Spice & Wolf I by Hasekura Isuna

on foot.
    “This is the silver the boy mentioned, yes?” Holo held a silver trenni . It was the most widely used currency in the region because among the hundreds of different kinds of currency in the world, it was one of the most trusted, and also simply because this town and the region around it were within the nation of Trenni.
    Nations that did not have their own currency were doomed to either collapse or become client nations of larger powers.
    “It’s a well-trusted coin in this region,” said Lawrence.
    “Trusted?” Holo looked up at Lawrence as she played with the coin on which the profile of the eleventh ruler of Trenni was engraved.
    “There are hundreds of currencies in the world, and the amount of gold or silver in each varies constantly Trust is an important part of currency.”
    “Huh. I only knew of a few different kinds of money. It used to be that business was done in animal skins.”
    Lawrence wondered exactly how many hundreds of years ago she was talking about.
    “So, how about it? Have you worked something out now that you know which coin he was talking about?”
    “Well, there are several possibilities.”
    “For example?” asked Holo as they walked past the stalls in the marketplace. She stopped suddenly, and a big man who had the look of a worker about him bumped into her. He was just about to shout at her when Holo looked up from underneath her cloak and apologized. The man reddened and managed to say, “W-well, be more careful.”
    Lawrence silently resolved not to be swayed by this particular tactic of Holo’s.
    “What’s wrong?” he asked.
    “Mm. I want to eat one of those.”
    Holo was pointing at a bread stall. It was just before midday, so fresh-baked bread was lined up in neat rows. In front of a stall, a maid was buying more bread than she could possibly eat, probably for the midday meal of some craftsman and his apprentice.
    “You want some bread?”
    “Mm. That one, there, with the honey on it.”
    Holo indicated some long, thin loaves that were being showily displayed from the eaves of the stall. The honey-drizzled bread was popular in most places. Lawrence seemed to remember that the tradition was started in a certain city where a baker had hung the loaves from the eaves of his shop as he drizzled them with honey as a way to attract customers. The tactic had been so successful that fights broke out among the people who wanted to buy the bread, and the baker’s union had made it official policy that all honey bread would be henceforth hung from the eaves.
    The bread did look delicious, but Lawrence couldn’t help grinning at Holo’s sweet tooth showing itself yet again.
    “You have money,” he told her. “Go ahead and buy some if you want.”
    “I don’t imagine bread and apples are far apart in price. Will you carry the mountain of bread I’ll bring back with me? Or shall I ruin the baker’s day by asking him for so much change?”
    Lawrence finally understood. All Holo had were silver trenni coins—each of which was worth far more than it took to buy a loaf of bread. She’d bought more apples than she was able to carry with a similar coin.
    “All right, all right. I’ll give you a smaller coin. Here, hold out your hands. One of these black coins should get you one loaf.”
    Lawrence took the silver coin from Holo’s hands and replaced it with several brown and black copper ones, pointing at the coin he wanted her to use.
    Holo scrutinized the currency carefully. “You’d best not be cheating me,” she said suspiciously.
    He thought about kicking her, but Holo soon turned on her heel and headed for the bakers stall.
    “Always with the quick tongue,” retorted Lawrence, but in truth he couldn’t claim he wasn’t enjoying himself.
    When he saw Holo walking back, her face the very picture of contentment as she sank her teeth into the bread, he couldn’t help laughing.
    “Don’t bump into anybody else,” Lawrence said. “I don’t want to have to