(Note: The original work did not provide a detailed account of the national background of the Castle in the Sky world. This book will supplement this information with reasonable alternative settings.)
The Albion Continent.
On this long, narrow continent, there are two countries that split apart from the old era.
No one cares what the country was originally called; now people simply refer to it as the " Northern United Kingdom " and the " Victoria Empire " across the strait.
For a century, the two countries have been locked in a love-hate relationship, vying for the mineral resources, land, shipping lanes, and colonies inherited from their predecessors.
They looked down on each other, each believing themselves to be the rightful heirs, yet they were forced to rely on trade to replenish their resources.
But in the last ten years or so, the situation has changed.
Thanks to breakthroughs in internal combustion engines and aircraft technology, the Northern United Kingdom gained the upper hand.
Therefore, by adhering to the path of steam engines, the Victoria Empire, which gradually fell behind militarily, became much more docile, and border frictions decreased significantly.
Railcar Valley a natural canyon located in the western part of the Northern Kingdom, near the coastline.
( Railcar Valley, the once bustling factories have long since been abandoned.)
This place once prospered due to its rich silver, tin, iron, and coal mines, and countless train tracks crisscrossed the area, hence its name.
At its peak, it produced one-tenth of the nation's metal mineral resources, and its factories were filled with chimneys, with steam rising day and night.
But this period of prosperity was short-lived, as the shallow mineral veins were exhausted and Her Majesty the Queen was unwilling to continue investing in the mining of deeper minerals.
As a result, mines and factories closed one after another, and the population continued to flow out.
Today, only a small number of local miners remain in Valley Town, barely making a living by mining the remaining tin and iron ore.
The abandoned factory buildings, like the skeletons of a giant beast, are stacked in the canyon, slowly rusting and decaying.
Today, a major event is about to occur in this mining town.
"Quick! Fill the coal tank! They're catching up!"
In the canyon, an old-fashioned steam train is speeding along the wooden viaduct, trailing thick smoke.
The locomotive was painted a bright orange, and it towed three coal carriages behind it. The bald, middle-aged driver kept peeking out of the cab to look back.
A hundred meters behind, a dark green convertible vintage car was speeding along the railway tracks.
The scene of a car chasing a train looks quite surreal, but upon closer inspection, it can be seen that the "classic car" does not have a clanging steam engine or brass pipes, indicating that it is actually an advanced internal combustion locomotive.
The old steam train in front was naturally no match for it in terms of speed.
An elderly woman, dressed in a blue jumpsuit, with two thick pink braids sticking up in the air, and with a figure even more robust than a man, sat in the driver's seat.
She gripped the steering wheel with one hand and waved a large-caliber hand cannon with the other, shouting bold slogans in a hoarse voice.
"Speed up, catch up with them!"
( Dola's Lace-Trimmed Pirate Outfit)
In the back seat of the vintage car, five burly men were crammed into the two-seater. They had scars on their faces and were wearing camouflage suits.
The old woman leading them Dola Dora, and these people were known as " Dola's Gang," notorious air pirates in the kingdom.
As they drew closer, a boy's voice rang out from the locomotive. " Sheeta, help me heat the boiler!"
"Good!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a boy of about fourteen years old, wearing a brown vest and blue overalls, climbed out of the locomotive.
He went to the connection point between the rear carriages, intending to disconnect the hook and use the carriages to slow down the air pirates' pursuit.
The boy's Pazu. He was an orphan who had lived in Valley Town since childhood and made a living by working in the mines.
"Disconnected!"
With a powerful push from Pazu, the three coal wagons detached from the train and slid along the tracks due to inertia.
He was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw the green vintage car behind him crash into the passenger compartment without slowing down.
Then, the air pirates pushed the carriage back at an even greater speed!
Bang!!
The carriages were reconnected to the locomotive, and the locomotive even helped the train speed up.
In a moment of quick thinking, Pazu immediately began tightening the brake disc located at the very front of the carriage.
"Go! Grab her!"
Under the old lady's direction, two burly men in suits leaped over carriage after carriage like hurdlers, charging toward Pazu.
Just then, a black-haired girl with two braids, about the same age as Pazu, poked her head out of the carriage.
She seized the opportunity and hurled the coal shovel in her hand!
duang
The shovel struck the two air pirates precisely in the face, knocking them down inside the carriage.
Her name is Sheeta. She's the mysterious girl that Pazu rescued from the edge of the mine last night. She fell from the sky and is also the target of the sky pirates.
( Sheeta and Pazu )
As Pazu finally tightened the brakes, sparks flew and a screeching sound emanated from the wheels as the train's speed plummeted.
He seized the opportunity to jump back to the front of the train, watching Dola's Gang and the carriage remain in place, gradually disappearing into the distance.
"Haha! I did it!" The bald driver excitedly pumped his fist.
The train entered the factory area, gradually slowed down, and traveled smoothly along the main track.
They planned to go to town to report the crime, figuring the police inspectors would be very interested in Dola's Gang.
On both sides of the cliff, houses built against the mountainside are stacked one on top of another, most of which have been abandoned.
Seeing that the air pirates hadn't caught up, Pazu breathed a sigh of relief and slowly slid down to the ground, leaning against the carriage wall.
"That was close—I almost got caught."
Before today, he had always dreamed of becoming an explorer like his father.
Unexpectedly, this wish came true so suddenly.
In just a few dozen minutes, he experienced more thrills and excitement than he had lived the previous fourteen years of his life. Wasn't this the kind of adventure he was looking for?
He looked at Sheeta, the girl who was diligently shoveling coal into the boiler.
Pazu recalled what his master often said when he was with his master's wife, "Beautiful women are like floods and beasts; you mustn't touch them."
He's starting to understand now.
" Sheeta, let me do it." Pazu always felt bad about letting a girl do the hard work for him.
Sheeta looked up, her eyes filled with gratitude. "It's okay, I can manage."
Pazu was her savior, so she should do what she can to help.
"Look ahead!" the bald driver suddenly shouted, "It's the army! We're safe!"
At the bend in the railway tracks ahead, a fortress-like armored train was slowly approaching.
The train was constructed entirely of riveted steel plates, with a trapezoidal front and multiple large-caliber rotating gun turrets mounted on the roof and rear carriages.
"Hey--these two children are being chased by air pirates, please protect them!" the kind-hearted man called out to the armored train.
When it comes to dealing with air pirates, the military is definitely more reliable than those lazy detectives in town.
The train slowly came to a stop, and Pazu and Sheeta jumped off.
The sliding door of the armored train opened, the metal step went down, and a man wearing a black suit, a bowler hat, and sunglasses stepped out.
Just as Pazu was about to step forward for help, he saw Sheeta suddenly stop.
"I... I'm leaving now!" The girl turned and ran.
"What's wrong, Sheeta?"
"Halt!" Upon seeing their target trying to escape again, the agents and soldiers immediately gave chase.
Pazu realized that these guys also wanted to capture Sheeta.
"Don't even think about going over there!" He tripped the two men who were chasing him, then caught up with Sheeta and ran away.
The fallen soldier was about to draw his gun when a kind-hearted man smeared his face with boiler steam.
Using this combination of techniques, the two children successfully evaded the agents and ran one after the other along the railway tracks they had come from.
However, another unexpected event occurred.
Haha! You can't escape now!
"Mom, watch out! There's an armored train ahead!"
"Whatever kind of car it is, just charge through!"
Just when they thought they'd escaped one danger, they fell into another – Dola's Gang had actually caught up with them by driving along the tracks!
With pursuers in front and behind, and bottomless abysses on both sides, it seemed they were trapped in a desperate situation.
Just then, a whistling sound came from the sky.
It was the sound of air being violently torn apart, completely different from the sound of an airplane engine.
Everyone, from the two children who were running away to the pursuing soldiers, and even Dola's Gang, involuntarily looked up at the sky.
Above the clouds, a glimmer of golden light suddenly appeared.
Then the golden light rapidly expanded, growing brighter and brighter, as if the sun were falling into the canyon.
A golden meteor fell from the sky!