Chương 4

"What's going on?" Ellen stood in the doorway, her arms aching and palms stinging from the day's work. The tavern was bustling with activity, despite the early hour. Lauren, the innkeeper's wife, was adding some potatoes to the stewpot above the fireplace. Tobias, the innkeeper himself, was pushing a table aside to make room for another—apparently there were others in storage to fill the common room more tightly.

"Bea! Go get washed up and changed, it's a big night!" Ellen Two called out.

'Bea' was the name that they'd both settled on Ellen using in town, with Ellen Two going by 'Trisha' for now. She wasn't due to start working for another two hours yet. The inn had been sympathetic when the two 'sisters' had trudged in with poorly-made sandals and only a single full pack between them. When Ellen had passed through the village before, she hadn't stayed at the inn, opting instead to press on and set up her camp to save her dwindling funds.

As a result, they'd only seen a redheaded girl hiking through town, and not known her name. That was a fortunate coincidence now that two Ellens were about. Ellen wasn't one to enjoy lying, but she was not quite so naive as to think it was never needed. In this case, she and her other self had agreed on a jumbled story about encountering the goblin but being taken by surprise. They'd fought it off only after it had damaged a lot of their things, and had to run away so could not recover what they'd dropped.

Neither Ellen was willing to beg for charity, but the innkeeper had agreed to let the two of them work nights, when they got their most traffic. The village was small and mostly shipped lumber, but it had a decent amount of foot traffic through it, so the combination inn and tavern was by far the largest and most well-built structure aside from the lumber mill. Almost every night at least one traveler stayed the evening.

In the five days since Ellen and Ellen Two had begun working there, they'd gotten enough to pay for their room and board plus some minor additions, like actual sandals made from scraps the cobbler sold cheaply. They were paid in a portion of the profits and any tips they managed to earn from travelers, so they'd quickly devised a routine of playing up their identical nature. Identical twins were novel enough that they'd eked out a few extra coins that way.

"Am I going to be stuck in bed most of the day tomorrow?" Ellen asked, groaning softly. The 'day job' that the pair had settled upon had needed to be pretty unskilled. Even at Level 5, they weren't anywhere near an actual career. In a lumber-based town, the best pay they could find for their negligible skillset had been stripping leaves and branches from logs. It was tiring work, and abrasive on the hands even with gloves.

They had to alternate which one went to the mill each day, while the other rested and sometimes watched the tailor or cobbler, or practiced with a makeshift spear. Both had managed to climb back up to Level 6 by now, and Ellen had 'lost' the draw. She was now a Level 6 Laborer while Ellen Two took Fighter. The strategy of swapping out tasks so both could get the first time bonus had worked well. Ellen Two just smiled back sheepishly as she wiped down the table.

"Probably. Apparently there's an entire caravan coming through, and they're only about an hour away. But hey, maybe we can get equipped faster this way! Think of the tips!" She had a point. Ellen didn't want to be stuck in this place for weeks gearing up to kill one goblin. The longer they waited, the more chance some other newbie group would see the posting and decide it was worth their time. Adventurers rarely signed up any more, but it still happened.

Wait too long, and this chance to get a license would be gone. Who knew when another job suitable for an amateur would be posted? For a brief moment, Ellen wondered if they should have just kept traveling until they got to a city with a larger Guild. Surely a big city would have a lot of ways for a new aspiring adventurer to join up? Ones that didn't involve going into a dark cave and fighting for her life? She sighed. Kind of late to think about that now.

"I'll be down in a few minutes." Just as she had been warned, the evening found Ellen frantic and very busy. The common room was full of far more people than the inn had rooms, but Ellen had been reassured that the caravan was large enough that it had wagons to sleep in. The inn was merely taking in a number of the guards and helpers to give them a more comfortable night's sleep, leaving those in the wagons with more room than usual. She'd never realized that a successful merchant had so much to worry about…

and she wasn't sure she'd ever want to deal with all the numbers. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Here you go, sirs!" Ellen said that in a cheery voice as she slid the tankards onto the table… and Ellen Two said the same thing, making it a nice chorus for the table as they distributed the ale. Six men were clustered around this one, and the one speaking—a brown-haired man with a curly beard—laughed in delight at the little display of doubled flavor.

"Thank you muchly, ladies!" He called out, joined by a chorus of appreciative calls and a few jeers. These men were flirtatious, but much better about it than the traveler a few days ago. They made a few crude calls, but thankfully kept their hands to themselves, so neither she nor her other self had needed to call for Tobias. It was while she was delivering their bowls of stew that one of the men asked the question.

"You two aren't locals, I've never seen you before. What are a pair of twins doing out here in the back hills?" Ellen glanced at the man who spoke. He was older than most of the others, with a vivid scar down his cheek and weathered skin. She guessed his age at around forty, which was old for a merchant guard. Most moved on to more sedate careers by that age, or even changed Class. The man was looking her over curiously… and not like many of the others had been.

He ignored the slightly low cut of her shirt and bodice—meant to bring in more tips—and paid far more attention to her arms and legs. Ellen Two slid the man a bowl and spoke first.

"We were hoping to try our hand at adventuring, but ran into a bit of an accident. We're trying to earn enough to get some decent gear."

"I don't guess you have any tips, old-timer?" Ellen asked, using the nickname she'd heard the others at the table using. The man looked a little wounded, but joined in the laughter when the rest of the table broke into guffaws. He slapped his hand on the table and shook his head.

"Not much to talk about out here!" The answer came with a chuckle.

"You look pretty fit, if you practice you should be fine. Not sure what I think of two young ladies doing that sort of thing. Didn't your parents warn you how dangerous it was?" Ellen Two let out a huff and placed her hands on her hips.

"Of course they did. Our uncle helped us out, though! And our grandfather was—" The warning look Ellen gave her reminded the other Ellen of their cover, and she quickly amended what she had been about to say.

"—also fine with it." She frowned lightly.

"So far we've mostly been having trouble finding good campgrounds to stay on. Our tent isn't all that sturdy, so a bad storm could really ruin our day." Ellen stepped into the conversation.

"We've been practicing with spear and knife, and I'm pretty sure we're close to unlocking a Skill Enhancer, but it hasn't happened yet." The bearded man who had spoken before laughed.

"Girls, the fighting is the most dangerous part, but you've stumbled onto the real problem of adventuring! Lance here used to be one, he complains about it all the time!" The older man—Lance, apparently—gave a thin smile and chuckle at that.

"He's not wrong. Learning how to hike and keep your stamina up in case of emergencies, finding good campsites, rationing your food, hunting game… adventurers need to pick up a lot of Secondaries compared to other professions. When you're starting out you need to keep an eye out for shortcuts."

"I thought shortcuts were bad?" Ellen asked before she could stop herself. She bit her lip immediately, as this sort of person was exactly the sort she wanted to hear advice from. He didn't seem offended, and even smiled.

"Heh, you were taught well. I don't mean the shortcuts to power or the dangerous shortcuts cross-country." He waved a hand toward the tavern door.

"Save your effort. Don't camp in a tent if you can find other cover that isn't taken by the wildlife." One of the other five men at the table lifted a hand.

"They could camp at Onroc if they're staying in the area!" The elder one grinned.

"That's a little far from the town to be practical for working in town, but if they were out in the wilderness and nearby, that's a good point." His grin faded.

"Might be full of animals, but probably has at least a few walls intact to work with." Ellen Two didn't bother to hide her confusion.

"Onroc? The mountain?" She jumped and turned quickly as another table called for a refill.

"Ah, tell my sister she'll catch me up!" The six men watched in amusement as Ellen Two scurried off to handle the shout, while Ellen stayed to listen. She gave what she hoped was an encouraging smile, but she had to admit that she was already getting tired after her work day at the mill. She hoped this wasn't a long story.

"Onroc is the mountain, yeah, but there was another village on the side of it, overlooking the river." The ex-adventurer spread his hands.

"Mount Onroc had an iron mine, some eighty years back, but something happened. A plague, then a fire swept through the village. Since Justeen's mine had just been discovered and was easier to mine, nobody ever went through the trouble to take back Onroc. I passed through there a few years back and some of the buildings were still standing, except the roofs." Ellen gave him a bright smile despite her fatigue. That probably wouldn't help them out any time soon, but it was interesting to her.

"My sister and I both took Tireless as our first Perk, so we can keep hiking longer." One of the men grunted, and the older one nodded at the grunt.

"I'm not sure I'd have taken it as the first, but it's not a bad choice. You should look into more hunting Perks. Living off the land isn't pleasant, but when you're new to the career, you'll run out of money fast. Most adventurers don't strike it big. The Guild helps, but they won't carry someone who can't handle themselves." She'd already heard some of this, but Ellen was grateful for the man being so willing to help out anyway. He was probably right about the hunting problem…

she knew how to clean and skin some small game, but that wasn't the same as being a hunter.

"Thanks, do you have any advice on Perks for the Class? Fighter I mean." He cracked a smile.

"Can't tell you that, every progression is different. Just don't spread yourself too thin." Ellen had heard that advice before, but it was good to hear that everyone agreed on it. She wasn't from a big city with a lot of people she could ask. She opened her mouth to say more, but a sharp whistle from another table was calling her over for more stew. So she just smiled in thanks. Then she looked over at her other self and sighed heavily. There was another meaning that the man couldn't even comprehend.

"Thanks. I'll try not to."