Kino no Tabi:Volume8 Chapter2

“A Tale with Love” — Dinner Party —

There was a lone road in a mountainous region where winter has just made its presence known.

The mountains’ gentle slopes were lined up with slender trees that lost their leaves during autumn. As a result, there was very little color anywhere; everything had a monochromatic shade of light brown.

The dazzling morning sun brought out the bold contrast between the clear, blue sky and the forest. Even so, the occasional strong gust of wind was cold and dry.

The road ran level with the slopes, looking as if it was sewn on the mountains. It was dismal and bare due to the dry atmosphere, and was not even littered with fallen leaves. It was only wide enough to let one car pass through.

And on this road ran a motorrad (Note: A two-wheeled vehicle. Only to note that it cannot fly).

Its rear wheel had boxes on both sides and was topped with traveling luggage. It raised a thin cloud of dust as it proceeded on the road roughly to the west.

The rider was wearing a long brown coat, the excess hem of which was rolled up to her thighs. She wore a brimmed hat with flaps covering both ears, and goggles with a silver frame that was already peeling off in places.

Before each curve, the rider would loosen the accelerator, incline the motorrad while keeping her gaze forward, and gradually accelerate once again as the road straightened out. As soon as they passed through the first mountain, the next mountain came in sight.

While running, the rider of the motorrad opened her mouth, and let out a lifeless voice.

“Ah…”

“What’s the matter, Kino?” the motorrad asked. The rider whose name was Kino replied with a sigh,

“I’m hungry.”

“Then stop and rest! If you collapse from hunger—” The motorrad nagged.

“Fine, fine. Riding a motorrad is a sport, and so on. It’s just like running, etc. And so the moment… I’ve heard that countless times already, Hermes,” Kino continued.

“If you know, then you should do it,” the motorrad called Hermes answered incredulously.

“Well, it was bad enough that the previous country was in ruins,” Kino said as she went past a curve, and then continued, “If only it were not, I would have been able to relax and eat something delicious as planned.”

“My sympathies, Kino. I thought that country we visited was just recently abandoned; but it seemed like it was the work of a terrible storm. There was not a speck of food, only the rolling white bones of corpses.”

“You sure are lucky, Hermes. We were able to scrape up plenty of fuel from junk cars… Thanks to that, I had to put up with the stench of that old fuel.”

“Good job.”

“Well, thanks. Moreover, there’s very little crop in this forest… I was wondering if there were animals that could be eaten around here, so I’ve been keeping close watch for some time, too.”

“You’re free to shoot if anything shows up. But there are no squirrels, let alone deer.”

*Sigh*

Kino and Hermes both fell silent and continued to ride impassively.

It was a little before noon. After they finished ascending the slope that appeared before them, and when they have crossed over its gentle ridge, an enormous basin came into view.

And in that basin, there were people.

—

“What could that be, Kino?”

“Who knows…?”

Kino and Hermes slowly descended the hill road. As they approached the basin, the mountain changed into a dry land completely devoid of trees and grass.

There were hoards of people just ahead the road. People have gathered by the hundreds, and the center of the basin looked as if it would be completely filled with humans. Tent-like structures could be seen amidst the crowd.

“They don’t seem too happy.”

“I wonder if they are refugees…”

“It looks that way,” Hermes agreed.

The assembly of people buried the center of the basin, turning it into a black carpet. There were so many people that the ground was barely visible. The road that continued to its center looked like a thin, brown line amidst the black mass. Beyond the cluster, there was a big hole on the ground.

Kino and Hermes descended further down the hill and approached.

The people were in a terrible condition.

Despite the cold weather, everyone wore tattered clothing. The people were abnormally thin without exception—their cheeks hollow, their limbs like sticks. Only their big, blank eyes could be discerned from their dirty faces. There were people sitting or lying down on the ground, people on their sides who were barely moving except for their breathing. People were tightly packed inside the tents built here and about.

Kino parked Hermes before this mass.

“What a shock. How many people do you think are there?”

“Beats me… But there’s a tent that looks different from the rest over there on the left slope.”

On the south side, people could be seen from a tent that was slightly separated from the rest.

“From the looks of it, those are army troops. They’re wearing uniforms, and some of them even have persuaders (Note: A gun),” Hermes observed, and then asked, “What are we going to do in the meantime?”

“It would be great if there is someone we could talk to, someone who could explain to us what’s going on,” Kino said, and Hermes agreed.

Kino unfastened the front of her coat, and launched Hermes without removing it. Its hem slowly trailed in the wind as they rode closer to the ragged crowd.

Most of the people who turned their blank gazes towards Kino stood up. They were typically adult men carrying what appeared to be sticks in their hands.

They walked on the road, blocking it off. Then they glared at the slowly approaching motorrad.

Upon seeing what waited ahead, Hermes spoke, “I think they’re going to attack. I’m sure you look tasty to them, Kino.”

“That would be troublesome,” Kino replied casually.

“Can you fire two or three shots?”

“I told you, didn’t I? Very hungry—I am.”

“Oh, to emphasize you even used perverse word order.”

A few seconds of silence passed after Hermes’ remark. During that interval, they had gotten much closer to the dark mass of men barring their way.

Eventually, Kino asked Hermes, “… Um, ‘reverse word order’?”

“Yeah, that,” Hermes said, but he didn’t stop,

“Your reaction was so late. You must be really starving.”

—

“Excuse me, will you please let me pass?” Kino said. She stopped before the cluster of men who glared at her as they obstructed the way, but she did not alight nor turned off Hermes’ engine.

“…”

The men did not say anything. They only turned their gaunt, ghoul-like faces towards Kino.

“Everyone, if you don’t move, you’ll get run over by this brash rider over here,” Hermes said.

“How mean,” Kino complained.

Eventually, a man spoke up in a lifeless voice.

“… Anything will do.”

“What?”

“Anything will do… Share us some food… Whatever little you have… Everyone’s hungry.”

“Me too,” was Kino’s immediate reply.

And then she reached out for her right thigh. The hand that came out from underneath the coat gripped a single hand persuader. It was a high-caliber revolver that she called by the name ‘Canon’.

Upon seeing this, the men heaved a sigh and kept silent.

Soon after, a shrill gunfire echoed.

The shot came from within the crowd. The men turned around and walked with frail steps to the side of the road. A four-wheel drive came running on the road towards Kino, driving away the people by the sides. Aboard it were four soldiers wearing green uniforms. They fired their persuaders several times towards the sky as warning.

The four-wheel drive stopped in front of Kino who had already holstered Canon. The person riding in its passenger seat told her to follow along until they reach the end of the road. Kino consented and answered with a gesture, and headed in the same direction as the other vehicle.

The four-wheel drive advanced on the road sandwiched by the refugees, with Kino and Hermes following from behind. A soldier on-board the vehicle held his persuader in a stance devoid of openings. The form of the two vehicles was reflected in hundreds of blank eyes.

—

Halfway through the cluster of people, there was a road that branched off to the south. The four-wheel drive turned to this path, and Kino followed. Once again, they drove amidst the refugees, and finally reached a road gently climbing up the slope. They went past the mass of refugees and headed towards the tent at the end of the road. In front of this tent was a fence made of thick logs.

The gate that was built on the road was protected by several soldiers armed with persuaders. When the four-wheel drive approached, a bar with red and white stripes lifted to let them pass. It was lowered as soon as Kino finished passing through.

It was an army’s camp. Green tents were lined up evenly, with soldiers standing on watch, or sitting and taking a rest. Cars and trucks were parked all about, and right beside each was a drum of fuel.

Kino stopped Hermes and took off her hat and goggles. Among the soldiers who observed, the man from the passenger seat got off and approached. Kino lightly bowed her head.

“Well, that was dangerous. If you had handed them just one candy, they would have flocked around you until you’re dead.”

“My thoughts, exactly.”

“Since our forces are here to protect our comrades and our equipment, we wouldn’t have been able to help you even if you got attacked, miss traveler.”

“Is that so? But you were a big help. Thank you very much.” Kino expressed her gratitude.

“Ah. It was purely ‘by chance’ that our regular patrol caught sight of you. —You are pretty lucky, miss traveler,” the man said nonchalantly, then guided Kino and Hermes to a tent. The tent, which was supported only by a pole and roof, was built slightly apart from the others.

Over there were a number of officials wearing decorated uniforms, high in both rank and age, surrounding a table.

“We have brought along this traveler who happened to pass by, and whom we found ‘by chance’.”

“I see. Good job, Sergeant. You can go now.”

After the sergeant saluted and left, Kino introduced herself and Hermes.

One man introduced himself as the general. It was a man who, probably because of his imposing moustache tightly stretched on both sides, effected an air of self-importance. Afterwards, he informed Kino that they were the army of a neighboring country.

“What’s going on?” Hermes asked tersely. From their location, they could see very well beyond the fences the bottom of the basin down the slope, and the refugees in it.

“Oh, you mean them? Well, let me answer your question,” the general said while fixing his beard with his fingertips. And then he turned in the direction of the refugees. “There are many small countries in this area, but those people are originally from a country a bit to the east from here.”

“We saw it yesterday. Indeed, there was not a single person there. It was quite a sight.”

“Then I’ll make the story short. —For several years, no crops grew in this area because the summers were too cold. A record-breaking crop failure continued. And because of the negligence of the leader of that country, the problem of food provisioning was not resolved, until finally the country collapsed. Those who had strength escaped, but most of the people who couldn’t do anything became hungry refugees and wandered towards this basin.”

“Uh-huh. Do the surrounding countries have any plans to help?”

“Hmph. We would like to help if possible. But our country and our neighbors have our hands full with the same crop failure, and we don’t have spare provisions to help to that extent.”

“I see.”

“Without much choice, our country and neighbors have decided not to let them leave this basin so that they will not advance any further. And so we sent out our armies and kept watch in shifts.”

“What will become of them?” Kino asked.

The general answered, “There’s nothing we can do for them. As we speak, a number of them die from hunger or illness. If several tens of people die each day, eventually no one will be left come spring. The only thing left for us to do is to drop the corpses in that large hole and fill it up with quicklime.”

“I see,” Kino said. A weak, cold wind blew, ruffling Kino’s coat and blowing down the basin.

“By the way, miss traveler.”

The general trained his gaze on Kino with a somewhat sinister look.

“Yes?”

“It’s almost noon. —Care to join us for lunch?”

—

“It’s very delicious. I’m impressed.”

Kino, in her black jacket and wearing a napkin around her neck, was sitting at a table under the roofed tent among the officials. A magnificent meal was lined up before them on the table.

The main course was a fat and juicy roasted ham steak in raspberry sauce and boiled sausages with pickled cabbages. There was a side dish of carrots and broccoli salad, which was warm but was not steaming due to the cold weather. It was served along with fresh mayonnaise. Furthermore, they were served a rye bread called kommissbrot and a bottle of salt-free butter. There were fruits like apples, pears, and grapes. There was also hot tea in a pot and honey to go along with it.

Kino immediately replied with an ‘of course’ to the lunch invitation of the general. And just as the general told her, she did not hesitate at all, and ate the food with gleaming eyes. Hermes who was parked behind her remained silent.

“… It’s a good thing that you liked it,” the dumbfounded general replied with a forced laugh.

From the table where Kino and the rest were seated, the refugees at the bottom of the slope, who were suffering from hunger and despair, were in plain view. The fragrance was carried by the wind and reached them.

At this table, Kino continued eating heartily, but only enough so as not to appear ill-bred.

“General, among the food I have eaten until now, this black bread is the best.”

“That’s good to hear. Later, I’ll convey that compliment to our bread-baking unit.”

“Please do.”

As Kino cut up a large portion of the ham steak and carried it to her mouth, the general asked,

“By the way, miss traveler, is ‘cold-heartedness’ the most important emotion you should carry when traveling?”

Kino answered as she finished chewing the ham.

“No.”

“Oh, then what is it?”

“That is, love for yourself. I was taught that loving yourself more than others, in any circumstance, is the most important thing of all. —This ham is also very delicious.”

—

“We’ll be taking our leave. Miss traveler, please take your time.”

“Thank you very much, General.”

The bearded general and the other officials left the table as they finished eating. Most of the plates had leftover food.

Only Kino and one other person were left at the table.

It was a rather fat man whose body and face were both plump. His uniform looked quite tight on him.

He was slowly but surely cleaning up his own plate.

“… Hmm? Oh.”

He noticed Kino’s gaze, and then a light, awkward smile appeared on his face before he spoke.

“I’m doing my best so that nothing will be left.”

Kino, who had cleaned up her own plate nicely, looked at him while wiping her mouth with a napkin. He carried the last broccoli to his mouth with a fork and finished chewing.

“I know it looks like I’m just gorging myself—” He began to talk to Kino who was seated opposite him, slowly drinking her tea. “But you see, when I see those people dying from starvation right before my eyes but can do nothing to help them, I feel like it’s my duty to at least finish all the food before me.”

“I see.” Kino was not especially moved, but replied without a hint of criticism.

“Because of that, I have become so fat since I came here. —What’s the secret so that I can stay slim like you, miss traveler?”

Kino considered the question for a while, and then,

“I suppose you won’t get fat if you ride a motorrad the entire day.”

—

After they finished their tea, they offered thanks for the meal and stood from the table.

One of them returned to his duties, while the other returned to her travels.

Translator’s Notes

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