Editing Kino no Tabi:Volume17 Chapter1 (section)

==“A Tale of Travelers” —Kino & Hermes—==


<center><span style="font-size: 200%;">(1/1)<ref>First chapter published in regional Japanese newspapers starting April 2013.</ref></span></center>

There was a single road in the middle of a prairie.

The brown road stood out amidst the early summer grass that stained the ground a dazzling green. It was made of hardened earth, extending straight in the east-west direction.

And on this road ran a single motorrad (Note: A two-wheeled vehicle. Only to note that it cannot fly.)

The black lustre of its engine shone beneath its silver tank. Two black boxes adorned both sides of its rear wheel, on top of which was a carrier tied with a satchel and a rolled sleeping bag.

The one driving this motorrad packed with travel luggage was a young person who looked to be in her teens. Her black hair framed a face that held a fearless expression.

She wore a black jacket fastened at the waist with a wide belt. On top of her head was a brimmed hat with flaps that were fixed by the band of the goggles on her face.

A hand persuader (Note: A Persuader is a gun. In this case, a pistol) holster could be seen from her thigh. Inside it was a revolver.

“Kino, slow down a bit.”

The motorrad spoke. The person called Kino asked back as she loosened the accelerator in her right hand.

“What is it Hermes? Did you spot a delicious animal ahead?”

The motorrad called Hermes answered Kino’s question.

“Um, I can’t tell if it’s delicious or not.”

“Well, that’s because you’re a motorrad, Hermes.”

“That’s true, but it’s something not even ''you'' can eat, Kino. Just a little bit ahead of us, there’s a collapsed human.”

“I see... Okay, we should be careful not to run over him, then.”

Kino proceeded along while riding Hermes at a slower pace.

Eventually, Kino was also able to see it.

A man lay flat on the left side of the road. He didn’t budge one bit even though the sound of Hermes’ engine reverberated noisily.

After stopping Hermes in front of the man, she stopped his engine and brought down his sidestand. With her right hand ready to pull out the revolver from her thigh at any moment, she slowly approached the man.

He was thin and wore clothing that was tattered all over. On his back was a nearly empty, flat backpack.

“Is he alive? Dead? Or neither?”

“What else is there other than dead or alive?”

“Hm, well we have to ask the person himself.”

At that moment, the man’s hand moved slightly.

“Alive it seems.”

Kino carefully raised the man’s body and slowly lay him face up.

He was considerably old, judging from his face. The wrinkled old man who looked to be over seventy years of age, drinked a little from the water Kino offered him.

“Ah... thank you... Traveler, will you listen to my story...?” the man strained his voice and began to speak.

He said that he was a citizen of a country to the east.

Several decades ago, he set out alone on a journey in search of a formula for a medicine that can cure a disease that killed many people in his country. He was finally able to obtain it from a faraway land, and is now on his way home. However, his body failed him at the last moment.

“I could no longer move... I’ll probably die here. I beg you—please take the formula to my country, which lies east of here.”

“...”

Kino gave Hermes one glance. 

“If you’re gonna say—”

Spurred on by his light tone, Kino nodded.

“Unfortunately—” Kino began. “There’s no more need for that. We just came out of that country a few days ago. They were able to contain the disease, and almost everyone has been cured of it already.”

Upon hearing this, the man cried.

He cried as he muttered, ‘Oh, is that so? That’s great. That’s really great.”

And while tears of joy flowed down his cheeks, his long life and journey came to an end.

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

They left the man’s body where they found him, and continued on their way. As they rode, Kino asked Hermes,

“What do you think? Is it really all right to leave it like that?”

“Hm, well we have to ask the person himself.”

“It’s already too late for that, Hermes.”

“That’s right, Kino.”

Then Kino looked up at the blue sky.

“It would be nice if the next country... has living people in it.”

Hermes answered from below.

“I wonder what kind of country the next one will be like?”

A motorrad ran through a lone road in the middle of a prairie.

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