Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets The Wise Wolf – Season 1 Episode 21 Recap & Review

Pagan Village and Priest’s Contract

Episode 21 of Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets The Wise Wolf begins with Holo and Lawrence visiting a tavern in Tereo Village. The tavern guests praise the tavern’s mistress Lima while drinking with Lawrence. Lima greets Lawrence and his friends and shares a tale with them. The short story involves Lima, a Count, and several pirates. 

After that, Lima departs. Lawrence chats with his tavern buddies. Lawrence brings up the village’s blessings and his buddies stop laughing. One of the men tells Lawrence they owe Father Franz a lot. However, this man argues it’d be unwise for him and others to disobey Lord Truyeo. Truyeo is this village’s deity who grants them bountiful harvests.

Lawrence wonders if Truyeo is a wolf god, but another man tells Lawrence he’s a snake god. Then, the men inform Lawrence about an allegedly cursed cave near Enberch Town. The men discuss other topics with Lawrence including a church-building deal that involved Truyeo and punitive taxes. 

The men ask Lawrence if he knows anyone with great power in the Church. They want Lawrence to coerce this Church person to stop Enberch for them. Before matters get hasty, Lima stops the man from coercing Lawrence. Lima says she wants her customers to be happy and to spread the good word about Tereo’s people in other towns.

Lima tells Lawrence Holo’s knocked out from drinking too much. Lawrence tells Lima he’ll take Holo to the inn with him. Holo and Lawrence arrive at the inn and the innkeeper hands them fruits to help Holo cope with her hangover. Lawrence wakes up the next morning and Holo tells him she doesn’t like the fruits. 

While Holo rests, Lawrence wonders how Tereo’s villagers make money and discusses the Church’s miracles. Then, Lawrence spots Evan departing from Tereo’s Church. Lawrence tells Holo he’s leaving to obtain intel about the abbey they’re searching for. Lawrence visits Evan at his mill and Evan promises to turn his wheat into flour. 

While Evan does his thing, Lawrence shares his grievances with Evan about his past tax collector job. Then, Evan shares more intel about Enberch and Tereo’s connection. Evan discusses Tereo and Enberch’s shared terms. Lawrence learns this was Franz’s doing. After that, the two discuss Elsa and Evan’s relationship. 

Evan says Elsa’s a kind person who looked up to Franz before he passed away. Evan wants to support Elsa because she supports him with shelter and care. Then, Evan slips up about Elsa resolving a long-standing issue. He doesn’t elaborate on what that issue is. Lawrence returns to the inn and asks Holo if they should give up on finding the abbey. 

Lawrence isn’t comfortable with this village and lists why they should abandon their information-gathering scheme. After that, Lawrence tells Holo what her goals are. He lists several goals and Holo doesn’t deny either of them. Holo whispers something into Lawrence’s ear. She hopes everything turns out well for him. 

The episode ends with Holo suggesting they go out to eat.

The Episode Review

As with other places our duo visited, Tereo Village is just as shady as them. Withholding information would make any traveler uncomfortable. The episode did a nice job of making viewers feel that way through Lima’s hasty actions and Evan’s slip-up. Hopefully, Lawrence and Holo will find a way to protect each other during their secret investigation. 

On that note, this episode gives fans enjoyable developments with Holo and Lawrence’s relationship. The two have come a long way since their first carriage encounter and it’s always a delight seeing Holo tease Lawrence or vice-versa. I’m interested to see what’ll become of their relationship if they ever reach their desired destination. 

Moreover, the episode gives viewers some interesting lore about other deities. It’d be exciting to see one of these entities appear soon as it’d make the show’s fantasy aspects pop more.

But all in all, this was an enjoyable outing of Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets The Wise Wolf. It has some pacing issues. However, it remains a satisfyingly mysterious, romantic, and business-savvy endeavor.