Contrary to my constant, gnawing fear that some mysterious, unknown disease had taken root in Jin—something I couldn’t even name—the nosebleed-and-collapse incident never repeated itself afterward.
Thankfully.
Well… the tachycardia still came and went. No—not came and went. It happened frequently. I was stuffing him full of every heart-healthy food I could think of, so why was this still happening?
“Sensei! Sensei!”
A sudden commotion erupted outside the clinic. I had been hunched over Jin’s chart, tallying up the latest tachycardia episodes, when I jumped and hurried out.
“Injured people are coming in, Doctor Ober!”
Injured…? Oh—right. Someone had mentioned there was a major operation today.
Thanks to the bulletproof vests Louie had fashioned from the tough dwarf-woven fibers, we hadn’t seen any seriously wounded patients up to now. It had been an enormous relief. If someone came in with a gunshot wound, I genuinely didn’t have the means to save them.
Soon the clinic was flooded. People with torn clothing and bleeding wounds poured in.
The worst case was a man whose forearm had been ripped open badly; blood was pouring out in alarming amounts. Richard was supporting him as they entered, and the patient looked in terrible shape.
Ugh… First things first: for heavy blood loss, elevate the legs about twenty centimeters to prevent shock, and keep the wound higher than the heart… Good—at least no major artery seemed to have been hit.
“…Hemostatic powder, hemostatic powder.”
I quickly sprinkled the bright white powder Rick had prepared over the wound. Honestly, without Louie and Rick I wouldn’t have been able to function as a doctor at all.
Even now I was relying on autoclave-sterilized gauze and the medicines Rick had concocted.
Fortunately, aside from that one critical patient, most of the injuries were minor. After disinfecting wounds and bandaging them, I finally let out a long breath.
“Thank you, Doctor.”
Richard spoke in his usual curt tone. He had been avoiding me ever since that day—as though he were angry with me—and yet here we were, unavoidably face-to-face.
I had been so focused on treating patients that only now did the unbearable awkwardness of the situation sink in.
“…I’ll be going.”
He turned to leave again, but that was when I noticed the small gash across his forehead, blood trickling down.
Wait—he was hurt too?
“Richard! Your wound—”
I reached out and caught the hem of his coat lightly. He flinched, raising a hand to cover the injury.
“I’m fine.”
He tried to walk out of the clinic anyway. This man—seriously! I raised my voice.
“If you go see Jin like that, bleeding all over yourself, he’ll worry himself sick. You know how bad worry is for your health, right?”
Richard froze mid-step at the threshold.
I had half-expected exactly that reaction. Heh. What an easy man to handle.
“…Then I’ll just get it patched up quickly.”
He trudged back and sat heavily in the chair. I sighed, picked up an alcohol-soaked cotton ball with forceps, and began cleaning the cut.
“Must have been a big fight.”
The silence between us was suffocating. I forced myself to speak, just to break it.
Richard stared at me blankly for a long moment before finally answering.
“Yes. It was.”
Wow, thanks for the detailed report, Richard-ssi. A one-word answer wasn’t going to help me carry the conversation. I gave up and let my mind wander instead.
That patient with the torn forearm really should have been sutured rather than just bandaged. But I didn’t know how to suture.
Hmm… maybe if I practiced, I could learn?
In my original life I had zero talent for sewing, but Astrid seemed to have been quite good at needlework. Maybe it would be fine.
Suture thread was usually synthetic fiber these days, but before synthetics existed, people used silk thread—silkworm silk, things like that. Even ordinary silk thread could be sterilized in the autoclave.
I knew this much from watching medical dramas across every era. New ones were fun, but the classics were just as good.
And the needles… curved, right? Like fishing hooks…
I should sketch it and ask Louie to make some. If possible, maybe pester—er, politely ask Rick to try producing a local anesthetic too. They say pig skin is similar enough to human for practice… I’d need to get some pig hide…
I was lost in these thoughts when my eyes suddenly met Richard’s.
His pale sky-blue eyes were trembling.
Come to think of it, this was the first time we had been this close, face to face. Up close, Richard really was incredibly handsome—maybe not quite on Jin’s level (entirely subjective taste, of course), but still.
To be precise, they were different types entirely.
If Jin was the fragile, melancholic, almost otherworldly kind of beauty, Richard was textbook handsome.
Thick, assertive brows. A straight, strong nose bridge. Sun-kissed healthy skin. Striking, almost overwhelming features. He looked like a perfectly cast bronze statue of some ancient hero.
“W-Why are you staring like that…?”
Richard’s face flushed red.
Oh—I had been openly studying his face without realizing it. Well, whose fault was it for having such a perfect forehead that got slashed open?
“S-Sorry…”
I hurriedly taped a gauze pad over the cut and pulled my hands away.
“All done, Richard.”
Flustered from being stared at so intently, he muttered a quick thank-you and practically fled the clinic.
I let out a long sigh. Why on earth had I been staring at Richard’s face like that?
Honestly, the moment I see someone beautiful or handsome, my brain just short-circuits. This fujoshi disease is terrifying.
The rest of the day passed tending to the more seriously injured. The one who’d lost so much blood would be weak for a while.
Sigh. In dramas, time-slipped doctors just run blood-type tests and do transfusions like it’s nothing. Meanwhile I… really am pathetic. I don’t even know exactly what the differences between blood types are.
I didn’t even know Astrid’s blood type. How was I supposed to match anyone else’s when I didn’t know my own? If Astrid were type O and not Rh-negative, she could donate to almost anyone…
Hmm… but I could at least make saline solution, right? Even a little IV fluid would help a lot.
Saline was 0.9%, wasn’t it? I wasn’t completely sure. Maybe I could donate a little of my own blood to Rick and ask him to analyze the salt concentration…
That meant adding more things to my to-do list for Louie: sterile bottles for saline, IV needles, tubing, suture needles…
…I was starting to feel less like a quack and more like someone dangerously overstepping. Was it really okay to be doing all this without any formal medical training?
I shook my head, left the clinic, and headed for the workshop.
★
Richard stepped out of the clinic forcing his pounding heart to calm down.
Astrid Ober… Why had she looked at his face so intently with those sparkling eyes?
Astrid really was an angelic woman. The rumors weren’t exaggerated. The angel of Aub Street truly looked like a wingless seraph who had descended from the heavens.
Of course, their relationship hadn’t started smoothly. There had been plenty of friction. Though it hadn’t been intentional, he had once pointed a gun at her—when Jin’s life had hung in the balance.
‘Get a grip, Richard. She’s… the woman Jin has feelings for.’
How utterly foolish.
Hearing Jin confess that he liked Astrid had made something inside him twist uncomfortably. After agonizing over it for a long time, Richard had finally realized the truth: he, too, harbored feelings for her.
How could he be so hopelessly stupid?
The first woman he had ever felt drawn to turned out to be the very woman his lord—his closest friend—had fallen for. What a cruel twist of fate.
Now that he understood his own heart, the only thing he could do was avoid her. He had to bury these feelings quickly.
“Jin, I’m back.”
Richard sighed and pushed open the greenhouse door. This was the place where his friend—his lord—Jin waited. The person he would give his life for without a moment’s hesitation.
But Jin was lying in a strange position: half his upper body hanging off the bed, back arched dramatically. It was a pose he used to strike often before he fell ill.
Why would he read a book in such an uncomfortable position? Richard couldn’t fathom it. But then again, Jin had always been far too brilliant for him to understand completely. There had to be some purpose.
“You’re back? Richard, how did it go?”
Jin asked without lifting his eyes from the page. He clearly believed Richard had succeeded.
But…
“I’m sorry. We couldn’t secure the armory.”
Richard dropped to one knee. Jin jerked upright reflexively.
To move so quickly from that contorted position—apparently Jin had developed abs after all. In the past, he couldn’t even sit up without Richard helping him. Seeing his friend so much healthier was joyful… and yet.
Today’s operation had been to seize an Imperial armory. But after fierce fighting, the Liberators had returned to the underground city empty-handed.
“You didn’t get it? Why? I calculated every variable…”
Jin’s face paled. And he was right—his plan had accounted for everything: weather, Imperial troop movements, even the physical condition of every combatant. And still they had lost.
“…The Black Spider got there first.”
They had stormed in expecting only Imperial forces—only to run straight into Black Spider operatives. Worse, the enemy had clearly anticipated the Liberators’ arrival. Jin’s meticulous plan had collapsed completely.
On the surface, the Black Spider and the Liberators shared the common enemy of the Empire. But in reality they were like oil and water—fundamentally incompatible.
Their goals were entirely different. The Black Spider sought to seize everything the Empire possessed for themselves. The Liberators fought for everyone’s freedom. Opposition was inevitable.
And there was another, hidden reason for their enmity—one known only to Jin, Richard, and a handful of others.
The moment the word “Black Spider” left Richard’s lips, Jin’s pupils shook violently.
“Jin, are you—”
Richard started toward the bed, but Jin suddenly began coughing so violently he could barely draw breath. It was the worst attack since his condition had begun to improve.
“Jin—Jin!”
Richard’s shout was almost a scream. Jack bolted from the greenhouse, face white with panic.
“Jin… Jin… I’m sorry. I…”
Richard’s vision blurred with tears. He hadn’t expected Jin to react so strongly. He had thought Jin’s body was strong enough now.
But…
“…Jin? Why all of a sudden…?”
Astrid came running, her own face ashen. Richard gripped the bedsheet so tightly his knuckles whitened, trying to anchor himself against the terror threatening to swallow him whole.
Jin would be fine. Astrid Ober was… a divine physician.
He repeated it to himself like a prayer, desperately willing it to be true.
