The Theater of Haruhi Suzumiya - Novel 12

*MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*

Set in late November.

So for some reason all 5 members of the SOS Brigade are located in a medieval castles' throne room, with 'Haruhi the Hero' being asked by the king to 'vanquish the demon lord who has kidnapped the prince and princess'.

Is this a stage play, or an isekai? We the readers are not given an answer. However, Asahina is a mage, Kyon is a warrior (complete with armour and longsword), Koizumi a bard and Nagato a thief.

We readers are left to believe that everyone comes from their normal world. "My expertise with a sword was limited to some time with a wooden kendo sword in junior high gym class". So this is an isekai then?

Regardless, after negotiations with the king about a reward, it is decided that the boys and Nagato would carry chests full of gold coins.

They find the nearest pub to which Haruhi promptly orders 5 of everything 'on her', and pays for everyone's meals and drinks, starting a true party with the locals.

Kyon and Koizumi have a discussion in this pub. Neither can remember exactly what they are doing or how it came to be. It's like they are playing a game of some sort, and were simply sucked into it. Asahina suggests they were at an amusement park and went to a place where you pretend to role play. The boys call Yuki over and ask her. They didn't need to ask however, she simply states "simulation" but even she can't pinpoint how. It's like simulated space somehow.

Apparently there are end conditions to restore themselves to the real world, much like a game then; defeat the demon lord.

An old wise man comes into the pub and calls Haruhi the Hero as being a fool. He calls himself the 'Sage of the Forest', and will make sure the party will keep on track to defeat the demon lord, however he is shocked to find them still in town, and not halfway there already. Haruhi gives in, saying something like 'this was bound to happen anyway'.

This 'sage' takes them to their first trial. He leads them to the edge of a forest. They have to follow a footpath to a cave to reach a single treasure chest inside, of which contains a key to the demon lords castle. The sage tries to hold Haruhi back to explain something, but she just barges straight ahead, with the SOS Brigade following. They enter the cave and come across a huge dragon, and are instantly killed by its fire breath.

They then find themselves back with the sage at the edge of the forest, who explains that they have to carefully manoeuvre around the dragon without it noticing. Again, Haruhi doesn't listen and barges in again to everyone's death once more.

5 deaths later and Haruhi finally admits they need a plan.

The sage says he has an orb on his person which can help the dragon not to attack, but in order for him to give it to the brigade members, they first must go to another location to collect a herb to help with his ailing body. Haruhi promptly dismisses this idea and points a sword to his throat. Nagato takes the orb. In fact, the team then proceeds to take more of his possessions to help bypass other fetch quests.

Not too long later they are at the demon lords castle. Without a plan, both Kyon and Koizumi are worried, however Haruhi reveals her secret plan is to help Mikuru tap into her dormant mage powers. Mikuru herself is kinda reluctant, saying she doesn't wield powerful magic, however after some persuasion from Haruhi, she unleashes 2x of the most unbelievable spells ever known.

The Demon lords castle is obliterated. So is everything within a 20 mile radius. Nagato had to send everyone to a hill on the outskirts of the blast, in a fraction of a second.

The game world quickly changes and they all find themselves in space. Their objective to win the previous game is proven "incomplete".

They are on a space ship. A guy appearing at the console looks extremely like the king from the previous game world, and is saying to the brigade that they must 'save the universe and the Prince and Princess from space pirates'.

Haruhi agrees to save them "this time", meaning that was what they were supposed to have achieved last time, and simply forgot.

Kyon is the pilot, Haruhi is the captain (I mean, of course she is lol), Nagato is the navigator, Asahina is supposed to be Comms officer but is currently acting like a waitress, and Koizumi is copilot. They are all in uniform, and the girls are showing a lot of skin.

After following Haruhi's hunch, they travel to a part of space that probably has space pirates. After only an hour, they are caught in a tractor beam. They are surrounded by hundreds of ships.

They are hailed by a man that looks like the forest sage from the previous game. It becomes clear they turned up at the head of a fleet preparing for a sneak attack on another faction.

Haruhi works out that this enemy fleet has most probably kidnapped the royal children. The main ship uses a tractor beam to bring our heroes inside. Nagato hacks their computer to work out that they are indeed on the same ship as the missing royals.

Koizumi suggests Nagato should hack in to make the fleet obvious to other vessels, as they are due for a sneak attack, so by doing nothing other than turning off their jammers, other factions would be aware of the pending assault. He says that 'stealth units that have been revealed tend to be rather flimsy'.

Panic and chaos ensures. The guards that previously guarded their ship at the dock have run off. The SOS brigade go in search of the missing children, blasting their ray guns at any opposition along the way. They find the children and scramble back to the ship. They blast their way out the flagship doors and find a safe place in space to communicate to the emperor. The emperor is glad, but asks them to stay back in hiding whilst they obliterate the opposing side. Nagato reveals they actually rescued decoys; robots, so therefore they lost the game.

The scenery changes to the American Wild West. Haruhi blurts out their new mission; to rescue the rancher’s son and his bride from outlaws. She is facing a quick-draw duel in a rather typical Western fashion. We do a quick time skip to just before this happens where the Sage is now the mayor, talking to our heroes. Kyon and Koizumi are deputies, and the girls are a well known bounty hunter trio called the 'SOS Brigade', a natural fitting name for it for once. lol. The Sage/mayor requests Haruhi go stand in for him in a duel with the local opposition, over land ownership arguments where tempers have risen to the point of gun fights.

The time skip catches up to the present, however Nagato swaps out realistic western buildings for an indoor soundstage, where everything is a prop for a film, and makes the ceiling lights fall down.

From here on out things start being noticeable to be less about video games and more about movies / TV shows. A car smashes its way into the indoor western themed soundstage to kidnap the actors that were the rancher’s son and his bride, and another car comes along just behind (with no driver). They take this cue that they are supposed to give chase, so the mayor takes the wheel and Haruhi sits up front, with the others squished in the back seats.

Everything now plays out like a black and white gangster movie, set in the prohibition times. They have to go to a speakeasy and play poker to gain access to the kidnapped duo. Naturally the gangsters want to cheat, but Nagato changes into her witches costume and uses her wand to swap the cards around. The gangsters call foul play, but then the cops arrive. The SOS Brigade flee from a back exit whilst the gangsters and coppers have a gun fight. They jump in the getaway car and speed off, again with the sage or whatever, doing the driving.

The setting changes again, and now they are in a 17th century English setting, and the car replaced by horse drawn carriage. The girls are all dressed very fine and dainty, and the boys dressed in something you would wear to a wedding. The sage is driving up front.

Turns out they are tasked with preventing the assassination of a young king and queen. They stop the attack but get caught up in the explosion, only to find themselves in Europe during the Second World War. The new task is like Mission Impossible to capture an Enigma machine, so they go from Dover through occupied France, to Berlin. They manage to steal the code machine and sneak onto an American submarine under cover of night in Calais, but a German destroyer sinks it but they get away by rowing in a rubber dinghy with the destroyer up in flames.

They pass out to arrive in a police drama setting, where a serial bomber leaves them with riddles to solve, and they have to disarm ticking bombs. Next is an Heian-era setting with nobles locked in a nasty courtroom power struggle, to which Kyon mentions its worthwhile to see the girls in their twelve-layer kimonos. After this they are vampire hunters, invading a vampire’s lair. Then after this cleaning berserk robots out of a post-apocalyptic ruin, then after this an Arabian Nights setting, stealing a lamp, then an Edo-era zombie story, then another submarine for a "nerve-racking deal involving nuclear missiles", then on a failed mission to turn Jupiter into a sun, then escape from a labyrinthine death game, then time travelling back to fight dinosaurs, and on and on and Ariston.

After another bad ending, they are now the Pirates of the Caribbean, looting ships for treasure with a packed crew of NPCs as well as the SOS Brigade. Eventually on a quiet but sweltering day out in the calm ocean, Kyon, Koizumi and Nagato are trying to work out what on earth is going on with their lives, whilst fishing. Why is it every time they remember they are not of this world, their memories become hazy?

They try and work out if they are the real versions of themselves, or more simply digital copies somehow placed into an ever changing computer programme of some sort. Logic would dictate that the only real people in any of these worlds are the members of the SOS Brigade, whilst everyone else are NPCs.

Maybe their real world bodies are lying in beds, all connecting their brains up to a machine? But why?

Nagato says it's not the Data Overmind doing this, as it doesn't seem likely. Regardless, her link is severed. Kyon notices its the first time in a long time that Nagato uses body language to convey her thoughts and feelings whilst being questioned. Her answer is this: "We are not on a computer server. We are not data in any sort of mechanical memory conduit. We are quantum information in a data space".

Explanation becomes too complex, but essentially they are the real versions of themselves, whilst the real, real world versions of themselves are living their normal lives simultaneously. They are stuck on a different plane of existence, against their will, and are being observed when put under different tasks to achieve. The user only has a short grasp of life on earth, mostly data collected from Movies, TV shows and video games it seems. Nagato is playing along trying to figure out how to escape.

Nagato explains her cognitive functions are being restricted with something occupying her processing powers. Every time she tries to overclock herself to work things out, she breaks down. Kyon prods her further and she says she wore a witches outfit in the prohibition world because she felt they had made a movie in the real world. This causes her to crash like a blue screen of death. Kyon instantly regrets probing her and vows not to do so again.

The Spanish Armada arrives to blow them out the water so they forget about their little chat. Nagato comes back to her senses and they naturally forget everything they just talked about.

After the battle, Kyon notices a piece of paper in his pocket, with Nagato's straight handwriting which reads "Remember me".

Fog covers everything and they find themselves in a new world, one of which based on both Roman and Greek mythology simultaneously.

The 3 girls of the SOS Brigade are now goddesses. The boat has now changed to an ancient trireme which has loads of oars to help steer the ship.

Haruhi is Goddess Hera (wife of Zeus), Asahina is Goddess Aphrodite (goddess of beauty) and Nagato is Goddess Athena (goddess of wisdom).

They land ashore of Troy, and are escorted to an amphitheatre. The three goddesses are escorted to their own seats, with Haruhi's throne being centred and laden in gold and lilies. Kyon and Koizumi are just men so they don't count. But they are seated at a table nearby.

A play goes ahead on stage. “Witnessing a play about the Trojan War in Troy during said war…,” Koizumi murmurs “What a layered construct. Two—no, three layers deep”.

During a moment everyone is eating, Kyon calls Nagato over via hand signal and she comes over to sit with them. They discuss their adventures and how to escape.

The Sage turns up out the blue and joins the boys and Nagato at their table. He is now Zeus in this world.

In turn they discuss their predicament and the Sage explains things from his NPC-main-guy sort of way.

He senses the being that has trapped them there to be not of evil and very protective. He continues to say he has more power in this world purely because he is playing the part of Zeus. He mentions it feels like everyone is in a 'canopy' of some sort.

He requests to be taken to the real world if possible, to join them in their escape. He is curious about a world written with law and order. He gives Nagato the power of Goddess Artemis (daughter of Zeus).

Nagato allows the boys to see Haruhi through the eyes she has, therefore they can see her true radiance.

Kyon goes up to Haruhi. She questions “Done with your nefarious scheming?” lol she knows a lot but we readers only see hints like this from time to time.

Kyon only has one thing to really say to her; "I want to go home".

Haruhi and Asahina join the rest and they all hold hands. Haruhi 'feels like she could do anything', and jokes about if they are calling up a UFO. Nagato harnesses the other two girls goddess powers to her own as well as Zeus's. She turns the sage into an owl, and they all escape the weird quantum plane of existence in a mix of goddess wings and halos.

Things black out and the words "Mission complete" can be heard.

The fall breeze hits Kyon as he is now tied into his real world self. He has a vague feeling of spending a decade in the local amusement park they are walking away from, having come here to celebrate the success of their home movie.

The sage and the two young victims are able to escape into the real world disguised as a balloon which drifts off into the sky, from the hands of Kyons tired sister, now sleeping on her brothers' shoulder from a long day out with his friends. Kyon reaches into his pocket to find a note that simply says "Remember me".

---

7-10. This story marks the official introduction of the antics caused by what would later be known as "The Heavenly Canopy Domain". Spoilers if you are reading this in context with the timeline. Sorry not sorry lol.

This novel, in my opinion, is the long-awaited sliders storyline. It’s not exactly how I imagined it would go, yet it has to be it, right? I imagined the SOS Brigade travelling from universe to universe, trying to return to their original world. Basically, exactly the same premise as the 90s show of the same name. This was a bit different however, yet essentially the same. I guess the author Tanigawa had to think of a way of supressing Haruhi’s memories somewhat so she considers everything happening to be normal.

Talking of which, those new readers following the timeline order will now read Kyon bang on about wanting to see the Sliders show up, and think "Yeah, we already had that Kyon". However, us readers up till this point, in 2025, had been waiting for the sliders storyline what felt like forever.

Nagato wasn’t quite herself in this novel. As she was cut off from the Data Overmind, she started acting a little more human, showing a little bit more emotion and overall being less restrictive in her own demeanour. It was nice to see. I hope to see her a lot more like this if the series progresses past the middle of 2004.

Haruhi’s personality shined through in this one. As always. She didn’t give a fuck and was always up for whatever they faced, loving to dive into whatever was up next. To me, it was obvious she knew what was going on really, but as per usual keeps it to herself.
Throughout the series released so far (as of when I’m writing this), She’s given hints before that she sort of knows more than she lets on. But in this story with EVERYTHING being really obvious, her blind eye to it all comes across as really funny.

Interestingly, we finally learn more about Asahina’s time travel device, the ‘TPDD’. Apparently it is embedded into her DNA, and only surfaces when needed. It may explain the star-shaped mole on her breast, as some sort of visual representation of its installation.

I'm pleased the book itself is canon. Going into it, I assumed it was more like alternative versions of themselves (as sliders), but I had also a vague thought it could be like a silly non-canon story thing made up for fun. I say this as the original release dates for parts 1 and 2 were released in 2004 and 2006 respectively, in The Sneaker. So yeah, the characters go back into their real world selves at the end of the day.

It’s possible the publishers pitched the initial idea to Tanigawa with the suggestion of building upon what was already written, with him only having to write half a books worth of story in order to reap the rewards of a completed novel, and all the crazy money and prestige he would get from that.
He had to have read the first two shorts before starting work on the Wild West story, as his continued writing seems to be on par with the early work, like the way the first two short stories are written is in line with his heyday at the hight of his creative freedom, so he must have re-read them before starting to write. Somehow the buzz of the early day writing style rubbed off on him for the rest of the novel.

Apart from in a few places.

The only issue I have with this book, is that once again, Tanigawa decided to teach us readers a lot of rubbish that is inconsequential to the Haruhi storyline. He REALLY went off on one with his research in order to fill pages, probably to justify the necessary word count. In this novel in particular, it was about quantum mechanics- or something. My god he really waffled on and on about it, pages and pages and pages of it. True filler content, especially in the last third of the book. Just rubbish. I ended up listening to this kindle book via the Alexa app.

It’s taken me a while to get this review out. Half a month in fact! I don’t have the time these days and I was waiting for Yen Press to release a limited-edition paperback version set to the original release cover art style, to satisfy their oldest fans of the novel series. Alas, they didn’t release anything. So I got the cheapest option which is the kindle edition. I guess Yen press did throw a bone to us though, as page 2 or whatever has the artwork on a simple white page in what was designed to be it, had they gone ahead. The art this time being two swords over what looks like a swirling vortex. I do feel extremely miffed about this though.

I wanted to cheat for my synopsis above, by copy and pasting and reworking something found elsewhere on the internet, but there isn’t one.

This is it folks!

The only synopsis for the Theater of Haruhi in English, on the internet, so far at least! So I had to go back and write it properly.

The Kindle version has a way of copy and pasting, so I was able to grab some sentences here and there, and get the pictures. I have included most of these as they are glorious.

The picture of Kyon and Koizumi fishing, looks to be from a rowing boat. However in the story they were fishing directly from the pirate ship. I’m pretty sure. Oh well.

I didn’t understand quite what The Sage wanted at the end. As a last-minute thing he took the kidnappees with him into the real world. And they were transformed into a balloon which flies off into the sky. What happens when the balloon pops? Maybe that’s the point, flying away is a metaphor of the data life forms being set free to exist somehow without any physical body? Oh, here’s a thought!; What if they somehow turn up at a later date when our heroes are all indisposed from an enemy attack, and they can’t get out of the situation they’re in, and just when you think it’s all over, the Sage turns up completely out the blue to save everyone! Well, you’ve heard it here first folks! XD

Oh and to all those fans that claim we ‘already got the ending to the series’, and ‘anything else we get is just filler epilogue stuff’- how completely wrong you are. We have not had the ending! The author has been in a slump. Even said he is getting over his sleep deprecation in the Afterword to this book. The final ending storyline will be something to do with the metal rod found from Tsuruya’s estate, probably.

If this novel was a TV anime, they could make it 26 episodes Very Easily. Like Tsubasa Reservoir Chronical. It would be a very interesting take on a Haruhi TV series too, with 2 or 3 episodes set in each world. Hollywood loves a good multiverse story (for some reason), so why not adapt this then, Japan? Hu? Hu??

The stuff written in the synopsis about the 17th century England, moving forward to WW2 and the submarine, then moving on again etc, all of that was just one or two paragraphs in the actual book. What I wrote could be longer than what was in the book itself!

Asahina fans would be crying after reading this novel, as she was here, present in this book, but hardly talked or mentioned at all. The least focused character in this for sure.

I’m happy the book told us when it was actually set in the timeline- despite only saying it once or twice. It was enough.

The Sage only mentioned the word ‘Canopy’ once. That was enough to let us readers know what the hell is actually going on. Oh, sorry to readers that are reading this in timeline order for the first time, you guys will have to stay as clueless as the characters for a little bit longer.

I would have preferred this novel to be set a lot longer down the timeline, however the author probably felt he had to cram it into the end of November due to what was already said and published from the first two chapters, released way back when. Oh well.

Overall, really happy with this novel. A solid 7-10 from me. I hope he has gotten out of his slump to write more content, and hopefully it will be set after everything written so far, AKA the middle of 2004 onwards, as a proper sequel storyline. Well, see you in the next one, whenever that may be!

Up next: The Day Of Sagittarius.

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The Publication Mess of Haruhi Suzumiya: Seven Wonders Overtime

*MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*

Seven Wonders Overtime- the second short story of "The Intuition of Haruhi Suzumiya" (novel 11)

Set at the end of May.

Kyon and Koizumi are trying their best to play a classical Japanese poetry game in the literary club room, with Asahina trying to help the boys, and Nagato instantly coming up with the answers.

After giving up that game, they just start getting into a new card game, when bam! The club room door is hit hard from the other side. Everyone looks at the door and then a tap tap could be heard from the bottom of it.

Asahina opens the door to be greeted by a blonde girl holding a mountain of books and notes. That explains the door kicking, thinks Kyon. The student asks to be let in. She is apparently helping 'Haru' by delivering these books to the SOS club room. Standing there, she asks Kyon for help with the books, saying his name wrong. She catches him off guard by calling him 'Kyam', saying its hard to pronounce his 'Kyon' nickname (Later on, Koizumi thinks this could pose troublesome if Haruhi finds out that a girl has a new nickname/pet name for Kyon).

Kyon helps the girl, recognising her as a fellow classmate from 2-5. The books are all supernatural based. The girl explains that Haruhi ran into her during lunchtime that day, asking her if she knew anything of the schools '7 wonders'.
The girl explains that she is a member of the Mystery Research Society. She goes on to say that after Haruhi asked the question, she went to the chairman of her society and asked if there was anything regarding a possible 7 wonders that could have been passed down from previous generations of pupils. The answer was no, so the girl reported this back to Haruhi.

Kyon asks the girl how she ended up having to carry such a large amount of books to the SOS club room. She replies that even she doesn't know. He asks her to take them back, but she refuses, implying he is being rude. She then asks him why he doesn't call her by her name, in which he replies that he cant remember everyone's names from the new class after only 2 months of school term. Besides, she is a transfer student for this new school year.

The girl turns her attention to Nagato, requesting politely of her to compile a club journal for the mystery society. She pleads for it to be ready for the cultural festival in the autumn, saying that Nagato is a great writer. Nagato looks up to Kyon, questioningly. The girl takes this as a form of a positive response. She quickly shakes Nagato's hand, then eyes up a book she likes from the bookshelf, almost in disbelief of the fact its a first edition. She again pleads with Nagato to borrow the book, once more asking Kyon to translate Yuki's answer of 'Yes'. The girl once more shakes Nagato's hand excitedly and takes her leave.

Koizumi and Kyon discuss these 7 wonders, hopeful they dont turn into a reality of Suzumiya's making. Koizumi picks out a book left by the girl from the mystery society. He tells two stories in Japanese folklore about instances of demons being recorded, but also explains logically how it was humans who were involved after all.

The group are trying to come up with a plan to dispel any weird consequences of Haruhis current interest. They conclude that whats needed to be done is to create North High’s seven wonders themselves, under a safe environment and not just magically created by Suzumiya. Kyon says it would be a bad idea to plan such a scheme in the club room, in case she bursts in with their notes and plans scattered on the long table, but Koizumi rests assured that his people know where she is, and is keeping him up to date on her location via his phone. They share their thoughts and wonder if Haruhi could jump ship from school wonders into full blown looking for world wonders instead. Kyon says that she would make a great archeologist, but Koizumi retracts that by asking about the repercussions of finding something that could change humanities known past (This reminds me of the metallic object they found on Tsuruyas estate).

One idea they come up with is to change the alloy composition of a possible Ninomiya Kinjirō statue, that could magically reveal itself in the school grounds, so that it could potentially change its look slightly at night, returning to its original composition when the sun rises.

Another idea is to have some sort of music playing in an empty music room, playing it off as being an alarm once Haruhi catches wind of it.

Another idea is to create a mystery around a school passageway mirror, so that in the dead of a night with a first quarter moon, if a person’s whole body is reflected in it, the molecule structures of their body’s amino acids are then reflected. Also, if they execute the second round of radio exercises, their reflection in the mirror will have a slight discrepancy in the stopping action at the final moment. Occasionally, a doppelganger might come out of the mirror, but chance of that happening is very low. It is rumored that even if the doppelganger does show up, it immediately disappears.

Their next idea is a door which seldom opens. They say the mystery could be a toilet cubicle that upon exit, takes you out of the cubicle door next to it. But if this is too boring, it could be a door where a person could be transported to a different world, in which they live in for two months. However, on their return, they find that only one hour has passed in the real world, and they also lose all their memories of the other world. Without ironing out the finer details, they move on to the next mystery.

The next story is one that was actually reported from the mystery society, about a biology dummy that freaks people out by being in different places. But the more they research the incidents, the more they conclude that the mystery society probably fabricated the story just to please Haruhi.

The Seventh Wonder of the Seven Wonders is unknown, and cannot be known. That is the mystery of the Seventh Wonder.

Nagato types the rough notes into a polished copy within seconds, and prints it out. Haruhi then barges into the club room not long after, to announce that they should create some mysterious wonders of school. She says the school hasn't been around for such a long time, so naturally there wouldn't be so many stories, but that shouldn't stop them from creating such strange stories about the school, to pass down to future generations of pupils.

Kyon takes control of the situation and passes the printout to her. Reading it, Haruhi seems dejected at first but claims she is proud of her brigade members. All this time she was forced to play Shogi by the school principle whilst she was questioning him for school wonders (meaning he is on Koizumi's team). She gets upset that she couldn't help them coming up with ideas for the wonders, so she says she will think up an eight wonder.

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6-10. This wasn't the greatest of continuations that I've ever read, but none the less at least it actually IS a continuation. So far this is the most recent we have seen the story go to, end of May 2004, other than the moment Kyon was taken to the future with an older Haruhi in college. The new girl could be very interesting indeed, but who knows! I look forward to a possible continuation with this nameless character.

You know I cant help but think if they didn't want Haruhi to create any 'seven wonders', they could have simply consulted in Yasumi and ask her not to do so? They should always have asked Yuki of Yasumi's whereabouts and simply requested for Haruhi not to do anything dumb. But I guess we wouldn't get any more stories if this happened? I dunno. This to me is still a major plot hole from here on out.

Up next: Tsuruya's Challenge

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"I'm Back everyone!"

Spice and Wolf- novel 17- Epilogue

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Intermission:
This story is told from Enek the dogs perspective of Norah's adventures again.
Finally its spring/summer in the world of Spice and Wolf!! Also, its 5 years later.
Norah is now a priest of a church in the same small town she found herself in before.
A carriage arrives outside. Norah and Enek collect their things and are greeted by Eve. She is now doing business in a country to the south.
Days pass and they enter the town to pick up Diana, the bird god. More travelling happens. They talk about things. Boring inconsequential ramblings.
Elsa and Fran join the carriage.

Conclusion:
Lawrence, Holo and Col live in Nyohhira in a place still under construction. Col had been doing his own thing for a few years but eventually came to live with them. Holo had forced Col to write the wedding invitations shop opening invitations to the girls of Lawrence's past. Maybe as a joke but either way Lawrence isn't exactly happy they all got invitations.
They traveled for two years and settled here for 3. Also in that time she's never visited Yoitsu. Probably because she wants to remember it for how it was.
Debau and Hilde are back in power. The coin is getting used but hasn't fully reached its peak usage yet.

They also have a house worker named Hanna. She might not be human either.

One day in town Holo surprises Lawrence. He expected her home but she got lonely because no one was in. They wander around Nyohhira. The hot spring of their house/shop was found by her after two days of being in town. It's in a kinda remote area of the town outskirts. The hot spring itself was in a cave.
Back at home they take a hot spring bath together. Holo likes driving the wildlife away even though she still allows them to use the springs. Lawrence has even seen them help the upkeep of the maintenance of the stone.

Lawrence writes letters to all the guys hes come across during his travels with Holo. He thinks Holo wants them for the grand opening of his establishment.

Lawrence, Holo and gang sort out what food they need for the banquet. Lawrence wants his store open in the spring.
They get the preparations done. The fateful day arrives, everyone is arriving. Luward and the mercenaries bring up a metallic sign naming the new establishment as 'Spice and Wolf'.
Holo kisses him as the guests walk towards them.

The end.

What the actual fuck? No wedding? No baby? Nothing of interest in this story at all! Why?! Oooh they kiss. Pffft big deal....

Travelling Merchant and Gray Knight-
This is a sequel. Lawrence takes Holo to a house in the woods. To Lawrence's old home where he was brought up by his father. His Eccentric dad arrives A random old coot arrives after shooting arrows at what he assumed were intruders. Lawrence dad This geezer is an eccentric hermit who lives in the woods. Holo is written out completely from here on out. This incomprehensible lame story instantly got rather boring. This is just some pointless story of a hermit using an abandoned fort. Why? Why did this author make such a pointless story?! LAWRENCE'S DAD! COMON THAT WOULD BE FAR MORE INTERESTING AT THIS POINT IN THE SERIES! Now i'm bored.

They visit his fort, eat dinner and tries on an old suit of armor. Holo is not mentioned once. Written out even though shes there. Rubbish story.

Next story in this mess of a novel-
Average life of Holo and Lawrences days spent in Nyohhira, arguing and getting over their differences, told from the perspective of Col. Boring.

Next story-
Set during Lawrence and Holo traveling years. They visit a village of people that have never left their township.

---

This epilogue is pointless. A huge waste of time and money. It could have been awesome. Could have had a wedding, could have had a baby, could have introduced Lawrence's Dad, could have been a story set far far into the future when Lawrence is an old man whilst Holo is still young with a bunch of teenage half wolf children setting out on their adventures. But nope. We didn't get that. The author ran out of rather obvious ideas. Maybe that's why after all these years he's deciding to write more material, because he either needs in income or has an interesting idea for a possible volume 18. Whatever. See you again, I guess.

I unfortunately rate this novel 3-10.

Spice and Wolf- novel 16- The Coin of the Sun II

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

The man Lawrence and Holo are startled by is not Col. However the sack placed upon the table is indeed Cols. The hooded man that dropped the bag quickly draws into the crowd. Lawrence and Holo pay for their drinks and give chase. They end up in a building site of Lesko and spot a white hare sitting upon a well. This hare looks up at them. Speaking with authority, he says that Col is not harmed. He says his name is Hilde Schnau, treasurer of the Debau company. He is currently searching for the forbidden book of destructive mining techniques. His men spotted Holo, Lawrence and the others in Lenos which is why he has sought them out now.

Hilde explains that the Debau company is currently split into two opposing sides. They have made too much profit from the proposition of minting new coins. Because of which, some employees have become greedy and seek even more money. The plan is to make more currency by melting down other territories' coins. After that they hope to pounce when the current mines run dry. Hilde explains that he needs the forbidden book in order to slow them down. Holo can sense the truth from him, so it seems Hilde is just incredibly desperate. Desperate enough to take Cols bag away as a way of gaining Holo and Cols attention. Hilde feels like the northlands need to be protected and his plan is slipping away quickly. That is why he needs to bargain with his colleagues at Debau with the forbidden book.

Hilde may have taken Cols bag, but he seems to be in a huge bind because his actions are good. He tells Lawrence and Holo that he knows they are settling down here in this town. He says it would be in their favour to help him out, financially that is. He is the Debau treasurer after all.

Hilde finishes what he needs to say as men approach. Hilde gathers his clothes up with his tiny paws and hops into a gap in an adjacent building. The men arrive and tell Holo and Lawrence to go be romantic someplace else, preferably at an inn. Lol

They enter a deserted dark alleyway and stop to think. Lawrence asks her if they should just give the book to Hilde. It seems like the only thing they can do at this point. But she cries and thumps his arms and chest in jest. He wonders why she's reacting in such a way. She's sad because the mining techniques could possibly be used to destroy her home in thousands of years to come when he's long dead. Lawrence isn't worried so much because he won't live long enough to see it happen.
Lawrence feels it necessary to say that from here on out, she explicitly protested the idea of getting the book and giving it to Debau. He hugs her tightly and then wipes away her streaming tears.

Next day Lawrence has another talk with Luward and Moizi. He tells them whats going on and advises them to get out of town. They say they will retreat to Yoitsu.

Next Lawrence and Holo talk in their room. They decide to sell the shop despite the downpayment they placed upon it. There is too much risk involved right now.
They share a moment when talking. She mentions something that makes Lawrence appreciate her for being with him. He strokes her head twice and hugs her, resting his chin on her head.

That evening they sell the shop, find Hilde and agree to his terms.
They say that Le Roi will not be interested in the Northlands situation, nor will he be interested in his pleas. So Hilde says that he can pay the man 300 gold Lumione coins which are located at a hidden location someplace in town. Holo gets this money and turns into her true self so as to run south to Kieschen as quickly as she can. This is Le Roi, Elsa and Cols destination to find the forbidden book.

Next day Lawrence finds that the price of silver coin has climbed considerably.

Time passes and Lawrence feels gutted being alone without Holo around. He is awoken by Moizi who claims that things have moved forward for the worse as troops have been called up by Debau.

The Myuri mercenary band flee completely that night, leaving Lawrence alone. Before they left they did ask him to flee with them, however Lawrence feels like he's in the hands of Hilde.

The inn is empty yet Hilde does indeed turn up to speak to Lawrence, still in his hare incarnation. He gives Lawrence two documents and asks him to flee to a town called Svernel located north of Lesko. The first document is a plea for help to stop the radicals. The other is a similar letter but addressed to a lord also from the north. A lord that is against Debau but of whom would be even more against radicals.

Hildes time may be running out. Lawrence refuses the letters and the hare hops away.

A little later Lawrence packs his things in order to head off to join the Myuri mercenaries. Just outside the building he hears drunks. They talk very loudly about finding a hare. They contemplate killing it. Lawrence dashes outside and saves Hilde.

Lawrence takes his belongings, the scrolls and Hilde, and joins the Myuri's.

Somewhere outside the town, everyone talks over a small campfire and Lawrence's wagon. They decide to prepare a meal over the decision to what to do next. Lawrence suggests retreating to Lenos. Hildes wounds have been sown up by someone within the troop and he now rests in a wicker cage.

The hare speaks in a weak voice, slightly surprising Moizi. He whimpers something about having left letters in town. Luward deducts that as the last person to have seen him, Lawrence may know what he's talking about.
Lawrence hands over the letters thinking by this point they would have been useless anyway. However they turn out to be addressed to the Murui troop, which changes everything.
They realise that there is no way they can travel south. Its highly likely the Debau troops will be after them so if they did try to get to Lenos they would be hunted down like wolves. The best bet would be to travel the back roads to Svernel and do the hares bidding after all.

They head up the snowy mountainous northern slopes towards Svernel. They have to take apart their wagon and convert it to a sled, apart from Lawrence's where he leads his horse in front, on foot. Moizi stops to ask Lawrence to give up his wagon. All of Lawrence's belongings are moved to the troop wagons, leaving just his empty wagon behind.

They stay the night in a shack and move on. Hilde wakes up to find that they are deep in the mountains. Word comes that the Hugo Mercenary Company are in pursuit, but they are friends of the Myuri's so they aren't worried. The next day they are attacked by them. As predicted its not too much of a bother, its just arrows being fired at both parties as they slowly advance towards Svernel. A messenger from the Hugo mercenaries goes between each party relaying demands, but the Myuri's refuse to give in.

Because the two mercenaries are friends, they were never going to fight for real. The next day each troop are on opposite ends of a valley. They have covered themselves in pigs blood to appear more wounded, and they have greased their swords rendering them somewhat useless. The overseer of the Debau company on the Hugo side thinks it's going to be a real fight though.

Luward shouts for attack. Just after that Holo reappears. She was delayed in Lesko by a day but has finally made it back. I haven't mentioned this until now but her journey was accompanied by Hildes 'bird friend' who helped her with directions.

Holo takes Laurence away from Luward and the battle. She takes his hand forcefully and leads him off into the snowy evergreen forests and up a steep incline. He is slightly disappointed that she didn't seem to care much about their reunion, and now they are on their way to where she's hidden the forbidden book. She tells him that the bird escort is named Luis. Lawrence answers back to that rather annoyed, and she jokes about his obvious jealousy.
The incline becomes steeper and Lawrence traps his feet in the snow multiple times.
Out of nowhere Holo jumps onto him from above, causing them both to roll down the hill in the snow somewhat. She ends up on top of him hugging him with all her strength. They embrace and stay that way for a while. He wipes away her tears with his finger. Aww.

Holo has stashed the hidden book in a rather sturdy leather sack, along with the 300 gold Lumione coins given to her by Hilde to pay Le Roi had he kicked up a fuss demanding payment.

Holo explains she had trouble leaving Col. Apparently he really wanted to come and help but Elsa held him back.

When Holo asks whats going on regarding the fighting, Lawrence says that apparently The lords of the northlands are to blame for forcing the workers at the Debau company to become rebels.

They decide against running away with the money. The guilt would be too much. Holo talks more about her adventure with Luis the bird. She jokes about falling in love for him, and Lawrence again reacts to jealousy. She wraps her arms around him once more and breaths in deeply to take in his scent. She exhales the words "How much do you think I love you, you fool?". Awww.
She says that Luis has something given from his master, to be delivered directly to Hilde. That master must be mr Debau himself. Lawrence foolishly asks her whether she knows what it is, and she floors him to the ground for asking.

They return to the battle. Despite being a farce, the troops on both sides are genuinely hurt, yet not dead. An avalanche comes thundering down between the trees and onto the battlefield.
Luward shouts for a retreat.

Back at camp over hot food, Luward admits the avalanche was set up by his men. Those left in the snow were the 15 men he had to leave behind during negotiations with the Hugo messenger.

When discussing how to give Hilde his package in private, Moizi comes over to discuss what to do next.

That night the Myuri's officially visit the Hugo mercenaries camping at the bottom of the valley where the battle took place. Negotiations between their leader Rebonato and the Debau overseer called Glem go badly as the Myuri's are betrayed. It was a trap.

Robonato sticks a dagger into Lawrence's left thigh. He then focuses on Luward and breaks his leg and stabs his hand whilst demanding the whereabouts of Hilde. Luward asks why he is being betrayed but the fact remains that the rebels at Debau paid them a hefty sum of money to do so.
Having nearly passing out, Luward calls to Lawrence to call for Holo, which Lawrence does at the top of his voice.

Holo arrives in her Wolf form. She pushes Robonato to the ground and everyone scatters in panic. The horses too flee from Holos presence, apart from Lawrence's that is. Moizi steadies the unconscious Luward onto the horse, as well as Lawrence. They arrive back at the Myuri camp and everyone gets to see Holo the wolf as an ally. We see things from Lawrence's perspective so he doesn't quite know what's going on. However he has been bandaged up and is resting up.

Lawrence wakes up in a bed at Svernel. He remembers reaching the town before dawn. He clambers out of bed to assess his surroundings. He makes it to the hallway and deduces it must be morning still. A young man standing watch notices him and calls into one of the rooms. A second later Holo steps out of said room and waltzes up to Lawrence, mad at him. He asks to be let into the room to talk with the others about the next step of their plan. However she forces him to steady himself against her and the wall. She says that they have lost. It would be better for them to run away just the two of them. He holds onto her shoulders for support and protests, but being the wise wolf she lists everything as a disadvantage. He pleads that it would be mad to leave the Myuri's with them being related to her pack mate. That hurts her, but she holds his hands which are still on her shoulders, looks up at him with tears in her eyes and says that she decided on the name of their shop. He made a promise to her that that was their goal. She says she doesn't want to visit Yoitsu anymore. She knows what is happening to it. She only wants a home. She never wanted to be left in Yoitsu alone. She just wants a place to call 'home'. That is what would make her the happiest of all.

She says these lines "Come, you- do you not yet understand that one must give up certain things? And you have, to gain me. And you will, to gain what comes ahead. You are naive, are you not? Did you mean to carry on our journey forever? You have sympathy. I, too, understand how you cannot have witnessed that and not become so angry you cannot forgive it. But what is that within you that you cannot compromise, I wonder? Is that what you truly must protect? If that is so, why did you take my hand all of those times? You… Am I not your princess? I wish to live a quite life with you…"
Lawrence touches her cheek and she gently closes her eyes. He then pulls her in close with his other arm and embraces her. They then intertwine their hands and at that moment he realises his journey has come to an end. He looses energy and relies on her for support. he realises that this is how he will live his life until the day he dies; with Holos love and support.

Hilde and Millike

Hilde steps out of the room Holo did and sees them. He is now in human form. He pats them both on the shoulders realising they have come to the decision to leave. Next minute a man barges his way up the stairs. He has red hair with sideburns leading into a well trimmed beard. He recognises Holo as being non-human. She slaps him on the cheek rather scared. He is called Jean Millike, the chairman of the Svernel Merchants' Council. As they head into the room for a talk, Holo says to Lawrence that she has noticed Millike as half human.

Hilde, Millike, Holo and Lawrence head into the negotiation room where Hilde realises this man has taken on the name of a deceased merchant. His real name is Klaus von Havlish the Third; the very same lord they were hoping to seek for help. Only this man recognises and lists the flaws of Hilde. Holo says she intends not to help any further.
Millike intends to sell Hilde to the troops arriving in town. However, after Hilde and Millike talk, Millike can also see Hildes side of the story, so he decides to leave him be and just see how his fate turns out naturally.
Millike leaves and forces the troops to back off.

Lawrence rests up the next day. Hilde successfully manages to convince some of the townsfolk about the Debau rebels being in the wrong. He does this from within the inn.

Lawrence sits in a chair, looking out the window to the streets below. Holo approaches and gently calls out to him. She asks him to grab her arm to test his strength. After a successful test, she tells him they will be leaving soon. He says it would be nice if they travelled south again, to new places they have not yet visited. She sticks her hand out for his wallet. He gives it to her officially for the first time. He jokes to say don't spend it all, and she sticks her tongue out at him. They have complete trust.
She leaves via the back door unnoticed and stands at an intersection visible from his window so that he can see her. He says her name to himself with a slight chuckle.

Later, the two of them visit Luward who is still recovering in bed. Moizi and some of the others are out in town stirring up support for closing the town gate before the main force of Debaus troops arrive. If they manage to do that then surly negotiations would be accepted.

Lastly they visit Hilde. Holo finally has the chance to hand his coins back, the forbidden book and the parcel from Luis which turns out to be a coin press for Debaus new currency. It has a symbol of the sun on it.

An envoy arrives and Hilde goes out to meet the Debau employee for talks. The public is also present, ready to strike the recent visitors if things look likely to turn to warfare.

At first it seems like things would work out for Hilde, but the Debau company throws out 8 boxes of silver coins to the crowd to win them over. Lawrence, looking out the window witnessing the madness below, goes frantic and searches through Hildes belongings, including Cols bag, to find something that can help. He finds nothing and breaks down and cries. Holo comforts him as much as she can but he only gets angry. How can money rule the world like this? He scatters the papers about the air in rage and comes across one of Cols fraudulent papers from before they first met him.

Something stirs within Lawrence's mind. He frantically looks at the fraudulent letters and realises he could do something with them. But what? He looks at Holo for answers but she seems dejected. He stands to the window and sees the Debau employee named Yanarkin scattering silver coin around whilst Hilde pleads to the townsfolk.

"Do it then. I shall quite the howling ones." Holo tells him. She stands by his actions and expects him to do what he must. She stands at the open window and howls. Her bone tingling howl stops everyone in their tracks. Everyone's focus is now at the window.
"The Debau Company's impropriety must be redressed!" Lawrence shouts to everyone below. He repeats this twice more. Yanarkin asks him what evidence does he have. This stumps Lawrence but Holo knows what he should do and says quietly to him "Evidence is support for your case, no more". This triggers him to know exactly what to do. He holds up a random page from one of the documents that he is holding. Lawrence declares to everyone that it is a Debau bill of exchange, and that the money they are throwing around belongs to others. Lawrence goes on to make his point about how real world merchants work, and that the Debau rebels behaviour is wrong and unjust. Lawrence loses his strength and his voice. he falls to the floor and backs himself against it. Holo tells hims to use her as a mediator. He whispers the words with the little strength he has left and Holo repeats them to the people below, also in a grandiose manner.

In the end their words pull through. As a dire final strategy of attack, Yanarkin mentions having the church's backing. Only the church are not prevalent in these parts. Lawrence and Holo crush Yanarkin with the war of words and Hilde convinces the townspeople to close the town gate before the Dabau army arrives in full strength.

Lawrence lies on the floor and Holo sits on top of him resting her elbows on his chest and cupping her chin in her hands.
"I keep getting pulled along by no good males" she says.
"But you love me anyway, don't you?" he replies.
"Certainly, that is where the problem lies" she retorts giving him a sideways grin.

Over the next few days, Hilde has private talks with Millike to gain each others trust. They settle matters and agree a partnership where Svernel can mint Debau gold coins. Lesko are currently issuing out more silver coins so having Svernel in partnership truly can unite the northlands. The army from Lesko would arrive at Svernel and find the town gate shut. It would force them to turn back having lost.

Its evening. Luward holds a cain, ordering the rest of the Myuri mercenary band to get hard at work restoring an old warehouse furnace back to working order for the minting of the gold coins.

Hilde asks Lawrence to join Debau. He politely declines. Its a fantastic offer but he and Holo need to find their own life. After a short talk, Lawrence takes his walking cane and heads back to the inn to rest.

He doesn't get very far before Holo finds him. She carries a casket of wine with her. Lawrence asks her where she got it from. Millike is her response (even though she fails to mention him by name).
She went to visit Millikes wife's grave with him. Lawrence is reminded that even when he dies, she will live a huge amount of her time without him. Holo notices thats what he's thinking so she says "I told him… find your next female already, you fool". Lawrence stares at her in shock. She cackles in laughter walking off.

They make their way to their moonlit room. She has a go at him for the danger he put them into, including his actions with their shared speech to the goings on outside the inn. She warns him that he may suffer if he does anything like that ever again. He thinks he has lost her trust, but she still says "You seem the sort who will uphold a contract, if not a promise". She says that at some point Elsa had promised to be witness to their marriage. She asks him "So, how about it?".

Holo has just proposed to Lawrence. Flabbergasted, he just nods.
She slouches down to his face for what should have been their first kiss, however Holo is far too playful for that. She pulls out of his embrace and giggles. She mentions that before all that, he still needs to fulfil his promise of taking her to Yoitsu.
He says "very well" but points to the wine casket and asks "We can at least drink together, can't we?". She places it on the bed and brings a cup out. She warns him not to drink too much, and he remarks "to think the day would come when you would warn me about that". She just gives him a look and says "Fool".
They sit there, happily in love with one another. Outside we hear the cheers of the first tests for the bellows.

---

I think its safe to say Holo has been in a set of relationships before, and will again when Lawrence has passed on. Its not the most romantic of situations but its certainly inevitable, and its not like she is the type to cheat on him. Its just that she lives so long its impossible to truly think she can only have one man in her life.

I'm actually really pleased Col wasn't back after all. After the previous volume I thought he was back, cock blocking the romance yet again. Only this time it was a red herring. It was someone else instead! lol.

The romance has really nailed it. Im really happy we are finally seeing a naturally progressing relationship between the two of them.

The pace of these two books was slow. Really slow. Especially the first half of this volume. I cannot give it a high rating because of this.

One more volume to go. I know its a set of epilogues. I just hope that the story has them reaching both Yoitsu and Nyohhira.

Where are the short stories set which were in volume 13?? I know for sure they take place AFTER this volume at least. Lawrence mentioned in this volume that he wants to take her back to the south, so that is maybe where those stories are set.

I rate this book 6-10. Too long winded and long drawn out. I don't think the author can write strong two parters. This would have worked a lot better as one volume. There isn't anything wrong with the story. Its the way it was put onto paper. Its a hard read.

Knowing he should make full use of his fortune, Lawrence said this: "Welcome back."
Holo's face shot up from his chest.

Spice and Wolf- novel 15- The Coin of the Sun I

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Ever since leaving for the northlands, Holo has said very little. Lawrence thinks she has been 'wearing a mask' to hide her true feelings. They have been alone in a vast expanse of empty flatlands for a few days, which is a 6 or 7 day trip before they reach the next town called Lesko. It is a town set up by the powerful Debau company.

Lawrence feels very awkward with Holo because of his actions towards her back in Lenos. They are hoping to find the Myuri mercenary band based at Lesko, the troupe named after one of Holos wolf friends from her home town of Yoitsu.

Holo decides to break the ice on the night of their fourth day travelling. Their small talk has long since dried up so she finally sheepishly asks Lawrence everything he knows regarding the Myuri mercenary band. Lawrence treads carefully around the subject, but towards the end turns the subject around and asks her who is better looking; himself or Myuri. She says that Lawrence is better looking, but she jokes and says that she would rather choose Col or Amati from their early adventures.

Luward Myuri

They finally reach Lesko with great fears and trepidation of the unknown circumstances surrounding the north and the towns military presence. They are surprised to find the town has no outer walls. They are even more surprised by the obvious wealth put into the town.

They locate and enter the inn where the Myuri mercenary band are residing. They chat to a young bloke who belongs to the troupe before the captain makes his grand entrance.
He is a young man named Luward Myuri, and by physical appearance looks very human indeed. Holo notices his necklace with a sad look in her eye and utters the word "claw". She also sheds a few tears. Luward reacts to this very alarmingly and orders the two of them to follow him to another room, barking orders for everyone else to clear out including both upstairs and downstairs.

Once alone in the back room, the three of them share a private conversation. Lawrence holds Holos hand as she acts the timid nun in front of Luward's interrogation. To an outsider this claw would look like a normal black bull horn. She informs him she recognises its scent. The tables turn and Holo starts asking demands of him on who he is. Luward draws a sword to her neck to re-assume dominance and demands to know how she knows it's a claw. However he backs down calmly and explains it is a family heirloom. He asks of her name. She tells him and recites the names of the wolf gods. Luward gives her the claw to hold. He says his late grandfather knew more information about the story of the pack of wolf gods. She pulls back her hood to his shock. But he pulls himself together and says the claw was received by the first captain of the mercenary troupe when it was founded. She reads an inscription in an ancient language that has been etched into the side of the claw. It reads "It's been a while". She cries. Luward gives Lawrence a look and then puts his hand to her shoulder for comfort.
Lawrence embraces Holo as she weeps. Luward speaks softly, "Our Great Guardian Wolf, we have finally fulfilled our promise to you".

Holo and Lawrence are given the finest room available in the Myuri inn. Holo asks for time alone which gives Lawrence and Luward a chance to chat alone. Luward informs Lawrence that Yoitsu is safe, so far at least. He then repeats the same line to the ceiling above, in a louder voice, hoping Holo would be able to hear with those powerful ears of her.

Luward explains that the Debau company are a mining corporation threatening to mine everywhere in the northlands. he informs Lawrence that he and his company would take on Debau had they only to ask.

Discussing about the claw, Luward says he does not know what happened to Myuri. The claw was passed down from generation to generation before reaching him, with orders to give to Holo if she ever turned up again. This does not necessarily mean that Myuri is dead, though it is implied. Nor does it suggest that Luward is blood related to Myuri, though again it is implied.

The Debau company is currently mining in communities of people who need the money in their area. However they are also buttering up everyone else, including all the mercenary bands with free food and lodgings within Lesko, in order to truly take over the north.

The next day Holo is still not back to her old self. Lawrence is at a loss as to what to do to console her. She still has tears in her eyes. He thinks it best for them to go exploring around town. After a few hugs and tears he dresses her. She finds this amusing through her gloominess. He takes her out to the market square and tries his best to cheer her up with various things like buying her a milk drink and sitting near street musicians. They continue their walk and peek into the metalworkers factories.

Continuing their walk once more, they come across a sign written in stone saying something along the lines of the town giving freedom for those with skills, giving no regulations and no taxes to the residents whatsoever. Lawrence is dumbfounded.
They walk around and find an empty shop with a notice on it saying it is for sale at 1200 trenni pieces. Lawrence is fixated at the store. Holo steals his wallet and buys honeyed bread for both of them. He's still transfixed at the store when she returns so she stomps on his foot. Lawrence knows its just a fantasy, but feels best to allow himself to go along with it. He says to her that he needs to sketch the storehouse back in their inn.

Back at their room, Lawrence does indeed sketch out the store. Only this time, Holo helps him out and draw parts of the house alongside him. This is the first time she has ever done this with his drawings. He feels compelled to say something about the possibility of her living with him for real, but she tells him off even before he raises the topic. They sketch together until she dozes off. Holo wakes and dozes off a few times. Each time she wakes up Lawrence notices a look in her eye like he will disappear. He realises she's scared of losing him. She eventually falls into a deep sleep. He puts her to bed and takes the drawing upstairs to the Myuri mercenary bands strategist, Moizi.

Max Moizi

The strategists full name is Max Moizi. They talk together about the state of affairs in town. Moizi informs Lawrence that he was spotted looking at the store earlier in town and so brings up the subject. Lawrence asks what it's like to live here in Lesko. Moizi tells him it's a great place to set up shop if he wishes.

Lawrence is eating with the others downstairs when Holo awakens, though she stays in the bedroom until he appears again. He tells her he has a few berries in hand if she is hungry. He asks her not to eat them all and she complies much to his surprise. But in this case she forces a berry to his lips saying "you seem to have endured enough, after all." Lawrence doesn't know what she means by that.

Lawrence counts his gold coins and finds to be making a good profit. Lawrence feels the need to write to Norah about the wonders of this town. It would be a perfect place for her to become a seamstress with ease. Holo keeps a sharp eye of his penmanship as he writes. She even advises him what she would have wrote as he writes it. Her jealousy towards Norah is still ongoing it seems.

Holo and Lawrence decide together to get more information about the town by asking around, but everywhere they go people call the town full of freedom and liveliness. Even through all this Lawrence and Holo still have their doubts, as the town is being controlled by the powerful Debau company.

They slowly begin to wonder whether the town might truly not have any problems. Lawrence next uses his merchant knowledge to see if there are any secrets. He does this by visiting a money changer. Money changers usually do business on a bridge, however this town does not have a river so they are found by the roadside.
Out of the money changers to choose from, Lawrence picks a man who looks like he isn't doing much to attract business. Lawrence thinks this man must be the one the townspeople use. He deducts that this mans attitude is 'I don't need your custom, you need mine'. Sure enough Lawrence proves to be right.
The man tells him he was better off keeping his southern coins before exchanging them in Lenos. As the area is used for metal work, decent coin is the standard and not the lowly copper coins he received in Lenos. To Lawrence's utter amazement, 1 pure gold Lumione coin can be exchanged for 27 Trenni silver pieces and not the 40 he was expecting.

Holo and Lawrence walk away and discuss things. The simple fact one could buy stock or coin from the town, sell down south for a tidy profit and do the same thing again means that something is definitely amiss with the town. Why wouldn't the Debau company be doing this?

As they walk back to the bustling Myuri inn, Lawrence whispers in Holos ear "Gold coins don't well up out of the ground like a spring. That being the case, either the Debau Company's hiding something or someone else is hiding what they're doing. Or perhaps both". Holo nods back to him with a daring look.

Over a lavish dinner with the Myuri mercenary band, Lawrence and Luward talk about the storehouse Lawrence was looking at. Lawrence quickly diverts the conversation to talking about the towns economy. Lawrence deducts that someone must be bringing in large amounts of silver from elsewhere if most people get paid in silver. Considering nobody would be coming up from the south, it must be making its way from the north. Without even bringing it up into conversation, Lawrence realises Myuri's troupe are the ones doing it.

Holo and Lawrence take a break on the bed in their room. As they lie side by side, they discuss everything about the Debau company and its possible schemes. It seems they want people to stir rumours of war as a way of manipulating mercenary bands. During the conversation Holo moves in very close to Lawrence, resting her head on his shoulders. Lawrence thinks nothing of it as he's too preoccupied with the conversation. He gently pushes her off (much to her exasperation) and tells her he has to speak more with Luward. Just as they both get ready there is a knock on the door. It's a young boy who escorts them to a room where Luward is ready to talk some more.

Luward explains that they still don't know what the Debau company is doing and where it will invade. They admit they are responsible for bringing in silver, and for a time it seems like Lawrence is put into a bind, however the conversation turns to something more mutual for both parties. They want Lawrence to continue his investigations using his merchant wit, saying that they don't know the true flow of the Debau companies money.

After even more talk, Luward gets too drunk. Moizi carries him off, leaving just Holo and Lawrence at the table. Holo stands up and tightly hugs Lawrence from behind, resting her chin into the back of his head. She suggests that maybe the Debau company are not evil after all. They went to so much trouble making this town prosper so why would they want to cause war which would automatically make the residents flee? She suggests to Lawrence that he buy the shop, also saying that she will stay by his side. She explains to him with emotion how much he means to her and how he is alive right here and now. She loosens her grip. He says to her "let's think of a name for the shop", and feeling cheeky she whispers back into his ear "Not the name for the pup?". Lawrence nearly falls out of his chair at her joke. He gets angry with her making fun of his feelings for her and for the rest of that evening she apologises to him but he has none of it. Lol.

Just before heading out next morning, Holo inspects Lawrence and praises him for growing into a more confident man.
They head off and arrive at the vacant shop. Just before he heads inside, he suddenly pieces every mystery together inside his head. He faces Holo in excitement and hugs her. They head inside the shop and he places money on the table in front of a boy in charge of overseeing any inquiries. The boy runs out to fetch his master.

Next scene Lawrence and Holo are back in their room at the inn. He finally explains that Debau are indeed starting a war, a trade war. A war where no blood will be spilled and one where they had everything to gain.
Moizi comes running in explaining that a poster has been put up in town that will change everything. Lawrence guesses correctly that Debau are creating a new currency for themselves. Moizi is shocked that he guessed right.

Debau's scheme was to spread valuable currency throughout the northlands, with any decent currency being fine so long as it was valuable. Because the weaker currencies have been pushed out, it financially strengthens the northlands. Next step for Debau to finally conquer the north is to create their own currency using even purer metals than the decent ones from the south. This unification of their own strong currency will benefit everyone in the north.

That evening Luward, Moizi, Lawrence and Holo discuss their future over expensive wine. The mercenary company as a whole feel it best to move south to carry on living in a way which reflects their way of living, whilst Lawrence says that even though he has put in his downpayment for the shop, he still needs to travel in order to create trusting relationships with future partners in the north.

The whole town is celebrating, creating a carnival atmosphere. Lawrence and Holo banter a lot whilst she is merry with wine. He also wants to let his hair down but she ponders on whether thats a wise decision. They try to join in the fun at the town centre but because its so busy they retreat to a quieter area of the commotion. Over a drink Lawrence can no longer see Holo as a friend that would depart him after arriving at Yoitsu. He can see her by his side for decades to come. He holds his hands out towards her and says he needs to speak to her after they arrive at Yoitsu. She clearly understand what he means. She too takes her hands away from her cup and join his. They draw in close for a kiss, however...

SMACK!

Right between them Cols burlap sack drops down on the table. A voice calls out to both of them from next to where they are sitting, "Kraft Lawrence and Holo the Wisewolf".
Who could this familiar cock block person be I wonder?

---

I actually laughed at Cols arrival at the end. It was such a moment only to be interrupted again by cock block Col. gerrrrrrrr. :p

This novel wasn't exactly the best. It was a nice story in that no real threat or conflict happened, however for a final story maybe that could have been better? Maybe something like that happens in the next volume. Im not saying I want this, but i feel without some sort of struggle this final story will come across as a bit bland.

7-10, but then again this is only half of one story remember.