My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 124

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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’s hidden strength
124
‘Red hair and grey eyes?’
I grabbed at the neck that had been gripping me and stumbled backward, my mind reeling.
I do know someone like that.
But no matter how I look at it, it doesn’t match.
The voice is completely male too.
“Ahhh! It hurts! Let go!”
“Ah, I remember your face. Don’t tell me you’re still preying on people?”
“Let go, let go! Release me!”
Despite the significant difference in height and build, the man in the youth’s grip had no strength to resist.
“This madman. You’ve torn my pharmacy completely apart.”
The youth gritted his teeth and tightened his grip.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
My mouth fell open.
Every bone in the man’s fingers was snapped and twisted.
“Don’t you know how scary the police force has become these days? I’ve seen far worse garbage than you, and they’re careful not to pull this kind of stupid stunt.”
“Haah, haaah.”
That must hurt.
The man knelt there, cradling his shattered hand, only groaning.
The youth clicked his tongue and pulled out what looked like a business card from his pocket.
Then he slipped it into the man’s shirt pocket as he spoke.
“My friend who’s talented runs a treatment clinic here. Go ask them to fix your broken bones.”
The youth’s eyes narrowed.
It looked like a smile.
“Tell them you came after getting a spiritual education from Jemian, and they’ll understand.”
“Whoa!”
At that word from the youth—no, the ‘girl’—my lingering doubt finally crystallized into certainty!
“But you’re paying for the treatment!”
“Ahhh!”
Jemian kicked the loan shark in the rear and sent him flying.
“If you get treated and run, I’ll hunt you down to the depths of hell and shatter every finger on your hands!”
“Jemian!”
I cried out, thrilled.
Jemian pulled down the robe that had been covering her nose and mouth, and smiled at me.
“You’re Lilis, right?”
* * *
Jemian.
Full name: Jemian Traha.
In the original work, the captain of the Red Wolf mercenary company—a commoner mercenary with truly astonishing abilities!
The man who would become the protagonist Cheshire’s closest comrade and sweep across battlefields!
Or so I had believed.
Except she was a woman, not a man, and unlike in the original work, she was our friend Jemian who had graduated from the Training Institute after receiving my special tutoring!
“You crazy thing!”
“Aha-ha!”
It had been half a year since we last met.
In the temple’s prayer chamber, we caught up on everything.
“Your height… why did you grow so much?”
“Quite a bit, huh? I was shocked too. I’d sleep and wake up taller, sleep and wake up taller again.”
“It’s impressive. I completely failed to recognize you because of your height.”
“Ha-ha. I suppose I’m done growing now, right?”
No, you’re still supposed to grow over two meters more.
Of course, I kept that to myself.
“And your voice changed completely too?”
“I know, right? It changed a lot in just a few months. But wait—what’s with this hair color? I couldn’t even recognize you at first!”
“Ah! I was hiding it for a moment!”
I grinned and brushed my bangs back the way Father did.
As the magic dissipated at the same moment, Jemian laughed with obvious delight.
“That looks amazing!”
“Right?”
There’s a certain thrill in revealing hidden strength.
“But Jem, Gerard contacted all of us before about getting together—why did you turn him down?”
“Oh, that.”
When Gerard left the Training Institute, he promised to treat me, Cheshire, Jem, and Rom to a fine meal.
It had been postponed because so much else had been happening.
Was it after the Seongsu Incident had just ended?
Gerard sent a carriage himself to find Jem and Rom, but neither came, so the whole thing fell through.
“Sorry. It wasn’t that I didn’t go—I couldn’t. I was hired by the Suppression Force back then.”
“What? You’re already working as a mercenary?”
“Of course. I joined the mercenary company the moment I left the Institute. I don’t think I’ve had a single proper day of rest since then.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. And let me tell you, I’m doing pretty well! Without me, the whole unit wouldn’t get half the contracts we do!”
Jem puffed out her chest with pride.
“I know, I know! You’re the best, Jem!”
“Hehehehe!”
Of course she’d be doing well. Jemian Traha was no ordinary talent.
“But what about Rom? Setting you aside, why didn’t he come when you invited him?”
“Oh, he’s busy too.”
Jem laughed and pulled out a business card from her pocket.
“Wait, isn’t that the one you gave that debt collector?”
“Right. Rom opened a clinic on Seraph Street. That guy’s making serious money.”
“What?”
“Ha. You could say it’s all thanks to me. I told everyone in the unit to go to Rom whenever they got hurt or broke something.”
“Wow, that’s wonderful!”
“Right? He doesn’t stammer anymore either. I thought he’d die from the stress of it all.”
“R-really? Wow, that’s amazing! I’m so happy for him!”
“Ahahaha!”
I squeezed Jem’s hand tight, genuinely delighted.
So much good news!
We spent the rest of the evening laughing and talking.
* * *
Home at last.
Back at the house, I changed into my nightclothes and slipped under the covers, but I couldn’t stop smiling.
‘Today was absolutely perfect!’
I’d seen Jem after so long, and while eating dinner with Zadkiel, I’d accomplished the purpose of my temple visit without a hitch.
The bad emperor’s scheming wouldn’t end with just this, though.
‘But at least I can stop that ridiculous false revelation about starting a war.’
The protagonists were preparing for revolution with their lives on the line to live peacefully—I couldn’t let them be sent off to an invasion war.
I nodded to myself and was about to sleep when thoughts of how much Jem had grown kept me tossing.
The final chapter title of the original work: <Revolution>.
“Shiver!”
That word filled my chest with such grandeur!
When the commoners first poured barefoot onto Jedo to begin their protest, it was they who started it all.
The emperor’s faction’s ability-users tried to suppress them with force, but they were hopelessly outmatched.
‘Because Jemian Traha blocked them all so spectacularly!’
When I’d first met her, I’d been too taken aback to feel its full weight.
Thinking of how much Jem had grown, the revolution felt that much closer somehow.
“Yes! Let’s keep going like this!”
The space beside my bed was still empty—he hadn’t finished the suppression work yet.
“Sleep well, Dad. I love you!”
Still, with a happy heart, I whispered goodnight to him.
“Come home tomorrow for sure!”
* * *
When Enoch returned to Jedo after suppressing the beasts in the southern regions.
What awaited him was bitter news.
‘This is absurd.’
Late in the night.
Jedo, blanketed white by the first snow to fall.
Contrary to the quiet landscape, Jedo was in complete upheaval.
‘The god sent down such a revelation? Do they take the empire’s people for fools.’
A Divine Revelation descended upon Pavil Temple.
In the revelation, the god was urging invasion and the conquest of the continent.
Naturally, it was the Emperor’s doing.
Under normal circumstances, the Empire would have launched its invasion war this winter.
The Emperor had issued his command by holding Lilis hostage, and Enoch had steeled himself for it once before.
‘Lilis.’
Enoch thought of his daughter and let out a soft laugh.
The good child had taken a dangerous step—falsifying her Rank—to uphold her father’s principles.
Octaba….
In the end, it hadn’t turned out poorly.
The Emperor could no longer hold a secure Leash over him.
But he’d never expected that greedy tyrant to give up so easily.
The Seongsu Incident.
And now this Divine Revelation.
The thrashing wouldn’t stop.
‘This is troublesome.’
The Emperor seemed determined not to let this year slip away.
With the miracle of the sick rising from their beds at Seraph Temple as a turning point, the people’s faith had reached its peak.
If he were to defy this Divine Revelation and oppose the invasion, it would likely deal a considerable blow to him.
“Sigh…”
His weary steps became light as a feather the moment the Duke’s Residence came into view—as if all that fatigue had never existed.
He had no intention of showing his daughter his exhausted face.
“……?”
Then.
Enoch spotted a shadowy figure standing motionless before the dark entrance of the Duke’s Residence.
“Cheshire?”
As he drew closer, he saw it was indeed Cheshire.
“What are you doing here?”
The night was bitterly cold.
Yet the boy stood dazed in nothing but a thin garment, as if heedless of the weather.
Enoch rushed forward and cupped Cheshire’s cheek in his hand. It was ice-cold.
“What’s going on? Why are you out here? Did you come to see Lilis? Why didn’t you wait inside?”
“Sir….”
Enoch faltered.
Cheshire’s eyes were red—as if he had been crying.
And they were hollow.
Just like when they first met.
“What happened?”
“Sir, I….”
Cheshire squeezed his eyes shut.
His body trembled violently.
Not from cold, but from fear of something.
“I… I don’t know….”
“Don’t know what?”
With shaking hands, Cheshire withdrew something from his pocket and handed it to Enoch.
Three letters.
In that instant, Enoch’s heart plummeted.
The contents were clearly visible, yet he couldn’t bring himself to read them at once.
His daughter’s familiar handwriting.
That alone was enough to tell him.
‘She told him. She told Cheshire.’
What these letters contained.
Why Cheshire was in such turmoil and terror.
He understood it all.
“I kept… thinking about it. By myself.”
“…….”
“I kept thinking about what I should… what I should do….”
“…….”
“…I don’t know.”
Tears fell from the boy’s eyes.
Watching Cheshire, who had been suffering alone for days, made Enoch’s throat tighten.
“Please tell me, sir.”
Cheshire gripped Enoch’s arm with trembling hands.
And then, with heartbreaking desperation, he began to plead.
“I’ll do anything—anything at all. I’ll do it. Please, if you’ll just teach me, I’ll study hard and do whatever you ask. I’ll do it.”
“…….”
“So please….”
Tears streamed down his anguished face. Cheshire wiped his eyes roughly with his sleeve.
“Anything but killing Lilis with my own hands….”
“Cheshire. What are you saying?”
Enoch’s face contorted.
“She has to live. Safely. We promised. But I—I—”
“…….”
He should have comforted him.
But Enoch’s mouth would not open.
The child who had always worn no expression, who was practiced at hiding his own feelings.
“What do I need to do? What…?”
Backed into a corner, he was weeping pitifully.
“Please tell me….”

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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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