Spice & Wolf Omnibus

by Isuna Hasekura

  This was surely just like the nobles making large investments in the town.

  Nobles were investing to acquire mountains of gold and silver coins in return, not because they wanted burned-out fields. So why would the Debau Company do something like wage a war?

  Many of the lords of the north regretted that their own faces were not engraved upon coins, but they probably did not terribly mind the faces of kings from far-off, never-seen lands that were.

  Besides, unlike trenni silver pieces, a coin issued largely for vanity would not be accepted by the many villagers that dotted the northlands.

  Surely investing in this city was an opportunity for the nobles to easily obtain easy-to-use coin as well.

  The Debau Company had them dancing on its palm to an unbelievable degree.

  With that kind of influence, it might as well mint its own money.

  Lawrence made a pained smile as he thought about it and then muttered, “Huh?”

  “Mm?” Holo replied beside him. Lawrence looked back at her, asking her if he had said something. It had been that sudden.

  As various thoughts filled his head, Lawrence felt as if he saw something at the edge of his vision, as if he had seen the outline of someone important to him from a far-off town amid the bustling traffic.

  Holo looked at him, her eyes asking if he was going to go into the shop or not.

  But even with Holo in his sights, he searched his own thoughts. His memories switched from an image reflected on the water’s surface to a jumble of words.

  Nobles buying buildings for profit? Debau plotting war, an invasion of the northlands?

  Irregularities in the coin market prices, with gold coins becoming unusually expensive compared to silver?

  All kinds of words spread out as time rewound in the back of Lawrence’s mind.

  He went through his conversation with Luward and what Holo had said to him. It all seemed to be the key to deciphering a huge scheme.

  And the instant that he beheld all that he had rewound, Lawrence gasped at what he saw.

  “Come, you–” Holo said questioningly.

  But Lawrence did not know what to do. What he had thought of was too unbelievable. He had found the key to explaining all of it: the liveliness of the town, the freedom of the people, the coin market prices, and even the mercenaries.

  The key was exceedingly simple and all the more powerful for it. What waited on the other side of the door the key opened was truly a world without comparison.

  He had all the answers. He had not thought of it because it was so elementary.

  “Come, you, that’s quite enough…”

  It was right after Holo seemed to get angry.

  Lawrence grabbed Holo’s shoulders, facing her squarely, and embraced her with all his might.

  Something like this, in the middle of the street, usually came from Holo’s side and always to tease Lawrence. Sometimes Lawrence had extended his hand to her, such as when they were darting through the back alleys of Lenos, but that was not the case here.

  Lawrence was too happy to help himself. If Holo had not been there, he might have shouted for joy with all his might.

  If his thoughts were not mistaken, the Debau Company truly was a monster.

  The irregularities with the coin market prices. Building an unwalled, unregulated town. Spending its own money to attract nobles and mercenaries. Spreading rumors of strife beyond.

  Lawrence pulled back from Holo, whose eyes blinked in shock, and entered the shop in high spirits.

  A young man likely employed to give explanations and relay messages was inside, tending to the shop while playing with a cat.

  The youngster, surely used to seeing excited merchants inside the shop, was clearly taken aback as he looked at Lawrence. As Holo still had a bewildered look on her face, that was probably natural.

  As the young man mumbled a greeting, Lawrence made a smooth greeting of his own and walked before him, wordlessly reaching into his handbag and pulling out his linen bag, placing it upon the table.

  He smiled the entire way.

  The stage was rarely set for a gamble such as this.

  One had to climb aboard.

  As it finally dawned on the youth that Lawrence had placed a deposit upon the table, he flew out of the shop, asking Lawrence to please wait.

  Lawrence’s eyes did not follow the young man out. He stared at the top of the now-empty seat and shuddered with delight.

  Lawrence lifted his face, turned toward Holo’s dubious-looking face, and spoke.

  “We’re going to watch something incredible.”

  “Huh?” Holo replied as if to an idiot.

  But Lawrence was of course not being stupid.

  Then, what he thought was his boldest smile came over his face.

  As he looked at Holo, Lawrence said, as if he was going to do it himself…

  “Debau will go to war.”

  “Wh…”

  “Furthermore, the entire region will be drawn in,” he added just as Holo tried to ask him something.

  Holo was opening and closing her mouth as if searching for words, but on the inside, Holo surely had his profits and losses mixed up.

  To profit from loss was one of the most vivid lessons merchants learned.

  Much profit could be gained if the Debau Company went to war. It was because Debau would launch such a war that Lawrence could likely earn a nigh-unbelievable amount of money by setting up shop here. That was the same as the nobles investing in the city.

  He remembered his conversation in Winfiel Kingdom with someone he met from the Ruvik Alliance, of such influence and might it seemed to slightly surpass the nation itself. Eve had probably first heard the term from them herself.

  A term used among close business competitors.

  Trade war.

  Not all wars involved swinging swords or setting things on fire.

  Merchants made their living by procuring trade goods from the far reaches of distant lands and delivering them to customers at the other end of the world, all while sitting at a table. So why could they not wage war the same way?

  And that was precisely what the Debau Company was doing.

  Before long someone from the Vhans Company came to the shop. The Vhans Company seemed to be situated as a branch of the Debau Company.

  Did they know?

  As Lawrence thought of it, he decided they probably did not. Any merchant worth his salt who did know surely would not be so calm about it.

  Even while he was being explained to about the shop and the rights issues related to it, Lawrence’s head was in the clouds. By the time he realized it, he had returned to the inn, with Holo exhibiting undisguised displeasure atop the bed.

  “You want to know?”

  Lawrence gave her a playful glance, full of confidence.

  Even Holo could not get angry at him for that. She sighed.

  “’Tis written all over your face that you shall say it anyway.”

  Her tail swayed with a heavy swish as if a sigh of its own.

  “That’s correct.”

  “… We are going round in circles. Speak already.”

  If she was going to listen to him speak, he did not mind her flabbergasted look. Lawrence gathered himself and explained to Holo.

  However, as he explained to Holo, the folds of her frown only deepened, probably because she could not believe the details from a young one. That the Debau Company was doing something on this scale.

  That they were turning the very foundation of their business into a weapon with which to wage war.

  That they were going to take on not part of, but the entirety of the northlands, which had never been unified by anyone.

  There likely would not be casualties. There would probably be no tragedies.

  Everyone would surely be shocked, then rise in acclamation and overflow with joy that such a method of warfare existed in this world.

  That is why when someone ran hurriedly through the corridor
and knocked on the door of their room while he was in the middle of explaining to Holo, he was not flustered.

  Lawrence had reasoned that if his hypothesis was correct, it was just about time.

  “Mr. Lawrence, momentous news!” Moizi’s voice resounded.

  Lawrence flashed Holo a smile as he went to the door, opening it.

  There stood Moizi, the look on his face that of one announcing that one’s enemy had just arrived.

  “Oh, Mr. Lawrence. ’Tis a grave matter. Just now, our subordinates reported a billboard has been put up in the square. It concerns–”

  Lawrence nodded as he spoke.

  “I know what it concerns.”

  That made Moizi blink in surprise for a moment before replying.

  “You have already seen it?”

  He shook his head side to side. Moizi asked back, “What is the meaning of this, then?” but Lawrence, lacking a single shred of doubt things were outside his expectations, spoke with pride.

  “The billboard carries an announcement that a new coin is being issued. Am I wrong?”

  For a moment, Moizi took his words in and then said, “That is correct.”

  “But how did you know?” his eyes asked.

  Certainly, Lawrence had not known when they had discussed the matter the day before. Even so, he had brought all the money he had on hand, resolved for the first and probably only time in his life to buy a shop, something that certainly was not cheap, for he had come to see it.

  There were things one could not understand by thinking with their head alone.

  Holo was among these things.

  Lawrence lightly pulled on his collar to readjust it.

  “For the Debau Company is a collection of merchants, and I, too, am a merchant.”

  Even if it made Holo laugh at him, he put on his best merchant face.

  The town was in an uproar.

  Of course, the merchants were at the vanguard of the outcry.

  Since ancient times, one could call it “invariable” that the powerful issued coinage within their spheres of influence.

  This was at once proof that they were masters of their own territories, but most of all, the issuing of coinage brought in profit in and of itself.

  As it was normal for a coin to have a higher market value than the value of the precious metals it contained, the issuer made a profit from that difference alone.

  But the Debau Company was not aiming for anything as simple as the profit from issuing coinage itself. It had meticulously prepared in advance, scattering bait all about. To attract a mountain of fish, one needed bait for them to eat to their hearts’ content. Trenni silver pieces, the most-used silver coinage south of Ploania, were probably circulating around the northlands to a hitherto unprecedented degree.

  However, no matter how great the amount of coins brought in by lords and nobles pursuing the scent of easy profit, it was surely a level that could not be kept up for long.

  Normally, a lack of currency would erupt sooner or later, business dried up, and products could no longer be sold.

  That is why Holo had said, thinking this an extremely obvious line of thinking, perhaps the Debau Company is minting its own currency.

  If one wanted to have enough of something they did not have enough of, they had to get more from somewhere, and if they were a company in possession of lucrative mines, the idea of minting their own currency was not mistaken whatsoever.

  However, trenni silver pieces, with the likenesses of the kings of Trenni engraved upon them, were coins with a long lineage. A newly minted fake was exposed immediately. Silver coin or not, experienced hands could tell by sight. With any well-known coin, a new minting would be identified immediately.

  So what about an entirely new kind of silver coin?

  There was no problem whatsoever. Furthermore, the Debau Company could produce the raw silver and copper by themselves.

  The announcement in the town of Lesko of the issuing of a new coin brought a carnival atmosphere with it.

  The most pleased of all were those merchants who, like Lawrence, realized what the Debau Company was doing; the next most pleased were the ordinary residents of the town of Lesko.

  The sign concerned had this recorded on it.

  “The Debau Company has obtained approval from multiple lords for the issuance of coinage in the following weights.”

  It listed silver coins, copper coins, and various others…

  The purity levels recorded on the sign were unheard of. Normally, there was no way such purity could be maintained, or so many merchants thought, so they would do business while preparing for the purity level to drop, but a public consensus was forming on how much profit the Debau Company, bearing mines from which silver and copper poured out as if from a spring, could attain.

  The Debau Company probably could continue to maintain that level of purity.

  And even more importantly, the exchange rate with other currencies had also been recorded.

  For the next two years, the Debau Company would exchange trenni silver pieces for its new silver coins at a fixed rate, no questions asked.

  The Debau Company’s wording was so strong that, regardless of appearance, even if they had been shaved, this town would assemble a huge volume of trenni silver pieces, supplied by people coming to sell merchandise in the town of Lesko from all across the northlands, making its economy extremely active.

  With the huge influx of trenni silver pieces, it would become harder and harder to use the lower quality coinage that had been in use in Lesko until now. Rather than accept coins issued by just anyone, everyone would rather accept coinage of a well-known, stable value.

  There were plenty of cases where bad coinage drove out the good, but the reverse naturally occurred as well.

  What that meant specifically was, rather than the dozens of low-quality coins that circulated throughout the northlands, a currency system was being established simple enough for even a child to understand.

  For those who had been accepting coins with their values shrouded in uncertainty, this was nothing short of a blessing from heaven.

  In one stroke, the Debau Company had simplified the exchange of coinage, and furthermore, had linked the value of its own coinage with that of trenni silver pieces.

  In doing so, spreading the announcement across various towns, they made it possible to easily and painlessly switch to the new currency without any need for the various rulers’ say-so.

  Until now, everyone had merely brought their merchandise for sale in town, something any peasant could think of.

  But what Lawrence – and perhaps other merchants as well-admired was what lay ahead.

  Why had the Debau Company spread rumors of unrest all about?

  In fact, the nobles and mercenaries that had gathered had never thought they were simply being used to bring in currency.

  Besides, according to Luward, the Debau Company had not shown even the smallest sign of starting a war, seemingly wasting their time and money. This had solicited irritation and impatience from Luward and his ilk.

  They tried with all their might to figure out what to expect from the Debau Company, even seeking advice from merchants off the street like Lawrence.

  And there was no doubt that was the Debau Company’s very objective.

  By dangling rumors of unrest and sprinkling about a large amount of money, the Debau Company had gathered military strength together. Anyone would think that there was no doubt Debau was going to wage war. They would say that because it was a company that owned and operated mines, it would surely wage war to obtain new ore deposits in the northlands.

  However, there was no concrete information whatsoever about where Debau would invade. No doubt this kept the residents of the northlands and, in particular, those actually ruling the various territories up at night. Since time immemorial, the powerful had carved out and ruled territories from the lands divided by mountains and valleys. They had two choices open to them.

 
; The first was for the northlands to unite together to oppose the Debau Company; the second was to join Debau’s side.

  And so, lords had requested peace talks with the Debau Company one after another. No doubt Debau had prepared astonishingly lenient proposals. Furthermore, the more and more such talk circulated, the Debau Company would make allies out of the powerful left and right, with the rumors of what it was doing only making it all the more convincing.

  No one would know what would happen if they did not join when push came to shove. To say nothing of all the mercenary groups gathered in the town; many powerful people would think of the town as beyond their reach.

  Also, the masses glorified life in the town of Lesko as the world’s eternal springtime. Buildings were constructed one after another as the population grew steadily.

  Those sharp of wit would want to invest in such a place.

  Indeed, according to Luward, lords actually were investing in the town.

  They could not have been buying anything cheap. After all, they had been buying buildings, just as Lawrence had. Would someone who had invested in the town think, What can I do to lower prices in that town? Surely not.

  Because coinage was a symbol of authority, there would be those who would be unamused by Debau’s issuing a new currency, but this was no great concern. If they could have tranquility for their territories and a great deal of profit, it was no concern at all.

  After all, the Debau Company’s war was the battle to expand the extent of the circulation of its currency.

  The more currency one issued, the more one’s profit from issuing that currency rose. After all, issuing a coin no one was going to use was meaningless. The more people used one’s coinage, the better. From that perspective, the Debau Company’s scheme was perfect.

  When Lawrence went to exchange currency in Lenos, the coinage was divided into fourteen different types. Faced with such a place, one certainly yearned for strong, abundant coinage.

  That was how coinage spread.

  Lawrence expressed what the Debau Company was doing as a war because its expanding currency was engaged in the same role as that of soldiers.

  The Debau Company, which accomplished its objective of protecting the town without walling it in, was rushing headlong into a new world.