Garwin's monstrous display of skills lit something inside of the teenage red runt.
Being a Gunslinger was kinda cool, no?!
Who the hell even said that Bladers were the flashiest role of the four?!
Lohran didn't know whether this was yet another effect of being the darned man's son, but he couldn't deny that he wanted to be like Garwin one day.
He hadn't felt this flair for almost two decades.
The petty gods weren't lying!
His heart had indeed reclaimed its lost vigor—or at the very least, had already begun to.
He had never felt such fiery passion in quite a while.
Although Lohran rarely trained with his father—who was often away on missions to earn money for the family and save up for his sons' pocket money at the academy—his heart remained ablaze.
And so, for the next two years and eleven months, the red-haired runt trained—and trained madly hard.
Despite his meager assimilation rate for strength and endurance, Lohran somehow stayed slightly ahead in the former and not too far behind in the latter compared to his older brother.
That is, until Louen turned eighteen.
Around a year and seven months ago, Lohran bid his older brother goodbye, as the latter had come of age and left home to study at the Western Dawnchaser Academy.
Although it was only about a three-hour drive from their manor, Louen chose to stay at the academy, determined not to return home until graduation.
This was common among aristocrats, as no one wanted to fall behind their peers.
His older brother, who believed that the fate of their family rested on his shoulders, had long prepared his heart.
His older cousin, Kael Neyvaris, had also left for the Southern Dawnchaser Academy, though no one from the main family, except for the excessively kind and loving Celina, had bid him farewell.
While the length of each student's stay at the academy varied depending on how quickly they reached the required overall combat power (OCP), it typically ranged from two to three years.
Only a few exceptions managed to graduate within a year and a half.
But those were the most talented Dawnchasers in history—warriors who were now either long dead from old age or at the peak of their careers, serving as pillars of the High Republic's forces.
They were few and far between.
Louen, far from being one of them, wouldn't be returning for at least another year.
By then, Lohran would have long since left for the Northern Dawnchaser Academy, where a Prism—rumored to be injured and recovering—was set to teach for a year.
This would all begin in a few days, at the start of the new semester, when Lohran would finally enroll, having just celebrated his eighteenth birthday a few weeks ago.
The brothers were destined not to meet for quite some time.
"Phew…" Lohran exhaled, exhausted, as he finished what would be his last training session at Neyvaris Manor and stepped out of his father's shooting range.
Trailing behind him like a tail was a gorgeous red-haired young maiden, a rather forced smile on her face.
"S-Say, Lohran," Kiora began hesitantly.
"W-Would you really be so heartless as to leave your mother behind? Big Brother Louen already left and refuses to return. Since you're abhorrently untalented anyway, why work as hard as him? Can't you at least come home on weekends? Hmph! Not that I care—I just feel bad for Mom, that's all."
"Hmph! Mom will surely understand. Isn't this simply what you want? Or wait… will you actually miss your dearest second brother?" Lohran responded with a chuckle.
"Hahahaha! What an adorable little shithead you are. Unfortunately, unlike you, I have to work for the family and my future one. Just wait for my return. You can video call me from time to time with your digital handscreen anyway, so why cling to me like this?
Aren't you embarrassed?
Hmm…maybe if you admit how much you'll miss me, who knows? I might just change my mind!"
"W-Wha…" Kiora's cheeks flushed slightly before she snorted in embarrassment, jabbing her index finger at Lohran. "Hmph! Who the hell would miss the likes of you?! Fine then, don't come back! Don't ever come back, you hear me?!!"
With that, she spun on her heel and stormed off in another direction, her footsteps heavy and her cheeks puffed in frustration.
Lohran couldn't help but chuckle at her antics.
Who knew having a little sister could be this fun?
Unfortunately, he wouldn't be seeing her for quite some time either—not that he particularly cared, since they could call each other anytime anyway.
Besides, his passion took priority.
It was all he had ever known, even in his previous life.
Arriving at his room, Lohran took one last look around. It would be quite some time before he returned.
He then undressed and took a quick, warm bath before falling onto his bed, sleeping soundly for a good ten hours.
Tomorrow at noon, the family's driver would take him to the Northern Dawnchaser Academy.
Upon waking up around the seventh hour, Lohran washed his face and brushed his teeth before moving to his large luggage bag. He opened it to double-check its contents.
His heart warmed.
Judging by how neatly his clothes, necessities, and a few snacks for the journey were arranged, it wasn't Milly but Celina who had personally packed his things in the earlier hours.
Despite experiencing his family's affection for the past eight years, Lohran still found it hard to get used to such care—especially from his mother.
It was a strange feeling, one that made him wonder if he was becoming soft.
He both liked and hated it.
"Well, there's nothing left for me to do but wait, is there?" he muttered, feeling melancholic despite trying hard to deny it to himself.
'Tch, what am I even so dramatic about all this? Isn't it just two to three years?'
A few moments later, someone knocked on his door, followed by Milly's voice:
"Young master Lohran, it's time for breakfast. Young Miss Kiora and Lady Celina are already waiting for you."
Lohran sighed lightly and stood up, following the now gorgeous and fully mature Milly to the dining room.
Upon arriving, he sighed once more at the sight of both his mother and little sister struggling to hold back their tears—though the former was failing miserably.
Kiora was on the verge of crying as well, affected by their mother's emotions.
'Why are women so emotional? Tch… I mustn't get infected by their dramatics at all costs…' he thought, horrified at the idea of crying along with them.
Wouldn't that make him look unmanly as fck*?! He must never cry—not at all costs!
With an inward snort of dismissal, he forced his creeping emotions away, sitting at his chair.
Lohran didn't know how to react, so he simply started eating.
A few moments later, Kiora followed suit, realizing she was acting unsightly in front of him.
She couldn't afford to give him any ammunition to tease her with in the future!
After what seemed to be the most awkward breakfast experience Lohran ever had in two lifetimes, he finally couldn't resist.
"Sigh… Mom, why are you crying this hard? It's not like I'm going off to die, right?" Lohran sighed.
To his horror, his words only made things worse. His mother finally broke down, wailing uncontrollably.
"M-My dear… L-Lohran, y-you must take care of yourself, you understand? You must never put yourself in troublesome situations, you understand? You must…"
After two exhausting hours of endless lectures and reminders from his tearful mother, Lohran decided to leave early.
Who knew how much worse things would get if he didn't take advantage of a rare, uneventful pause to slip away?
Why couldn't they all be like his father? The damn man hadn't even bothered to show up to say goodbye!
Standing face to face beneath the ebony sky at the manor's main entrance, Lohran wore a smart casual attire and a conflicted expression.
Now, it wasn't just his mother—his little sister was crying too.
He had no idea how to handle situations like this.
In the end, he simply pulled them both into a long hug, the only thing his inexperienced mind could come up with.
"Well then, you two. I'm off," he said with a heavy sigh before quickly turning away and heading toward his family's black roller transport—or what was called a luxury car back on Earth—before leaving became any harder.
It looked somewhat like a fancier yet shorter version of a limousine.
"L-Lohran, you dumbass! Make sure to call me or at least answer when I call, got it? You're dead if you don't!"
"D-Dear… t-take… uuuu… care… uuuu… always… uuu."
"Yeah, yeah, don't worry." With a final wave, Lohran boarded the car and locked the doors tight.
It was only then that a single tear slipped down his cheek.
'Damn those two… Why do they have to cry so much? They're making me unnecessarily emotional too, no?' he inwardly cursed, frustrated by the unfamiliar weight of his own feelings.
Fortunately, as the minutes passed and the Neyvaris Manor faded into the distance, he gradually regained control of his emotions.
'Phew… Focus…'
Meanwhile, in the shadows of the nearby trees, a middle-aged man with red hair watched with tears streaming down his face as House Neyvaris's roller transport slipped beyond view
Garwin would miss his little troublemaker, though Lohran wasn't so little now.