Koyel, I enjoyed your story. It certainly kept my attention. It was an interesting choice to set the story in 1965, with more modern settings and modes of travel. The story flowed naturally and made sense. All of the interactions of your main character gave me an insight into his strength, determination and sense of duty.

I was happy to see this tough fighter show such deference to his mother and father. It showed me that he was an honorable man and not responding to the Earl out of greed or ambition. Also, when you said "He took the calloused hands of his old mother", I immediately felt sympathy for the family.

I have the impression that English is not your first language, though you navigate it well and have an extensive vocabulary. There are a couple of things that might smooth out your writing. First, style. For clarity, when a each character speaks, he is given his own paragraph. For example, I might have written paragraph one like this:

It was a sultry day in the garrison town of Metz in the year 1964. Antonio was sleeping in his two-room flat, a tatty house with cheap, plastered walls, the colors peeling off them. He woke up with twitching eyes.

A postman arrived and clinked his bell, "A letter for you sir."

"A letter?" he asked groggily, "what kind, where from?"

"It's from Paris, sent by Earl Charles himself."

Antonio took the letter, his eyes popping, "Oh my God!"

Your descriptions were good, but in one or two places, you say the same thing twice. Example:" I came to know about your excellent expertise in judo and karate and your recent wins..." might read better as I came to know about your expertise in martial arts and your recent wins..., unless you need to be specific about which martial arts, of course.

Also, when you wrote' "He got dazzled while he looked inside the royal palazzo. and ended with Antonio was dazed at the over-abundance of luxury and stood still., I would have changed the first sentence to talk about the room and saved the reaction to the end, as you did: The inside of the royal palazzo was dazzling. ending with Antonio was stunned by the over-abundance of luxury.

I hope this has been helpful and good luck in the contest.
--- Cheryl (Lady Crow)