The Sponsored Heroines Are Coming for Me

— Crackle!

The bright yellow streak starting from Emilia extended all the way to Lina.

“Watch out, Nyah!”

Danya grabbed Lina and rolled her to the ground.

Then.

— Clang!

As if the space itself was tearing apart, a long horizontal line was harshly ripped open.

The grass within its radius rose as if reacting to static electricity and then instantly burned away.

Danya’s fur stood on end.

Does every Aether class student have this level of ability?

If her senses hadn’t been sharpened by her being in heat, she wouldn’t have dodged it.

Rolling on the ground once, Danya quickly regained her stance.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two green magic arrows shot towards Emilia in rapid succession.

“Not a chance!”

One of Emilia’s guards deflected the arrows with a dagger.

The magic arrows dispersed, spreading green energy.

Watching this, Danya shouted.

“Now, Lina!”

— Fwoosh!

Flames shot out from Lina.

One of Emilia’s sub-tankers raised his shield with a triumphant look.

“This won’t even…”

It was a flame that a single shield could block.

Just as he thought he could block it easily.

The flames suddenly spread over the shield.

‘The broken arrows from before!’

He realized his mistake too late.

Whoosh!

The flames followed the scattered plant elements in the air.

The impact spread to Emilia.

Everyone in Emilia’s party lost about 10 health points at once.

Emilia’s eyes, slightly scorched, grew fiercer.

She bit her lip and held a short but luxurious magic staff.

“!!!”

A rather long casting time.

— Whir!

Countless round yellow spheres appeared in front of Emilia, as if something was gathering and forming.

Danya stood frozen, her skin prickling.

‘I can’t tell the direction.’

Where should she dodge?

The brief moment of hesitation was over quickly.

— Rip!

With the sound of space tearing, numerous yellow lines crossed before her eyes.

“…Ah.”

Danya let out a short gasp.

This can’t be dodged.

— Boom!

A torrent of countless electric elements.

Elena raised her shield with a grim face, but her hand was trembling, realizing it was impossible to withstand.

At that moment.

— Thud!

A massive earth wall blocked their path.

Zzt!

The electric elements couldn’t pass through the earth and were absorbed into the ground.

It was the perfect counter for electric elements—earth elements.

While confirming with a side glance that Elena and Danya were safe, Ian did not stop his advance.

A mage is weakest at two moments.

First, after casting a powerful spell and falling into a momentary state of mana exhaustion.

Second, when something completely unexpected happens to a wizard who has planned everything.

Ian’s charge corresponded to both cases.

< Shield Bash >

A skill that combines the kinetic energy of a rapid ‘Leap’ with the indestructible attribute of the ‘Berserker’s Shield’ to strike the opponent.

The sub-tanker on Emilia’s side barely managed to take a defensive stance to block Ian’s collision…

— Boom!

But she couldn’t withstand the remaining physical force and was flung back.

A startled Emilia shouted belatedly.

“Ian? How did you…!”

Ian felt no need to respond.

As soon as Emilia uttered those words, it was as good as confessing she had sent Victor.

Ian immediately transformed Lunar into a gauntlet.

Then he threw a punch at Emilia.

“!!!”

In a panic, Emilia activated an emergency scroll.

— Crack!

The emergency protection scroll, worth hundreds of millions of Krone, shattered instantly upon impact.

Its value was undeniable.

It bought Emilia time to retreat.

— Rip!

She pulled out another scroll and tore it. In an instant, she and her companions’ figures rapidly receded.

Emilia’s image vanished from sight.

Ian looked at her retreating form with a bewildered expression. One of her party members had been left behind.

The sub-tanker from the Priest Department, who had blocked Ian’s <Shield Bash>.

She belatedly tried to run in the direction Emilia had disappeared.

But Ian wasn’t about to just watch.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

She turned to Ian and shouted.

“I won’t let this go! Do you know who Lady Emilia is…!”

Crack.

With a tremendous sound, the student collapsed.

…Well.

He didn’t hit her that hard, so she should be fine.

It’s the first time he had seen someone actually knocked out.

She lay there unconscious.

Upon closer inspection, her health indicator read [0].

At the same time, her bracelet glowed a grayish hue.

“This is just like when you defeat a monster.”

Ian brought his bracelet to the light.

[ 224 coins have been awarded! ]

“…224 coins?”

If a student is knocked out, they lose half of their coins.

So, this girl had already accumulated 448 coins.

Thanks to that, he gained a considerable reward for such a brief battle.

Knocking out a student and obtaining half the coins Gregos gave.

Considering Emilia didn’t evenly distribute the coins…

‘She amassed quite a bit.’

Well.

Emilia is a woman who can handle such promotion battles easily.

Emilia Raymond.

In terms of overall abilities, she possesses the most overwhelming specs among the four heroines.

She doesn’t just stand out as the heir to the Raymond Trading Company, the empire’s top trading company.

As a lightning-type magician, her talent is also top-tier at the Academy.

If not for Sharon Pierce, she would be the top prospect in Lichten.

For competitive Emilia, it’s certainly not a pleasant situation.

But she never shows it.

She’s a woman who can hide her instincts and emotions calculatively.

That’s Emilia.

‘But she was clearly emotional just now.’

Something must not be going right for her…

Ian pondered for a moment.

The actions Emilia had shown so far.

Victor Jan, who was obviously sent by her.

‘…Could I be the reason?’

The search for the culprit was practically 50/50.

And Emilia seemed to be one step ahead.

“Are you okay, Ian?”

Danya had run over and was looking up at him.

Ian nodded with a smile instead of answering.

Elena poked the unconscious girl with a stick.

“She’s really knocked out, Brother. Will the professors come to retrieve her now? I feel a little sorry seeing a fellow student like this, but considering what happened, serves her right!”

Instead of answering, Ian brought his arm to her bracelet.

56 coins were transferred immediately.

Elena’s eyes sparkled as she got over her reluctance.

“Oh…! This is a better reward than most monsters…! Maybe hunting, I mean helping more students might be good! Let’s find our next target!”

Elena’s eyes shone brightly.

The team’s priest.

She should be okay, right?

“…First, let’s find a place to sleep.”

Beyond Elena, the sun was setting.

◆

The third day dawned.

The coin farming had resumed. Currently, each person had earned just over 300 coins.

‘At this rate, we should be able to gather 400 coins by tomorrow.’

The benchmark for Aether promotion.

There might be a slight margin of error, but that should be enough.

Then.

“Brother!”

Elena called out to Ian.

She was pointing at a patch of grass that had turned completely white.

“There’s another sign of the Celeste faction here! And it’s a pretty intense one!”

Indeed, there were more white patches of grass than in other places.

Elena smiled, exhaling lightly.

“Brother, I have a suggestion.”

“What is it?”

“Let’s follow these traces and eradicate the Celeste faction! They’re using a lot of divine power, so I think we can beat them! And!”

“And?”

“Since we’ve been seeing their traces since yesterday, they must have quite a few coins! We’ll hunt Celeste and get coins. Two birds with one stone!”

Hehehehe-

Elena grinned wickedly.

“No.”

Ian’s firm refusal left Elena gaping in shock.

“W-why…!”

“The fact that we can see their traces means they’re moving before us. They’re strong. There’s no need to overextend ourselves.”

A few more monster hunts would secure their promotion.

There was no need to take on the risky variable of fighting other people.

Besides.

‘Something doesn’t feel right.’

Priests moving in a group like this?

It was highly likely to be the party of the saintess candidate.

At that moment.

“…Wait.”

Danya, who was ahead, suddenly stopped.

“Over here!”

Ian turned his head in the direction she was pointing.

It was a giant tree.

Three long, rough claw marks were etched into the tree trunk.

“A… a bear?”

Danya, trembling, muttered as she approached.

“A bear?”

“Yes. It looks like bear claw marks. But it’s several times bigger than a normal bear.”

A bear.

A bear.

Ian fell into thought.

The width of a single claw mark on the tree seemed to be about 1 meter.

A gigantic creature with claws 1 meter wide.

Naturally, one creature came to mind.

The massive crater in the center of Volta Island.

The creature living inside, the master of this island.

< Crimson Grizzly >

Ian subconsciously murmured.

“…Why did that thing come out?”

It seemed like the field boss had left its home.