Kino no Tabi:Volume9 Chapter8

“Killing Country” —Clearance—

A lone car was running on a road inside a humid and dense jungle.

However, it was only a road by name, as it was nothing but bare, soppy earth filled with puddles. The thick foliage almost completely blocks the view on either side, and only a portion of the clear sky could be seen amidst the profuse canopy of leaves and branches overhead.

What traversed this path was a tiny, yellow car, so filthy and battered that only a miracle must be keeping it from breaking down. Its rear wheels trudged on, dragging sludge with each turn.

On the right-hand driver’s seat was a young, long-haired woman wearing a white shirt and a bandanna around her neck for wiping away her sweat. One would observe a big revolver holster on her right thigh. With her hands on the slender steering wheel, she drove on with no discernable enthusiasm or boredom in her expression.

Meanwhile, the passenger seat was occupied by a slightly short but handsome man wearing a black T-shirt.

“Master…I’m sorry I turned out this way…,” he muttered limply. His face was blue, and beads of sweat formed on his forehead; he looked as if he was about to drop dead at any moment. His seat was slightly inclined, and what served as his pillow was a sleeping bag placed on top of the back seat that was filled with luggage and persuaders (Note: A gun).

“Didn’t you promise not to say that?” the woman called Master replied with a sigh.

“Hahaha… That’s really nice of you, Master,” the man gave out a faint laughter.

“You just shut up and rest,” the woman retorted without looking back at him.

“I’m sorry… It’s my fault that we have to take this detour. If it weren’t for me, we should be on our way to a different country right now…and not in this jungle.”

“Right, I’d prefer that over you whimpering in the passenger seat forever. Besides, if we don’t find out the cause of your condition in the next country, I’m seriously thinking of leaving you behind,” was the woman’s direct answer.

“That’s so cruel…” The man turned to the woman and gave her an imploring look with his ashen face. The woman glanced at him, and with her usual cold tone, “It will be fine as long as we find out.”

“Sigh… What an awkward way to die for someone who survived all sorts of persuader fights with wisdom, skill, and bravery, don’t you think?”

“Indeed,” the woman agreed without a second thought.

“… I won’t be able to rest in peace. You know, maybe my soul will not go to heaven and remain in this car as a gho—” The man stopped his joke as he felt a killing intent emanating from the woman, and just let out another sigh.

“Right now, there’s nothing you can do if that really happens to your body. Just think of something else, something happy.” With this, the woman concluded their dialogue.

“A new rifle on sale… Exceptional accuracy… No loading failures…” The man who was already breaking into cold sweat muttered such things with a blank stare while being lulled by the rocking of the car.

—

“I can see the walls,” the woman said.

“Minimal explosive force with the most efficiency…,” the man continued, his gaze fixed on the ceiling. “Huh…?”

He looked ahead. Beyond the windshield soiled with the bodies of crushed insects was a gray wall that marked the end of the road. Yonder, the road climbed the gentle slope of a low hill, on top of which was a small country.

“Oh, I’m saved…,” he said in relief. However,

“Something’s wrong,” the woman said as she slowed down the car.

They soon realized what was strange. They were still quite a distance away from country, but the jungle was decimated.

They have come this far without having a clear view from all directions, yet the car suddenly came into a clearing. The trees have all been cut off, and there was nothing but wide, barren earth from there to the walls. And just as the woman stepped on the brakes,

“W-w-w-w-w-w-who are you?!”

The car was surrounded by a group of young soldiers, faces twisted in fear, and rifles trained on them.

——

“Our apologies, traveler. Their commanding officer accidentally went through a different passage, so those young soldiers have been really impolite to you.”

Inside a wooden building in the country, the woman was seated among several men around a table at the center of a room. It was nearly evening, and the gentle rays of the sun filtered in through the window while a ceiling fan quietly gyrated above them. All of the middle-aged men, who wore thin, short-sleeved shirts patterned with warm earthy colors, had their heads hung low before the woman.

“Let’s put that behind us, Chief. Please don’t worry about it.” The woman addressed the man at the head of the table, and expressed her gratitude for having her companion sent to the hospital.

“Ah, that was nothing.” He continued, “It may be an extreme case of food poisoning. But he would be completely recovered after a few days of rest and intravenous nourishment.”

“That’s good,” the woman replied with no hint of relief or gladness.

“Even so, you couldn’t have come at a worse time.” The chief’s face contorted in grief.

“Say, does that have anything to do with clearing the land on the perimeter of the country?”

“Yes.” The men nodded in unison.

“That doesn’t look like anything other than a rushed construction of a defensive encampment.”

“It’s exactly as you say.” The men exchanged glances, then the chief revealed,

“The day after tomorrow, this country will become a battlefield.”

—

When the woman asked about their situation, the chief invited her out to the top of the walls, now beautifully flooded by the light of the setting sun. It was overlooking the grounds where the citizens were still hard at work even though it was almost evening.

Twelve days ago, a messenger from a distant land they never heard before arrived in their country. Without so much as a greeting, the messenger proclaimed a one-sided declaration of war: “Fourteen days from now, we will invade this country at the rising of the sun.” He then took his leave without even drinking his tea, and left the citizens in shock and confusion.

The small country became filled with activity. Even though they have an army, they knew nothing about war. They have a few soldiers, but even if the rest of the men were to be mobilized, they could only help with the preparations as there weren’t enough rifles for everybody. They worked desperately, dreading the fate of their women and children if the defenses were breached.

Three days ago, they received a report from their scouts that trucks and carriages carrying roughly a thousand enemy soldiers were approaching from the northern pass. It seemed that they didn’t have tanks or cannons. Upon observing this, they proposed negotiations once the enemy entered their field of vision, but they were ignored. It finally dawned on them that their only choice left was to fight to protect their lives and their country.

Fearing that the country would be infiltrated using the jungle surrounding it, they cleared the forest and built trenches and fences in a hurry. That is when they spotted the shabby car and became suspicious of its passengers.

“That is why it is in your best interests to leave this country right away. If we lose, it will be the end of this country. The men will be killed, and the women and children will most likely be sold off as slaves.”

The woman gazed at the citizens who desperately continued digging holes, and pondered for a while. Then she asked,

“If I were to help you, how much will you pay me?”

—

“Commanding three hundred soldiers?! Ambushing advancing troops outside the walls?! And three hundred pieces of gold coins as compensation?!”

The one who exclaimed in excitement, as if he had enough strength to jump out of the bed, was no other than the man, now wearing thin blue pajamas and occupying a room inside the hospital. His complexion looked much better, but an intravenous drip still hung from his arm. The view outside the window revealed that it was already evening, but the pounding of hammers beyond the walls was still very much audible.

“You should sleep. —By the way, let me borrow one of your persuaders,” the woman said.

“By all means!” the man said, delight painted all over his face. Then, “How could I miss such an exciting event? I’d prefer to die over there than through food poisoning…”

“You shouldn’t be thinking about death when this country’s citizens are working hard to survive, you know.”

“I’m sorry,” the man apologized then grinned and lowered his voice. “But Master…you volunteered to be in the front lines not only because of the reward, but also because, if by any chance that this country should fall, it will be easier to escape by yourself if you’re outside the walls, am I wrong?”

The woman nodded quickly. “It would be nice if you could move by the day after tomorrow, too.”

“Right…” The man sighed then looked up curiously at the woman. “But!”

“But?”

“We ate the same stuff, but why am I the only one who got sick?”

“Who knows?”

—

The next day, the female traveler busied herself.

She sported the country’s green combat uniform, with the borrowed 9-mm hand persuader adorning her waist belt. It was a toggle-action type, with eight rounds in one load. Upon gathering her long hair above her nape and wearing the matching cap above it, she looked just like a commanding officer of this country.

First, she directed the work outside the walls, altering it into a more effective base.

Once the whole country was completely surrounded by the fences, she ordered them to construct a wide passageway, around thirty meters across. They made sure that it will be the only entrance to the country, and to make the enemy soldiers concentrate on this passageway, they dug a deep ditch and set traps around the fences.

After this, they narrowed down the middle of the passageway to block the stream of rushing soldiers, and dug multiple layers of trenches from this area up to the walls. This ground and the top of the walls will be lined up with soldiers.

And then, the woman trained the three hundred soldiers under her command.

The only weapons the soldiers had were hand persuaders and rapid-fire automatic rifles that fired ten rounds with one pull of the trigger. There were so few of these that the woman had them prepare persuaders used for hunting, and modified them by cutting short the barrels and stocks. She gave these to the soldiers with muscular builds. Meanwhile, soldiers who were not physically strong but have superb marksmanship, were given rifles with scopes and assigned to the top of the walls to serve as snipers.

Then she divided the soldiers into pairs, and drilled them on various tactics such as covering for a partner who ran out of ammo as well as support protocol for the soldiers retreating to the trenches. It was decided that she would be firing smoke signals to indicate change in strategies, and made everyone memorize by heart the signals corresponding to particular smoke colors.

At first, the soldiers muttered disapprovingly, ‘Do they expect us to obey some outsider woman?’ However, upon observing the woman’s brimming confidence and sound supervision, their doubts turned into motivation, and saw the possibility of survival in following the woman’s orders.

All the while, the man in the hospital whined. “I’m already fine! I’m really okay now, so let me help!”

He would stand up but would stagger and lose strength. The doctors and nurses would then pick him up and return him to bed.

Soon it was evening.

And the coming of the night means the next day will soon begin.

——

Morning came.

Before sunrise, amidst the morning mist hanging over the jungle, the soldiers embraced their family and friends and set off outside the castle gates with their rifles. Clenching their bullet-filled bags, they entered the trenches together with the partners with whom they will be sharing life or death.

The snipers were prostrate on top of the walls, setting up their rifles and scopes. There were women and children beside them in charge of the spare magazines.

Meanwhile, the woman stood at the front lines together with her hand-picked partner.

The scout came out in a panic from the jungle while shouting the password. He announced that a large troop of enemy soldiers was approaching the country. The tension rose at once.

At last the time has come. The deep red sun rose in the cloudless sky.

“They’re here!” someone shouted. The jungle shook and rustled, and a group of humans appeared. They couldn’t tell how many there are, just the fact that they number more than the soldiers lying in wait with their rifles. Beyond the fences and the passageway, they could see a swarm of people coming out one horde after another.

Amidst the people shivering in anxiety and fear,

“…?”

The woman stood while holding the binoculars in one hand with a bewildered look on her face. She’s not the type who shows her expression, but this time her face conveyed utmost curiosity.

And the reason for this was the scene presented to her by the perfectly circular view of her binoculars—people who by no means could be called soldiers, but ordinary people clad in normal clothes. Their age and gender was diverse. There were men in business suits, boys in school uniforms, old men, and even ten-year-old girls.

All of them had filthy clothes and faces—an indication of their long journey. What they held in their hands were not persuaders or grenades, but primitive weapons like knives, cleavers, and bludgeons. The glint in their eyes was accompanied by their constant rough breathing. It was a rather eerie sight to behold.

“What a shock.” The woman revealed her honest impressions, while the soldiers who were similarly holding binoculars asked what they are to do.

“One way or the other—we’ll have to annihilate them.”

Then the woman took out the persuader for firing signals and selected the appropriate bullet. She fired it into the air, and a purple smoke soared to the sky.

‘Purple? Purple is it?’ The soldiers looked at each other in confusion, for the purple signal meant: ‘The enemy is withdrawing. You don’t have to conceal yourselves. Aim carefully, make sure not to waste bullets and annihilate the enemy completely.’

In reality, the soldiers had no time to contemplate. In the time it took for them to absorb the meaning of the color, the enemy issued out a war cry and began to charge, as if the purple smoke was a signal for them to attack. As expected, they rushed into the fenceless passageway.

Hundreds of them attempted to cross over; hundreds of grimy bodies in a simultaneous assault. The tremors resonated beyond the trenches, reaching even the center of the country.

The next sound heard was the synchronous firing of over a hundred persuaders. The soldiers who warily exposed their faces and rifles from the trenches need not aim carefully—all they needed was to aim straight towards the mob before them, and let the bullets loose.

A spray of blood sprung forth from the fore of the incoming wave of people. The humans collapsed, and the ones behind them tripped and fell over their bodies. A second barrage followed. More people fell, but the rush of humans did not stop. They stepped on the bodies of their fallen comrades and pressed on towards the walls.

The state of affairs soon went to extremes. The enemy continued to charge, flooding into the passageway without a moment’s thought. The soldiers defending it fired again and again, the continuous sounds akin to the hum of the bullets during their practice. Projectiles also rained incessantly from the top of the walls. Corpse piled upon corpse between the jungle and the country, the earth beneath becoming redder with each second.

—

The scopes of the snipers at the top of the walls reflected the smiling faces of the people plunging into chaos.

“Damn… If you come any closer I’ll shoot…”

Yet they ended up firing their weapons. The humans at the receiving end collapsed with frenzied expressions. The rest paid no mind to the dead all around, and were soon shot down one after the other, their faces as radiant as those who had gone before them.

“W-what the hell… Aren’t they afraid to die…?” A soldier muttered, his face ready to cry.

“Once you start having such thoughts, you’ll lose. Just relax, okay?”

The one who uttered such words stood nearby, wearing blue pajamas and hospital slippers, and hair in utter disarray. It was a slightly short but handsome young man who carried a rifle on his back. A metal stand with an IV drip hanging from it was propped beside him.

Amidst the appalled gazes of the soldiers around him, he sat next to the walls with the needle still pierced in his left arm, and gazed down at the advancing crowd and the soldiers keeping them back with gunfire.

“Now then, how are things around here…?” The man looked from right to left as he muttered. He saw the multitude coming from the morning sun’s direction, rushing earnestly towards the passageway with their crude weapons. No one approached the tall fences. There were also snipers assigned to guard those areas, but they’re yet to fire a single bullet.

“Strange… Are these guys really serious about this war…? Well, makes things easier…”

The man positioned his rifle, moved the bolt and loaded a round. Through the scope, he turned towards a group of smiling boys in their early teens.

“I pray that you keep those happy faces in the afterworld.”

And he squeezed the trigger with neither restraint nor mercy.

—

Steam rose from the overheated barrels of the rifles.

The soldiers in the dugouts pounded away continuously, pausing only to reload. Before them lay what looked like a carpet made of hundreds of corpses, and the humans who walked over it with smiles on their faces.

From time to time, a few would be able to slip through the storm of bullets and approach the nearest trench. These heroes would be showered with bullets, their bodies turning into honeycombs and their limbs disconnected from their torsos. Just before their death, they would throw their tiny knives that would spin in the air and fall and pierce the damp earth without reaching their mark.

What sounded like high-pitched cheers resonated in the midst of the nonstop gunfire, belonging without doubt to a group of girls in their mid-teens. Around twenty of them lurched in, hands firmly connected with each other. Upon closer inspection, their wrists were tightly bound by strings. They were dirty, but it was plain to see that they wore matching uniforms.

They clambered up the mountain of corpses, staining their feet deep red with the blood of others. They pressed on with smiles on their faces, as if they’re off to meet their loved ones.

“What are you doing! Fire!” A soldier who was in the middle of changing his magazine yelled at his partner. The middle-aged man shook his head.

“No… I have a daughter about their age…”

“They’re enemies! You’ll get killed if you don’t kill them first!”

“T-they’re not carrying any weapons…”

“Fool! What if their bodies were strapped with bombs?!”

The soldier aimed at them as soon as he finished reloading, but a torrent of bullets coming from the top of the walls got to the girls first. Some of them were hit in the head, collapsing as their brains scattered about. The uninjured ones were dragged down because of their linked hands. Yet one of them tried to stand up.

“Die!”

The soldier let out two shots, and the quivering head over her shoulders was soon no more.

—

“It’s about time to alternate.”

Since the battle, or more precisely, one-sided slaughter began, the woman only stood gazing at its progress through her binoculars. After muttering softly, she fired a red signal.

The red smoke was a signal to swap with the soldiers at the front trench. The soldiers at the back who held fire until then stood up all at once and advanced.

“What does the red smoke mean again? I heard it last night, but I forgot,” the man in pajamas asked.

“The rows will exchange places, so we have to provide covering fire!”

The soldier next to him shouted out. But it was drowned by the intense gunfire.

Under the protective rain of bullets from the walls, the soldiers exhausted from firing retreated to the rear. Some of them showed symptoms of shock, and was pulled down to the ground by their companions.

The new batch of soldiers entered the trenches and began pounding away. The humans that served as their targets were killed one after the other, their bodies stopping and collapsing as they were blown off.

“This is nothing but a massacre!” A young soldier who has just finished providing support fire angrily noted.

“Of course it is, when you’re fighting to win. Well, your other choice is to lose,” the man in pajamas answered quickly, then suddenly acted as if he was in pain. “Ouch…”

“No way! Were you shot?” The soldiers around looked at him anxiously.

“Nope, the needle in my arm got displaced… It’s really painful.” The soldiers’ gazes suddenly turned icy from the man’s answer, and one of them barked,

“… You should go back to the hospital!”

—

Within the country, the people in the shelters who shivered in fear had no news of the situation outside except for the muffled echoes of the gunshots.

The barrages they thought would continue for eternity eventually died down to a trickle.

And soon, it could no longer be heard.

They looked at each other, seeking explanation in each other’s faces. And then,

“We won!” A young messenger boy hopped in and shouted.

They thought it would last the whole day, but the sun was barely above the horizon, and it was not yet even time for breakfast.

—

As there is nothing left of our forces, we recognize our defeat.

Only those words were written on a piece of paper.

After the waves of people marching forward with crazy smiles on their faces had vanished, a truce-bearer wearing a proper military uniform came forward waving a white flag and bearing an envelope containing nothing but this paper. Then the truce-bearer skipped away from the dumbfounded chief, just as clueless as everyone else around him.

The eyes of the tired soldiers reflected the glittering, empty magazines bathed by the morning sunlight, and the mountain of corpses already being pecked at by a swarm of flies.

Amidst it, a fair number of people who are yet to die from their fatal wounds stirred about. They merely groaned, their allies having made no effort to save them.

“I’ll take care of things from here.”

The woman fired at their heads, freeing them from their misery. She changed the magazine of her hand persuader and continued to shoot. At the same time, she looked, but found no one who could still be saved.

After all is over, the citizens realized that not a single person was killed from their side. The casualties were: one person who was accidentally shot by friendly fire on his foot; two persons who broke their collarbones from rifle recoil; five soldiers who fainted from shock and fear; and,

One male traveler suffering from stomachache who was dragged back to bed by his fuming doctor.

—

As the war has come to an end, the cleaning began.

They dug an enormous hole near the country and put inside coal, firewood, fuel, and every single combustible item they could spare. And in this hole, they cremated the corpses. Meanwhile, the carcasses left in the jungle decayed quickly; though not half a day has passed, the bodies torn to bits by bullets were in a cruel state by the time they were recovered.

At first, the soldiers who fought at the front lines were sent to work on the retrieval of bodies, but some of them couldn’t bear the stench and fell sick one after the other, so the women in the country were mobilized in their place.

As they picked up the corpse of a thirty-year old man, fighting the odor with masks,

“These people must have families like us. Maybe they would have wanted to live longer…,” a middle-aged soldier mumbled. At that moment, tears rolled down from his eyes and moistened his mask.

Meanwhile, the female traveler who was still dressed in her military uniform carried on with the task indifferently. She took the corpse from the man’s hands, carried it back to the stretcher by the side, and placed it on top of the corpse of a child.

After sobbing for a while, the soldier turned to the woman,

“If by any chance you get to drop by in this country, please ask them the reason… The reason why this many lives should all go to waste.”

The woman nodded, “But it might be better for us not to know.”

“That may be true…but whatever the reason may be, no country would send its people to such a meaningless death.”

“Whatever the reason may be?”

“Whatever the reason may be.”

“…I’ll hear them out anyway,” the woman said, and returned to work.

On the evening of the next day, they finally finished clearing the surroundings of the country of corpses.

The body count exceeded three thousand.

—

“I don’t know the reason for that war, but thanks to it, we earned some easy money. What’s more, the hospital expenses were all free. Isn’t it great that we came to that country, Master?”

The complexion of the man has completely returned to normal. He merrily gripped the steering wheel of the small, yellow car. The woman sat composedly on the passenger seat.

Two days have passed since the war. They were given a grand sendoff from the country after the woman received her reward and the man has fully recovered from his condition. They rode through the jungle road under the clear morning sky.

“Now, where shall we go, Master?”

“Please head north.”

“Huh? Is there anything there?”

“No. But let’s head north for now.”

“If that’s what you say.”

And so the man chose north when they arrived at a fork in the road. The car proceeded shakily on the path that was as bad as ever.

That evening, they caught up to a group of carriages. On the narrow road, the empty carriages were connected like a string of beads.

“Master, these guys are…”

“No doubt. I wanted to ask them something.”

Mingled shock and curiosity appeared on the man’s face.

“But—”

“It will be fine.”

The man reluctantly blew the car’s horn and quickly passed each carriage and made it to the front.

Before long, they saw a soldier on horseback at the lead of the line of carriages. It was a man who seemed to be in his fifties. He wore a military uniform and a tall army cap, a persuader holster on his right hip, and a saber on his left. The rest of the people in this group were mostly coachmen, and no one else was dressed in military clothes.

When he saw the travelers, he gave them a refined salute with his right hand. Then he stopped his horse, bringing the queue of carriages to a halt.

“Let’s rest for a while,” the soldier instructed the coachmen and dismounted from his horse. The two alighted from their car, approached the soldier and exchanged customary greetings with him.

The three began to chat while they stood, but after a while, the woman suddenly veered off from small talk.

“By the way, we visited a country a bit south from here—” she started. “It appears that this country was forced into an unexpected war just the other day. They had a hard time it seems, but they were able to repel the enemies somehow.”

“Oh, that was our doing.”

The man, who tried but failed to tell the woman earlier that they might not be told the truth, was truly shocked with the soldier’s blunt reply.

“And so…you are now heading back to your country in those carriages?”

“Indeed. Everybody’s dead after all. —The truck units must have arrived home by now. Horses are really much slower. I myself prefer riding on horseback rather than the jolting of trucks, so I volunteered to command the carriage units.”

Having no interest in the soldier’s personal preferences, the man decided to get straight to the point. “That attack…we heard from the citizens that the soldiers rushed in as if they wanted to get killed. What kind of strategy is that?”

“We don’t have a strategy!” The soldier answered immediately. And with his calm expression, he continued with a candid tone, “That assault was for them to get killed.”

“What?” The man, who thought his ears were deceiving him, asked again.

Without looking offended, the soldier repeated his words. It was an assault for them to get killed.

“That is, in order to have them killed, you declared a war on another country, and because it was in the name of self-defense, they would not feel any guilt over it,” the woman clarified.

“Correct. You’re pretty smart, lady.”

“Uh…, but why?”

“Why, it’s because they wanted to die.” The soldier’s answer was too direct, it made it even harder to comprehend his words.

“And the reason why you intentionally took the people who wanted to die with you is?” the woman asked.

“Ah, that’s because suicide is illegal in our country.”

“Suicide? Then those people…wanted to die? Well, they sure look like it…”

“That’s right. Our country is large in terms of both population and territory. Everyone lives in abundance, and the average life span is long. Yet year after year, many people give up on their lives. It has been a terrible concern. Some of them would leap in front of trains and throw the schedule in disarray. Some would climb buildings and imitate birds, but would end up like crushed toads on the streets. Others would park a borrowed car in their backyards and breathe in the exhaust fumes. There are also those who would drink bottles of sleeping pills, bathe in gasoline and set themselves ablaze, or drown themselves in lakes. In any case, they would always come up with deeds that become a great nuisance to everyone else.”

“I see.”

“O…kay…”

“And so our country took measures to prevent people from committing suicide. We have tried many things.”

“Of course, it’s the end for anyone once they die. Were there any preventive measures that worked?”

“Well that’s right, so we threatened them with rules like: ‘The corpses of those who committed suicide will be made into dog food,’ or ‘If your suicide failed, you will be paraded all over town,’ and so on. There was a time when we added the rule that the family members of a person who commits suicide will be sentenced to life imprisonment, and the suicide rates did drop by five percent then.”

“…”

The man fell silent with a queasy look on his face.

“But nothing worked in the end, so we revoked all of the rules and adopted a final measure. If they wanted to die so much, the country will give them a place to die.”

“Go on.”

“And so we created a new office, the ‘National Suicide Management Center’. We will provide a means for the people who wanted to die, and guide them so that they need not commit acts that will cause inconvenience to others.”

The man had a big question mark drawn on his face. “Huh? Isn’t it because suicide is bad that you wanted to stop them?”

“I didn’t say that. We don’t mind if the people wanted to die, it’s just that their methods are such an annoyance.”

“Oh…”

“So now they can have their intention to commit suicide confirmed in the ‘National Suicide Management Center’, and have their names registered in our ‘Suicide List’. Only then could they participate in our semiannual suicide exercises. Whether they choose to bid their families and friends farewell or not, they would depart to die. Afterwards, we would go to a country far away, proclaim war, and pretend to attack and head to the walls. Everyone would advance forward in earnest. Perhaps it was mass psychology that made it possible for them to face their deaths without fear, don’t you think? After that, the cleanup of the corpses will be done by other people, so we get to relax.”

“I see. I get it now,” the woman answered. Seemingly pleased, the soldier continued,

“But the tough part is choosing a suitable ‘killing country’. Before, we would periodically go to war with a particular country, but eventually they just surrender. So we looked for a different one, but they recognized that it was nothing but a suicidal attempt. All of our candidates became prisoners of war and underwent counseling. It was a big failure in our part. That country just now has been chosen by dice, but it was a huge success. The thing I fear most is for us to ‘win’ the war, but it seems that even though that country had little war potential, they could protect themselves when the right time comes. That was quite some strategy. We’ll probably use that country for several years. I’ll write a report about it once I get home,” the soldier said with a rather satisfied look, and continued. “This method is quite effective. If you go to other countries, well not to countries near this one, please tell them about this magnificent solution to suicide problems.”

“I’ll consider it. —Everything makes sense now. Thank you for telling us.”

“Ah no, it’s my pleasure.”

While the woman and the soldier expressed their gratitude to each other, the man still had a disgruntled look on his face.

“But I don’t understand the feelings of those people who wanted to die… Why, life is so much fun.”

“I don’t understand it either,” the soldier agreed immediately and elaborated, “I don’t understand why they would gladly come to that center. And why they would make such happy faces the moment their applications get approved…” The soldier looked down, the brim of his hat concealing his somewhat melancholic expression. “For me, and for you two as well, we could always use our persuaders if ever we wanted to die. All we have to do is to press it on our temples and pull the trigger. Just one shot, and that’s it. But I won’t do such a thing. There’s a reason to stay alive, to enjoy life.”

“That’s right,” the man agreed while the woman only kept silent.

“If you have a reason to live, you will live. It’s only natural. At the same time, if you don’t have any reason to live, you die. That may also sound natural, but I don’t really understand how there could be no reason. I mean, it’s just like you said earlier, traveler. There are so many fun things to do while you are alive.”

“You bet.”

“But those people have a certain radiance about them. Their faces and eyes. You wouldn’t think those eyes belonged to someone about to die. Once the suicide is approved, they would have this strange happiness about them, even though they came to the center looking no better than a corpse. After a person was told, ‘You will die three months from now,’ it was as if they got released from all of their burden and became refreshed, shouting things like ‘I don’t have to work or study anymore!’ or ‘I’m so glad! I can finally say goodbye to this self!’ During our migration, they would happily talk to each other about death. Not a few of them would say, ‘Watch my beautiful death!’ or ‘Hey soldier, how about joining us?’ Whenever they tell me such things, I get really confounded. I couldn’t understand them at all…

“As you can see, I’m nothing but a lowly soldier. At this age, it would be impossible for me to get promoted, and I wouldn’t become a general even if I die in action. It’s really embarrassing, but my wife left me for a younger man because she thought I have no hope of getting ahead. She won’t even let my children speak my name. Even so, I never once thought of dying. Living is wonderful. But it’s not that life is all fun, as there are painful times too. However, I believe that having a ‘reason for living’ is in itself more rewarding than being alive. So personally, I don’t understand the feelings of those people who choose to die.”

The man became rather pleased with the soldier’s bolstering words. He nodded again and again. “I totally understand,” he agreed. “I was somewhat reluctant to begin my journey, but now it’s my reason for living. I just can’t get enough of it!” he answered animatedly. Meanwhile, the woman remained as expressionless as ever.

Then the man asked. “Mister, mind telling us your reason for living? Is it eating delicious food to your heart’s content? Or maybe immersing yourself in the world of your favorite book?”

The soldier lifted his face, “That is…!” He was a bit embarrassed, but his face was soon filled with delight and answered,

“I love to see the unsightly demise of those suicidal fellows!”

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