Chương 58

Merchant Ellen Ellen tried not to think of how long she'd been trapped in this house, unable to get out and do something. Instead, she once again stroked her fingers down the cat purring in her lap. Most of the other Ellens were already out and about. Carpenter and Mason were working on finishing the ice house, while Fisher was… fishing, probably. Cobbler was out with Fighter keeping an eye on the logging, which was going so very slow with only two people.

Acolyte and Scholar were out somewhere practicing, while Smith was trying to work her skills up to being able to craft something useful. Hunter and Scout remained, still settling in for a late breakfast after their late night foray into the wilderness. Ellen had briefly awakened when the two returned—the inrush of cold air had been hard to miss—but she'd been so tired from her work day she'd fallen asleep right away. Now, she wanted a report… because she could tell something had happened.

"So are we in trouble?" Hunter sighed heavily, huddling herself under her blanket with eyes staring at her porridge.

"I don't know," she finally murmured.

"Village Ellen is… she's a werewolf now. She claims to still be in control, if I was reading her right, but last night she…" Hunter paused, so Scout finished the statement.

"She killed the werewolf that turned her." Ellen's eyebrows shot up, but she could see from Hunter's discomfort that Scout's statement was all too true. The idea of the quiet version of her had killed anything, let alone a monster that was so close to human—had been human—was startling. Village Ellen had chosen to live in safety, without even the struggle of building a town… and certainly not combat.

"It's true," Hunter confirmed.

"I suspected when I saw her, but she said she was fine. When we heard the howl last night, after we already thought the man might be a werewolf…"

"We rushed to find the beast, and we found two of them," Scout continued. Hunter glanced at her, but Scout seemed unbothered at the implication of rudeness. An expectant look from Scout toward Hunter made Ellen realize that the "younger" Ellen was expecting Hunter to swap sentences like Scout did with the rest of the quartet. Ellen wasn't sure if she should feel relieved or worried about that. Hunter cleared her throat.

"As Scout said. Two wolves, fighting. Or um… it was a short fight. Village threw the werewolf off a ledge. We couldn't see the body in the dark, but Village seemed to think her job was done. She… winked at us and ran off into the forest." Ellen slumped back, but she kept her fingers curled and scratched behind one ear of the ginger cat in her lap. Healer had done a good job ensuring the cats were free of fleas before she had died, and now Ellen was glad for that warm, comfortable weight.

"You think she might be dangerous to us? To the village?" Ellen frowned as she said that. The idea of one of their own falling to the bloodthirsty curse was worrying. It didn't sound like she'd been totally under its spell, but the bestial transformation of the mind could be slow and insidious.

"No." Scout said that without hesitation, before Hunter could even reply. Ellen shared Hunter's perplexed expression as she stared at Scout. It was disorienting to speak to one of the quartet alone like this… their close-knit nature meant that they rarely bothered to speak outside of their tiny group. In truth, Ellen had been surprised that Scout had agreed so readily to join Hunter. Not that it was a bad idea.

Scout's recent Class Evolution had led to something called a Shadow Striker, and her emphasis on stealth and rapid movement made her perfect for such tasks. The name of the Class still made Ellen uncomfortable, but Scout's utter loyalty to the Ellens was becoming clearer by the day. Hunter shook her head.

"Maybe not now, but she violently murdered a creature that she knew was a thinking being. A former human I mean. Sure, he was a monster, but I think he still had some humanity left. And she didn't have any doubt in her eyes when I saw her." Scout frowned.

"No, she's fine. At least for now, we are sure. She didn't do anything strange." Again, Hunter looked at Scout, while Ellen frowned more deeply. It wasn't the words that bothered her… it was how Scout had spoken. Ever since the quartet had done their first dungeon run together, they'd grown more close, not less. She clearly remembered Scout using the I pronoun before the dungeon… but now every member of the quartet spoke in plural, even when alone.

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"Scout… how do you know?" Ellen sighed, trying to wrangle an answer out of the strange version of herself. Once again Scout looked confused, her lips curling into a frown and her eyebrow twitching.

"We trust her. We could see it in her eyes, she is still Ellen." Then she shrugged lightly.

"Village Ellen is the most Ellen of Ellens. Her and Hunter Ellen. Why can't you see that? We worry about you not understanding Ellens." Ellen was beginning to understand the strange face her uncle had made so often during his visit. If dealing with multiple versions of her was one-tenth as frustrating for him as it was dealing with the quartet, she had a new respect for his patience. She rubbed at her forehead with her free hand.

"Scout," she muttered.

"I think we're seeing it from a different angle. Could you explain your logic for me? Remember, I wasn't there. That's why I'm asking you." Instead of answering immediately, Scout let out a low groan. Even Hunter scooted away from her, biting her lip in consternation. The noise was almost pained in some ways. Scout sighed and waved a hand as if to brush away the noise.

"You should trust us. We're an Ellen, and your lack of trust in Ellens is why you're so slow to do everything. Don't you think Ellens doing their jobs can do them?" Ellen flinched at how that was said. Scout had stated it like it was a genuine belief… and a painful one. As if every sentence explaining herself were not just an annoyance, but strained and full of effort in some way. Nonetheless, Scout continued.

"Village Ellen is of the village. Her village was attacked by someone who hurt her, and intended to hurt Camilla." Scout scowled at this, even though she'd only met the girl briefly, three lives ago.

"If a stranger broke into our home and hurt you and attacked other Ellens, and you found yourself with the power to make sure he could not do it again when you knew he would, wouldn't you do the same? Hunter, weren't you prepared to shoot him?" Hunter glanced aside at Ellen, then bit her lip again. She nodded to Scout, but raised a finger.

"That's different," she argued.

"I'm the hunter here, and I was out there to hunt a wild beast. Village Ellen is… well… she's Village Ellen. She's peaceful and I don't think she wants to fight. She said she doesn't want to fight." Scout shook her head emphatically.

"No. You're a hunter because you became the hunter. You're still Ellen. Just like we are. Village Ellen does not need to hunt, so she chose to be who she is… but she's still one of us. The people around her were in trouble, and she could help, so she did. Why wouldn't she? It isn't like us. If he'd attacked us and killed one of our selves, we'd just have a new one who could continue if we wanted. But Camilla would be gone forever. Doesn't that scare you? It scares us."

It made a lot of sense, and even Hunter balked at arguing with that. Ellen tapped her lip in thought. Even if she wasn't sure the viewpoint about being the same was right, she could see Scout's point. From that perspective, Village's actions weren't just excusable… they were understandable. Every Ellen spawned from the original Ellen. They all remembered training with the spear and knife specifically to fight monsters.

They'd all known that if they'd gotten strong enough, those monsters might include creatures that were once human… like werewolves. At some point, they'd all been prepared to do the same thing. It was just very unexpected that Village Ellen had been the first true test of that. Even so…

"I see your point, but how do you know she was acting out of that, and not because her lycanthropy was making her more violent?" Ellen had to ask the question, if only to see more of an insight into Scout's certainty. She'd thought the quartet had diverged greatly, but maybe she'd misjudged them. Indeed, Scout let out a little huff of frustration and clasped her hands together, her brow knitting into a scowl. This time she appeared to think harder before answering.

"We saw the look in her eyes," she finally answered, as if words weren't quite enough.

"She was still Ellen. She was not happy because she killed something, she was happy because she'd… done what she was supposed to. She'd cared for the people in the inn, and that's what she was supposed to do. Just like this self of us is proud when we scout, and Hunter is proud when she brings meat for the rest of us." As she spoke, Scout gained confidence in her comparison, her stressed expression relaxing. She looked directly at Ellen.

"Just as you are satisfied when you make money, because that is the skill your self worked on." Scout nodded firmly.

"We are Ellen, and we like knowing we can do something. We like doing what we are good at, it's just that our selves are good at different things. That is why we trust ourselves, but you other selves are hard to trust, because you chose not to trust." She felt the throbbing of a headache starting to bloom.

"I agree," Hunter said suddenly. She nodded to Scout, then turned to Ellen to explain her change of heart.

"It's just like when I died. I didn't set out to fight the boar, but once I started it was… I think in the moments before my memory goes blank, I never felt more alive than that. I didn't care that it was dangerous, and I wanted to live, but I wanted to win more."

"It isn't the first time Village Ellen has shown the same thing," Scout agreed.

"Remember, Merchant, it was Village Ellen's last death that saved our previous life. Yours and ours." She tapped her breastbone in emphasis. Ellen hadn't forgotten that, but it was a far cry from hurting another being. Still, she saw the point that Scout was making. It prompted a long, quiet sigh… which she repeated as the cat in her lap woke up suddenly and bolted off to the corner of the room. She would have to try to speak Scout's language.

"Fine, she didn't do anything strange," Ellen said.

"But she is still infected with lycanthropy, and that won't change. I think we should keep an eye on her—quietly—for a while until we're sure there aren't any further side effects. And then I'm… not sure what we'd do. What if she dies and she makes more werewolf Ellens? They won't have the Perk that apparently stops the curse from affecting her." Scout hesitated, then nodded slowly, at the same time as Hunter.

"We agree, she should be watched. We can do that when we are not in the dungeon."

"Good," Ellen muttered, then laid her head back and let out a long sigh. At least winter was more than half over.