Kino no Tabi:Volume7 Chapter2

"A Land of Love" ~Stray King~

It was a large country.

From its far side and from the royal castle built at its center, the walls surrounding the country cannot be seen.

Other than the castle town and the nearby villages east and west of the castle gates, there are also farmlands and grasslands spread out all over the country. Several rivers flow through the country, and a large lake is situated at its southeastern end. The sky is radiant, and masses of white clouds lazily drift by.

“There’s no one in this direction either.”

“Damn – . Where could he be?”

A number of the king’s aides are running around the castle corridors, blue in the face. Soon they resorted to opening doors at random, and searching inside.

One person caught a maid and asked her where the king is. The maid, overcome with the person’s rough behavior,

“His highness was supposed to meet with some travelers but……”

“You knew such a thing! Then, where are they? Didn’t you even think that those travelers might have been kidnappers?”

“No way,” said the maid. The aide ignoring her,

“No, it’s possible. Those two are suspicious no matter how you look at them. With those faces, it’s a piece of cake to abduct his highness in exchange for bribes. That’s why they refused to enter the castle. Damn –, you go look for them too!”

The aide said, pointing his finger at the maid. Immediately, she headed towards the other side of the corridor, and saw three people.

One person is a young man, this country’s king. One person is a short, handsome man with blonde hair and blue-eyes, a traveler. Another person is a youthful woman with long hair and wearing a stylish jacket, a traveler.

“What’s with the ruckus? It’s so noisy,” said the king. The maid bowed reverently, and hastily turned to the aide, who hastily followed suit.

The king explained that he was drinking tea with the travelers in the courtyard, and said, “I became engrossed with stories from foreign lands. However, as I was returning to my room, the noise here annoyed me.”

“Yes sir. Our sincerest apologies.”

“The guests will be leaving after a while. I’ll go take a walk around the castle after that, so don’t go about looking for me, yelling all over the place.”

“Yes sir,” the aide left with a bitter expression, and the three walked away.

--

A car passed through the gates of the castle.

It was small, yellow, and quite battered. The car looked as if it’s going to break at any moment.

The female traveler was in the driver’s seat, while the male traveler was sitting in the passenger seat.

The car was making ‘bubibibibibibi’ and other unpleasant sounds while running on the cobblestoned streets of the town. Occasionally, the repeating ‘pun-! pasu-!’ sound of the engine’s defective spark plug can be heard while the car spits out white or black smoke. The man spoke. “Master. The window is broken, so let’s get it repaired. If we go buy glass, it won’t take long.”

The window of the driver’s seat is cracked and badly fixed with tape. Its vibration makes an annoying, buzzing sound.

“One of these days, then,” said the woman.

The car exited the town and went through a narrow road between the fields. In the distance, nobody can be seen except for people doing farm work.

“Your highness, is this really alright?” the man asked all of a sudden. At the bottom of the luggage in the narrow back seat, the king was tucked in. He answered with a smile, still in his very unique position.

“It’s fine. This country’s lord is only for decorative purposes. We were deprived of all power during my great-grandfather’s time. Most of the citizens don’t even know my face. That’s why the citizens will not trouble us. The problematic ones are the handful of people whose job is to dress-up the king, enriching themselves with the budget meant for the common folk.

“I see……” said the man. The woman did not change her expression and continued driving.

“That’s why I decided to live with the one I love. I’ve had enough living like a bird in a cage,” the king said decidedly.

“This love of yours must be quite a beauty, huh” the man answered happily and the king answered, ‘of course’.

“I shudder whenever I recall that beauty. From here on, we can live together forever……. Right now, I feel tremendous happiness deep inside my soul.”

“How did you first meet?”

“There is a day where a festival is held in the castle town. Only during that time can I participate, in disguise, surrounded with an annoying entourage. Then I met a girl who came from the outskirts of the country. At first sight, for an instant, it’s as if I heard the sound of the world being redrawn by an angel of love. It was a divine moment.”

The man whistled.

“But your highness, couldn’t you just have called her to the castle?”

“When I told this to my ignorant henchmen, they treat me as if I was sick. They called a doctor and tried to administer some terrible drug on me. It seems they think that there are more appropriate women for me. –-Ugh-! Rubbish. Anyway, they will probably arrange it to be someone’s haughty daughter.”

“I see……. But isn’t that great, you threw away everything for the sake of your romance,” said the man, and the king replied with a slightly lower tone.

“I’m truly sorry that I got you involved like this. I’m truly grateful. You were able to get me out with little trouble. And without asking for compensation……”

Then, the woman behind the wheel who was silent until now slowly spoke.

“Your highness, we were touched by your innocent feelings. For that, pretending to be kidnappers is not a big deal.”

The man also laughed, “Anyway, our notoriety is well-known everywhere. Your highness made the right choice.”

“…… I will never forget you both. Someday if a child is born between us, the beautiful fruit of our love will be named after you.”

“That’s an honor, your highness. Please make a lot of cute babies. Soon, you can reveal yourself. Until then, I apologize for keeping you in such a strange position,” said the man.

The car reached the outskirts of the country, as the walls came into view. Nearby, a meadow is spread over the whole area.

The king gave the woman directions.

Eventually,

“Oh, over there. That house by the meadows. There’s no doubt about it”

“Ah, this place is nice,” said the man.

The car stopped in front of a cozy little house. It seemed to belong to a farmer, as a silo can be seen at the back.

The king borrowed the man’s hand to crawl out from the back seat, and immediately shouted.

“Marie!”

And then he rushed to the house.

“‘Marie’, huh?” the man said happily, and from the back of the house,

“Who is it?” The clear voice of a woman was heard.

The king hastily turned round to the back. The two followed after him.

At the back, there is a small barn and a well where water is being drawn. Beside the big tub where the water is pooled, there was a girl.

“Marie!” said the king with an exalted face and arms wide open.

The girl saw the king. Her long chestnut hair is in pigtails, and her neat facial features are left with a few freckles. The sleeves of her checked shirt are rolled up, letting a sheep drink water from her hands.

“Oh……” The girl stood up as she spoke. She wiped her hands lightly on her apron.

“You were the mister from the festival, right?”

The king gave a small nod.

“Yeah. I’m so glad you remembered me……. I came to see you. Since that day, that time……, I wanted to meet you again ―― ”

Once the king finished these words, he then proceeded to his confession.

“I couldn’t forget about you. That’s why I discarded my previous life, and I’m here now……. That is……, from here on, I want to always be with you. I want us to live together. There’s nothing else in this world more important to me than you. ……So, I want to stay here. I want to live here with you……. Is that not possible……?”

The girl’s face showed a bit of surprise, “I know how you feel.”

Then she smiled, and asked the king. “If you live here, will you help with the work?”

“Of course! I’ll do anything!” The king answered right away.

The girl coyly lowered her gaze, and asked quietly, but in a clear tone. “You……, will be kind?"

The king looked straight at the girl’s eyes, “Yes. I swear to God. …… Is that good enough?”

“Yes……”

The girl nodded a little shyly, but firmly. The king slowly stepped forward and approached. In front of the two travelers, the king kneeled by the girl’s side,

“Marie!” He exclaimed, and embraced the sheep that was drinking water.

“Meeeeeee-eee,” the sheep cried out in pain. The girl spoke while sitting by.

“Look, mister. Don’t squish her too much. Marie hates that.”

“Oh, sorry. I’m just so happy right now……. I love Marie so much.”

“I know how you feel” said the girl. The king once again threw his arms around the white and fluffy hair of the sheep.

“Oh, Marie. From now on we will be together. Until you die, I will devote my life to you. Our love will be for eternity.”

“That’s great, isn’t it, Marie.”

“Meeeeeeee-ee!”

Behind the two humans and one sheep,

“…………”

The male traveler made a face which is very hard to describe.

The female traveler simply stood without changing her expression. And then she spoke.

“Well then, it’s about time for us to go”

--

The small, yellow, battered car that looked as if it’s going to break at any moment ran through the meadows while the sound of its rickety engine reverberates. The walls reflected in the side-mirror steadily became lower and soon disappeared.

The man in the passenger seat looked bored, tinkering with his favorite hand persuader (Note: A Persuader is a gun. In this case, a pistol). It was a slender, automatic-type, with a weight attached to its square barrel.

When he got tired of this, he put away the persuader in the holster on his left hip, and opened his mouth to speak.

“Master……”

“What is it?”

“Uhmm, the king and Marie……. Is that alright?"

The woman answered. “Who knows. If they themselves say it’s alright, maybe everything will be fine”

“…… Well, that’s right but,” the man took one deep breath,

And changed the topic. “Besides that, Master, have you changed your mind?”

“About what?”

“You accepted this job even if there’s not much money involved. And even if the results are like that……. Are you a romantic by any chance?”

The woman looked at the man for a moment, “That’s probably right. Take the bag under my seat.”

“?”

The man stretched his hand to the back seat and took the bag under the driver’s seat. He wondered why it was awfully heavy and took a look inside. A fairly large number of glittering bracelets, rings, jewels, and gold coins were inside.

“…………”

The man was speechless for a while.

“…… Uhmm, Master, this……, what’s this?” The man asked.

“Those were in the king’s room and hallway. It took only a while to pack them up,” the woman answered straightforwardly.

“Master……”

“Hmm?”

“Have you heard of the phrase, ‘fire looters’?”

The woman affirmed, and said shortly, “He wouldn’t have any need for those anyway, right? Besides,”

“Besides?”

“‘Our notoriety is well known everywhere’, right?”

The car spouted white smoke intermittently while running.

“Master……”

“Hmm?”

“If this leaks out, our physical descriptions will be distributed, for sure.”

“I don’t really mind. ――Do you want to go home now?”

The woman said, stopping the car, now spitting black smoke.

The man in the passenger seat was silent for a while, and then spoke.

“…… Hey Master. The window is broken, so let’s get it repaired.”

“One of these days, then,” was the woman’s short answer, as she started the car.