Chapter 3
Chapter 3
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: You, Become My Daughter
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The girl standing before him.
The pirate reached out his hand toward Ambasha and said,
"You, become my daughter."
"!"
A sudden, intensely compelling invitation.
Ambasha asked in a trembling voice,
"D-Daugh...ter?"
"That's right. How about it? Become my daughter. Become part of our family and roam this vast sea freely together."
"!"
A proposal from her savior and master that felt utterly sweet.
However,
at those words that seemed far too generous for her,
Ambasha couldn't help but feel deep hesitation.
No matter that her previous master had died and freed her from slavery, the filthy blood still flowing through her veins hadn't changed...
"B-But... I'm... just a lowly thing, aren't I? H-How could someone like me..."
"What's that got to do with anything?"
"Huh?"
The pirate replied firmly to her hesitant words.
Then, slowly spreading his arms wide, he smiled with dignified authority and said,
"I've made up my mind. I'm taking you as my daughter. When the Pirate King has decided this, do you think something like birth or status matters?"
"!"
"In this moment, think of just one thing. Do you want this, or not? Now give me your answer. What's your choice!"
A declaration without the slightest waver or doubt, utterly confident.
In response to those merciful yet powerfully commanding words...
Ambasha followed the pull of her heart...
For the first time since she was born.
Acting on her own pure wish,
she slowly extended her hand.
Forbes ranking: the number one line pirates love the most.
The variation of 'Become my comrade!'—'Become my daughter.' (No such thing exists)
Declaring this to Ambasha meant, in other words, that I was blowing off quests and the original story to take the protagonist for myself.
From my experiences so far, I knew well that ignoring or abandoning quests like this came with hefty penalties.
Like when I let a sea king monster slide out of laziness and it shredded all the nets I'd painstakingly set up.
Or when I spared someone I was supposed to kill, only for them to come back later seeking revenge and causing a mess.
And even without quest penalties, I could predict this would stir up a storm of consequences.
If a character with significant weight in the original story vanished, it would leave a massive gap.
In the worst case, a nation doomed to fall in ten years might collapse tomorrow.
But even so, I'd decided not to abandon this child.
Something an ordinary person couldn't even dream of.
They'd be too busy fending for themselves to have the luxury of worrying about others.
But I wasn't some ordinary person anymore.
The Pirate King.
King of the seas, a being who could boldly declare on these vast waters that my word was law.
The Monkey D. I remembered from my past life had called the Pirate King 'the freest man.'
And the moment I ascended to Pirate King, the status window had said something similar.
The status window had basically thrown me a message like, 'Now do whatever the hell you want.'
And indeed, since that day, I'd been setting and enforcing my own rules on this sea without a care for others' opinions.
This whole incident started with a sea rule I'd decided and announced, unrelated to any quest.
-From now on, anyone caught slave trading on sea routes loses their head.-
That regulation was the basis for it all.
So, as someone no longer a powerless college student but a bearer of true power and authority to live as I pleased,
I made my decision this time as well, exactly as I wanted.
And to this choice of mine.
Our protagonist girl called out to me in a trembling voice as she gently took the hand I'd extended.
"...F-Fa...ther...?"
Her small hand, still tiny despite being sixteen, probably from chronic malnutrition.
Seeing it covered in scars, calluses, and blisters filled me with pity, but I smiled and said,
"Welcome. My daughter."
"Ah..."
At those words, Ambasha's eyes suddenly reddened.
I gently stroked her head, and tears began streaming from her large eyes like an open faucet.
"Sob... sob... ugh... waaah..."
A child who, even in the original story—before that point—had never known family.
Just becoming her family brought me a warm sense of satisfaction.
Vowing to give this child true happiness from now on,
a gentle smile formed on my lips.
"Thank you! Truly, thank you!"
"We are eternally grateful, great Pirate King!"
The people repeatedly expressing their gratitude to me.
Most had nearly been unjustly enslaved and were now tearfully thanking us for their rescue.
I couldn't know everyone's full stories, but given they'd been saved from life-ruining fates, it was only natural.
"No need to thank me. We only wanted the spoils loaded on their ship anyway. We didn't plan on saving you."
"Even so, you've released us without demanding anything in return."
"Thanks to you, we can return home! We'll never forget this grace!"
"Hmm..."
For the Pirate King's dignity, I'd thrown out a tsundere line like 'I-It's not like I meant to help or anything,' but receiving thanks like this still felt good.
Though I didn't show it, I felt a quiet sense of pride inside,
while quietly seething anew at the nobles perpetuating slave trade and class systems despite my iron-fisted crackdowns.
In this world, status was a given, and slaves being treated as less than human was also a given.
Nobles buying and selling slaves, beating them half to death—or to death outright—was legally fine in every kingdom.
There were exceptions here and there, but it was the common law in the central-western continental nations, at least.
So what? What of it?
Unlike the barbarians in this medieval fantasy world,
why should I, with my modern mindset that scoffs at class systems as bullshit,
bother conforming to that crap?
Do kings, nobles, and emperors come from special bloodlines or something?
If you've got strength and power, you're the king or emperor.
In fact, one of the original story's major plotlines involved people with similar open-minded views sparking revolutions soon enough—but for now, spouting that on street corners would get you legally beheaded in the public square.
Of course, I was the sort who could turn the tables and dump those guys into the sea instead.
For that reason, I had zero hesitation in kindly sending arrogant noble scum straight to the afterlife.
Especially types who ranted 'How dare a lowly XX...'—they needed a friendly lesson in the equality of the death spear, doubling as physical therapy and ideological re-education.
Anyway,
after killing those who needed killing, sending off those we'd ferry, sorting the prisoners separately, and pocketing the spoils as our 'good deed fee,'
I headed back to the ship, reminded once more that fun was fleeting but cleanup was endless.
"Hey! Good work, Captain."
A woman greeted me heartily as I climbed onto the deck, waving energetically.
Short black hair, green eyes,
a silver cross around her neck,
a long sword strapped to her back—a pretty woman in her early thirties.
Number two in our fleet hierarchy, serving as First Mate.
Lemain Migdal.
Seeing her beaming after just finishing sorting the loot, I asked what I was most curious about.
"You worked hard too. So? How much profit from this one?"
"Once we sell off all the goods, about 50 talants? Not bad for a slave ship—they had all sorts of extras. Pretty lucrative."
Since we'd freed all the slaves who were their main cargo for nothing, profits were bound to be slim.
50 talants... roughly 50 million won if I converted it, barely enough for our crew's monthly food budget.
Factoring in repairs for battle-damaged ships, ammo restocks, and treating the wounded, it was hardly a windfall.
But this wasn't our main income source anyway.
For a hobby-slash-charity gig, this fee was decent enough.
"Good. At least now I can cover that gambling loss you racked up three days ago."
"Haha... yeah... Who knew it'd go that bad."
"Cut it out already. How does the Pirate King's First Mate blow every paycheck on gambling?"
"It was just bad luck that time. I'll pay back double with interest this time, so just 4 talants... Er, kidding."
With my equal-opportunity fists, she backed off quick when I raised one.
Frowning at my friend-subordinate's little flaw, I let out a small sigh.
"Sigh... Oh, right—what'd you do with the kid I sent ahead?"
"The new recruit Ambasha? Sent her to the cabin to learn the ropes... Oh."
"? What's up?"
The First Mate suddenly made an odd face.
Then, looking troubled, she said,
"Come to think of it... Frankling was on cabin duty today..."
"Oh no..."
Feeling the same unease, I quickened my steps.
"Hope she isn't crying..."
"Too late—they're both bawling. Bet you 1 talant."