A Dual Crest Summoner In Infinite Summoning World

"..And that is why we should always be thankful to our Lord Grove Keeper. He killed the ruler of the mountain and expanded Greenvale's borders. Without him, we wouldn't have a home such as this nice village."

The old scribe ended yet another legendary tale of the Grove Keeper, and all the kids applauded as if their teacher were performing a show for them.

The old scribe continued, "Now it's time to check the work I assigned to all of you the day before yesterday. Come one by one, starting from this side. The ones who still need to finish it—you still have time to remember from others around you."

The way the two-to-three-hour classes every other day went: they gathered under the tree around nine. Thomas started the class by making all of them sing the common educational folk songs. Then the guy talked for an hour about various topics, and in the end, he heard the full alphabets and numbers from one to a hundred from each and every kid, one by one. The guy could remember which kid remembered how much without any mistake—fooling him was not easy. Every day, kids had to remember more than they did two days ago and repeat it all at once before the scribe.

Pretty good method of teaching basic skills to kids without any tools at hand other than one's mouth. Once a kid mastered the numbers and alphabets, the scribe taught them how to write each alphabet and number along with common words on the dirt ground. It went on for three years. Some kids learned everything, and some, even after three years, could not repeat the whole alphabet of their language. ThisversionwassourcedfromM|V|L^EMPYR.

"Auren, hear my numbers." Kenzo tugged at his sleeve.

Auren nodded mindlessly. He could already read, write, and do everything the scribe was teaching—even the old scribe himself had told his parents they had done a very good job teaching him all that. For his lessons, the old scribe personally told him some advanced-level maths, high-level grammar of the language—Thomas was more knowledgeable than Sable. Auren never said no to anything Thomas taught him—even if he knew certain things, Auren let the guy teach him day after day at his own pace.

"Hey! Are you stupid? Don't go near her!"

"Yeah, don't you know who she is?"

"Quiet down, you idiots, or Auren will hear!"

"I am not afraid of him! Once I get my summon, I will be stronger than his swordsmanship!"

The kids around them talked non-stop. The village was not the same as it had been when Auren was five. The safety of the wall had a much bigger effect on the people of this world than Auren had estimated. Along with the excess food grown in their village—much of which was always sold in the villages around them and in the town—these things had made the name of their village quite famous.

In today's time, the village had over 600 to 900 people living in it permanently, learning how to make game sets or the new method of farming. Having protection against the wandering Thralls, however, was the tipping point for most families to choose Rootfast as their home. More families meant more children—since the last year Auren and Kenzo had started coming to attend classes, the number of children had grown quite a bit.

Along with all else, the inns and taverns business also grew, with competitors coming in, and with that, of course, the brothel's business was also booming. A few new women had arrived from other places and made this village their home.

One of the girls attending the classes was a child from that house. It was the girl's aunt and her daughter who provided the service. The innocent nine-year-old girl had only the two as her family after her parents' death. The treatment the girl received from the villagers was not good—especially the kids, who absorbed all these things without even understanding what it truly meant.

Auren got up, walking near the group of boys sitting near the group of girls. The girl they were shunning was at the very edge—let alone boys, even the girls barely talked to her.

"Oh? Were my ears buzzing or did someone challenge me to a fight?" Auren asked with a smile that did not reach his eyes.

"Eeek.."

"Not at all.."

"Yes, I did. Just you wait—father says I will be able to summon in a few months! I will see you after that! That girl is weird, and I can call her that whenever I want!"

They were, at the end of the day, just kids. Auren never took them seriously, but he also knew how much damage their words could do to a child's mind at this age. Which was why he often intervened when it looked like things were going out of line. It had kind of become his job in the class, and most kids feared to offend him—Kenzo and Auren were the best fighters in the whole village under ten years of age, no one even came close.

"What did you say, Lawson?" Kenzo got real close to the big and wide older kid who seemed to have forgotten the strength of the future was not the strength of the present.

"I will kick your butt too, crybaby Kenzo!"

Kenzo punched the guy, and the two kids started fighting like a bunch of kids—which they were. Thomas looked towards them, making so much noise. Auren sighed and pulled Kenzo back, effectively stopping the comical fight. Once again, they would get punished after everyone leaves—it had become quite a cycle by now.

The two friends of the chubby kid pulled him away and sat him away from the girls, changing their position. Auren held Kenzo as they too moved back towards their usual position—Auren did look back once, though, while walking to check up on the girl. As usual, she was not even looking at them.

The girl never spoke in the class to anyone other than with Thomas, who heard her lesson. She did fight a bunch of girls once when she was new in the class, but with time, she had learned to ignore people and had closed herself off from others—not bothering to talk at all.