Summary:

Having received the letter with wolf hair inside from the Medio company, Marlhait realizes that they’re being presented with a threat to take Horo to the church. The problem is that even if they get her back, they’ll have problems with the church, and it’ll be hard for Lawrence and Horo not to get prosecuted no matter where they go. Lawrence, however, recognizes that the greatest benefit from the silver coins is in the privileges that they can get from the king since the royal family is financially pressed right now. Depending on the negotiation, one could use the coins to get mining rights, minting rights, tariff rights, and market management rights, and Lawrence proposes that they use these privileges as a negotiation card before Medio prosecutes. He thinks that Medio would be willing to buy those privileges from them, and if the church has its eye on them, then the king who has these dealings would also antagonize the church. In short, Medio won’t prosecute them because it wouldn’t want the king’s animosity, and so Milone can use Horo as a condition in a trade for the privileges. Lawrence also adds that he doesn’t think Medio has amassed many silver coins yet because of how they didn’t immediately turn Horo over to the church. He feels that Medio putting them in a difficult position shows a lack of confidence on the other side.

As for what Lawrence will do, he plans to take Horo back and to continue on running until the negotiations finish. When he asks Marlhait how long it’ll take to get enough silver coins to negotiate with the king, Lawrence is surprised to learn that the Milone company is ready to go right now because they can use an optimistic estimate. Marlhait is confident in the company’s negotiating ability and knows where Horo is being held. He feels that their emergency measures are perfect, but their one rival is the church which has reached an even larger number of towns and countries than they have. In any case, Lawrence has the Milone company’s help in getting back Horo, and it involves an elaborate plan that has him secretly entering the sewers and following a path until he’s below a warehouse. Lawrence waits past the agreed upon time, and right as he’s thinking about turning back because of how late it is, he hears someone say the secret word from above. After Lawrence confirms who he is with another secret word, Horo and a man jump down into the sewers. They then proceed to the rendezvous point and board the carriage waiting above ground.

As it turns out, Horo is actually quite pissed off at Lawrence because he didn’t personally come fight to get her, but he’s just glad that she’s safe. Horo then reveals that she met Chloe while being held in captivity, and Chloe had said that the era of them paying their respects to her was over. Chloe wanted to turn Horo in to the church so that they could put the old era behind them, and this all made Horo quite frustrated. She now starts crying, and after thinking about it for a moment, Lawrence points out that she’d have had to leave anyway to go North. He also considers the two of them as merchants – laughing when they get money and crying when they have none – and he thinks that they’ll be laughing. Horo feels better after hearing this, though she feels the need to make it clear that she would have cried even if it hadn’t been in front of him. Lawrence responds to this by claiming that he’s with her for the money, and it’s their job to stay on the run until the Milone company contacts them. Their carriage then arrives at the drop-off point, and Lawrence asks his drivers to tell Marlhait that Count Ehrendot is behind Medio before he and Horo escape down into the sewers again.

 
 
 

What stands out for me about this episode is how complex the discussion between Lawrence and Marlhait was in the first half of the episode. If you’re not paying close enough attention (which I wasn’t the first time I watched the episode), it’s easy to get lost amidst the talk of using the silver to bargain for privileges from the king that they can then use in negotiations. Some people might enjoy that sort of thing, but so far it hasn’t been appealing to me much. I’d rather see things like the developing dynamics of Horo and Lawrence’s relationship, as shown in the latter half of the episode. And as expected, it was Chloe who appeared in front of Horo, and though she had some harsh words, it’s not clear how much of an antagonist she’ll end up being (if at all). The church always seems more sinister, and this case is no exception. Having said that, I think it’ll be the Medio company that comes after Lawrence and Horo first, and that’ll probably result in the silent farewell hinted at in the title for next episode.

38 Comments

  1. Chloe is just jealous that she lost her man, or is losing her man to a half human half wolf demi-god like Horo. I mean come on, who didn’t look at that scene in episode 1 and think that chloe wanted it so bad in the barn that nighht.

    GP
  2. yes i know chloe is jealous, and i know it is reasonable for her to feel that way. But i still dislike her anyway (just my opinion though). But a witch hunt is likely to happen because the setting is medieval-liked…. and we might see a nina-clone in chloe which i dont want to see…

    mysterious
  3. OH NOOOO…the church always bitching around…even in the anime world!!!!
    The crusades came back to burn the evil indian……s….er…..the evil WOLVES!!

    :D( and yes I don´t have a religion…..THX GOD!! )

    Tensai Otaku
  4. You also have no idea what you’re talking about. The crusades took place in Europe between the 10th and 14th centuries… Spice and Wolf takes place more in the renaissance era (14th through 17th centuries). The church was obviously still a huge factor in peoples lives and was waging a sort of war against those with heretical thoughts, but it’s no longer the time of the crusades.

    Also, there were never crusades or witch hunts involving Indians (native americans). The only witch hunts that happened in the colonies were the Salem witch trials, and that was all inside of the community. Yes, many people viewed the native americans as savages or demonically posessed… but never as witches.

    And now you know~

    Koji
  5. Depends, you are being to general there Koji. The witch hunt went till 1750 in some countries. The last excecution was in 1793 in Poland.
    “sort of war against those with heretical thoughts”
    You know, we have that till today. Just that the methods changed.

    What Chloe etc. are doing isn’t really understandable. Not to mention it was Horo who brought them fortune. She only wants to leave and yet is being targeted , that’s just cheap.

  6. I still don’t understand how they found out about Horo. It’s not as if Lawrence was carrying around a sign “Travelling with Wolf Goddess” or anything and yet they picked her out so easily.

    bearzerger
  7. @whatever:
    Chloe just replaced another character from the novel, and so far the anime has been following the novel for the most part… except for all the stuff that were left out, of course.

    @bearzerger:
    Chloe got the idea when she heard the description of Horo from Zeren.

    I hope they don’t add in anything unnecessary between Lawrence and Chloe, such as Chloe being jealous (the character she replaced in the novel was a male 😛 ). Especially since next episode will be the last for this story arc(1-6 for novel one, 6-12 for novel two).

    Mike
  8. Hopefully it isn’t as simple as jealousy. Maybe Chloe’s just afraid of what might happen to Lawrence if he sticks around Horo for too long. Especially if the church manages to get their hands on the both of them.

    kalamunki
  9. if the church gets their hand on them, i so want to see horo turn into wolf and slow but painfully eat those church men, one by one. And more wolf o.O, in the OP there is a girl with a (dog /wolf), could it be there is another pair of wolf+ human in this anime other than horo+lawrence.

    mysterious
  10. well, unless they drastically change the role of Chloe’s character in the novel, then…

    (not too big of a spoiler)

    Show Spoiler ▼

    that being said, I’m looking forward to ep.6, and definitely 7. Nola

    Mike
  11. *Luis Inacio Lula da Silva

    Você também coça o cú só com 4 dedos??????E depois cheira???
    ( and you also scratch your ass with only 4 fingers(like president lula)????And smell it after?????

    *vexx

    you too got the idea HUM little felow…as I don´t remember because I don´t record the stupid things idiots say in this blog all the times…but….are you the zoophilia one?????That protected this stupid nonsense of a HUMAN fucking a WOLF been natural because of nordic or indian animal gods…..because if it was you my dear ZOO-BUDY I think it´s time for your to sell your SMALL collection of cats, dogs, turtles, hamsters, and your favorite ” PAL “( in portuguese this sounds like DICK in english ) the long head snake…and By that I don´t mean the HERO in metal gear 4!!!
    😀

    Tensai Otaku
  12. *vexx

    My sister has been using a nice shampoo for her dog here….I you wanna try it….but I doubt you´ll like it …..it´s called….
    ” NO MORE PETS ” ….ER…. I MEAN ” NO MORE PESTS ”
    :D( I just love my sarcasm !!!)

    Tensai Otaku
  13. Tensai Otaku

    I’m not sure your sarcasm is that clever. Don’t think its necessary to be insulting Vexx in regards to this. Obviously with only one sentient species on earth we haven’t had to deal with issues of relationships of that kind. Personally don’t think there is a big issue with Lawrence and Horo.

    If both are sentient beings then what is the issue here? Do we stop having relationship’s with other people because they are evolved monkeys? Horo is just a wolf who has developed to the sentient level. If your going to make a big deal of it there is no stopping you of course.

    Anyways a solid episode. Manage to get Horo rescued and some good moments between those two afterwards. Expecting the guy to charge in to her rescue and battle was a nice sentiment, but Lawrence is a merchant and has to do it his way.

    Looks like next week will have things being pretty serious. Can’t wait to see how it all turns out.

    FlareKnight
  14. Basically every post Tensai Otaku puts out just proves him a bigger fool and a waste of posting space — essentially one of the monkeys throwing poo into the waterhole. Most every one else is discussing the series rather than airing their personal demons for everyone to see. He doesn’t seem able to actually address what I said and meant so I’ll minimize any energy wasted on him. 🙂

    Lawrence’s method of rescue was classic merchant style: minimize the risk for maximum reward. The episode did an excellent job of portraying Horo’s complex response to Lawrence’s efforts. This is really turning out to be an excellent adaptation of the story so far.

    Somehow though I doubt this is the last of Chloe … they may alter enough of the plot going ahead to make her part of the series finale in some way.. or perhaps not. The novels are somewhat a collection of sequential stories: the merchant adventures of Horo and Lawrence.

    vexx
  15. Horo is cute in any kind of expression she brings out.She does jump around her moods a lot though. Judging by next’s weeks episode. I thought she would be the one that would leave..but I am not so sure myself…Can’t wait for next week!

    Dando008
  16. Since she’s a kami/diety — this show is a fantasy story. If its even addressed, they’ll probably have some of her powers and a bit of random as to tail/ears.

    She took on the form of a human young lady . One could assume all the parts work. The show’s angle in this area is purely romance – not practicalities. Though.. the old man driving their getaway cart had an eye for whats worth holding on to. 🙂

    vexx

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