So, who's the kid?" "My name is … " ××××× hesitated for a moment, turning slightly to look back along the road they were traveling. Beyond the red horizon, her homeland's gates sank into the distance, never to be seen again. Facing forward once more, ××××× looked past Kino's side to focus intently on the path ahead before answering. "My name is—" Kino travels with the trusty talking motorrad, Hermes. The duo are always together, with Hermes providing speed, and Kino providing balance. They stay in each country for no more than three days, as a rule—enough time to learn about each destination's unique customs and people. And so Kino and Hermes journey ever onward …"
“So basically, none of these people wants to be president, huh, Kino?” “Yeah, nobody wants to do it...” “This ‘vote’ is just a way of forcing the job on someone else, then.” “It sure is.” “So, when should we run?” Kino and Hermes travel to a country where the government took the concept of “majority rule” to such an extreme that hardly anyone was able to live there. The next country has figured out how to live peacefully with their neighbors: by taking out their aggressions on a third party. While the residents of each land tend to be welcoming, Kino’s rule to stay in one place for only three days allows them to avoid becoming dangerously mired in local conflicts, but sometimes leaving comes at a price.