Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets The Wise Wolf – Season 1 Episode 9 Recap & Review

Sweet Honey and Bitter Armor

Episode 9 of Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets The Wise Wolf begins with Lawrence chatting with the same gentlemen (Jacob) from Ruvinheigen’s trading house. Jacob shares critical details with Lawrence about Nora. He says merchants tend to avoid Nora because she’s affiliated with the Church. Then, Jacob asks Lawrence about the certificate he’s working on for him. 

Lawrence says it’s for the Remerio Trading Company (RTC). Jacob hands Lawrence the certificate and tells him the Rowen Merchant Association (RMA) is under Saint Lambardos’s protection. Lawrence promises to purchase alcohol for Jacob when he completes his upcoming deal. Next, Lawrence regroups with Holo and goes for a stroll with her. Before they arrive, Holo informs Lawrence that she overheard his conversation with Jacob. 

Holo’s not happy with Lawrence and Jacob’s words about her being a “mere investment.” Lawrence tells Holo that he didn’t mean it in a crude way and Holo thanks Lawrence for responding sincerely. Next, Holo asks Lawrence to show her his sincerity by purchasing something for her. The two get into a back-and-forth tease-fest, hold hands, and head off somewhere. 

Next, we see Nora greeting the Church’s priest. She asks him if she can take the sheep to a safer location and the priest allows her to do so. Later, Lawrence and Holo discuss Lawrence’s cheery mood, the concept of debt, and Lawrence’s plans to sell goods to RTC. The two arrive at the RTC and Holo senses something is amiss. 

Lawrence and Holo enter the building and speak with one of the officials there. Lawrence asks the official several questions and senses that now isn’t a good time to negotiate deals. Before Lawrence and Holo depart, the official stops Lawrence. He informs Lawrence that Latparron Trading Company (LTC) told him Lawrence would arrive here to sell armor. 

The official says LTC transferred Lawrence’s debt to the RTC. Next, the official says the armor Lawrence purchased from RTC is worthless because its prices have decreased, meaning he owes the RTC a lot of money. The official tells Holo that Lawrence is officially broke and Lawrence realizes he’s been played. Next, Lawrence speaks with Mr. Remerio, the head of the RTC. 

Remerio tells Lawrence he must pay a certain amount of money, otherwise, bad things will happen to Lawrence. Lawrence accepts and Remerio tells Lawrence he has two days to conquer this payment deadline. Lawrence ensures him he’ll get the job done, no matter what. Lawrence regroups with Holo and fills her in on their unfortunate circumstances. 

Lawrence says they can’t flee and must tackle this situation another way. Holo promises to help Lawrence conquer this dilemma and Lawrence reminds Holo that he still plans to take her to the North. However, Lawrence tells Holo that there may come a time when he needs her to rescue him. Lawrence tells Holo that he wants her to wait at the Inn. He plans to visit the RMA to see if he can acquire assistance.

Holo convinces Lawrence to bring her with him despite him being against the idea. Lawrence and Holo visit Jacob and Lawrence explains who Holo is to him. Then, Jacob and Lawrence discuss the LTC and RTC debacle. Lawrence admits he got greedy and should’ve been more careful with the LTC deal. Jacob says the RMA would help Lawrence if his situation involved “robbery, sickness, or injury.” 

However, he understands Lawrence’s case doesn’t involve that. Jacob has Lawrence confirm what will happen if Lawrence fails to complete this deadline. He doesn’t want Lawrence to endure harsh labor work but argues sins must be punished. Jacob promises Lawrence he’ll offer Lawrence support and doesn’t plan to detain him immediately. 

He wishes Lawrence the best and reminds him that some businesses have loopholes. Lawrence promises to repay the money and departs from the RMA with Holo. During Holo and Lawrence’s stroll, Lawrence says he plans to tackle this debt by paying it with another debt. Lawrence visits another location and asks that place’s official for cash. The official says their business is tight on money. 

Lawrence tries other locations but they don’t offer him anything. Eventually, Lawrence finds a location that’s willing to give him money. Unfortunately, the man denies giving Lawrence any wealth. He doesn’t like that Lawrence is begging for money while accompanied by a woman. Lawrence leaves and Holo tries comforting him. Lawrence blames Holo for his hardships and Holo departs to the Inn upset. 

The episode closes with Lawrence grieving. 

The Episode Review

Sometimes life can throw annoying, unexpected curve balls your way to shatter your goals. While all seemed well for Lawrence and Holo, their journey, once again, found a way to throw a meddlesome setback their way. Many people suffer from debt and it can be a difficult problem to resolve. This episode tackles that issue remarkably. Although Lawrence is a skilled merchant, it was soul-crushing seeing multiple shops decline him a loan. 

At first, many will take the final gentleman’s remarks as puzzling and crude. However, from that man’s perspective, having a woman accompany a gentleman, during this era, will make anyone assume Lawrence wasted his cash on getting her flavorful goods instead of using it toward important matters. That said, it makes Lawrence’s brief outburst toward Holo more impactful. 

Those concepts aside, Holo and Lawrence’s segments together remain genuine and heartfelt. From their usual banter to the way they comfort each other, this story’s done a nice job of helping audiences gravitate toward this wolf and human duo. Hopefully, Holo and Lawrence can make a significant comeback next week. We predict Lawrence will visit Nora to see if she can assist him since the previous episode set up their seemingly close connection.  

All in all, this was an emotional, relatable, and interesting episode of Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets The Wise Wolf.