A Dual Crest Summoner In Infinite Summoning World

The next day, Auren started thinking about how he could use his 40 silver in the best way possible. There were many summons on the list he had, which he could use along with several improvements the village truly needed.

Even while performing his everyday black particle summons, the shape practice, and the swordsmanship drills—his mind was flooded with ideas, one after another.

Other than the improvements, he could use the 40 Wolf Coins to buy raw materials and make something that had yet to be invented in this world—something that could earn him even more money, which he could then use to fund the large-scale project he had in mind for the village.

In the evening, Kenzo came to his house with his mother to play with him. As Kenzo ran toward him, however, Auren overheard his mother speaking with Sable and Grandma.

"..Several hunters have seen it for a week now. They don't even go into the deep forest anymore. Hanzo saw it today and tried to fight it, but as one might expect—he's no beast summoner, and his sticks can't hold against such a gigantic bear. He ran with all the strength he had. I scolded him for not doing that in the first place.

When Hanzo was at some distance, he looked back and saw another bear just a few meters away from the first one. It was the strangest thing, he says—bears always hunt alone. They are always alone. It's not even their mating season, and this one was the same size as the other—not a cub."

That wasn't the first time the regular hunters going into the forest had seen a dangerous animal roaming around. Most of the time, Dante and Hanzo dealt with them before they could hurt anyone or come near the village—like that pack of wolves. But once in a while, the animals did come out of the forest without their knowledge and left behind unforgettable damage.

"Where is he right now?" Granny asked.

"He rested for a few minutes and then ran back to find Dante in the forest—told me to inform the elders and not let anyone go near the forest anymore," replied Kenzo's mother. "I ran into the village with Kenzo just after Hanzo left and informed the elders. I thought I should tell you too, and Kenzo also wanted to come play."

Dante should be able to take on one bear if he came across it, but two might be hard to defeat. With Hanzo, however, he could possibly manage it if they planned it right. It was just a guess, though—Auren had no idea how strong Dante really was. Even after asking insistently, the guy never showed his partially assimilated form. Dante did mention that he could share vision, hearing, and the sense of smell with Maru whenever he wanted to.

Auren and Kenzo played with wooden swords—even if clumsily, it was still nice to have someone swinging a sword at him, letting him practice some defensive moves. The early evening slowly turned cooler, and yet there was still no news of Dante or Hanzo.

They did occasionally come late when chasing good prey, but never this late.

Sable and Grandma tried to busy themselves with work, but it was clearly not working. After a while, Sable ran into the village with Kenzo's mother to ask the villagers for help.

There was only an hour left before the sun would set and the night monsters would start showing up. Sable and Kenzo's mother brought all the capable men available in the village, and they all started checking the entrance to the forest behind Kenzo's house to see if they could track the two men down.

It was nearly impossible for any man to go inside the forest at night, for any reason.

Let alone the wild animals, the Thralls and Echoes were said to exist in large numbers away from human settlements. Getting lost was another issue. The village's two best warriors and hunters were Dante and Hanzo—they were the ones who helped when people got lost.

Now that they were the ones in need of help, there was no one capable enough to do anything. The only thing the villagers could do was place torches near the forest entrance and hope for the best.

Eventually, it was seven o'clock—the time to lock the doors.

Kenzo's mother was a mess. Sable and Granny decided to stay in Kenzo's house tonight. When Dante and Hanzo returned, they would come here first, since it was closer to the forest.

They kept even more torches and clay lamps outside the house than usual.

Grandma tried to keep the two younger women calm, but it was only half-effective.

Auren and Kenzo being there, however, kept the women from breaking down—they had to be strong for their children. Even Kenzo had sensed something was wrong.

Auren did his best to calm the kid and keep him busy with various games. The little one had asked several times why his father hadn't come home yet. Each time, it became harder for his mother to answer.

Eventually, it was time to sleep. Useless to say, sleep was not something they were going to be blessed with tonight.

Other than Kenzo—whom Auren had exhausted with various games—none of them were asleep. Their eyes were wide open as they lay on straw beds.

Auren hadn't moved for a while—the three women assumed he was asleep just like Kenzo.

"Could it be they are.." Kenzo's mom suddenly spoke up, her voice scared.

Grandma stopped her midway through. "No. If they do not return tonight, it will be because they couldn't return safely. They must've chosen to stay in a cave or high in a tree to spend the night, out of the Thralls' reach."

Sable asked, "Should we keep a lookout? Maybe they need our help?"

"We shouldn't open any windows—that would be stupid," Granny replied.

"There is a hole in the back wall—" Kenzo's mother said hurriedly. "We usually keep it sealed, but we can remove the plank and see outside."

Both women waited for the voice of reason to agree, and Grandma did so after a sigh.

"Fine. We can take a look."

Clearly, she too was worried sick—but she couldn't show it, no matter what.