Chapter 30

Hours later, the sun had long since fallen behind the horizon, and the last remaining light was dimming away. The caravan moved at a consistent pace all day, but now that night was falling, they would finally take a rest. The carriages were parked in a semicircle off to the side of the makeshift dirt road, and a small campsite was made.

The moment the carriages stopped, Ash ran over to where the tents were being set up. It seemed that after this long trip, he still had energy overflowing… or not. The still full-speed Ash's body suddenly ragdolled, almost like he had been knocked out. His limp body slid to a rest next to Alice, who jumped in fright.

Ash had abandoned control of his body; now he finally had peace. All of the pain accumulated from walking all day faded away as if it was a lie.

'Finally! I'm never walking again.'

"Ash? ASH! Ash get up! Why won't you answer?!?"

Alice's voice echoed in his ears, but it wasn't enough to bring him back to his body.

'Sorry Alice, but I'm sleeping now. See you in the morning~'

Hearing Alice's panic, Roth awakened from his sleep. Ash's consciousness was nowhere to be found, and Alice was weeping over his crumpled body.

^What the… Ash? Buddy? What exactly happened here?^

Roth took control of the body, a decision he immediately regretted.

Pain.

It felt like someone had torn all the skin off his paws, then rubbed salt into the wounds. This wasn't even that far off from the truth; it was dirt instead of salt.

His leg muscles were tensed up in pain, burning like the fires of tartarus.

^Nope nope nope. I'm outta here!^

Roth abandoned control of the body as well, drawing more tears from Alice. Roth was a kindhearted guy, one that couldn't bear to see someone he saw like a little sister crying like this. He had two options: endure the pain and cheer Alice up, or sleep in the comfort of nothingness.

Looking up at Alice's clouded brown eyes, he knew he couldn't sleep. Retaking control of the body, Roth dragged himself closer to Alice, then leaned against her.

"Ash! You're ok! Here, you walked a long way today, so I'll read to you for a bit!"

A sarcastic ^yay^ rang out in Roth's mind.

Alice pulled out a book. It was the historical fiction book, the one about the Crimson General… but something felt off about it. The book felt strangely familiar.

A few of the unknown symbols had been left by the scholars who translated the book, namely the title.

The letters might have seemed unintelligible to everyone else, but somehow, Roth could understand them.

Crimson Pacifist.

Alice started reading the book out loud, and a few of the guards joined Roth in listening. It told the story of the Crimson General, from the time he entered the army. A ruthless and brutal person.

^But then why would it be titled 'Crimson Pacifist'? Alice said this it was translated by the Vosnian Scholars… maybe they changed a lot of stuff.^

Alice continued reading the book for nearly an hour, but Roth didn't stay awake past the first few minutes. He had accomplished his goal. Alice was no longer crying, so he didn't have to stay in control of this wreck of a body any longer.

Sleep welcomed him, and for the rest of the night, he paid no attention to the body whatsoever.

Morning arrived too quickly, waking Roth from his slumber. There was still no sign of Ash; it seemed he was really going to make good on his promise of forcing Roth to walk today.

^Ugh… fine.^

Roth took control of the body, and a second later, the pain hit. A night's rest hadn't reduced the pain at all, instead causing everything to ache even more.

^There is no way this body is walking all day again.^

It seemed that the guards had realized the same thing. After a bunch of reorganizing during the night, they had managed to make a tiny space on one of the carriages. Earl and his guard were experienced with trading, and were naturally great at packing a carriage to the brim. It was already impressive that they had managed to free up this tiny space, so it would have to work.

Roth climbed up onto the carriage, snuggling into the gap the guards had made for him. It was uncomfortable, but nothing could be worse than walking. There was another downside to this- if he abandoned the body to escape the pain, he would fall off the back of the carriage. He had to endure the pain.

^Haah… well, at least it isn't walking. I bet Ash would be crying right now if he saw this.^

An evil idea started to form in Roth's head.

^I mean, what kind of a brother abandons his best friend to deal with all of this pain while he sleeps? Don't worry Ash, I'll keep control of the body for a few days. Then, just when you think it's time to come back… hehehe.^

Roth began scheming against Ash, completely forgetting the fact that he too had abandoned Ash to walk.

***

As such, three more days flew past. The wolf's paws had healed for the most part, and his muscles were also feeling much better. It was finally time for Roth to enact his plan.

It was morning, and everyone was packing up all of their camping supplies. Roth walked over to Alice, who was folding up her blankets.

"What is it, Ash?"

Roth lifted his head up to the sky, a sorrowful look overcoming his eyes… then he unceremoniously collapsed.

"Ash? ASH!!!"

It was episode two of Alice thinking Ash had randomly died.

While Alice was busy freaking out, Roth skittered off to the corners of Ash's mind and hid, watching the unfolding drama. Ash, awakened by Alice's crying, tried to figure out what was going on.

'What? What did you do, Roth?!?'

After a minute of receiving no answer, Ash sighed and retook control of his body.

'Wow, Roth must be really good at walking. Everything feels so much better!'

The caravan was ready to set off once more, and Ash began his long walk once more. He noticed the weird looks given by the guards, but just attributed them to whatever Roth must have done to make Alice cry.

Setting his eyes forwards, Ash concentrated on putting one paw in front of the other.

'One step, two steps… fifty one… two hundred fifty three…'

The endless walking had resumed.