Whoosh—
With a nearly inaudible whistle, the iron-gray Spindle-shaped Object hurtled down toward the plaza packed with students.
Then... it disappeared.
Huh?
Melissa stared in that direction in confusion. There was a steam locomotive, outdated but still brimming with mechanical charm, and a crowd of students, most unaware of what had happened, though a few had also noticed the object falling from the sky. Only the gray shape was missing.
Lily noticed it too. She first frowned and scanned her surroundings, her gaze settling on a strange oval shadow. Then, as though sensing something, she raised her head and looked at the sky.
Enormous objects drifted slowly through Backlund's sky, which was veiled in a light haze but, overall, much brighter than it had been last autumn. They floated into the air above the city from the north in a dense formation, with some space between them. The nearest was almost directly overhead, and the shadow came from it blocking the sunlight.
Its main body was an oval gasbag made of sturdy fabric and an alloy frame, painted dark brown and emblazoned with a diagonal red, white, and yellow insignia. A gondola that looked rather inconspicuous compared with the main body hung beneath it. Propellers spun rapidly at its rear and sides, while thick, stubby guns and cannons protruded from openings all over it, pointing toward the ground. Directly beneath the gondola was an enormous bomb bay opening.
At that moment, another spindle-shaped, iron-gray object appeared at the opening, which was larger than a person.
Lily's face instantly turned deathly pale.
As a senior student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, she recognized it as a state-of-the-art airship. She could also guess what the object about to be dropped was.
It was a heavy bomb—a bomb that could kill every