Kino no Tabi:Volume5 Chapter9

“A Tale of a Salt Field” ~Family Business~

A single motorad (Note: A motorcycle. Only to note that it cannot fly in the sky) is running through a white world.

Everywhere you look, only a flat, dazzling white space can be seen.

In this place, the earth is made of salt.

The salt was dried and hardened, and has spread all over like ice. East, west, south and north, in every single direction, there was only the white horizon to be seen.

The sun is at its zenith, the pale blue sky was cloudless, and beneath the plains were shining white.

The motorad was running towards the west on top of the salt field, encountering not a single obstacle. A box is mounted on both sides of the rear wheel. A bag, a sleeping bag, cans of fuel and water, and other traveling luggage are loaded on top of the rear carrier.

The driver was wearing a brown coat, the excess hem of which was rolled up to the thighs. She was wearing a hat with flaps covering her ears and yellow single-lens goggles, and her face was covered with a bandana for protection from sunburn.

A rifle-type persuader (Note: A gun) was suspended in front of her body with a leather strap. It was a slim rifle with a wooden stock, and attached to it is a sniper’s scope.

“Kino. Behind at seven o’clock,” the motorad spoke suddenly in a loud voice, so as not to lose to the sound of the engine.

The driver called Kino slackened the accelerator a little and turned her head behind to the left.

“I can’t see it. How far ahead are we?”

“A good deal. Besides, they’re using ordinary horses. They seem to be desperately trying to chase us, but it’s impossible for them to catch up,” said the motorad.

“If that’s the case, then let’s escape like this.”

“Roger,”

Kino maxed the accelerator. The motorad accelerated and ran through the salt fields in an incomparable speed.

“As expected, they came, Hermes” said the driver.

The motorad called Hermes, “As expected, they did come. The info you got was perfect.”

Kino and Hermes rode until sunset.

Because nothing can be seen from afar after dark, they camped out on the white fields.

Kino dug a hole in the hard salt, then, keeping Hermes away, she made a fire at the bottom of it using solid fuel.

With her persuader beside her bed, Kino slept under the sky full of stars.

--

The next day.

Just as the previous day, Kino and Hermes ran towards the western horizon.

The scenery hasn’t changed a bit. The sky is clear and the wind does not blow. Kino cut the engine to take a break.

And her ears ached from the silence.

Just about noon.

While running, Hermes spoke all of a sudden.

“Kino. They’ve come again. Eight o’clock. This time it’s a car,”

Kino turned her head. There was a small dot from afar. It slowly became bigger in view.

"Will they catch us up?", Kino asked,

“Looks like it. They are faster than us,” Hermes said calmly. Kino looked again.

“What now?” Hermes asked. Kino released her grasp from the handle of the accelerator, and released the safety of her persuader.

“I knew it.”

“It can’t be helped. As to why they would attack a traveler out of the blue, I have no idea. I’d love to know.”

Kino returned her hand to the handle, turned around, and looked at their pursuers.

The car is getting much bigger in view, and a white smoke can be seen sparsely floating from it.

“Kino, they’re firing!”

“I know. But it’s still far. If they hit me from this distance,”

“If they did?” Hermes asked. Kino smiled a little as she spoke.

“Then today must be a fairly lucky one.”

“This is not a joke. You should return fire immediately,” Hermes complained in a loud voice, and Kino only said, ‘Not yet, only a bit more’.

The distance between them gradually shrank, and gun smoke rose intermittently from the car. While running, Kino glanced behind to look at the pursuers.

“Okay. Here’s good.”

She slackened the accelerator, and turned sharply to the left. They were exposed to the pursuing car straight from the left.

“Kino, you made it easier for them to shoot you, what in the world are you thinking?” Hermes asked.

Kino did not answer this, and instead fixed the accelerator, and removed her hands from the handles. She immediately positioned her persuader, aimed and fired in an instant.

The car’s front right tire burst and scattered from the force of its rotation.

Kino immediately returned her hand to the handles and made a big turn to the right.

The car pitched forward, its front right wheel and body scraping the salt ground at length. The driver tried to stop the car, but it overturned to the right, shaking off its passengers ostentatiously,

“It stopped,” said Hermes.

“Well, let’s run,” Kino accelerated.

--

The next day.

Once again, Kino and Hermes were running on the salt fields.

To the north and south, the tops of mountains, which seemed like islands, began to be slightly visible. As usual, there was nothing to behold from the west where Kino and Hermes are headed.

“There’s something up front,” Around noon, Hermes spoke while running.

Kino loosened the accelerator a bit and asked, ‘What is it?'.

Hermes, in a slightly worried tone, “I wonder? Trees standing side by side, maybe. It doesn’t look like there are any humans around.”

A little doubtful, Kino stood up while riding. Eventually, she faintly saw something like a black line on the plain’s surface. She approached warily and realized that it was a row of stakes pierced on the ground.

Kino stopped Hermes in front of the stakes.

Each of the wooden stakes was about the height of a child, and the distance between the stakes wouldn't let a car pass in between. It has drawn an endless line on the white ground. The line extended from the southeast to the west.

“What could this be?” Hermes asked, and Kino tilted her head.

“Who knows? I have no idea at all. Someone’s guideposts perhaps……, but if it were, there’s no need for them to be stuck too close to each other.”

“Nothing was said about this?”

“Nope. I heard that there’s someone who’ll come and attack us, that’s all.”

“Hmm,”

“Well, no matter. Anyway, since it’s going west, let’s run along it.”

Kino launched Hermes. Hermes said, ‘Don’t get lost, okay?’

While they were running, they saw a man striking the stakes.

Hermes soon informed Kino, and she released the safety of her persuader.

A small car was parked just ahead the path Kino was taking, and several stakes were piled up on its carrier. There was an elderly man, wearing sunglasses, his face tanned black due to sunburn. The man was hammering down the tops of the stakes. He was hammering with intense concentration.

The man noticed the sound of the engine and turned around. The motorad came out from the shadow of the car, slid its rear wheel in front of the man and stopped.

“Hello,”

“Hi,” Kino and Hermes greeted the surprised man.

The man raised the hammer. Then he saw Kino holding a persuader with both hands, and dropped the hammer while gnashing his teeth. The man shouted.

“You wretch! Even if you kill me with that persuader, what’s mine will still be mine! You won’t be able to steal it from me!”

After she was sure that the man was finished shouting,

“I don’t have any idea what you are talking about. What is it that you think we were going to take away from you?” Kino asked, lowering the bandana from her face.

Once again, the man yelled in a loud voice, ‘What, you're trying to play innocent now?'

In a polite tone, Kino told the man that she has no intention of hurting him or stealing anything from him, and that he should calm down.

“Then, you mean to say that you two were simply travelers using this salt lake instead of a road?”

The man has somewhat settled down, and asked Kino who was standing beside Hermes.

“Yes. We intend to stop here, and we are not planning to take anything,” Kino slung the persuader on her back and opened the front of her coat.

The man seemed indifferent, “Well, whatever. If that’s what you say. However, don’t you think I deserve an apology from you for trespassing into my private property?”

“Private property?” Hermes asked.

“That’s right. South of this line,” the man pointed at the row of stakes. Kino and Hermes were standing south of the line.

“……Uhmmm, did you just say ‘private’?” Kino asked. And with a shocked face the man said, ‘You didn’t know?’"

“This is what I meant by ‘mine’.”

“What?” Hermes asked. The man shook his head,

“If the driver is stupid, so is the motorad. Isn’t it obvious? This land.”

“But, it’s just salt, isn’t it?” Hermes immediately replied.

“This salt can be dug up and sold you know! Didn’t you learn that from your travels?”

Kino spoke to the man in an extremely polite tone.

“We did not know. If it’s fine with you, kindly excuse our insufficient knowledge and teach us some things,”

The man snorted,

“It can’t be helped. Because of that honest attitude, I’ll tell the whole story especially for you. You see, I was originally a traveler. To be precise, ‘we’ were travelers. A dozen of us were traveling as a group.”

“You were a traveler?” Hermes asked.

“Yes, that’s right. We left out of disgust of our homeland. We traveled with a number of vehicles and horses.”

“And then?”

“And then, without a place to go, without a country to accept us, our days of wandering continued. We were already exhausted. There was a dispute, and we lost our money. We even though of becoming thieves.

But at that time, the goddess of fortune gave us an incredible gift.

“What is it?” Hermes asked,

“You still don't get it after I said this much? This salt! We struggled and stumbled upon this land,” the man said with an amazed expression.

“And after that?”

“After that, we quarried the salt from here, and began to sell them in countries to the north and south. It saved us. Anyhow, in the beginning, we can only sell what we can carry. We obtained fuel and food in the countries, and then make a round trip back here. There was no need for us to immigrate. We can earn a living without having to stay in a country. We continued this way of life ever since.”

“I see, I understand up to that part. But what happened to the others?” Hermes asked, and the man snorted.

“Those guys? I broke away from them.”

“Why?”

“Hmph. Because I was disgusted with their greed.”

“Greed?”

“Yeah. For a short time, we worked together. But after that, those wretches divided into groups and began plotting to take the salt all for themselves. In short, they pretended to be working hard for us. There was dispute after dispute, and in the end we chose to live apart. We each chose our own territory, and sell to whichever country we like. Hmph. I don’t know how I managed to stay together with those greedy bastards until that time. It was right to part with them.”

“Then that means your former traveling companions have taken ownership of the salt all over this salt lake, and tries to eliminate all that comes near?” Kino asked.

And with a voice inaudible to anyone, Hermes murmured, “The mystery of the attack on travelers solved.”

The man spoke. “Ah, you’ve met them?”

“Yes. They fired at me without warning.”

“Tsk. It’s not surprising for those no-brains to do such a thing. It’s likely they thought that you were my underling or something. They are idiots to the core. Come to think of it, they were like that since birth,” the man said. Kino asked.

“Since birth? How did you know?”

“Yeah. Those idiots were my sons. Five of them, plus their wife and children. It was my family who went in a journey.”

“…………” “…………” Kino and Hermes fell silent.

And then the man,

“They were really greedy, those bastards. Such rotten character. Unlike me, they did not clearly specified the borders of their territory, did nothing but to haphazardly quarry the salt, and gave no mercy to anyone who comes near. Goodness, I’m glad I did not become like them,” he spat.

“That was very helpful. Thank you very much. By the way, I would like to have your permission,” said Kino.

“For what?” The man asked.

“We freely entered your territory without your knowledge. I’m terribly sorry. So, please forgive our rudeness, but we would like to ask for your special permission to allow us to head west from your land starting here. We hope for your kind consideration.”

“…… Hmph. If you've said that at the very beginning, then i wouldn't have shouted at you. Okay then. I give you my special permission,” the man said arrogantly.

“Thank you very much. Well, we would like to excuse ourselves.”

“Goodbye, then. Good luck in your work.”

“Uh-huh. You don’t have to tell me,”

Kino wore her bandana and went astride Hermes. She started the engine and soon rode away.

As the motorad drove away, the man began to hammer the stakes.