Editing City Series:Volume1 Chapter 7 (section)

===Part 2===

It was 2:54 PM.

The Bladlikburg’s infirmary was a tidy white room. Other than the beds by the window, it only had shelves of medical equipment and a treatment table.

In that room, Walter and Paul faced the medical officer.

“Hm.”

The medical officer gave a quick nod while examining Walter’s arm as the young man lay on the table.

“The bullet passed through quite cleanly. You were lucky. As long as you don’t move it, it should stop bleeding soon.”

“Isn’t that great, Walter?”

“What about the bone?” asked Walter.

“It was hit quite nicely. It’s broken and it should take two months for a full recovery.”

“Now that’s a problem. I won’t be able to do anything scholarly.”

“How is that any different from normal?”

“Um, you there? Please don’t provoke the patient.”

“Don’t worry. My big heart is immune to damage.”

“Doesn’t that just mean you’re callous?”

“How rude. The only real callouses on my body are on my feet.”

“That’s not what I meant!” shouted Paul.

Suddenly, they heard a rumbling from outside.

It was the low yet sharp sound of destruction.

“Eh?”

Walter looked around pointlessly.

At the same time, the battle preparation alarm filled the Bladlikburg.

The earsplitting noise filled the infirmary and a panicked voice made a ship-wide broadcast.

“Enemy ship approaching! Enemy ship approaching! We are now engaged in combat! Prepare the Soldat unit for launch and all gunners to your stations!”

Another rumbling reached them.

And this time it continued again and again.

The noise shook the walls and their bodies.

This was the sound of bullets hitting the metal armor.

“Wh-what?”

The medical officer stood up and the Bladlikburg Eins lurched from another hit.

“!”

Walter looked to Paul and Paul reflexively jumped onto the bed and pressed against the stationary window.

“How is it, professor!?”

“Wait! What do you two think you’re-…”

“Shut up, doc!” shouted Paul.

His voice was loud enough to drown out the rumbling outside and the alarm filling the ship. And his voice contained a hint of joy.

“Dammit… Is the little lady here? I can’t see!”

The Eins shook again and medicine bottles on the shelves loudly clinked together.

Paul pressed his face against the window in his attempt to peer out.

“…”

“Well, professor? Is it the Kaiserburg?”

“I still can’t see very well.”

“C’mon, find it already.”

“Oh, shut u-…ahhh!!”

“Eh?”

Walter received a definitive answer to his question.

“There it is!”

Paul’s voice was filled with delight.

“It’s here!”

Walter held his injured arm, stood up, and stared intently at the wall he could not see through.

Based on Paul’s posture, the Kaiserburg had to be flying alongside the Eins.

Walter began to approach the window to check on it, but then Paul said something odd.

“Hm? The Kaiserburg’s turning its nose this-… Whoa!”

He frantically moved away from the window.

A moment later, the window and the entire wall vanished.

With a great roar, a Kugel fired by the Kaiserburg tore the wall away.

Light burst and noise exploded.

“!”

“Watch out!”

The difference in air pressure blew everything outside. Pillars and panels made of iron and steel were torn away and tossed into the empty sky. The noise was enough to hurt their ears.

The beds were spat outside like paper and the white sheets spread out in the sky before being blown away. The paper and books on the desk danced across the floor and into the sky.

The room’s warm air came in contact with the cold wind of the high altitude and produced an icy mist.

A violent gust of wind danced through the room that was now directly connected to the sky.

In an instant, the infirmary was reduced to ruins.

The window-side wall and the beds were gone, so it was nothing but a treatment table and the edge of a cliff.

The medical officer shouted over the harsh wind.

“Wh-what the hell was that!?”

“A Kugel obviously.”

The Kaiserburg probably had no idea Walter and Paul were in here. It had simply opened a horizontal hole for them to escape through.

Paul had jumped from the bed to the treatment table at the last second and he sighed.

“That little girl is crazy.”

Even as he spoke, the floor below the table crumbled.

With a sound like rocks hitting each other, the floor scattered fragments and broke apart. The table tilted and then fell.

Still looking like he did not know what was happening or what was going to happen, Paul sat on the table and fell. Only his shrill scream remained.

“Ahhhhhhhh!”

Their parting only took an instant.

Some white sheets remained in the air and fluttered lightly as if saying goodbye, but they were quickly carried away by the wind.

Walter stood speechless on the cliff’s edge.

The medical officer stood behind him.

“…”

After a short silence, the medical officer gave a shout. He had likely been unable to bear the silence.

“Wh-what!?”

“It’s the sky. You’ve seen it before, haven’t you?”

“That’s not what I was asking!”

“Hm. From an objective point of view, the ship was hit, the wall was destroyed, and someone fell out. But the person who fell is a bit of a unique kind of person, so I doubt that’s enough to kill him. Don’t worry about it.”

Even as he answered the medical officer’s shouted question, Walter looked down at his injured arm.

The forearm was bent a bit about halfway down. It was broken and a fingertip-sized hole continued to the other side. The bleeding must have resumed because a blood stain appeared on his lab coat.

It had to hurt quite a bit, but the young man did not even frown.

He peered down from the edge of the cliff.

“I can’t even see the professor anymore.”

“Wh-what are you muttering about!? We need to get out of here! It’s dangerous!”

Walter nodded at the medical officer’s words.

“I see. I have to agree with you there.”

He sighed as he stood on the very, very edge.

“C’mon, professor. Rushing ahead is only going to hurt you.”

“What are you talking about!? This is an enemy attack! Hurry up and evacuate inside!”

Walter turned toward the desperate voice with a small smile.

“You’re right. I should leave here and go somewhere safer.”

With that, he jumped out into the windy sky.