Sister Carmelo and the Orphanage of Lambs

Sister Carmelo was a good person.

Even describing her with words like "good person" was a kind of blasphemy.

She was a saintly mother!

A great woman who had devoted her life to saving homeless children, regardless of their identity or race.

But that was only on the surface.

Magnus still remembered the first time he had met that old hag.

Fifty years ago.

He had been twenty years old and had only been at sea for two years.

He had saved up a small sum as a pirate hunter, full of hopes and dreams for the future.

Then he had been scammed.

A conwoman posing as a shipping company had swindled him out of every last one of his million Beli.

That had been a million Beli fifty years ago!

That conwoman was undoubtedly the old Sister Carmelo of today.

Who would have thought?

More than a decade later, the conwoman had transformed into the "saintly mother" people spoke of, even becoming a bridge between ordinary people and giants.

When Magnus received the news, he had nearly rushed straight to Elbaf to expose her.

To Sister Carmelo, Magnus was like a piece of sticky plaster she could not shake off.

So what if she had scammed him out of a million when she was young?

She still had not forgotten how he had chased her for three years and forced her to repay it.

Everyone said she had turned over a new leaf.

Yet Magnus simply refused to believe it and had even warned her not to collude with the World Government.

Damn it.

If she did not send those homeless children to the World Government, was she supposed to raise them for the rest of her life? Even if they had to do dirty, exhausting work, it was still better than becoming pirates, wasn't it?

Not to mention that the World Government would pay her.

So after hearing Magnus's words, Carmelo returned his smile with one of her own.

"How could that be? How could I dare disappoint the great Great Pirate Magnus, whose name resounds across the world? Even if the children and I starved to death from lack of funds, Lord Magnus probably wouldn't care, would he?"

Magnus's mouth twitched at Carmelo's sarcastic tone.

"I remember leaving you quite a lot of money."

"How could that little amount possibly be enough? Do you think I only have these children to support?"

Carmelo's Orphanage of Lambs was not limited to this one location in the Land of Giants. There were many branches elsewhere, while this orphanage existed mainly to care for the most troublesome children.

"Even so, you can't go be the Celestial Dragons' dog!"

"The Celestial Dragons pay the most!"

"You stinking old hag!"

"You dead old man!"

The two glared at each other, and lightning seemed to crackle in the air.

"Gulz, is Mother arguing with that old grandpa?"

The chubby little girl standing nearby asked innocently.

"Probably not?"

The young Giant girl in a headscarf tilted her head.

"My dad and mom argue like this too. It should mean they have a good relationship, right?"

"Really?"

After hearing the Giant girl say that, the chubby little girl's eyes immediately lit up.

"They're Mom and Dad."

"They are not!" x2

Magnus and Carmelo turned their heads at the same time and answered in unison.

"Huh?"

Both little girls jumped in fright.

Only then did Magnus notice the chubby girl, who was much taller than him and nearly as large as a normal Giant child.

Charlotte Linlin!

She was clearly an ordinary human, yet she possessed the physique of a giant.

That was true natural talent.

Unlike someone like Rocks, whose talent could not be realized without effort.

Charlotte Linlin.

As long as she grew step by step, she would inevitably become a future ruler!

"Tch, noticed her, have you?"

Noticing Magnus's gaze, Sister Carmelo lit herself a cigarette with an annoyed expression and gestured for him to move aside.

"What, taken a fancy to this child?"

Carmelo looked at Magnus and sneered. "She's a true genius. Unlike an 'ordinary person' like you, who only climbed to this position through hard work, Linlin would be a future Admiral candidate if she joined the Navy."

Carmelo had known Magnus for many years and had practically watched him grow from a weak pirate hunter into the Great Pirate he was today.

So Carmelo knew very well that Magnus had a little talent, but at most, it was only the level of an ordinary person.

"Magnus, you've been roaming the seas for so many years. You should understand that geniuses exist in this world."

"Neither you nor I are one of them."

"You're already this old. Are you still planning to keep chasing your pirate dream?"

If it had been two months ago, Carmelo's words would have left Magnus silent.

But now—

"Why not?"

Magnus snorted and looked toward the sea, standing tall with his head raised.

"Since the World Government failed to make me submit, the Navy failed to bring me down, and the sea failed to swallow me, what makes time think it can?"

"Then go die out there."

Carmelo sneered. She had never intended to persuade Magnus. Old men his age were as stubborn as mules. If he died, he died. Her relationship with Magnus was not good anyway, so why should she bother doing something so thankless?

Magnus knew that too, so he spoke plainly.

"Give that child to me. You can't take good care of her."

"Impossible!"

Carmelo refused without a second thought. She looked at Magnus with mockery written across her face. "I can't take care of Linlin, but you can? Don't forget that you're a pirate. Are you going to make Linlin become a pirate with you and live that kind of precarious life forever?"

"Ten million Beli!"

"Twenty million!"

"Deal!"

Only after Magnus finished speaking did Carmelo come back to her senses. Out of habit, she had actually named a price and sold Linlin for twenty million Beli?

"Magnus!!!"

"Shut up. I'll give you at most thirty million Beli in sponsorship, and another ten million every year afterward. That's all."

Thinking about how one-fifth of Farrell's bounty had been spent before he had even collected it, Magnus felt a sharp ache in his heart. The way he looked at Carmelo also turned hostile.

"You'd better not let me find out that you really got involved with the Celestial Dragons. Do you know how much effort I put into replacing your former superior?"

"Tch, I should've reported you to that brat Kong. He's almost a Fleet Admiral now, while you're still a useless pirate."

Carmelo exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"Don't worry. I've kept records of every child sent to the Navy. For ordinary children, I did my best to find them qualified parents, but it's impossible to make everything perfect."

The more Carmelo thought about it, the angrier she became. She had originally wanted to lean on a powerful backer, which was why she had worked with the World Government. Yet the World Government was no good either, forcing her to contact Magnus and bow her head to him for the first time in her life.

But it had also turned Magnus from a proper adventurer into the infamous captain of a pirate crew, branded by the World Government as a most heinous criminal.

The name White Wolf had been made during that time.

Carmelo did not know that if not for Magnus, she would have gone from being a con artist to becoming scum who made a living selling children.

Now, Carmelo was still doing business with the World Government, but her trading partner was the Navy, and one of this generation's Fleet Admirals at that.

Carmelo had not been wrong about one thing. Being a Navy soldier was still better than being a pirate, wasn't it?

"Linlin is yours."

The Orphanage of Lambs had been short on funds recently anyway. Magnus was a pirate, but when it came to character, Carmelo felt that hers was inferior to his.

He was clearly a pirate, yet he spent money to send talent to the Navy.

As long as they don't become the Celestial Dragons' dogs.

That was Magnus's bottom line. It was simple and straightforward, and once one got used to it, it was not much of a problem.

Freak.

That was Carmelo's assessment of Magnus.

"Although I agreed to let you take Linlin away, whether Linlin is willing to go with you will depend on your own ability."

A sinister smile appeared on Carmelo's aged face.

"If you fail to take her away, I'll sell her to the Navy. I'm sure that brat Kong would be more than willing to take on a disciple with the potential to become an Admiral candidate."

"Hmph, don't underestimate me!"

A cold smile appeared on Magnus's face. "Don't forget, when the ship we were both on sank, who was the one that cooked for you on that deserted island?"

"Who do you think wrecked my ship?"

The moment Carmelo heard that, she became furious. It had only been one million Beli!

Was that really necessary?

Magnus could not be bothered with Carmelo. The two were the type to argue the moment they met. Unless necessary, they were better off never seeing each other again.

Charlotte Linlin.

Just as Magnus walked toward Charlotte Linlin, intending to slowly build a good relationship with her before luring her onto his ship—

The system appeared as promised.

Sea Circle Calendar, June 3rd, 1480. This is your sixty-fifth day as a pirate. Unfortunately, not long after making your debut as a pirate, you have encountered another future one of the Four Emperors, Charlotte Linlin.

At twenty-five, she possesses beauty unmatched across the seas and is the Pirate Empress praised by all.

Winning is impossible. Perhaps you can develop a sweeping, magnificent romance with her?

Beauty? Pirate Empress?

Magnus looked at the Pirate Empress Charlotte Linlin described by the system as a twenty-five-year-old beauty who outshone the seas, then at the five-year-old chubby girl before him, with snot running from her nose and a vacant expression on her face.

System.

You really deserve to die!