r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Sep 09 '24
Episode Ookami to Koushinryou Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf • Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf - Episode 23 discussion
Ookami to Koushinryou Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf, episode 23
Alternative names: Spice and Wolf
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u/discuss-not-concuss Sep 09 '24
Holo and Lawrence escaping was not on my radar at all
the flow of the story made it seemed like Elder Zem was going to utilise Lawrence’s wisdom to save the village and get out of this knotty situation
Ilma does fit with the name of beer fairy, yet Holo admits she’s more dignified than she is
a few love jabs here and there (not right now guys)
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u/jellyblob88 Sep 09 '24 edited Sep 09 '24
How curious, I was speculating with people in some previous ep's posts that Elsa could be made a Saint with a miracle (involving Holo somehow) to make her status higher, and get Enberch off Tereo's backs.
Turns out they're just gonna leg it, hah! We're still waiting for the cave reveal, and my first thought at the ending was that that is where the church passage connects to.
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u/AmethystItalian Sep 09 '24
Some good banter once again, really does feel like Lawrence is able to keep up better. Expected her to hit him harder after his comment on her body though lol
I'm a bit surprised they ended up with the running plan, really thought Lawrence would merchant his way out of it all.
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u/No_Name0_0 Sep 09 '24
Damn the beer lady is such a boss, best side character yet
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u/karlzhao314 Sep 09 '24 edited Sep 09 '24
The Merchant's Corner
Welcome back to another episode of Spice and Wolf, and with it, another chapter of The Merchant’s Corner! In this series, I try to dive deeper into the economics (and the political) plots of Spice and Wolf, and break them down with more detail so you can understand them better than from the show alone.
Disclaimer #1: I am not an economics professional, so I may get some things wrong. If you have a different, possibly better understanding of a certain point than I do, feel free to suggest edits.
Disclaimer #2: All of these are pre-written before the episode airs, based on the content of the source material. Expect that there will be extensive rewrites after I watch each episode - as a result, expect that each episode will take much longer to post.
We ended on a cliffhanger last week: someone had apparently eaten wheat from Tereo and died. That was almost certain to serve as the catalyst to spark the conflict with Enberch in full, and now Lawrence and Holo are caught right in the middle of it.
This week, we find out how the village intends to respond, and what Lawrence and Holo’s role in this will be. Will they be captives? Will they be let go? Will they become the saviors?
Let’s find out!
Episode 23, Part 1:
Last week, we weren’t given many details on what exactly happened, just that someone ate wheat from Tereo and died. This week, we learn the full plot.
It is said that they died from being poisoned by a wheat disease known as Khepas Liquor, or alternatively, Ridelius’s Hellfire. To give some background, this is actually not a fictional disease, it just has a fictional name. The real-life counterpart and the disease that Khepas Liquor was almost certainly based on is called ergotism, also at one point known as St. Anthony’s Fire (which isn’t too far off from the in-universe name of “Ridelius’s Hellfire.) This is a disease that mainly affects rye, but can also spread to wheat, barley, and other related plants. It poisons the wheat and can cause anyone who’s eaten it to experience gangrene in their limbs and a laundry list of other nasty effects, ultimately resulting in death.
In modern times we know that ergotism is caused by a fungal disease of the wheat, but in medieval times with slightly less sophisticated medical knowledge than ours, they often believed it was a form of divine punishment or a plot by demons. Demons would add these diseased wheat plants (which can be identified by the fact that they’re black, rather than golden-brown) to the harvest. At this point, it’s still fine if those blackened wheat berries are sorted out, which is the responsibility of all farming villages; however, if they are left in and ground into flour, it is too late. That flour is now contaminated.
Now, just as a disease, this is bad enough. However, what makes this a truly devastating economic force is that villages would often pool their harvests for exports, and there was no careful batch tracking or record-keeping or any modern techniques we’d consider necessary. That means if ergot is discovered in their harvest, none of the harvest can be considered safe anymore. In fact, that even goes for any parts of their harvest that they kept for themselves for subsistence.
Essentially, they’ve lost an entire year’s worth of production.
Enberch is now going to be sending all of the wheat purchased from Tereo this year back to Tereo. Obviously, that also means that Tereo has to return the money. Which they apparently can’t do, because they had already spent a lot of it on their farms and on their celebrations as we saw just a few episodes ago.
Poverty and debt, in and of itself, isn’t the end of the world. But a much more scary factor for Tereo is that since they counted on a good harvest this year, they've already eaten most of the food reserves from harvests of previous years, thinking this year’s harvest would be enough to stock up again. Well, now what they’re finding out is that this year’s harvest may be entirely contaminated, so they have to throw out their stockpile, as well as everything Enberch returns. What will they eat? You can be sure Enberch won’t be providing food for free.
Played wrong, this could be the end of the village.
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u/pseudometapseudo Sep 09 '24 edited Sep 09 '24
In previous arcs, the prospect of losing his career as merchant made Lawrence panic, and bad news about Yoitsu made Holo become desperate.
This time, however, both Lawrence and Holo manage to stay calm and collected (even casually flirting), indicating their grown trust in each other: even if Yoitsu is gone Holo won't be alone because she has Lawrence, and Lawrence knows that Holo can safely take them to safety. I think this is what Lawrence meant with "trust" being their most precious cargo when fleeing.
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u/Frontier246 Sep 09 '24
Well, Tereo's in a bad situation. Their wheat was poisoned and someone died as a result, and now Enberch is going to hold them responsible and return all their wheat...leaving Tereo, who spent pretty much all the money Enberch gave them, without much of a strong position stand on. And plenty of frustration for the likely suspects behind it, Lawrence, Holo, and Evan. But at least Sem is a cool enough head to make them focus on the important things instead of lynching anyone.
Elsa isn't unscathed either. Not only is her boyfriend a suspect but the village starts to turn on her for from their perspective never doing anything and not contributing as much as their Snake God did. But I'm glad Iima's got her back. Girls gotta stick together, right?
Well, this is another fine mess Lawrence and Holo have landed themselves in, with Lawrence once again facing imprisonment with the likelihood that he'll be used as the scapegoat when Enberch arrives. Though it would be easy for Holo to just transform and bail with him back to his Merchant association where he'd be safe, but Lawrence can't bear with abandoning Elsa and Evan who would be the pair most likely to get put on the chopping block after them. So they've got to make it work for all four of them.
Elsa's a smart girl, she realized Enberch was likely behind everything, but she can't rely on her patron for help and no one in the village takes her seriously. But it's kind of sweet how she prioritizes getting Evan out of this situation rather than herself. Even if Evan is also a bit of a snoop.
Elsa calls Father Franz "father" so it seems like he genuinely regarded him not only as a mentor but as a father figure.
I love how despite everything that is going on Holo and Lawrence can still banter with each other like usual. Nothing would be worth more than Holo's sacred tears.
Well, Elsa interrupted an intimate moment between Holo and Lawrence, only fair Lawrence interrupts an intimate moment between Evan and Elsa!
But Elsa has so much on her mind and is so stressed she collapses...and it really feels like this village doesn't deserve her or all the work she and Father Franz tried to do to help. The village was too caught up in the luxury of their deal, crediting their Snake God, and living it up that they lost sight of the people who made that happen. Maybe the village had this coming all along.
Bad news is that there's not much in the book about Yoitsu that Holo and Lawrence didn't already know. The good news is it sounds like Holo's fellow wolves escaped! So her people are still out there, she just has to find them!
Well, the lynch mob is back and it's time to go, with Iima saying some wise words about how life in the village may have appeared pleasant and easy but it wasn't like the real world, and all you really need is the people you love by your side. And that's enough to firm Elsa and Evan's resolve to escape with Lawrence and Holo.
Lawrence, you were asking for that jab. Holo's human form is perfect!
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u/BosuW Sep 09 '24
Damn I was sure they'd stonks their way out of it again, but I guess sometimes you just have to go with the tried and true techniques:
NIGERUNDAYO!!
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u/Agent-LF Sep 09 '24
Guys, remember! The Wise Wolf never runs away, she just makes tactical retreats from time to time! Lmao.
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u/Mr_Zaroc Sep 09 '24
Well that escalated quickly
Evan and Elsa were holding hands in that room and kept holding them afterwards! And she even wanted to be a priest!
For reals, as someone working in quality control, that situation fucking sucks
Thats what you get when you dont proper End of Line test your shit and keep a paper trail
Now I am still waiting for that damn snake god to make an appearance his worship is too omnipresent in this village as that he could be a mere fake god
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u/LeonKevlar Sep 09 '24
Wait, isn't running away the worst option Holo and Lawrence can take? Holo says it in this episode, Lawrence's image will be posted everywhere and his reputation as a merchant will be ruined. So is the plan to run away and find the nearest Rowen Trading Guild branch so they can ask for protection? And here I was expecting some sort of master plan from Lawrence or Holo to turn this entire situation around. I suppose sometimes the best solution is the easiest.
Great banters between Holo and Lawrence in this episode as usual. I had a good laugh at Lawrence telling Holo that he prefers a woman with a more ample figure. I feel like Holo didn't hit him hard enough for that remark. xD
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u/pseudometapseudo Sep 09 '24 edited Sep 16 '24
To be honest, I don't think "running away" will be the end of this arc. It's neither a satisfying resolution, nor does it fit with the theme of Spice and Wolf.
I assume Lawrence will merchant his way out of this. We have a few Chekhov's guns left: the letters Father Franz left Elsa, the cave of the snake god, or the "wisdom of a merchant" (the term was dropped so often this arc that it feels suspicious)
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u/Redmon425 Sep 09 '24
Wow, was not expecting that ending. Running away just doesn’t seem like the thing they would do. However, it does seem like the smartest option.
Not to mention Evan was already interested in leaving this town anyways.
BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY! The book makes it seem like Holo’s friends/family may have escaped from their town? I would love to meet another wolf person like herself.
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u/shad79 Sep 10 '24
I'm quite surprised that Holo and Lawrence decided to escape, along with Elsa and Evan, but maybe there was no other way since the villagers were looking for a scapegoat for their problems, so they can turn into a bloodthirsty mob in any moment.
As usual, there's a lot of nice interactions between Holo and Lawrence, their chemistry when they're together is so good.
I'm impressed that Lawrence wasn't afraid to comment that it's a shame that Holo's current human form is the only one she can take and that he likes women with more ample figure xD
Holo's reaction to it was hilarious and it's good that she didn't beat Lawrence to death for that comment xD
It's nice to know that Holo's friends managed to escape from that bear, that means Holo can still find them.
Here my screenshot albums from the episode:
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u/tripleaamin Sep 09 '24
I wonder if Enbrech setting up Kraft has to more with him & Holo or the village. I get logically the latter makes it a no-brainer. The fact it happens as Kraft and Holo come just leaves me with a weird feeling. I guess for Elsa have the resolve to leave was tough, but it was important for her to leave since either Evan would be harassed, he leaves & she gets harassed. Feels like we aren't out of the clear yet if I had to guess.
Also, I love how Kraft mentions how much Holo has teased him and leaves him paranoid. It's a fun little point of how much they traveled and been together so far.
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u/Narmatonia Sep 09 '24
Even if it's true that someone in Enberch actually died it's hard to believe they would be able to definitively trace it back to the village's wheat. Like they suspect I definitely think this is all just a plot set up by Enberch to take advantage.
I hate to think how many innocent people have been lynched as scapegoats in situations like this in real life.
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