TQDRA 07

                                                                    Chapter…07

The morning of the second day in the underground city.

I woke up feeling refreshed. After spending a week cramped in a narrow prison cell with Rodent, the soft bed felt unbelievably welcoming.

On top of that, I had finally been able to properly wash myself with warm water after going more than a week without bathing in that foul-smelling prison. No wonder I slept so well.

Feeling completely refreshed, I sat at the desk and began planning what to do next. First of all, although I didn’t  know exactly what Jin’s illness was, my guess that it was a respiratory disease didn’t seem wrong.

There were cases where people coughed or vomited blood for reasons unrelated to the respiratory system, but bleeding from the esophagus or digestive organs usually came with vomiting, and the blood tended to be dark rather than bright red.

Jin’s blood was clear in color, and it came with coughing—so it was probably from the respiratory system.

“A respiratory illness…”

If it really was a respiratory problem, then even this dry air—which didn’t bother me at all—could be fatal for him. Maybe we needed a humidifier. If not, we could at least hang damp towels in his room.

Fortunately, ventilation here was quite good. Of course, the low hum of the massive ventilation system was loud, but not enough to be annoying.

Better a little noise than poor air circulation. If the space had bad ventilation, it would have been terrible for Jin’s health.

I was jotting down the things we needed when I heard a knock.

Who could it be this early in the morning?

I cracked the door open slightly and peeked outside. It was Rodent.

“Professor Ober!”

I was startled by Rodent’s bright smile. He had been cute even when he was covered in grime, but now that he was properly washed and dressed in clean clothes, he was dazzlingly adorable.

That noble-looking platinum blond hair! As expected of a male protagonist—he had a completely different aura. I could already imagine how handsome he’d become when he grew up.

“Rodent, did you sleep well?”

I smiled back at him.

“Yes! May I come in, Professor?”

Since we had spent a whole week together in that cramped space, I had grown quite attached to him. I led Rodent into the room.

“What brings you here so early, Rodent?”

He hesitated before speaking.

“I thought you might have been really shocked yesterday… so I was worried.”

“Hmm?” I couldn’t help but ask back.

Sure, I had been surprised, but I hadn’t expected a child like Rodent to worry about me.

“Mr. Richard—ah, I mean… Sir Richard—pointed a gun at you.”

Ah, right. That had happened.

Not many people go through life being threatened at gunpoint… and yet, I had already half-forgotten about it.

Of course, since I had read the original story, I knew Richard was a good person—and how deeply he cared about Jin—so I didn’t resent him.

If anything, wasn’t Rodent the one who might have been more shaken?

“I’m fine. I wasn’t as scared as you might think. What about you, Rodent? Are you okay?”

What if this made Rodent lose respect for the Liberator and messed up the story? The thought sent a chill down my spine. A butterfly effect, for real.

“I’m fine. That’s just how the world is, right? People do even worse things to get what they want.”

Rodent said this with a bright smile.

For a moment, I felt like I had been hit in the back of the head.

What was this child saying?

As I stared at him blankly, I suddenly remembered something I had overlooked—he had grown up in a rough back alley.

“I’m used to things like that, but I thought you weren’t, Professor. I’m glad you weren’t too shocked.”

Rodent chuckled.

I didn’t know whether it was okay for him to be smiling while saying something like that. His cheerful expression felt so out of place that I didn’t know what to say.

“To be honest, I’m grateful to Sir Richard. He saved you before you were executed.”

His eyes were slightly red as he spoke.

I realized then that Rodent—no, that he truly cared about Astrid. My chest tightened.

I reached out and gently patted his head, and he smiled happily.

It was shocking that a ten-year-old could think this way—that he believed the world was naturally like this. And yet, I was so grateful that he cared for Astrid so much.

“Have you met a lot of kids your age?”

Trying to lighten the mood, I asked.

Rodent nodded enthusiastically and began talking about the friends he had made.

His roommate was a boy named Benton, who was quite an important character in the original story. In a way, their relationship might become like Jin and Richard’s—Rodent, the smart one, and Benton, who was strong in combat.

There were others too: Geno, dark-skinned and quick, who would later lead a merchant group, and Erin, kind and cautious, who would handle the underground city’s internal affairs.

Rodent chatted happily for a while before being dragged out of the room by Finn, who had come looking for him since it was breakfast time.

Watching him leave, I waved with a faint, complicated smile.

The next few days in the underground city passed in a blur.

There was so much to do as Jin’s attending physician.

I barely had time to marvel at the artificial sun that rose in the morning and set at night.

First, I began recording every detail of Jin’s condition.

I had always wanted to try this—writing patient charts. It made my heart race, like I had truly become a doctor.

Whenever his coughing worsened, I recorded when and how long the coughing fits lasted. If he coughed up blood, I noted the amount. I didn’t know if it would help, but still.

I also recorded how much water he drank, how much he ate, and how long he slept.

I felt like a stalker.

Then I went through the medical books in my room. As expected, most of them were useless—but a few were worth keeping.

The most helpful was The Great Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine. Astrid’s memories contained some knowledge of herbs, but there was far more she didn’t know. This book was incredibly useful.

Next was a book called Types of Alchemical Materials and Their Uses. Besides herbs, many monster remains also had medicinal properties.

The last one was an unexpected gem: Precautions When Performing Bloodletting. I hadn’t expected it to be helpful, but it included diagrams showing the major blood vessels in the human body.

It even explained the positions of organs that could be fatally damaged if handled incorrectly, and enough anatomy to distinguish between the trachea and esophagus.

“For a quack like me, there’s no better book than this.”

But above all, the most important thing was helping Jin gain weight for his health.

Not because I thought he’d look even more handsome with a bit more flesh—absolutely not. This was purely for his health.

Betty and I put our heads together to figure out how to increase his food intake. First, we needed to find out why he avoided eating.

So, I decided to conduct a medical interview.

Just saying the term made my heart flutter. I really felt like a doctor!

“Jin, why don’t you eat much?”

Holding a chart in my left hand and a pen in my right, I asked seriously.

Jin, still too weak to properly sit up, leaned against the pillow and frowned slightly before answering.

“I lie down all day, so my digestion is bad. And since I cough up blood often, the metallic taste lingers in my mouth… I don’t have much appetite.”

A clear, intelligent answer—just like a smart patient.

Satisfied, I wrote it down in elegant cursive. My original self could never have written like this, but Astrid’s handwriting was as beautiful as her appearance.

First, I discussed a solution with Rick to get rid of the lingering taste of blood. We made a mint-flavored gargle.

I didn’t know if it matched modern mouthwash ingredients, but as long as it removed the taste, it was fine.

Rick really was a genius. Even when I explained things poorly, he understood perfectly and created exactly what I wanted.

“…This is good. Rick made it?”

After trying it, Jin looked surprised as he examined the bottle.

Nice.

“So, does your appetite feel a bit better? I’ll bring lunch.”

Heart pounding, I looked at him expectantly.

Jin hesitated for a long time, still reluctant to eat.

But seriously—you have to eat to live. Your immune system needs strength to fight the illness.

I narrowed my eyes and clapped twice.

The door opened, and Betty came in with the meal.

It was something we had worked very hard on—a special soup made from finely blended vegetables that were easy to digest, based on research I had done back when I worked at a company. With Betty’s cooking skills, it tasted great too.

I watched intently as Jin took a spoonful.

“…It’s good.”

Relief washed over both Betty and me.

For now, I believed his digestive system had weakened after prolonged illness. We would rebuild his strength with easily digestible foods first, then help him gain weight once his stomach recovered.

The problem was that no matter how good the food was, he stopped after just a few bites.

“Why did you stop eating?”

We worked so hard on this!

“I’m full.”

Full? From a few spoonfuls of thin vegetable soup?

I sighed.

“You’re not allowed to do anything until you finish it. You know Rodent is waiting to study with you, right? If you don’t finish this, no lessons with Rodent and no meeting with Richard this afternoon.”

This felt less like treating a patient and more like coaxing a child to eat.

Jin made a troubled face.

Honestly, I felt like crying too.

With a sigh, he took a few more bites.

Good.

But then—he stopped again.

“Why?”

Every mealtime was a battle.

“…My arm hurts.”