From the start, John watched everything from the sidelines and thought he should go along this play and so he accepted the duel. From the start, he watched the ruthlessness in the eyes of Antonio so in this fight he decided that he won't show him mercy.
The women didn't show any expression but Eva and Josephine were still worried that he might get injured as he had only displayed his knife skills and not sword skills when they were hunting previously. As for Sally she was convinced that John won't lose after watching him fight for a few days. She knew how terrifying John's senses were unlike the other women, they thought his senses came from his instinct of fighting but Sally knew better as she saw him over the days.
They later headed to the Duel grounds.
John wasn't nervous for the duel, On the other hand, it was Eva and Josephine who were nervous because they knew that Antonio was one of the powerful knights from the Imperial city. Although John was strong they didn't watch him fighting with a sword nor did they know his sword skills so they were quite worried about the duel.
From Eva's point of view, as she knew Antonio quite well and understood how the nobles dealt with things, she was sure that he would try to at-least cripple him as he thought of him as nothing more than a mere commoner. Worried that John might take it just as a common duel she approached him and told him in a worried tone "John, be careful of Antonio while you are dueling him because from what I know he is a well-renowned knight in the imperial city. And it just so happens even the third Prince Hector has taken note of him. In 2-5 years he might even become High Knight and become a part of his army as a commanding officer leading at-least a Company of 200 soldiers at-least. You should at least try to protect yourself well and not underestimate him."
This time John was quite surprised and happy by Eva's worried tone but told her in a carefree manner "well I don't think there would be any problems in the duel. Just to make sure I don't get injured I will be extra careful and save my light magic to heal myself for an emergency."
Watching this unfold both Sally and Josephine were surprised by Eva while from Josephine's eyes John could see that she too was nervous but she couldn't express herself.
John approached Duel grounds in a carefree manner so that the team doesn't get nervous.
Antonio, his butler and his batch of bodyguards watched this unfold while they were preparing for the duel.
Watching this Antonio was surer now that he must dispose of John or else he will snatch Josephine in front of his eyes.
Duel arena was 50m by 50m enough for a duel between people whether they were knights or magicians. People on the sidelines watching the duel arena recognized that Antonio was going to duel someone.
"Hey who is the new unlucky guy dueling Antonio this time around," Someone from the crowd said.
"I heard it was Antonio who proposed the duel this time around from his guards and it seems that it was because that guy was in the team of Miss Eva." Other guy said
"No wonder Antonio challenged him to a duel. That guy might not know that Antonio had placed his sights on Miss Eva from a long time ago. I guess it's his misfortune this time around for meeting Antonio in the wrong place." Said the guy who just came here. People looked at John with pity.
While all this commotion was going on, Joseph was in East sea town to supply his 2nd batch of soaps to his family merchant ship. While John was out in the forest. Joseph had again bought and ordered a new batch of Soaps from his Rose Soap factory.
Watching the commotion he too was interested in what was going on and heard that Antonio was going to duel someone so he thought maybe he should watch what was going on.
Watching John on the stage he was quite surprised why someone like John would be challenged by Antonio. However, hearing from people why the duel was going on he understood what happened. he only hoped that John would at-least get unscathed as he knew that John at-least had the strength of a normal knight but he was still worried as he didn't if John had the necessary skills to fight Antonio.
In the dueling arena was the man supervising the duel. He was a middle-aged man who worked for quite a few years already over here. This arena was anyways maintained by Mendez family.
As both of them entered the arena. The supervisor vaguely didn't answer all the rules as Antonio asked him. He was making sure that if things go differently he would use a magic scroll just to be on the safe side. John also noticed the rules were vague but didn't mention about it because he felt it anyways suited him better with his magic.