Kino no Tabi:Volume6 Chapter4

“A Land with an Elder” —I Need You.—

There was one country in a rather wide valley of a steep mountainous region.

Its walls were made from stone cut out from the neighboring mountains. Its houses and roads were also made of this stone. These were historic ruins made by some people in ancient times, but later made into a country either by their descendants or by someone else.

Horse-drawn carriages were leisurely coming back and forth the roads, and huge cows pulled plows over the farms. It was a quiet and peaceful country — at least it was supposed to be.

Since olden times, this country elected a person to become its religious and spiritual leader.

This person was called an ‘Elder’.

The Elder was chosen from the common people through an impartial lottery. Afterwards, he would be trained and entrusted with important duties. He would abide by strict laws, serve as an example to the whole country, and work for the sake of all the people.

The current Elder was a man just over fifty years of age. He was chosen shortly before the previous Elder passed away, and carried out his duties excellently for the past twenty years. He had the support and respect of the citizens.

However, this Elder suddenly vanished about half a year ago. Everyone searched for him all over the country, but he cannot be found anywhere. No one had any idea how he managed to disappear from the country.

After a while, a message came from people who called themselves ‘valley bandits’: ‘We abducted your Elder, and we will kill him immediately if you refuse to pay us ransom.' Everyone was surprised.

The Elder after all is an important person, so everyone did as the bandits wished, and presented gold and silver treasures, food, and clothes.

Even so, the bandits did not release the Elder, and demanded more things again and again in exchange for his safety.

The people of the country became more and more distressed.

—

During this time, a traveler came to the rarely traversed country.

The lone traveler who came riding a battered car was an elegantly-dressed, youthful woman. Inside the holster on her right hip is a high-caliber hand persuader (Note: A persuader is a gun. In this case, a pistol).

For some reason, she looked strong.

The leaders of the country gathered. Since they had nothing to lose, they decided to give it a try and explained the situation to the traveler. They asked her if she could take on the job of exterminating the bandits.

The woman asked them to tell her the details about the bandits’ hideout. Everybody replied that it was located at the top of the valley. It was not possible to approach it from below, nor was it within the aiming range of a rifle from the opposite side of the valley.

The woman pondered for a while, and then asked,

“How much will be my reward?”

—

There was a valley.

The valley formed by the steep and craggy mountains was several hundred meters deep. The river flowing at its bottom looked very thin from above, but the valley itself was two kilometers in width.

There was only one road that leads up to the bends and curves of the valley. A car could barely fit in this road.

Beside this road, at a considerably high part of the valley, several huts were built. There was a big hut and a number of smaller ones. This was the bandits’ hideout.

It was morning in the valley.

A few strips of clouds were floating on the pale blue morning glow of the sky. It was a lovely early summer morning, with the flowers of highland plants damp with the previous night’s dew.

Three guards holding rifle-type persuaders were standing in front of the hideout, while thin smoke from cooking drifted from inside the huts.

A bandit holding a steaming cup came out from a hut. He approached the male guard, and handed him the cup of warm tea.

The guard thanked him. The moment he took the cup, a light shined on the two of them.

The dazzling sun appeared from the lined up mountain peaks behind the opposite side of the valley. The hideout and the valley brightened up in an instant.

The male guard narrowed his eyes, and slightly raised the cup in greeting to the morning sun.

“To a brand new day,” the man said. And then, the man’s body was halved.

His torso exploded and fell sideways to the ground as his internal organs and blood scattered. The tea spilled.

Still confused with what just occurred, the other man’s chest exploded as both his arms and neck fell to the ground.

One second later, the long, low echoes of the two shots rang in the valley.

Another surprised guard soon lost his body. The other one shouted.

“E-enemy raid!”

Those were his last words.

Two men who leaped out of the hut briskly were blown up at the same time.

Someone crouched and yelled as he heard the long and low thunderous echo of the shots.

“A sniper! We are being targeted!”

Bullets rained down on a guard hut at one end of the road. The hut shook as chips of wood were loudly blown off from it, and eventually it crumbled down. All of the people sleeping inside were crushed underneath.

Another small hut was destroyed, its logs clattering and falling off. Several people crouching down in front of it were trundled along to the bottom of the valley.

Bandits holding rifles in their hands came out of the big hut and took cover behind a rock, but were driven into chaos as they did not know where the shots were coming from.

This time the bullets flew towards this rock, reducing it to dust in three shots and blowing the three men hiding behind it to bits.

—

The woman was at the top of the opposite side of the valley.

She was sitting on the ground with her back to the sun and with her legs in front of her. Before her was a thick metallic tripod supporting a persuader the length of one person.

This persuader was originally mounted on top of tanks, meant to shoot down tough targets such as trucks and armored vehicles. Normally, it was not used to shoot down bare humans.

One would ask, ‘Is this actually an astronomical telescope?’ upon seeing the large and thick scope attached on top of the persuader.

The woman peeked through this scope, seeing clearly the bandits moving about in confusion at the other side of the valley.

The woman grasped two rods at the end of the persuader with both of her hands. She aimed with care, and pressed the firing lever by her thumb just once.

Boom-!

A tremendous sound was heard as one bullet was fired off. The persuader shook from the recoil. The barrel spouted great quantities of gas, blurring the air. If it were not for the water carefully sprinkled on the ground beforehand, the air would have been filled with a great amount of dust. An enormous empty cartridge as big as a flower vase fell to the ground.

A rifle cannot be compared with the massive bullet that tore through the air, glided across the valley and halved a man’s body.

Then, through the eyes of the woman across the scope, the image of a middle-aged man being dragged by the bandits was reflected.

—

“Can’t you see this?! If you continue this any further, we will kill this man!”

Because their voice can’t possibly reach the other side of the valley, the bandits acted out their message. They made the Elder squat on the ground, poked his head with an automatic hand persuader, and then glowered towards the direction where the shots originated. They could see nothing but the glare of the sun, stunning their eyes.

The Elder’s heavily bearded face registered complete confusion. He only remained squat on his knees with both of his hands raised up.

“We will really shoot!”

The bandit made a number of shooting gestures, poking the Elder's head with the persuader.

The woman could see this scene clearly, but as if to say that it has nothing to do with her, she continued to fire.

Behind the woman, each thunderous shot startled the tethered cow that pulled the heavy equipment up to that place.

“Don’t you get it?! We said we’re going to shoot!”

The bandit yelled as he poked the Elder with his persuader, but the shots kept on coming. A number of people came out of the large hut and died one after another in their confusion. Even the humans hiding inside the huts were not spared as the huts were shot down.

“Oh no...”

Everything else that was moving except for himself and the Elder were killed. And then one final shot made its way towards the dumbfounded bandit.

—

The Elder, kneeling and with his hands upraised, slowly looked on both sides. The place which was earlier a bandit hideout became a bandit morgue. It looked like the remnants of a ripe tomato throwing festival.

A long time has passed since the last gunshot was heard. The Elder slowly tried to stand up. Then a roar came up as a bullet flew and crushed a rock behind him. The Elder was surprised and sat down again, trembling.

A long time passed.

The Elder slowly tried to lie on his side. This time, the bullet flew to the other side, splitting in half a log which belonged to one of the huts.

“It’s a warning for you not to move. For the time being, it’s best for you to stay as you are.”

The Elder obeyed.

—

The sun rose higher, and the scattered blood on the rocks started to dry up.

As the Elder sat fixedly in the same place, with his face covered in sweat, the sound of a horse’s stride climbing the valley reached his ears. As it came closer, the Elder realized that it was really a horse.

A woman with long black hair alighted from the horse and pulled out a large revolver from the holster on her right thigh.

The woman looked around her for a while, and approached the Elder. She spoke to him.

“You’re the Elder, I suppose? I was hired by your country.”

The Elder looked up at the woman for a while, and his bearded mouth opened and closed.

“I, I was saved...," he managed to say. He nodded several times in response to the woman’s questions.

“As I thought. Elder, there are things I would like to ask, but before that...”

The woman pointed her revolver at a blood-soaked bandit —— a slightly short, handsome young man —— lying about two meters behind the Elder.

“You there, get up," the woman said, and the man opened his eyes wide. He got up, showed that he was not holding anything, and then slowly wiped off the sweat from his face. Then, he raised both of his arms.

“You got me. And here I thought I wouldn’t be exposed...”

“What are you saying? You hid behind the Elder right from the very start,” the woman said.

“Elder, can you stand?” the woman asked. The Elder stood up, and then he picked up the right arm holding the hand persuader which was used to poke his head earlier. He removed the arm...

“T-this bandit! H-how dare you!”

...and aimed it towards the man whose hands were upraised.

“We need at least one person alive as witness. I know how you feel but, please don’t kill him,” the woman said, returning her own revolver in its holster. The Elder did not shoot and lowered his hand. The man just lightly shrugged his shoulders.

“What did everyone in the country tell you about me?” the Elder asked the woman.

The woman answered, “Everyone was very worried about you.”

“Is that so...,” the Elder muttered. Then he suddenly pointed the persuader he was holding towards the woman. The man with his hands up shrugged once more.

“Those guys were worried? About me? ——Rubbish! Woman! Hands in the air!” the Elder said, his bearded face filled with anger.

“What do you mean? How is that related to you aiming that persuader at me?” The woman asked calmly while raising her hands slightly above her shoulders.

“A big deal! Their intention is for you to take me back and make me work for them again! Because I’m the Elder! ——What’s an elder for?! Give me a break! They just choose some random person and destroy his peaceful life! I’m not free to see my family! I can’t even be with my parents at the moment of their death! It’s not me they want! It’s an 'elder’! I refuse to go back to that prison!” The Elder blabbered in one breath. Then he dropped his tone, and coldly,

“That’s why I’m going to kill you and run off somewhere. I was just getting tired of living together with these stupid bandits. I’ll travel somewhere, and start my life over. I have money, as well as a horse.”

“‘Stupid’ is quite a nasty thing to say. Everyone was only following your suggestion, after all.”

“Sorry about that, brother. I am much obliged to you. ——By any chance, do you want to come with me? You can be my subordinate.”

“I’ll reject that offer.”

“Then, I’ll kill you next after this woman,” he grinned.

The man, with his hands still upraised, spoke to the woman whose hands were also in the air.

“Hey, lady with the revolver, what do you think of this man?”

“Uhm, I have various thoughts but——. Now isn’t the right time.”

“Well, that’s true.”

The two looked at the man, and then the woman spoke.

“Elder, there’s one thing I would like to ask you.”

The Elder grinned. “What is it, woman? Begging for your life?”

“Nope. ——How did you get out of that ‘prison’ without anyone noticing? Everyone in the country finds it a complete mystery.”

“Oh, that?” The Elder looked extremely pleased.

“That is very simple. I studied some archaeology as a hobby when I was a student and made a bit of research on the country’s structure. I learned from an old man that long ago, the sewers were used by kings as an emergency escape route. No one knows about this anymore, and I used it to escape. As luck will have it, I met these stupid bandits, and everything worked out as planned.”

“I see. So it was like that,” the woman nodded. The man also congratulated him.

“What a wonderful escape route. Afterwards, it would be best to close it down.”

“That’s right. You’re finally saying some sense,” the Elder said and snickered. He pointed the persuader at the woman.

“Now then, you’ll have to die. So where should I first shoot at? Your arms? Your legs? Where would be good? Hmm? What do you think?”

The man looked at the exceedingly amused face of the Elder, shook his head a little with an exasperated expression as if to say that he’s hopeless.

“Your legs it is!” The Elder spat, aimed at the woman’s legs, and pulled the trigger.

Clink.

The clear sound echoed that morning through the valley.

“Eh?”

The Elder pulled once more, and there was another clink.

“Huh?”

“Elder, that thing is not yet loaded y’know. Isn’t there a red mark beside the ejection hole? It won’t fire. Well——,” the man said.

The woman leisurely and slowly pulled out the revolver from her waist, aimed at the Elder who was hastily trying to load his persuader, and fired.

“——It’s already too late.”

—

“Elder, the truth is...” the woman spoke, facing the Elder who fell on his back.

“I received three requests. First, to exterminate the bandits. Second, to discover the trick to your escape. And third, to return to the country and report that you have already been ‘killed’. You were already abandoned by that country’s leaders. However, the citizens were hoping for your safety so they can’t let you die without doing anything to help you. I am to report that you were killed by the bandits, regardless of whether you were really alive or not. It seems that they are going to elect a new elder, tomorrow even. It’s by lottery again.”

“......”

“And so, you’re free to do as you wish as long as you don’t go back to that country. You can go wherever you want. ——They wanted me to tell you that.”

“......”

“Isn’t that great! Your heart’s desire was granted at last!” the man said happily, in place of the Elder. The Elder was still lying on his back, both eyes still looking at the sky, his pupils still dilated wide.

Blood was flowing out of his mouth.

—

“Now then,” the woman said, facing the man as she returned the revolver in its holster.

The man was already on his feet, wiping the dried blood of another person from his body with a disgusted expression.

“You weren’t a bandit to begin with, right?” the woman said matter-of-factly.

The man scrubbed his bloody hands on his trousers, and then looked at the woman with his handsome face.

“Ah..., I’m beat. How did you know? Will you tell me the reason? Could it be, ‘His moves are too good for a bandit,’ or maybe, ‘His assessment of a crucial situation is topnotch’?”

“About half a year ago, I dropped by a country and saw your wanted poster. ——If I had found you a bit closer to that country, I would have gladly taken your head back with me.”

“...Oh, I see.”

“My job is to exterminate the bandits. You’re free to go anywhere you like.”

“I shall take up those kind words. This shall be the end of my easy life pretending as a bandit. Well then.”

The man turned his back, but then the woman called out to him.

“However, tell me the location of the treasures you extorted from that country. I’m going to take all of it.”

As he heard this, the man looked up to the heavens with an unpleasant expression. He wheeled around, and appealed to the woman with a calm expression.

“Can I take at least half? It’s just right since I worked for it, you know.”

“All of it.”

“How’s forty percent? I have the right to at least that much.”

“All of it.”

“How about thirty-five? Isn’t that appropriate enough?”

“All of it.”

“It’s painful for me, but I’m willing to accept thirty percent.”

“All of it.”

“Say, twenty percent is my limit——”

“All of it.”

“I can help you carry it, so——”

“Then please carry all of it.”

“Today’s weather is great, isn’t it?”

“Yeah”

“....... How much——”

“All of it.”

“......”

And then the man closed his eyes and crossed his arms. He thought for a while.

“Uhmm, this is quite an abrupt question but...”

“What is it?”

“Have you ever been called a ‘demon’?”

—

A car was running along a mountain road.

It was a small car in a fairly bad condition, and cannot even be flattered with cleanliness.

The car was running leisurely on the bad road overlooking the bandits’ hideout from afar. In just a while, the sky will be indicating twilight.

The woman who was driving the car saw a man on the supposedly abandoned mountain road.

He was a slightly short, but handsome young man. He was standing beside the road, carrying a simple bag and a rifle on his back. He was facing the car, extending his right arm horizontally with his thumb up.

The car stopped in front of the man. The man approached the car and talked to the woman in the driver’s seat.

“Excuse me, but can I hitch a ride up to a particular place? I can’t possibly walk the distance. I have no money, but I am confident of my skills. Well, I’m no match against a certain someone though.”

The man displayed the hand persuader suspended on his left hip. It was a .22 caliber automatic type with a square barrel.

“I’ve treasured it since I was a kid. This is the only thing I can’t let go of. ——Ah, yes, I can carry your luggage.”

“I don’t need a partner,” she said bluntly and started the car’s gears. The man yelled as he chased after the running car.

“Also! I can fix your persuader! The barrel and the cylinder are already worn out! Its performance has dropped, hasn’t it?”

After running for twenty meters, the car stopped. The man caught up with it, and the woman stepped down from the driver’s seat.

“Can you drive?”

“Of course, I can!”

The man tossed his luggage at the back, and sat in the driver’s seat with high spirits.

He waited for the woman to sit on his side, and then set off.

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