A Dual Crest Summoner In Infinite Summoning World

"No, my lord," Baron Thornfield said, lowering his head and putting the sword back in its place. His eagle came really close to them and then suddenly changed trajectory slightly, missing Auren by a meter or two. It took a powerful full turn and took off into the sky again.

"Could this not have been a mistake of your young, hot-blooded son? Maybe because of the fear of you, he probably lied to you? Do you deny the law of the Emperor?" Earl Cedric asked, his voice neither too loud nor too soft.

It was clear to see that this was the man in charge among all gathered here. Auren cancelled his summon too — it was hard to notice for many, but not impossible. He would have to reveal his summon sooner or later to the world. Even if some people had noticed the odd thing in his hand, it wouldn't be interesting enough for others to go asking about it.

Baron Thornfield gritted his teeth and kept looking down, not trying to argue at all. After a few seconds, he finally spoke up,

"It could be, my lord. I will accept your judgement."

Cedric Cornvell nodded. The pitch-black jaguar took a sharp turn after coming really close to them and started running wildly in the direction of the forest. No animal summoner would dare to let his summon go wild in the forest without him. If they died by a random accident, it would take years — even decades — for them to be born again. Even if they were injured, it would take a lot of Chi — sometimes weeks', months', or even years' worth — depending on how severe the injury was, or how powerful and rare the summon happened to be.

In short, a summon could go on its own only if it really was, or at least considered itself, the top predator of the area.

"The law will be followed. You shall pay 100 gold coins to me this harvest festival. It will reach the Grove Keeper," the Earl revealed his judgement.

The Baron-lord lowered his head in submission, giving a quiet, "Yes, my lord."

Auren knew a hundred gold was nothing to the likes of Barons. Especially this Baron-lord — he had accumulated a lot of wealth over years and years of successful raids. Auren was not satisfied, but he kept that to himself, not showing any emotion on his face. Still, he could not help but clench his fists — the unreleased anger needed some place to go.

It was personal for him. Not just because this village belonged to Dante. In his past life, growing up, they had not lived in a very upstanding neighborhood. There had been a family.. a family that was destroyed after their ten-year-old daughter had gone through what Auren never wished for even in his worst enemies.

They were the same age. She was his friend — more like a best friend. They found her body after a year, and right in front of his eyes Auren had seen the father get lost in the bottle, while the mother slipped away into the kind of quiet, reckless neglect that only comes when someone stops feeling altogether.

Their older son had lived a life that Auren would call even worse than his own. The boy was practically raised by the neighborhood. But then again, all of them were such misfortunates — the whole neighborhood had too much pain.

Compared to that, Auren felt like this village was a piece of some fantasy land from his most desired dreams. He would not let this dream be sullied by anyone. No matter the title.

"And you—" the Earl looked at Auren, breaking his train of thought.

Damian pulled his eyes back from the distant moving black dot and looked up at the Earl of Lowfield.

The Earl continued, "I understand your harsh response in a time of haste, but you did indeed snatch a knight's livelihood from him by cutting his sword hand. No lord will ever accept his services anymore. Did Dante not teach you that just because you can do something, you shouldn't do it?" First publishеd оn М|V|L!ЕМРYR.

Auren looked at the injured knight — maybe he had let his frustration get the best of him. The guy was just doing his job. Still, what kind of knight listens to the order of killing children without even a hint of doubt? Auren was not so convinced that he had done anything wrong here.

"Yes, my lord — he did." Auren had better sense than to say the guy deserved it.

"Why do I feel like that was not so sincere?" the foreign earl from the side said, chuckling a little with a cup of wine in hand.

Earl Cedric just kept looking at Auren. There was no emotion in those deep blue eyes. The dark hair of the guy made him look like a human version of the jaguar Auren had seen earlier.

At last, after half a minute, Earl Cedric finally said, "Son of Goatshield, you will come with us today."

Auren felt the world go silent. His eyes widened. He was being punished?

Sable and Hanzo tried to say something, but their voices died on the first word as Earl Cedric raised his hand to tell them not to bother. It was decided — just like that.

"He wants to act like a man? Then he will learn what men face," the Earl said.

An eight-year-old on a quest to kill a basilisk — had the Earl lost his marbles? There was less than a 10% chance Auren would come back on two legs.

The Earl gestured everyone to leave and picked up a glass of wine. The judgement was given. The case closed. No room for any extra words.

Sable and Hanzo held Auren's shoulders, taking him along with them. As he turned, Auren noticed the young noble girl looking even more surprised than himself. The hell did she care about? Damian looked to the other side and noticed both Baron-lord Thornfield and Baron Thornmarch staring daggers at him.

The outcome had fucked all three of them.

One had to pay a hundred gold. One had to join a goddamn quest of nightmare. And the last was terrified of the Baron-lord challenging him for the upcoming raid because of this.