"What do you think of that kid? Rodent."
To shift the heavy mood, he changed the subject.
Jin gave a slight smile, as if appreciating Rishar's effort.
"Hm, he's a very sharp kid. I'm thinking of teaching him myself. He reminds me of myself as a child."
Rishar snorted again at Jin's words.
"What kid could be as brilliant as you were as a child."
As Rishar countered, Jin said playfully.
"Yeah, you're right. He's a bit less clever than I was, but he's still smart. With good teaching, he might even succeed me."
Looking at Jin like that, Rishar felt uneasy again. Jin's expression had darkened.
"If I have enough time to teach him, that is..."
Jin's wistful voice scattered into the air.
* * *
"This is Lui, our engineer sis."
As Rick introduced her, a woman with fiery orange-red hair extended her hand to me.
Her active short cut was quite striking. Most women in this era had long hair. Including me.
I took Lui's hand, dressed in overalls with suspenders, and she shook it vigorously up and down.
"Hello, Ober Teacher. I've heard a lot about you from Rick."
Her freckled face and olive eyes gave a cheerful impression. She looked about Rick's age, and it was hard to believe this young woman had developed Rishar's revolver.
The Liberators were full of geniuses. Jin, Rick, and Lui too.
"Hello. I'm Astrid Ober, Miss Lui. Looking forward to working with you."
I smiled back at the friendly, grinning Lui.
"Ah, by the way, how does the bathroom plumbing work?"
I might not understand Lui's explanation any better than Rick's, but curiosity was curiosity. It was a question I'd never had in the modern world.
"Speak comfortably, Teacher. I'm just a year older than Rick, but still young."
Lui said brightly. After dealing with all those burly men, chatting with a girl close in age felt so refreshing.
"R-Really? Okay."
As I stammered into casual speech, Lui grinned and led me to the bathroom. She then pried open the wall to show me.
Curiously, glowing circuits like electronics were etched inside the wall. And there were brilliantly shining red and blue gems too.
"See this?"
Lui pointed at the gems with her finger. I nodded slightly.
"These are water-attribute mana stones. They produce clean water. And this one's a fire-attribute mana stone. It heats the water to the desired temperature."
I could only nod blankly at Lui's explanation. It seemed like a product of magitech, different from science.
"Can you use it permanently with these? Amazing."
Mana stones. Something I hadn't even imagined.
"Hm, no. When the charged mana runs out, you have to replace them."
Lui answered.
It was like batteries, apparently. But weren't mana stones super expensive?
"Aren't mana stones expensive? Is it okay to use them in every room like this?"
Rebels and anti-government forces somehow had this poor image. But coming to the Underground City showed it was all prejudice.
Honestly, life here looked much better than Astrid's past.
"It's fine. Mana stones are everywhere here. There's a mana stone mine next door. And the Leader has incredible foresight. He's invested in various businesses and makes a lot of money."
I couldn't help but make a weary face at Lui's words. Jin, aren't you too overpowered? Making money too?
Of course, the original mentioned funding rebels through business. Rodent rebuilt the Liberators by running a trading company. But they'd been doing it since Jin's time.
The reason such a massive rebel group would collapse without one leader clicked instantly. Honestly, this was a malformed organization running on Jin alone.
"Ah, and Lui. One more thing I'm curious about—how did you make the gun Rishar uses?"
No matter how I thought about it, Rishar's weapon was far more advanced than this world's firearms.
(firearms)
I couldn't help but wonder.
Lui scratched her cheek awkwardly at my question.
"Ah, that was me recreating a weapon the dwarves used. The Leader helped translate some of the records they left. It's a completely extinct script, so even he doesn't know it perfectly..."
As I nodded blankly at Lui's answer—
"Ober Teacher, Ober Teacher!"
At the commotion from outside the bathroom, I hurried out with a flustered face.
"Jin...! Let's go, quick."
Rishar grabbed me and pulled me along.
What was going on? What happened to Jin? I rushed after Rishar.
He walked so fast that by the time we reached Jin's room, I was panting, huffing and puffing. That showed how urgent Rishar was. With a tense face, I entered the room.
*Cough, cough.* Along with the tremendous coughing, the sight before me left me stunned. Jin, lying in bed, was coughing as if his breath might give out. And... bright red blood stained the bedsheet and his mouth.
'Agh! You laid a hemoptysis patient flat like this? What if his airway gets blocked?'
I rushed over and turned Jin onto his side. Then I panicked, not knowing what to do next.
Should I rub his back? With trembling hands, I gently stroked Jin's back. It was so emaciated that I could feel every vertebra.
After a long bout of coughing up blood, Jin's breathing eased a bit. The bleeding seemed to have stopped. Rishar, anxiously standing by, let out a sigh of relief.
"In the future, if he coughs severely or spits up blood, don't lay him flat right away. Blood could block his airway and... be dangerous."
About to say 'kill him,' I caught Rishar's eyes wavering and quickly changed my words. It wasn't a lie—his heart visibly dropped.
"...What's with all the fuss. No need to call the doctor."
A dying rasp came from Jin's throat.
Fuss? You could actually die like this.
'Ah, his bronchi must be inflamed; his throat hurts.'
Suddenly, I recalled drama scenes where severe coughing and hemoptysis led to sore throat agony. Warm water might help.
Come to think of it, something was off. For someone of Jin's position, shouldn't there be attendants nearby? And Jin was a patient, a critical one who couldn't move alone.
Yet no one assisting in the room since earlier. Helplessly, I asked Rishar for water.
"Rishar, could you get a glass of warm water? And why are there no attendants? From now on, keep someone by his side. It's dangerous alone."
Rishar glanced at me, nodded quietly, and left the room. Jin stared at me intently.
"I don't keep attendants. Humans are all the same—why make others serve me?"
Jin said hoarsely with effort.
I couldn't help but look surprised. A bit touched, even.
In this era, treatment varied wildly by status. There were slaves not even treated as human, and Solter III wielding power above all.
And my old era? Equal on the surface, but those with money and power bossing underlings was normal.
Yet this man Jin, called the King of the Underground City, said he didn't want to make others serve him.
What kind of guy is he? Gruff speech, but pretty words. I struggled to manage my expression. Ahem. He's a patient before me. Not a man—a patient. Patient...
"You're a patient. This is necessary care. If you hate making others serve, get healthy fast. So you can do it all yourself."
Rishar, back with water, handed the glass to Jin and nodded in agreement.
"Ober Teacher's right, Jin. I've told you being alone is dangerous. I'll assign a few kids without missions yet."
Jin drank the water from Rishar with a displeased look. He pondered deeply for a while, then spoke.
"...Fine. I'll do as the Teacher says."
Fortunately, his voice sounded more human. I sighed in relief. An emergency right after arriving—worrying for me and Jin's future.
