Editing Kino no Tabi:Volume1 Summary (section)

===Chapter 6: A Peaceful Country —Mother’s Love—===

'''(Anime Reference: Episode 12)'''

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Kino and Hermes were riding through a wilderness on a road demarcated only by metal drums. On the way, they see piles of human corpses transformed into mummies due to the cold, dry weather. Hermes jokingly suggests that the corpses are preserved meat that the country they’re heading to uses as food, and that they would turn Kino into one.

Around noon, the walls of the next country came into view. They soon read the words ‘Welcome to Veldelval’ in front of its gate. Kino requests a three-day stay for rest and sightseeing. The guard asks Kino if she possesses any persuaders. To his amazement, Kino shows him Woodsman and Canon. Hermes adds that Kino is a 4th rank black belt. The guard assures her however that she will have no need for her weapons inside the country. Upon entry, Kino finds a peaceful country with happy inhabitants. With the help of the welcoming citizens, she is able to find a hotel that suits her needs. 

While sightseeing around the country, not a few residents recommended the history museum and its knowledgeable curator. They decide to visit the museum—an old building with an ethnic feel to it—that stood just beside their hotel. The curator, an old yet trim old woman, welcomes Kino and Hermes. The museum’s design was very well thought out, and the exhibits were of high quality. Kino and Hermes view with enthusiasm the exhibits that showed the country’s growth from its early settlement to its technological advancements. Soon they reach the part about modern history, where all exhibits are connected to war.

It appears that this country had been in intermittent conflict with a neighboring country for a long time. Being of different race, language, religion, lifestyle, and all else, one viewed the other as an enemy. The two countries tried countless of times, but never succeeded in destroying each other. Wars that exhausted lives and resources broke between them for 192 years, with no side ever gaining a clear victory over the other. Kino observes that the exhibits relating to war only covers up to 15 years before the present, and notes that this country was the most peaceful and stable place she had been in a long time. She asks what happened 15 years ago that put an end to the war. The curator answers that the time left is not enough to explain, and instead invites them to see the answer for themselves the next day.

During breakfast the next morning, Kino notices clamor outside and Hermes observes hovees (hovercrafts) going back and forth the streets. When they arrive at the museum, the curator introduces them to a young soldier, who is to serve as their guide for that day’s tour. They head to the plaza at the country center and see rows of gray hovercrafts installed with fully-automatic belt-fed persuaders. They are ushered into a hovee for spectators. Soon the group of hovees departs for the wasteland, accompanied by the cheers of the citizens.

The hovees stop after passing four mountains. After a while, Kino sees another group of similarly-armed hovees approach from the other side. Kino notes that the soldiers from the other group wore kilts, completely different from the uniform that the Veldelvalian soldiers wore. Their guide tells them that the other group represents Relsumia—the country that Veldelval had been in war in for the past two centuries. He adds that the [war] they will engage in that day is different from the old wars, and will not cause casualties on either side.

A little before noon, the two groups lined up neatly in front of each other. A special hovee positioned itself in the middle of the two rows and a priest-like man on board gave a speech, proclaiming the start of the 185th Relsumia-Veldelval war. The special hovee flies away, and the rows of hovees as well as the hovee carrying Kino and Hermes follows it to an oasis beyond a hill. There they see a big village with simple houses made of mud. The people visible in it wore simple clothing and used simple tools. The soldier explains that they are the Tatata, a tribe native to the area. The special hovee flies north-south across the village and draws a line of red powder that divided it into east and west portions, assigning the former to Veldelval, and the latter to Relsumia.

On signal, the two groups of hovees begin rushing into the village and open fire at all Tatatans on sight. Those that fled into their houses are killed by the weak walls that crumbled from the barrage of bullets. All those within reach, men, women and children alike, were not spared. The young soldier invites Kino to fly lower to get a better view but Kino refuses, leading the soldier to infer that Kino is probably wary of stray bullets. The onslaught continues, encompassing the forest and the lake delineated by the red powder. Those that fled outside the village are not chased; the soldiers chose to concentrate on killing everyone left inside, including those that play dead.

It is almost noon when the signal to stop sounded, at which point no Tatatan is left moving. ‘Counters’ descended into the village, special hovees that will collect and weigh the dead bodies. The side with the heavier kill wins. While waiting for the results, soldiers from both sides mingled with each other, and one soldier that was wounded in the leg by a Tatatan received a badge amidst the applause of his companions. In a while, the counters return carrying piles of corpses, and Veldelval is announced to be the victor of the [war]. Meanwhile, Kino and Hermes find out that the dead bodies are thrown to the east of Veldelval, solving the mystery of the mummified bodies.

Just as the young soldier told them, everyone in the country are drunk in celebration come evening. Kino buys as much portable rations as Hermes could carry to take advantage of the discount. The next day, Kino prepares her luggage and eats her old portable rations for breakfast. She wakes Hermes and heads to the history museum early in the morning, where the curator welcomes them and gives them free admission to the museum in lieu of the previous day’s victory.

The curator confirms if Kino and Hermes are able to observe the [war]. Kino nonchalantly replies, saying that the spectacle they witnessed the day before looked nothing more than a massacre. The curator agrees, saying that it was indeed their new version of war. She shows Kino a live documentary of the battlefield during the old war, where a soldier, the curator’s husband, loses his upper body. The curator goes on to relate her experiences. She had four sons, all of which she lost to the war one after another. Because of this, she gained some degree of reputation among her countrymen, and used it to appeal for the cessation of the war.

Since ending the war entirely was not possible, she thought of a realistic alternative: that the Tatata serve as substitutes for soldiers, and their massacre be made into a contest. This way, the competitiveness, hostility, and ruthlessness that human beings naturally possess can be released without casualties from either side. By coincidence, the same idea was brought up by another woman from Relsumia. Like the curator, this woman has lost all of her children to war.  Their idea was tested, approved and has been in effect for the past 15 years. Since then, both countries enjoyed peace and prosperity. A new age was born, a time when no mother would ever fear burying her child with her own hands. Kino asks about the interests of the Tatatans, who surely have their own lives and families. The curator answers.

'''''“Yes, it is just as you say. But peace is not free. Peace is built upon sacrifices. A long time ago, that sacrifice was our beloved children; young soldiers sent to the battlefields to die in defense of their country. But now it’s different. The Tatata cannot oppose us. Our children need not die on the battlefields anymore. And that is a wonderful thing. If we do not sacrifice the Tatata, the two countries shall go into war once again, and the casualties will be incomparable to the number of Tatata that are killed now. Sacrifices are necessary for peace. And we shall not allow our children to become sacrifices. If preserving this peace calls for the death of the Tatata, then so be it.”'''''

Kino tells the curator that she doesn’t know whether the new [war] is right or not. The curator answers that she will understand someday when she’s older, when she feels a life growing inside her. Kino says nothing.

After a grand farewell from the citizens, Kino and Hermes ride away into the plains. Eventually, Kino notices something from afar and soon recognizes it to be a group of about twenty people from the Tatata tribe. Robust young men blocked the way, carrying long rods and big hatchets. There are also women, children, and elderly among them. Kino alights from Hermes and one youth approaches and tells her that she will be brought to the village to be killed brutally in front of everyone. When asked why, the youth tells her that it is to satisfy their thirst for revenge. They hated the two countries for slaughtering them meaninglessly, but as they have no means of fighting them, they use passers-by as substitute for their enemy, and kill them to relieve their resentment, if only a little.

Kino tells him that she sympathizes with them, but that she has no intention to die, and turns back to Hermes to leave. The young man attacks her, but Kino quickly pulls out Canon and shoots the man, killing him. Still clutching Canon, she watches as the rest of the people scampered away out of sight. Hermes asks if they are to bury the man but Kino says that his fellow Tatatans will come back to bury him, something that they cannot do for their slaughtered loved ones. They ride away, leaving the man’s corpse amidst the cloud of dust.


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