Bonus chapter unlocked by your Power Stones!
...
"Exactly. I've heard how everyone on the ship talks about you. Even though you're a pirate, you've never done anything truly heinous. On the contrary, you've taken care of plenty of vicious pirates!" Ain nodded firmly. "Since even Tashigi is willing to trust you, I think there must also be a kind of justice that can be pursued here with you."
"You really are adorably dumb." Arton felt a bit embarrassed.
He genuinely had no intention of doing anything cruel or inhumane, but to say that, just based on that, there was some justice worth pursuing at his side—Arton felt Ain was still a bit too naive.
However, when it came to Ain not having much loyalty left toward the Marines, Arton did believe that.
After all, if her loyalty to the Marines had really been that strong, then after the Zephyr incident, she wouldn't have chosen to defect from the Marines and leave with Zephyr.
"And a-and also… there were some World Nobles who even said things to Teacher Zephyr like he's useless."
"They called him the most useless admiral, said he couldn't protect them properly or serve them well."
"They even said that once Teacher retires, they'll take care of him. Teacher might not care about those words, but I can't just ignore them."
"Arton, since you dared to go up against the World Nobles, I figure if I stay by your side…" Ain pressed her lips together, looking at Arton a bit nervously. "Then even if one day in the future the World Nobles really do make a move on Teacher, I'll be able to help him."
This was already the best excuse she could come up with. If this didn't work, she honestly didn't know how else to persuade Arton.
And when she saw Arton looking at her with the expression of someone gently humoring a silly girl, Ain grew even more nervous inside.
"The World Nobles would say something like that to Zephyr?" Arton asked doubtfully. "Sure, most World Nobles are idiots, but even they wouldn't go that far with Zephyr… would they?"
Zephyr hadn't even retired yet, and his prestige in the Marines was very high—was there really any need for the World Nobles to treat him like that?
Robin lifted her head, took over the work with both hands, and smiled up at Arton as she said, "Arton, you said it yourself: a lot of World Nobles are idiots."
"So they just might really do something like that." With that, Robin lowered her head again—but this time, she didn't let go with her hands.
"I see. I guess it's not impossible."
Maybe it was Robin's encouragement affecting his judgment, but Arton gave Ain a small, secret nod.
Hearing that, Ain let out a breath of relief and shot Robin a grateful look.
"All right, since you're being this sincere about it, I can agree to let you stay on my ship."
"But! since you hate the World Nobles so much, you'd be willing to lay hands on them too, right?" Thinking of Ain's earlier service, Arton said with a smile. "When I capture some World Nobles, how about I let you be the one to deal with them?"
"N-no problem, Arton." Ain was so happy she almost jumped up.
Going after World Nobles had been her plan all along for proving her loyalty to Arton. If Arton really did catch some World Nobles, she'd be the first one to strike them.
"Arton, please let me service you too!
Right after Ain said that, she moved to Robin's side. Robin didn't turn her away; she shifted aside and made room for Ain.
Arton, of course, didn't refuse either.
While he was feeling the efforts of both Ain and Robin at once, his gaze fell on the reward he'd just drawn.
'Since Robin and Ain have both gone this far… If they're compatible with Signora's template, I could temporarily hand it over to them.'
'If they ever betray me one day, I'll just take the template back.'
As Arton turned this over in his mind, his gaze once again slid to Ain and Robin.
He wanted to see whether the two of them were a match for Signora's template and, at the same time, whether they had reached the level of loyalty required to receive a template.
After all, without sufficient loyalty, even if Arton wanted to give them a template, they still wouldn't be able to have it.
Chapter 424: Drawing Signora's Template – A Witch's Power
The results of his check left Arton a little surprised.
Whether it was Ain or Robin, both of them had actually reached the basic loyalty threshold required to inherit a template.
Well now, this just got interesting. The corners of Arton's mouth lifted slightly. He opened his diary copy, deciding to record this discovery.
[Interesting! I originally thought Robin and Ain were just saying things casually, but I didn't expect both of them to have actually reached the basic loyalty level needed to use a template.]
[Since that's the case, seeing how hard the two of them are working, I can at least consider leaving the Signora template for them to use.]
Gion: "So Arton really has drawn a template, huh."
Doll: "Leaving Robin aside for the moment, has Ain already developed a certain level of loyalty toward Arton?"
Kujaku: "And to think she was a Marine before."
Kalifa: "Hmph. With how the Marines treat Ain's teacher, it's perfectly normal for Ain to betray the Marines."
Monet: "A template called Signora? I wonder what kind of power that template has."
Stussy: "So Arton only has a single template right now. That means Ain and Robin are in a competitive relationship at the moment. I wonder what those two are doing right now~."
Galette: "What a pity Arton didn't turn on the diary's video feature."
"Hm?"
Arton lowered his head and glanced doubtfully at Ain and Robin.
He didn't know if it was his imagination, but after he wrote those lines in the diary, both Robin's and Ain's assaults clearly became more intense.
Still, although he found it strange, he didn't dwell on it.
He simply adjusted his posture a little so Ain and Robin could perform more effectively, then placed his hand on top of Ain's head.
[Ding! Detected that Ain possesses the three traits of "Female," "Beauty," and "Hatred." Unfortunately, she does qualify to use the "Signora" template.]
[Huh! Ain actually qualifies to use the "Signora" template?]
[I can understand her having the two traits of "Female" and "Beauty" needed to use Signora template. But why does she have the trait "Hatred" as well?]
[Could it be that what she said earlier about hating the World Nobles was actually true?]
Arton raised a brow and wrote down the thoughts in his heart into the diary.
Ain, who was busy with her… work while also keeping an eye on her own diary copy, couldn't help jumping when she saw that entry.
She had never expected that not only would she be compatible with the template Arton had just drawn, but that Arton's system would also detect that she possessed the "Hatred" trait. In a way, that served as proof that what she'd said earlier was true.
In her excitement, Ain accidentally used her teeth for a second.
Noticing it, she quickly lifted her head to look at Arton.
Fortunately, Arton didn't show any strange expression, and Ain finally let out a breath of relief.
Gion: "So Ain really is compatible with the template Arton just drew. Is she really going to leave the Marines?"
Kalifa: "So she actually claimed she feels hatred toward the World Nobles, huh. Makes sense—given her circumstances now, she probably has a deep resentment toward both the Marines and the World Government."
Black Maria: "Does that mean Ain is about to receive the template Arton just drew?"
Arton turned his head and placed his other hand on top of Robin's head.
[Ding! Detected that Robin possesses the traits "Female," "Beauty," "Hatred," "Witch," "Scholar," and others. Unfortunately, she does qualify to use the "Signora" template.]
....
For every 100 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.
Read 50+ chapters ahead on Patreon! [patreon.com/METARLN]