Shades of the New World

"What's with that cat of yours? Why do you carry it around when you're traveling?" but a little while later, Parvan came to bother Evin again.

"It's not a cat, first of all. It's a Cosmic Feline and her name is Rith," Evin introduced.

"Nice to meet you, young master of the Laymont family," Rith introduced herself.

Evin noticed that she preferred to take whatever approach Evin took. If Evin acted polite, she would act similarly, but if Evin acted aloof, she wouldn't give two fucks. Evin guessed that it had to do something with the monitoring.

"What? Aren't they supposed to have a dark body with various colored stars littered all over their bodies?"

"That's her true form that she would take in the World of Space. She uses this normal cat look to wander in the main World," Evin explained.

"Hey, why don't you follow me around? Why do you associate yourself with this commoner, instead of me?" Parvan said with a tone full of jealousy.

'Oh no… he's doing the arrogant young master act. Don't! You were so cute before!' Evin thought with worry.

"What can you offer me, though? You must know that us Cosmics take profits above everything," Rith taunted.

"I'll let you get 30 gold every month if you decide to accompany me," The boy said.

The surrounding servants looked at the boy worriedly, but did not have the heart to tell him off.

"A measly amount," Rith said without care.

"Then why do you spend your time with the commoner boy?! Do you wish to tell me that he offers you more?!" the boy bellowed in rage.

"Of course. I told you, the Cosmics talk profit. Don't think we obey some country bumpkins with a few bags of gold," Rith said spitefully. Evin didn't know why she was so gung-ho all of a sudden.

'Maybe she was offended by the amount of gold offered?' he thought inwardly.

"What did you say?! Then how much does the commoner offer you then? You wish to tell me that he stumbled upon a Lodestone mine or something?"

"He offered our group some information. Using it, our group made money. The boy asked us to teach him our magic. But for that, we need to monitor him and see if he's worthy, you see?" Rith explained in a monotone way.

"Worthy?! I'll show you worthy! Boy! I challenge you to a duel! If you lose, I will have that Cosmic for myself! Judging by how you dress, you must be a mage of some sort, right?!" Parvan shouted angrily at Evin.

'Oh no, he's going down that path, anyway. I was too foolish to hope to stop the inevitable,' Evin lamented.

"I'm afraid I don-"

"Sure, why not?" Evin wanted to refuse, but was cut off by Rith.

"Then it is settled. Come outside with me!" noble the boy said imposingly.

Evin walked towards Rith and asked what her plan was.

"I just wanted to give you a little challenge. That boy is a quarter-core from what I can feel. You're practically unrivaled in the beginner stage of magehood, but you've never fought a quarter-core before," Rith explained.

"What about those Easterners?"

Evin technically fought Elashin, and he was a quarter-core and he found it quite underwhelming to be honest.

"That talent-crippled man does not count as a proper quarter-core. And relax, even if you lose, I'll run away and come back to you later," Rith reassured Evin with a smirk. Evin did reckon that Rith wouldn't be able to stay for too long beside the noble boy. He agreed to go with Rith's setup and fight Parvan.

"I hope you can take care of the guard if he decides to make a move," Evin reminded before going outside.

An audience formed outside the Customs house, and the two fighters were getting ready to fight. Evin had to swallow a World chameleon skin, so his opponent couldn't see which Worlds he was absorbing. The noble boy also gulped down the same item with some difficulty.

Evin didn't really know what to expect from the boy, since Rith hyped up the fight quite greatly. He woke up Karan from his slumber and asked him to turn into a blunted short sword and some armor that covered Evin's vitals. After discovering the coziness of Evin's shadow, the metal skinshifter would opt to spend most of his time sleeping inside it alongside the World Sprites.

He asked him to not transform into anything different, since Evin didn't want to spark the boy's jealousy even more. Evin was used to the metal-skinshifter moving about to protect his body, so he was quite worried too.

He then thought of an idea. He controlled the shadows that were surrounding his body and used them to cover Karan's metal surfaces. This way, if he covered himself in shadows as well, Karan's movements wouldn't be that noticeable.

[How do you feel?] Evin asked Karan.

[It feels like a toned-down version of how the inside of your shadow feels,] Karan replied.

The noble boy, looking at Evin covering himself in shadows was sneering inside. He approached an area that was designated as the fighting spot and declared in his loud voice.

"A single fight until one of us surrenders. If I win, the Cosmic will follow me on my journey"

"What will I get if you lose? I don't want to fight a profitless fight," Evin asked.

"A lowly commoner dares ask for compensation? You will get to witness my greatness personally, what else compensation do you want?" the boy snarled.

"I can't believe the noble heir of the Laymont family would be such a coward. For whatever reason, if I lose I have to give someone I treasure to you, but you don't even have the courage to offer something of your own in return," Evin taunted.

"I am not a coward! Tell you what. If you manage to win this fight, I will let you pick one thing from my possession. How about that?"

"An object for a life? If I challenged you to a fight and asked for your guard, would you demand an object I return? But I understand that I can't ask for someone on your group, so I can settle with three of your possessions," Evin offered.

"Fine! A weakling like you will not be able to win in the first place. If a possible reward entices you so greatly, I don't mind going along," Parlan agreed.

"Swear on your Oath. I will do so as well," Evin said. When he said it, the Oath inside his body clutched his heart with moderate force. It didn't like the fact that Evin wantonly declared its name in front of all these commoner servants.

"Are you joking? For such a small matter you would have me swear on that?" the boy looked fearful.

Evin found out about a few uses of the Oath. You could make a promise on its name and it would act as a witness to your Oath. If you failed to uphold your promise, it would start tormenting you from inside.

"You seem to be hesitant. I suppose you planned to go back on your word in case something unfortunate happened. I'm afraid I will have to refuse your challenge"

"Fine. I will do it. Let no one in this kingdom say that Parvan Laymont goes back on his words. I, Parvan Laymont, promise in the name of my Oath that I will let… Who are you again?"

"Eviendra of Smallwall town," Evin replied, stifling a chuckle.

"I, Parvan Laymont, promise in the name of my Oath that I will let Eviendra of Smallwall town to pick any three of my possessions if I lose this duel against him," the boy declared. Instantly, his expression turned into one of fear and worry. The Oath inside the boy tightly coiled around his heart, without really applying pressure.

Evin was just bullying the child at this point.

"I, Eviendra of Smallwall town, promise in the name of my Oath that I will let Parvan Laymont take my Cosmic companion if I lose this duel," Evin shouted as well.

The preparations complete, the two's duel was about to start.