Kino no Tabi - Volume 14 by Keiichi Sigsawa

Author:Keiichi Sigsawa [Sigsawa, Keiichi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Light Novel
Publisher: ASCII Media Works
Published: 2010-10-10T05:00:00+00:00

——

The huge gates were shut tight.

And beside it stood a soldier holding a huge hatchet as his weapon.

Kino’s request for a three-day-stay was readily approved. The heavy gates slowly opened towards both sides, and Kino passed through it while pushing Hermes along.

The country was within the valley. The walls stood over the slopes on both sides, and stretched parallel with the valley. All over the land was an expanse of fields, a winding green belt that descended along with the hill road.

It was a long and narrow realm, reminiscent of a serpent. And its end was seemingly inexistent from where they stood.

Kino looked at the map they borrowed.

According to it, the river flowed at the center of the country, serving as the backbone of the farmlands that extend all across the land. It terminates into an enormous lake at the other side of the country.

This lake was the widest part of the valley, dammed up by the opposite end of the walls. The map indicated a town at the outskirts of the lake.

“Let’s go. It seems like it would take us some time,” Kino said, and set off once again.

The road going through the fields was paved. It has become much easier to drive on, so Kino speeded up. Overhead, a certain species of bird outsailed Kino and Hermes.

People doing farm work happily waved their hands at them, which Kino acknowledged by raising her left hand while she rode.

The people who toiled skilfully in the fields all wore clothes made of natural fiber. No machine aided their work; instead, small-built horses leisurely pulled the ploughs for them.

“Hmm, it looks like you won’t be getting supplies and fuel here,” Hermes observed.

“I’m prepared for that possibility,” Kino answered. “But... if their amazing medical technology is independent of scientific progress, what’s the secret behind their health?”

“Maybe there’s a medicinal plant here with incredible effects? And if you drink that Kino, you’ll be healthy your whole life!”

“I’d like to have some if that kind of thing does exist. Then again... I might not choose to drink it.”

“Well, it could be terribly expensive.”

“If that’s the case, it doesn’t explain why every single person here is healthy.”

“Oh, that’s right. It’s a mystery.”

Kino and Hermes ran through the meandering valley, and the landscape eventually transformed from fields, to a grassland filled with animals with camel-like necks, and finally to a bush forest.

In this forest with bushes that were cultivated for firewood, the citizens were scattered all over, drawing water from the river. There were others who walked in a queue as they felled shrubs and gathered them in bundles behind their horses. They descended the valley just like Kino and Hermes.

They gave way to their guests with smiles, and Kino and Hermes proceeded ahead. They passed through several stone huts, and by the time the big lake and the town adjacent to it came into view, the sun has already gone down a great deal.

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