Transmigrating as an Extra, But the Heroine Has Regressed?!-Chapter 320: The Festival.

The principal closed his eyes in disappointment.

"Professor Sylvia... do you understand what could have happened today?"

Sylvia bowed deeply, shaking. "I... take full responsibility, Principal. I should have checked. I apologize."

Cecelia and the others felt a weight in their chests.

Elysia stiffened.

Nathan watched quietly.

Kael’s brow furrowed.

The principal sighed.

"This matter isn’t finished. I expect a full report by tonight."

He turned, looking once more at the wreckage, the wounded students, the destroyed training field.

"...Someone did this intentionally."

Kaigaku, hiding far away in the shadows, trembled.

That night!

Tonight was the Night Market Festival, an annual celebration hosted by the city’s guilds.

Music, shouting vendors, clashing cookware, bursts of magic-light fireworks... everything overlapped into a warm chaos.

Kael Ashford hated chaos.

He stood before the Academy gates with his hands in his pockets, scowling at the festival banners flapping wildly.

"Why am I going?" he muttered to himself.

"Because it was in the novel."

Because certain heroes visited certain guilds tonight, and because he knew exactly which guilds they did NOT visit, he could avoid them by following the route he memorized.

He exhaled sharply.

Only one reason he should go:

This night held an event that could give him information.

About a future disaster.

"Kael?" a soft voice called from behind.

He stiffened instinctively.

It was Elysia.

She approached with quiet steps, her hair tied loosely behind her, wearing a simple white blouse and a light blue shawl—far more casual than her usual attire.

But she also knew about the event from the future.

She looked... approachable.

"Are you going to the festival?" she asked.

Kael avoided eye contact. "Just passing by."

"Then we can pass by together," she said with a smile.

A fake smile.

He didn’t know her true intentions, but he had already learned to keep distance from everyone—even more so with her unpredictable behavior recently.

"No thanks," Kael replied.

But Elysia followed anyway.

Of course she would.

Elysia walked a few steps behind Kael, observing him quietly.

Kael Ashford...

The murderer of her in the future timeline.

The man whose shadow haunted her dreams.

Yet here he was—a boy who avoided crowds, kept his head low, occasionally flinched when someone bumped into him.

"Tonight... I’ll get closer. Pretend to be friendly. Give him the subtle poison".

(It wouldn’t kill him tonight.

Just weaken him over time.

Make him vulnerable)

Yet she hesitated, gripping the small vial hidden in her sleeve.

He saved that injured student last week.

He helped carry Edwin even though they barely speak.

"Why... why does he look so different?"

"Keep your distance, Elysia," she whispered to herself.

"You can’t forget the future."

The Festival Begins

They stepped into the festival zone.

The air exploded with colors.

Lanterns hung from ropes overhead, floating like captured stars. Vendors shouted, selling grilled meat skewers, sweet pastries, mana-infused drinks.

Adventurers boasted about quests. Kids ran with bright paper masks. Musicians from the Bard’s Guild plucked lively notes from their lyres.

Kael tried to walk around everything quietly.

But crowds always moved toward him.

A merchant shoved a drink into his hand.

A kid pulled his sleeve asking for directions.

Someone bumped into him while carrying a plateful of steaming buns.

He sighed.

This was why he avoided events.

Beside him, Elysia watched with mild amusement.

"You attract trouble, Kael," she said.

"Trouble attracts me," he muttered.

She hid a tiny smile.

He really wasn’t charismatic at all.

If she didn’t know the future, she might’ve even...

"No."

"No thinking like that."

They turned a corner at the same time and bumped into each other.

Elysia’s shoulder tapped Kael’s arm lightly.

Kael froze as if she had struck him.

"Sorry," she said quickly.

"N-No," he muttered, "my fault."

Awkward silence.

Then she tried again.

"Kael... can I join you? Just for tonight?"

"No."

"Please?"

"Still no."

"Only one hour."

"No."

"Thirty minutes."

"No."

"Ten minutes?"

Kael glared at her.

Elysia smiled gently.

"...Fine," he surrendered. "But only ten."

They walked together through the lantern-lit street.

Elysia kept the conversation light and harmless.

"So, Kael... I heard you trained extra after class yesterday."

"So what?"

"That’s impressive. You don’t use mana, but your stamina is—"

"Don’t pretend to compliment me," Kael said bluntly.

She paused.

He’s always sharp when it comes to people getting close.

She needed to be more subtle.

She bought two fruit drinks from a nearby stall.

"One for you," she said.

He stared at the drink suspiciously.

"...Why?"

"It’s a festival. People share drinks."

"Is it bitter?"

"Why would I give you bitter juice?"

Kael narrowed his eyes. "You can drink first."

Elysia felt something prick inside her chest.

He doesn’t trust me. At all. Of course he wouldn’t.

(In the future... he killed me.)

She sipped her drink first.

He watched for several seconds.

Only then did he take his.

"So cautious," she murmured.

"It’s normal," he replied.

She didn’t respond to that.

Her plan to poison him through drink... failed again.

(Why can’t I do it? Why can’t I just go through with it?)

What was she so afraid of?

Kael felt a sudden tug at his waist.

"Mmph—?!"

His pouch was gone.

He spun around instantly.

A child-sized figure darted between stalls, slipping through legs like a shadow.

"A thief," Kael muttered. "And a fast one."

He sprinted without another word.

"Kael?!" Elysia called, startled. "Wait—!"

But he was already chasing the thief into the maze of alleys beside the festival street.

Elysia hesitated.

She could leave him.

Let the thief rob him.

He would be distracted.

An opening for future poison.

A perfect situation.

But her feet moved anyway.

"Tch. Why am I following him?" she whispered, and ran after him.

Kael turned a sharp corner into a dark, narrow passage far away from the lively music and lights.

"Stop running!" he shouted.

The thief kept going.

Then abruptly—

The air changed.

Kael froze mid-step.

He knew that feeling.

Not from experience... but from the novel.

This exact alley...

A cursed zone.

Where cursed spirits roamed.

Wraiths hungry for life.

"Kael!" Elysia arrived, panting.

Before she could warn him—

The shadows rose.

Cursed Spirits Emerge

Three wraith-like forms slithered out of the darkness.

Human-shaped but hollow.

Eyes glowing faint purple.

They whispered in overlapping voices:

"Liiiiife..."

"Feeeed us..."

Kael’s breath caught.

His instincts screamed danger.

He didn’t have magic.

He didn’t have a weapon.

Elysia stepped forward immediately.

"Stay behind me," she said sharply.

"No," Kael replied. "I can—"

He couldn’t finish.

Because the wraiths lunged.

Elysia reacted first. Her blade flashed out of its sheath in a clean, fluid arc, cold mist swirling along the steel.

"Frost Bind!"

Her sword slammed into the ground, sending a surge of ice crawling forward like living chains.

The frost snaked around one of the wraiths, solidifying mid-air and freezing its shifting form in place.

The spirit shrieked, body crackling under the sudden confinement.

But the other two wraiths slipped past the frost and lunged straight for Kael.

He ducked on instinct.

A claw sliced the air above him, cutting a few strands of his hair.

"Damn it—!"

Kael twisted, driving a punch directly into the wraith’s chest.

His fist sank into cold mist, yet the wraith staggered backward. The faint leakage of mana from his Ashen Core gave his raw strength just enough presence to harm it.

The spirit hissed, swirling around him again.

"Kael! Don’t let them touch you!" Elysia shouted, sprinting toward him.

"They drain life force!"

"Great. More motivation," he muttered, dodging another swipe.

Elysia reached his side and swung her blade in a sharp crescent. Frost spiraled along the arc of her slash.

"Cleave!"

Her sword tore clean through the second wraith, scattering it into smoke.

But the final wraith darted behind Kael, faster than either of them expected.

"Kael, behind—!"

He spun just in time, blocking with his forearm. The claw scraped across his skin, sending a burning, hollow pain through him—like his very soul had been scratched.

"Shit—!"

He kicked the wraith away and staggered a step.

Elysia grabbed his wrist immediately.

"You’re hurt!"

"Just focus on the wraith!" he snapped.

But she didn’t release him. Her free hand pressed against his arm, mana flowing into the wound.

"Don’t move."

"I said—"

"SHUT UP AND LET ME HEAL YOU!" she shouted, face flushed with urgency and something he couldn’t name.

Kael froze.

The last wraith shrieked and lunged again. Elysia’s mana flickered—too much healing drained her stamina.

Kael stepped in front of her instantly.

"You...?" she breathed.

"Stay back. You’re tired."

He braced himself.

The wraith surged forward.

"ASTRAL PUNCH!"

Kael’s fist exploded with force, slamming into the spirit. A shockwave rippled.

The wraith burst apart, dissolving completely.

Kael exhaled heavily, leaning against the wall.

Elysia crouched beside him, breath unsteady, sword still trembling in her hand.

Their eyes met.

"...You’re insane," she said.

"You followed me."

"You chased a thief into a cursed alley!"

"I didn’t know it was cursed."

(He did. From the novel. But he couldn’t say that.)

Elysia stared at him.