My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 134

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

Father Conceals His Strength
Chapter 134
“…Master of the Magic Tower?”
“Yes.”
Enoch watched Oscar retreating and tilted his head in confusion.
“Where are you going? Come here.”
Oscar, snapping back to attention, fumbled and pointed at the Sacred Object in Enoch’s hand.
“Don’t dawdle—use that to wake the girl up, quickly.”
“Right, yes. I should. But….”
Enoch looked troubled.
“I have no idea how to actually use this thing. It’s driving me mad.”
He’d found the Sacred Object, but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what to do with it.
A heart the color of deep blue, pulsing as though alive—throb, throb, throb.
How in the world was he supposed to….
“But.”
“Mm?”
Oscar, who had been staring gravely at Lilis, spoke up.
“You won’t regret using it on the girl now?”
“What do you mean, regret?”
“The priest of the Old Doctrine.”
…Zadkiel.
Lilis had said this Sacred Object would be needed when she awakened him in the future, when he suffered from the Holy Fever.
“He’ll develop the Holy Fever eventually too, won’t he? You said he couldn’t wake up on his own. So what will you use to wake him then? Will you just let him die?”
Enoch froze.
When he’d learned that Lilis had fallen into sleep from the Holy Fever—and by the power of the Emperor, no less.
He hadn’t spared a thought for what came next; he’d gone straight to Oscar.
‘That’s right. The priest would need this Sacred Object too.’
With wavering eyes, Enoch gazed at the Sacred Object and his sleeping daughter.
* * *
At that same moment.
Zadkiel was being forcibly dragged out by the priests.
“High Priest! I must accompany the expedition! Please, let me go with you!”
He cried out desperately, but the High Priest of Pavil Temple, Timothy, merely ignored him with a pallid, sickly face.
<Let me spread my grace across the entire continent as swiftly as possible.
In doing so, my power shall grow mighty, and I shall shepherd my servants with ever greater care.>
The Divine Revelation that Timothy, the High Priest, had received.
It was a voice urging war.
‘Why would the god who healed the wretched sick deliver such a revelation?’
Zadkiel, puzzled, soon understood why.
Two days ago.
Lilis, who had come to serve at the temple, had told him.
“Priest. Actually, I had another dream from the god, and… the revelation the High Priest received was all a lie!”
To dare befoul the god’s name with falsehood and deception.
But fortunately, the god had sent another revelation through Lilis, and shown him how to resolve it.
The war must be stopped.
Zadkiel was carrying out his divine mission, doing as Lilis had instructed.
And yet….
“High Priest! Please!”
“Away with you, priest! The expedition to find the Sacred Object is not for just anyone to join!”
“The god himself sent me a revelation! Who else could possibly go?”
“Remove the priest at once!”
“High Priest!”
Zadkiel was dragged away.
Timothy watched his retreating back and fell into dark contemplation, trembling violently.
His skeletal hand, thin with age, quivered and rose to his lips.
Click, click.
He gnawed constantly at his fingernails, a picture of anxiety.
‘What am I to do? A true revelation, trying to expose my false one… What am I to do?’
Timothy, who had been shaking, soon made his preparations.
Should the false revelation be exposed, the Emperor would lose just as much.
I had to tell the Emperor, who had conspired with me on this matter, what had transpired.
* * *
After dreaming for such an impossibly long time, my sense of time had begun to dissolve.
‘Has about ten years passed?’
I sat quietly in one corner of Oscar’s Room, thinking.
‘How is time flowing out there? Surely less than half a day has gone by, right? What if when I wake up… the universe has advanced and there are aliens and I’m some kind of frozen human specimen or something?’
Anxiety crept in.
That would be catastrophic.
‘Ugh, I need to expose that wicked High Priest’s lies quickly.’
Jedo had been thrown into chaos before I fell asleep—all because of the Divine Revelation commanding war.
Because of the lie the Emperor and High Priest had concocted together, Father would be in a difficult position.
War couldn’t happen….
‘No, don’t worry. Zadkiel will handle it well.’
The day I went to the temple to see Zadkiel, I’d already set things in motion.
I’d put the Original Work to good use again.
‘Don’t be anxious.’
As I pondered this, I suddenly realized that even while dreaming, I was consumed with worry—worry about Father, worry about people, worry about war…, worry upon worry.
Well, I was turning out to be quite the righteous little child.
Truly worthy of being a protagonist’s daughter.
“Excuse me, Goddess. Are you watching?”
Every citizen of the Empire kept a Goddess Statue of Primera in their room, without fail.
“You haven’t abandoned me yet, right? The fact that you’re even letting me dream tells me so.”
I approached the Goddess Statue that sat on Oscar’s desk as I spoke.
“I’m trying this hard, see? You revealed the entire Original Work to me—surely that was telling me to do something about it. Isn’t that right?”
The Goddess had given me ability while stealing away an ordinary life, but….
Still, even that must be part of the larger design, and in any case, she seemed to be an entity that desired peace.
“You see, I… I know the Original Work and I know the future, and there’s so much I can do. I can save so many people.”
For the first time, I clasped my hands together and prayed earnestly.
“So even if the time comes for me to go… could you let me hold out as long as possible? Then it’s good for you, and I get to spend more time with Father and my family and my friends.”
Right?
“That’s what we call mutual benefit….”
The moment I finished my prayer with a satisfied heart.
“Come on, let’s eat.”
Oscar opened the door and stepped in, and I flinched.
‘Sigh.’
I, brought back to life by Father’s sacrifice.
Oscar had been caring for me for a full week now.
After I came back, I tried to resurrect Father, and Oscar must have used Regression Magic for me, right?
That obvious assumption proved correct.
He’d spent the entire week without eating or sleeping, staying fixed to his desk.
To research and prepare for Regression Magic.
What was funny was―
“Won’t you eat more? Just one more bite.”
While he sat at his desk all day like that, he made sure I, sitting obediently on his bed waiting, ate every single meal.
“I’m too full….”
“No excuses. Just one more bite.”
“When can I see Father?”
I pestered Oscar every day, knowing nothing of what was really happening.
‘I really want to punch myself.’
How infuriating I was to myself.
Young and ignorant.
So I understood why I kept asking for Father.
“Jo, just wait a little longer. It’ll be soon. You promised me, right? That you wouldn’t think strange thoughts?”
“Yes….”
“If you don’t listen, you won’t see Father? There’s no point in Father coming back to life if you die first, remember? To meet Father safely, you have to wait, don’t you?”
Every time I mentioned Father, Oscar would go pale and tremble violently.
Terrified that I, tired of waiting, might try to resurrect Father with my Life Force.
“Just wait a little longer. Just a little longer.”
He would get up again and bury himself in the mountain of books.
‘Really… I can’t bear to watch this.’
It was painful, but whenever Oscar sat at his desk, I would creep close and steal glimpses of his research.
The Price of Regression.
I had to find out what it meant.
‘Once I see him perform the Regression, I’ll be able to wake from this dream, won’t I? After that, it’s all memories I already know.’
I watched his tireless hands with quiet intensity.
How much time had passed?
Oscar seemed to have finished his preparations.
And I—I was struck silent by what looked like a final testament he had written.
1. Only the caster of Regression Magic can remember everything.
2. However, the caster cannot reveal future events due to a Geis.
3. The Price is not death, but the erasure of the caster’s very existence.
4. The Price is paid when the date of Regression comes around again.
‘Not death? Erasure of existence itself?’
My hands began to tremble without warning.
If the Price Oscar had named for Regression was merely death, I thought I could resurrect him with my own power.
But.
‘Erasure… what does that even mean? Does he just disappear? Not even a body left behind?’
I desperately wanted the Price of Regression to be no greater than Resurrection, which merely brought the dead back to life.
And yet, thinking it through—Regression was a magic far more valuable than Resurrection, which saved only one person.
By turning back time, it could save dozens, hundreds.
That Regression demanded a heavier Price.
Perhaps it was only natural.
‘How… how do I stop it then? Can I even stop it?’
My vision went white.
‘No. I can’t think like this. Get a grip, you fool!’
I shook my head hard, opening my eyes wide, and looked down at the Bracelet I’d kept wearing even in this dream.
‘How do I save something that’s being erased? How much Life Force would I need to stop something from disappearing?’
I tried to think it through, but for some reason the Bracelet gave me nothing.
Was it because we were in a dream?
It was the Bracelet that always showed me a stick-figure response whenever something was beyond my ability.
“…That should do it.”
Then Oscar set down his pen.
The final line written there.
September 4th, 1789. Regression.
I quickly checked the calendar hanging on the wall.
September 4th, 1789.
Today.
Oscar was about to perform the Regression right now.
‘This is the future ten years from now. Outside the dream it’s winter of 1779, so… in ten years….’
The Price is paid when the date of Regression comes around again.
The time Oscar had left.
Exactly ten years.
“M-Master! Wait, please!”
My hand reached out in shock, but only flailed uselessly behind Oscar.
He rose from his seat.
“Lilis! Come here. Now let’s go see your father.”
“Really? Truly?”
I, who had been sitting on the bed swinging my legs listlessly, broke into a wide smile at his words.
Oscar opened his arms and embraced me as I ran to him, laughing together with me.
“Ah….”
I stood frozen and speechless, watching the two of us.
“Are we really going to see Father?”
“Of course. Didn’t I promise I’d make sure you met him?”
“Yay!”
I wrapped my arms around Oscar’s neck and kissed his face eagerly, again and again.
“Ha—so you get kisses now that Father’s coming? You must be thrilled.”
“Yes!”
Oscar laughed brightly.
It seemed to please him, seeing me so lively and full of spirit when I’d been sitting there like a puppet day after day.
“When are we going? Now? Right now?”
“Oh, yeah. Okay.”
Oscar let his smile fade, hesitating.
“But wait. Just a moment….”
“Yes?”
He gripped my shoulder as I tried to hurry past, tilting my gaze to meet his, and gazed at me—at my tilted head—endlessly.
Because this would be the last time.
Trying to burn my face into his memory, he simply looked.
“Lilis….”
Like someone too reluctant to take that first step, glancing back again and again.
“I have a request for you too. Just one thing—will you listen?”
“Of course!”
“Once I meet your father, we’ll see each other all the time anyway, but tomorrow….”
…….
“Should we go tomorrow?”
“What?”
“Just… one more day….”
Let’s stay together just one more day.
I understand now what that plea meant, spoken with such sad eyes—but I didn’t understand it then.
Foolishly, not knowing his heart at all.
“Waahhh, waahhhhh!”
Such cruel innocence.
At the word tomorrow, I burst into tears, and Oscar rushed to soothe me.
“Alright, alright. I was just joking.”
He forced a smile.

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