I Built This City Chapter 29: Chapter 29

Read chapter 29 of I Built This City by ThePudding on NovelPedia.

Merchant Ellen Witnessing it happen was the worst part. Ellen winced as Builder Ellen hit the floor. The hard stone did not yield, and while she didn’t see too much blood, the sharp cracking noise wasn’t a good sign. She looked away quickly, clapping a hand over her mouth. She remembered killing a goblin and the desperate fight there. Even if she’d chosen to be the merchant for the group of Ellens, she still had a history as a previous Adventurer Ellen. The stress of combat hadn’t hardened her to the idea of death, though. If anything, Ellen thought she might have lost her taste for violence because of those memories. Healer Ellen was already rushing to Builder Ellen’s side, and in turn Apprentice Ellen was following, a distraught look on her face. Ellen looked away, and in a strange way that let her know that there was no helping the fallen girl. She knew Builder Ellen was dead. She knew this because she saw the blankets underneath the stretched-out cloth of the tent material bulge upward into two lumps, with only a faint glimmering at the top forming into two tumbles of red hair. It was such a quick moment that Ellen almost missed it by blinking, so close it was to being instant. Ellen had been through waking up like that three times now. She’d thought she’d handled the most recent one well, but that was nothing compared to the two new Ellens that sat up in bed while the others were fretting over Builder Ellen. The two new girls looked at one another, then looked around at what was happening… and immediately got to work getting dressed. Clothes were in a box next to the ‘bed’ under the tent, and Ellen watched as, without a word, one of the new Ellens rummaged in the box, passed a new set of clothes over to her new twin, and then pulled one out for herself. As the two started to get dressed, they finally caught the attention of the others when they spoke. “Mason or Carpenter?” One said to the other. The second glanced at the wall next to her, making a decision on the spot. “I’ll be Mason.” “Got it,” the other replied. “I’ll be Carpenter Ellen.” Healer Ellen looked up, worry in her expression. “Sorry I couldn’t do anything to save you. At least it looks like you didn’t suffer.” “There are worse ways to go,” Mason Ellen said as she tugged her hair out from the collar of her shirt. “Merchant Ellen, do you mind telling me where to take the donkey? I want to go down to the village and see if they have a mason to learn a few things from, see if I can’t pick up a specific Perk like Apprentice Ellen managed.” Ellen frowned at the two. “You seem to have really quickly settled into your roles. Did you plan ahead in case this happened? Not that it isn’t a good idea I guess, but I feel a little uncomfortable planning for our own deaths.” “Oh it’s nothing like that,” Carpenter Ellen reassured. She crawled out from under the tent fabric, slipping on some sandals kept nearby just in case an Ellen died. “I—or I guess we—had been thinking about how it would be useful if we could pick up some masonry-related knowledge anyway. So when I woke up I thought that would be a natural way to go. Mason Ellen agreed with me because, well…” “I’d thought the same thing,” Mason Ellen finished. She also crawled out and stood up, stretching lazily. “So when Carpenter Ellen asked, I just had to figure out which one I wanted. Nice of you to give me the choice by the way.” Carpenter Ellen smiled. “Well, not that nice. I just couldn’t decide! So I forced it on you.” They both laughed, and Ellen shook her head at the lightheartedness the pair had, considering their corpse was only a few yards away and still warm. The worst part was… she couldn’t even blame them. She’d put together her plan within minutes of waking up as well, and it was wildly divergent from her twin’s. Ellen glanced over at a clattering noise, to find Hunter Ellen wasn’t in sight. The realization that the pulley anchor setup was already on the other side clicked just then. She got the meaning im