Chương 67: (B2.3)

3) Scout Ellen Ellen tried to put aside her grumpiness, with only partial success. The dungeon was going to be busy, so she and her other selves couldn't just drop in whenever they wanted. That part didn't bother her. The fact that she and the others had to split up and do different jobs? That was irksome. It wasn't that she couldn't work individually. Ellen knew that the other Ellens viewed her relationship with the rest of Adventurer as strange, bordering on unnatural. She couldn't help that.

What they couldn't understand is that while she could sync up and work as a unit with her trust of the others, too much time away meant she needed some time to readjust to working with the others. She knew the other three had similar problems. Just as people who weren't Ellen had trouble spotting the differences between each Ellen, so too did the Other Ellens struggle to spot the differences between Adventurer Ellens. To one another, their divergences were huge and sometimes difficult to ignore.

Ellen still wasn't sure why the Ellens inevitably ended up acting differently. Her Scholar said it was likely due to the change in perspective their Class gave them, or even what small lessons and experiences they had when separate. Just one more reason to avoid being away for too long. The Briar Thorns were already approaching the dungeon, guided by Hunter. Ellen had been told that the party knew about the Ellens to some degree, so she wasn't surprised to see Mason, Fighter, Acolyte, and Cobbler also there.

The four of them were digging out some areas and laying stones as directed by Mason, as they'd been doing every non-rainy day this spring so far. Most of the foundation was complete already, though Ellen wondered if they weren't making it too large to finish quickly. All three of the Thorns were looking over the collected Ellens doing their work with varying degrees of concern, but it was Edmund who spoke first.

"There's more than five? How… how many sisters do you have?" The swordsman scratched at his jaw, a frown of uncertainty on his face. Ellen glanced at Hunter, who just shrugged. Hunter had never actually met the Thorns until today, so probably didn't know anything about them. After a moment of thought, Ellen loosened up enough to answer with some humor.

"Miriam did warn me you liked to flirt," Ellen replied, walking forward with a smile.

"You shouldn't ask a girl about her bodies until you've been courting her for a while, you know." Edmund halted and stared at Ellen, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. Miriam's eyes widened, her face turning red… a blush that Ellen had never seen on the woman before. Even Vincent had a strange reaction… for him. The quiet healer smirked and let out a sensible chuckle at her playful prodding. Ellen gave a light smile to the group.

"I'm Ellen, and yeah… I remember going into the cave with you before. Hopefully this time you won't need to save me." She patted her side where her long knife hung.

"Last time I was a Fighter, but I'm Level 12 now, approaching Level 13. My Class is Shadow Striker, and I've run through the first two floors multiple times with a different group. I haven't tried to beat the floor boss of the second floor yet." That shook Edmund out of his stupor fast enough.

"I've never heard of that Class, but since we requested something like a Hunter I'm guessing that's you?" He looked toward Hunter.

"Though you seemed like you were pretty light on your feet."

"I'm a Landkeeper," Hunter answered.

"Closer to a Druid than anything suited for a dungeon. You'll find a lot of us Ellens have strange Classes. Just take care of my sister, all right? It was nice to meet you, finally… the Ellens that had met you told me things, but I never adventured with you." Ellen fell into step with the Briar Thorns.

"I suggest we just sweep the first floor today, so we can get used to working together. I normally partner with other Ellens, so I know exactly what they're going to do, but last time I was just bait. I don't really know how you fight. I focus on stealth, movement, and quick ambush attacks."

"That sounds like a good plan," Miriam agreed.

"We'll be here for a few days, maybe more, depending on how crowded it gets." She hesitated for a moment.

"Other Ellens… you all go by Ellen? What if we need to address you in a group?" Shrugging, Ellen pointed toward Hunter, who was walking away and back toward the village.

"That's Hunter, I'm Scout or just Adventurer. You already met Village Ellen and Merchant Ellen in the village. Over there we have Mason and Cobbler—they don't fight—along with Fighter and Acolyte. We have a Scholar who normally goes into the dungeon with us too, but she isn't here." If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Vincent frowned, but it was Miriam who asked the next question.

"So you were the ah… Ellen… who adventured with us? Did you also meet us in town? I'm a little confused as to how many sisters you have and why you keep swapping places." Ellen sighed.

"It's complicated. We… I remember meeting you in town back when we first met. The second time, it was Merchant, but then I went adventuring with you. Except it wasn't exactly me, because four of us remember meeting you and going into the dungeon with you." She drew her knife.

"I'll draw the spiders out instead of stealthing, for the first part, is that fine?" Edmund shrugged, though he still looked confused.

"Fine with me." The faded color of Miriam's Darkvision spell took over Ellen's vision, and with her own Shadow Sight Perk she could see deeper into the dungeon than ever before, without the aid of a lantern.

"She's a clone," Miriam said, her voice a hushed whisper.

"That's very high-level magic. Someone cloned the original into four. That's why they're all called Ellen. They are all Ellen." The revelation made Ellen pause and look back at the three adventurers.

"Finally, someone gets it! We didn't know there was a spell to do this, but that's what it is. Sort of. I'm one of the four cloned from the one who went into the dungeon with you. Hunter never met you until today, because her branch of Ellens never did." Vincent's quiet, deep voice murmured, "I do not know much about clones, but I recall many drawbacks of using them." Ellen held up a hand to silence the group as the spiders saw her, since she wasn't sneaking this time.

They rapidly skittered up the tunnel, the nearest already leaping for her. By now, she was practiced enough to anticipate the leap, neatly slashing horizontally to slice off the mandibles and front legs, then following up with a thrust into the body. Edmund's sword cleaved another one in two, and he pivoted to take on a third. Miriam's fire bolts lit up the tunnel as she picked off the ones lagging behind the first attackers, the spiders toppling back and convulsing, limbs curling into one another.

It wasn't as efficient as Ellen's runs with her other selves, but neither did the others hesitate to leap to her defense. Ellen remembered the quick action of Miriam's fire bolt that had saved her life back when she had been Adventurer Ellen. The efficiency was less surprising now. It was more startling that they hadn't found a fourth member yet. As Edmund stabbed the final spider, Miriam resumed the conversation as if it had never paused.

"There are many drawbacks," she confirmed.

"The mana cost is enormous, usually requiring multiple crystals, and then the clone has all the memories of the original but the realization of…" She glanced toward Ellen.

"… usually only living a few weeks before they start to deteriorate. And making a clone of a clone would destabilize it more quickly." Ellen shrugged.

"We don't think we're the result of that spell. I'm older than a month already. Village Ellen is closer to six months old, she's only third generation. I'm sixth. Merchant is fourth, and Village and Merchant are Ellens that you met before winter hit. So you know they're older than a few weeks." The group stopped at the first chamber, and Ellen pointed further in.

"We usually take this one and take on the stoat. Our usual strategy is for me to sneak in, Fighter to charge in to get its attention, then I stab it from behind at the base of the skull. We can try that here, but if I miss that strike it will turn around since you aren't an Ellen." All three of the others exchanged a look, much to Ellen's annoyance. What was the holdup? Miriam gently cleared her throat.

"Ellen… may I ask where the original Ellen is? The first one, I mean?" Ellen frowned back at her.

"No. That isn't important. We are Ellen… all of us. That's the only fact that matters. If you want more thoughts on it, talk to Scholar, or Hunter… or… no, not Village. She is both more Ellen and less Ellen than the rest of us, now. We exist, and that's all that I want." Edmund scratched at his head lightly.

"I think this is why we tried to hide that we knew there were more of you. I liked it better when I thought you might just be quintuplets."

"We're using up our time talking about something that doesn't matter," Ellen sighed.

"I'm Ellen. We've fought together before. Now I'm going to sneak down there and you're going to attack, and I'm going to kill this stoat. Then we're going to collect the loot, and figure out a good strategy for the arachnohopper. That's what's important here, isn't it? We're all wanting to use the dungeon." Miriam lifted an eyebrow.

"Have you been using the dungeon a lot? Which Ellen spoke to me? Do you remember that conversation? How much do you share knowledge? These are important things to know." Another heavy sigh.

"Fine. But then we go kill these things." She scowled at the three overcurious adventurers.

"I'm sixth generation. The one that fought with you was fourth generation. Apprentice Ellen spoke to you, Miriam. Healer Ellen spoke to Vincent, but I don't have those memories. Apprentice is my direct predecessor. So I remember your lesson on magic, even if Scholar is the one using it." Ellen gestured to herself.

"And of course we've been using the dungeon. We are Level 12! Adventurer Ellen was Level 8 when we finished with you. That's a big leap without using a dungeon! We're doing you a favor, you know… we don't like to advance too far away from the rest of ourselves, it makes it harder to work with ourselves and we need time to adjust again and find our rhythm." She saw the concern settling over all three of their faces, even the normally impassive Vincent, and took a breath.

"Sorry. I know that bothers people, but I've gotten used to operating with my other selves." She gestured around.

"The others aren't like me and my sister-selves. They don't… do that. They don't fight as a group the way we do. But we aren't using a clone spell. There's something else happening, and as much as we like you, that's not your business. We can handle the dungeon, or you can leave." One small pause.

"Or you can try killing me, and claim I died in the dungeon. I don't think that will work out for you though." Edmund flinched, Miriam scowled, and Vincent… stepped forward. He stared at her for a long moment. The large man turned to his companions, whispered something, then turned back to Ellen with a firm nod.

"No more questions. We finish the floor."