"I'm embarrassed. Getting such praise from you, Teacher."
Lui scratched the back of her head with a sheepish hee-hee laugh. Aah, Lui's too cute. I want to adopt her as a little sister.
"By the way, Lui. How long have you been with the Liberators?"
I knew Rick had left Aub Street five years ago and settled in the Underground City, meaning he'd joined the Liberators around then, but I knew nothing about Lui.
"Lui sis is a founding member."
Rick primly interjected into our conversation. Founding member? I looked at Lui with a baffled expression.
"Uh... I don't actually remember that well. It was when I was five. When the Leader and Rishar left the village they lived in to found the Liberators, they brought me along too."
I blankly counted the years on my fingers as I listened to Lui. If she was five... then Jin and Rishar were sixteen?
In this world, women became adults at eighteen and men at nineteen. That meant Jin and Rishar had founded the Liberators well before reaching adulthood. Truly impressive.
"I hear I was originally the daughter of the blacksmith in the village where the Leader and Rishar lived. But when the two of them fled, they took me with them."
My face grew increasingly stiff as I listened to Lui. Wait, isn't that kidnapping a child? Why abduct a kid living fine with her parents?
"Lui, don't you miss your parents?"
I asked cautiously, and Lui gasped 'Ah!' covering her mouth before grabbing my hand tightly.
"N-No! Teacher, you mustn't misunderstand. They didn't kidnap a healthy, well-growing child. My father was... a really bad man."
Lui pleaded earnestly.
But my mind only grew more confused. What is this? Stockholm syndrome? Has she been captive so long she's psychologically aligned with her kidnappers?
"I don't remember well, but thinking back, only painful memories come up. I have no recollection of eating food my father gave me. I'd beg on the streets or sneak quick bites from the kitchen when he was asleep."
Lui said calmly. Listening to her, I grew increasingly fidgety, not knowing what to do. Had I touched on her trauma?
"And... he used a lot of violence too."
I was nearly in tears. Don't tell such stories so dryly, Lui. I wanted to ask about her mother too, but worried it'd reopen wounds, so I shut my mouth.
"So, those two are my benefactors. Please don't misunderstand."
I nodded desperately at Lui's words.
Pitying Lui on one hand, Jin and Rishar seemed even more amazing. Founding the Liberators young and rescuing a poor village girl too.
They're truly righteous people. That's what I thought.
* * *
"That's it, drink it all up! Don't leave a drop! I'll check."
Watching Jin obediently take the medicine I offered made me want to hum a tune. Time flew—nearly two months since I'd arrived here.
In that time, Jin had gained some weight. No scale, so not exact, but maybe 3kg.
Still so skinny he might topple if poked, but at least escaping the skeleton look a bit.
Thanks to that, I couldn't face Jin without a mask anymore. Gaining weight made his beauty bloom. Inhale—Jin! Exhale—handsome! But if I said that aloud, what would he tease me about?
"You're doing your exercises steadily, right?"
I asked Jin. 'Exercise' meant Rishar carrying him around the room once before back to bed, but it'd been about three weeks since I prescribed it.
Thanks to that, he could now sit up alone without support. Though not for long.
"Of course, Doc. Doing exactly as ordered. Taking meds well too, right?"
Jin boasted.
'No, that's because I had them fruit-flavored and tasty, Jin kid.' The retort nearly slipped out, but I swallowed it.
"Let's do a stethoscope check."
I plugged the stethoscope into my ears and sat before Jin. He unbuttoned his loose shirt without protest. Over a month since seeing another man's bare chest—no thrill anymore. Just 'skinny.'
I placed the diaphragm on his chest. Two months in, a surprising change: I could now somewhat distinguish his breath sounds.
Bubbling like boiling foam meant lots of phlegm; much wheezing meant he struggled to breathe.
"...Oh dear."
I groaned softly. The problem: his condition worsened daily. Bubbling lessened somewhat with the expectorant, but breathing grew rougher, harder.
Gaining stamina yet faster breathing—hard to call improvement. I sighed deeply.
"Not looking good, huh, me."
Jin said self-mockingly. My heart sank. Forgot the flounder before me had feelings.
"...No. About the same."
I lied pointlessly. He'd see through it from my eyes anyway.
After charting the results, a sigh escaped. For respiratory issues, oxygen's best—but impossible here.
No matter how genius Lui and Rick, telling folks without elemental concepts 'make oxygen!' would just confuse them.
Odd world. Ice, fire, water, lightning, light, darkness mana stones galore—why no air? Even if, it'd be 80% nitrogen air, not pure oxygen.
'Electrolysis on water maybe.'
Water mana stone plus lightning? I knew water splits to oxygen and hydrogen, but not how. So, just absurd imaginings.
Then, a smack-to-the-head idea. Duh, idiot me! Why hadn't I thought of it sooner?
Nature endlessly produces oxygen: plants. Photosynthesis! Pitiful, only now realizing.
"Rick! Lui!"
I rushed to their lab.
Lately, I hung here often.
We'd made meds for Jin, humidifier, stethoscope, penlight—modern tools I'd never get alone, via Rick and Lui.
Laundry powder detergent, mint toothpaste with soft-bristle brush, lavender body wash. Especially the body wash fulfilled my selfish desires.
Medical tools: tweezers, alcohol swabs, latex gloves. Gloves too for personal wish-fulfillment.
"Ober Teacher, another idea?"
Lui welcomed me brightly. Rick absent.
"You mentioned a Greenhouse? Where?"
I asked urgently. Lui smiled limply at the random question.
"Right next to the lab. Why?"
"Can I check it out?"
I pressed. Lui looked puzzled.
"Uh, sure. Rick's there now too—"
I dragged her off mid-sentence. Heart racing.
"Let's go, quick!"
Lui looked confused but cheerfully led me.
The Greenhouse... perfect.
This air. This smell! Oxygen scent! Well, not literally.
Startled Rick matched Lui's puzzled face at my sudden arrival.
"Any other Greenhouses?"
I asked blankly staring Rick. He nodded.
"Yes. One for poisonous plants, and an empty one."
Ah, separate poison plant Greenhouse... Curious what Rick did with them, but suppressed, happily surveyed.
My plan: Put a bed in the empty Greenhouse, have Jin lie there daytime. Plant respiratory-beneficial plants from Great Dictionary of Herbal Medicine around.
Photosynthesizing plants would raise oxygen levels higher than elsewhere, I thought.
Nighttime, move him back to bedroom. Plants respire CO2 at night... right? Memories fuzzy from ages ago.
Worry: pollen. Fatal to respiratory. So, absurd request to Lui.
"Lui, can you make an air purifier? Filters dust from air..."
Even I thought it excessive, but Lui brightened.
"Teacher, what do you think this sound is?"
She countered. Huh? What sound? I looked around. Nothing special. Maybe the familiar ventilator hum? Puzzled, I stared at her.
"Dwarves installed air filters citywide. Mini version won't take long."
Speechless at her answer. Air purifiers already existed? Of course—Underground air too good otherwise.
Dunno dwarven filter performance, but their tech impressed me firsthand; purifiers must be great too.
Pollen solved...
Not sure if this desk-plan would work, but hoping it'd help Jin even slightly, I looked around the Greenhouse.
