Spice and Wolf (2024) Ep 17 – 19

Episode 17 – 19

Finally the misunderstandings has been resolved!

Lawrence’s plan to beat Amati was to drop value of Pyrite, which is … when you think about it, pretty nasty considering how many people have invested in it. People aren’t as market-savvy will be caught in crossfire — though I suppose it’s only fair to say market value is always a gamble. You never know what’s going to happen. However Lawrence wasn’t about to do this without telling Amati about it, because he needed Amati to agree to sell 500 Trenni Silver worth of credits to him. But in order to get him to agree, well he needed to provoke him with certain things that a jealous boy would take out of context, or exaggerate in their head. Amati certainly was displeased to hear how Lawrence has held a crying Holo in his arms on three occasions– though perhaps what really set him off was “acting in opposition of her feelings”. Amati was hella pissed, and flat out declared he’d take everything from Lawrence after that.

But there was one problem. Lawrence crafted this idea with the assumption that Marc would be able to go around buying up Pyrite for him, and unfortunately that’s something Marc cannot do. Lawrence had gone on about how “there’s nothing to lose”, but he was forgetting something crucial that sets them apart. Marc has everything to lose, he can’t afford to risk tarnishing his reputation in town. He has a shop to run, a wife and child to take care of, and most importantly a valued network and relationship with both his clients and fellow merchants.

That said, it’s good that Marc was level-headed enough not to take it personally, and recognize that Lawrence is just desperate. Fortunately once it was explained, Lawrence realized his flaw and apologized. But Marc is a good guy. While he can’t do what Lawrence was asking for, he was able to help him in another way. Give him a new lead as to where he can purchase a large quantity of Pyrite, which is from the Alchemists with the help of Diana. Most reputable merchants do not do business with them, so since Lawrence is an outsider, it offers him a potential leeway that other do not typically tap into. It was just a matter of whether or not Amati had thought the same thing or not.

Fortunately Amati hadn’t, as the the one who ended up being the buyer Diana spoken of was none other than Holo. Amati had already lost the moment Holo decided she would make sure that he’d lose. But the plan of making Holo the buyer was actually something that was crafted up by Diana herself. Holo had initially sought her out in hopes for her to create a new tale about her hometown to comfort Lawrence, but Diana wasn’t interested in doing that. Instead, she had suggested they test Lawrence’s resolve. That was why Holo was wearing the three feathers and was constantly adjusting it in hopes for Lawrence to finally notice that she was working with Diana. The feathers were first foreshadowed when shown inside of Diana’s home, particularly when Lawrence had gone to visit her the second time in hopes for her aid to bulk buy the pyrite.But the most interesting reveal was the fact Diana is actually not Human. She is similar to Holo, as her true form is a bird. She too had a time she fell in love with a Human (monk), but unfortunately that ended poorly when he learned of her true form. It does explain a bit more why she was motivated to test Lawrence’s resolve, especially since he had asked her if there’s history of a Human and God becoming a couple.

And boy was Lawrence’s resolve put to the tests. This was certainly the most anxious he has been since the price of armour crashed. That being not long ago isn’t exactly the most pleasant back to back experience to say the least, especially when it comes to loss. Luckily this was a much more controlled situation where Holo hadn’t actually abandoned him for Amati like he had feared she had. The biggest problem was that despite everything they’ve been through, Lawrence not only misunderstood Holo at times, but also let his doubts cloud his judgment that prevented him in trusting her. When Holo had said she was sorry in time of weakness, he failed to realize that was actually when she had finally returned to her senses. She had realized she said something outrageous. And the second time his doubts was the provocation of the marriage contract, and seeing her with Amati, thinking she was giving him helpful advice, when she was actually secretly working along Lawrence’s plan of crashing the Pyrite price.

So yes, Lawrence certainly had a lot to apologize for when they finally got the chance to talk, because agreeing to the bet while stoking his ego was no way to go about it. That said, I still wished that Holo had at least apologized herself for getting carried away with the charm game by not creating this image that Lawrence was a “villain” to begin with. That’s the only problem I had with her in this arc, but it’s not the end of the world.

At the very least, Lawrence was finally forced to confront his feelings. He’s as he says, dumb when it comes to anything that doesn’t involve business. And that’s fair, considering that’s all he really known of for as long as he can remember. Initially, the idea of finding a companion wasn’t something on the list until after he retired from being a travelling merchant and set up a shop in a town. But it’s different with Holo, someone who’s with him now every step of the way. He doesn’t need to wait any longer, and he already found her. Unfortunately there was no explicit confession, but I think he did get his feelings across in a round about way of he desire to continue travelling together, and his clumsiness of not having the right words to describe how he feels about her. Well, actions will always speak louder than words, he’ll get there eventually. At the very least, Holo understood it.

As for Amati? Well the kid is history. He said something that really ticked off Holo, something so unspeakable that she refuses to repeat it for anyone to hear. Apparently it made her so mad, that she had intended to cut him off in an even harsher manner, though I wonder how what she had in mind for that. At the very least, she did teach him a lesson of don’t let the heart make financial decisions because it may cost him dearly (it did), and certainly humiliated him. I did laugh at how the bartender told him, “This is why you don’t make a pass at another person’s woman.” Damn straight sir!

With that this arc is finally over. As mentioned in the beginning of it, this is my least favourite of the bunch because of all the stupid misunderstandings and decisions because Lawrence was being dumb. I’m really excited to be moving on to the next one, especially since they freaking SKIPPED IT last time! I don’t remember too much about that one, but seeing the next two characters in the key visual for it did remind me a bit of what’s going on (vaguely though). We’ll see how much my memory gets refreshed once I watch it.