My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 140

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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 conceals his strength
140
“I! I want to say something!”
“Oh, our little princess wants to speak? I’m sorry, sweetheart. Father was rushing. What is it?”
“Zadkiel needs to go there himself.”
“That’s true. The priest did insist he had to go. But, princess—”
Father finished pulling on his trousers with one leg already through.
“The Emperor isn’t a fool. He won’t let the priest go there, will he? So it seems Father needs to find it first and bring it to him instead, no?”
“No, no, no!”
I rushed over and grabbed the hem of his pants before he could dash out fully dressed.
“Whoa, princess. Father’s trousers—they’re slipping off.”
“It’s not something anyone can just find and bring back for him!”
“Hmm?”
Father tilted his head in confusion.
* * *
“Where is the location of the Holy Artifact mentioned in the Divine Revelation?”
“Where the sun rises first is the eastern Alpen Domain. The sacred ground refers to the site where the ancient Alpen Temple once stood.”
At Timotheos’s words, Nicholas considered the matter.
‘Now that the Divine Revelation has spread beyond these walls, I have no choice but to send an expedition.’
Throughout the empire’s history, sacred Holy Artifacts had existed in various places.
The High Priests of each generation had heard Divine Revelations and learned their locations.
And now that a Divine Revelation had descended, the Imperial Household had a duty to send an expedition to find the Holy Artifact.
“Very well. Then there’s no helping it. I must assemble an expedition at once.”
“Your Majesty? Y-you mean to s-search for the Holy Artifact?”
“What other choice do I have? The Divine Revelation has already spread. Therefore, I have no options left.”
“Your Majesty! Please reconsider!”
Timotheos immediately prostrated himself and pleaded.
“This must surely be God’s design to expose the falsehood. Whatever the Holy Artifact may be, once we find it, something will be revealed. But then I would become a believer who has told a lie, and how could I—”
“It becomes your worthiness to be its master, High Priest.”
“…Your Majesty?”
“The Holy Artifact must not fall into that young priest’s hands. So we simply need to find it first and quickly place it in our own hands.”
“Ah.”
Timotheos’s eyes widened.
Yes, that young priest Zadkiel who came bearing the Divine Revelation had asked to be included in the expedition.
That request too must have been God’s design.
If Zadkiel obtained the Holy Artifact, a miraculous spectacle would surely unfold for all to witness.
This was the Divine Revelation sent by God to distinguish between the False Servant Timotheos and the True Servant Zadkiel.
But what if the miracle never occurred at all?
What if that young priest’s hands never even touched the Holy Artifact?
“Do not worry. I stand behind you, High Priest.”
Nicholas reassured the trembling Timotheos.
“I will use my power now. So that the Holy Artifact safely enters your hands, not that young priest’s.”
Nicholas smiled and extended his hand.
“I have made my decision now.”
His hand spread wide above the High Priest’s head, as if bestowing a blessing.
Timotheos gazed up at that hand with awe, trembling.
* * *
Nicholas urgently summoned his Advisor, Ramon, and gave him an order.
“A Divine Revelation has come to find the Holy Artifact, so we must assemble an expedition with utmost haste. Recruit only rank-one Dos Mages—Mana Users.”
“Your Majesty?”
Ramon looked bewildered.
“You mean to assemble the expedition with only Mana User Ability users? Not the Paladin Order?”
Expeditions to find Holy Artifacts had always been composed of the Paladin Order.
It was an ancient tradition.
“Yes, absolutely.”
But Enoch could not be sent.
The perceptive Enoch would surely sense something amiss in the Divine Revelation.
He might even defy the Emperor’s orders and steal the Holy Artifact to give it to the young priest of the Old Doctrine.
Then everything would fall apart.
“According to the Divine Revelation, Holy Beasts are guarding the Holy Artifact. It may be dangerous for those with Holy Power Abilities.”
Fortunately, there’s a pretext for sidestepping convention and cutting Enoch out of the loop.
Before word reaches his ears.
“Move as fast as you can!”
We need to get the Holy Artifact first.
* * *
“Father can’t bring the Holy Artifact for me? What are you talking about?”
“I’m saying only Zadkiel can take that Holy Artifact.”
Father’s eyes narrowed.
He clearly couldn’t imagine it.
‘Well, unless he sees it with his own eyes, it’ll be hard for him to understand what I’m saying.’
While I was thinking this, Oscar, growing bored, scratched his ear and flopped onto my bed.
“If that’s how the girl sees it, then take my word for it—don’t go running off somewhere. Sit still.”
“I’m sorry if I’ve been a handful, but I’m in a hurry. My dear daughter went to all that trouble to lay the groundwork—I can’t just let it all fall apart like this.”
Father shot Oscar a look, then turned back to me.
“So I should just take Zadkiel with me?”
“The Emperor isn’t an idiot, but you think he’d send you on an expedition?”
Oscar, who had been listening, scoffed.
“Of course not. He won’t even tell me about it. That’s why we’re hurrying now. We’re going first.”
When Father shrugged and said that, Oscar’s eyes went wide and he bolted upright.
“…? What? So you’re saying you’ll sneak the Holy Artifact out without the Emperor’s orders?”
“Yes. There’s no other way.”
“Wow, impressive. I’ve known you were trouble since you stole that book from the library, but you really are something else.”
“You’re right. I felt bad about that. I’ll definitely return it tomorrow.”
“You stole it without even properly checking it out, so what do you mean return it! And you obviously finished reading it anyway!”
Another intimate exchange between just the two of them.
For some reason, feeling left out, I went over to Oscar and flopped down beside him, propping my chin on one hand while I looked at Father.
“Father, if you go without the Emperor’s orders, you’ll get in trouble. Let’s not do something that’ll get us scolded. Then, if the Emperor doesn’t send you, who would he send instead?”
“Probably a commander from another unit, wouldn’t you think? Maybe your uncle-by-marriage.”
“Oh no, he’ll have such a hard time.”
If Zadkiel went, there’d be no problem at all.
The Emperor is trying to exclude both Father and Zadkiel….
“Can’t be helped. Let’s just wait. And Father—don’t go committing any more crimes. Just stay home.”
“Same thought.”
Oscar lay in exactly the same pose as me, chin propped up, and clicked his tongue in disapproval.
Father’s expression watching us both still looked anxious.
I understand how he feels, but….
“Really, it’s fine. Trust me.”
* * *
The Alpen Holy Artifact Expedition.
The expedition commander was Aleksei, the head of the Dos Mage Corps.
He had been suddenly summoned by the Emperor while playing with his twin sons for the first time in ages.
Of course, he could understand that much.
For soldiers, an imperial command is absolute.
But.
‘Why on earth do we need Mana Users for this?’
Aleksei, who had arrived in Alpen just an hour after being summoned, was baffled.
He understood that a Divine Revelation had come to seek out the Holy Artifact.
But why would the Emperor ignore convention and send Mana Users instead of the Paladin Order?
‘That old snake wouldn’t do this without reason. There’s something to it.’
Unfortunately, the Emperor gave him no time to consult with Enoch, nor a moment to deeply ponder his own hidden motives.
“Damn it all!”
A lion-shaped Holy Beast came charging at him.
When Aleksei tore into it with a mana-laden gauntlet, viscous blue blood sprayed across his cheek.
“This never ends, does it?”
The ruins of the old temple in Alpen.
After Holy Beasts attacked and took over two hundred years ago, the Alpen Temple abandoned this place and relocated to a new site.
Since then, it had been the Holy Beasts’ stronghold.
And here, the Holy Beasts were said to be guarding the Holy Artifact….
“High Priest, is this correct?”
“Yes, what?”
Aleksei turned to Timotheos, the High Priest standing beside him with a shield spell still shimmering around his frame.
They had already eliminated a considerable number of Holy Beasts.
“But the Divine Revelation seems to say something different, doesn’t it?”
Aleksei gazed at the bodies strewn across the ground, bewildered.
The Holy Beasts guarding the Holy Artifact should have bowed in submission at his every step.
Interpretations of Divine Revelation could certainly vary.
But the final words of that Revelation—that the Holy Beasts would obey and kneel—no matter how he turned it over in his mind,
‘it shouldn’t play out like this.’
That was the truth of it.
He had come alongside the High Priest precisely to calm the Holy Beasts.
So why were these creatures that should have willingly surrendered the Holy Artifact attacking with such ferocity?
“Ah, these are auspicious beasts that have guarded the Holy Artifact for ages. Of course they must resist.”
……
Timotheos answered with a flustered expression, and Aleksei regarded him with suspicious eyes before exhaling slowly.
There was no point in puzzling over it further.
Aleksei turned back to the remaining Holy Beasts and pressed his assault.
Soon the last one collapsed, coughing blood—
“Commander, I believe we’ve located the Holy Artifact!”
One of the mages in the distance gestured to Aleksei.
As he approached, the true form of the ‘Holy Artifact’ that the creatures had been desperately guarding came into view.
* * *
“Little one, but what exactly is this Holy Artifact that only the priest can carry?”
Father asked me again, his expression still anxious.
“Well, the thing is…”
I flinched slightly.
It was from the lucid dream I’d had.
The moment my neck had snapped and I was sent flying by Cheshire came flooding back.
So that Holy Artifact was what had been held in Cheshire’s hands back then…
* * *
‘A sword?’
A beautiful blade with elegant lines, possessing a graceful curve.
Despite having been abandoned in ruins for over two hundred years, it was preserved as if new, gleaming with brilliance—unmistakably a Holy Artifact.
“Why would something so important be left lying about like this?”
Yet strangely, it was neither stored in any proper place nor displayed with reverence.
It lay on the bare ground, simply discarded.
‘Something tells me I shouldn’t bring this straight to the Emperor as is.’
Aleksei strode purposefully toward the blade, his thoughts churning.
The reason they had assembled this expedition without the Paladin Order…
He suspected it was to prevent the Holy Artifact from reaching Enoch’s hands first.
Enoch had the audacity to ignore imperial orders, after all.
‘But brother-in-law aside, this puts me in a tight spot.’
It would be difficult to defy an imperial command and spirit away the artifact, and this was hardly the moment to draw such attention.
“Brother-in-law, I would ask that you continue to appear as though you’re following the Emperor’s commands as closely as possible. As my closest family, suspicion comes easily.”
Enoch was preparing for rebellion.
He had made this request when explaining the plan.
‘I don’t know what to do.’
Unable to reach a final decision, the weary Aleksei tapped his head a couple of times and reached out to grasp the blade.
“…?”
But.
“What?”
It was heavy. It wouldn’t lift from the ground.
“What do you mean?”
This time with both hands.
Still the blade refused to budge.
There was no spell binding it, no way it was affixed to the earth.
“Pfft.”
One of his subordinates couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of him.
A slender blade that appeared hardly heavy at all.
Yet to see him struggling against it, unable to lift it—how could it not be amusing?
“You try it then.”
“Pardon?”
Aleksei turned to his subordinate.
The man picked up the sword and his eyes widened in shock.
“I—I can’t lift it?”
“Right? Heavy, isn’t it? I’m not the only one who can’t move it, am I?”
“But it’s not that it’s heavy, exactly… it’s more like I just can’t seem to grasp it at all?”
“Ah.”
The moment understanding dawned.
Every ability user gathered around the Holy Artifact turned in unison.
All eyes fixed on the High Priest, Timotheos.
* * *
“So what you’re saying is, only Priest Zadkiel can lift that sword?”
“Mm-hmm.”
While I was deep in conversation with Father.
Snore, snore.
“Kch—!”
The sound of a snore turning into a gasp made me spin around in alarm.
Oscar was asleep.
“Poor thing—looks like he never gets decent rest with all that work. At least he’s getting some now.”
Father gazed at Oscar with sympathetic eyes as he spoke.
“Yeah, really.”
“But, sweetheart.”
“Mm?”
Father’s face was still etched with concern.
“You know as well as I do—the Emperor is Primera. So he can do anything he wants.”
“I see.”
Right, possibly.
The Emperor might have used his ability to ensure the Holy Artifact safely fell into the High Priest’s hands instead of Zadkiel’s.
But.
“I don’t know…”
The Divine Revelation I created.
Half of it is false, and half is true.
The part about “only the Holy Artifact’s master can hear the true Divine Revelation from now on” is a lie I invented.
But “the Holy Artifact’s true master is Priest Zadkiel” is real.
That sword wasn’t something I brought there myself. No one set any barrier to prevent others from lifting it—that wasn’t me either.
A Holy Artifact that Cheshire happened to discover during the subjugation in the original story.
In other words, it’s an item the divine had placed there—meaning the Emperor should be slain and world peace achieved.
‘A later Primera, no matter how skilled, can’t break through the power of a former one.’
If there is a god, then Primera among Primeras.
Isn’t that the pinnacle?
“This won’t be easy~!”
I covered my mouth and giggled to myself.
* * *
I had prepared a Holy Artifact that only a True Servant—one I had chosen—possessed the Worthiness to be master of.
So only those with the “Worthiness to be master” spoken of in the Divine Revelation would be able to lift the Holy Artifact.
‘This turned out well, actually.’
I’d been suspicious anyway.
Aleksei, breaking into a faint smile, turned to Timotheos and gestured toward the sword with his chin.
“High Priest, why don’t you try? It seems only the one acknowledged as the Holy Artifact’s master can handle it.”
“…….”
Just then.
Timotheos, who had been watching the entire scene unfold, had gone deathly pale.

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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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