I returned Rodant’s bright, sunny smile with one of my own.
“Yes! May I come in, Teacher?”
Rodant asked politely.
After spending a whole week squeezed together in that cramped cell, we had grown quite attached. I ushered him inside.
“What brings you here so early, Rodant?”
I asked gently. Rodant fidgeted for a moment before speaking.
“Well… I thought you must have been really scared yesterday… I was worried about you.”
His words made me blink in surprise. Of course I had been startled, but I hadn’t expected a child like Rodant to be worrying about me.
“Uncle Richard—ah, no… Sir Richard pointed a gun at you.”
Ah, right. That had happened. How many people in the world ever get a gun held to their head and live to tell the tale? Yet somehow, in the chaos of everything else, I had already half-forgotten it.
Of course, I knew from the original story that Richard was a good person at heart—and how deeply he cared for Jin—so I harbored no resentment.
If anything… hadn’t Rodant been the one more shaken by the incident?
“I’m fine. Honestly, I wasn’t as scared as you’d think. What about you, Rodant? Are you okay?”
What if that moment had made him lose faith in the Liberators and derailed the entire story? The thought sent a shiver down my spine. Talk about the butterfly effect.
“I’m fine. The world’s always been like that, hasn’t it? If you want something badly enough, you end up doing worse things than that.”
Rodant said it with that same innocent, beaming smile.
For a second I felt like I’d been hit in the back of the head. What in the world was this child saying?
I stared at him blankly for a moment before remembering something I had completely overlooked: this boy had grown up in the brutal back alleys of the city.
“I’m used to things like that, but I thought you probably weren’t, Teacher. I’m glad you weren’t too scared.”
Rodant giggled brightly. Was it really okay to talk about this with such a cheerful expression? I found myself at a loss for words in the face of his incongruously sunny smile.
“Actually… I’m grateful to Sir Richard. He saved you before they could hang you.”
As he spoke, the corners of Rodant’s eyes reddened slightly. Realizing just how much he cared for me—for Astrid—made my chest tighten with emotion.
I reached out and gently ruffled his hair. Rodant’s face lit up with pure happiness.
It was shocking that a ten-year-old could think this way. To already see the world as a place where people did cruel things to get what they wanted… and yet, despite that, he still adored Astrid so much. I was overwhelmingly grateful.
“Have you made a lot of friends your age?”
I asked, trying to lighten the suddenly heavy atmosphere. Rodant nodded enthusiastically and launched into stories about the children he’d met.
His roommate was a boy named Benton—one of the more important supporting characters in the original. In a way, their dynamic might end up mirroring Jin and Richard’s: the clever Rodant paired with the physically strong Benton.
There was also Geno, the quick and dark-skinned boy who would one day manage the trading company, and Erin, gentle and cautious, destined to handle the internal affairs of the underground city.
Rodant chattered away happily for a long time until Finn came looking for him and practically dragged him out of the room. Apparently Finn had come all the way here because Rodant had disappeared right at breakfast time.
I watched him go with a complicated, bittersweet smile and waved until he disappeared down the corridor.
★
The first few days after arriving in the underground city passed in a whirlwind. As Jin’s attending physician, there was an endless list of things to do.
I barely had time to marvel at the artificial sun that rose in the morning and set at night.
First, I began meticulously recording every detail of Jin’s condition. I had always wanted to do this—fill out an actual patient chart. My heart raced with the thrill of finally feeling like a real doctor.
Whenever a coughing fit struck, I noted the exact time and duration. When he coughed up blood, I estimated the volume. I wasn’t sure how useful it would ultimately be, but still.
I tracked how much water he drank each day, how much food he managed to eat, how many hours he slept. I was basically turning into his stalker.
Next, I went through the medical books in my room. As expected, most were useless garbage, but a few proved genuinely valuable.
The most helpful by far was the Compendium of Herbal Medicine. Astrid’s memories contained some basic herbal knowledge, but far more was missing. This book filled in so many gaps.
Next came Types and Uses of Alchemical Reagents. Beyond herbs, quite a few monster parts had medicinal properties.
And the most unexpected find: Precautions During Phlebotomy. I never imagined it would be useful, yet it contained detailed anatomical diagrams showing the locations of major blood vessels. It even warned which organs must never be pierced and included enough basic anatomy to distinguish the trachea from the esophagus.
‘For a quack like me, this is pure gold.’
But above all else, the most urgent priority was helping Jin gain weight for the sake of his health. Absolutely not because he would look even more unfairly handsome with just a little more flesh—purely for medical reasons.
Betty and I put our heads together to strategize ways to increase his food intake. Step one: figure out why he avoided eating in the first place.
Which meant it was time for a proper patient interview—history-taking, onset, progression, the works.
Patient interview. Even the term made me giddy. I really felt like a doctor now!
“Jin, why don’t you eat much?”
I asked seriously, chart in my left hand, pen in my right. Jin, still too weak to sit up unaided, propped himself against the pillows with effort. He frowned slightly before answering.
“I lie in bed all day, so my digestion is terrible. And I cough up blood so often that there’s always this metallic taste in my mouth. It kills my appetite.”
A clear, articulate answer—exactly what you’d expect from such an intelligent patient. Satisfied, I recorded his response in smooth, elegant cursive. I could never have written like that in my old life, but Astrid’s handwriting was as beautiful as the rest of her.
First, I consulted with Rick and we came up with a solution for the lingering metallic taste: a mint-flavored gargle. I had no idea if the ingredients matched modern mouthwash exactly, but as long as it cleared away the blood aftertaste, it would do.
Rick really was a genius. Even when I explained things clumsily, he understood perfectly and produced exactly what I needed.
“…This is good. Rick made it?”
Jin, having tried the gargle himself, stared wide-eyed at the small bottle in his hand.
Hehe. I felt so proud.
“Does your appetite feel better now? I’ll bring lunch.”
My eyes sparkled with anticipation as I looked at him. Jin hesitated, clearly still reluctant. Come on, you fragile jellyfish—eat or you’ll die. You need nutrition so your immune system can fight back.
When he didn’t answer right away, I narrowed my eyes and clapped my hands sharply—clap, clap. Right on cue, the door opened and Betty entered carrying a tray of food.
