Chương 89: (B2.25)

25) Theodore The reactions of the people in the common room were evenly split. The locals, such as the innkeeper and the two young helpers that had come in to aid in handling the sudden surge of customers, continued on as if nothing strange had just happened. The adventurers—including the ones who had just started the fight—had varying reactions of befuddlement and uncertainty. Theodore's thoughts flashed back to what he'd seen a few nights before.

Floating in the air, he'd noticed that the figures in the small hamlet nearby looked similar, but the quartet of identical girls that marched into the inn were beyond similar. Equipped differently, covered in grime, and with varied hairstyles… but clearly identical. He'd thought Bea to be a twin to Trisha, the one wearing glasses, despite their subtle differences. Twins often diverged over time, he knew that and had even known several over the years.

The four identical adventurers took their seats at the table right next to him, and the local girl—Camilla—was already on her way over with some drinks. They hadn't even ordered yet, so they were clearly regulars. Bea clearly knew them, and she slid over to Theodore's table to flash a smile to the four duplicates there.

"How did your dungeon run go, girls?" Bea asked. Theodore had already noticed that the quartet had called her "Vil" instead of Bea. Her familiarity was… concerning. The four girls looked up as one… and rotated their replies.

"About the usual."

"Still looking for the best way to finish what we're doing."

"We took down the floor two boss today."

"Just for the experience." Bea smiled as Camilla set out the drinks.

"Great to hear! Maybe you can pair up with the Thorns and get that whole mess done. I have a feeling it will need taken care of soon, you know." She glanced at her sister in the glasses, who appeared completely unsurprised.

"Maybe," the bespectacled girl answered with a shrug.

"It's unclear how much of the recent growth is due to the mana plume and how much is due to other factors. I'd also have preferred you waited to do this. We still haven't heard from Whisper and Stage."

"WHAT IN THE BLOODIED ABYSS IS THIS?!" the woman with the scar over her eye yelled out. Several of the other adventurers were on their feet now, hands on their weapons.

"I will remind you that you were told to leave," Bea replied to the outburst.

"And for everyone else, I think you should all remember that starting a fight here is not a good idea. The Adventuring Party here are hardly the only versions of me wandering around." The woman opened her mouth, then glanced at the gawking Bran next to her. Murmuring started to grow around the room." Ahem," the redhead with the glasses cleared her throat.

"I can increase the fine if it will provide further incentive. The rest of you, please sit down. I can assure you that this is very normal for the town. The other versions of me are the ones who decided to go adventuring. Nothing strange about that. I much prefer just keeping the books in order."

"Do you need us to kick out these guys?" one of the quartet sitting at the table asked.

"It wouldn't be a problem," another added.

"We're going!" the woman said quickly. Bran picked up his unconscious friend as the others followed, casting fearful glances at the four new girls.

"H-hey, uh…" the young man helping with the service stammered.

"This is normal, they're just from um… a nearby place where they all look like that. We're used to it. Who wants more stew?" Theodore watched all of this, but didn't dare turn on his mage sight for it. Instead, he threaded his fingers together and frowned, mind racing at the clones there. If someone was cloning the girl, it would explain some things. Obviously "Vil" or the bespectacled one were the originals… or were they? They seemed strangely different in abilities compared to clones.

The problem was, most adventurers weren't going to let it go at that. The threat of losing access to the dungeon kept them from immediately raising an objection, but most of the eyes in the room were on the lounging quartet of girls. Theodore was a bit sharper than that, so he saw a seventh identical girl slip in through the back, making her way quietly over to his table. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"I'm sure you have the smartest questions, sir," she said in a low voice. Louder, she addressed the room.

"I see you've all met the Adventuring Party! If you have questions about the dungeon, they've run the first two floors several times!"

"No charge for that advice," the girl in the glasses added as if that were the most normal thing to say. As the room burst into confused babbling, Theodore leaned in to speak quietly, "What are you?"

"Human, as far as I know," she answered.

"You can call me Merchant or Founder, if you want. Over there is Bookkeeper, whom you've already met. And Bea is just another name for Village, or Vil if we're being casual. The Adventuring Party is a little strange, but they do have their own names. I'll introduce you later." Theodore opened his mouth to protest, but she held up a finger and shook her head.

"I know what you were really asking," Merchant assured.

"And I can't say because I don't really know. Leona told us it'd be best to stop hiding it before we got flooded with more adventurers, and I think she's right. Yes, we're sort of like clones, but we don't decay. Whatever is causing the dungeon to expand is also making us duplicate, and no we don't know how to stop it, though we can delay it and usually prevent it from happening if we're careful." It wasn't hard for Theodore to put a few things together then.

"The mana surges… they happen when you duplicate," he theorized, rubbing at his beard.

"What exactly are you doing to keep the dungeon from breaking open then? This is a dangerous situation, one you may not be prepared for." Merchant gestured toward one of the quartet of girls currently surrounded by adventurers loudly asking impolite questions about their abilities.

"You'll have to ask Scholar about the details, but she has a plan to keep it from expanding too much and siphon off some of its mana. We also have a few other tricks that will probably help, but we're still figuring those out. This is why we want someone from the Academy staying here. We need help learning how to deal with all of this." Theo hadn't missed that Leona had advised them. He scowled at the thought that she'd kept this from him, but since she'd advised them to reveal themselves, he let it slide for now.

The bigger question was how they interacted… and though his eyes followed the group, it was too complex or subtle for even him to grasp. The Village girl finally managed to squeeze past the crowd to slide Theodore another serving.

"How's it going with the chat?" she asked lightly.

"It's a bit of a mess, isn't it?" Merchant shrugged to her near-twin, who flashed a friendly smile and swept back into the crowd as if that simple shrug were all the information she needed. Merchant didn't say a word before turning back to Theodore and looking at him expectantly. It took a few moments before he could compose a reply.

"The situation is more serious than you may know," he finally settled on telling her.

"Unless it is stopped, the explosive growth of the dungeon could be worse than a dungeon break. In fact, if it gets much worse, you may need to allow the break just to keep a worse destabilization from happening."

"We know more than you think," Merchant countered with a frown.

"Though if I'd have known how messy it would get, I'd never have made the dungeon public when I did. In hindsight, we really should have run to find a sage right away… though I guess we didn't really have the equipment to do that so we weren't really set up for a long journey like that." Theodore held up a hand.

"On that note… you said your clones don't decay? How old is the oldest? Who is the original? Is she still alive?" The flurry of questions was probably unfair, but he was more interested in answers than anything else.

"The oldest?" Merchant tilted her head as if surprised at the barrage of queries.

"Hmm… that would probably be Village. She's about six months old now, I think. Bookkeeper probably knows for sure, or Vil herself. No signs of decay… if anything she's even stronger than when she started." She laid her hands on the table and sighed, "As for the original… the body is dead, but memories live on. Asking which of us is the original is a difficult question that might start an argument for some of us. A-P definitely isn't, and they admit it, but Village might be the closest. Maybe Hunter…

it really is hard to say." Loud laughter drowned out anything more Theodore had to say for a few moments, drawing his eyes over to the table next to him. The four redheads were speaking in rapid sequence, and sometimes all at once, as if linked in their minds. He found it a little disturbing, but the various adventurers had seen it as a party trick or something, judging from their laughter and requests for another trick or two. Theo had never really liked adventurers. They could never treat anything seriously.

This was a unique event that had never occurred in recorded history, as far as he could tell… and they were treating it as a game. Irreverent fools, all of them.

"Why come talk to me?" Theodore asked suspiciously, once the noise had quieted a little. They'd kept the secret this long, and while he was sure it would have been revealed eventually they likely could have waited until he was gone. He presumed they wanted something from him, but they'd already agreed to the terms for an Academy branch. Merchant merely shrugged and laughed, "Because if we hadn't, you would have been angry you hadn't been told? We aren't fools, Professor Mage. Well, most of us aren't.

Besides, something very strange is going on and it's better to identify our allies earlier rather than later, don't you think?" He frowned, but couldn't fault that logic.

"Yes, a lot of very strange things here…"

"Oh not that," Merchant objected. She paused and frowned.

"Well, not entirely that, though yes it's very strange. With a new dungeon everything will be a mess for a while, and we are pretty sure people are acting um… without much sense."

"Irrationally?" he filled in. She nodded.

"Yes, that. We need to find a way to get the dungeon under control fast, or things will just get even worse. It's growing too quickly and it's forcing us to act, so ah… don't be surprised if there are some strange happenings from this village soon. Do you think you could prepare the Academy for that? We have something a lot more important to deal with." Theodore frowned.

"More important to deal with than preparing the Academy, or the dungeon?" Merchant sighed.

"Both. If we're coming out here, I think it's time for us to finally tell my parents."