Editing Kino no Tabi:Volume17 Epilogue

==Epilogue 「Land of Passage ・ a」 —Messengers ・ a—==

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My name is Riku. I'm a dog.

I have long, white, fluffy fur. My face makes me look as if I’m always happy and smiling, but that doesn’t mean that I am. I was just born this way.

My master is Shizu. He is a young man who always wears a green sweater, and who has been traveling by buggy ever since he lost his homeland due to complex circumstances.

Traveling with us is Ti. She's a quiet girl with a fondness for grenades, who has been part of our team ever since she lost her homeland due to complex circumstances.

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We ran through the forest.

As usual, the buggy's engine noise echoed out in fine form.

It didn't get regular maintenance, aside from the occasional oil change, but the previous owner must have been excellent. I'd never seen it break down.

The buggy, which had failed to die in the war, continued to move without fail every day, as if it were working hard to help bring Master Shizu, who had failed to die in his homeland, to new places.

Here in this vast forest, the trees were tall and the land was flat.

The road was endless and straight, cutting through the forest and out to the horizon.

It was the middle of spring.

The weather was warm in the daytime, but the mornings and nights were still cold. Ti would often hang onto me for a while after waking up at dawn and getting out of her warm sleeping bag.

It was midday.

The sunlight streaming down from the cloudless sky was warm. Blended with the wind from the buggy's movement, the temperature on our skin was comfortable.

Master Shizu was wearing his sweater, like always, with goggles on his face and the steering wheel in his grasp.

Ti was wearing her usual shorts and long-sleeved shirt. I always wondered if her legs got cold, but in the buggy, she's always squeezed up against me from my spot in front of the passenger seat, so I guess she was alright.

The sight of the trees flowing past us on either side was the same as it had been for the last three days. It was hard to tell if we were actually moving. It was frightening, just how large this forest was.

We'd heard that there was a country ahead, and a fairly large one, at that, so we kept on running. Large countries have a tendency to be more accepting of strangers.

We were on a journey in search of somewhere Master Shizu and Ti could live in peace.

Just how far had we traveled from that beach where Master Shizu's blood was spilled?

Would this unspeaking buggy would keep turning its engine until them?

These sorts of questions sprung to mind from time to time.

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We ran on through the unchanging scenery, and we finally came across the country we were searching for that night.

The border wall stretched out, nearly in a straight line (at least, it appeared to). The country was gigantic. Neither I nor Master Shizu had ever come across a country this big before.

The sun was sinking past the wall. Many countries wouldn't permit entry after nightfall, so Master Shizu hurried to knock on the gate.

Soon, we received permission to enter. They said to ask about immigration at the town hall. No surprises, just the usual pattern.

We passed through the gate and the strikingly vast countryside spread into view.

The wall to the west wasn't visible at all.

The forest had been cleared and cultivated by human hands. That is, there were farms, meadows, and some woodland that had been kept as windbreaks.

The twilight was a beautiful orange, tinged with red.

The green landscape was dyed in vivid color under the sky, which dissolved into deep indigo, painting a magical scene.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Master Shizu had delayed setting off in the buggy, staying in the open space past the gate to enjoy the scenery. And also to show it to Ti.

We sat, idly watching the sunset.

"Ah! It's going to set!"

A female voice.

"You can still make it, so don't panic. Just keep at it."

A clear, male voice, slightly high.

But I could tell. The second voice wasn't human.

Rather, it was a motorrad's (Note: a two-wheeled vehicle. Just note that it cannot fly).

A girl came through, pushing along a motorrad through a small side-door, next to the gate we'd come through.

She looked to be about 16 or 17 years old. Her black hair was tied behind her head, and she wore a helmet.

The motorrad was an extremely compact model. Its body was red and rectangular, with two small wheels. I suppose it was one of those peculiar types with collapsible handlebars, so it could be loaded and carried in a car.

It was my first time seeing a motorrad since seeing Kino's partner. They're quite rare.

"Oho? Now that's a rare sight," the motorrad said.

Master Shizu? Ti? The buggy? No, I knew.

"It's a dog, Photo."

He meant me.

The girl that the motorrad called Photo said, "A dog? Ohh... But you can't do that Sou. Don't say it like it's weird to see."

Well now, how polite.

"It's fine. I'm sure they're thinking, 'That's a rare sight,' too."

That was true. It was mutual.

Photo pushed Sou a little distance past us.

"We have to hurry."

She removed her helmet, setting it on the ground, and then began setting up the large camera that hung from her neck.

It was a single lens camera, the kind used by pros. A rare item that wasn't fitting for a teenage girl to have.

But Photo flipped through the settings with practiced motions, as if it were a part of her body, and peered through the viewfinder at the landscape.

"Nice huh, nice huh. Beautiful, huh. The sun, is shining."

Muttering strangely, she pressed down on the shutter.

The sun sank below the horizon.

Satisfied with the picture, I suppose, Photo let the camera hang back down and turned to face us.

"Hello, travelers. Welcome to our country!"

She gave a brisk nod of her head.

Master Shizu responded, "Thank you. It's a beautiful country, isn't it?"

"The sunset at this time of year is especially pretty! It's great from the top of the wall, but it's also lovely down from the ground level."

I see. I suppose they were up on the wall earlier, and they just came down. There must be an elevator or something. That small motorrad could probably go up and be ridden on top of the wall.

"Are you travelers on a trip?"

Master Shizu answered Photo's question, "No, we're trying to immigrate. We're hoping this country is accepting of strangers."

"Oh! Then you'll be fine!" Photo's face broke into a grin. "I was the same! I became a citizen last summer."

"Oh?" Master Shizu's interest was piqued. That was valuable information.

Photo got his drift, I suppose, and continued explaining, "I was alone, well no, I was with Sou, and we were wandering around, looking for someplace to live. The people here were kind and willing to accept us."

Sou chimed in with more information, "You can only apply for citizenship at the capital city, but any place big enough to be called a 'city' will have a town hall with an information desk to discuss immigration. You can probably go check tomorrow. There's an inn for travelers near there that I'd suggest you stay for tonight."

"Thank you. That's a big help. Do you live close by?"

"No. We live pretty far away. We're on a photography trip, so next, we'll be going to take pictures of the stars. We have a truck."

Photo pointed as she spoke, and there certainly was a blue truck parked where she indicated.  On the side, there was the name and address of some photography studio.

So I suppose this girl was managing a photography studio at such a young age.

I didn't know her past, but taking into consideration how she even had a motorrad, she seemed quite unique.

"I see. Thank you for the information. If we have the chance, I hope you'll let us visit your shop."

"Yes! Ah, I know! Please let me take one of you! It'll be a commemorative photo for you when you visit!"

That took Master Shizu by surprise. Me too.

It's a bit hard to say this, but Master Shizu and I had never had our picture taken. Ti either. A chance like this didn't come around too often.

"Thank you. Please do, then," Master Shizu replied.

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The morning of the day after entering the country.

Resting in a real bed after such a long time helped heal the weariness of traveling. Ti didn't seem to care either way, though.

Master Shizu was a little pushy in making Ti take a shower, with me assigned to watch over her. On the road, it was fine to do the bare minimum in staying clean, so daily showers were a luxury.

Breakfast at the inn included fresh fruit, eggs, and bread, and the room was lively.

However, this was breakfast "for visitors," not necessarily something that everyone in the country could afford to eat. We'd have to be on the lookout for things like that.

After breakfast, we rode the buggy to the town hall nearby. However, it was a big country, so even though I say it was "nearby," it still took us some time.

Master Shizu was doing his best to drive safely.

We might try to apply for citizenship soon, so we couldn't afford to drive too fast and get in trouble with the police. The roads had signs for the speed limit (it was 1km/hour here), so we drove while making sure not to go over.

As we plodded along, I studied the country's condition.

From what I saw, there was no public disturbance (there were some countries we had been to that were in the middle of dealing with terrorism or civil war), there was no huge wealth gap, and there were signs for elections and politicians, so it didn't seem to be a dictatorship, at least.

As for their level of technology, they weren't yet at the point where everyone had a car. I still saw plenty of people riding on horses or in carriages drawn by horses.

The girl from yesterday, Photo, had settled here, and the country seemed stable in terms of politics and finance. I couldn't see a reason not to hope to immigrate. Of course, there was no way to tell what might happen in the future.

Anyway, as a result of our careful driving, it was close to noon by the time we reached the local office, where Master Shizu asked about applying to immigrate. What did we need to do to become citizens?

It was right before lunchtime, but the government official was polite about answering.

In short, applying was possible.

However, the law had changed this year, and just submitting the paperwork wasn't enough to get approved.

You needed to set up a half-year-long probationary period and get approval to stay that long.

The condition was that in that time, you had to search for work and a place to live in order to build a foundation for long-term residence. That is, work seriously and live seriously.

Of course, it didn't even need to be stated that breaking the law during that time was out of the question.

Master Shizu smiled, "Just what I wanted."

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Master Shizu moved quickly to strike while the iron was hot.

First, we headed toward the capital, in the heart of the country. We made it there in the middle of the night and found a place to stay.

The next day, he headed to the national library.

Master Shizu set out to read all of the country's history books from end to end. On a sidenote, he left his sword at the inn.

Meanwhile, Ti and I stayed behind at the inn. That said, Master Shizu had given me an assignment. Which was to listen to the radio.

Television hadn't been invented in this country yet, but there were radio broadcasts.

Ti and I listened to the radio all day long. Well, I don't know if Ti enjoyed it, but, "…" she was silent as usual, and she listened to it without showing signs of boredom or dozing off. She didn't offer her opinions, so I don't know what they were.

At night, Master Shizu returned. He seemed very happy; I suppose his efforts in the library might have been rewarding. His dream of becoming a citizen might even come true. It wasn't impossible.

"This country is certainly worth living in. Tomorrow, let's go apply," Master Shizu said.

"…" Ti was her usual self.

Did she agree? Did she disagree? Did she not care either way? I guessed that it was probably the last option.

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The next day. Our fourth day in this country.

Master Shizu brought Ti and me along to apply for citizenship.

Various documents were read to Master Shizu, and once he consented, he was able to apply.

Master Shizu had reached the age of adulthood, by this country's standards, and he was named Ti's guardian. I didn't need any sort of special permission. Well, I am a dog, after all.

After submitting all of the paperwork, we were required to find a place to live and work, but Master Shizu already had a goal in mind.

It seemed that many of the youths in this country had moved away from the farms to go work in the city.

As a result, there was a shortage of farmhands. Villages like that had a surplus of extra rooms and a need for young workers, so they were offering sponsored housing.

I wasn't sure whether he'd be able to change occupations after he became a citizen, but Master Shizu had gone to visit a farmers' association and asked them to find a village that matched his criteria (one man, one girl, one dog, and one buggy, with housing).

I was wondering whether it would really be so easy for them to find — and then they found one.

Located about half a day's car ride from the capital, there was a farming and foresting village in the hills that was looking to recruit a young man.

"Then it's decided," Master Shizu decided, without a moment's hesitation.

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The next day. Fifth day in the country.

We checked out of the inn early in the morning and departed with an atlas of the country and a letter of introduction.

We drove carefully through the rural area, and we arrived at our destination in the afternoon.

It was a quiet village.

It covered a lot of land though. The farmland and mountains seemed to stretch on forever. Houses dotted the vast green land, and horse-drawn carriages and small trucks plodded along.

We arrived at the village office. It appeared to be the only one, on a road lined with houes.

There, we met the elderly village head, and Master Shizu handed over the immigration application, which served as proof of identification, and the letter of introduction.

Would they really accept suspicious (no offense) strangers in a little village like this?

I wondered anxiously, for a moment.

"Ahh, excellent. Nice to meet you. Alright then, let me show you the house!"

Just like that, they accepted us.

It was hospitable, even.

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And so began our life in the village.

The log house we rented had been used by a farming family; it was old, but large. It had been thoroughly cleaned, down to the furniture. It was more than enough to be a "mansion" to us.

Master Shizu started working the next day.

Early each morning, they gathered into wagons and trucks, returning later that night.

It seemed that Master Shizu was working to help with farming and forestry. They lent him out to help out farmers and workshops that were short-handed.

One day, he did nothing but harvest vegetables. Another day, he worked to cut down as many trees as he could.

It was always long, strenuous labor, and it wasn't hard to imagine how tough it was, but —

"Today, I'm cleaning the irrigation ditches."

Master Shizu seemed cheerful every day when he left. Being able to be of use to someone was what made him happy.

He started eating twice as much as he had when we were traveling, and it seemed like he needed it.

As expected in a farming village, there was no shortage of food. I'm not sure whether they were presents or merely part of his payment, but every day, Master Shizu came home with a ton of vegetables, fruit, and eggs. 

Now, as for Ti —

She wasn't really doing anything.

One day, she sat outside, not bored, but just relaxing and gazing up at the drifting clouds.

One day, she went for a walk with me in the woods nearby. The village was big enough that you could walk for an entire day without seeing anyone, and there were a lot unpaved "logging roads" in the mountains that were used by the foresters.

One rainy day, she stared at the country atlas, which was probably our only reading material.

Master Shizu had tasked me with watching over Ti, but honestly, there was probably no reason to worry.

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Seven days passed in the village, more than smoothly. It was our 12th day since entering the country.

Master Shizu was given his first day off.

He talked to Ti and me in our seats around the small breakfast table, "Ti, don't you want to go to elementary school? There's a truck in this village that collects the kids and takes them to school. It's from the morning to the afternoon. They teach lots of things, like reading and writing. You can learn a lot of things and make lots of friends your age."

Ti's reaction was, "…"

Master Shizu said, "Well, I just want you to think about it. It doesn't have to be every day, either; you can take it slow."

He made snap decisions, but he never forced the issue. That was that, and we moved on to a different topic.

"By the way, the buggy —"

Since we'd come to the village, our precious buggy hadn't been moved even once. It sat in the small shed next to the house, gathering dust.

"We've found a job and an address, so I was thinking about selling it."

"You can't! You definitely can't!"

Ti raised her voice for the first time in what I suppose was several days. She also jumped to her feet as she spoke.

"...I-is that so?" Master Shizu asked, wide-eyed and overpowered.

Wearing a face she'd never shown before, Ti glared at Master Shizu.

Well no, she was still about as expressionless as usual, but it felt like the look in her eyes was harsher.

I didn't particularly disagree with Master Shizu.

If the buggy had fulfilled its purpose, there was no reason to keep holding onto it forever. Even if we needed transportation, we didn't need something as high-performance as the buggy.

When we drove through town, we'd often have people talk to us, and it seemed like we could sell it for a fairly high price. Overall, it didn't seem like a bad idea.

Master Shizu didn't say it, but — it was obvious that he intended to put the profits from selling the buggy towards Ti's education.

I'm not sure whether she understood that, but —

"You definitely can't!" Ti repeated herself again, and then flopped back down in her seat.

"O-okay, then, I won't decide on it right now," Master Shizu said, and then returned to his breakfast.

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Another ten days passed.

Life was going surprisingly smoothly.

Every morning, Master Shizu went off to work and came back smiling.

He'd tell us things like, "Today, everyone's working together to plow a large field," and "Today, everyone's setting up traps to keep the animals from getting into the fields."

Ti was, well, the same as ever.

I was starting to wonder. Things like, "Could it be that we'll continue to live in this country like this?"

I mean, it's not like I'd been thinking, "It'll go wrong this time too, won't it?" but we had had a long string of mistakes until now.

Then, on our 20th day in the village, our 25th day in the country —

Something happened.

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That day.

It was further into the Spring, and it was much warmer. The weather forecast on the radio said that the region here would break into rain that night, but it wasn't noticeable yet and the weather was fine.

It was a day off, so Master Shizu and Ti were fishing in the nearby river.

The incredibly clear water flowed in a gentle stream. They cast out the long, thin rods they'd received from the villagers to catch the freshwater fish.

The end of the line was just a hook, sinker, and a feather floater.

We looked under rocks to find bugs to put on the hooks, casting them where the fish were, and waiting a little bit to catch them. The fish looked beautiful.

Nature was rich here, so the schools of fish were thick. Even Master Shizu, who wasn't especially good at fishing, managed to catch some, so there must be tons.

"Did you say something, Riku?"

Oh, nothing.

Ti caught several more, and because she loved fish so much, her eyes were glittering (that's what it looked like, at least).

There was more than enough to feed us, so Master Shizu and Ti spent all of the afternoon napping in the shade of a tree.

After passing the day in peace, we were on the road back to the house as night was beginning to fall, when a truck passed by us on the road.

"Ah! Shizu!" The middle-aged woman driving the truck called out to Master Shizu, "Something came up! Can you come to the meeting too?"

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Without having a chance to stop at the house, we sat in the back of the rumbling truck with the various farm tools there and came to the village office.

Master Shizu (along with Ti and me, due to the circumstances) went into the meeting place.

The great hall in the village office — well, it wasn't actually all that great, but it contained a long table, with the village chief at the head and the other men and women from the village gathered around. They all wore bitter expressions.

"Ahh, Shizu. A bit of a situation came up."

A burly, sunburned middle-aged man quickly explained the situation to Master Shizu.

Apparently —

There was a manufacturer that wanted to build a waste disposal plant in the village. It would significantly lower the cost of transporting waste, since they had been dumping it outside the country until now.

Of course, this was a country with a government and laws. Waste disposal was regulated for  environment protection reasons, so it wasn't a simple process. There might be plenty of countries that didn't care, but this country was more proper.

It wasn't as easy as having a disposal company buy the land and saying, "Okay, you can dump it here from now on." They needed the approval of the municipality, that is, the people living nearby.

There had been plans to build a disposal plant here for years now.

Of course, the villagers had refused. They hadn't even given permission for the company to buy the land. Besides the fact that they used the land for farming, they wanted to limit any possibility of tainting the soil and water.

That should have settled the issue.

However —

"They pulled a dirty trick..."

The waste disposal company used devious methods to deal with the villagers that wouldn't give them permission.

First, a different company bought the land. They claimed to be an "experimental farm" that wanted to try using the land for various farming methods and different kinds of produce. The village had no reason to refuse.

But that company soon applied for bankruptcy and sold the land again to a different buyer. That buyer being the waste disposal company, of course. That was the first part of the trick.

"But without everyone's approval, they can't build the waste plant, right?"

Master Shizu was right, but they had prepared more.

Without the villagers knowing, they sent an application to the town hall furthest from the village. In reality, it should have been sent to the administration offices in the capital, but because the country was so large, they accepted applications at the local offices so that the main office wouldn't be swamped.

So there was a bulletin posted in the town hall, several hundred kilometers away, saying "Please submit any objections within however many days," the villagers had no way of noticing.

It wasn't illegal, but it certainly lacked basic morality.

The deadline for submitting objections was tomorrow, at 8 in the morning. When the town hall opened.

So, how did the villagers learn about it in the first place? One of the officials at the town hall had gotten the date wrong by one day and called in to the village.

"Excuse me, there didn't seem to be any objections from your village, so I'm calling to report that the matter will be granted approval — Oh, I'm sorry, I'm off by a day. So forget what I said just now. I'll call again tomorrow."

Thanks to this official taking their job too seriously, the village learned about the situation.

And so they had held an emergency meeting right away.

Master Shizu, Ti, and I watched and listened from the foot of the table.

The village naturally wanted to raise an objection, but it could only be submitted with an official letter.

When they tried calling the town hall, "I'm sorry, but that's not permissible," so that hadn't resolved the issue.

The letter was being written right now, and would be finished by the time the sun set.

However, the villagers had no way of traveling the several hundred kilometers to the town hall before 8 in the morning.

"We'll just have to take a truck and gun it!" said someone.

"No good... You think you'd make it?" said someone else, explaining that it was physically impossible, by simply comparing a truck's top speed and the distance.

It was frustrating that the company's actions were shameless, but they weren't "illegal."

If they couldn't do anything, and permission was granted to the company, then they had the protection of "the license," and they could begin construction tomorrow if they wanted.

The villagers' mood hung in the air, heavy.

The possibility that a garbage dump might be built in this nature-rich, relaxed (despite the hard labor of farm work) village wrapped the atmosphere in gloom.

In the middle of this defeated, funeral-like mood —

"Then I will!" Master Shizu stood to his feet, drawing everyone's attention at once. "I'll go deliver the letter! Let's not give up until we've done everything we can!"

The village chief asked for everyone, "But I thought it was impossible to make it in time...?"

I knew what he was about to say, and Ti probably did as well.

Master Shizu replied, "My buggy can go more than twice as fast as your trucks. There's still a chance. I'll start preparing immediately. I especially need gasoline."

No one objected.

With a new, if faint, hope, the villagers' expressions eased up.

"Ah, also —"

As Master Shizu began to speak again, the villagers tensed a bit, wondering what he was about to say. Was he going to demand a reward or something?

Master Shizu continued, "We've got these buckets of fish, if anyone wants to take some home to eat."

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If Ti hadn't objected at that time, the buggy might have been sold off already.

The engine was ignited for the first time in 20 days.

Master Shizu had his rain gear and goggles prepared, just like when we were traveling, and the buggy was headed towards the local office.

"…"

Ti was in the passenger seat, along with me.

"Are you sure you want to come along?" Master Shizu asked again.

"…" Ti just stared at Master Shizu, almost as if to say, "You don't need to ask all the time."

"Okay, got it..."

The buggy arrived at the local office, where they'd finished writing the letter.

The sun had already set, and a sudden increase of clouds darkened the sky even further.

It looked like a storm was imminent. The weather forecasts in this country were highly accurate — is what I thought, but I realized that actually, the country was just so huge that it was easy to report changes in the weather to other regions.

"Shizu... We're counting on you."

The village chief handed over the letter, sealed and placed in a tin.

Master Shizu took it carefully and fastened it securely under the buggy's seat (it was almost enough to make you think, "Is it really necessary to go that far?")

The clock hand had moved past 22. We had less than 10 hours remaining.

Master Shizu confirmed the town hall's location with the villagers.

It certainly was quite a distance, but with the buggy at full power, it wasn't impossible.

The road system in this country was well-maintained, and most of the major roads were paved with asphalt, but even in places where that wasn't the case, the roads were at least level.

We were given a hand-written road map, which Master Shizu placed in his breast pocket.

Some of the women from the village gave us water and fruit to eat along the way. The men supplied us with a tank of fuel that they had siphoned from their trucks.

Our preparations were all in good order.

Master Shizu started the engine. He put on his goggles. It was like we were traveling, but he didn't have his sword at his side.

Ti clung to me and hugged my neck, and almost as if that was the signal, the buggy set off.

At the same time, the rain began to fall.

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When we were traveling, Master Shizu almost never drove fast.

That was only sensible, after all. Driving at dangerous speeds on a road where you didn't know what might lie ahead was plain foolish. Also, it was worse for gas mileage.

Now he was doing the opposite.

Master Shizu was pushing the buggy — now lighter without any luggage — to go as fast as possible.

Naturally, we were going quite a bit over the speed limit, but there were no police out on the farm roads in the middle of the night and the rain.

The buggy's headlights, which we didn't usually need, cut through the empty blackness, shining as if they were happy to be used.

The rain increasing in intensity. The buggy had no roof. Naturally, the two of them were drenched. They both wore raingear and goggles, but their faces were soaked.

I didn't mind, but —

"…"

Well, it didn't look like Ti minded either.

I suppose Master Shizu felt enough at ease, even driving at this speed, because he began talking to Ti.

"Ti, it's great that you told me not to sell the buggy back then. Thank you."

"Mm." She stared ahead, responding with only a single word, no, a single syllable.

The rain was thick, but our progress was steady. It was warm enough outside that having a wet face didn't leave a chill.

There were a lot of curves in the road, winding around mountains, but they weren't sharp, so they weren't difficult to navigate.

In some ways, the night was even a bit helpful. If there was any oncoming traffic, we'd see their lights. But in reality, we didn't pass by anyone.

Looking at the buggy's clock and odometer, Master Shizu commented, "Ah, the date just changed. — But we might actually arrive sooner than we expected."

As he spoke calmly, he eased on the accelerator a little for safety.

"Stop."

Master Shizu noticed at the same time Ti spoke.

"Hold on!" Master Shizu shouted, as he suddenly pushed on the brake. Master Shizu and Ti were fine, since they were held in place by seatbelts, but since I was down in the narrow legroom of the passenger seat, I was pushed awkwardly into the buggy's frame.

The buggy's tires slid as it came to a stop.

We were in the middle of a gentle, right turn in the road. The heavy rain poured down on our buggy frame and rain gear.

"What a mess..."

There was a truck wreck.

Two large trucks were stopped in the road, completely blocking it off. Furthermore, both trucks had been burned down.

They were missing their tires and canopies, with only the black frames illuminated in the buggy's headlights, towering eerily over us.

For a moment, I wondered if it was the scene of a terrible traffic accident, but —

"This was on purpose, wasn't it..." Master Shizu said.

I see. There was no sign that the trucks had collided; they had just been neatly stopped in the road without a gap.

Basically —

"The people from that company found out that the we learned a day too early, and they put up a barricade just in case. This is the only road out of the village, after all."

It was exactly as Master Shizu said.

Master Shizu climbed out of the buggy and studied the situation.

It looked like whoever set this up was long gone; there was no sign of them around. There was no smoke coming from the trucks, so the fire must have been set a while ago.

Master Shizu said, "Yeah, it doesn't look like anyone's around."

He'd walked around to the other side of the trucks and back.

Also, he knew it was impossible, but he tried pushing them. They didn't budge whatsoever.

The tires had been burned away, and the exposed wheels were sunken into the melted asphalt. It didn't look possible to move without having heavy machinery.

"Should we explode it?" Ti asked. 

It was an attractive idea — but we hadn't brought grenades or any other explosives with us. Master Shizu had even left his sword behind.

The trees were thick on either side of the road, so there was no room for the buggy to pass through.

Master Shizu returned to the buggy's driver seat, pulling out a small light and checking the road map.

If we tried to get the town hall without taking this road —

"No good, huh..."

It was impossible, unless we backtracked all the way to our starting point and took a different road. No matter how you looked at it, it was an unreasonable detour, and it was clear that we wouldn't make it in time.

"…" Master Shizu clenched and bared his teeth.

Master Shizu didn't do anything wrong, but he was probably thinking of how to apologize to the villagers.

"…" Master Shizu said nothing.

"…" Ti said nothing, but looked at him.

Just as I was wondering whether we'd be sleeping at home tonight —

"Let's go back a little," Ti said.

"Hm? — Ti, what'd you say?" Master Shizu asked in reply.

"Let's go back a little. Road on the left."

"Huh? There's no road —"

"There is."

"…"

Master Shizu put the buggy in reverse and turned it around. We started heading back down the road.

It was too dark to see clearly, but I didn't remember seeing any other roads. If there were, it would have been clearly marked by a sign with the name and distance for the next village.

After the buggy had been running for some dozen seconds, "Stop. Road on the right," Ti said.

Master Shizu stepped on the brake.

Master Shizu and I both looked to our right.

There was no sign there. But —

"Ahh... I see."

There was a road. Off the paved road, there as an unpaved logging road heading into the forest.

But it was a small, narrow entrance, only wide enough for a single vehicle. I was impressed by how surprisingly sharp Ti's eyesight was.

That's what I thought, but I was wrong.

"I remembered it. If we take this, we can pass through the mountains," Ti said.

Master Shizu asked to confirm, "So this path connects back to this road, right? You're sure?"

"I'm sure. I remember."

"…" Master Shizu was as quiet as Ti.

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.

So when Ti had looked a the country atlas out of boredom, she'd memorized all of the roads.

The logging roads were only dotted lines on the atlas. What's more, they wound through mountain ranges and repeatedly broke off into complex branches.

She memorized them, and that's how she was able to assert that taking this path would bring us around the barricade.

I remembered now. I think Master Shizu probably did too.

On that "Ship Country," when Ti guided us around.

That three-dimensional maze of dark, narrow spaces that a single person could barely fit through.

For Ti, who memorized and moved with ease through all of that, memorizing a complex two-dimensional map of roads —

It was probably literal child's play for her.

For a regular person, that kind of recollection ability was far beyond incredible.

I wondered, "If Ti was given a chance to finish her education, what kind of person would she end up being?" But that wasn't important right now.

"Okay! Ti! Guide us!" Master Shizu raised his voice in excitement.

Ti gave a deep nod as the buggy turned to the right in the pouring rain and shot off onto the unpaved logging road.

The ground was wet and easy to slip on. There were puddles here and there, and large boulders that rumbled as they rolled.

The buggy ran through it, almost as if it was "just like all the roads we've been on before." It ran at a speed that had probably never been seen on the path before.

Through the pitch-black forest, only illuminated where the headlights shined,

"Right soon."

"Left there."

"Straight."

Ti gave accurate instructions several seconds before each fork in the road. And it wasn't just the forks.

"Left there, sharp turn."

She even gave instructions like that when there was a dangerously sudden turn.

Every time, Master Shizu only replied with "Roger!" as he spun the steering wheel, but under his goggles, his face bore a cheerful smile.

I had nothing to do except sit below the passenger seat and do my absolute best to deal with the shaking, as I moved from side to side, and occasionally up and down.

<center><span style="font-size: 200%;">—</span></center>

With Ti's accurate navigation and Master Shizu's driving skills, it took three hours to pass through the puzzle-like woodland path.

It definitely took longer than it would have been on a normal road. It was certainly much faster than going all the way back and starting over, but it was still a significant time loss.

After we reached the paved road, Master Shizu said, "Thank you, Ti. Now then..." and sped off, without holding back.

On the straight road through the fields, the buggy ran as fast as possible. It wouldn't make it in time otherwise.

I suppose at that point, Ti felt she had nothing more to do, because she was fell fast asleep, her breathing sounding comfortable even as the wind and rain continued to wail against the passenger seat.

The rain finally began to let up as the dawn was starting to break.

As it got brighter, Master Shizu increased the speed even more.

Eventually, the rain stopped entirely.

The sky grew brighter and the sun was close to rising.

The morning mist hung over the tranquil scenery as the buggy roared and darted on through.

I thought the scenery was quite picturesque, but I wasn't able to think that for long.

"Ah, this might be bad..." Master Shizu grumbled.

As if on command, Ti woke up.

"What's the matter, Master Shizu?" I asked.

"Next to that hut we just passed. I think that was a police car..."

Oh boy.

Master Shizu and I both hoped he was mistaken, but Master Shizu's eyesight was excellent.

It was visible in the side-view mirror, behind the buggy. Much to our chagrin, it was a patrol car, blue lights flashing.

"Sorry, but... You'll have to be mad at us later."

Master Shizu didn't let up on the accelerator. However, the patrol car was quite fast.

I suppose the patrol car was going about the same speed as the buggy, because the distance between us didn't change much. Even worse, they had backup.

Right now, they were probably calling other officers with a radio. Since it was still early in the morning, we could only pray that there weren't too many diligent cops on the force.

After the car chase continued for a while, our bad hunch turned out to be right.

"Ahh..." Master Shizu gave a sigh.

Straight ahead of us on the road that stretched out toward the horizon, we could see flashing blue lights. There were three cars facing us, blockading the street.

"What do we do? Blow them away?" Ti, who had woken up at some point, asked.<ref>Yes, Riku noted when Ti woke up a few sentences ago. I'm just the messenger.</ref> Like I said, though, we didn't have any explosives with us.

"There's no need for that," Master Shizu replied, as he looked at the clock and the odometer.

There wasn't much time or distance left. We had no time to stop. We knew that if we were stopped, it wouldn't be over with just a traffic ticket.

"…" Master Shizu was silent. It was only a tiny amount of time, but I'm sure he was worrying about all kinds of things.

"Aw man," Master Shizu said, grinning.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"I'm sure," Master Shizu replied.

"Sure," Ti agreed.

With things like this, we knew what to do.

The lush green fields spread out to either side of the road.

Master Shizu sped straight towards the patrol cars blocking off the road, slowing down before we reached them and pretending to cooperate with the policemen gesturing for us to stop —

"I'm sorry, farmers!"

Apologizing to no one in particular, Master Shizu spun the wheel to the right. The buggy drove off the road and down a slope.

The buggy was fine, because it had long suspension, but a regular car would pitch forward on the decline and that would be the end of that.

The buggy bounced several times down the the meter-long slope and flew into the barley field.

And as we trampled the wheat splendidly beneath us, we continued on through the field. The barley stalks rained into the buggy like a storm.

"Yo!"

Master Shizu pulled the wheel left. As he did, he pushed down harder on the accelerator.

The buggy shot out of the field, climbed back up the hill, and jumped at its peak.

The landing made the frame creak, and the buggy was back on the road.

Behind us, I'm sure the policemen were panicking, trying to get back into their patrol cars.

"Ahh, so this is what it's like to be a felon..." Master Shizu said.

At the same time, the sun rose.

<center><span style="font-size: 200%;">—</span></center>

The buggy made a full-out sprint for the remaining distance.

Luckily for us, I suppose there were no other patrol cars that were around to ambush us, and we didn't run into any other obstacles along the road.

With the four police cars chasing behind and the mud-caked frame illuminated in the morning sun, the buggy flew like the wind.

When we arrived at the town hall, it was 7:49.

The town hall wasn't open for business yet, but there were people there and the entrance was open.

The buggy, now decorated with mud and barley stalks, came to a sudden halt outside the door, with a driver who looked distressed and dirtied in the same way. It must have been quite a surprise for the young woman who was cleaning there.

Master Shizu took off his rain coat and disappeared into the building, carrying the tin with the letter.

Immediately after, the patrol cars surrounded the buggy, with their shrill sirens blaring.

The police officers came out in unison.

"You're under arrest! Don't resist!" they shouted, as they surrounded the buggy. Some of them were pointing persuaders at the vehicle.

From the passenger seat, Ti grumbled, "Blow them away?"

It's definitely a good thing we didn't bring any explosives.

<center><span style="font-size: 200%;">—</span></center>

Right after Master Shizu submitted the letter, he was arrested.

Of course, he had finished what he came to do, so he didn't resist. He quietly settled into a patrol car so he wouldn't make trouble for the town hall.

"What happened, miss?" they asked me and Ti.

"…"

"Were you kidnapped by that man or something?"

"No."

I worried over how best to explain this while we were taken to the police station.

Our magnificent buggy was, of course, seized by the policemen.

Ti and I waited in a room together for a long time. Ti slept.

When it was almost noon, the police officers and Master Shizu came in together.

Master Shizu wore an upbeat expression on his face.

He said, "Alright, let's get ready to leave this country."

<center><span style="font-size: 200%;">—</span></center>

Two days later, we returned to the village to get our things.

That is, three days since we left the village and our 28th day since entering the country.

We weren't in our buggy, but rather in a police car as we traveled to the village.

The villagers had been informed of what had happened, and they were gathered outside "our house."

We were greeted with cheers and gratitude, while the cops were met with booing, making for a lively scene.

The village chief was the only one that was given a chance to speak with Master Shizu. I wasn't able to hear what passed between them.

We quickly gathered up our things, namely things like hand grenade and sword, and then we left our first home behind.

The villagers kept waving their hands at us as we were taken away in the police car.

"…"

Ti looked back at them from her seat until they were out of sight. She didn't wave.

<center><span style="font-size: 200%;">—</span></center>

The next day. The 29th day since we had come to the country.

The court decision was announced, and it was officially decided that we would be disposed of by banishment from the country.

Our dirty buggy was taken to the gate at the west end. I wasn't sure if it hadn't been seized as a simple mercy to us or if the villagers had made an appeal.

Once again, we were taken away with our belongings in a police car.

The news about the travelers hoping to immigrate that had gone wild in their high-performance buggy and run from the police for several hours before being arrested was apparently broadcast on the radio. However, they didn't explain our motive.

There were people here and there along the road that stared at us out of curiosity.

"…"

Ti was silent as she looked at them.

"…"

Then, Ti was silent as she looked at Master Shizu's calm expression in the driver seat.

<center><span style="font-size: 200%;">—</span></center>

Before we reached the western gate, we spent one night at an inn that the police had prepared.

Early the next morning, we were off.

It was exactly 30 days since we entered the country.

We were in front of the western gate, with no one else around.

Master Shizu finished the departure process and came back to the buggy.

==Translator’s Notes==
<references/>

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