There was a prairie and a lake.

The flat earth was covered in grass and trees as far as the eye could see. Clear water from underground bubbled out to fill small ditches, forming several small ponds.

The bright summer sun illuminated the vegetation on the ground and in the water. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The blue, dry atmosphere extended everywhere.

There was one way through the prairie.

It was a narrow road, and judging from the grass growing on it, it didn’t seem to have seen much traffic. Avoiding the lake, the road extended roughly from east to west.

One motorrad (Note: A two-wheeled vehicle) was running west down the road, fully loaded with travel luggage on its back, both sides, and on top. A silver cup strapped to the side of the bag was rattling as the motorrad sped along the path.

The rider was wearing a white shirt under an open black vest. Around her waist was fastened a thick belt with a hand persuader (Note: A gun) holster on her right thigh and a slender automatic one holstered against her lower back.

The rider wore a brimmed hat with goggles over her black hair. Under the hat was the rider’s young face. She seemed to be in her mid-teens.

“There’s a horse. See it, Kino?” the motorrad said suddenly while riding.

Kino, the rider, narrowed her eyes under her goggles at the road ahead.

“Yeah, I see it. Looks like someone’s there.”

Kino released the handle with her left hand to check the persuader against her back and then the revolver at her thigh with her right hand.

“I’m stopping, Hermes.”


—

On the side of the road was a horse, laden with luggage, drinking from the lake. Near it was a man with a hat over his face, sleeping on his back. The sound of the motorrad’s engine woke him.

The young man, who appeared to be in his twenties, wore riding pants and boots, a thin jacket, and a hand persuader holster on his right hip containing a .45 caliber automatic.

The man waved to the approaching motorrad.


—

“Hey,” he called out to Kino as she brought the motorrad to a stop.

Kino got off the motorrad and put down the kickstand, leaving the engine running.

“Hello.”

“Howdy.”

Kino and Hermes, her motorrad, greeted him.

“Are you from the country up ahead?” the man asked.

“No. We’re on our way there now,” Kino replied.

“Great, I was just on my way there myself. How about going together? That way you could take half my load for me. It oughta be light for a motorrad,” asked the man matter-of-factly.

“I can’t do that,” replied Kino, just as straightly, with Hermes chiming in with agreement.

The man frowned, openly showing his annoyance, “Well aren’t you a cold one. You can’t even do that simple thing?”

“That’s right,” Kino answered with a polite smile. “If I did that, I could just take all your stuff and run. Then I’d get there first and sell it all.”

Kino turned away in disinterest and the man tut-tutted in disapproval.

“Well, that’s alright… But by the way!” The man looked at Kino as if staring right into her. “Do you know about that country? Have you heard what kind of country it is?” the man asked.

“I don’t know any details, but I’ve heard that it’s a very gentlemanly country,” replied Kino.

The man burst into laughter and said with a smirk, “Who told you that?! That’s completely wrong!”

“What did you hear?”

The man laughed again. “Heh heh heh. Guess it can’t be helped. I’ll enlighten ya, since it’s so amusing. About that country… they call it the ‘Land of Permitted Murder’.”

“Sorry, what was that?” Hermes asked.

“By law, murder isn’t prohibited. You can’t steal, but hurting and killing people and every other crime like that isn’t prosecuted. It’s like it’s the murdered person’s fault more than the murderer’s. It’s a jungle in there, just inside the walls. It’s a pretty well known story,” said the man, who seemed to be enjoying himself.

“And you want to go there then?” Kino asked.

“Yeah, of course. I’ll live there. My home country has ludicrously good security and everyone’s on stupidly good terms with each other. I absolutely despised it. It was always ‘laws, laws, laws’ there, so did ‘em a favor and ditched the place.”

“So, how do you become a citizen of this other country?” asked Hermes.

“I dunno… at this point I’ll just live there and see how it goes.” The man paused, “If there’s a guy I don’t like, I’ll beat him to death. Seems like a good place for someone like me,” he said, acting cool.

“Hmm… That doesn’t sound very interesting to me,” Hermes replied. The man looked offended.

“Well besides that, there’s someone I look up to in that country. Maybe you guys have heard of him? That ‘Mr. Legal’[1].”

“No.” “Don’t know him.” Kino and Hermes said shortly.

“I guess you guys really are from out of town.” The man paused in amazement for a moment and then started to gladly and quickly explain. “That ‘Mr. Legal’, he’s from a big country to the south where he’s the leader of a band of robbers and terrorists and is a well-known serial killer. He accidentally got himself caught, but was such a tough guy that he escaped just before the hanging and fled the country. That’s already decades in the past, but he still hasn’t been caught so it’s almost certainly like they say, that in the end, murderers end up in that country. They say assassins and killers from all over the world gather in that country. So surely he’d be free to kill as much as he wants. I really look up to him and would love to meet him. I wish I could tell you even more!”

“I see. Well, with that we’ll be off then,” Kino said, climbing back onto Hermes.

“You’re a boring one… Hey,” the man called out to stop Kino, glaring at her. “You really can’t carry anything for me?”

“Yes, please carry your own travel luggage,” said Kino, as though stating the obvious, and immediately started up Hermes.

The man was left surrounded in the roar of the engine.

He looked over his shoulder as they drove off. “Fine. I swear, if I see them again inside that country…,” he muttered to himself and laughed.


—

Walls connected to the lake with aqueducts and canals that had been dug outside. The white stone walls towered tall above them.

It was evening when Kino and Hermes arrived near the gate. As soon as they arrived, the bridge over the canal slowly lowered down.

“So, a country where they don’t prohibit murder… I bet there’ll be some amazing things in there,” Hermes said, seemingly enjoying himself.

“Probably so.”

“You ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“You don’t need to do any preparations for your persuader?”

“I always do them, so it’ll be fine. Now then, shall we go?” Kino replied and started crossing the bridge.


—

“Do you wish to immigrate? Or are you traveling and wish to stay for a short time?” an immigration officer inquired to Kino from inside a small guardroom outside the gate.

Kino told him that they were the latter and would like to stay for three days.

“Are you aware that this country does not legally prohibit murder? Regardless of whether you are a citizen or a traveler, within this country, killing for any reason will not be considered a crime. Do you understand?” the immigration asked as a precaution.

Kino nodded.

“Knowing this, you still wish to enter the country?” the immigration inspector asked again.