Chương 25

Healer Ellen Ellen found Vincent near the mill, with Pauley and one of the mill's donkeys. The two large men were showing so much concern and care for the relatively small equine that Ellen had to stop and stare, trying to stifle a giggle. The picture was just adorable to her… the broad-shouldered mill owner and the surprisingly beefy healer both looming over the creature that clearly knew better than to act up.

"Easy… easy…" Pauley mumbled, holding onto the beast's neck while Vincent tended to a large, ugly-looking welt on its side. Ellen wasn't sure what the injury was, but it looked infected or something, and she wrinkled her nose as the two worked together to drain the pus from the fist-sized lump. Notifications flew by as she watched. She was getting used to this, now. She was a 'fifth generation' Ellen, as they'd started to refer to one another. She knew how to earn experience quickly…

and what not to do so she didn't earn the wrong kind of experience. She didn't want to end up accidentally working toward Laborer or something. And after hearing about how her predecessor had died, she really didn't want to end up doing any lumberjack stuff any time soon.

"Trisha! Haven't seen you at the mill in a while!" Pauley waved as he let the donkey loose. The stubborn beast snorted, then hobbled forward, a clean patch of cloth stuck to its side where the injury was. Vincent had reduced the swelling, but the poor thing still walked with a limp. Ellen smiled and waved to both.

"Pauley! Vincent!" She hurried forward, hopping over the puddle between them.

"Yeah I've been um… busy. Almost got conked on the head with a dead branch that fell out of a tree, so I'm trying to stay closer to the village for a bit." Pauley nodded solemnly.

"Have to be careful, especially around winter. The guys and I call those 'widowmakers' around here. You're lucky you're still with us." The big man gave her a thump on the back that staggered Ellen, and she returned the gesture with a strained smile. It was a little bit of a fib. At least she now knew that what killed her predecessor had a name, and was common enough that she didn't feel quite so dumb for having gone out that way.

"One of these days you'll have to show me how to chop down a tree, sir." Ellen's smile brightened a little as she thought of that.

"I'm curious to learn. But maybe later. I um, do have some things to talk to you about soon."

"Sure thing, young lady!" Pauley grinned and tipped his hat.

"You need to talk to your adventuring friend here? I can make myself scarce." He turned to Vincent.

"Appreciate the help, stop by later and I'll get you paid up square." Vincent clasped his hand with the other man.

"It was my pleasure. Don't have him haul anything for another two weeks and he should be fine." Pauley nodded in thanks again before shuffling after the annoyed donkey, leaving Vincent with Ellen. The big man still looked ridiculous hurrying along and trying to guide the injured animal, but even the inexperienced Ellen could tell the donkey wasn't really fighting it. The reluctance was all show.

"Did you need something?" Vincent's voice broke into her thoughts, the low baritone shaking her back to her purpose. The large man crossed his arms, looming over Ellen in a way that would be intimidating if his face weren't so gentle. Scratching the back of her head, Ellen blushed faintly.

"I know you don't talk much, but I could use some advice on how to handle injuries. My um… brush with death made me realize I'm a little behind on that. If I'm going to be serious about a Hybrid Class I should learn important stuff like that."

"Hm." Vincent shrugged and started walking, forcing Ellen to hurry to keep up. He hadn't said anything more, but neither was he objecting to her following beside him. The awkwardness of the moment had Ellen biting her lip. After several minutes of walking away from the road and into deeper vegetation, the quiet healer rumbled a soft statement.

"You smell like cats." Ellen blinked and patted herself down, then flicked some cat hair away. The population of feral cats in Onroc Anroll wasn't any larger than before, but as more Ellens had appeared the felines grew more inquisitive. More than once an Ellen had found one or more of the cats lounging in the bed-pile, enjoying the warmth of the recently-vacated pile of blankets and bedrolls the girls shared.

"Um… yes, there are some feral cats in these woods," she mumbled.

"Is that a problem? One of them got into my tent and decided I was a warm space." Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Vincent shook his head, then turned around to settle onto a fallen log. He gestured for her to take a seat next to him, then folded his hands in his lap. Ellen gingerly did as she was bid.

"Let's talk about cats." Ellen glanced up at him, her brow furrowing in confusion, but she shrugged. If he wanted to talk about cats instead of healing, then she wasn't going to argue. She may not be the 'same' Ellen, but she remembered what he'd done for her. Softly, the large man began talking about what he knew of felines, occasionally pausing to question Ellen. It wasn't an unpleasant conversation once it started, but she wasn't sure where it was going.

When the notifications started popping into her vision as she learned important anatomy and treatments… she understood. Merchant Ellen"You're certain this dungeon is no more than three weeks old?" Ellen leaned back in the chair, allowing Village Ellen to slide a plate over to her. The roast potatoes that Lauren fixed were just too good to pass up. She nodded to Edmund as he asked again, watching him tap the paper he was filling out. The man sighed, scribbling in a few more details.

"I wish we knew a good estimate of what the entry fee would be. It's the first new dungeon in ages, people are going to line up for it if it isn't too expensive."

"What would be too expensive?" Ellen stabbed a potato with her knife and lifted it up, puffing lightly over the steaming tuber.

"Are we talking six marks and twenty percent is too expensive? Just listing a number."

"That's the thing," Edmund replied.

"Normally for a new single-floor dungeon that would be way too much, but with this being the first, that might be the only way to keep it manageable. I'll have to put it in my recommendation." Ellen nodded and stuffed the potato in her mouth. Naturally, that was when Edmund let out his sigh of frustration and spoke to her again.

"I've never done this before, but these report jobs are one of the worst. I'm just not very good at it. How did you get so good at numbers?" He looked up at her with a grumble. Blinking, Ellen was caught off-guard, her mouth still full of hot potato.

"Muh?" She mumbled a reply and pointed her knife at herself questioningly.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Village Ellen said sternly. She slid another plate in front of Edmund.

"You were raised better than that." Ellen glared at her other self, watching her flash a wink and a little hip sway as she walked off. She swallowed the potato and grumbled, "It's like she's trying to annoy me."

"Honestly, if you didn't look so alike, I wouldn't know you were sisters." Edmund looked up from the papers and chuckled.

"You don't act at all the same. Did you fight a lot as children? Raised by different parents? I'm curious how that happens." With a heavy sigh, Ellen dropped her head into her hands.

"I have no idea. We weren't raised differently at all. I think she's doing this specifically to annoy me."

"Mmm. Siblings, am I right?" Edmund grinned over at her.

"My little sister and I used to fight all the time. My parents would always just yell both our names whenever they heard something going on, because they could never guess which one of us had just gotten in trouble. We used to joke that this 'Bettimund' person did all the bad things." She couldn't help it. Ellen giggled at that, then quickly looked about to make sure Village Ellen wasn't around.

"Well… that never happened with us, but I can see how it would! My uncle told stories that my father really hated him telling. I used to think that's why he didn't like me hanging out with him. My father didn't like me hanging out with my uncle, I mean."

"Your sister didn't talk much to your uncle?" Edmund tapped finger on the table as he chatted.

"Maybe that's why she's so different. What kind of person is your uncle, anyway?" Ellen tensed, choosing her words carefully.

"Um… a very friendly guy, and supportive. He told us to be careful if we ever got into adventuring, but gave some good advice. He's fairly successful." She could see he was about to ask more, and quickly changed the subject.

"Have you seen your little sister recently?" The ploy worked, with Edmund sighing heavily.

"Not in several years. I should go back, but we didn't part on the best of terms. I know it's probably fine, but that doesn't make it easy." A rapping on the table from Ellen brought the man's attention back to the paper.

"Maybe with the payout from this you can go visit for a while. What's left?" Edmund looked down.

"Just the final rating. It's definitely a Bronze right now. Normally in six months, when this will actually be disseminated, a dungeon could maybe creep up to Silver… but I doubt many people are going to be delving into the dungeon and bumping up its power." Ellen thought back to Adventurer Ellen's excitement and shoved a potato into her mouth. She'd better not say anything yet.

"I'll mark it as Bronze at time of exploration, that should cover me," Edmund muttered. He scribbled that down and looked up.

"So, are you sure you don't want to be listed as the discoverer?" Chew chew and swallow.

"Yeah. I'm sure. It wouldn't be hard to find out if people dig deep enough anyway, but it'll keep people out of my hair while I settle in here. I'll probably stay for a while." Edmund nodded and tucked the paper into his bag.

"Do you think the owner will develop the village? It's a little lacking to support adventurers. It's nice, but with the groups you'll be getting here it won't hold up."

"Depends." Ellen shrugged.

"If the villagers want to, it'll probably get built up. If not, it'd be bad to force them, and I'm sure the owner won't want that. They can figure out something else. Maybe a little place to resupply closer to the dungeon, it's not a really convenient walk up the mountain." The swordsman stretched his arms above his head.

"Mmm… good point. I'll look up who actually owns this land when I get back to Merriweather. Want me to pass that along if I can speak to them? I'm sure they'll want to see the report, but I was going to let the Guild handle it." To that, Ellen just had to smile faintly.

"If you can find them there, sure. I don't think it'll be necessary, though. I know who it is, like I said to my sister. We're both pretty sure they have a plan." Edmund gave a grin and pushed his chair out.

"Great! I'll tell them you said that!" Ellen smiled.

"Thanks."