs? You need to talk sense.”
“Since when did they ever ask us to do sense? If they tell you to strip, you strip.”
Skinny brought the cigarette back to his mouth.
“Then at least cut us a break on the other jobs. There’s still the stray-dog business tonight.”
“Exactly. What kind of kingdom has this many stray dogs trying to get out, but none trying to come in?”
“Would you want to live here if you had the choice?”
“Why not? Maybe some people would.”
The two men got to their feet.
When Lawrence saw the dog-catchers moving, he crouched a little lower.
“Ah, what a rotten fate. Picking up rock crumbs like this.”
“Quit bitching and gather them. What kind of grown man talks so much?”
They weren’t heading for the pile of junk.
Instead, they made for the place with the mysterious inscription.
One of them pulled out a fairly large sack and began shoveling in every stone chip scattered around it.
“So when the hell is this back of mine supposed to heal?”
“Still hurting? Then maybe stop chasing women so much.”
“That’s not chasing women. That’s the medal of honor, you asshole.”
The dog-catchers hoisted the stuffed sack onto their shoulders.
“Let’s go. I’ll ask the boss with you. Since this happened while we were working, he ought to cover the treatment costs.”
“You’re full of shit. I’m always the one who gets cursed at—hey, hey! Quit dragging me! This bastard’s got brute strength and nothing else…!”
“Fine, fine. Don’t be modest. I’ll really put in a good word this time. What are friends for?”
“Friends don’t drag people around like this, you idiot!”
“Wahaha!”
The two dog-catchers moved farther and farther away.
Once the area fell quiet, Lawrence stepped outside.
“They’re gone?”
“Yeah.”
Luca went back to rummaging through the junk.
Following Lawrence’s earlier instructions, she searched for any possible fragment.
Her small hands kept gathering new scratches.
This was, quite literally, a junk mountain overflowing with all kinds of discarded things.
Even digging through the tangled mess was no easy task.
“Stop.”
“But I haven’t found it yet.”
“If you keep doing it like this, you’ll never finish.”
As the saying went, a foolish body suffers for a foolish head.
She was making the same stupid effort the dog-catchers had made.
Even if the goddess statue’s fragment were right here, there was no way they would find it like this.
Think.
If his guess was right, then he had to be able to find it.
Lawrence closed his eyes and caught sight of the lake where stars gathered in clusters.
A throb of pain went through his skull.
What the eye of vision should not see, it saw.
Just as he had once tracked the traces left behind by Lemegeton.
Lawrence now saw a faint, pure-white shimmer left behind in the playground.
The trail of light lingered around the inscription.
If this had once been a holy ground, then this was the place where the goddess statue should have stood.
He studied the spot where the dog-catchers had stolen through earlier with their sack.
After a moment, Lawrence picked up an ordinary-looking stone that might have lain anywhere.
A strange ache of nostalgia stirred in him.
Why had he forgotten?
The fragment of the goddess statue he had found at Saint Charmant Monastery.
That fragment had eventually led him to an entirely new landscape.
He had been so distracted by the cracks between the spirit world and the waking world that he’d simply forgotten.
Dreams were, after all, the passage that connected the boy to the Spirit World.
He carefully placed the goddess statue fragment into his bag.
Then he said to Luca, who was tilting her head in confusion behind him, “You worked hard. Let’s head back.”
* * *
Apparently worn out from wandering around the Gutter, Luca collapsed into bed almost as soon as she had eaten dinner and washed up.
After making sure she was asleep, Lawrence went back down to the first-floor hall.
Even now, the inn was drowned in its usual noisy bustle.
On the small stage, a gypsy troupe and Cedric were performing together.
He ordered warm milk and chicken skewers.
Unlike usual, tonight he asked for two portions instead of one.
He left a tip as a way of saying thanks, and Anne answered with a smile that curved her eyes.
His business in Rombamel was done.
Though he had failed to discover a crack into the Spirit World, he had recovered the goddess statue fragment.
Tonight, or perhaps within the next few days, a dream in the Spirit World would lead him somewhere new.
For now, this was enough.
Merely reaching a new level in his vision was already reward enough.
Now it was time to look for a carriage heading to another town.
The mercenary guild was overflowing with escort requests, so he could simply check the pay and destination and take whichever suited him.
If possible, he’d prefer a route through the Holy See’s territory.
What about Raynald Territory, the place Ignatius had mentioned?
He’d also like to meet the priest Benedict, who had worked a miracle upon a robe, and he wanted to see St. Sophia Temple, which he had only heard about in stories.
The problem was that he had no idea whether Raynald Territory was anywhere near Rombamel.
For instance, if it was as far away as Horos Village and Remington Village.
If it was at the far edge of the kingdom, then even wanting to go wouldn’t make it possible.
And if that happened, Luca would become a concern too.
For a girl with no connections at all, starting a new life in an unfamiliar land was never easy.
He hadn’t stopped thinking about it entirely.
Ultimately, the most important thing would be her own will, but if she was willing, then he thought it would be best for her to entrust herself to one of the Church’s monasteries.
At the very least, that would count as taking some responsibility for her.
While he was still lost in thought, the performance on stage came to an end.
One by one, the gypsies climbed down from the platform, leaving Cedric alone on it.
“Thank you. Thank you all. And now, I’m terribly sorry to say I must bring you sad news.”
His words drew attention in a different sort of way than before.
The guests, warmed up by drink and music, turned their focus to him.
“Starting this time next week, you won’t be seeing us anymore. We’re planning to move on to another village soon. I want to thank you for enjoying our performances all this time. We’ll continue performing until the day before we leave Rombamel, so if there’s anyone nearby who hasn’t seen us yet, please do let them know.”
Happy times always came to an end eventually.
Disappointed voices rose from the crowd.
But for Lawrence, the news was not unwelcome.
* * *
“Gypsies?” Luca asked, holding a bowl of stew.
“Yes. For now, I plan to ask the gypsies first. Our schedules happen to overlap, so if they’re agreeable, I thought it might be best to travel together.”
“They’re the ones who perform at night, right? I like them.”
Her reply came in a bright voice.
“You like gypsies?”
“They dance and sing for people. And they’re pretty.”
Luca touched the corner of her mouth.
The scar running from her mouth up toward her eye pulled a dry little smile from her.
“Stay at the inn for a while, even if it’s inconvenient. There’s still that organization matter you mentioned. And the dog-catchers may be watching us. We’ll leave Rombamel at the earliest next week, so bear with it until then.”
“Don’t worry. I’m good at bearing with things.”
The girl picked up her spoon again.
There was still half a bowl of stew left.
After going back downstairs, Lawrence looked for the gypsies.
Finding them wasn’t difficult.
They were all gathered around a table, eating breakfast.
Before he could even say a word, one of the gypsies spoke up.
“Elvira. Your husband’s here.”
“Who are you calling my husband?”
Elvira’s voice flipped halfway over itself.
The gypsies burst into laughter as if her reaction were the funniest thing in the world.
“Elvira. Could you spare me a moment?”
“Yes. That’s no problem, but… let’s change seats first.”
The gypsies nearby whistled.
“Getting hot and heavy from first thing in the morning.”
“You’re not going straight to the room, are you?”
“Take good care of our Elvira, pilgrim sir.”
“All of you are too loud.”
Her face was flushed red as she scolded her sisters.
Lawrence led Elvira toward the counter.
Since he had already eaten breakfast, he only ordered a drink.
“I’m sorry, Lawrence. My sisters are so childish….”
“I don’t mind. You all seem very close.”
It was a familiar sight.
The gypsies teasing Elvira resembled Laurzara teasing Arwen.
“I heard you’re leaving for another village next week.”
“Ah… well, we’ve stayed in Rombamel quite a while. We sold a lot of crafts, and we were really lucky that so many people loved our performances.”
She added, “Cedric helped us a lot too.”
“Where are you heading now?”
“I’m not sure yet. I think there’s a good chance we’ll go to Frang. Our destination is always decided by the eldest sister. Still, wherever we go, there’s no need to worry.”
“You said gypsies can go anywhere, whether it’s the royal capital or a holy land.”
“So you remembered that.”
“It’s the kind of thing that sticks with you.”
That probably meant gypsies were free no matter where they went.
They were not bound to anyone, and neither were they tied to any one place.
To an outsider, they might look like wanderers with no home at all.
But perhaps that was the very freedom gypsies pursued.
“If this many people are moving together, you must have a lot of things to prepare.”
“We always use the same carriage, so that part’s fine. We just hire a few mercenaries as escorts. Even then, we don’t hire that many. It’s not only about the money—mercenaries are dangerous too.”
“Hiring a few Silver Plate mercenaries would cut the risk down a lot.”
“That’s only if you can afford to spend that much.”
It wasn’t that they didn’t use them because they didn’t trust them.
Money was always what tied a person’s feet in place.
“Then why don’t you hire mercenaries at a reasonable price?”
“You mean travel with me?”
Elvira’s eyebrows shot upward.
“Not just with you. There are the other gypsies as well. I also heard Cedric is going along. And I have a companion of my own.”
Lawrence corrected her.
“Ah… I misspoke. Sorry.”
Embarrassed, Elvira looked away.
The visible edge of her ear was strikingly red.
“I’d welcome it, of course… but I’m sorry. I can’t decide on an escort myself. I’ll have to speak with the eldest sister.”
“I understand. It’s not something you can decide lightly.”
“If you haven’t changed your mind, I’ll talk to her.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
At his answer, she nodded.
* * *
The eldest sister called for Lawrence that night.
Elvira came to fetch him in person, and Luca, who had watched the gypsies’ performance, was already sleeping soundly.
She led Lawrence to the first-floor room used by the gypsies.
“What kind of person is the eldest sister?”
“She’s the only one among us gypsies who can read fortunes.”
“So, a fortune-teller. But I don’t remember ever seeing her read fortunes here at the inn.”
“She can’t always do it. Her divinations are different from the usual fortune-tellers you see in town. She says she reads the flow of the stars and foretells a person’s fate. This is just between us, but the eldest sister has never been wrong once.”
He had heard that nine out of ten fortune-tellers in the market were swindlers.
But if Elvira spoke this strongly, then the eldest sister was clearly no ordinary fortune-teller.
At the door, Elvira stopped.
“The eldest sister is waiting inside.”
“Aren’t you coming in, Elvira?”
“No. I’m the only one the eldest sister allowed to stay out here.”
“Good luck,” she whispered, offering quiet encouragement.
Lawrence knocked on the door.
“It’s Lawrence. I was told you were looking for me, Elvira.”
“Come in.”
The voice was quite old.
She might be even older than he’d expected.
“Excuse me.”
The room was sunk in dim light.
It seemed as though every scrap of black cloth in the inn had been gathered here.
The only window open looked out on nothing but the night sky, and that only made the room feel even stranger and more mystical.
The gypsy leader, the eldest sister, was there.
She was wrapped in cloth so tightly she seemed almost bound in it.
For some reason, the sight felt familiar.
The table before her was covered with what looked like divination tools.
Lawrence lowered his head slightly and stepped toward her without a sound.
“Do you believe in the guidance of the stars, little servant of the goddess?”
“The guidance of the stars?”
He swallowed his surprise.
The phrase she had used was the same one Veles and Acheron had spoken of.
“Omens of fortune and misfortune. The signs of the wandering stars. Human life is always set upon a crossroads of choice, is it not? Today is one of the few days when I can hear the stars whisper. If you’re interested, take a seat.”
Elvira had been right.
The eldest sister might not be an ordinary fortune-teller at all.
Lawrence quietly took a seat in front of her.