I Built This City Chapter 67: Chapter 67

Read chapter 67 of I Built This City by ThePudding on NovelPedia.

Scout Ellen Ellen tried to put aside her grumpiness, with only partial success. The dungeon was going to be busy, so she and her other selves couldn’t just drop in whenever they wanted. That part didn’t bother her. The fact that she and the others had to split up and do different jobs? That was irksome. It wasn’t that she couldn’t work individually. Ellen knew that the other Ellens viewed her relationship with the rest of Adventurer as strange, bordering on unnatural. She couldn’t help that. What they couldn’t understand is that while she could sync up and work as a unit with her trust of the others, too much time away meant she needed some time to readjust to working with the others. She knew the other three had similar problems. Just as people who weren’t Ellen had trouble spotting the differences between each Ellen, so too did the Other Ellens struggle to spot the differences between Adventurer Ellens. To one another, their divergences were huge and sometimes difficult to ignore. Ellen still wasn’t sure why the Ellens inevitably ended up acting differently. Her Scholar said it was likely due to the change in perspective their Class gave them, or even what small lessons and experiences they had when separate. Just one more reason to avoid being away for too long. The Briar Thorns were already approaching the dungeon, guided by Hunter. Ellen had been told that the party knew about the Ellens to some degree, so she wasn’t surprised to see Mason, Fighter, Acolyte, and Cobbler also there. The four of them were digging out some areas and laying stones as directed by Mason, as they’d been doing every non-rainy day this spring so far. Most of the foundation was complete already, though Ellen wondered if they weren’t making it too large to finish quickly. All three of the Thorns were looking over the collected Ellens doing their work with varying degrees of concern, but it was Edmund who spoke first. “There’s more than five? How… how many sisters do you have?” The swordsman scratched at his jaw, a frown of uncertainty on his face. Ellen glanced at Hunter, who just shrugged. Hunter had never actually met the Thorns until today, so probably didn’t know anything about them. After a moment of thought, Ellen loosened up enough to answer with some humor. “Miriam did warn me you liked to flirt,” Ellen replied, walking forward with a smile. “You shouldn’t ask a girl about her bodies until you’ve been courting her for a while, you know.” Edmund halted and stared at Ellen, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. Miriam’s eyes widened, her face turning red… a blush that Ellen had never seen on the woman before. Even Vincent had a strange reaction… for him. The quiet healer smirked and let out a sensible chuckle at her playful prodding. Ellen gave a light smile to the group. “I’m Ellen, and yeah… I remember going into the cave with you before. Hopefully this time you won’t need to save me.” She patted her side where her long knife hung. “Last time I was a Fighter , but I’m Level 12 now, approaching Level 13. My Class is Shadow Striker , and I’ve run through the first two floors multiple times with a different group. I haven’t tried to beat the floor boss of the second floor yet.” That shook Edmund out of his stupor fast enough. “I’ve never heard of that Class, but since we requested something like a Hunter I’m guessing that’s you?” He looked toward Hunter. “Though you seemed like you were pretty light on your feet.” “I’m a Landkeeper ,” Hunter answered. “Closer to a Druid than anything suited for a dungeon. You’ll find a lot of us Ellens have strange Classes. Just take care of my sister, all right? It was nice to meet you, finally… the Ellens that had met you told me things, but I never adventured with you.” Ellen fell into step with the Briar Thorns. “I suggest we just sweep the first floor today, so we can get used to working together. I normally partner with other Ellens, so I know exactly what they’re going to do, but last time I was ju