Chương 52

Village Ellen Ellen didn't wake up in her own bed. That alone was a relief, even if it disoriented her. She stared up at the ceiling for several long moments, fighting back the wobble in her vision and the nausea she felt. The back of her head throbbed with a dull ache, and her right hand shared a similar ache, but she wasn't in any sort of real pain. She closed her eyes again, waited for the nausea to fade, and took a breath. When she opened her eyes once more, she felt more steady.

It was still chilly, but no more than was normal for the winter, so she was pretty sure she was okay. The Level Up notification still pulsed silently in the corner of her vision, so she knew she wasn't a new Ellen. Not to mention she remembered the moments before what could have been her 'death' pretty clearly, though they were somewhat jumbled by her concussed state at the time. Ellen could still remember the strange messages about a failsafe, though. What had it said? Failsafe activated prematurely?

Words that she sort of knew the meaning of, but taken together they didn't make much sense. She could only surmise it came about because she had almost died. Hadn't it said something like that?

"Something about persona death?" The question in her own voice sounded unnaturally loud in the quiet room. She flinched, worried she'd make her headache come back… but no such thing happened. Whatever had happened to her had hurt, but she felt like she could move. She'd just take it slowly, just in case. She'd hit her head a few years before and tried to roll out of bed without preparation, and had ended up vomiting on the floor. She'd prefer not to do that.

Taking a low, steadying breath, Ellen lifted her right hand to inspect it. The ache was still there, but looking at it was a relief. Someone had wrapped a bandage around her hand, after cleaning it up. She wiggled her fingers and thumb and winced as it sent a painful jolt through her hand… but it was the pain of torn, healing flesh complaining of the movement, not the deeper ache of a broken bone. Could have been a lot worse. She closed her eyes again and sighed.

It also could have been much, much worse if it had been someone without Steady Mind that the stranger had attacked. It made her stomach tighten as she thought about it, though. In some ways, it was lucky that he'd gone after the Townsaver that could resist the mental influence… but that hadn't really mattered when he'd awakened. It was just her luck that out of the entire village, she'd gotten attacked instead of… Ellen's eyes snapped open.

"Why me?" The whisper left her lips at the same time she pulled up her Class description. TOWNSAVER The Townsaver bolsters the heart of a community. Through both body and soul, this Class provides comfort and safety to all who dwell within. A community with a Townsaver can weather many catastrophes, for no matter what ill befalls them, it must always face the Townsaver first. She stared at the description. The System could be strangely literal with everything, and she'd foolishly chosen this Class.

Now the answer was right in front of her. It must always face the Townsaver first. It wasn't descriptive. It was prescriptive. Ellen groaned softly and resisted the urge to swear under her breath. These were unknown Classes, they all should be more careful! No, no. It could have been coincidence, she thought to herself. She doubted it, because what were the odds? But it could have been.

The System was tied up tightly with Fate, though she'd never heard of it outright manipulating events like what would have been required.

"Might as well get my Level." Carefully, she sat up and looked at her Ability options. Choose an Ability Townsaver's Sanctuary (Upgradable) Purify Water (Upgradable) Assess Needs Rally Population (Upgradable) This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Those were… less crazy than she'd feared. Purify Water was one she'd expected, even.

Rally Population was more of a leadership Ability, so she didn't know much about it other than the name, but it made sense for the Class. That left only two she wasn't familiar with, but Assess Needs sounded pretty generic. A quick look showed her that it did exactly what an innkeeper or caretaker might want, as well. It was an Ability meant to ensure people had the right nutrition and care. She discarded Rally Population for now. It was a strong Ability, but at her Level it wasn't likely to be as useful as others.

Purify Water would be good if she moved up to Onroc, but Lauren had it already so living here it wasn't as important. Assess Needs could be good, as well. The only unknown was the forebodingly-named Townsaver's Sanctuary, which was almost certainly unique to the Class. ABILITY: Townsaver's Sanctuary I Cost: 30 Mana (Base, adjusted by local mana) + Variable (Mana Regeneration reduced) Effect: Designate a single structure as a place of refuge.

While active, the structure's doors, shutters, or any other closed entrance or egress become significantly harder to force, and those friendly to the user sheltering inside gain a minor resistance to fear and panic effects. The inside of the structure will gain a minor insulation boost versus extreme temperatures outside. Open windows or doors still provide free movement in and out. Entrances must be opened from the inside, and need not be barred or barricaded to resist intrusion from outside.

The Ability does not affect the physical integrity of walls or roof. Higher ranks increase the area that may be affected and the potency of the protective effects. In the event of an attack, the user may provide further mana to strengthen resistances or structural components. This ability has no maintenance cost, but only one Sanctuary may be maintained at one time, and Mana Regeneration is dramatically slowed while a Sanctuary is maintained. Ellen stared at the Ability for a long time.

It was powerful, yes, but such a situationally powerful Ability that it wasn't likely to be used often. It looked more like a complex ward that some high Level Abjurer might design and deploy… but it was activated by her, instead. Tempting, but not that useful. She hesitated. Or… was it? The village would soon see much more traffic, and she knew that having a dungeon might bring some unwanted strife. She knew that the other Ellens had at least considered how to defend the area, but it was a long-term project.

This would immediately provide some protection to the villagers who had been dragged into their weird situation. It wasn't a perfect defense… but it was something, and that was better than nothing. After a few minutes of mulling it over, Ellen sighed and selected Townsaver's Sanctuary. Her Level Up complete, she slid out of the bed and into her sandals, wiggling toes at the cold air. She'd noticed the insulation bonus that her new Ability gave, and was tempted to use it now… but she shook her head.

Dumping thirty mana into something while still recovering from an injury wasn't a great idea. She could always do it a little later. Ellen knew this room, so she knew she was still in the inn. She cracked the door open and slipped out into the upstairs hall, then paused as she realized the inn wasn't quite as silent as she'd thought. Downstairs, she could make out the hushed voices of several people deep in conversation. It finally hit her that she had no idea how long she'd been out.

The room had been pretty dark, with only a candle lit, but in winter the shutters were kept closed even during the day. She wasn't sure who would be there, so she crept down the stairs quietly to take a peek. Tobias and Lauren were back, speaking quietly to… another Ellen that Ellen couldn't immediately identify.

A second Ellen was sitting nearby, holding a distraught Camilla, whose tear-streaked face was no longer crying, but showed the characteristic puffy eyes and haggard appearance of a girl who had been very upset… and was on the verge of spiraling again. One more step down, and Ellen was within sight of them all, but Camilla was first. The blonde blinked, a look of relief in her eyes as she leapt to her feet and hurried toward the stairs.

"Ellen! You're awake! Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Camilla," Ellen soothed, holding up a hand to stop the younger girl from pouncing into a hug.

"Just a little sore. I'd have been down here sooner, but I had a Level Up to handle."

"Do you remember what happened?" The question came from one of the other Ellens, and for the first time Ellen noticed that they were both wearing some of the clothing that was kept in the inn for emergencies. Not only that, but her cheeks were slightly rounder, her waist softer, her bust a bit more full than the other Ellens. She didn't look like any of the ones living up in Onroc Anroll, who tended to eat very lean. It more looked like these two had been… eating Lauren's cooking…

Ellen paled as she realized she'd duplicated… without dying.

"Do you?" Ellen had to ask that right back at the newcomer.

"I saw some very strange notifications right before I passed out. Do you remember them?" Both shook their heads, but it was Tobias who cleared his throat and spoke next.

"We only know what happened from Camilla, and she was very confused. She said you were helping someone she found in the snow, and he jumped up and attacked you and fled out the door?" Camilla frowned, "All my memories are a little fuzzy. It's… it was like I was drunk, but I don't remember having anything to drink. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Ellen reassured.

"I have a Perk that resists mental influence. He had some kind of effect to make people like him, or something." She blushed lightly.

"Actually, I think it was supposed to just make him more attractive." Both the Ellens wrinkled their noses, and both Tobias and Lauren frowned deeply at that revelation. It was such a petty use of mind-affecting magic, and there weren't very many uses for that anyone could think of that weren't unsavory in some way.

"He did apologize. It might not be something he can control." Ellen took a seat, rubbing her head as she looked at her duplicates.

"I… we probably need to talk to the others about… this." She gestured at the other two. Tobias scowled grimly.

"Not just that, but we should try to find this man. He left his cloak, and in this weather he can't have gotten far. If we're going to get an explanation, we'll need to find him before he dies of cold." Ellen thought back to the man's abnormally swift recovery and wondered if he'd die that quickly after all. She kept her mouth shut about that, though. No need to worry Camilla any further.

"We only have two pairs of boots here that fit us," the Ellen next to the innkeeper said.

"Do you mind if the two of us use them? We'll have to figure out something else for later, but I think we should head up to Onroc and tell the others what happened first. We can escort Camilla and inform Pauley at the same time. Maybe he can get some of the hunters looking for this man."

"Maybe," Ellen agreed.

"And you should tell Hunter if you can. With her Class, I'm sure she could find him quickly if he's anywhere near where she's been lately. Tell them to send someone down so I can talk to them about what I saw, though. Or to get me up there. We probably need to talk to all of the Ellens about this." Lauren's face pulled into a frown of concern.

"Is something wrong?" Ellen looked at her duplicates, then hugged herself with a sigh.

"We don't know."