Wolf and a New Beginning



Wolf and a New Beginning is the thirteenth and final episode of the first season of Spice and Wolf.

Plot
Lawrence burns the ropes binding him and reunites with Holo. She refuses to tell him what she did to placate the wolves' wrath, and then chides him again for being too nice and protecting her clothes instead of running away on his own. After being told of Liebert's betrayal, Holo changes into her true form. With Lawrence riding on her back, she catches up with their betrayers and Nora, who is still oblivious about the betrayal and their plan to murder her. Holo routs the men and captures Liebert, who reveals that Remerio betrayed them at the very beginning because the payout for the three would be too much.

After punching his lights out, Lawrence tells Nora that he will entrust the gold to her and it is her decision to whether to continue with the plan or not. They could run with the gold and split it between the three of them as their reward, but it would be the end of Remerio Company, and its employees and their families would likely suffer for it. That would make the three targets and start a cycle of revenge that would never end. There is also the fact that without Hans Remerio's cooperation there would have been no gold in the first place. If they take it into Ruvenheigen the payout will be worth ten times more, more than enough for themselves and save Remerio Company. They will meet with her at the east gate at dawn if she continues with it.

As they make their own way back to Ruvenheigen, Holo asks Lawrence to tell her everything, recognizing that something was off. He reveals that when he retrieved the gold, he saw it was only worth 100 Lumione gold coins, one-sixth of the intended 600 Lumione worth that was agreed upon; it was likely the most that Remerio Company could come up with. Just from that, it's easy to tell how bad things are, and how desperate Remerio was to agree to the entire scheme. If they just split it with Nora, there would only be enough to cover his debts and no profit, and if they smuggle it, it is worth 1000 Lumione, just enough to save Remerio Company.

Lawrence goes back to Hans Remerio and extorts him to buy the gold from them for 500 Lumione over a period of ten years (with 1/10th, 50 coins, as interest), and write out a contract of bond for it with Rowen Trading Guild as the creditor. Thus, Remerio Company gets the smuggled gold for the immediate incoming sale of 1000 Lumione, creating seed money to save the company from bankruptcy. Lawrence in turn will have his guild conveniently deal with the contract obligations for the ten years, while being able to cash in the contract immediately with them to cover his debts (including Nora's 20 Lumione payout) and make a tidy profit. After reassuring Holo of his devotion and seeing Nora and Enek off as they leave the city for good, Lawrence continues on his journey with her.