Kino's Journey

Kino and Hermes stop in a town seemingly full of robots. Upon closer examination, however, they discover that there are people that live in this abandoned hamlet, but they are afraid of any human they come in contact with, save for one man who tells Kino the sad and tragic history of the town.

Kino runs across a group of men, traders they say, that have been stranded and snowed in for days in the mountains. Kino decides to help the men get back on their feet and finds them food, but when they finally recover and are able to free their truck, Kino learns the truth about them.

The end is coming, or so claim the inhabitants of the next town that Kino and Hermes visit. The good news for Kino, though, is that with the end coming by the next morning, everything is free. But when the world doesn't end, the local priests claim there was an error in the translation of the prophecy.