Kino no Tabi:Volume5 Chapter6

“A Tranquil Land” — Jog Trot —

We were in a teahouse.

On the side of an unpaved road lined up with wooden poles was a lone house, the eaves of which had been turned into a teahouse.

Master Shizu was sitting by the porch, gazing leisurely at the afternoon scenery.

I was sitting across in front of him, on top of the hardened earth, similarly gazing at my surroundings.

Amidst the mild, sunny weather, the green and brown of the endless expanse of softly undulating fields blended together. It was dotted with a few houses accompanied with silos or barns.

Master Shizu muttered, “It’s such a tranquil land, isn’t it?”

I agreed in silence.

—

My name is Riku, I am a dog.

I have long, white, bushy fur. My face looked as if it’s happy and smiling all the time, but it doesn’t mean that I am. I was just born this way.

Shizu is my master. He is a young man who is always wearing a green sweater. He has lost his homeland due to some complex circumstances, and is now traveling in a buggy. We travel to various countries together.

Master Shizu’s journey doesn’t have any particular destination. No, it is aiming for somewhere, but this ‘somewhere’ is not a place.

—

Following the road, we arrived in an isolated country situated in an enormous prairie.

We were permitted through the gate, in which there was no sort of screening whatsoever. The guard was very surprised since visitors seldom come to this country.

“Even if people bothered to come here, there’s nothing to see in this country.”

Just as he told us, the interior of the country had nothing but a dull, infinite expanse of flat plains. There was a bit of forest, but most of the land was composed of meadows and fields. It seemed like all of the residents were farmers.

Master Shizu rode for a while through the unchanging scenery, and eventually we found the teahouse.

—

“Travelers are really rare, you know. Anyway, please relax,” the old woman who brought us tea said.

She placed the tea, which was served in a cup without a handle, beside Master Shizu. It did not smell of poison.

Master Shizu thanked her. He placed his favorite sword that stood by his side right in front of me. It is my duty to watch over this sword when Master Shizu’s attention is away from it.

While drinking his tea, Master Shizu asked the old woman some questions about this country, such as whether the old woman has any other job. She sat down beside Master Shizu and replied.

Apparently, this country has taken leisure at doing just agricultural work. The population was small and thinly distributed. Only a handful can be called towns.

There were no nearby potential enemy countries. Even if there were, they wouldn’t gain anything from occupying this country.

Almost no travelers come. Even if they did, there were no tourist attractions here for them to see.

They only let each day pass by in peace.

“Mister traveler, where are you headed?”

To this question, Master Shizu only shrugged his shoulders in jest. “There’s no particular place I’m aiming for. I’m a vagabond,” he said truthfully.

“Oh my,” the old woman was a bit surprised. “In case you’re interested, immigrants are always welcome in this country. There is a surplus of land, and people who can help with the work are always appreciated. If you’re able, you can have a job as a guard.” Then she added, “But since nothing happens here, you’ll be free all the time.”

Master Shizu smiled a little. “That might be a good idea.”

—

The old woman returned to the kitchen.

While looking at the scenery, Master Shizu muttered, “It’s such a tranquil land, isn’t it?”

I agreed in silence.

—

Far in the fields, a single tractor was moving. From our seats, we could see that it was moving in a very leisurely pace. It was approaching a house; perhaps it was finished with the day’s work.

“It might not be a bad idea to make a living here raising cattle. It’s something I have never done before… I no longer have to work for various people, or kill someone to survive, or wander aimlessly in the wilderness. I will be able to live each day in stability and safety. Perhaps, I could live a little bit longer…,” Master Shizu said slowly, still looking at a distance, and probably, looking at his past and his future.

“I guess so,” was the only thing I said. Whatever it was, the decision is in Master Shizu’s hands.

As Master Shizu tried to say something, the old woman came out and asked him, “Mister traveler, do you want another cup of tea?”

“Yes please,” Master Shizu said, and held out his cup.

The old woman poured tea from a small kettle.

After she finished pouring, Master Shizu placed the cup beside him. Along with the cup’s quiet tapping sound, the ground began to shake.

It’s probably an earthquake. The house and the ground shook slightly. The wooden house creaked and rattled. Waves formed inside the tea cup, spilling it a bit.

And then, the minor vibrations ceased. It only lasted for a few seconds.

“Oh dear,” the old woman quickly took a cloth and wiped the spilled tea. And then,

“?”

I noticed that Master Shizu’s face has hardened into a very surprised expression. He was looking at the scenery before him.

I looked at the same direction… and was similarly surprised.

The house and the tractor that we have seen from afar only a while ago, vanished from sight.

“… The house disappeared?” Master Shizu spoke as he rose from his seat.

The old woman standing by his side looked in the same direction and spoke in a tone unchanged from before.

“Ah, I knew it. It has been a while. It might be too late to save them.”

Master Shizu faced the old woman. “W-what just happened?”

The old woman told them to wait for a while, and started to talk to someone somewhere using the phone in the wall.

The old woman interrupted the call for a moment and spoke to Master Shizu.

“Mister traveler, there is a faster way to understand what you have just seen other than me explaining it to you. Go to the right and then turn left at the first intersection. Please do not get too close.”

—

Master Shizu rode the buggy, and followed the road as he was told.

Eventually, Master Shizu stopped the buggy atop a swell, and got off. I alighted from the passenger seat and went on top of the hood to look. I instantly understood what happened.

A hole opened up in the ground.

It was almost a perfect circle, with a diameter of about 200 meters. I have no idea how deep it was from where I stood. The ground had vanished vertically just like that. Without a doubt, the house and the tractor from earlier were inside this hole.

“……”

Master Shizu looked in amazement. From behind, we heard a siren, and a crane truck approached. Master Shizu moved the buggy to make way.

Soon the truck moved in the vicinity of the hole, and extended the crane to look at the bottom. At the tip of the crane is a bucket for carrying people, which was suspended and moved down into the hole.

“They are… considerably prepared and skilled for this,” Master Shizu murmured.

Another car stopped beside the buggy.

“Ah, travelers, eh? It’s dangerous so you’d better not go any nearer. You will find a teahouse when you turn back to the right, the old lady over there can tell you all the details,” said the man riding inside.

—

“A hole opened up, as you’ve seen,” the old woman spoke in a fairly normal tone to Master Shizu when we came back.

“What in the world was that? And why?” Master Shizu asked.

The old woman took it without any hint of surprise, and told us that it’s a common occurrence.

“A long time ago, there was a stone quarry in this area. The whole place is full of cavities. That’s why it’s not surprising for a place to vanish just like that.”

“……. There’s no way to prevent it?”

“We do not have blueprints of the old quarry, and no one is willing to investigate it…” The old woman looked a little troubled as she said this. Then she went on, “Well, it’s not a big deal. The one you’ve seen earlier, of house and people being swallowed, is a rare thing. The empty hole will just have to be filled in. The ground caves in only a few times every month. It’s not something to worry about.”

“……”

As the old woman replaced Master Shizu’s cold tea, she asked, “Oh, right. Mister traveler, what are you going to do from now on? If you want to live in this country, shouldn’t you already be looking for a place where you can build your house?”

Master Shizu shook his head with a somewhat twitchy smile.

And then he asked where he could immediately obtain portable rations and fuel for the buggy.

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