Editing Kino no Tabi:Volume1 Summary (section)

===Chapter 3: Three Men on the Rails —On the Rails—===

'''(Anime Reference: Episode 5 Part 1)'''

[[File:KNT_V01_TOC_C03.jpg|x200px|thumb|left]]

Kino and Hermes were riding through a thick forest of gigantic trees. Kino tells Hermes why she doesn’t like traversing forests. More than the threat of falling bugs, Kino is wary of losing her sense of direction, and uncomfortable that the sun cannot be seen behind the thick canopy of leaves and branches. Kino checks her compass and confirms the direction that ought to rid them of the woods and show them a real road. She checks her luggage and proceeds to the north. Kino is miffed off by the fact that she had to stop every few minutes to make sure that they’re heading the right way. And after stopping and checking the compass for the 108th time, they finally get a glimpse of the exit to the forest.

But no road awaits them. Instead there are tracks of an old railway headed due west. They continue on this path overgrown with grass, relieved that they need not worry about losing their direction. In the middle of the day, Hermes spots a lone man crouched on the rails, doing something. They approach the short, old man with a greeting. When the old man stands up to return their greeting, they notice that the tracks behind him are cleared of grass and gleaming under the sun like new. To their disbelief, the old man confirms that he did the work all by himself, and that he has been doing it for about fifty years. A railroad company hired him when he was only eighteen and told him to polish the old tracks that might be used again in the future. Having received no orders to stop, he continued his work without going home to his wife and children. Finally, the old man asks Kino,  

'''''“Where are you headed, traveler?”'''''

The next day, Kino and Hermes continues on the rails with relatively more ease than the day before, thanks to the old man clearing it of grass. When it was just time for Kino to think of lunch, she sees the second man. Like the day before, they approach the man with a greeting, which is returned by the thin old man holding a long rod. What they see behind the man surprises them. The rails are gone. When asked, the old man tells them that his job is to remove the rails, and that he has been doing it for about fifty years. The railroad company hired him when he was sixteen, and he never came home to his five little brothers ever since. Kino notes that the rails are too clean for something not used for a long time, and the old man says that it only made his job easier. Finally, he asks Kino the same question as the old man from the day before.

The next day, Kino and Hermes trudges through the gravel path, their advance made more difficult by the poor traction with the stony road as well as the scattered rails, ties, and spikes on the way. When Hermes is about to request for a break, the two of them glimpses the third man. He was sitting on top of the gravel, resting. He waves to Kino and Hermes as he saw them. They greet the old, but well-built man and notice the view behind him. There are rails again. The old man tells them that he has been doing the job of fixing the tracks for about fifty years, a figure that no longer surprised Kino and Hermes. The railroad company hired him when he was fifteen, and he has never returned home to his sick parents. Hermes tells him to keep up the work, and as they turn to leave, the man asks the same question that has been asked twice before.


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