Kino no Tabi:Volume9 Chapter11

Chapter 11: “The Power of Persuasion II” ~Persuader II~

A knife grazed horizontally over the head of a crouching Kino. Several strands of her short black hair danced in the sky.

Kino sunk her body from her initial posture, and raised the black knife she was holding in her right hand. At that moment, she aimed at the wrist that passed through the left side of the top of her head, and put her strength in both of her legs to reach it with the pointed end of the knife.

But Kino’s knife passed through empty air. At the moment Kino realized that her attack did not get through, she retreated immediately to the back. A thin dust rose from the ground beneath her feet.

Kino positioned her knife while glaring at her opponent. The leather gloves covering up her wrist made a sound from tightly clenching the knife.

Kino was wearing green cargo pants, and a gray sweater with pads stitched on the elbows and shoulders. On her feet are rubber-soled athletic shoes for easy movement, and goggles were strapped tightly around her eyes. Sweat ran down her forehead, hit the frame of her goggles, and spread out.

Kino’s opponent is a tall man with an athletic build. He was middle-aged, and the hairline of his short brown hair had receded considerably. He was wearing dark sunglasses to conceal his gaze. The deep blue short sleeves of his shirt covers his steel-like muscles, and his upper arms are thick like logs. His short pants expose his similarly thick thighs. His simple appearance is accentuated with thick socks and black short boots on his feet.

The man’s right hand is grasping a long, blunt, thin, silver knife, “Mhmm. That low dodge has a good feel to it. Kino,”

The man spoke with a gentle tone. His breath filled the air, and he looked as if he wanted to sit down peacefully in the sofa in his own room.

“Thanks……” Kino gruffly replied, still glaring and confronting the man. Then, she inhaled twice, taking a deep breath.

On the side of the road near the two, “Since you were praised, you should at least look happy!” parked on its center stand, Hermes said with zero tension.

In between the forest trees, a road extends straight ahead. The road beside Hermes has a thick forest behind it as a background, in which a log cabin can be seen standing. All of its windows are open, shaking gently with the early summer breeze. On the stable beside the cabin, a horse gazes peacefully at the two.

“Now then,” the man spoke, curling his back straight like a cat. He lifted his left foot lightly, bent both knees slowly, and held the knife in his right hand in front of his body. The knife looked exactly like a real one, but it was only hard rubber, for training purposes, with its blade portion painted in silver.

“…………”

Still silent, Kino gripped again her rubber knife. The one she was holding was neither long nor short. She likewise assumed a straight stance.

As the man approached, Kino glared at the eyes behind the sunglasses.

Kino did not draw back, assumed the man’s symmetric pose, and waited for her opponent to come closer.

The man flexibly swung his right arm, and made the blade dance lightly. While moving his upper body limply, he stepped again, and approached with his feet sliding forward.

When the distance between the two is already less than Hermes’ length,

“――tsu!”

The man bent his elbows and drew his right arm. He sank his left knee and body. At the same time, his right arm brushed inwards as he was knocked from his front left. Right there was the back of the right knee of Kino, who was holding out her knife.

“Ta-!”

“Oh,” came the man’s voice, impressed with Kino’s fighting spirit.

As preparation for a side kick, Kino raised her leg and gave her right knee a big bend. The man’s knife hit the rubber soles of Kino’s shoes. As Kino’s kick landed, the man’s knife slipped from his hands and flipped towards the edge of the forest road.

The backlash of Kino’s kick is a half-turn of her left foot to the back. At the same time, the man saw the reverse-turn, returned to his original stance, and immediately took some distance away.

“Oh, not bad”

Before Hermes finished expressing his amazement Kino turned towards the unarmed man. With the right hand grasping the knife together with her left hand, she put her arms near the pit of her stomach and pressed hard against her belly,

“――Ta a!” With a yell, and a desperate expression, her body charged towards the man.

“Could this be her win?” Hermes let out a sigh. It needed three steps to reach the man’s distance with Kino’s charge.

With Kino’s first step, the man smiled broadly; in the middle of her second step, the man, with a backhand, pulled out a different rubber knife from the pocket of his short pants. On the third step, while drawing his body in rhythm with his right foot, he thrust the rubber knife on the charging Kino’s right flank

“Guh-!—” With the rubber knife plunged on her side as the fulcrum, Kino was blown by her own force. Kino’s body soared in the sky for about two seconds before dropping on the ground, rolled within a circumference of three, and rammed her face on the grass by the roadside.

“Oops” Came Hermes’ disappointed voice,

“Geho-!” Kino’s voice dashed out. At once, Kino vomitted a large quantity of saliva on the grass, and rolled over the road two or three times while moaning in pain. Her face, head, and body turned brown from the dust.

The man did not break a single sweat. He picked up the knife that flew away and put it in his pocket. Then he went beside Hermes and waited for Kino to get up.

After about thirty seconds, the ragged Kino slowly got up from the ground. She brushed away the dust all over her body, wiped off the mixed sludge from her sweaty face, and removed her goggles,

“…………”

Without fixing her unkempt hair covered in dust, she walked up in front of the man and bowed her head. “Thank you very much”

“Mhm. Today’s practice is over,” the man smiled under the sunglasses.

“That first crouching dodge was really good. That time, I was thinking of going for your throat, but you dodged it well. Then the low-cut backflip with your leg, did you plan that right from the start?”

Kino nodded.

“Yes. In the first attack, I knew I wouldn’t cut the wrist; from my previous defeat, I expected that the next one will aim on the back of the knee and so I thought I should try from the front”

“Pretty good. ――And after that?”

“And then, as I learned before, I thought I had to put all my weight with the stab for the final blow, but……”

“You did not expect that I’m hiding another knife?”

“……I did not think”

“That, is another cause of your defeat this time” The man said frankly, and hit his big palms together.

“Today is the end of our lessons. As usual, I’ll come the day after tomorrow. ―― But, if you don’t fight for real, there will be no next time”

“As usual, the outcome is a ‘dead’ Kino. If it were a real fight, there will be no next time.”

“I know, Hermes”

The man left on horseback while Kino and Hermes saw him off. Along with Kino’s still dirty appearance from her training, is a holster wrapped around her waist, and a hand persuader (Note: A persuader is a gun. In this case, a pistol), a high-caliber revolver hung inside it.

When the man is no longer visible, Kino pulled out the revolver from her waist. With her left hand she quickly raised the hammer, and fired one shot just above her waist. The bullet hit a frying pan hanging from the branch of a tree a few meters away. After that, she fired five shots in a row, and the sound of lead bullets piercing steel was heard five times.

“Great. You still hit perfectly even though you’re angry. Good job,” said Hermes.

“…………”

Kino silently returned the revolver in the holster.

As if the gunshots were signals, an old woman with long silver hair tied neatly together came out from the log cabin. She was wearing an apron, and a short revolver is suspended inside a holster behind her waist. From the terrace, the old woman spoke gently to Kino.

“‘Dead’ again, Kino?” Well anyway, wash your face and change your clothes, then let’s have some tea”

A round wooden table is placed on the log cabin’s wide terrace. The laundry sheets were put away and the rope rolled.

The old woman and Kino sat in front of their teacups while the scattered, white clouds floating in the sky hides and reveals the sun.

“Smells good,” the old woman said happily, lifting the cup with blue onions painted on its white background.

“…………”

She returned the cup on the top of the saucer, looking at Kino’s disappointed face.

“I did not win……” Kino muttered. “Before now, I lost fifty-four times. I ‘died’ fifty-four times.”

The old woman put her elbows on the table, and rested her chin on her joined fingertips. She was watching amusingly the person before her, Kino, whose hair is still a little bit dirty with the dust.

“This training is such a good thing. If it were not, I wouldn’t have had fifty-five Kino’s to accompany me to tea.”

“Somehow, imagining that there are fifty-five of Kino gives me a bad feeling. But that would make polishing my wheels a breeze,” said Hermes, while parked on the raised slope at the edge of the terrace.

Kino easily ignored Hermes’s remark, as she was staring intently at the old woman’s face, “I did not win…… But someday, will I be able to defeat that knife-user?”

The old woman nodded smiling.

“Yes, you can, Kino. You will win. With your own knowledge and experience, if you challenge him with your skill, and demonstrate it, you will be able to defeat him in no time.”

“But……”

“Look for something in your defeat, something with more value than winning.”

“……Yes”

“If you are not able to defeat that person, it will be impossible for you to travel like I have done in the past”

“…………”

The next day after the next day.

The sky is covered with lead-colored clouds; neither the sun nor the sky itself can be seen. A strong wind kept blowing, making the clouds flow. The forest is noisy from the fluttering of plants and trees.

Kino was wearing her sweaters, and was digging a hole. She was digging a hole which is neither too deep nor too big, using a shovel.

“Kino. Isn’t that a bit extreme? Hey, are you listening?” Hermes parked beside the cabin spoke. Kino ignored him and continued to dig the hole. The old woman is not around.

“Kino? Kino?”

“I don’t have a choice,” Kino said while digging the hole.

“How cowardly. Kino’s strategy is so crazy.”

“I don’t care what anyone would say. If this were a ‘real fight’ in the middle of your journey――”

“If it were a real fight?”

“If I die, there will be no next time……”

“Well, fine. But is it alright to win with a strategy like this?”

Kino finished digging the hole, and returned to the cabin with the shovel on her shoulders. During this time, Hermes said while glaring at her.

“There will be no next time!”

As the wind got stronger, a horse came riding down the road. The man is aboard the horse.

Kino stood in the very middle of the road, waiting for the knife-user. She was wearing gloves and goggles, and the rubber knife is ready in her hands.

The man on top of the horse did not remove his sunglasses even though the weather is cloudy. He stopped his horse’s strides.

“Today. Please take care of me today as well,” said Kino, whose eyes can be seen beneath her transparent goggles, and whose face, for some reason, was smiling happily.

“You have a nice expression today” Then he got off the horse, and put the horse in the stable.

The man returned on the road, and from there took a distance away from Kino who was waiting with her fighting stance. He absent-mindedly took out the rubber knife from his pocket. He turned and grasped the knife lightly in his hands.

“Let’s begin. –―En garde”

“Yes”

While the forest was making fierce noises, the man bent his knee and assumed his stance.

And then Kino took three steps back from her position.

“?”

The man slightly tilted his head.

From where she stepped back, a broken tree branch was lying. Kino’s feet avoided the branch so as not to step on it.

The next moment, Kino let go of the knife she was holding in her right hand. Before letting it fall, she intentionally stepped on the branch with her right foot. A powerful force ensued.

“What-?” came the man’s surprised voice. The branch served as a lever, and something sprung up from beneath the ground. Inside the hole, a high-caliber revolver covered in dusty cloth appeared, rotating slowly, and danced in the air to Kino’s right side.

“―― tsu!” The man charged with a move unsuited to his large body. The enlarged muscles of his legs kicked the ground.

While looking at his form, Kino did not panic and remained emotionless. She swung her right hand. The revolver in the air is now in Kino’s hand.

Kino raised the hammer with her thumb, aimed at the charging man’s bulky chest, and pulled the trigger.

There was a dull explosive sound.

The bullet, engulfed in white smoke, hit the man’s belly,

“Guh-!”

The man did not show any sign of the damage he received, and stopped his legs. The rubber bullet was bounced off the chunky abs of the man, trickled, and fell at his feet.

The man and Kino stood face to face a few steps away from each other. The man’s mouth spread into an amused smile.

Kino fired. The second and third bullets hit the man’s chest where the heart is located. Each rubber bullet did not miss aim, and rolled down beside the man. As the last gunshot faded away, the sound of the wind returned to the spot.

“I won,” Kino lowered the revolver she was still holding in her right hand. The cabin door opened. The old woman came out, and looked at the two from the top of the terrace. Kino looked up at the old woman,

“I won,” she said shortly.

Between the two people, Hermes murmured. “No, that was cheating, wasn’t it?”

“Ahaha! Ahahaha! Finally, you defeated me!” The man’s lively laughter drowned the sound of the wind.

“Ahahahaha! You finally did it! Yes, how wonderful!”

Not only the man, but the woman also seemed glad, “That’s right. Thank you for all your hard work up ‘til now”

“Whatever you say. It was very fun and interesting whenever I teach, even now.” Kino left, silently observing the two, the old woman and the man seemed happy.

The two talked a little bit about the future, and expressed their gratitude to each other. And then the man, “Kino. You’re wonderful!”

The man left with these words and said nothing more, as he straddled his horse and ordered it to set off. With a good mood, he rocked on top of the horse, and left on the road where he came from.

Kino stood alone in the middle of the road. Beside her is Hermes, while the old woman was left on top of the terrace. The old woman opened her mouth to speak.

“Kino.”

“Yes.”

The old woman smiled at her. “You won.”

“―― Yes.”

“Well, is that good enough?” asked Hermes.

“Of course. You saw it too, didn’t you. Kino prepared, and won right here.”

“That’s true. However, using a Persuader instead of a knife, isn’t that unfair?”

“The old woman nodded deeply, “Yes. Very unfair.”

“Eh?”

“Kino. ―― Did you think it was unfair? That what you did was so cowardly?

This time, Kino nodded clearly. “Yes. It was a sly and cowardly trick. But, because of that, I won. I ‘did not ‘die’.”

“It’s wonderful, don’t you think? I thought that it was very well done,” the old woman above the terrace was wearing a big smile. And,

“Got it?”

“Fine,” Hermes answered firmly, and gazed at Kino.

“Kino, your knife combat skills are considerable. You’ve shown amazing progress. For now, even if you go out on a journey, you can protect yourself. Even so, you still have no chance of winning against that person, not only because of the difference in experience, but most especially due to the difference in your physiques. Therefore, if you leave it like this, no matter how many times you do this game, you will never win. Because of that, whether it be a hundred times or two hundred times, you will still lose. You will still ‘die’.

“…………”

“When you want to protect yourself or someone without resorting to a battle, the most important thing you have to remember is the ‘element of surprise’. Even if your opponent is not prepared, or his Persuader cannot reach you, even though it’s a one-sided attack coming from you - your bullet should aim to kill. If you can’t do that - you should try your best to be able to, but if you can’t - running once in a while is the only good option. Better than cowardly tricks, better than reliable methods. In sum, that’s what we wanted to teach you with this training. You realized that on your own, and admirably accomplished your task. That man looked very happy, and so am I.

“Thank you very much, Master,” Kino’s eyes began to smile.

While looking at Kino and the old woman, “What was that-?” muttered Hermes.

“Well then Kino, shall we move on to the next training? Or do you want to take a little break?”

“Right away, please!”

While looking at the delighted Kino, the old woman smiled and laughed, “Keep up that spirit. But first, kindly fire off all of your remaining rubber bullets”

“Yes.”

Three consecutive gunshots. When Kino turned around and fired the three shots, all the rubber bullets traced a mountain-like trajectory and hit the frying pan.

Kino looked back to the old woman. “Well now, the next one ――”

“Yes,” the old woman reached out her hand behind her waist, and opened the cover of the holster. There she was holding the grip of the revolver.

“For the next one, we will be doing training for unexpected gunfights. You, with me. We will be sparring using rubber bullets from morning until night, inside the forest, and also inside the house. You may fire any time you like. Always think that you are being targeted; acting under pressure is the best sort of training”

“Eh?”

“Then let’s start,” as soon as she said this, she pointed the barrel of the short revolver towards Kino.

“Eh?”

Kino looked at her right hand, still holding the revolver she emptied out earlier, and then raised up her face in surprise. Her eyes met with the old woman’s, who was smiling, and aiming with her right hand.

“A ――”

Bang.

“This way, no matter when, you will never loosen your guard. Never forget to prepare your Persuader. A Persuader without a bullet is nothing but deadweight.”

The old woman happily left with these words and went inside the house.

On the road, Kino touched the bruise on her forehead,

“…………”

She lifted up her face, and gazed at the flowing clouds.

“Kino?” Hermes asked.

“Ahaha-!” Kino answered with a laugh.

“Unfair.”

Translator's Notes

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