Spice and Wolf II

[Kraco]

The rebellion really came out of nowhere. I was trying to figure just who is going to cheat whom in the this three party deal - because like you said, that business meeting didn't seem to have overly much concrete matters on the table. Lastly the salt was also brought back, though I doubt nobody had forgotten it yet.

Bam! A rebellion and the city on fire (it's a damn big city, if you have a better look at the picture), so I imagine the deal must be off. It was all for nothing. And I don't mean all the business plans were all for nothing but trying to figure out just how somebody is going to free Lawrence of his assets this time.

Lawrence's hesitation with Horo is starting to piss me off. I guess it also goes the other way, but for Horo the situation is a bit different and apparently not the first time either. In that sense I'd consider it Lawrence's responsibility to forget everything else and dedicate himself to not losing Horo.

[David75]

The rebellion really came out of nowhere. I was trying to figure just who is going to cheat whom in the this three party deal - because like you said, that business meeting didn't seem to have overly much concrete matters on the table. Lastly the salt was also brought back, though I doubt nobody had forgotten it yet.

Bam! A rebellion and the city on fire (it's a damn big city, if you have a better look at the picture), so I imagine the deal must be off. It was all for nothing. And I don't mean all the business plans were all for nothing but trying to figure out just how somebody is going to free Lawrence of his assets this time.

Lawrence's hesitation with Horo is starting to piss me off. I guess it also goes the other way, but for Horo the situation is a bit different and apparently not the first time either. In that sense I'd consider it Lawrence's responsibility to forget everything else and dedicate himself to not losing Horo.

Regarding Lawrence and Horo speech, did anyone notice that Horo said she'd die with him?
"They say when you've tasted the poison, you might as well finish the plate.When that happens, I'll eat you up as well."

Or maybe that part of the dialogue was of no importance.

[Buffalobiian]

"They say when you've tasted the poison, you might as well finish the plate.When that happens, I'll eat you up as well."

I don't think that's what she means she'll die with him. He's talking about her eating everything he has (financially), so my take on the issue was that she says if she was to devour him, she'd devour it entirely, including his finances and him personally.

It still doesn't make too much sense. Translator notes would be useful for this series I think. Has anybody tried Frostii?

The rebellion came very suddenly, but there was adequate foreshadowing, I think. The entire city had a very tense feeling with all the less-than-friendly merchants waiting for a decision by the backdoor-dealing bureaucracy. It was only a matter of time before it snapped, given how one-sided the decision was.

What I want to see is how all this matters to their trading. The deal's obviously off, but Abe doesn't look like she's worried about a single lost opportunity. Perhaps their dealings will be seen as siding with the higher-ups and treated the same.

Regarding the sequence with the Garden, in Lawrence's vision, he was holding hands with Horo at the tree, rather than just being with the tree as if it was Horo. The analogy here is that he's happier just humbly being with Horo and watching over her than doing his actual job of being a merchant and pursuing his more ambitious dream of owning a store. Thinking about it that way ties in with his words that "humbler dreams are harder to achieve", since he's about to lose Horo, while owning a store at the time was just around the corner.

The entire table of merchants gave off such a crafty laugh I can't imagine anybody could trade with them without feeling like they were somehow being ripped off.

Following up Kraco's comment about the currency, I think it was the merchants showing off that they deal with enough money that they'd pay them with gold. Lesser merchants wouldn't bother with such large currencies because it would simply be too large. Being able to give out gold coins so casually indicates they deal with large trades that use big gold currencies all the time.

[Ryllharu]

What I want to see is how all this matters to their trading. The deal's obviously off, but Abe doesn't look like she's worried about a single lost opportunity. Perhaps their dealings will be seen as siding with the higher-ups and treated the same.

While I agree with your view of everything else you said, I did not see that exchange the same way. Abe was terrified. This was her chance to make a name for herself, and finally get the respect she believes she deserves, and obviously didn't get from the wealthy merchants at the meeting. Horo and Lawrence got a great deal more respect from the guild head.

Part of that is due to Abe's haughty and poor attitude. She's fallen nobility, and while Horo plays it quite well by acting gracefully, Abe acts like she is merely slumming with the rabble. She deserves better, she's had a hard life, she will overshadow her former buyer/husband.

This is everything she was hoping for, destroyed in a single moment. While she's playing angry, she's panicked and terrified.

This was going to be everything to her, just like losing the statue/salt deal was before this.