Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf — A Lesson on Currency Economics

2 weeks ago

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Highlights

Holo’s business tricks impress even seasoned traders in episode 3 of Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf on Crunchyroll.
The upselling of fur pelts sparks a debate on whether it’s a merchant’s strategy or a scam in the latest episode.
Currency manipulation and economic intricacies take center stage as Lawrence uncovers a potential scam in the market.

Warning: The following contains spoilers for Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf, Episode 3, “Port Town and Sweet Temptation,” now streaming on Crunchyroll.

With Lawrence and Holo’s partnership becoming more concrete with each passing day, their merchant adventures are also shaping into some serious money-making endeavors. As the two follow through with their previous commitment to the currency exchange deal, Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf sheds light on a few business tricks, enlightening viewers with some intriguing trading insights.

The series is slowly getting in touch with its economic side as the premise seems to be doubling down on its business elements. The methods medieval countries used for currency valuation and exchange, coupled with ways to barter more money, are the highlight of the latest episode, though this is merely the beginning of Holo and Lawrence’s financial pursuits.

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The Ways of a Merchant

Heading to the town of Pazzio, Lawrence’s first goal is to sell his fur pelts at Milone Trading Company for a profit. As a seasoned merchant, Lawrence knows the ins and outs of conducting business, which is how he lands a decent price of 140 Trenni silver Coins for seventy fur pelts. While his method was flawlessly executed, Holo upsells the fur pelts further, leaving even an experienced trader such as Lawrence in awe.

By claiming that the fur pelts belong to martens that fed on rich fruits, coupled with a demonstration of their strength and fruit-like scent, Holo was able to back the buyer in a corner. By upselling the product, she was able to bag a total of 210 Trenni silver coins, all while leaving the other party satisfied with the transaction.

A Merchant’s Strategy or a Scam?

While Holo was able to finesse the buyer by upselling the fur pelts for half of the original price, the wise wolf has truly proven her centuries’ worth of wisdom. However, the entire transaction might also seem akin to a scam, since the fur pelts were only scented due to the aroma of apples seeping into the pelts. This essentially means that Holo lied to the trader to get a better price, which isn’t too far from a scam in business terms.

A true professional would be impressed at being beaten.

However, the matter isn’t exactly black and white, as Holo claims that such methods exist in business, and those that are angered by falling for them won’t make it that far in the field. Instead, she believes a merchant would be impressed to know a method like that exists. While the entire transaction can’t be ruled out as a scam since the pelts were of high quality, the scenario goes to show the cunning side of being a merchant, even alluding to modern methods of conducting business.

The Value of a Currency

With Spice and Wolf currently focusing on the currency exchange deal that Lawrence has set up with Zheren, the current episode revolves around the silver coins dominating the market and the regulation of their value. While Lawrence assumes that Holo is unaware of the workings of these economic intricacies, she showcases her knowledge of the matter and reveals that she is rather quick to catch on.

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With the two visiting a currency trader to confirm if the newer Trenni coins have a lower percentage of silver, they come across a peculiar acquaintance of Lawrence named Weisz. To him, the concentration of silver in the coins seems to be the same, but the wise wolf’s ears aren’t easy to deceive. While the trader was actually stating what he believed, the sound of the coins seemed duller to Holo, revealing the use of a lower silver concentration. With this revelation, Lawrence realizes he has been duped by Zheren, though it also opens up an entirely new avenue of business for him.

A Shift in Perspective

After Lawrence realizes that Zheren’s information regarding the new coins with higher silver is false, he accepts that he has been tricked. However, Holo the wise wolf gives him some advice, telling him to broaden his perspective and shift his focus on the matter. Putting together the rumors of a coin with more silver and Holo finding out newer coins have less silver, Lawrence has a sudden epiphany regarding the entire matter. He is able to discern that more parties are involved, and a case of currency manipulation could be at play.

There are times we wolves climb up a tree when hunting prey. We change our perspective. The forest looks different atop a tree.

While it was never revealed what Lawrence plans to do with this information, he decides to head out to the Milone Trading Company. This could mean that he plans on letting the trading company in on the events, leveraging their influence and size to counteract the scam at large. Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf delves deep into the concept of how mere traders can affect currency values, presenting an interesting narrative that revolves merely around business economics.