My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 105

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Father Hides His Strength
Chapter 105
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There was exactly one place that remained peaceful, even amid wartime emergency.
The Magic Tower.
Oscar, the Master of the Magic Tower, sat at the head of the research chamber as always, his pen scratching ceaselessly across the page—until his expression darkened.
“What kind of nonsense is this?”
His advisor, Robel, clamped his mouth shut and pulled his neck down into his shoulders.
Given Oscar’s temperament, the Magic Tower building was about to resonate with his screaming.
“What kind of nonsense, I said!!!”
Just as expected.
Robel shrank further and answered.
“It’s exactly as I reported, sir….”
All active ability users had been dispatched to Southern Olden.
With Jedo’s defenses weakened in the interim, another swarm of Seongsus was said to be attacking.
The Emperor had decided to send out the remaining ability users.
The ability users still in Jedo with Military Service Obligations were….
“Why would you send children there?”
That’s right—child soldiers alone.
Children with minimal combat experience.
Robel’s eyes darted away from Oscar’s blazing anger as he replied.
“Following the deployment order… child soldiers come right after the active forces, sir….”
“This is insane. Has the nation lost its mind? Why are those docile Seongsus suddenly going berserk?”
“How would I know? I’m no Seongsus myself.”
“God, really.”
Oscar exhaled a heavy sigh and gripped his head.
Robel watched him, debating whether to speak—then finally opened his mouth.
“Um, Master Oscar….”
“What.”
“There’s one more thing I need to tell you….”
“What is it.”
“Please don’t get angry. Don’t raise your voice. Just stay calm and listen.”
“Just tell me already!”
“Apparently, the Emperor thought the number of child soldiers was insufficient, so he’s conscripted even 4th-Grade Octave ability users. Right now, I’m….”
Robel’s words caught in his throat as his eyes widened.
He’d thought Oscar, who cared greatly for Lilis of the Rubinstein family, would be shocked, certainly.
‘His… his expression. What is that?’
More than he’d imagined.
Oscar’s expression was extraordinary.
“…What did you…say?”
To see him like this, one might think he’d lost the nation itself.
Oscar’s golden eyes, wide open to their limit, were flooded with an emotion beyond words.
Fear? Dread?
Something close to that.
“Damn… this… this insane bastard, he’s finally….”
“M-Master? Why? Are you all right?”
Oscar’s hands trembled pathologically as he rose from his seat.
He was a man who’d felt plenty of anger, but never panic or fear.
Yet now, for some reason, Oscar was terrifyingly losing his composure—gripped by true dread.
“Go… go and relay a message.”
“Yes?”
“Tell them… I’m… I’m going from the Magic Tower.”
“Sir?”
“Damn it! Understand me the first time, you fool!”
Oscar shouted at Robel, his eyes bloodshot.
“Tell them I’m going! Tell the Imperial Household that I’ll hold Jedo from the Magic Tower! Leave the children alone. Go report it to the Palace.”
……
Robel’s mouth fell slack at this unilateral decision.
The researchers gathered in the chamber, who’d been absorbed in studying Magic Formulas moments before, stared with the same shock.
“What, you bastards.”
Oscar regarded the panicked researchers with a sharp gaze.
“Jedo is in danger. You want to sit here on your backsides without a care in the world?”
The researchers fell silent, exchanging uneasy glances.
They had all fought tooth and nail to enter the Magic Tower for a single reason.
To avoid being conscripted in a situation like this.
But…
“Why do you all look like that? You think I should just watch children who’ve never seen a battlefield get sent out there to die?”
“Tower Master! Please, just calm down for a moment. None of us researchers have seen combat either—”
Robel grabbed his arm to restrain him, but Oscar yanked free and pressed on.
“If I go alone, they’ll just draft child soldiers to make up the numbers. So you’re getting up too.”
The researchers hesitated even at Oscar’s command.
“Please, damn it. I’ll handle everything. I won’t ask you to do a thing.”
His voice carried a desperate plea.
“Please. Just help me fill the quota.”
One of the panicked researchers suddenly stood.
“You’re right. It’s better for us to go than to send children.”
“Yes. That’s… that’s right, isn’t it?”
One by one, they rose from their seats.
At this show of willingness, Oscar’s shoulders sagged with relief as he closed his eyes.
“Thank you. All of you. I won’t let any of you get hurt.”
Soon Oscar strode briskly from the laboratory without hesitation.
They all followed in his wake.
But when they reached the first floor of the Magic Tower.
Oscar’s steps froze.
“What the hell.”
Two armed ability users stood blocking the tower’s entrance.
He recognized both faces.
Saint Lawcaster Mir.
Mage Lion.
Both served in the Emperor’s Imperial Guard.
A unit of five.
Bound by Binding Magic, they obeyed the Emperor’s every command without question.
“What the hell, you bastards.”
“Under Grade 1 Wartime Emergency, we have come to protect Tower Master Oscar Manuel and the researchers of the Magic Tower.”
Saint Lawcaster Mir spoke.
“What? That’s the kind of nonsense even a stray dog would laugh at. Protect me? You’re going to protect me?”
“We deliver the Emperor’s words.”
Regardless of Oscar’s scathing response, Mir continued.
“The researchers of the Magic Tower are ability users who must be protected above all else. In this national crisis, you are hereby ordered to seal off the tower and guard them with your lives.”
“Ha! This is insane.”
Oscar laughed bitterly at the absurdity, then his expression hardened instantly.
“You’re good with pretty words, aren’t you. Calling imprisonment by such a gentle name.”
“Oscar Manuel. You cannot take another step beyond this point.”
Mir and Lion positioned themselves to block his path.
Oscar smirked and leaned in close, his voice dropping to a whisper.
“If you wanted to stop me, you should’ve brought all your friends. Where are the other three?”
…
…
“You think two of you can stop me?”
Oscar flicked a single finger.
Mir and Lion collapsed helplessly, their knees buckling as they crashed to the ground.
Their movements sealed in an instant.
Neither could move so much as a finger.
“Idiots.”
Robel, watching it unfold, clicked his tongue.
Two high-ranking ability users subdued with a single gesture.
‘He’s always at a desk, but he’s truly terrifying when it comes down to it.’
Oscar kicked Mir’s shoulder, sending him tumbling.
“Get lost.”
Then he walked on, unhurried and unflinching.
But.
“…? What’s this…?”
The moment Oscar’s hand touched the door.
His vision went white.
A tremendous force sealed off the entire Magic Tower, starting from the entrance itself.
This time, something he could not overcome.
“What?”
It was Primera—the Emperor’s ability.
The moment he felt the Emperor’s iron will, absolute in his refusal to let Oscar leave.
Oscar understood.
The absence of active ability users.
The mobilization of child soldiers.
The conscription order that had trickled down even to 4th-Grade Octaves.
In this situation, unfolding with the precision of interlocking gears, the Emperor aimed at one thing alone.
Lilis.
By moving that child as he pleased, he could break in Enoch Rubinstein.
“Ahhh.”
His hands trembled.
Fury and terror.
The moment he pictured that small child, Lilis, cast into the battlefield and trembling with fear.
Oscar’s bloodshot eyes grew wet.
“AAAAHHHHH!!!”
A desperate scream shattered the quiet of the building.
* * *
What on earth was happening?
Less than half a day after Father had departed, three armed ability users stormed into our home.
Two Holy Knights and a Magic Swordmaster.
“What brings His Majesty’s Imperial Guard to this place?”
Grandfather hid me behind him, trembling, as he addressed them.
The Emperor’s Imperial Guard.
I knew who they were.
‘Ability users brainwashed by the Emperor.’
The Guard were strong, but not as strong as Father or Master Oscar.
Which meant they could be bound with Binding Magic using moderate Life Force.
They were five ability users chosen because the Emperor could use them most efficiently.
‘They appeared at the end.’
These men appeared in the original story’s final act.
Bound by Binding Magic, they would block Father and Cheshire, protect the Emperor, and die in the process….
“We have come to conscript 4th-Grade Octave ability users and deploy them to Central Wurgen by His Majesty the Emperor’s command.”
The Magic Swordmaster standing in the center spoke.
I flinched in shock.
“…It’s all right, Lilis.”
Grandfather spoke in a voice only I could hear.
“However imperial His Majesty may be, this order has no legal foundation. 4th-Grade ability users bear no obligation of military service. This is plainly stated in the Imperial Legal Code’s military law provisions.”
“This is a Grade 1 Wartime Emergency. With all active ability users having deployed and no forces remaining in Jedo, His Majesty the Emperor is empowered to conscript child soldiers.”
“My granddaughter is no child soldier. As a 4th-Grade ability user, she bears no military obligation.”
“Approximately three hundred Seongsus are currently attacking Jedo. That number cannot be countered by child soldiers alone, which is why His Majesty has ordered the conscription of 4th-Grade ability users as well.”
“Absurd. High-ranking ability users exist in the Magic Tower and the Ability User Training Institute. Why would His Majesty conscript 4th-Grade ability users who have never received proper combat training?”
“The ability users of the Magic Tower and Training Institute are elite personnel. The Imperial Household has a duty to prioritize their protection and treatment above all else.”
They would not budge.
“Time is of the essence. Should you continue to refuse conscription, we of the Imperial Guard have no choice but to act in accordance with His Majesty’s will.”
All three drew their blades at once, pointing them at Grandfather.
“We will be forced to subdue Nordik by force.”
……
“G-Grandfather….”
My vision went white.
I couldn’t fathom why this was suddenly happening.
I wanted to think clearly, but there was no time.
‘No matter how strong Grandfather is, he can’t take on all three.’
I clutched at the hem of Grandfather’s robe.
“G-Grandfather, I….”
“Yes. That’s how it is.”
Grandfather turned and walked toward the wall of his study.
A sword hung there.
The blade he’d carried in his active years, before retirement—worn at the grip from decades of use.
Grandfather seized the aged sword and positioned himself before me once more.
Then he leveled the blade at the Imperial Guard and spoke in a low voice.
“Go ahead. Try to take her if you can.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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