Help! I'm just an extra yet the Heroines and Villainesses want me! Chapter 49 (R18)

The afternoon training session ended with Instructor Reylan running them through another series of coordination drills. William’s team had improved noticeably over the past few days, their movents were more synchronized to the extent that they didn’t require constant communication anymore. It was the kind of progress that ca from repetition and actual effort rather than natural talent.

"Session dismissed," Reylan called out as the sun began its descent toward the horizon. "Tomorrow we’ll start with opponent analysis. Be prepared for long lectures."

The ten students dispersed in various directions, most heading straight back to their dormitories or the dining hall. William was walking toward the main building when he heard footsteps catching up from behind.

"William."

He turned and found Seraphina jogging to catch up, her silver hair still tied back from training and her expression more relaxed than usual. She fell into step beside him without waiting for an invitation.

"Are you busy tonight?" she asked.

"Not particularly. Why?"

"There’s a place in the city that serves decent food and better drinks. I thought you might want to get off campus for a bit." Seraphina glanced at him with a slight smile. "Consider it thanks for not making a big deal out of last night’s stalker situation."

William considered it. He had been on campus constantly for weeks now, and the idea of going sowhere that wasn’t the training facility or his dormitory was appealing. Plus, Seraphina had done him a favor by warning him about being followed so refusing felt unnecessarily rude.

"Sure," he said.

"Good. et at the main gate in an hour. Please do wear sothing that doesn’t scream ’academy student’ if you have one."

She headed off toward the Arcturus dormitory before William could ask what that ant exactly. He made his way back to his own room and found Kai already there, buried in a textbook that looked significantly thicker than the ones he usually read.

"Going sowhere?" Kai asked without looking up.

"I’m going for a dinner in the city with Seraphina."

"Interesting." Kai turned a page. "Try not to get stabbed or whatever happens when you leave campus with combat-obsessed upperclassn."

William changed into the plain clothes he had brought from ho—simple dark pants and a shirt that didn’t have any academy markings. It felt strange wearing sothing other than his uniform or training gear, like he was pretending to be soone who didn’t spend every day getting hit with swords.

He t Seraphina at the main gate exactly an hour later and found her wearing civilian clothes as well—dark fitted pants and a simple jacket that made her look less like a walking weapon and more like a normal person. Her hair was down now instead of tied back, falling past her shoulders in a way that softened her usual sharp appearance.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Yeah."

They walked through the gate and down the path that led toward the city proper. The academy was built on elevated grounds slightly outside the main urban area, close enough to access easily but far enough to maintain separation. The walk took about twenty minutes at a comfortable pace, and neither of them spoke much during it.

The city itself was larger than William had expected. He had arrived at the academy through a different route and hadn’t actually explored the nearby settlent at all. Streets were busy with evening activity, shops closing down, restaurants opening up, people moving between various establishnts with the kind of casual familiarity that ca from living sowhere for years.

Seraphina led them through several streets before stopping at a building that looked more like soone’s ho than a restaurant. The sign above the door was small and written in a language William didn’t recognize.

"This is it," Seraphina said while pushing the door open.

Inside was warm and dimly lit, with maybe a dozen tables scattered around a main room. Most were occupied by people who looked like locals rather than academy students. The atmosphere was relaxed, conversation flowing easily between tables without anyone being particularly loud about it.

They took a table near the back and Seraphina ordered for both of them without asking what William wanted. The food arrived quickly.

What was served was so kind of roasted at with vegetables and bread that was still warm. It was simple but well-prepared, the kind of al that didn’t try to be impressive and succeeded because of it.

"You co here often?" William asked.

"Few tis a year when I need to get away from campus." Seraphina ate with the sa focused efficiency she applied to everything else. "The academy gets suffocating after a while of eting the sa people repeating the sa routines and having the sa conversations. This place helps."

William understood that. The past few weeks had been intense and it didn’t leave much room for anything besides training and classes. Having a few hours away from all of it felt necessary in a way he hadn’t quite realized until now.

They ate in comfortable silence for a while before Seraphina flagged down the server and ordered drinks. Two glasses of sothing amber that looked considerably stronger than water arrived shortly after.

"What is this?" William asked while examining his glass.

"Local whiskey. Try it."

William took a sip and imdiately felt the burn travel down his throat. It was strong, stronger than anything he’d tried before, with a taste that was sowhere between pleasant and punishing.

Seraphina downed half her glass in one go without flinching. "Better than the watered-down stuff they serve at academy events."

They talked while drinking, the conversation drifting between training observations, speculation about the Inter-Academy competition, and occasional complaints about Instructor Reylan’s tendency to point out every minor flaw in their technique. Seraphina ordered another round of drinks, then another, and sowhere along the way William noticed she was getting noticeably less composed.

Her words started taking slightly longer to form, her movents beca looser and less controlled, and she laughed at things that weren’t particularly funny. William had nursed his drinks more carefully and was feeling the effects but not nearly to the sa degree.

"You’re staring," Seraphina said after finishing her fourth glass.

"You’re drunk," William replied.

"Just a little bit." She grinned, which looked strange on soone who usually maintained such careful control over her expressions. "Feels good though. I haven’t done this in months."

"Maybe we should head back."

"Probably." Seraphina stood up and imdiately swayed, catching herself on the table. "Okay, definitely should head back."

William paid for the al and drinks, then helped Seraphina outside. The evening air hit her like a physical thing and she leaned against him more heavily than before, her coordination clearly compromised by the alcohol.

"Can you walk?" William asked.

"Obviously I can walk. I’m a top-ranked combat student, not an invalid." She took three steps and nearly fell over. "Okay, walking is harder than I thought."

William ended up supporting most of her weight as they made their way back toward the academy. The walk that had taken twenty minutes on the way there stretched longer on the return, Seraphina occasionally stopping to make observations about completely random things or laugh at nothing in particular.

By the ti they reached the academy grounds, she’d stopped trying to walk independently and was leaning against William with her full weight, her silver hair falling across his shoulder as she mumbled sothing incomprehensible.

"Which building is Arcturus?" William asked.

Seraphina pointed vaguely in a direction that could have ant three different structures. William made his best guess and headed toward the largest dormitory building, hoping he’d picked correctly.

The Arcturus wing was quieter than he expected, most students probably already in their rooms or elsewhere on campus. William helped Seraphina up the stairs, her coordination getting worse with each step, until they reached what he hoped was the correct floor.

"Room number?" he asked.

"Three... sothing. Maybe four." Seraphina squinted at the hallway like the numbers were personally offending her. "That one. The one with the door."

That narrowed it down to approximately all of them. William walked her down the hallway until Seraphina stopped in front of a specific door and fumbled for her key. She got it into the lock on the third try and pushed the door open.

’Finally we’re here,’ William thought as he knocked on the doorfra to announce their presence, but got no response.

’Wasn’t her roommate ho?’ he mumbled to himself, but his eyes fell on the crack in the door which ant it was slightly open anyway.

He pushed it open further and found the room empty, there was no roommate or sign anyone else being there recently. William attempted to guide Seraphina toward what looked like her bed, intending to deposit her there and leave before this got any more complicated.

But Seraphina turned suddenly, her hands coming up to grab his shirt, and pulled him down toward her.

Her lips t his with surprising force given how drunk she was. The kiss was intense and imdiate, her mouth pressing against his with none of the careful control she usually maintained over everything she did. William froze for a second, his brain trying to catch up with what was happening.

Then he pulled back, gently but firmly breaking the kiss and creating distance between them.

Seraphina looked at him with unfocused crimson eyes, her expression sowhere between confused and disappointed. "Why’d you stop?"

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