Spice and Wolf 09

Wolf and Shepherd's Lamb
Screencaps from Spice and Wolf 09

The shepherd, Nora, and her sheep dog, Enick

The girl shepherd's name is Nora Allent and she is the ward of the Church -- that is, a local priest from the Church in the nearby town has been taking care of her. Nora offers to escort Lawrence and Holo to town. Despite Holo's reservations, Lawrence agrees to pay 40 Trie coins for her services.

During the two-day journey, Lawrence chats with Nora and discovers that she dreams of becoming a tailor some day. Their conversation soon turns to the topic of wolves, at which point Lawrence mentions that they are troublesome. The comment earns him a pinch from Holo while Nora innocently advises him to keep his voice down because a wolf could be listening.

The travelers rest for the day

As the day closes, the travelers camp out early. Nora, it seems, need to rest as soon as the sun sets because she has to stay awake all night to watch the sheep. While Nora sleeps, Lawrence and Holo take the time to attend to their needs. Holo combs her tail while Lawrence eats -- or at least, tries to eat before Holo steals the meat jerky right off his mouth.

Holo stealthily sneaks up on Lawrence to steal his food

Holo later makes a comment about Lawrence and Nora's friendly conversation, adding snidely that Nora did not particularly like talking to him. Lawrence acts nonchalant, attempting a debonair air when he says that it was only to be expected since people can't very well fall in love with each other right away. But instead of impressing Holo, this only makes her burst into laughter, to Lawrence's complete annoyance.

The next morning, Holo is in better spirits. Nora has escorted them safely to the walled town. Lawrence says that he's going to tell some of his merchant friends about Nora's escort services. He also expresses interest in pursuing a business relationship with her for her sheep's wool. After showing them the way through customs, the three of them parted ways, with Nora taking a separate entrance for livestock.

Bird's eye view of the Nora's castletown

At customs, Lawrence gets a few funny looks when he announces that he's brought armors from Polson. This prompts Holo to ask if selling armor from Polson is unusual. Lawrence answers that, on the contrary, Polson is known for its armor products. Meanwhile, Nora is seen walking around town but as she passes by some houses, the residents quickly shut their doors. Finally, she arrives outside the doors of the Church, where a priest is attending to his flock.

After customs and lodging arrangements, Lawrence and Holo head out to the tow square. Holo again indulges herself on beer, leading the bartender to comment that Lawrence got himself an expensive girl, at the same time acknowledging that she is beautiful.

Lawrence gets a hug from an old friend

Afterwards, Lawrence and Holo are making their way to the merchants' center. When they finally arrive at the place, Lawrence grows nostalgic for his own hometown, where the buildings all look like the one they are standing in front of. Lawrence steps in but leaves Holo outside. Once inside, he is met by an old friend who welcomes him with open arms.

Meanwhile, in another part of town, a rider enters a building and asks the person there if he's seen a merchant named "Lawrence." The person answers no and the rider suddenly laughs (for absolutely no reason).

COMMENTS:

Nothing much actually happens this episode aside from the fact that we finally get to meet the blond girl from the opening clip and that her name's Nora. But she doesn't strike me as an interesting character. Does her introduction add anything to the plot or character development of Holo and Lawrence? It's too early to tell.

But I think I ought to say at the onset that I don't buy the idea of Holo being jealous. Holo is too comfortable in her own skin to ever be jealous and Lawrence is much too infatuated with Holo to convince me otherwise.

Plus, it's utterly ridiculous to hire a shepherd as an escort to drive away wolves. I don't know about you but I think it doesn't follow.

The series is becoming boring. In fact, the only reason I actually blogged about this episode is because there are some really pretty landscape shots here, although I can't say the same thing for the entirety of the show. In my opinion, the production value went down as early as episode 2.