A Dual Crest Summoner In Infinite Summoning World

"Auren!"

The voice came again, and this time he recognized it. Sable. He looked back—she had just arrived on the scene. Holding the blood-stained sword, Auren had no idea what to say to her. There was shock in her eyes—fear, and genuine worry for him. Auren simply pulled his eyes away from her and focused back on the blonde-haired noble boy.

Auren stepped forward, the eagle getting alert and screeching in his face. He was not worried about the thing though—the boy had still not managed to pull the sword out, and seeing Auren walk nearer had only made his efforts worse.

Auren raised his sword again to freeze the shaking guy with fear. It worked better than it should have—he pulled out the guy's sword and held it in his left hand. It was bigger than his own in size but still lighter. Then he looked back and said to the men gathered around them,

"Find rope and bind these fools. Someone heat a blade and cauterize that wound."

As if his words had jolted them awake, murmuring started all around him as a few men scrambled to find rope and a few others with Elder Tamun moved to prepare for the cauterization of the wound of the man who had passed out. Pieces of clean cloth that some women from the nearby homes provided were tied around the still-bleeding stump of the hand.

Everyone did their best to ignore the noble boy and his eagle. Auren let others handle the mess and stood near Kenzo, keeping watch over the noble brat and his eagle as his mother and Hanzo walked near them. Auren handed his mother the wrapped sword of his and kept the steel one of the noble boy in his own hand. She quickly took it and wrapped it more properly. Even if some people found it suspicious, Auren had to do his best and try to hide his black particles.

"What happened?" Sable asked, more to Hanzo than Auren.

She did keep looking at him though.

Hanzo answered, "The little girl was in the side building of the working women—the young lord here saw her and started demanding her. When they refused and he used his brutes to get to her, the girl slapped him in the face. Since then the young lord has been trying to kill her. The women started shouting, and some of us noticed it soon."

"You fought them?" Sable asked.

"I was trying to stop him from harming the young girl. He was just not having it. I had no idea he was the firstborn of Lord Wallace Thornfield."

"What!?" Sable was shocked, but she soon collected herself and looked at him, "Why were you fighting?"

"I warned them to stop—they didn't," Auren replied, looking back into her eyes. There was no other choice to make at that moment, and he did not regret it at all. She was still processing it all and was more worried and afraid than her normal composed self.

"He is right, Sable. If I had failed to protect the child, I would have failed Dante. I shouldn't have lost," Hanzo said.

"You didn't lose. They are cheaters! They started attacking the women and men who were not even fighting," Kenzo spoke up.

"Yes," Auren agreed. "I was only effective because of the use of Unbroken Wind, added with them not taking me seriously."

Hanzo looked at him with no words on his lips, but his eyes conveyed all that he was feeling—surprise, wonder, and even slight respect. Auren had no idea how common Unbroken Wind was. The technique that slowed the battlefield around him for barely a few seconds was indeed slightly harder to learn compared to all the others Dante had taught him. Kenzo and Sable nodded, though they clearly had no idea what the Unbroken Wind was.

"Still, without Dante, how are we to explain this to our Baron, let alone Lord Thornfield.." Sable wondered out loud.

Hanzo too was torn, looking at the Thornfield heir. "We just have to hope Lord Cornvell comes before his father. Only the Earl can solve this issue for us. Our Baron would think twice before going against Wallace Thornfield."

"Let's just get this under control before night falls.." Sable said as she moved near Katla's aunt and cousin.

Hanzo also got busy being bandaged up as they sent kids to call for the other Elders who were not present. Auren and Kenzo moved near the scared Thornfield boy, who was watching his household knight being cauterized by Elder Tamun and others. Less the guy made a run for it or did something stupid, like going after Katla.

From behind her aunt, Katla's crying face was looking in their direction. No one else was harmed. Auren relaxed after noticing that. This brat's father was still going to be an issue. Auren thought of several things he could say to the Earl that would shift all blame to the noble brat—but all that depended on what type of man Lord Cedric Cornvell was. According to Dante and everyone else, the guy was decent enough, as nobles went. He was a formidable warrior and was also known for his strategic mind. Maybe the guy would listen.

Auren hated the idea of his and this village's people's fate resting in other people's hands who barely even knew them. No matter how good the Earl was, he wouldn't punish or do anything to the son of his strongest Baron.

Meaning this was a world where a near-grown-ass 16–17-year-old teenager could force a little girl to do unimaginable shit, and no one other than a few people could do anything about it.

'How would Dante have handled this issue?'

Auren knew they were in no position to punish this brat for his actions, but if the fact that they couldn't do anything didn't frustrate Dante enough, then he was not the man Auren thought his biological father to be. In no universe was this thing justified.

At first, Auren suspected the noble brat had recognized Katla as some noble's daughter or something—if that had been the case, he wouldn't feel so angry about it. At that point, it wouldn't be their village's issue anymore.

But forcing a minor girl, thinking she was a commoner and could do nothing against him, was not something Auren could forgive. This was not justice. It was the noble brat's hand Auren truly wanted to cut instead of his knight's, but this was not a just world, and he was not at liberty to do what his heart said was right.

It was getting late, so they shifted the two knights into one of the shops—placing them in the very back area with ropes all around the two guys after removing their armor. The one with the cauterized hand was still unconscious, and Auren had no idea if he would wake up or not. The other one refused food offered to him—the shopkeeper was a middle-aged man who sent his wife and kids to her mother's house, which was also in the village, and took the responsibility to stay the night with the two men.

The noble brat, on the other hand, was taken by Elder Mukishi—Auren did not like that at all. None of them did—not even the Elder—but the brat was a son of a Baron. They could not let Wallace Thornfield, the brat's father, come tomorrow to their village and find his son imprisoned or anything.

After it all ended, Auren, Hanzo, Kenzo, and Sable returned back to their house quickly. It was almost dark, and they had to lock the doors—Granny must be worried sick about them while taking care of Theren. This version is sourced from MV3L3MPYR.

Sable had placed the still-wrapped sword to the side. They closed the doors immediately and had dinner. Afterwards, Auren laid down, Theren playing around him as Sable told Granny everything that had happened in detail.

"Maybe I should go to the village tomorrow and have a word with the Baron. He is nothing like his father, but still, he might have some shame or honor left in him.." Granny said after hearing it all.

Sable shook her head. "No, the Baron is not going to do anything. Dante always said Baron Thornmarch would sell his own mother if that prevented a battle with the Lord of Whitestone. Even with Dante, Dame Blackgrace, Sir Varron—like powerful knights—he never initiated any challenge in the raid year, other than that one time twenty years ago.

Our only chance is appealing to Earl Cornvell. Considering the crime the boy has committed, it should be in our favor—provided no politics plays a part in it."

"Crime?" Auren asked. "Is there a law protecting kids?"

"Of course there is!" Sable said with a rage Auren had never seen on her face before. The hell those women told her?

She continued in a much calmer tone after realizing she had startled even Theren with her voice, "The Emperor had made a law stating no noble could force an unwilling woman—especially if she is under 15 years of age."

"What's the punishment?" Auren asked back.

Granny answered instead of Sable, "It was 500 gold in penalty, I think, for the first time. Then 1000, 5000, and stripped of titles or banishment if it continues for more than five times."

"That's weak," his tongue slipped before he could think about it.

"Stripping titles and banishment is weak?" Sable asked, surprised yet amused. "What should it be then?"

Auren looked into her eyes without blinking and replied in a single word, "Death."