Spice & Wolf Omnibus

by Isuna Hasekura

  The town was largely structured and built around money, and merchants were specialists at reading how money flowed.

  If he was going to set up a store here, he first needed a better grasp of that.

  “Well, come with me.”

  Lawrence took Holo’s hand and stood up, walking forward at a light pace.

  Having confirmed its whereabouts when he had toured the artisans’ district, Lawrence went straight for where the money changers were lined up. Perhaps because there were no waterways in this town or perhaps because they did not follow southern customs in the matter, the money changers here did not conduct business on top of a bridge.

  Also, since their stores were not set up like those of other towns, they sat atop long-lasting matting spread at the roadside as they plied their trade.

  “Changing money once again?”

  Holo asked that as she watched them with scales and weights in hand, working to the sound of the rattle of coins. Back at the inn, they still had a mountain of coins he had exchanged for in Lenos.

  “At any rate, it’s completely different from what we’d heard, so I have to question the prices in Lenos, too.”

  “What, you were fooled again?”

  In a place six days’ travel by wagon from any other, changing money, even with little information, was the most basic of basics. He had wanted to thoroughly teach her that, but the word again burned Lawrence enough to put extra force into his words.

  “Be quiet and come on.”

  Holo seemed happy for her part as Lawrence grumbled and took her hand.

  The money changer Lawrence selected out of the lineup looked like he had plenty of time on his hands.

  The other money changers were calling youngsters to run errands or hanging signs with words in various languages. However, only this one seemed to be taking his time, not doing anything in particular.

  Holo looked at Lawrence, her eyes asking him if this place was all right.

  Though it was best to choose someone with time on his hands when asking questions, he had one other reason. He surmised that this money changer did not advertise for customers because he did not need to; rather than new arrivals who did not know left from right in this town, his clients were no doubt those who had set up stores here.

  Thinking along those lines, his appearance of dozing off at the money changer’s table, chin in his hands, gave off an attitude saying, “I don’t need your business, you need mine.”

  “I’d like to do an exchange.”

  “Mm…”

  Sure enough, the middle-aged money changer, his chin still resting on his palms, looked up at Lawrence with bleary eyes. He glanced around at other money changers open for business; perhaps he meant to recommend them instead.

  “Whuaa… uuu…”

  And seemingly finding it tiresome, he stretched, his body making creaky noises here and there.

  He gave off an atmosphere better suited to the field of battle than a money changer.

  “Curses. Ah, pardon me. Bad speaking habits.”

  The line he spoke while steadily scratching his cheek was not what one would expect from most merchants.

  “So, changing money?”

  “Yes,” Lawrence said with a smiling face.

  The money changer looked between Lawrence’s and Holo’s faces unreservedly, raising one eyebrow a little.

  “You’re an odd one.”

  Surely he said that so bluntly because he did not think of Lawrence as a customer.

  “By… which you mean?”

  “Ahh, my mouth moved by itself again… I mean, there’s lots of other money changers. To come to someone with no one lined up like me, you sure that’s all right? You’re a merchant, right?”

  Lawrence laughed, not just because of the money changer’s manner of speaking, but that he had precisely hit the mark as intended.

  “Having a line in front of you doesn’t necessarily make for a good money changer.”

  The money changer pursed his lips, the vaguest hint of a smile coming to the surface.

  “That much is true.”

  “The ones in the lineups are all travelers, aren’t they?”

  They were those coming to town to buy or sell. Rather than specialized merchants, these were all peasants or others working away from home.

  “Mmm… good eye. Very troublesome, I tell you.”

  The money changer made a large yawn and mounted pans onto both stirrups of his scale.

  The money changer was obviously fond of his affectations, but Holo seemed to have taken a great liking to him. She made an amused grin beside Lawrence.

  “So, what are you changing into what?”

  “I want to exchange trenni silver pieces for something used often in this area.”

  As Lawrence spoke, the money changer’s hands stopped in the middle of their preparations.

  “Mm… mm…”

  His hands remaining still, the money changer looked over Lawrence from head to toe before putting the palm of his hand atop the money changer’s table, facing up.

  “Five lutes will be fine.”

  That was enough money for a small breakfast.

  Holo made a questioning sound but Lawrence calmly handed them over.

  But the fact he had asked for lute silver pieces told Lawrence much of what he wanted to know.

  “Where did you come here from?”

  “From Lenos.”

  As Lawrence replied, the money changer made a seemingly mischievous smile as he toyed with the lute silver coins in his hand.

  “When you exchanged there, they gave you a mountain of small coins didn’t they?”

  Holo looked up at him from the side, seeming to say, “You were fooled again.”

  “Yes. Fourteen different kinds.”

  “Ha-ha-ha. Well, they probably didn’t mean anything bad by it, but that’s a shame. You’d have been better off keeping your trenni silver pieces.”

  Lawrence had traded as far as what some called the Quiet Land, said to be the northernmost reach of human habitation. He thought he had a decent grasp of the circulation range of currencies, but trenni silver pieces being accepted here went against Lawrence’s notion of common sense.

  “But you’re not lining up in front of money changers with lineups because you wanna make sure of the purity of the coinage being traded, am I right?”

  The money changer spoke without the slightest restraint.

  Certainly, that was also his aim. Places at a money market with lineups might offer a better deal on the surface, but because there were people in line behind one, a person could not engage in proper scrutiny; indeed, people intentionally hurried a person along so that one could not.

  That is how one ended up with nothing but coins with the edges shaved and other inferior goods.

  If one thought they were dealing with a timid or inexperienced person, they could similarly hand over a batch of worthless coins without a care.

  However, Lawrence had one other reason for choosing this particular one.

  “There’s that as well, but your establishment’s clientele is mainly people from this town, yes?”

  As Lawrence asked, the money changer turned a broad smile toward him. Few money changers, earning profits by using their scales to measure coinage after coinage of uncertain value, gave off the aura of a gambler.

  “What’s the coin most trusted by the town’s merchants?”

  Like blood, coins held their value by continuing to circulate. When travelers used a coin to buy goods, the merchant had to use that coin to replace his stock. If the customer’s coin hails from a hostile nation, even if the merchant himself accepts it, there is every possibility the butcher who supplies his meat will not. If that is the case, the merchant must refuse to accept that coin.

  That was why, if a person knew what coin was trusted by a town’s merchants, they could largely understand which places a town did business with. And if one thought war was coming, they could even understand whic
h places would be invaded.

  If the Debau Company treated this town like a miniature garden, oddities via the money market should be apparent at a glance. Besides, if one was thinking of opening a shop, understanding where a town stood in relation to the world at large was a very important thing. That, too, was something he wanted to confirm.

  After all, even at the best of times, if one stood at the edge of the tangled world of coinage, dealing in a coin no one would accept, the world you lived in was small and cramped indeed.

  “Trenni silver pieces.”

  Then, the money changer carelessly tossed his words out.

  Trenni silver pieces were coins of the south more than here. Did this mean they truly intended to lay waste to the northlands?

  “Ha-ha. You’re surprised because you don’t know about the lumione gold piece market price, I take it?”

  “… Eh? The lumione gold piece?”

  No matter the place or the coins in use, the lumione was the mightiest gold coin in the world. Refusing to accept it was virtually unheard of. That was because, even if one was unaware of the glory of the kingdom for which it was named, once these exceptionally pure gold coins were piled upon the scales, glittering for all to see, even a child could understand.

  The price of a coin was a measure of its strength.

  If there were many ways to use it, everyone wanted it. If everyone wanted it, its price would rise.

  Here, where political power was fragmented and over a dozen coins were in use, the lumione gold piece, which would never lose its value, held power not unlike God himself.

  Moreover, if the Debau Company was plotting a war, it would be stockpiling provisions, making their prices rise. As the price of commodities rose, the prices of coins would fall.

  However, since one could just melt down high gold content lumione coins for the gold itself, they never lost much of their value.

  Lawrence tried a somewhat outlandish reply.

  “Forty trenni silver pieces.”

  “Twenty-seven pieces.”

  “Ha-ha.” Lawrence laughed and, after he laughed, asked back, “Huh?”

  “Twenty-seven pieces. Of course, you can’t convert them here. You should go to the exchange run by the Debau Company.

  “Line up twenty-seven trenni silver pieces, and they’ll cough up one lumione gold piece.”

  The money changer smirked as he watched Lawrence’s shock.

  “Where d’ya think this town is? Backyard of the Debau Company, running the biggest mining belt under the sun. A shame they can’t get gold straight out of the mountains, but tons of silver and copper come out. The folks from down south pay with shiny lumione gold pieces. That’s why gold coins are cheap here.”

  Gold coins are cheap.

  It was the first time in his life he had heard such words.

  Lawrence finally realized the money changer might be lying to him.

  He looked at Holo as she stood beside him. Holo gave him a curious look, crooking her neck slightly.

  “Er, but twenty-seven coins, that’s just…”

  “Haven’t you seen the market? Go buy a few things, and you’ll notice the difference between this and other towns.”

  The only thing he had bought had been the toast at that stall in the square.

  At the time, Lawrence had been so out of it that he had handed out the coins just like usual. No, that is exactly what Lawrence should have noticed; that the currencies he knew so well were in circulation as if a matter of course.

  “Most every merchant who comes here gets the same look you have. If you don’t believe me, just go to the market and buy something. They probably told you Praz copper coins were the easiest to use, right? But no one wants to accept a piece of garbage copper coin no one can use like that. It’ll cost you.”

  Certainly, when he had taken the copper coins out at the stall in the square, the owner had an unpleasant look on his face. When he added things up mentally, the price felt higher than the market value suggested.

  “Everyone wants to accept as good a coin as possible, even if it’s a coin from the south. That’s why this town gets called the northlands’ southern enclave. Not many know about it, though.”

  Lawrence felt dizzy.

  He was dizzy because it was not a snake emerging from the thicket, but a gold bar.

  “Miss. If you want him to buy you gold jewelry, I suggest you have him do it here.”

  While Lawrence stood in terror as the money changer spoke those words beside him, Holo said, “Oh ho,” and took hold of Lawrence’s arm.

  “Well, I’ve given you five lutes’ worth of information. Come again!” He showed a fine smile on his face as he pocketed the change.

  With Holo alongside him, Lawrence walked off in a hurry, barely staying on his feet.

  “Twenty-seven trenni pieces for a lumione.”

  Just as he immersed himself in thought to the point of nearly tripping…

  “Hark, you,” he heard Holo’s voice calling out.

  As Lawrence glanced over, he saw a rare, gentle smiling face on Holo.

  “You do not wish to pick another fight with me, do you?”

  He did not know if she was teasing, joking, or serious.

  Probably all three, he thought.

  On his travels with Holo, he came to know that trading was very simple, but a person’s heart was very complex.

  Holo was attacking on that front precisely because he was convinced it was simple.

  “… I do not.”

  “Then surely you have something you should do before wandering off by yourself?”

  Holo was grinning.

  Lawrence nodded, but added an “ah” as if he had meant to all along. “I don’t think arguing with you lately has been that bad, though.”

  Her ears made a fluttering sound under her hood.

  “Now you are getting it.”

  As she embraced him, there was no mistaking the small, charmingly voiced giggle she let slip.

  Even if one concealed that they were waging war, they could not conceal the effects when a person made purchases to prepare for war.

  To say nothing of the chaos that resulted in town when the coin they were using at the time can no longer be used as a result of war.

  That was why, given they were using trenni silver pieces and lumione gold pieces, Lawrence could picture them opposing the northlands with such confidence. Currency showed the foundation of one’s rule, which was why currencies bore the faces of kings and rulers on them; at the very least, coins circulated to the same extent as the lands one ruled. In other words, one could not use the currencies of the northlands when picking a fight with them.

  In spite of that, there had been no sense of accumulating supplies for a war at the coin market.

  “Indeed. ’Tis a strange tale if your explanation holds true. So what has made your eyes so bloodshot? Did you notice something about that company?”

  “No, that’s not it.”

  Holo stared blankly.

  No doubt she could not fathom a different reason for Lawrence to be so unsettled in that time and place.

  “You see…”

  Lawrence opened his mouth.

  “There’s no guarantee coins will hold the same value everywhere and no guarantee someone will accept it. The currencies reissued only a few times maintaining a stable value are few and far between. If word spread that the lumione gold piece, said to be the world’s mightiest coin, was being traded at unheard-of low prices, there’d be a huge uproar.”

  “But none seems especially concerned about it,” Holo said with an innocent, maidenly face.

  Lawrence had braced himself as he explained, but Holo having a reaction like that threw him off nonetheless. “N-not everyone in this world is a merchant, you know!”

  At his curt reply, Holo dandled like a little girl, smiling as she spoke. “Oh my, I have upset you. And? I want to know more about this, too.”

  Even though her words were transparen
t, her saying she wanted to know more about how he made a living did not feel bad at all. Holo made him realize how truly simple he was when standing before her.

  “… Well, even if the merchants realize it at the town’s markets, there’s no gain in making a fuss about it. It’s better to not tell a soul and quietly try to work out how to profit from it yourself.”

  There were no secrets at the coin market; the facts were there for the whole world to see. The only ones who profited greatly there were those with exceptional powers of observation and the lucky.

  “And? How does one profit from this?”

  Holo spoke to Lawrence as she glanced from one roadside stall to another. It seemed like Holo might be speaking to Lawrence purely to humor him, but there was no harm in thinking of a good way.

  “There are two ways to profit from it.”

  “Really.”

  “The first is to buy goods in this town.”

  “… Goods?”

  Around the time Holo asked back, the two of them had meandered their way to the marketplace.

  The stores were simple constructions with stakes rammed into the ground securing tents spread over thick matting. The town itself felt like a work in progress; buildings for their stores might simply not have been completed yet. Or perhaps this was local flavor, simple shops that could be wrapped up when the snows fell. A shop that was only a tent was easily deployable and just as easily put away; nor was there concern about fire.

  “So it is true… look, they’re unbelievably cheap.”

  No doubt the feeling was similar to finding a bandit’s treasure hidden deep in a cave somewhere.

  No matter what merchandise Lawrence saw lined on the shelves, they did not go for more than a few specks of gold.

  “It looks like the merchandise comes here from the artisans’ workshops in the area. See that well-made knife there? One and a half trenni silver pieces. In the mines’ backyard, iron must be cheap, and at that market, fuel must be cheap, too… Look there, that bucket, it’s huge and not one crack in it. You could probably kick it away and that wouldn’t even scratch it. You can get three of those for a third of a trenni silver piece; guilds in other towns would go pale in the face if they saw that. Hey, come here, look at this. This amount of pigskin matting… can’t believe it… wait, just bringing this to Lenos would…”