Chapter 222 Arrival in Laputa!
The upper deck lounge is a spacious, bright, and luxurious cabin located in the very heart of the Goliath.
Although the airship's internal space had been compressed to its limit, the designers had clearly considered "special needs" long ago:
How could commanders, who were either rich or powerful, be crammed into cramped, poorly ventilated dormitories with ordinary soldiers?
Therefore, several relatively spacious rooms are distributed on both sides of the upper keel passageway: a study, a meeting room, a tea room, a lounge, and a private office, each with a view of the sky through the portholes.
When Scarlett woke up, the first thing she saw was the exquisite brass-colored ceiling. She paused for a few seconds, trying to recall why she was there, and then sat up abruptly.
Sitting nearby was Simon, who kept wiping his sweat with a towel, and Dola, who was leaning against the door with her arms crossed.
"Young Miss! You're finally awake!" Simon immediately knelt down and grabbed Scarlett's hand. "It's all my fault for putting you in such a dangerous situation. I'll definitely apologize to the Chairman when I get back—"
Scarlett ignored his incessant self-reproach and instead grabbed Simon's sleeve, her eyes shining.
" Simon! Guess what I saw! A monster! It really is a monster!"
Simon was taken aback. "Miss, you must be confused. How could there be a monster here?"
He had no idea what had happened; all he knew was that Dola's men had found the unconscious young lady and sent someone to notify him to identify her.
He almost fainted from fright when he heard the news. If something happened to the young lady, even if he had ten lives, it wouldn't be enough for the chief to kill her!
He couldn't even imagine what Scarlett had gone through; countless terrifying images flashed through his mind.
Fortunately, upon seeing the young lady, they found that she was neither injured nor had her clothes or hairstyle messed up, and they breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's true! It's that big, made entirely of rock, with eyes this big, and a pair of jaws big enough to cut a person in two—and on the upper deck, there's a faceless golden figure—"
Scarlett gestured famously, Simon's forehead sweated even more.
"Young Miss, you must be too tired and hallucinating—"
Dola, not wanting to listen any longer, coldly tossed out a sentence and turned to leave. "Since your young lady is alright, then stay here and don't leave this cabin before landing."
How dare she call that person a monster! If she didn't have important matters to attend to, she would definitely teach this little girl a lesson.
"Wait! Who are you? Are you the captain of this ship?" Dola ignored the golden figure and walked straight out. After the cabin door closed, her voice could be heard instructing the guards to keep a close watch on the area.
Scarlett puffed up as she sat back on the bed, turning to Simon: " Simon, listen to me! I really saw a monster, right behind the warehouse, you have to believe me!"
Simon continued wiping his forehead with the sweat-soaked handkerchief, smiling apologetically, "Alright, alright, I believe you. Miss, please rest well first, and we'll talk about it more when we get back—"
What he was really thinking was: This child must be terrified; I need to take him to a doctor for a proper check-up when we get back.
Scarlett could tell he was just going through the motions, so she pouted and stopped talking, but her eyes still gleamed with excitement.
She was indeed frightened, but now, looking back, the thrill she felt strangely exciting.
That's probably the feeling described in those adventure novels, right?
She secretly vowed to herself that she would expose the true colors of these people from the Northern Kingdom!
Bridge.
"My lord, this was my oversight. I don't know how that little girl got in; the guards didn't notice her in time—"
"Alright, is there anyone who can threaten me now? Get back to your post."
Mu En, who had returned to the command seat, remained calm and showed no intention of blaming her.
Dola respectfully replied "Yes," turned around, and returned to the command platform, her mind seemingly lost in thought.
Mu En continued gazing out the porthole, but her thoughts drifted elsewhere.
He already knew the whole story. In short, it was the tale of a spoiled rich girl who almost got herself killed in her pursuit of curiosity.
However, it's not entirely Scarlett's fault.
The airship was severely damaged because it struck " Dragon's Nest "—the explorers' name for the unusual weather phenomena surrounding Laputa.
The reverse airflow created by the dramatic pressure difference is powerful enough to tear apart any aircraft that dares to approach.
Although the commercial airships were also based on the technology of the Northern Kingdom, they were essentially no different from Dola's pirate ship; the cloth-covered skin was completely ineffective against the special airflow.
He was almost 100% certain that the people from the O'Hara Conglomerate had encountered Laputa, and they were almost there.
As for that young lady----
The moment Mu En saw her, he remembered who she was.
Scarlett O'Hara St. Jones, heiress to the O'Hara Conglomerate, and the female protagonist of the animated series "Steamboy".
This world isn't just home to Pazu and Sheeta; there are characters from another work as well!
However, upon reflection, it makes sense. The world of " Castle in the Sky " is in a stage of rapid evolution from steampunk to dieselpunk, while "Steamboy" is a steampunk civilization that has already reached its limit. It is indeed very possible that the two could happen in the same world.
However, Mu En did not have a very good impression of this Miss O'Hara.
Or, to put it another way, the poor performance of that exquisitely drawn, meticulously detailed animation, which reportedly cost billions to produce, can at least be attributed to this young lady who is extremely lacking in common sense, extremely self-centered, naive yet cruel.
For example, in the original work, when she heard the news that the O'Hara Conglomerate and the British Empire had gone to war, her first reaction was to tell Simon "don't lose," and then she walked into the battlefield amidst flying shells, holding a parasol, to find the male protagonist.
As for the other three-quarters of the responsibility, it should be placed on the male protagonist and his two grandchildren.
That family fought tooth and nail over a broken Steam Ball, almost blowing up the whole of London. It's unclear who the real villain was.
The only thing that intrigued Mu En was whether the magnificent Steam Castle and the unscientific Steam Ball would still exist in this world, now that " Great Britain " had split into the Northern Kingdom and the Victoria Empire.
If the Sturm family still manages to build Steam Castle, he might have another chance to acquire some advanced technology.
However, we'll have to wait until after this trip to talk about those things.
Just then, as if sensing something, Mu En raised his head and looked out the window into the distance.
"Reporting, sir! There's an anomaly ahead! It's a ' Dragon's Nest,' one of those legendary ultra-low pressure cloud formations!" Dola's voice came from the Bridge.
Mu En stood up and strode towards the largest porthole directly in front of the Bridge.
Outside the window, the sea of clouds is changing.
The once calm clouds began to churn, as if something enormous was stirring them. In the distance, a dark gray cloud was slowly rising, growing taller and more magnificent.
The cloud formation stretched straight to the sky, exceeding ten kilometers in both height and width, resembling a giant pillar that was slowly rotating and connecting heaven and earth. Its edges were swirling with high-speed, grayish-white air currents, and lightning could be faintly seen flickering inside.
(The Storm cloud created by Laputa, with its violent outer airflow completely opposite to that of the inner layer, was enough to make Goliath hesitate.)
Any normal aircraft that sees this thing should immediately turn around and run away.
Dola stood behind Mu En, her voice trembling with barely concealed tension. "No one has ever entered Dragon's Nest of this size alive—Sir, should we take a detour?"
With his hands behind his back, Mu En gazed at the towering cloud pillar and said softly, "No, we've arrived. That's the legendary Castle in the Sky, Laputa."