Chương 28

Builder Ellen"Three… two… one… HEAVE!" It was becoming obvious that the various Ellens had started to have diverging ideas on how to live their lives by now. In spite of that, they were all, at their core, the same girl. This was pretty useful in times like this, where they all had to coordinate perfectly. None of the four Ellens below had any hesitation or doubt as to the exact moment they needed to pull the rope.

Merchant Ellen may not have known the details, but she had remembered enough about construction to ask for a block and tackle. Ellen was grateful for that, and she'd spent most of the morning setting it up and anchoring it to the wall. Material Sense gave her a great feeling of where to brace the pulley system, and now they were very close to a major milestone.

"Okay, one more time," she called out.

"Three… two… one… HEAVE!" The shout prompted the other four Ellens—all except Village Ellen—to pull once more, finally lifting one end of the ridge beam up to the cradle that Ellen had prepared for it. Slowly, with her direction, the heavy wooden support was guided into place, leaving the rest of the beam angled down onto the stone floor below. Ellen brushed away the notifications for the experience she got for leading the team.

She was still a long way from hitting Level 9, so paying close attention to the bonuses would be needless anxiety. A quick inspection of where the beam was mounted satisfied her with a nod.

"Good work, everyone!" Ellen called out to the others below, getting their attention.

"We have a lot more to do, but as soon as this is mounted, the rest will be a lot easier! Take a break for now while I figure out where to put the shear legs for the second half!" Merchant Ellen flopped to the stone floor, braced against the inside of the wall, and let out a long breath.

"Whew. I'm glad, because this is a lot of work! Are you sure you can get a roof on this place in time?" Ellen sighed.

"Depends on weather, but probably yeah. The ridge beam is the toughest part." She walked carefully along the top of the stone wall to sit down over the others, feet dangling and tapping heels against the blocks of the wall.

"If we can get some nice and straight crossbeams and planks from the mill, that will help. I can carve some of our own, but green wood will warp over the winter."

"How do you know that? Does your skill tell you?" Healer Ellen passed up a cup of water, moving to do the same to everyone who had been lifting. She looked up curiously at Ellen, frowning.

"You haven't gone down to learn from a carpenter have you?"

"No," Ellen confirmed.

"Most of this was stuff we heard about when we were young. I think taking the Artisan Class makes it easy to remember relevant things we learned as a child. I guess every Class does that. The rest I've kind of figured out for myself using the Perks and Skill Enhancers."

"Interesting idea." Hunter Ellen didn't sit, she just leaned against the wall while she sipped her water. Of all the Ellens, she was the most fit now… it had been a few weeks, and she was already leaner and showing more muscle. The slight tan she'd picked up looked odd next to the other Ellens, who were mostly identical and pale. Merchant Ellen looked over at the quiet Hunter, frowning.

"That's a good point though. I don't remember anyone telling me how to do the thing with the brains when we were younger at all." She tilted her head up to look at Ellen above her.

"Are you sure about this?" Hunter Ellen answered for her.

"We weren't, I had to ask a few questions in town back when I first started." She tapped her temple.

"You don't remember it because you're from a different line. Adventurer Ellen never picked up on this before you split off from her to be a moneymancer." Ellen snorted at the term.

"You've gotten pretty good at it, Merchant Ellen."

"I practiced through all my early levels, just like you did." Merchant Ellen stretched out her legs with a sigh.

"I kind of like the name though. Moneymancer. I wonder if there's a Hybrid Class available by that name? I've never heard of one." Healer Ellen draped a warm blanket over Merchant Ellen's legs.

"You'd probably need some actual magical aptitude to get it." As if on cue, a spray of debris, soot, and ash erupted from the chimney… and the hearth far below. A loud FWOOMP filled the air, followed by coughing and sneezing from across the roofless room. Healer Ellen let out a loud sigh, dipped a rag into one of the pots of water the group kept here, and moved over to the hearth. Apprentice Ellen was gagging and coughing, covered in ash and soot and filth now.

She sputtered loudly as Healer Ellen turned her about, pressed her against the wall, and started scrubbing the dirt from the other girl's face. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"Stop trying to use magic for everything," Healer Ellen chided softly.

"I know you want to practice, but you might end up doing something dangerous…" The rag was dipped in water again, and Apprentice Ellen coughed one more time before holding still, letting her other self wash her face without protest. Almost.

"But it's fun…" Apprentice Ellen's comment was a little whiny, but she shut up when Healer Ellen flicked her on the forehead. She said nothing more while the rag worked hard on wiping away all the grime. Ellen looked down from her perch on the wall to meet the eyes of Merchant Ellen and Hunter Ellen. The latter just shrugged, while the former cast a worried frown upward. All three had noticed the unusual behavior. It wasn't strange for two new Ellens to coordinate their skills—most of the Ellens had done that.

The two spawned from Adventurer Ellen were just… different. Apprentice Ellen was dedicated to her routine, but reckless and almost childish in how she approached everything. She had all the impulsive overconfidence of her predecessor, and then some. Unlike Adventurer Ellen though, this one was so focused on her goal of learning magic she had to be bullied into anything not related to that. Healer Ellen, on the other hand, only shared in the devotion to her path.

In all other ways she was the direct opposite of Apprentice Ellen. Careful, precise, even motherly, she was a soft-spoken voice of measured logic and empathy at all times. It was as if she'd taken all the caution that should have been learned from her predecessor's accident… and then taken Apprentice Ellen's share as well. Unlike all the other ones, those two were practically inseparable.

Where most Ellen pairs chose different paths and went about their business, Healer and Apprentice were constantly helping one another out and discussing things… while remaining slightly distant from the rest of the Ellens. It felt weird to Ellen.

"How is the pelt coming?" Merchant Ellen broke the brief, uncomfortable silence with the question toward Hunter Ellen. The hunter stretched arms over her head with a sigh.

"It's still drying. I'm hoping it'll be done before the clouds break… I doubt we'll get rain until tomorrow afternoon, but weather can be unpredictable. I'm still not sure what to do with this one… maybe save it for insulation?"

"Maybe. How likely do you think you can get more?" Ellen tapped a heel on the wall, then pushed herself up to her feet to stretch and consider the next step. She carefully walked along the top of the wall, working toward the other side. Hunter Ellen lowered her arms and rubbed her chin in thought.

"That one was a lucky shot… but I'm better now. We're coming up on mating season for the deer, too. The bucks will get more reckless trying to find a mate, and wander out farther, but pelts and meat will be better if…" She stopped talking as she realized the others were staring at her.

"Probably at least one more," she finished, clearing her throat.

"But it would be easier to prepare pelts if you can get my workshop enclosed, too." Ellen grinned back.

"I'll try. Don't expect a permanent roof, and the one we're making here will need redone in the spring, but the frame should still be fine."

"Ugh, can't we just let it soak a while?" Apprentice Ellen was whining loud enough to be heard now that Ellen was approaching her.

"No, that will make it stain worse! You need to clean it as soon as possible." Healer Ellen was struggling to get Apprentice Ellen into a clean top, and once again Ellen was struck by how ridiculously close the pair looked to being a older and younger sister.

"And no magic! You messed it up with magic, you need to clean it the hard way now!" The bickering reminded Ellen to turn and call out, "Merchant Ellen!" She waved an arm.

"I know you don't want to dip into savings, but with winter coming… maybe some more clothing would be a good idea? One more trip to Merriweather before the weather turns, you think?" The other Ellen grimaced, but one glance at Hunter Ellen's threadbare and increasingly ragged shirt changed her mind.

"Yeah, fine. I'll pick up more of that. Everyone else give me your orders. I'll get some simple armor for the next time one of us feels like adventuring, too. Just don't expect anything fancy."

"Maybe get some more cloth so we can work on making our own sometime!" Ellen smiled lightly.

"It would be nice to not have to go back to the city just because we keep wearing out our clothes, right?"

"So long as Apprentice Ellen isn't the one working on the clothes." That quip came from Hunter Ellen, who just watched the two squabbling 'siblings' not far off. Healer and Apprentice were too wrapped up in their argument to even notice. Ellen looked at the sky, then clapped her hands.

"Okay, I'm going to tell you all where to move the shear legs and set us up to get the ridge beam in, all right? Last big pull for the day. Once it's in place, we won't need the full crew of Ellens here to work on the rest, just two or three at a time. I want to get this done so Merchant Ellen can return the donkey we borrowed." A chorus of agreements floated up toward Ellen as she hopped carefully over the window lintel. It could probably support her slight weight, but why take the risk?

Her sudden movement led to a loud hiss and cranky leap of the nearby cat, scrambling across the chimney to the other side of the wall, but by this point she was used to the feral felines hanging around and watching her work.

"Don't jump around up there, you're likely to fall." Healer Ellen's warning hit home, and Ellen gave a sheepish smile back.

"You're right, of course. I'll be more careful." Which is why it was the ultimate irony that she was careful in picking her way across the opposite wall to point out where the other end of the beam would go. She wasn't being careless when she stepped nearer. She just wasn't fast enough. Ellen's Material Sense immediately told her that she'd messed up. Her step hadn't just hit a weak point… it had forced the stone to shift.

Damaged mortar from the ivy's roots crumbled, and even pulling her foot back didn't save her from the slide of the large block that twisted her ankle and sent her tumbling back. How odd that these accidents happened twice in a few weeks. Are we really this clumsy and unlucky? The thought tumbled through her mind in midair, crisp and analytical. Everything she'd done flashed through her mind, and she was dimly aware that there was a scream in her own voice. One of the other Ellens? No, that was her body panicking.

Silly body. Screaming won't stop the fall. But the stone floor certainly did.