Trash of the Firearm Magic World

3. Guests

Loris was in his room, seated on a chair and staring at the basin containing the potion in front of him. 

He took a deep breath and carefully placed both of his hands down the liquid. He winced, sensing the familiar aching in his hands. He had been doing it for the past hours ever since he received the instruction from the doctor his father brought. According to the doctor, he had to do this to soak his hands in this potion for at least half an hour. Even if it became painful along the way, he had to endure it if he wanted to be cured. 

Loris’s eyebrows twitched as he clenched his teeth. Each time his skin touched the liquid, it would send an incredible cooling sensation to his hands but it also brought immense pain with it. 

If he hadn’t been able to feel that the magic power in the potion was indeed decreasing, he would have doubted whether his father had been deceived again. 

“Could it be effective this time?” he wondered while staring at his hands submerged in the potion-filled water, feeling the pain radiating through his hands. 

Just then, a housekeeper of the Federico Clan came to knock, interrupting Loris’s healing session. 

“Come in,” Loris said. 

The housekeeper entered and greeted respectfully, “Young Master Loris, your father requests your presence in the family meeting hall.” 

Loris stopped. People were only requested to the family meeting hall for one purpose and that was to hold an important discussion amongst family members. Did someone make trouble in the clan? Or was it because of his hand problem again?  

He suddenly remembered his father’s words the last time they spoke. There would be guests visiting their clan today.  

“Tell Father I will be there in five minutes,” Loris told the housekeeper. 

“Understood, Young Master.” She bowed down and excused herself. Before she completely turned around, she couldn’t help but look at Loris’s back and feel sorry for him. 

Just how many times she had seen these treatment sessions, only to hear Loris’s frustrated words that came after realizing that they weren’t truly effective? He branded them as fake, the doctor a quack, and the method pointless. 

She sighed in her heart and walked out of his room, believing Loris would soon meet another disappointment in those healing sessions his father arranged. 

After a while, Loris came to the hall and found that his father and four elders were sitting on the right side, while three strange guests were sitting on the left side. 

One of the guests was a D-Class gunner, who was a strong man and was rarely seen in Famu City. Loris’s father had the same strength as the other two patriarchs of Famu City’s big families. The other two young men were both E-level gunners. They were all similar in age to the younger generation of the Federico’s family – including Loris, Arturo, and Leon – but their strength had reached E-level. 

Loris didn’t pay much attention and just looked at them with a neutral look. He ignored their complicated gazes and walked up to his father, giving him a salute as a greeting. 

His father gave a small nod. “Take a seat, Loris.” 

Loris respectfully nodded and looked for his seat. However, when he looked around, he found that all the seats were taken and the seat where he usually sat was nowhere to be found. 

It was then he remembered the chair he passed by earlier outside. No wonder it looked familiar. It was his very own seat. Realizing this, he couldn’t help but coldly laugh inside. 

When his father learned about it, he was so enraged he almost flipped the table. 

“Who dared do such a thing? Who arranged the seats?!” he demanded with red eyes. 

The elder in charge of setting up the venue came forward but he only apologized, stating it had slipped his mind. Since he was already a bit old, he asked Loris to move the chair back himself. 

Loris turned to the old man and saw his insincere eyes. At that moment, he knew it was done on purpose. But instead of arguing, he remained silent.

His expression cold, Loris walked to the door and grabbed the said chair. But when he began to lift it, his hands started to tremble. 

The people situated near the door laughed and began to whisper in a low voice. 

“Can’t he really pick up anything without his hands shaking?” 

“This is too painful to watch.” 

“How can he become a gunner at that state?” 

“I can’t believe Mr. Federico still believes he can recover. It’s impossible and only a waste of resources.” 

Loris’s hands trembled further, not only out of pain but also out of anger and humiliation. But the more his blood boiled inside him, the more he felt pain shooting through his hands. 

Swallowing down his pain, he put more force and eventually was able to lift the chair. He endured the pain on his hands and walked back to the hall, trying to ignore all the eyes watching him. 

Just then, a shadow appeared. 

Loris looked up and found Arturo. She came to his side and without uttering a word, helped Loris move the chair until they reached the line where the younger generation sat. She positioned his chair next to her. 

“Perfect,” she stated with a smile. 

Loris stared at her. He truly didn’t understand why Arturo never left him.

As they sat down, Loris finally asked and she told him the main reason. 

“Well, when I was a child, I didn’t know how to become strong and I always fell. Even at the shooting range, I was everyone’s favorite to mock because I looked weak and couldn’t carry weapons,” Arturo said while smiling, her eyes gleaming, seemingly reminiscing the past. “It was you who changed that, Brother Loris.” 

She smiled, her expression soft like the clouds, her eyes glazed with warmth she showed only to Loris or when she spoke about Loris. “You taught me how to shoot. Your techniques were too great. It's impossible not to improve after learning how to use them.” 

Now Loris finally remembered. It was indeed the case. Back then, he had accompanied Arturo in different training sessions. It wasn’t like she was born perfect, even she suffered from other people’s negative opinions about her skills, but she didn’t give up and instead chose to train hard with Loris. Loris even used his little magic power to guide her on how to absorb magic power. 

“It might sound a bit exaggerating but honestly, my current results are entirely due to your teachings, Brother Loris,” Arturo said with a smile. 

Loris felt a warm feeling spreading inside his chest. Seeing Arturo’s smile and listening to her speak, he suddenly felt like holding her hand. But the pain coursing through his hands felt too much. 

In the end, he could only keep it within himself as he silently looked ahead, watching the elders and guests all engaged in discussions.