Nothing Like a Fight to the Death to Get the Blood Pumping

Some people test their limits by entering a race or taking a cooking class. Kino here decides entering a tournament of death is a good test.  Like Juan de Dios said in A Fistful of Dollars, you will get rich, or you'll be dead.

Volume 3 of Kino's Journey: The Beautiful World basically focuses on Kino's visit to a single country. Where she's informed that she's now entered into a tournament. If she refuses, she's enslaved. If she loses, she might be allowed to live, if her opponent feels gracious. If she wins, she becomes a citizen and gets to add a new law.

Kino doesn't give much of a damn about any of that, but the tournament only takes three days, and that's how long she planned to stay, so she's in it to win it. Each opponent has a different fighting style, a distinct look, and different styles. The second and fourth fight go on longer than the other two, and there's a bit more strategy involved on Kino's part, which keeps things interesting. But all of these contestants are there to become citizens, and none of them seem the types to accept surrender. So Kino mows through them, but without killing anyone (including laughing boy down there, who was the second opponent), to the dismay of the crowd. If the king who instituted the tournament after killing his father is disappointed, he doesn't show it.

The final battle comes down to Kino against a young swordsman who is very good at blocking bullets with his sword. Kino's a shootist, so that seems like a sub-optimal match-up for her. But he hasn't killed any of his opponents yet, either, so it seems like both of them are focused on something else.

The swordsman has a whole backstory that's set up in the early going, and we get the rest after the fact. Although none of it explains his talking dog. There are also several flashbacks during the tournament to this young couple in a wagon. Kino met them some time ago when they were on the way to this country, having heard wonderful things. When she crossed paths with them again, only the woman was around, and she confirmed all the things they'd told Kino previously. Told Kino she just had to visit this place. Which is the part that disturbs me the most in this chapter. Not the lunatic king. Not all the killers who show up looking for an easy life where slaves take care of everything. Not the crowds baying for blood. That the person who escaped willingly and knowingly sent someone else into that.

Hermes, Kino's talking motorcycle, observes he's not sure this is a beautiful world, and I'd say he's right. Kino seems to find messy situations and misery wherever she goes. But why should she be any different than the rest of us, right? Really, Kino herself can be terrifying at times. Very cold, very certain. A young kid smiling and calling 'you liaaar' while she points a gun at you is a little unnerving.