Kino no Tabi:Volume14 Chapter6

“Land of Ruin” —Self-destruction—

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 it 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.

Another fellow traveler is Ti, a quiet girl with a fondness for grenades, and who has become part of the team ever since she lost her homeland due to complex circumstances.

—

We were running through a prairie.

The green buggy fully loaded with traveling luggage made its way through a green land.

The moist road of black earth continued endlessly in a perfectly straight line, passing through a number of grassy hills.

The weather was perfect, a typical warm day. The entirety of the sky was blue, and the spring sun in the east warmed up the fresh and green buds.

Master Shizu sat in the driver’s seat in his usual sweater, with goggles on his face to protect his eyes from the wind.

Meanwhile, Ti wore her long-sleeved shirt and short pants, seated in her usual spot at the passenger seat.

And I was seated between Ti’s legs, serving as a support for Ti’s upper body. It’s like this all the time, but the truth is, she’s quite heavy.

We spotted trees on the prairie.

In one open area, tall conifer trees grew thickly, and made their own forest just in that place. This shade of green increased on both sides of the road.

“Ti, can you see those forests? Those are definitely planted by someone,” Master Shizu began to explain to Ti.

He would look at Ti’s face from time to time while speaking in the gentle tone of a classroom teacher, “If it were a natural forest, it’s not possible for that same kind of tree to grow all together in one place. It’s called afforestation, with human hands creating a forest. They plant tree saplings, cut down those that are slow to develop, and raise them like that for many years to use them as lumber.”

“…”

Ti was as quiet as ever, but she was always listening. As evidence of that, whenever Master Shizu would say something that he has explained some time ago, she would answer ‘I know.’

And so Master Shizu continued to lecture as we traveled, even though Ti gave no reaction.

“Just by looking at that forest, we can learn various things. First, the fact that there’s a country nearby—obviously because it was humans who made that forest. There are few places within walls where one can make a forest. That’s why they do it outside the country. If the walls are too old, it’s no simple task to just expand, you see.”

“…”

Ti listened in silence.

Meanwhile, I asked Master Shizu. Because he and Ti are planning to settle down somewhere, there’s no reason for Ti to learn things useful for traveling, nor is it necessary to teach her along the way, right?

It seems that Master Shizu only noticed the fact himself just now, and was taken aback for a moment before awkwardly admitting it.

Nevertheless, Master Shizu continued his lecture.

Whenever there’s a chance, he would share his knowledge to Ti. And he likes to teach everything that he could during the time they spend together. That’s what Master Shizu always had in mind.

“There are many kinds of countries. But you can roughly classify it into two kinds. One, in which the people are happy. And the other, in which the people aren’t happy.”

“…”

“And this I would like you to remember. A country is something that its citizens create. But there are times when its leaders lead the country to a direction where its citizens would be unhappy. The power to reject that also comes from the citizens, who fight and risk their lives.”

I was worried that the topic suddenly became complicated. But the girl who had her chin propped on my head replied with a tone of certainty.

“I understand.”

She nodded. This surprised both me and Master Shizu. And the words that followed added to our surprise.

“A fight, is it? You can leave the explosions to me.”

Ti said while reaching for the baggage behind the seat and pulling out her grenade launcher. It was a weapon Master Shizu received as remuneration from a previous job.

After that, Master Shizu began a long explanation as to why people should not immediately resort to bombs to solve every single problem. And he didn’t stop until the stone walls came into view.

—

Just when the sun was at its zenith, that is, at mid-day, we arrived at a country.

The walls of the country were surrounded by a forest.

Within the forest that grew out of afforestation were the walls. Judging from its arc, it wasn’t a particularly big country. It was probably only around the size of a big town.

But its walls were huge compared to that of other countries.

“Why this…? What’s going on here…?”

While Master Shizu slowly drove the buggy, he voiced out his qualms.

And unsurprisingly so. Just ahead of the road, from the place designated for the gates, the walls were being demolished one after the other, and an entrance is being opened. We could only see cranes and laborers, and no soldiers could be seen nearby.

The thick walls are the most important part of a country’s defense. And so, in any country, weakening the walls—even strong ones—is simply not done.

Normally, it is impossible for it to be demolished without guards nearby. Because they wouldn’t be able to withstand attacks from bandits, let alone an invasion from an enemy country.

The only exceptions that come to mind would be when a country is expanding, or if there’s not a single country nearby, or if they signed a peace treaty with a neighboring country.

But from the scenery we’ve run into, and the fact that we’ve exited a country only a few days ago, those are not possible options. There are many countries nearby, and as far as I could tell, it’s unlikely that they get along with each other very well.

Indeed we’ve visited a country that only had fences for walls, but that was a rather isolated case. I suppose that country still exists to this day.

“…”

It was not Ti, but Master Shizu who fell silent.

Master Shizu must have abandoned all thought of becoming a citizen of this country. His own safety aside, a country that does not consider its own defense is not suitable for Ti’s future.

That’s why we could have gone around the country without entering it, but there’s the problem of fuel and food to take care of. And one ironclad rule of travelers is to resupply whenever there’s a place that allows you to do it.

“I’ve decided.”

After deliberating for several seconds, Master Shizu spoke.

In the end, he decided to enter the country, finish shopping immediately, and leave as soon as possible. We can’t afford to get involved in trouble inside the country.

We probably won’t be leaving much memory in this country.

That was what I thought at that time.

——

Upon approaching the gates, a smiling immigration officer came before us.

‘Welcome to this far-off country of ours,’ he said with an eager to please smile. It was an attitude of a person that would allow everyone to enter the country.

Master Shizu sought permission to enter for purpose of resupplying, and as we expected, we were allowed to go in without any objections.

He said that we could stay as long as we like as everybody would be pleased to have us, but Master Shizu refused. Then he asked what happened to the country’s defense.

The immigration officer answered with a smile.

“Under the rule of our new leader, friendship and love are valued above all things. Because we believe in people, we will not be betrayed. —Traveler, if it were you, can you betray someone who believes in you?”

While driving the buggy inside the country, Master Shizu murmured the answer to question of the immigration officer, who was no longer around to hear it.

“If you’re starving, you’ll be able to eat even your friend. —Thinking that your neighbor will never starve just because you’re not hungry; that’s not the same as friendship or love.”

—

I could tell that we have entered the country, but ironically, the country was very beautiful.

Stone houses that have an air of history in them were lined up neatly and made a very beautiful townscape. The road was also paved with stones, and it was very easy to ride on.

Judging from the beautiful clothes that the people walking on the streets wore, they must be living quite the lavish lifestyle. The smiling faces that they turned to us travelers do not seem to have any hint of care in the world.

Their technology was also pretty advanced. The town was lined up with street lights, radios could be seen being sold, and small automobiles were running on the road.

Master Shizu finished shopping for the necessities of fuel and food. Then he exchanged the objects that we brought from other countries, stuff that seemed rare in this country.

Master Shizu quickly finished buying and selling, even though he was bathed in the attention of the citizens. The shopkeepers were bright, and many were kind.

But we don’t have any more business in this country. We have no reason to tarry for long. Without taking a break, we headed towards the opposite end of the walls.

“Ice cream,” Ti said while pointing at a small truck by the roadside.

Parked on it was a truck painted with colorful ice cream designs, with children happily waiting for their turn to buy large three-scoopfuls of ice cream.

“Well, I guess this much is fine…. It’s also been a while since I’ve eaten some.”

It’s not possible to get ahold of ice cream during our travels. So even if we have to leave quickly, it wasn’t bad to indulge a little. Master Shizu brought the buggy near the shoulder of the road.

He bought a tall cone of ice cream, and Ti and Master Shizu ate beside the buggy. It’s delicious, said Master Shizu.

“…”

Ti was quiet, eating vigorously, as if taking part in a challenge to bear as much cold inside the mouth as possible. It was not a normal way of eating ice cream.

It happened when the two finished eating, just when we were about to leave.

—

“Are you travelers?”

A man asked brusquely.

Well you can tell just by looking at us, is what I would like to answer, but Master Shizu answered politely like always.

“That’s right. We were about to leave, though.”

The person who approached the buggy from behind was a man past his sixties. He was plump, and he wore dirty overalls.

He looked sullen, but Master Shizu’s polite response seemed to break his expression.

“I see. That’s great then. —Go as soon as you can. You’ll be forced to leave soon anyway.”

Then he passed by the side of the buggy to leave.

In reaction to the last words that he spat out, Master Shizu asked, “What do you think? —About the demolition of the walls.”

“…”

The man stopped in his tracks. He slowly looked around— “What about you? What do you think, traveler?” —and answered the question with another question.

Master Shizu answered politely. “Since we’ve entered this place only a while ago, I don’t know the entire situation but, if I were to be blunt, it’s an absurd decision. Normally, such a thing is not possible.”

“Isn’t it? It’s only normal to think of it that way, and I myself think so.”

It was a strange attitude for someone from this country. So there were also people like him.

“Then, why was it permitted in this country?”

Master Shizu asked the question we were all itching to know the answer to. We couldn’t ask it before because we’ve met nothing but cheerful citizens. This man however, seemed different.

“You want to know why?”

As expected, the man answered.

“Because it was decided by the newly elected leader of this country. He said that we should ‘open up’ to increase our allies. And so we are to demolish all the walls, enabling anyone and everyone to come and visit us. All in order to create a country that is ‘loved by everyone’.”

Master Shizu looked around him and lowered his tone.

“That leader... Does he, by any chance, have the support of a foreign country?”

There are plenty of countries that outlaw the slander of its leaders. Asking such a thing was quite bold of Master Shizu, who was usually prudent. He probably wants to know so badly.

The man readily confirmed it.

“Certainly. Over at the west, there’s a big country that would grab the slightest opportunity to increase its territory. Be it receiving money, getting blackmailed or being deceived—as to which I don’t know, maybe all of the above—but it’s almost certain that the leader is a puppet of that country.”

“Then this country will eventually be taken over.”

“Yeah. As early as tomorrow, this country may be occupied by an army. Those who oppose shall be slaughtered, and the rest shall be made into slaves. It happens all the time.”

“Indeed it’s not an unusual strategy to make your opponent destroy itself. If I were that country’s leader, I would probably devise the same scheme.”

“Right. But no one in this country realizes that.”

“Then what about you?” Master Shizu asked. I was also wondering about that. Among the citizens oblivious to danger, why is this guy the only sane one? Or to put in a different way, why is he the only strange one?

“You must have an idea already, ‘traveler’.”

The man’s words were hinting at something. Master Shizu turned around, then nodded in agreement.

“You weren’t born in this country. —You immigrated.”

“That’s right. But this is my country now. But that will end soon too. Tomorrow, perhaps. You don’t have to die with us, so leave now.”

The man turned away.

“What are you going to do?”

It was Ti, who hasn’t spoken for a long time.

To this day, I still don’t have the slightest idea what triggers Ti to speak. If anyone knows, please tell me.

The man turned to us once more, and directed a dry smile towards Ti.

“This is my country you see. I have no intention to escape, young lady with the green eyes. But I don’t plan to just stand around and watch as they trampled on my country.”

“So, what are you going to do?” Master Shizu asked. The man faced Master Shizu and took several steps closer. Leaving a slight distance between them, he whispered,

“Once the foreign troops force their way in and dare claim this land as their own, I shall show them my pride.”

“What’s your plan?”

“Hah. Even though I look like this, I’m actually a president of a company in charge of the water and sewerage system. So I was able to lay a trap.”

“A trap, you say. Like, rendering the water service unusable?” Master Shizu took a guess, but the man’s answer was much more extreme.

“How dull. Once they fix it, it’s the end. It’s only a matter of time.”

The man’s face took on an eerie smile as he answered, “I planted explosives all over the country’s drainage system. Drums packed to the brim with explosives used in construction work. I told everyone those were new equipment to control the flow of water. I checked only a while ago, and everything should be working perfectly.”

“...Then?”

“I have the sole switch that can make the whole country’s underground system explode. I’m sure you know what that means, traveler.”

“The explosion will leak above ground,” Master Shizu answered with certainty. I feel like he has given Ti more ideas.

“Indeed. This country will be turned inside out, and will become of no use to anybody.”

“Many will die.”

“Including me. But I have chosen to punch a hole in my own boat over watching my country be disgraced. I am the only one who can call off the explosion. I considered someone may have noticed and come to stop me, but like that leader, no one can stop me at this point. We’re the same. —Let’s end this talk. Have a nice trip.”

Obeying the man’s words, Master Shizu and Ti boarded the buggy together. Me as well.

As we overtook the walking man, Master Shizu spoke.

“Good luck.”

Saying nothing, the man waved his hand.

—

We passed through the opposite end of the walls, where the demolition has progressed faster, and safely exited the country. How ironic.

“That man couldn’t leave his country, huh...,” Master Shizu said dolefully.

A wanderer’s attachment to his new-found home is not an ordinary one. It’s not an unusual thing.

And Master Shizu, yet to find such a place, have reached this far.

What does he think about that man who chose to stay in his sinking boat? I don’t know.

Meanwhile, Ti, who was embracing me and had her chin on my head, spoke,

“Problems that can be resolved by bombs, should be resolved by bombs.”

Another sudden, long utterance from her. That’s quite a strange way of thinking.

While the buggy rode through the forest,

“...”

Master Shizu remained silent.

——

That afternoon, we encountered a group of merchants.

When the forests vanished, and when we have run through the prairie for a while, we saw a file of trucks heading for the road.

Two medium-sized trucks, the carriers of which were fully loaded with luggage that were tied up in strings and wrapped in cloth-like material.

As the buggy can handle rough land better, Master Shizu turned the steering wheel and got off the road. When we got near the truck running through the prairie,

“Hey there, traveler. Thank you for giving way. How about some tea?”

The man who sat in the passenger seat of the truck spoke up.

It is not rare for wayfarers to intermingle with each other to exchange information. And so Master Shizu stopped the buggy.

The merchants consisted of six men.

A group of robust men in their twenties or thirties, indisposed of letting go of their persuaders. Possession of items that can be traded means that there is constant threat of getting attacked. The degree of risk they carry is not the same kind as a traveler’s.

The two parties both stopped their vehicles, and started to prepare their own tea.

When a stranger offers you tea, the chance that it is laced by poison is not zero. When it would be troublesome to confirm whether that is the case, tea parties are often done like this.

The men said that they came from a distant country. Then they asked about the country we just visited. They said they’re planning to sell clothes there.

Without seeming suspicious, Master Shizu reflected for a while, then decided, “About that country... it would be best if you don’t go there for now. Your lives will be in danger.”

The men’s faces paled. Naturally.

And then Master Shizu told them what he knew. Including what that man told us, though he concealed his status and appearance.

So he told them not only about the possibility that the country would be occupied soon, but also about the bombs that were set up underground.

“That’s... unbelievable...”

Eventually the dumbfounded men turned to Master Shizu with grim faces.

“But we’ll incur huge losses if we turn back after coming this far. We’ll come up with some excuse and conduct our business by the walls.”

Which just shows how determined they are to go to that country.

“Then... be very careful.”

Master Shizu said.

—

We parted with the merchants and rode once more.

The sun has gone down a big deal. Before long, it will be time to search for a place where we could set camp. Though it doesn’t make much difference when you’re in a prairie.

Master Shizu spoke as he drove.

“Those merchants... are probably scouts from the other country. They probably came to confirm if the walls have been demolished.”

It’s not entirely conclusive, but it’s likely true. There aren’t many merchants who would insist on going after finding out that much.

I thought I should ask some more, “Do you think they have changed their minds when they learned about the bombs?”

“I wonder. After considering it, I decided to tell them everything. But once they find that man and kill him, it’s the end.”

But as to which one’s better, neither I nor Master Shizu knew.

Is it better for that man to be killed, resulting in the country being readily subjugated, and its people living a life of oppression?

Or is it better if that man continues with his counterattack, and his country will not be occupied in exchange for killing many of his people in the explosion?

When Master Shizu and I fell silent, Ti spoke.

“How true?”

“Hm? What do you mean, Ti?”

“Did that man really plant bombs? Or was it just a lie he wants us to spread?”

“...”

“...”

Master Shizu and I became speechless.

Ti’s words left us wordless, like how she usually is.

The buggy ran through the road for a while, with only the sound of the tire kicking the ground and the squeak of the buggy’s frame audible.

The possibility that the man was lying didn’t even cross our minds.

Indeed, the man showed us no evidence of his claim. We have not seen with our own eyes if there were really bombs installed underground.

Master Shizu and I believed his words of our own accord after seeing the state the walls were in.

Master Shizu began, “If that man’s words were only a bluff... And if he told the story to a traveler, anticipating that it was either a spy, or someone like me who would leak the information outside the country, then...”

And I continued from where he left off, “We were used by that man, and became a part of the defense of that country.”

Master Shizu nodded. “Yeah... But we can no longer find out if that’s really the case...”

That’s because we can no longer return, and once we’ve traveled far enough, we can no longer hear rumors about that country.

It left Master Shizu and me feeling terribly fuzzy.

—

And we’ll continue to feel that way until we forget about that country.

Of the living beings aboard the buggy, Ti was the only one able to relax. With a slightly lively, almost happy tone, she said,

“There are also plenty of things that can’t be solved, or not necessarily solved by bombs.”

As if she has learned something.

“...”

With its wordless driver, the buggy continued running through the prairie.

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