Trion Proudstar

**Trion Proudstar** was the second eldest brother of Lith Verhen and a 2nd Lieutenant in the Griffon Kingdom Armed Forces. Due to his strained relationship with Lith and childhood closeness with his elder brother Orpal, Trion left the family as soon as he became of age and refused to adopt the Verhen family name, later disowning his parents. However, when he realized his mistakes and was going to reconcile with his family, Night tried but failed to recruit him as her host to get revenge on Lith. With his newfound love for his family, Trion refused and was murdered by Night, who staged his death as a suicide.

## Personality

In the beginning Trion shows deep love for his parents and sisters, and respect for his older brother. However, he becomes bitter and resentful, leaving his family in the hopes of making them worried and regret his disappearance. He hates that he constantly lives in Lith's shadow, resenting his family for "forgetting" about him in favor of Lith.

The Kingdom's war with the undead changes Trion's perspective on mages, Lith, and his family. He comes to respect Lith's efforts during their childhood and recognizes the hard work mages put in to protect ordinary soldiers like himself. Additionally, he realizes how much he cares for his family after hearing of Night's attack on Lutia.

## Background

Growing up Trion views Orpal as his role model, much like Lith looks up to Rena. He deeply loves Tista, but respects Orpal too much to go against him, even when Orpal becomes alienated from the family. When Lith bathes his family regularly as a side effect of Tista's treatments, Orpal refuses due to his pride (and thus Trion followed suit as a result). The brothers' stench leads Tista to nicknaming them "Orpoop" and "T-reek", humiliating them and furthering the divide. Orpal and Trion had been spending their time with their father Raaz, but after Lith begins assuming bigger family roles due to his magic ability, Raaz begins spending more time with him instead, increasing Orpal and Trion's resentment. On the whole, Lith treats both brothers with indifference, neither helping them with his magic nor sharing his hunting spoils.

After Orpal orchestrates the ambush on Lith, one of the assailants Rizel reveals that Orpal had left Trion out of the planning as he believed him a "spineless coward." After Orpal is disowned, Trion has a hard time as he has lost his favorite sibling and also the trust of his family due to his closeness with his brother. Trion and Lith's relationship is never mended, with Lith viewing Trion with indifference and Trion feeling too ashamed to approach Lith after all he and Orpal had done to him. The shame turns into envy as Lith racks up achievements and status in the village, until the two agree to pose as getting along for their parents' sake only.

As soon as he becomes 16, Trion leaves his family and joins the Griffon Kingdom Armed Forces, rising to the rank of Sergeant. When Lith gains the family name Verhen, Trion refuses to adopt it and buys himself the name Proudstar, insinuating to those around him that his family mistreated and neglected him. He hates being associated with Lith's name and accomplishments, believing that other people look down on and ignore his own achievements.

When Phloria Ernas attends boot camp, Trion is her drill sergeant and takes every opportunity to humiliate or punish her as petty revenge against Lith. However, after she completes boot camp and is promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, Trion's superiors harshly reprimand him and hold him in contempt for "failing to recognize her value." Elina confides to Lith her distress about losing Trion in addition to Orpal, and Lith pulls in favors to meet with Trion and convince him to call home.

Months after, a few days before Jirni's birthday gala, Trion visits Raaz and Elina with disastrous results. He feels replaced and treated unfairly, hating his family's "preferential" treatment towards Lith. The situation escalates and Trion storms out, later disowning his parents.

After being promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, Trion reflects on his relationship with Lith, the battle with the Undead Courts having changed his perspective on mages and Night's attack on Lutia his relationship with his family. He is approached in the Golden Unicorn bar by a woman named Gerla Silvermoon, a clerk from a mid-sized merchant guild in the city of Yardra. She brings him to her master Night, who offers him power and to be her host. Trion refuses and kills Gerla before jumping down a building to escape, but Night disables the protections on his army uniform. Trion plunges to his death and Night arranges the incident to look like a suicide.

Trion had never stopped keeping in touch with Orpal, using him as an emergency contact in case something happened. The army tracked Orpal down to notify him of Trion's death.

## Quotes

* *"If there's one thing Orpal was right about is how unfair it is that no one cares about our hard work. No one praises me for my efforts, nor anyone cares for how well I'm doing in the army. Lith only has to move his hands while spouting bullshit and everyone blows smoke up his ass!"* (Chapter 600)
* *"I'm Trion Proudstar now. It's clear that as long as you have your precious Lith, you have no need for a failure of a son like me. I better be off before I waste more of your time...You're worse than trash and I don't need you anymore. Don't bother teaching the runt my name. If I'm not a member of this family, I might as well be disowned too. Even better, I'll disown you, so at least I'll spare you the inconvenience to kick me out."* (Trion to Raaz, Chapter 601)
* *"Battling the Undead Courts for so long has shown me how stupid I have been all my life. Sure, magic gives people a great advantage, but it's also a great burden. So many mages died in front of my eyes in the front lines to protect us regular soldiers. I've been a fool thinking that I was the only one working hard to achieve my goals. Each one of those mages came from a pampered life, yet by hearing their stories and watching their sacrifice, I realized how hard the path of magic is. Lith worked that hard ever since he was able to walk, doing everything they did and everything I had to do at the same time, yet he didn't whine all the time as Orpal did."* (Chapter 1142)
* *"[My family] are wonderful people and I've let them down too many times to buy your pitch...Baba Yaga made you out of shit rather than a mana crystal because you're full of it. My mother would never cheat on my father. Never!"* (Trion to Night, Chapter 1143)

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chapter 600
2. ↑ Chapter 1143
3. ↑ Chapter 14
4. ↑ Chapter 16
5. ↑ Chapter 142
6. ↑ Chapter 52
7. ↑ Chapter 334
8. ↑ Chapter 363
9. ↑ Chapter 601
10. ↑ Chapter 1144
11. ↑ Chapter 1265