01x02 - Mischievous Wolf and No Laughing Matter

[bunniefuu]

-I take it that you slept well.

-Yes.

These pelts are so warm.

There was a flea.

Well, your fur is

of the best quality, after all.

For them, it's the perfect nest.

You recognize the beauty in my tail, huh?

You must have a good eye.

Well, I like to think so.

I am quite proud of my white-tipped tail.

And my pointy ears as well.

My ears capture the sound of

any kind of calamity and lie.

I've saved many friends

from danger that way.

When they talk about

Holo the Proud Wisewolf of Yoitsu,

they are talking about none other than me.

What is your amazing nose

able to sniff out?

-You should hurry.

-What's wrong?

It will rain soon.

Huh?

ORIGINAL STORY BY ISUNA HASEKURA

We are grateful for God's mercy.

And your companion is

She's my wife.

She has a burn scar on her face,

so she's always like this.

I see.

I will check on my cargo

before going to the room.

The cold rain is cooling down my burn.

Your pelts were okay, right?

Those marten pelts are of

such great quality.

There might be someone like me

who is blessing the mountain

where those martens lived.

Will they?

-Will they sell for a good price?

-I don't know.

I am not a fur trader.

That reminds me,

what should I do with the wheat?

What do you mean?

Do you want me to thresh it

or leave it as is?

That is, if you really are

"inside the wheat" as you proclaim.

As long as I'm alive,

that wheat will not rot or wither.

If it is eaten, burned,

or ground up and mixed with soil,

I might disappear though.

But threshing it

and storing it should be fine.

Then I'll take the grains

and put them in a bag or something later.

I assume you want to keep it yourself.

That'll be great. It'll be even better

if I can wear it around my neck.

I want to keep some of the wheat,

but is that all right?

I want to sell it in another land.

Many crops are only fruitful when

they are grown in their natural habitat.

I bet it'll just wither and die.

It'll be a waste of your time.

You still smell,

even after the rain washed you.

What?

You're a pretty handsome man.

So spruce yourself up more.

I take care of myself enough so that it

doesn't affect my business negotiations.

Well, I agree that your beard looks good.

Really? So you recognize

the beauty in this beard, huh?

But I like them to be a little longer.

Like this.

Let's go to the hall and dry our clothes.

I'm sure the fireplace is lit.

There will be other people

by the fireplace.

Don't let anything slip.

I am Holo the Wisewolf.

I used to travel in this form

all the time.

You can rest assured.

But I would never think

of covering my face because of a burn.

Really? Then what would you do?

A burn would be the same

as my tail and ears.

I would view it

as a one-of-a-kind trademark.

I see.

So you came from Yorenz?

Yes. I acquired salt from there,

delivered it to another village,

then purchased some marten pelts.

But isn't it laborious

to return to Yorenz from here again?

As a merchant,

I use a trick so I don't have to return.

How interesting.

When I bought salt

from a trading company in Yorenz,

I didn't pay money there.

That's because I had sold

wheat of equal value

to one of their branches in another town.

In exchange for not charging for

the wheat, I didn't pay for the salt.

We ended up fulfilling two transactions

without the use of money.

Well, that is

a very interesting situation.

This system is called

an exchange transaction.

It was invented by merchants

who do

business with people from various regions.

I own a vineyard

in a place called Perenzo,

but I've never done a transaction

using such a bizarre system.

Should I know about this?

You'll be fine.

If you're a lord governing

a land with a vineyard,

you just have to make sure you don't

get ripped off by companies.

We have an argument over that every year.

You said your name was Lawrence, right?

If you ever come to Perenzo next time,

please stop by our house.

You are always welcome.

Yes, I will.

Well then,

it seems like my wife is a bit tired.

We'll be leaving now.

Until next time.

May God be with you.

You are quite the man, aren't you?

I'm just a typical merchant.

No!

I was eyeing that couple myself,

but I couldn't find a good segue.

But you did it with such ease!

When I was a rookie, all merchants

seemed superhuman to me too.

More than half of them are

superhuman even now, so good luck.

That's reassuring to hear.

My name is Zheren.

I'm a rookie merchant.

I'm Lawrence.

Are you two together?

She's Holo, my wife.

You're working as a couple?

You must treasure her a lot,

seeing how you're hiding her

under a cloak.

It must be God's will that we met here.

So may I have a peek?

The best part of a trip

is the excitement before it starts,

the scariest part of a dog is its bark,

and the most beautiful side of a woman

is her back view.

Carelessly revealing what is hidden

may end up crushing dreams.

I wouldn't want to do something like that.

Wow, your wife sure is something.

I'm doing my best

to wear the pants in the family.

It must be God's will that

I was able to meet you two.

What do you say?

Would you be willing to hear me out?

It smells amazing!

Boiled potatoes and goat's cheese!

Wait a second.

Huh?

Is that wheat?

I added a leather string

so you can wear it around your neck.

That's so helpful.

However

-This takes priority.

-Wait a second!

Again?

The wheat pouch, leather string,

potatoes topped with goat's cheese,

and donations to the church

all cost a lot.

And you even took my best outfit.

I will have you pay all of it back.

-Are you done now?

-Yes.

Vegetables that humans grow

are even more delicious than nuts.

I like their idea of cooking them too.

The human throat is so narrow, as always.

It's so inconvenient!

Compared to a wolf,

who swallows things whole.

Well, that's because

we don't have cheeks.

We can't be biting everything

into small pieces.

But I have choked on potatoes

in the past too.

We may not be compatible.

By the way, weren't you saying

that your ears can distinguish lies?

Yeah, somewhat.

How well?

Well, I can tell that you complimented

my tail even though

you didn't really mean it.

It's not 100% accurate though.

It's up to you,

whether or not you believe me.

Well then, let me ask what you thought

about that kid's story.

Kid?

The one who talked to us

in the room with the fireplace.

From my perspective, both of you are kids.

But I guess you are

a little bit more mature.

That kid's story, huh?

The thing is,

rumor has it that they're minting a new

version of an existing silver coin

and raising

the percentage of silver content.

Really?

Since it is going to be

the same silver coin,

the new coin

will have the same value as the old one.

But if you change it to another currency,

it will have more value

than the current silver coin.

-Which means

-Which means

If we stock up on

the current silver coin now,

and exchange them for

the new silver coin once it's out,

we can profit from the difference.

As expected, you catch on so quickly.

What do you say?

If I tell you

what silver coin it's going to be,

will you give me

a share of the profit that you will make?

I think that kid is lying.

I don't know exactly

what part of it is a lie, though.

I see.

Speculating in currency is not uncommon.

It's just

You don't know

his reason for lying, right?

When it comes to lies,

the lie itself is not important.

What's important is the situation

and reason behind the lie.

Right

It took me years to learn that.

Don't let that get to you.

In my eyes, you are just a kid as well.

But what would you have done

if I wasn't here?

If I was alone?

I'd hold off on deciding

whether it's true or false,

and pretend to accept

Zheren's offer for the time being.

Why is that?

If it's true,

I can make a profit as planned.

If it's false, that means someone

is plotting something.

In those cases,

if you investigate carefully,

it usually leads to

another profitable opportunity.

What would you have done

if I told you that his story was a lie?

Then I

It was never up for debate

in the first place.

Either way,

you're going to pretend to accept it.

This leftover potato is mine, right?

I am Holo the Wisewolf.

You don't even know how long I've lived.

I pray that my husband

can have nerves of steel.

Jeez, what have you been doing

this morning?

I woke up early,

so I went to listen to their sermon.

You're interested in that stuff?

It's fun to listen to once in a while.

My goodness, they've become

quite important, haven't they?

The church has always been self-important.

Not really.

When I first came here from the north,

they weren't like that.

They didn't used to say

such grandiose things like,

"The one-and-only God created the world

and humans are just borrowing that world."

Nature isn't something that

someone can just make.

I seriously wondered, "Since when

did the church start writing comedy?"

Times have changed, I guess.

At this rate, things must be

completely different now

Have you changed yourself?

Then I'm sure your hometown

hasn't changed either.

I can't call myself a Wisewolf

if I need to be comforted by you.

Come on!

Hurry up! What are you doing?

I see! So you're going to accept my offer?

But I can't pay in advance.

I can't do anything

until I sell my pelts, after all.

Then let's regroup at the port town Pazzio

and make an official contract then.

Once you get to Pazzio,

please come to a bar called Yorrend.

They'll get in contact with me.

Yorrend, right?

Yes. Well then, see you there.

Take care!

You're not going together?

The road is muddy.

Walking will be faster

than going by wagon.

I'm not going to slow him down

by making him go with us.

I see.

Merchants sure are strict about time.

As they say, "Time is money."

What an interesting phrase.

"Time is money," huh?

The farmers you've been

observing for centuries

are conscious about time too, aren't they?

Have you really seen them?

They're not conscious about time,

they're conscious about the air.

-I don't get it.

-Listen

They wake up with the morning air

and pull weeds in the afternoon air.

They welcome budding plants

in the spring air

and watch their growth in the summer air.

They celebrate their harvest

in the autumn air

and long for spring in the winter air.

They don't care about time.

And neither do I.

You seem to be smart,

but you lack experience.

In other words, you will turn out to be

a great person once you mature.

How many centuries will that take?

You sure are witty.

Are you sure you're not just

losing your wits from old age?

Do you know why wolves attack humans?

No.

It's because we want to eat human brains

and acquire their power.

You are still a fledgling.

You're no match for me yet.

Have you never been

attacked by a wolf before?

I have. About eight times.

-They're formidable, aren't they?

-Yeah.

We somehow dealt with

the pack of wild dogs, but the wolves

were formidable.

That's because they have

eaten humans and acquired

Please, stop!

I'm sorry I said you were

losing your wits.

So please

stop.

I'm sorry.

-Are you mad?

-I am.

So please

don't joke about that ever again.

Let's spend the night

somewhere over there.

Wolves have only lived in the forest,

while dogs have lived with humans.

That is what makes wolves

more formidable than dogs.

Wolves only know humans as hunters.

We fear humans.

That's why we think carefully

about how we should act

when humans enter the forest.

Have you also

Even I have things

that I don't want to answer.

I'm sorry.

Now we're even, huh?

The worlds we've lived in

are so different, aren't they?

Next time,

"The Port Town and Sweet Temptation."