Chapter 18

Hunter Ellen

Ellen wasn’t sure what to think when Merchant Ellen returned during mid-morning. She’d known that one of the two newest of their duplicates had gone to Merriweather and should be back any time soon, but she hadn’t expected her to come back with a new pack on her back, leading a docile but curious donkey laden with sacks upon sacks of more goods.

Now with Melissa the donkey grazing placidly nearby, Builder Ellen had already started unpacking things. Two of the local cats were perched nearby, watching from a wary distance as yet another disruption to their feral and carefree life was introduced. Ellen didn’t doubt that several more were likely to be nearby, in harder places to spot, but she didn’t waste her time looking. They’d get used to the new animal, and at least the grazing would do a little to start reducing the overgrowth.

Adventurer Ellen was lacing up her new boots, but she kept looking up to glance between Ellen and Merchant Ellen, as if expecting a confrontation. That wasn’t really wrong. Except Merchant Ellen wasn’t even looking at Ellen.

“Grab your things and hurry over to the dungeon,” Merchant Ellen encouraged. “Here’s your card back. The Briar Thorns are heading up there right now, and they’ve wanted a new member for a while. You can at least accompany them even if you don’t join them, right?”

“You bet!” Adventurer Ellen grabbed her satchel and spear before dashing off. She yelled over her shoulder, “If I wake up in the tent again, Miriam probably killed me with dirty looks!”

Ellen didn’t get that, but when Merchant Ellen smirked, she had to raise an eyebrow and cross her arms. “That’s way too casual about dying. And what possessed you to buy a donkey? Don’t spend all the money before we even see it!”

Hands in the air, Merchant Ellen laughed. “Relax. We still have about… fifteen crowns on the card, and I have some coins on me too. I’ll pass some of those out for spending money. I just picked up a lot of things I thought we might want.”

She grinned. “Also… I bought the land. Once adventurers arrive, we can just charge for entry to the dungeon. So now we’ll have an income we can use to get what we need, and free access to the dungeon!”

Ellen sighed and slumped back against the wall, her head in her hands. That was significantly more than she’d expected, and she couldn’t even argue with the logic of it. She rubbed her temples, then looked up and took a deep breath to steady her nerves. How had this Ellen decided to do something she’d never considered?

“At least tell me you brought back something useful to feed and clothe us aside from boots?”

That got a grin from Merchant Ellen. “Several pairs of boots, plenty more work clothes, more arrows for you, more knives, a felling axe and a nice hatchet. A stock pot, lots of salt, fishing line and hooks, vinegar, flour, dried herbs, and a lot of dried beans as well.”

Builder Ellen looked up. “I see you brought some tools, as well. These will be useful!”

“Oh yeah.” Merchant Ellen nodded. “Hammer, saw, chisel, all that stuff. I have some heavier things too, like some ropes and pulleys, but I thought Melissa was looking a little overburdened for the trip up so I left them in the cart. I didn’t splurge too much, so the cart’s secondhand.”

Ellen grumbled, “I guess I’m the cook then. Some of the rest of you need to learn how to do this, too. I’ll show you later.” She let out a long-suffering sigh. “I have to admit, we’ll probably eat a lot better, if we can get a secure place to store those. Instead of me yelling at you, Merchant Ellen, how about you promise to help clear out the root cellar I found? We’ll have to figure out a way to keep the animals out of it, too. I’m not sure Builder Ellen has the time for that.”

“A few short beams and planks should be enough.” Builder Ellen patted Melissa’s side, eliciting a snort from the donkey. “I’ll make a drag sled today, and you can go to the mill tomorrow morning and get what I tell you for the doors. If we can borrow another donkey from the village, we might even be able to get a good ridge beam up here for the roof sooner than I thought. It might be a little expensive though.”

Merchant Ellen shook her head. “Maybe, but we have ways to make it cheaper. I literally own the land they’re logging on now, so maybe I can get a discount. And maybe if we cut down a few logs we can float them down the river to the mill and trade. It’ll at least make it cheaper.”

“How did you get so good with money?” Ellen complained. “You’re being a little thriftier than any of us ever were.”

The merchant self shrugged. “According to your idea, I just spent the equivalent of half a decade learning all the right tricks and mindset. It was pretty fun once I got into it, actually.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

That was a fair point, and Ellen didn’t argue it. Instead she looked at the two Ellens with her and rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

“Well, if we have supplies now, we should figure out a priority. I’m already handling the hunting, pelts, and making blankets. I’m also cooking and gathering the cattail fluff, but I have help with that. If we’re going to get all this done we need to divide up our tasks and can’t slack off. That means you’re now our cook, Merchant Ellen, because I don’t see us needing another trip to Merriweather soon. If we want to be sure we’re prepared for winter we should push to have everything done in six weeks.”

The face that Merchant Ellen made was worth it, but then she protested, “Why should you get to make the planning decisions? I need to handle the whole ‘being the owner of the land’ thing too, you know.”

Ellen rolled her eyes. “I’m the oldest here. Builder and I are third generation, while you’re fourth. And I’m the one that’s been living here the longest. Besides, you should have time to handle all that and negotiate with the townsfolk at the same time. Not to mention help us out when we need another pair of hands. Your first task should be getting the lumber we need, and the rest of Builder Ellen’s equipment.”

She turned to Builder Ellen. “What else do we need for you to get the place usable through winter? The root cellar should handle our food supply, with what I hunt.”

“Just for winter?” Builder Ellen thought for a moment. “Well, we’ll need lumber. We don’t need all seasoned lumber from the mill, just a ridge beam and some planks. The rest we can probably make ourselves, but that needs done within a couple weeks because I’ll need to shape it, and then we’ll need to build the roof and any doors or shutters.”