Kino no Tabi:Volume6 Frontispiece3

“A Tale of a Tank” ~Life Goes On.~

There was a traveler who calls herself Kino.

Kino was a considerably young person, but she's a persuader (Note: a gun) master, and has almost never lost to anyone.

Kino’s traveling companion is a motorad (Note: A motorcycle. Only to note that it cannot fly in the sky) called Hermes. The motorad’s rear seat was converted into a carrier, and heavily loaded with luggage. It's because as a traveler, Kino goes all over the world to see various countries.

One time, Kino and Hermes were taking a noontime break in the forest.

Very little light penetrates the dense forest. Suddenly, they heard a tremendous sound of trees being mowed down. The birds flied away in the commotion.

“What the?” Kino was surprised. She raised herself from the fallen log she was sitting on.

“Ah, it’s a tank. Kino,” Hermes said, parked on the narrow road. The sound of falling trees became increasingly louder, until the tremors finally came.

And then, a single tank came floating by.

It appeared in front of Kino and Hermes while it was making a road as wide as itself through the forest. The tank stopped as the last tree conspicuously snapped and collapsed. It was floating at a height about as high as Kino. Its enormous body was surrounded by armor, and on top of it is a revolving turret, covered with broken branches and grass.

“Yo, Mr. Motorad and Ms. Driver over there,” said the tank.

“Hello, Mr. Tank. How is your lifter doing?” asked Hermes,

“Uh-huh, it’s not bad. But it doesn’t fly very high recently,” answered the tank, and then asked.

“What are you two doing?”

“We are on a journey. – What about you?” Kino asked, looking up at the tank’s gigantic frame. The tank answered, after remarking that it’s a good question.

“I’m looking for a tank.”

“A tank?”

“Yeah.”

“What will you do once you find it?” Hermes asked.

“Of course, I’m going to destroy it.”

Kino glanced over Hermes,

“Destroy? You mean you’re going to shoot it down with your cannon?”

"Yes. As you can see, this is the most powerful weapon. It’s a 200mm smoothbore tank gun."

Was the tank's answer to Kino's question, while shaking the protruding gun turret to the front. It was a long barrel, with a thick portion in the middle. A number of thin white lines were painted from one end to the other, that it almost looked like a zebra.

“Then, why?”

“Because I was ordered to.”

"Ordered?"

“Yes,” the tank shook the barrel up and down. Hermes asked.

“Whose orders?”

“The tank commander's. The one who was riding me before, a sole human.”

“Before? Where is he now?”

“A long time ago, he would sit perfectly on his seat, carry out various orders, and perform my maintenance. We fought many times, and defeated a lot of enemies. Look at the marks of destruction on my barrel. The truth is, because I have destroyed a lot of enemies, there’s no more space to draw another line. Isn’t that amazing? –However, in a battle half a year ago, my commander died. A stray bullet came in through the slightly opened hatch and bounced around inside. He suffered only a little before dying, and soon his flesh rotted, and now, only his clothes, helmet, and white bones are left. Do you want to see it?”

“No, thank you,” Kino politely refused.

“And then, what about the order?”

“Yes. You see, my commander gave me the order right before he died. He told me to destroy a tank. A black tank, with three red vertical stripes drawn on the right and a tapir drawn on left side of its cannon. The orders I received were to absolutely make sure that this tank is destroyed. I’ve been searching for it forever. Day and night, rain or fog, I search out this enemy. I was equipped with an excellent optical sensor, yet I still can’t find it even after such a long time. I did not find it in the battlefields, and now I’m trying to look from place to place. Hey, Ms. Traveler, do you know? Have you seen such a tank?"

"No,” answered Kino, shaking her head.

“I see……. But, I shall go on looking for it from here on. I’m definitely going to find it. No matter what. ―― Because it’s something that I have to do. Because it’s something that has to be done.”

The tank seems to persuade himself with his own words.

“Is that so……. We will be resting here a while longer before we set off," said Kino.

“I see. Then I’ll go ahead. I’m going to search for it here and there. Goodbye, Mr. Motorad and Ms. Traveler.”

The tank started to move forward once again, floating, and not hesitating to mow down trees one after another. It went straight ahead.

“…………”

Kino stared at the back of the floating tank.

From her side, Hermes asked.

“It’s something like that, huh?”

“Yeah. But――”

Kino stared at the back of the floating tank.

She stared at the back of the tank until it can no longer be seen; a black tank, with three, red vertical stripes on the right side of its cannon, and a picture of a tapir drawn on the left.

Translator's Notes

This story is the one Kino was reading during the first part of anime episode 9: The Land of Books, albeit some cuts and a few changes....

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