Chương 92: (B2.28)

28) Bookkeeper Ellen Having three donkeys working on the hauling was helpful, but clearing the fallen timber from the new road was still taking a long while. Merchant's Ability toppled the trees swiftly, and that was helpful… it was the hardest part, especially dealing with the stumps. It did nothing to help with stripping branches, disposing of twigs and smaller detritus, clearing away the leaves, or just putting the stripped trunks somewhere useful.

Ellen scribbled a few more lines into her notes, then tapped her glasses further up her nose. Most of the timber would be going to Onroc's storage piles, but they had more than enough to spare some for the mill. She'd gotten Pauley to agree to a credit system, because he didn't have the money to buy everything right away. She also gave him a massive discount, as thanks for how much he helped when they got started.

In fact, if not for the nearly free clearance they got from Merchant's Reshape Terrain Ability, she wouldn't be turning a profit at all! Satisfied that the road was coming along nicely, Ellen sighed and scanned over her notes. It was going to be complicated and take a lot of math, but she'd deal with it. Plenty of people didn't even use an actual Accountant or anything for handling their books… and even if her own Class was a hybrid, it still had more advantages than many merchants who handled their own books.

She took another look at her progress. ATTRIBUTES Strength: 8 Agility: 8 Endurance: 8 Willpower: 9 Affinity: 8 Perception: 10 SKILL ENHANCERS Trade Route I STAMINA: 83/83 MANA: 87/87 CLASS: Chronicler 12 EXPERIENCE: 463, 200/640, 000 PERKS Appraise Cross Reference Gambler's Face ABILITIES Demand Curve I Almost all of her choices had supported her mercantile needs. Ellen didn't mind that, but she hoped she'd get better stuff for her Chronicler Class.

A Perfect Recall Perk would be a game changer for her, though she wasn't holding out too much hope. That sort of Perk usually required a lot more prerequisites, and possibly had a Level or Tier minimum. She almost forgot her real reason for being here. Ellen didn't mind doing a quick inventory, but with the other Ellens here she could get the information reliably already.

Her actual reason for coming down to the road approached with a light clip-clop of hooves on the packed earth, followed by a dismount that landed the booted feet heavily on the ground.

"Is this the entrance to Onroc Anroll?" the man asked, taking a few steps up near Ellen to squint up the hill, where the various buildings were now visible.

"Yes it is, sir," Ellen replied, stepping up beside him. She smiled at all the progress they'd made in less than a year. The granary was nearly finished, and the longhouse had a growing garden next to it. The kiln wasn't visible, but the smithy and smelter were getting patched up and renovated now that the weather was warming. The other workshop was still a bit shabby, but functional… and the growing settlement had firmly-defined, visible footpaths going between each.

The assessor's eyes looked over all they'd built, one hand scratching the back of his head.

"I'm sorry, but with two settlements of significant size, I don't see how you're going to avoid hold status. We'll have to itemize your income. How many people live in this hamlet?"

"One, sir," Ellen said confidently. Most tax assessors had an Ability that let them answer this themselves, of course. Not all had it, but Ellen was more than willing to bet that one sent all the way out here to the location of a new dungeon would definitely have it. He gave her a glare, then turned back to look at the small community… and frowned. He scratched at his chin slowly.

"That can't be right. Is there only one permanent resident? Are the other buildings for people in the village? That would be a very long walk every day, you can't possibly keep production up." A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Ellen smiled politely.

"Well, we can't very well become a good hold. We definitely don't have the population to respond to a military levy. Of course, the crown won't have to provide any funds toward fortifications or walls, which would be a losing investment, wouldn't it?" The assessor frowned at her, but she just smiled back. It was a reasonable thing to do, trying to avoid getting classed as an actual community.

Multiple settlements on the same parcel of land fundamentally changed how the crown interacted with the owner, with the most obvious being the need to pay levies in the case of mustering troops. It also meant they'd be prying into exactly how Ellen was making her money, rather than accepting a simple sheet of income and taking a tithe off the top. Ellen preferred the latter, because she could be honest with it.

An itemized list would just bring politics into it, because she still hadn't exploited the iron mine at all, and their production was already a little weird. Trying to explain how things were getting done with auditors hovering around was not Ellen's idea of a fun time.

"I'm guessing you looked and confirmed the population is only one," Ellen said to the befuddled taxman.

"Yeah, it's pretty strange, but only one person lives there! They're just really active." Looking back at her, the assessor raised an eyebrow.

"Aren't you the one who lives here? Are you claiming to need a smithy and granary all to yourself then?" Ellen cupped a hand on her cheek and smiled right back at him.

"Look, you can't blame me for wanting to be prepared, can you? With the dungeon about, I was thinking of opening an inn to go with the Treetop Inn… that would be helpful for just adventurers, you know. And of course I'll need an office to track activity in the dungeon, and the materials nearby for adventurers to work with when I'm not making things for them…" Her innocent act wasn't getting much traction with the assessor, who stared at her with a dubious expression.

He had no proof that it wasn't anything but what she said, though. His own skills couldn't find anything but circumstantial evidence that anyone lived in the longhouse except for Ellen. Sadly, her fun was ruined a few moments later.

"Hello, Book. Hello, sir," came the voice from nearby, as Fisher plodded along from the village toward Onroc. She had a large sack over one shoulder, and walked with intent toward the slope, preparing to brave the steep hike upward. The mountainous terrain kept every Ellen in decent shape, even the most sedentary.

"Fish, hello," Ellen replied, giving her a nod. She turned back to the assessor with a grin.

"Just one girl living here." Since they'd gone public, people who didn't realize there were multiple Ellens were rare enough that she'd wanted to enjoy stringing him along a little while. Soon enough they'd be reasonably famous, if they weren't careful.

"So that's your trick," the man murmured.

"You're one family. One homestead with multiple buildings, so you can't be a hold. People have tried that before, you know. Even if you are all sisters or family—" Ellen shook her head and interrupted with a laugh, "Oh, nothing like that. I already said. We have a population of one. Legally, even categorized by the System, we're all one person. This isn't some strange legal loophole—well, it is, just not what you're thinking. This is just how things work, and it's something we're going to have to deal with.

We can't operate as a hold because we're all the same person. Technically any one of us can make a decision for the entire settlement, because all of us own the land." Several different expressions passed over the assessor's face, each one more complicated than the last. Truly, the breadth of this display was enough that Ellen had to wonder if he really understood what was happening, or he'd just randomly started having a fit of some kind.

Their situation was strange, but surely he could understand the tax considerations at least.

"You do realize," he said eventually.

"This might let you technically remain a single-settlement parcel, but the actions of any single one of your… selves… will hold every one of you to the legal consequences, don't you?" Ellen immediately thought of what she'd heard of Stage and Whisper, but they weren't going to do anything that bad… were they? She shrugged and smiled. They were Ellens, they wouldn't do anything terrible… just skirt the law. Probably.

"It'll be fine," she said aloud. Lucas How did everything go so wrong? Killing the girl had been easy enough. Oh, Lucas hadn't been stupid enough to do it himself. He'd set up a reasonable excuse, found someone bribable, had them hire a patsy to do the deed, and then he'd hired someone else to clean up the mess… all using the conveniently untraceable money his employer had provided. Sure, it was suspicious to have that much cash from a new dungeon… but he'd worked with a lot of strange people in his time.

He hadn't expected his second assassin to be caught. Whomever was investigating him, they were pretty good, or maybe had an advanced espionage-style Class… which you couldn't get unless you were good at it in the first place. He was pretty sure they'd have a way of tracing the whole thing back to him, which meant he needed to get out of the city fast. Lucas pulled up his hood, silently thanking the weather for the rain that drizzled about this afternoon.

It had just started, but it was enough to excuse the hood that hid his face without drawing suspicion. Even if he doubted they had managed to get a good description of him, Lucas hadn't survived this long by being careless. He'd be careful, cut his losses, and skip town until the heat had died down. All he had to do was go south, away from Merriweather and the thrice-damned dungeon. He ducked down a side alley to cut to the next street over. Lucas didn't want to go anywhere near the Adventurer's Guild.

He'd known the target's twin sister had existed, but he also knew she was just some barmaid or something up in the village, and never came into town. Nobody had warned him that she'd had another sister who seemed a lot more competent at actually doing things. His thoughts cut off as he halted mid-step. Right there in the alleyway was a familiar figure… all too familiar. The cloak obscured her figure, but it was the same cloak he'd seen before. The rough, patchy cloak was durable and well-made, just not fancy…

which had confused him at first, with all the gold she'd flashed. It was unmistakably his employer, though—here, in the city, instead of back in the village where he'd actually cut the deal. That alone was alarming, and he lifted his hands up to show he wasn't about to run. If she was here confronting him, his life could be in danger. He wouldn't make it easy for her, though.

"Look, I did all the necessary precautions, but just in case, I'm getting out of here for a while. This whole thing went sideways, but the target went down," he pointed out.

"There's no way they can trace it to you, but I'd stay out of the way for a while, so you don't take chances." The woman took a few steps toward him and nodded. Lucas started to lower his arms, since she wasn't that close. If she had a rapid movement Ability or something, it wouldn't matter, but he didn't see any obvious weapons on her. Which is why his mouth dropped open when pain bloomed in his chest.

"Glhk…" Lucas gurgled, feeling the world start to spin. She had a spear. Where had she hidden a spear? She'd moved fast, too. Fast enough to thrust the spear tip right into his chest, puncturing his lung and… maybe worse. His vision was starting to go as he felt unconsciousness looming. In the moment before his mind slipped away, Lucas saw the woman looking up from under her hood. Bright red hair. Blue eyes. Youthful face. His target.