Oh man oh man, Lawrence has really found himself in the worse case scenario. Not only was the armour he has is worthless due to the cancellations of the northern expeditions, but he ended up being handed the debt of Latparron Trading Company, causing him to go bankrupt.
But it was his fault for jumping the gun with the greedy assumption that the armour was still as valuable as it has ever been. He was also too excited about initially catching the merchant trying to con him, and naively assumed he wouldn’t be able to pull the rug from underneath him again. He should’ve taken notice that something was amiss with the merchant’s body language, the hesitation should’ve made him ask questions rather than charging ahead. It also served as an invaluable reminder to keep tabs on the value of merchandise, something he has clearly neglected to do to have not done further research to have known about the cancellation in the first place.
Unfortunately this also means that the Rowen merchant association cannot help him. The only time they’d step in if something had happened to him that was outside of his control, such as robbery, sickness, or injury. Should he fail to pay back the debt on time, the head will be responsible of apprehending him.
And as if that wasn’t bad enough: Lawrence only has two days to repay the debt. If he doesn’t, he’ll be being turned into a slave, doing hard labour that’ll most likely lead him to his death before he even has a chance to ever repay it in full. That’s why Lawrence started going around asking merchants he has connections with if he could borrow money. He might have succeeded if he were still travelling solo, but to these merchants, begging for money while having a travel companion– who is a woman no less, only angers them. Nobody was willing to lend him even a penny. So no matter how humiliating it was, Lawrence had no choice but to grovel for money like a beggar to grab whatever he could get. A part of this was also in repentance of having lashed out at Holo after one of the merchants pointed out that Holo was the reason why nobody was wiling to help him. And while I understand Lawrence was under terrible stress and pressure (because nobody wants to be in that position— ever), it was not right of him to lash out at her like that, and it was something he was deeply apologetic for and regretted.
Holo was deeply hurt by it, and truly felt bad for being an obstacle in such situation. She was more upset by the fact he kept thinking about her first, even as far as trying to gather enough money to secure her the travel funds to continue her journey without him. But Holo would never leave him behind, especially not in this situation. It was pretty endearing of her to get him into saying he did it all because she’s special to him (and it is true, other people might have gone as far as dumping their companion had they’ve fallen into this hellhole of a situation). She had also made a good point that she’d prefer if they argued next time, since they way they could vent and work together to finding a solution. And naturally, Holo did come up with a plan– and a crazy one at that.
The idea is to smuggle gold with the help of the sheep. It’s certainly not the kind of scheme Lawrence would have come up with on his own. Goodness, the guy had even considered potentially trying his luck at gambling, which I thought was a terrible idea given his unlucky streak at the moment. That said, they still decided to resort to a gamble, but rather banking on the money, it’s the kind where they are putting their lives at stake. I can’t say it’s much better, but it’s something they do have a bit more control of so to speak… There’s certainly not as much wiggle-room when you’re in a gambling house. Still… frankly speaking, I don’t trust Remerio the slightest. Due to the crash in armour prices, the Remerio Merchant association is running around like chickens with their heads chopped off, so I suspect Remerio probably wouldn’t want to give any benefits to Lawrence, even if they do end up successful.
In order to smuggle the gold, they need Nora and her herd to help them out. Her role as a shepherd will be important, not only for the cover, but also to serve as an escort and security when they traverse to Lamtra.
Thankfully Lawrence told her straight what kind of situation she was getting herself into, so she knows that’s at stake. Doing so he also made her, an offer she cannot easily refuse: And that is the prime opportunity to finally leave this town behind, and pursue becoming a tailor she dreams of. Staying in this town any longer would do her no good, as the Church is set on treating her a “heretic” under the guise of being “graced by God” by sending her to dangerous places until she finally meets her death. Sheesh… On that note, it always baffles me how common it was back then to regard someone as a someone who was possessed by a fiend or a witch for being special– as opposed to, geez I don’t know, positively perceiving the individual as “They have been truly blessed by God!” Truly hypocrisy at its finest.
With that, we’ll have to see how this unfold, but it’s going to be a nerve-wracking challenge to say the least. Their lives are at stake.
Note; Ep 11 entry will be released as a double-post next week!