"You say that now, but the fact that you’re carrying your blade was already confirmation that you would do so for me."

"How can you say that much?" Lumière chided in a humourous tone. "Perhaps I just wanted to watch your death knowing I’d be safe from harm."

"How cruel. Can you really consider yourself my friend if you can say such a thing?" Alain joked in turn.

After walking through the front iron gate, the door to Alisander's residence swung open. Out walked a man in a fanciful white suit. He had oily slicked-back black hair and a long twisted moustache with a short goatee. He wore a black bowtie and carried with him a long ornate black cane. It was Callis Alisander, the merchant that Alain Monroe had competed with so frequently.

'He's sure confident that no blood will be spilt on his side... wearing white during a duel... how scary.' Lumière lamented inwardly.

The two greeted each other, and the tension in the air became immediately obvious. Behind Alisander, a short man with grey hair and a stubble beard walked with him, carrying a plain leather briefcase between his two short arms. It was Alisander's second, the man who would watch over the duel.

“His estate is quite large, isn’t it?” Lumière marvelled quietly beside Alain.

“He’s had much more time and opportunity to grow. He’s been sponsored by a Lord longer than I.”

“You’ve been sponsored by a Lord?”

Alain nodded slightly.

“The Lord of the Entertainment District has given me a bit of land outside Leiden’s west wall, Ried. I’ll be growing raingrass there.”

“Eh? A swamp plant?” Lumière spoke in a confused tone. “Do you mean that you’ll turn a field into a swamp for the sake of growing ingredients for alcohol?”

“Precisely.”

In Leiden, the most popular alcohol was made from a plant that could freely grow in flooded climates- raingrass. However, because of the hilly terrain surrounding Leiden, it was hard for swamps to form, and so the terrain had to be levelled a bit to spread the flood. It was harsh work, and so raingrass was often brought in from other areas by merchants instead.

“But if Alisander is also sponsored, won’t it anger Alisander’s sponsor to see him dead?” Lumière asked of Alain.

“I trust in Ried’s Lord. He is no trustworthy man, but he is greedy.”

Alain looked towards Lumière but could see that confusion still sat prevalent on his expression.

“One thing you can trust more than actual trust is the understanding that men will always seek to protect their fortune. As long as I am important, I will have the protection of the Lord.” Alain winked. “So I fear not the backlash of this duel. Of course, even if I am dead, I will not have to worry about it. It is truly a win-win.”

When the two had finished convening, Alisander and Alain walked out of the gate of Alisander's estate and made their way down the street. There was a grove nearby where the duel would take place, away from the view of the street, and away from the watch of the patrols of the Peace Keepers. The two seconds followed behind the two merchants, weaving through the brush and branches of the trees before coming to the centre of the grove. Small rays of sunshine burst through the canopy above them, and there was a short clearing that would allow for the duel to take place safely.

"Well, there's no reason to delay any further, is there?" Alisander spoke in a chiding fashion towards Alain. "Unless you want some time to pray to your Goddess? Perhaps you wish to steel your bowels so you don't soil your pants mid-bout?"

"The only pants that need changing are your wife's after I'm done with her." Alain winked towards the well-dressed gentleman before him.

Alisander scowled heavily, before reaching his hand toward his weapon.

"Is the presider here?" Alisander asked Alain.

Alain quickly glanced around.

"Mr. Adler was supposed to be here, but it looks like he was too busy to show up."

"I'm here." A deep, sultry voice spoke aloud.

Beside the two, a tall man seemed to appear from the shade. It was Lumière's long-time friend, and the leader of the Blackfeather group, Constantine Adler. He wore a patterned black suit with a red tie. His skin was like burnt amber, and his eyes glowed a bright vermillion.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

'Eh? Constantine is here too? What a strange event.' Lumière sighed inwardly. "I guess he is a pretty trustworthy individual for lowlife merchants like these two..."

His gaze steeled as he looked at the two men standing face to face.

'But I'm sure he won't lose this. Either Alisander will die, or they'll come to some amicable conclusion... no, there's actually no possibility of that. Alisander will die today.'

"Has there been no reconciliation?" Constantine asked the two, eyeing them separately. Alain and Alisander both shook their heads as if to say there was no need.

"And you've both settled any matters in the event of your demise?" Constantine asked once more.

"I've told my servant to put the kettle on," Alain spoke with a shit-eating grin.

Alisander visibly scowled, but he didn't bite back in response.

"Then, both of you take twenty paces and pray to the deity you believe in." Constantine sighed aloud. Lumière knew that despite him being a criminal leader, he didn't like seeing such things take place. He also knew that Constantine had many stresses on himself already, so he didn't need another in the form of being a presider of a duel. However, denying so would tarnish his image as a trustable and dependable figure, and so he had arrived on time as promised.

After walking twenty paces, the two stood facing opposite directions as they both let out heavy breaths. Alain fidgeted with his shirt collar as he loosened a button, and Alisander pulled out his pocket watch to check the time. Constantine stared at Lumière from across the grove, and with a soft smile, he yelled aloud.

"Draw!"

Immediately, Alain spun around, and reaching towards the holster on his waist, drew a single-bullet chambered revolver before pointing it at his opponent, aiming it down, and then pulling the trigger in under a second. The bullet flew through the air at high speeds. At the same time, Alisander had drawn his weapon and aimed it, pulling the trigger in unison. In an instant, the two bullets passed by each other. Alain's bullet sliced past Alisander's abdomen, staining his white shirt with bright crimson blood as it grazed past. Alisander's bullet grazed Alain's cheek, sending a small trickle of blood falling towards Alain's jaw as he smiled. In unison, the two duelists dropped their firearms and reached towards the other sides of their waists before drawing their gleaming silver military-issued sabres.

Alain rushed forth, moving through the shade of the grove as he quickly approached Alisander. His opponent simply stood in his place, an air of confidence emanating around him. Alisander grinned as Alain swung his blade in an arcing motion towards his head, posturing down low before raising his sabre to block. Alain's strike was immediately blocked, sending waves of multi-coloured sparks flying through the air. Immediately afterwards, Alain released his grip on his blade and swung his fist towards Alisander's face. It connected with a resounding 'crack' as if Alisander's nose had been broken in one strike. As Alisander was distracted by a dazed pain, Alain used the opportunity to pull the sabre from his opponent’s grasp and thrust it into his abdomen. Still dazed by the punch, Alisander instinctually reached towards his abdomen, which now burgeoned with pools of blood, staining his pristine white shirt a dark crimson colour. Alisander fell to his knees as he stared up at Alain.

"That- that was dirty-" He forced the sentence out of his mouth amidst pained breaths.

Alain just let his mouth curl up his cheeks into a grin before replying curtly.

"I didn't come here to fight honourably. I came here to kill you. King's to me."

Alain winked at Alisander before turning his gaze away, allowing Alisander to fall over and die away from his notice while he walked over to the presider, Constantine. In the meanwhile, he cleaned the blood off of his blade and hands with his sleeve with a soft and satisfied smile on his face.

When he looked over to Lumière, his friend seemed lost in an inconsolable daze. Rather, Lumière seemed horrified, so he attributed it to the magician's lack of inexperience. But from Lumière's eyes, he couldn't even bear to focus on the outcome of the duel.

Lumière failed to celebrate Alain's victory alongside him. This was because rather than looking at Alain's figure, his gaze had moved towards his shadow which had started to waver. Rather, all of the shadows attached to the people in the vicinity started to move. Alain's had a big eye in the center of its head which blinked slowly before moving the gaze of its pupil around the area. Constantine's had bright red eyes and seemed to be laughing maniacally, and Alisander's second who stared down at the cold corpse of his companion had a shadow that had writhing hairs like tree branches, and a wide gaping mouth with thousands of needle-like teeth.

Lumière immediately recoiled and ran in the opposite direction out of the grove. He ran into mercurial street and past Alisander's estate. He neither looked back nor below him to his own shadow, because he had already caught glimpses of it in passing. He knew that his own shadow had sprouted a fluttering black cloak, and had thousands of illusory ravens hovering around it, staring back up at Lumière with their blood-red eyes.

He didn't stop running until he arrived at the monastery on Cobbler's street, running past the two criminals Eamon and Adonis who always seemed to sit beside the waypost. He was scared that their shadows had also changed. He ran up the stairs to the monastery and into the silent empty hall. Father Benedict didn't seem to be anywhere in sight, but Lumière's body was soothed by a familiar eerie calm. He glanced down at his shadow and realised it had returned to normal. His gaze moved back up to the statue of the Goddess in the centre of the monastery's prayer hall. She had short bobbed hair and a spiked half-crown atop her head. Her eyes were blank and soothing, and her hand reached out towards her believers, guiding long weaving vines of thorns that wrapped around her form. Despite his apprehensions, while staring at the statue of the Goddess, Lumière felt his worries wash away.

So, he bit at his lip and sat in a pew in the prayer hall, bending over and clasping his hands together before closing his eyes and muttering the Goddess's reverences.

"In reverence to the Crown of Thorns, the Goddess, Lady of Ivy, whose bountiful hearth we warm ourselves with, your love doth shine..."

After Lumière had finished, he released a heavy sigh and stood up, making his way to the staircase at the side that led up to the second floor.

‘What is going on…?’

He stepped down the hallway, not being careful to be silent, and entered his room. Lumière then fell onto his bed, and feeling the fatigue of his day engulf him, immediately fell into a deep slumber.