Quint Weir was choked speechless for a moment.
Fortunately, his years of lying low in the ducal castle had taught him to control his expression quickly.
He soon composed himself and looked at Lister with a calm face.
The look of a superior admiring a subordinate was gone from his eyes, replaced by a desire to teach Lister a lesson.
But in the end, he chose not to act, instead turning around, vaulting over the wall, and leaving.
...
On the day of the duel.
The entire capital city of the Weir Duchy, both the inner and outer city residents, were all focused on this duel.
Two hours before the duel, the area around the city's only dueling stage was already packed with spectators.
Many commoner families from the outer city came to watch as if it were a festival, bringing wine and food with them.
It wasn't that they particularly hated one side or the other, in fact, to the commoners present, they detested all nobles.
They were jealous and envious of the noble scions in the city, whose lives were completely different from theirs from birth.
Now with a duel, they naturally hoped the two would fight as viciously as possible, it didn't matter who died!
...
The old butler, Anke, had been waiting anxiously outside Lister's bedroom since early this morning.
Seeing Lister finally emerge from his room after getting ready, he quickly relayed the news he had gathered from the city.
"My lord, you're finally out, the dueling stage in the city is now full of people, the whole city is looking forward to your duel with Quint."
"I don't know who spread the news, but this duel seems to be even more sensational than the one His Grace the Duke personally participated in twenty years ago."
Lister raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but shake his head.
The old butler Anke didn't know the full picture of the factions and powers within the duchy, nor did he know what kind of trouble the Merrick family was currently facing.
Just like this duel, it was clearly just a conflict between nobles sparked by a woman.
It wasn't as if such things hadn't happened in the past, but when had they ever attracted so much attention!
Even if many noble scions might attend, the commoners would definitely not have received the news.
Nobles and commoners, in the Weir Duchy and even the entire Lucian Kingdom, were almost like two parallel lines that never intersected.
The things they paid attention to, and the pressures of survival they endured, were completely different.
Unless a commoner received a legacy and became a professional, only then would they have a new path in life.
And today, even all the common folk of the city were paying attention to this matter.
It was clearly a move by Duke Weir II, intended to humiliate the Merrick family in public.
To slap the faces of the seven major professional families in the city, using the already declining Merrick family as an example.
"Is lunch ready? I'll eat first."
Lister wasn't worried about the afternoon's duel for the time being, as Quint's current strength was far inferior to his.
He needed to consider more about what would happen after the duel!
...
Inside Viscount Anbeit's castle, Anna had already packed her bags.
She was currently in the art studio, making a final confirmation with Ruiz.
"My father has already gone to the dueling grounds, a merchant caravan from our family will be setting off for the southern Lias Province to trade in a little while."
"We'll follow behind the caravan to leave the city then."
...
"Aren't we eloping? We still have to leave with a caravan?"
Ruiz was even more nervous today than in the past few days, his hands rubbing against each other as he spoke, his palms sweating constantly.
"Do you have enough gold for us to live on?"
Ruiz shook his head, although his painting skills allowed him to get by in the city, he was far from being wealthy.
Not to mention being able to support a woman like Anna, who was born into a noble family.
"Since you don't, then just follow my arrangements, we'll leave with the caravan together."
...
"Don't worry, the goods this caravan is transporting aren't very valuable, and it was only temporarily formed and hired by my family in the last week."
"Once we join the caravan, you'll be called Ilus, and I'll be Lina."
Anna had already thought through everything after leaving the city, including their life after eloping.
She had taken several valuable items from the Anbeit family's vault to be transported with the caravan, and once they reached their destination, she would find a way to sell them.
She wasn't a professional, and the value of these items would be enough to keep her fed and clothed for several lifetimes just from daily living expenses.
The only thing she didn't know was that the leader of this caravan was actually someone arranged by Quint.
...
Half an hour before the duel began.
Lister finally squeezed into the dueling grounds and arrived at the second-floor rest area.
He had long since put the matter of Anna out of his mind, quietly waiting for the duel to start.
"Lister?"
An elderly voice suddenly came from behind him.
He saw a handsome old man with pure white hair, dressed in an exquisite blue formal suit, looking very gentlemanly, walking towards him.
Following behind him were several middle-aged and young men and women, also with pure white hair, who were currently sizing him up with curiosity.
"You've changed a lot since your father Mel passed away!"
The handsome old man looked him up and down as if he were his own nephew.
Lister was also sizing up the other party, he was certain that they must be one of the seven major professional legacy families in the city.
It wasn't until he saw the green branch brooch on the handsome old man's chest that Lister confirmed his identity, the other party was from the Connor family, which currently led the seven major professional legacy families.
Based on his feeling, this man should be the current patriarch of the Connor family, Count Liyade Connor.
He couldn't resist tossing an investigation at the other party.
[Comparing enemy and self strength... Investigation results obtained...]
[Level: Lv39]
[Class: Nature's Emissary (Mage type)]
[Health: 1909/1909]
[Stamina: ???]
[Attributes: ???, ???, ...]
[Skills: ???, (Insufficient investigation data obtained) ???]
[Overall Evaluation: C]
[Note: This enemy is extremely dangerous, it is recommended to stay away]
Well, I'll be, it really is Count Connor, the head of the city's seven major professionals.
Lister wasn't surprised by the level, the levels of NPCs in the second act's expansion were all capped at level 40.
So whether it was the Lucian Kingdom or the Weir Duchy, before the third act's expansion was released.
The highest level character he could encounter was capped at level 40.
But the C-rank combat power in the overall evaluation was something Lister hadn't expected.
This meant that the other party's four primary attributes had definitely hit a wall, and the level of one of his advanced skills was high enough.
As for obtaining a C-rank evaluation because of a passive skill, Lister thought it was unlikely, he had never encountered an NPC or monster in the early acts that had maxed out a passive skill ahead of time.
And in reality, for early-stage combat power improvement, the benefit of maxing out a passive skill was actually slightly worse than maxing out an advanced skill.
Maxing out a passive skill was the type where the higher the level, the stronger the stacking effect.
Taking advantage of the moment, Lister investigated the family's younger generation behind the handsome old man.
[Level: Lv27]
[Class: Nature's Emissary (Mage type)]
[Health: 1209/1209]
[Stamina: 417/417]
[Attributes: Strength: 13, Stamina: 18, Intelligence: 27, Agility: 19]
[Skills: Verdant Growth (C-rank) LV3: Sprout magic vines from the ground to bind the enemy (binding effect and duration related to enemy's strength), Earthen Armor (E-rank) LV25: Use the earth as armor to defend oneself, Nature's Esoterica (C-rank) LV4: For a period of time, increase affinity with nature magic by 30%]
[Overall Evaluation: D]
The strongest one, a middle-aged man, was only level 27, Lister investigated all of them and didn't find anyone in the Connor family who had mastered any passive skills.
It seemed that for now, only the Weir family had passive skills.