I Built This City Chapter 5: Chapter 5

Read chapter 5 of I Built This City by ThePudding on NovelPedia.

It was super weird to watch herself ducking into the cave. Ellen wished she’d had enough to buy two pairs of boots, but even if the two of them had raised the money, it took time to make quality boots. It even took time to make a sloppy pair of boots, and those wouldn’t be good enough for the rough inside of a cave. Without a weapon, she couldn’t meaningfully contribute anyway. Maybe she could hold the lantern, but she’d be basically helpless. “Maybe I should have become a cobbler,” she grumbled aloud. She watched as Ellen Two, now freshly-equipped with a pair of boots, tied off the lantern at her side. It was a small, cheap, battered lantern, but it kept her hands free. The two of them didn’t remember how the trip had gone, but they’d had to face the idea that they’d somehow died in there, since they didn’t have their equipment when they woke up. When they’d put some thought into it, they’d realized that trying to use a spear while holding a torch had probably been a bad idea. “Okay, I’ll be back as soon as I’ve found what happened,” Ellen Two said quietly. She didn’t want to shout, in case the goblin was in there and could hear them. If they were lucky, it wasn’t in there and they could retrieve their equipment. Then the two of them could team up. Even with her Laborer Class, Ellen was sure she’d be a help since she was somewhat skilled with knife and spear now. “Be careful,” Ellen quietly called after her other self. The bright smile she was sent back before Ellen Two ducked into the entrance was nice. She was starting to see why people in her hometown said she had a nice smile. She really did look more lively when she did that. She let out a long sigh as her double vanished from sight. She knew she couldn’t follow. Her sandals were barely hanging on already, and her feet were sore from hiking up from the campsite. They were good sandals—durable yet lightweight—but they didn’t have the support or protection for extended trips in the forest, or climbing up the mountain. Even an old, gentle, and small mountain like this. This mountain was a “bald” mountain, with the top quarter or so mostly barren stone and rocky dirt with a few stubborn strands of grass or shrubs clinging to it. The cave was just where this rockiness started, sloping down into the mountain—close enough to the tree line that the trees hid the entrance from below. It did make the wind more fierce, a chilling gust that cut through her. She didn’t have a cloak, but fortunately it was a warmer day than the last time. No reason not to find one of the larger rocks and take a seat, resting her walking stick across her lap. She wiggled her toes as she looked down, wincing at the dirty, scuffed feet from hiking in the sandals. There was a gash on the side of her left foot that she hadn’t even noticed before, the pain just a distant part of the jumble of aches she’d collected during her trip up the mountain. “It’s just one goblin,” she grumbled. “It’s not like a Dungeon Break.” Wouldn’t that be something? A full-fledged Dungeon forming here in the mountains, right here and now! Though as she thought that over, she realized that would be terrible. She also realized she should be watching the approach to the cave in case the goblin really was out, so she could… what? Stop it? Warn Ellen Two? She rummaged around in the scree beneath her feet until she found a nice, hefty rock about half the size of her fist, then stacked it to the side and looked for another. If she had to fend off an oncoming goblin, a few good throwing rocks would be great. A sling would be better, though. Ellen made a mental note to look into learning how to use a sling. Ellen Two crept through the narrow tunnel with the caution born of a girl who knew—just knew —she had died here before. Her other self created some theories otherwise, but she was just being hopeful. That was fine, though. Ellen Two wasn’t all that happy about having the ‘Two’ on her name, but if the other Ellen got to stay optimistic