Kino no Tabi:Volume9 Chapter7

“Land of Merchants” —Professionals—

A motorrad (Note: A two-wheeled vehicle. Only to note that it cannot fly) was riding through a wilderness in the middle of winter.

It was a barren land of rock solid earth and craggy hills extending in all directions. Occasional chilly gusts form tiny brown whirlwinds. There was not a single drop of moisture in the atmosphere, rendering the skies clear except for the dimly floating sun. The temperature was way below freezing point.

The motorrad proceeded through this abode where not even a pretense of a road could be seen. It had boxes attached on both sides of its rear wheel, the top of which was stacked with a bag, a sleeping bag and cans of fuel and water. To avoid it from freezing, the amount of water in the cans was reduced.

Its rider wore thick winter clothing of brown jacket and trousers on top of her normal clothes. She wore a boa winter cap with flaps that completely hid her cheeks. Her hands were covered with thick gloves, while a scarf was wrapped around her face. The yellow single-lens goggles over her eyes concealed her expression.

A rifle-type persuader (Note: A gun) fitted with a scope was hanging from the front of her body with a leather strap.

“Cold,” the rider mumbled through her scarf.

“Was that the forty-fifth time?” the motorrad answered.

“Cold cold cold cold cold…”

“Okay, okay.”

“… It’s freezing, Hermes.” The rider expounded, and the motorrad called Hermes replied immediately, “That’s what you get for being so nosy, Kino—what with recklessly coming to this kind of place despite knowing it’s going to be cold.”

“Well, that’s true,” admitted the rider called Kino. The ground that they were running on was jagged with numerous stones, so they rode at a considerably low pace. Hermes continued,

“If after keeping up with these conditions, we find out that there’s no country waiting for us, then there’s ‘no gain for our pains’.”

“… Hmm? You got that right.”

“How rude. —More importantly, if that country’s not there and you don’t get fuel, we won’t have enough to cross this wilderness.”

“I know that. That’s why we’re going on with all our might without dawdling around.”

“Hmph. Well if we did, it’d be a waste of fuel.”

“If I knew that there won’t be enough, I would have turned back to the previous country. I was just considering that right now.”

“That would be troublesome.”

“Anyway, pushing forward is a mark of a ‘professional’ traveler.”

“What’s this about being a professional?” Hermes complained.

“Running properly despite complaints. That’s what it means to be a professional motorrad.”

“Well, that’s true.” Hermes said.

—

The sun has greatly inclined to the west as the early winter evening neared. All over the wilderness, the shadows of the house-sized boulders scattered about extended towards a single direction.

While Kino was busy stitching a path around the stones, Hermes spoke,

“Isn’t it about time to rest? At this point, it’s no longer possible for us to reach that country within the day.”

“Let’s go on a bit more.”

“That’s the sixth time.”

“… Okay, then let’s do this. If we don’t see anything after climbing that hill in front of us, let’s stop.”

“It’s a deal.”

Kino rode Hermes up the stony hill. Just when they reached its peak and the field of vision beyond was about to reveal itself, Hermes yelled.

“Kino! Stop!”

“Ugh!”

Kino quickly hit the brakes as instructed. The rear wheel locked and slid to the side, sending some sand billowing to the air. A truck appeared suddenly from the side of a boulder just right ahead of Hermes.

“Whoa!”

It came in an abrupt halt in front of the dazed Kino, accompanied with a loud braking sound and a cloud of dust. It was a heavy, off-road truck with at least six tires on its side. When Kino looked up at the elevated driver’s seat, she met the wide-opened gaze of a young man who was gripping the steering wheel.

—

“I’m really sorry, Kino. If you hadn’t noticed and stopped in time, there would be quite a terrible traffic accident out here in the wilderness. If we collided, I couldn’t guarantee that you two—and our truck, for that matter—would walk off with just a scratch. We would be in quite a mess.”

A man in his fifties apologized. He was thin and tall, and he wore a gray, boa-hooded top coat.

“Please don’t worry about it anymore. Besides, you have already treated me to a meal,” Kino answered. The sun has set and the sky was already dim. She still wore her winter clothes as she sat on a folding chair, a cup of steaming tea in her hands. Behind her, Hermes was parked on his center stand.

In front of Kino was an outdoor barbecue grill, its charcoal embers liberating heat and a faint, red glow. There was meat grilling lusciously on a mesh wire placed on top of it.

Seated opposite Kino was the man along with his wife, a woman roughly the same age wearing similar clothing. Parked behind the couple was the truck they almost collided with.

On top of the high loading platform of the truck were two young men who kept guard with rifles in their hands. One of them was the truck driver.

Both men were the merchant’s sons. The stocks of their rifles were made of green fiber-reinforced plastic with big 20-round magazines inside. They were installed with high-magnification scopes for long-range shooting, not unlike the one Kino used.

“Were you also aiming for that country, Miss Kino?” the man said, turning his head to the right. The hilltop they were sitting on overlooks a plain. A big, dark silhouette could be seen in it. It was the mark of a country; the outline of tall, round walls.

And scattered amidst it were artificial lights that shone like stars.

“That’s right. We heard about a small country in the middle of the wilderness and decided to come. —As for you?”

The man nodded with his teacup on his lips. Hermes asked, “What for?”

“A bit late for introductions eh? We’re merchants from a big country far north from here. We trade as a family, me along with my wife and sons. Normally we go back and forth from our country to neighboring ones, but this time, we decided to try doing business in that country.”

There was a hint of surprise in Kino’s face when she heard the man’s answer. She inquired, “From the previous country I visited, I heard that it was a country that almost no one knows of, and that people rarely come there. But how is it that you knew about it in your country?”

The man shook his head. “Just as you heard, it was really a country in a secluded region. It’s possible that I’m the only one who knows about it in our country.”

“Kino must be upset that there are people other than herself going to that country.”

Kino had no trouble ignoring Hermes’ words, and proceeded to ask some more, “Can you tell me how you learned about it?”

“Sure. It’s really quite simple,” the man answered.

“You see, it’s because I was from that country.”

—

Kino listened to the man’s story while eating her sumptuous dinner.

The man was born in that country. Of course, he believed that he would spend his entire life in it.

But when he reached the age of twenty, he suddenly had the urge to go out of the country, and couldn’t be swayed otherwise. He fled, not listening to the advice of the people around him.

“So it was a ‘valley of death’?”

“… ‘Folly of youth’?”

“Yes, that’s it!” Hermes said and fell silent. The merchant continued,

“There’s no better way of putting it. It was a really rash thing to do. At that time, it wouldn’t have been strange for me to die a dog’s death in the middle of the wasteland.

“And so I wandered around numerous countries until at last I found one in the north that suited me. I immediately became its citizen. I chose to become a merchant that goes back and forth countries, and worked hard. Eventually I got married and had a family, while my business flourished.

“And when I finally reached this age, I resolved to come back to my home country. —My parents must be long gone, and since I have no siblings, I don’t think there’s anyone left there who knows about me. Still, I wanted to show my countrymen that I have become a ‘professional’ merchant.”

“You don’t mean to give away objects for free to the people in your home country?” Hermes asked, but the man firmly refuted,

“Of course not. I’m a merchant. A merchant’s job is to sell things. I will come back to my birth country as a ‘professional’ merchant. I plan to sell things properly once I get there.”

“You heard him, Kino. Too bad, but it seems you can’t take part of the blessings,” Hermes said, and Kino slightly looked behind at Hermes and gave him a glare.

“If I were human, I would shrug and give you an unrepentant look,” Hermes countered.

Kino looked back at the man, “I just thought I could get something from that country. Do you have fuel? If we can get our hands on some, we plan to cross the wilderness without retracing our steps. If you plan to sell some of your things in that country, we’ll pay.”

“Oh we have. We can sell some of the truck’s spare fuel. In that case, I’ll reserve some for you, Kino. It’s a promise.”

“That would really help.”

“It’s fine. This is also part of business. —But to tell you the truth, I don’t know how much those people are willing to buy when it comes to foreign items.”

In spite of these words, the man spoke in a delighted tone, and Hermes asked. “Really? Then what if they tell you that they don’t need anything? What if they ask you to hand over the items for free?”

“Then I’ll sell the fuel to you and retreat without hesitation. Realizing when things won’t go well, and quickly shifting your focus, is also a mark of a professional merchant. And I won’t give away the items for free, no matter what they tell me.”

“Hmm.”

“But it’s no use to be impatient. We were hurrying so much today, thinking that we can reach the country before sunset. As a result, we get to enter it tomorrow. The same goes for you.”

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” Kino said, and the man nodded happily.

“I’m also excited. —Merchants always get nervous the night before entering a country.”

Kino also nodded.

“It’s the same for travelers.”

—

The next morning, Kino woke up at dawn.

“Ugh—cold.”

Inside her tent, she crawled out of the sleeping bag and put on her winter clothes, winter cap and gloves and went out with the rifle she called ‘Flute’ in her hands.

It was intensely cold and dry. The blue sky was perfectly clear and there were still a number of bright stars left in it. Kino exhaled, letting out a long puff of white air.

When Kino looked at the truck parked nearby, the lone guard sitting on top of the platform wrapped in blankets waved to her.

“Huh?”

Who she thought was the son, was actually the merchant.

Slightly surprised, Kino returned the wave and looked at the other side. At the bottom of the hill was the country, its walls the same color as the ground. Even the closely packed buildings made of stone inside the country shared the same color.

Kino attended to her morning ritual with disinterest. She exercised lightly enough not to break a sweat, and tuned-up Flute. She folded up the tent and wiped her face with a cloth dampened with the water from the water flask that she embraced as she slept.

Kino heated water using solid fuel and carried the cups to the truck. She called out to the merchant, and with Flute on her back, climbed the steps to the platform and handed the cup to the merchant.

“Ah, thanks.”

Kino sat back to back with the merchant and guarded the opposite direction. She put a teabag in her own cup and waited for a while. The merchant took some powdered tea from his pocket and melted it in the hot water. He tasted one or two mouthfuls and drank it with gusto. Steam rose from it.

“I couldn’t sleep, so I exchanged places with my son who was keeping watch. I worked as an assistant for some time when I was still young, so I always kept watch and couldn’t sleep at night. I just remembered the old days,” the merchant said. Kino asked without turning around,

“You’re quite emotional about it after all. Coming home to your birth country, I mean.”

“I don’t get it myself… It was a country I abandoned once. Maybe, I’m actually glad about it? I don’t really understand,” Upon saying so, the merchant let out a slight laugh.

Kino turned around and saw the round walls beyond the merchant’s back.

Soon the sun rose and the merchant’s wife and sons came out from the cabin behind the driver’s seat. All of them ate their breakfast under the clear morning sky. Kino was again treated to a breakfast of boiled vegetables and meat soup.

“You’re the only one having fun, Kino,” Hermes grumbled from behind.

“Eh? —How come you woke up even though nothing’s happened?” Kino asked in surprise.

—

After their meal, the sun has already risen past the horizon. Light swept the flat land from east to west in a moment.

The traveler and the merchants skillfully packed up their things and piled them in their respective vehicles. Kino parked Hermes beside the truck and stood him up on his side stand.

And just when Kino approached the merchant who was checking the tires at the side of the truck,

A dull rumbling sound echoed in the vicinity, becoming louder as if it was getting closer.

“What’s that? Thunder?” Just as the merchant spoke, the ground suddenly shook. The earth violently moved sideways.

“Whoa!”

“Ah!”

The merchant and Kino crouched down, and the merchant’s wife and sons in the driver’s seat clung to the driving handrails with fearful looks on their faces.

“Whoaaaaaaaaa, it’s shaaaakiiiingggg.” Hermes voice, which had no hint of nervousness at all, quivered in sync with the tremors.

The rumbles and tremors continued for a full ten seconds.

Then it suddenly settled down, as if a switch was turned off. In an instant, the peaceful morning returned.

Kino, still bent down, looked at Hermes.

“Ah, that was a shock,” said Hermes, who, surprisingly, didn’t topple on his side.

As she stood up, Kino looked at the merchant who fell on his back. Both his eyes and his mouth were wide open in shock, and his continuous rough breathing could be heard.

When she turned her gaze to the truck, she saw its passengers frozen with dumbstruck faces. But upon seeing that no one was hurt, she let out a sigh of relief.

“Are you all right?” Kino asked the merchant, whose face was worn out and pale. He shook his head sideways.

“W-what was that just now? What happened?”

“That’s a strong one. About five? Maybe six. But it’s definitely not a seven. That I know.” Hermes said with his usual tone.

“What are you talking about…? What was that…?”

“Uh…,” Kino dithered. Meanwhile, the two sons got down from the truck, carrying their limp mother arm to arm. As soon as they took her to the merchant, the woman who was trembling in fear clung to her husband and began to weep.

“Ah, that was really terrifying—I was scared too. But it’s all right now.” The merchant consoled his wife for a while. Kino waited, saying nothing.

Eventually the wife somehow managed to calm down and stop crying, and her sons carried her again to the truck.

The merchant, who still did not stand up, looked up at Kino and asked,

“What in the world happened? The ground moved! Did a bomb fall? Or maybe a new kind of weapon? Do you know?”

The flustered merchant asked with an utterly serious expression.

“Um…just one question. Are you aware of the term ‘earthquake’?” Kino asked with an uncomfortable look on her face.

“‘Earthquake’? What’s that? A massive lightning of some sort? Did one fall nearby?”

“No, that’s not it,” Kino said, and Hermes began to explain from behind.

“It’s a natural phenomenon. The movement of ground due to volcanic activity or changes in the earth’s crust is referred to as an ‘earthquake’. That’s what just happened. There are various magnitudes, and that one earlier was a strong one.”

“What…? The ground moves? Is something like that even possible?”

“It is. I’ve experienced it many times before. In some places, it happens every year that the residents regard it as a normal occurrence. There were even countries that fixed their furniture to the walls so that they won’t collapse from the shaking.”

“There are also places that almost don’t experience it at all. I’m sure it’s pretty rare for one to occur in this region,” Hermes added.

“The ground moving and shaking…? Impossible. It’s unbelievable, but…for sure…” While muttering, the merchant finally got up to his feet and brushed off the dust on his feet and bottom. And then,

“Ah!” He suddenly gave out a tremendous shout.

“Wah!”

Surprised, Kino drew back and looked at the merchant whose gaze was frozen at a particular point. And then she looked behind her,

“Ah…”

And became speechless. At the area at the bottom of the hill, there should have been a country. But it was no longer there.

“So it was destroyed after all,” Hermes said.

There was only a mountain of rubble. The tall walls collapsed, and what was visible from the interior of the walls were all turned into rubble. The brown dust that was borne from the destruction amassed and flowed leeward.

“The country…”

“…”

The merchant and Kino stood in a row, not moving an inch, and stared at the spectacle. Hermes’ voice reached the two.

“It’s perfectly understandable. It’s a region that hardly experiences earthquakes. Both the walls and the houses were made of stone that were merely put together. They probably don’t even know the term ‘earthquake-proof’.”

“No way…”

The merchant was stupefied with surprise, but Hermes continued with neither diffidence nor mercy, “From the looks of it, almost a hundred percent of the buildings were destroyed. Since it’s early in the morning, everyone must be crushed under their roofs. And in this kind of season, all those people trapped there will be dead in a few days from the cold.”

“…”

The merchant stared mutely at the mountain of rubble.

Kino took a glance at the merchant’s profile, looked for a while in front of her, and exhaled once.

When Kino looked towards the direction of the merchant again, she met glances with the merchant. He had a friendly smile on his face.

“Kino.”

“… What is it?”

“Weren’t you planning to sell some items?”

Kino was taken by surprise with this question for a moment before she answered, “Let’s see…I have a dozen brooches of traditional design from a country in the east.”

“Let me see it.”

As requested, Kino opened the box on the side of Hermes’ rear wheel and took out a small wooden box the size of a book. She opened its lid and showed it to the merchant. Inside it were twelve brooches of detailed craftsmanship, neatly lined up in two rows.

The merchant closed the lid with a snap. “This is nice. You have a good eye for things, Kino. If you give me this, I’ll fill Hermes’ tank and all of those fuel cans. How about it?”

Kino scrutinized the merchant’s smile, and then asked, “Aren’t you going back?”

“No. —Even if I go there, I won’t be able to sell anything.”

“Okay then— I’ll tell you where you can sell those brooches. In exchange, give me a bag of frozen meat.”

“Then it’s a deal.” The merchant offered his right hand.

The two exchanged handshakes, with the mountain of rubble serving as their backdrop.

—

“May we meet again someday.”

The merchant shouted in a voice loud enough that it wouldn’t lose to the truck’s engine.

Looking up at the truck’s driver seat, Kino shouted back while straddled on Hermes, whose engine was also revved up.

“I’ve mentioned this earlier, but—”

“‘Be careful of ‘aftershocks’ and cracks on the ground.’ I know. Thank you for the tip!”

“Yes. Take care, everyone.”

“Thanks for selling us fuel,” Hermes said.

The merchant waved his hand, blared the horn once, and launched the truck. The sons keeping watch on top of the loading platform also waved their hands as the truck proceeded north.

Hidden under the shade of a boulder, Kino waited until the truck was out of sight.

“Shall we go?”

“Let’s go.”

Kino launched Hermes and climbed down the hill to the west.

They rode slowly upon descending to the flat terrain. Eventually, the mountain of rubble to their right became nearer. They passed right beside it, and soon it was behind them. Kino only spared it a glance.

“Now then—” Kino muttered as she looked ahead.

“For the meantime, you made some profit,” Hermes said.

“I guess so.”

The motorrad continued to run through the arid wilderness.

* * *

Amidst the hum of the engine and the relaxed vibration of the suspension.

“Dear,” the merchant’s wife spoke to her husband seated by her side.

“What is it?” The merchant who was gripping the big steering wheel answered without shifting his gaze from the front.

“Those brooches are pretty rare. Miss Kino wasn’t aware that they are worth much more than the fuel and meat she received.”

“Yeah. —I didn’t tell them, of course,” the merchant answered. He released the accelerator, and upon slowing down, turned the wheel to the right.

The truck running through the wilderness slowly turned and headed east.

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