Wolf and the Calm Before the Storm

Wolf and the Calm Before the Storm is the second episode of the second season of the Spice and Wolf anime.

Official Synopsis
"Hoping to learn more about the road ahead, Lawrence meets with an alchemist who is familiar with the region's folktales. Later, Lawrence grows uneasy when he notices how much time Holo is spending with a local merchant."

Plot
Lawrence receives mail belatedly warning him of the recent crash in the arms market. He offers the letters to Holo, who claims to not know how to read.

Instead of taking Holo to the festival as planned, Lawrence goes to learn more about Yoitsu by meeting fellow merchant Gi Batos in order to be introduced to Dian Rubens, a reclusive alchemist and chronicler. On the way, he encounters Amarty, who offers to show Holo around Kumersun for the day. Lawrence accepts, happy to have someone entertain Holo.

Batos brings Lawrence to Rubens. She tells Lawrence of a legend about the Moon-Hunting Bear that destroyed Yoitsu and also of a large wolf who visited the nearby town of Lenos and called herself Holo of Yoitsu. Lawrence gleans more clues about Yoitsu's location from the tale, and Rubens agrees to send more information if she finds it.

Afterwards, while sharing a drink with Marc Cole, Lawrence hears that rumors have started after Holo is spotted with Amarty. Marc warns that Amarty may compete for Holo's affections, and Lawrence cannot help but feel a twinge of jealousy.

However, though Holo returns drunk to Lawrence at the inn, once sober the next morning she appears unaffected by Amarty's gifts and sweet talk. She reveals how she misled Amarty by telling him that she travels with Lawrence because she owes him a large debt after he saved her. She also shows the fur muffler and pyrite cube that Amarty gave her.

Lawrence is annoyed at the prospect of repaying Amarty for the expensive gifts, but his attention shifts when Holo recounts how Amarty and a crowd of other festival-goers had haggled over pieces of pyrite, greatly inflating their price. Before Lawrence can consider the business prospects of this unexpected development, Marc's apprentice arrives with far more shocking news.