The next afternoon William found himself heading to the dining hall earlier than usual. The Inter-Academy training session had ended sooner than expected after Instructor Reylan received an urgent summons from the Headmistress, leaving the team members with some unexpected free time.
William grabbed his tray and loaded it with roasted vegetables, seasoned rice, and some kind of fish that actually smelled decent for once. The dining hall was moderately crowded with students taking advantage of the time between afternoon classes and evening cultivation practice.
He spotted Marcus, Sara, and Elena already seated at their usual table near the windows and made his way over.
"You're early," Sara observed as William sat down. "Reylan let you out?"
"He had an emergency faculty meeting or something," William said while starting on his food. "We got dismissed halfway through."
