Chương 18

Hunter Ellen Ellen wasn't sure what to think when Merchant Ellen returned during mid-morning. She'd known that one of the two newest of their duplicates had gone to Merriweather and should be back any time soon, but she hadn't expected her to come back with a new pack on her back, leading a docile but curious donkey laden with sacks upon sacks of more goods. Now with Melissa the donkey grazing placidly nearby, Builder Ellen had already started unpacking things.

Two of the local cats were perched nearby, watching from a wary distance as yet another disruption to their feral and carefree life was introduced. Ellen didn't doubt that several more were likely to be nearby, in harder places to spot, but she didn't waste her time looking. They'd get used to the new animal, and at least the grazing would do a little to start reducing the overgrowth.

Adventurer Ellen was lacing up her new boots, but she kept looking up to glance between Ellen and Merchant Ellen, as if expecting a confrontation. That wasn't really wrong. Except Merchant Ellen wasn't even looking at Ellen.

"Grab your things and hurry over to the dungeon," Merchant Ellen encouraged.

"Here's your card back. The Briar Thorns are heading up there right now, and they've wanted a new member for a while. You can at least accompany them even if you don't join them, right?"

"You bet!" Adventurer Ellen grabbed her satchel and spear before dashing off. She yelled over her shoulder, "If I wake up in the tent again, Miriam probably killed me with dirty looks!" Ellen didn't get that, but when Merchant Ellen smirked, she had to raise an eyebrow and cross her arms.

"That's way too casual about dying. And what possessed you to buy a donkey? Don't spend all the money before we even see it!" Hands in the air, Merchant Ellen laughed.

"Relax. We still have about… fifteen crowns on the card, and I have some coins on me too. I'll pass some of those out for spending money. I just picked up a lot of things I thought we might want." She grinned.

"Also… I bought the land. Once adventurers arrive, we can just charge for entry to the dungeon. So now we'll have an income we can use to get what we need, and free access to the dungeon!" Ellen sighed and slumped back against the wall, her head in her hands. That was significantly more than she'd expected, and she couldn't even argue with the logic of it. She rubbed her temples, then looked up and took a deep breath to steady her nerves. How had this Ellen decided to do something she'd never considered?

"At least tell me you brought back something useful to feed and clothe us aside from boots?" That got a grin from Merchant Ellen.

"Several pairs of boots, plenty more work clothes, more arrows for you, more knives, a felling axe and a nice hatchet. A stock pot, lots of salt, fishing line and hooks, vinegar, flour, dried herbs, and a lot of dried beans as well." Builder Ellen looked up.

"I see you brought some tools, as well. These will be useful!"

"Oh yeah." Merchant Ellen nodded.

"Hammer, saw, chisel, all that stuff. I have some heavier things too, like some ropes and pulleys, but I thought Melissa was looking a little overburdened for the trip up so I left them in the cart. I didn't splurge too much, so the cart's secondhand." Ellen grumbled, "I guess I'm the cook then. Some of the rest of you need to learn how to do this, too. I'll show you later." She let out a long-suffering sigh.

"I have to admit, we'll probably eat a lot better, if we can get a secure place to store those. Instead of me yelling at you, Merchant Ellen, how about you promise to help clear out the root cellar I found? We'll have to figure out a way to keep the animals out of it, too. I'm not sure Builder Ellen has the time for that."

"A few short beams and planks should be enough." Builder Ellen patted Melissa's side, eliciting a snort from the donkey.

"I'll make a drag sled today, and you can go to the mill tomorrow morning and get what I tell you for the doors. If we can borrow another donkey from the village, we might even be able to get a good ridge beam up here for the roof sooner than I thought. It might be a little expensive though." Merchant Ellen shook her head.

"Maybe, but we have ways to make it cheaper. I literally own the land they're logging on now, so maybe I can get a discount. And maybe if we cut down a few logs we can float them down the river to the mill and trade. It'll at least make it cheaper."

"How did you get so good with money?" Ellen complained.

"You're being a little thriftier than any of us ever were." The merchant self shrugged.

"According to your idea, I just spent the equivalent of half a decade learning all the right tricks and mindset. It was pretty fun once I got into it, actually." A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. That was a fair point, and Ellen didn't argue it. Instead she looked at the two Ellens with her and rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"Well, if we have supplies now, we should figure out a priority. I'm already handling the hunting, pelts, and making blankets. I'm also cooking and gathering the cattail fluff, but I have help with that. If we're going to get all this done we need to divide up our tasks and can't slack off. That means you're now our cook, Merchant Ellen, because I don't see us needing another trip to Merriweather soon. If we want to be sure we're prepared for winter we should push to have everything done in six weeks."

The face that Merchant Ellen made was worth it, but then she protested, "Why should you get to make the planning decisions? I need to handle the whole 'being the owner of the land' thing too, you know." Ellen rolled her eyes.

"I'm the oldest here. Builder and I are third generation, while you're fourth. And I'm the one that's been living here the longest. Besides, you should have time to handle all that and negotiate with the townsfolk at the same time. Not to mention help us out when we need another pair of hands. Your first task should be getting the lumber we need, and the rest of Builder Ellen's equipment." She turned to Builder Ellen.

"What else do we need for you to get the place usable through winter? The root cellar should handle our food supply, with what I hunt."

"Just for winter?" Builder Ellen thought for a moment.

"Well, we'll need lumber. We don't need all seasoned lumber from the mill, just a ridge beam and some planks. The rest we can probably make ourselves, but that needs done within a couple weeks because I'll need to shape it, and then we'll need to build the roof and any doors or shutters." She glanced at the rest of the town.

"We can make more plans for the rest after we finish that. Oh right, we'll have to clean out the chimney and repair any cracks and damage, but I think we can do that in a day or two unless there's something seriously wrong with it. The materials for the roof are the hard part."

"We can have Adventurer Ellen chop down some trees between practice, I think she took Strength this time," Ellen muttered.

"She's the only one we can spare for it. Though I guess things might get more flexible if she ends up duplicating again today. She should be in the dungeon by now." All three paused for several seconds, listening. Melissa snorted, the jenny perking her ears and looking up in confusion at the sudden quiet. Seeing all three of the strange humans just standing there, the donkey sullenly went back to nibbling at the plentiful grass.

Despite the expectation of all three of them, no sound came from the bedroll inside the half-repaired building. Adventurer Ellen was still alive.

"An extra hand is useful, but it's also an extra mouth to feed." Builder Ellen sighed.

"And house. This place should be big enough for all of us if we don't mind huddling close. At least Merchant Ellen can sleep down in the village."

"Maybe," Merchant Ellen agreed.

"I'm going to have to reveal I own their land now sometime. They may have a different opinion then… I should probably reassure them that their taxes won't be going up right away. Maybe even go down, but I shouldn't promise that." Ellen chuckled, "Don't become Politician Ellen." Builder Ellen cleared her throat.

"I'm not even sure if she'd appear here anyway. I didn't, but Merchant Ellen did. We'll also have our work cut out for us during winter and right after."

"You and Village Ellen are the only ones that have appeared in the village," Ellen pointed out.

"I think it's because Village Ellen is um… Village Ellen. She'll probably have plenty to do during winter so we can't rely on her."

"It's useful to have someone down in the village just in case something happens." Merchant Ellen pointed that out with a nod toward the village.

"Besides… I think she's the happiest of us."

"Probably," Builder Ellen agreed.

"I'm glad she sometimes comes help with the cattails and stuff, but I think she prefers staying down there. It's like she lost her drive."

"We shouldn't gossip about our own." Ellen snapped her fingers to get the attention of the others back on topic.

"So what needs done during winter? What can we do?" Builder Ellen nodded and took a breath.

"There's a lot to do. More lumber if we can, but it might be too cold or snowy to work on that easily. We should practice what we can, and to make this place livable…" She looked around again.

"I'll probably try to put together better furniture and get us comfortable, but the rest of you can try clearing out a lot of this growth. Maybe by spring we can get most of the buildings and major footpaths clear." As if suddenly realizing all the work that needed done, Builder Ellen let out a heavy sigh.

"And we'll also need to clear the old road somehow. Maybe we can get our light timber from there, but once it gets really cold it will be hard to yank anything out. We'll also eventually need a dock for the river so we can more easily fish, and if we really want to float things down to the village a boat… and I don't know the first thing about doing that." Ellen rubbed her forehead a few times.

As if to remind her of the time limit, a gust of wind wandered through the old town ruins, biting into her clothes with a sudden chill. It was easy to say she could live here, but in reality she—like the other Ellens—had grown up cared for and without any need to build their own shelter.

"I guess we took a lot of things for granted." Merchant Ellen shrugged.

"Grandpa left dad and uncle a lot of money. We never really needed to work hard for food and shelter."

"It's actually weird they weren't rich," Builder Ellen pointed out. Ellen frowned.

"Yes, we all know that. We aren't that different yet, let's not go over what we all know. It sounds like we still have a lot of work to do, but at least we have an income. When will we get money from the dungeon, anyway?" Merchant Ellen scratched her head.

"Uh… depends on how much loot we get and how deep we go? It's pretty dangerous, so not much."

"She means from the entry fee," Builder Ellen nudged her twin.

"Oh." Merchant Ellen scuffed a foot against the ground.

"Nothing until after winter. This is just an exploration team. We can't charge them anyway, and after that the Guild needs to figure things out like how to announce it. That can take weeks, and by then it will be winter so I doubt anyone will come by until spring. After that, well… I guess it depends on the kind of dungeon." Ellen sighed.

"I guess so." She looked up the mountain, toward the unseen dungeon entrance.

"Maybe it'll have a catchy name by then."