Kino no Tabi:Volume17 Chapter14

“Our Country” —Welcome—

“Kino and Hermes, we welcome you! Please enjoy your stay in our country!”

It was quite a young guide that welcomed Kino and Hermes upon their entrance through the gates.

—

With cobblestone walls that housed less than a thousand souls, it was a very tiny country situated at the heart of a valley in a vast mountainous region. Kino and Hermes were given permission to enter the country after answering a few questions.

[Did you come from a nearby country?]

[Have you visited this country in the past ten years?]

[Have you met a person who has visited this country in the past ten years?]

Questions like these. Kino and Hermes both answered no to all of them.

It was just the end of fall.

The trees in the mountains surrounding the country were beginning to show their autumn colors, painting a vivid mosaic underneath the clear blue sky.

—

“Now, let me be your guide through this place!”

The guide wore a knitted fur hat and plain, patchy clothing, and was bedecked with a beautiful red stone pendant that stood out all the more against the sober hue of the shirt beneath it.

Together with this guide, Kino and Hermes toured the country.

Kino went around pushing the luggage-free Hermes through the small country’s understandably narrow roads. Even a slight slope would make him too heavy to push, so only then did Kino start the engine to carefully make the uphill climb.

Inside the country was a stretch of green land.

The gentle slopes served as pastures, where furred animals with very long necks grazed. The guide went on to explain,

“You see over there? Those are the most important animals in this country. We make clothes from their sheared fur. They don’t really have a name, so we only refer to them as ‘animals’.”

“‘Alpaca’, right? I think that’s what they’re called elsewhere,” Hermes said.

“Is that so? That’s great! I’ll tell everyone about it.” The guide’s eyes sparkled.

Kino and Hermes were also shown around the farmlands.

There were steep slopes that gradually turned into fields grown with grain and vegetables. Even at that time, a great crowd of adults with several children mixed in were hard at work in the fields.

When Kino and Hermes passed by, they were stared at like objects of curiosity, but soon the people smiled and waved at them.

Houses were built along both sides of the river that flowed across the country. They seemed to be sturdy structures, built with big stones piled together.

“During winter, we get heavy snow that always ends up into a snowstorm. All winter long, we could only hole up inside our houses and wait for spring to arrive.”

The guide explained further.

At any rate, the harsh winters mean that they are busiest during this season. If the autumn harvest was not enough, they would have to give up their precious alpacas.

“Must be tough,” Hermes commented, encouraging the young guide to ask in return.

“How do you go about traveling during winter?”

Kino answered.

As much as possible, they go to warm regions where there’s no snow.

And only when they could not avoid wintry regions, they would stay in some country for a long time, and move out once the weather becomes warmer.

“I see… So everyone goes through hard times. Once, we also had to overcome an ordeal much harsher than winter.”

“Ho, what sort of ordeal? Care to share?” Hermes asked.

“Of course! Until ten years ago, we were only a group of travelers. At that time, our faraway homeland exceeded its population limit, and the citizens who had no assets were deemed ‘outcasts’ and banished from the country. Over a thousand people were forced to become wanderers,” answered the guide, whose smile never flickered away.

“That’s just like Kino!”

“Yes. That’s why I can totally relate! Until I was eight, I also lived the life of a traveler. It was never fun, hunting and gathering while being on the move. Even now, we had to work in order to live. But it was much worse back then.”

“I get what you mean.”

“But ten years ago, we found this country!”

“I see— So, you were allowed to immigrate here?”

“No. We were permitted to stay for just one hour. But the people who lived in this country ten years ago were very kind. They allowed the young children—that includes me—to enter the walls, and they gave us shelter. Even though they barely had enough to spare, they also shared food with the adults outside the walls.”

“Right. And so, in the course of ten years, everyone eventually became citizens of the country?”

“No. That’s not possible because there’s too many of us. This country was nowhere near wealthy enough to maintain their population, and ours. Soon, we had to leave and go traveling again.”

“Eh? Then what happened?”

“We decided to take over this country! The children attacked and killed the gatekeepers all at once, then opened the gates from the inside. I was able to kill one myself! This pendant belonged to that person! I claimed it for myself as a reward. So, once the gates were opened, the adults waiting outside attacked all together and killed every single one who lived here!”

“I see! And then?”

“After killing everyone, we were able to stay in this country! We finally found the home we so desired! And for the past ten years, we lived simple but happy lives here! And so it shall ever be!”

The young woman said, her face graced with a smile free from all worries.

“Kino and Hermes, we welcome you! Please enjoy your stay in our country!”

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