I Built This City Chapter 75: Chapter 75

Read chapter 75 of I Built This City by ThePudding on NovelPedia.

Cobbler Ellen At first, Ellen had started to doubt her chosen role. It was, after all, a very basic role. Important to be sure, but when she compared it to the adventuring lifestyle of several of her sisters, or what she wanted when she began, it was dull and mundane. That alone was not the problem. Ellen was, like Village Ellen, more interested in settling in and doing something pleasant for the rest of her days. She remembered tending the inn, and she liked it… but Village Ellen was already there. Still there. The variety, the people she met, the smiles, the warmth, the food… she wanted those. Or, to be more accurate, she had wanted those. My problem , Ellen thought to herself, is that I chose to be a cobbler when we did not have the materials. Fisher had seemed content to just fuss with everything, and Ellen now saw the wisdom in her sister’s decision. It was a lot of work, but it kept her busy, while she had chosen based on need and could only practice working the leather a bit. A good cobbler needed a lot of practice to get anything done, and much like Smith Ellen, it had been a while before she could produce anything of real use. Ellen had complained a little, but those complaints had faded of late. Merchant had wondered if she was all right, and she’d dismissed it because she was all right. She wasn’t sure the others could understand. Or maybe they could understand all too well, and Ellen was just embarrassed she hadn’t seen it before. Once she had actually gotten a little more practice with shoes and boots, Ellen’s doubts had faded. She hadn’t realized how complex the series of operations to make footwear was, since she’d only done crude sandals before. She should have known it was much more complicated, because good footwear was expensive. The cobbler and cordwainer were always important in a town, so of course the job wasn’t simple. Especially when she was both making and repairing them. Now she understood why the others were so happy in their roles. They could really explore the depth, just like she could. The stitching of sole to boot. The shaping of the leather. The countless steps in getting the leather to conform to the shape. The subtle adjustments of each to give greater comfort to each Ellen. Understanding the different needs between Hunter’s boots and Village Ellen’s casual shoes. Ellen was still an amateur at this, and wouldn’t say she was good at everything. That level of expertise at Level 11 would be impossible. But now that she was an actual Cordwainer —not some weird magical shoemaker, just a Cordwainer —she understood just how deep she could dive into this singular profession. She could savor each stitch, each curl of the leather, each subtle improvement in making the next shoe or boot, or in repairing a detached sole, or patching a worn hole. There was a certain beauty in the work, even if it was often smelly and far more exhausting than she’d imagined. The satisfaction of having made the product that most of her other selves barely appreciated was enough. It was as great or greater even than the feeling she’d had as Village Ellen when serving customers or cleaning the inn. Slowly, the workshop was coming together as well. It was more comfortable in here even when sometimes she had to deal with tools or storage the other Ellens used it for. In time, that would clear up. She knew that. For now she could focus on her task and throw herself into the problem. The door opened, and one of the quartet peeked in. Ellen wasn’t sure which one, but she had a pretty good guess from the curious expression. It was most likely Acolyte or Scholar. “I’m working on them,” she said automatically, lining up the awl. Scholar Ellen—she could now tell because of the outfit—stepped in and closed the door, looking around the workshop. “You’ve been pretty busy. We are glad you’re enjoying yourself, it’s good to be fully Ellen in being Ellen.” As usual, the Adventuring Party made Ellen’s head hurt, but she was used to it enoug