My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 159

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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
Episode 159
* * *
A week later.
The day of the Hearing on Oscar’s conduct.
My heart wouldn’t settle.
“Father, Master will be all right, won’t he?”
Father smiled as I trailed anxiously behind him while he prepared to leave.
“Don’t worry. Master went to all this trouble for you—surely your father isn’t just going to sit idle and watch?”
“Right? Should I do something so Master doesn’t get punished?”
“Of course not. Just trust your father.”
Father nodded, but in that moment I caught a flicker of worry crossing his eyes.
“Wait—is there something bothering you?”
“Ah, well….”
“There is something!”
“No, really it’ll be fine. But the division commanders—they don’t seem to like Master very much?”
“What? Why?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe it’s because the Magic Tower Head speaks too harshly. It’s not so much that they’re angry about the Magic Formulas she won’t teach them, but rather… like they’re thinking, ‘Perfect timing, we’ve caught you red-handed.'”
“Master’s way of speaking?”
His attitude of supreme arrogance, his presumptuous manner devoid of any sense of hierarchy.
Still, Father and I had already grown accustomed to Oscar’s ways.
“But Master only ever speaks the truth, when you think about it.”
“That’s right. Only the truth.”
Father and I nodded in perfect synchrony.
“In any case, don’t worry too much. Master isn’t a fool—she’ll hold her tongue during the hearing.”
“Master will? Really?”
I couldn’t quite picture it.
“Come now, Master is brilliant. She has good instincts. Your father will mediate appropriately from the middle. The commanders and I get along well enough.”
“Okay, okay. I won’t worry. I trust you, Father!”
“Then, then. Father will be back soon. Kiss, kiss~!”
“Kiss, kiss~!”
* * *
Jillian, commander of the Mage Division, despised Oscar, the Magic Tower Head, with genuine intensity.
Because the boy had no sense of propriety.
The youngster, not yet dry behind the ears, swaggered even before the Emperor himself, fully aware that the Empire had no one to replace him.
There were other researchers in the Magic Tower besides Oscar, but no one was ignorant of the fact that ninety-nine percent of any usable Magic Formula flowed from his mind.
And because even the Emperor indulged Oscar’s attitude with a blind eye, those in power beneath him could only crawl and scrape.
But.
‘Insufferable wretch!’
This time, even the Emperor had decided to hold Oscar accountable. Jillian intended to seize any pretext whatsoever during this hearing.
‘This time I’ll land a truly crushing blow on you!’
Two cavalry commanders with whom he had personal connections were already in his pocket.
After the hearing concluded, he only needed a simple majority of the ten legion commanders to agree to Oscar’s punishment.
Of course, with no one to replace him, dismissal was out of the question, and the Emperor would at best impose a fine, turning a blind eye—but.
‘I hope the fine hits hard! I hope everyone finds out he hoarded the Magic Formulas all to himself and he gets thoroughly mocked and shamed!’
That was Jillian’s fervent wish.
“I mean, is it proper to keep people waiting like this? How much time has passed? He hasn’t even shown his face in the hearing chamber yet?”
Jillian let his impatience show.
“Only ten minutes have elapsed, Commander Jillian. And the man is busy—surely that degree of delay is understandable.”
Enoch cut in swiftly.
Of course, Enoch stood in the opposite position from Jillian.
He was fully prepared to shield Oscar, who had gotten entangled in this troublesome business for his daughter’s sake, so that he might escape censure.
“He’s here.”
Someone spoke in a sharp voice, and all eyes turned toward the entrance of the hearing chamber.
Did he even understand this was a place to account for his wrongs?
Oscar walked to the seat of honor with the same arrogant expression and casual gait as always, then dropped into the chair without ceremony.
His Advisor, Robel, followed behind.
“Hah, this man. We already knew he was presumptuous, but not even a word of greeting? Everyone here is older than the Magic Tower Head. And we cleared our schedules to be here!”
The sight of it only deepened Jillian’s ire as he lashed out.
“Commander, please compose yourself. There is a reason we are all gathered here. Let us not needlessly inflame tensions.”
Enoch cut in again, quicker than before.
“…….”
Oscar merely glanced at the pair exchanging words, his gaze unmoved.
He scratched at his ear as he spoke.
“I don’t understand why you’ve dragged a busy man here just to hold a Hearing over this.”
“Don’t know? Well, there’s the matter of you hoarding those rare Healing Magic Formulas, but first—explain why you helped Theo Antrace!”
“Right. All of them are vital personnel, yet as Mage Tower Head you only aided Theo. Doesn’t that do a disservice to those who fell on the battlefield?”
Jillian had barely opened his mouth when the Mage Division commander seized the moment.
“Look, I’m not a saint. I used my own power to save the people I wanted to save. I don’t see why I need to justify that.”
Oscar folded his arms arrogantly and let out a soft laugh.
“Still, since you old men are huffing and puffing so indignantly, I suppose I should humor you youngsters a bit.”
“W-what did you just say?”
Jillian shot to his feet.
And then.
Enoch was taken aback by Oscar’s far more serious demeanor than he’d anticipated.
‘This isn’t supposed to happen here.’
Today, he needed to tread carefully around the commanders holding the sword—appease them as tactfully as possible.
Oscar surely understood that too.
Yet….
“Now, now, don’t get worked up. I’m headed for the grave soon anyway, and if you spike my blood pressure and I drop dead, who’s going to clean up the corpse? Why make such a fuss?”
“Y-you—!”
Jillian pointed an accusing finger at Oscar, trembling with rage.
Watching their verbal clash, Enoch’s mouth slowly fell open.
‘Wait, what…? Hold on. What is this?’
At that moment.
His brother-in-law Aleksei’s words came back to him.
“Everyone doesn’t much care for the Tower Head.”
“Apparently, they’ve all been on the receiving end of it.”
“The Tower Head’s… sharp tongue?”
Enoch finally understood.
When dealing with him and Lilis, Oscar had been nothing short of an angel.
He turned to Aleksei beside him, his eyes posing a silent question.
‘Is this what you meant by sharp tongue?’
Aleksei’s face was equally bewildered. He answered with his eyes alone.
‘I’ve never actually seen it myself….’
Meanwhile, Jillian and Oscar continued their exchange, and Enoch abruptly stood.
“Wait, everyone, please!”
He had to salvage this somehow!
“I think it would be best if we all calmed ourselves. We didn’t gather here to quarrel, after all.”
“Commander Enoch! Listen to what the Tower Head is saying! Is this appropriate? I’m fifty-eight years old! Am I really supposed to hear such words from someone young enough to be my grandson? Is this right?”
“…….”
Jillian quivered, trembling with indignation.
Oscar, meanwhile, simply scratched his ear with the expression of someone hearing a dog bark in the distance.
Standing between them, Enoch found himself at a complete loss for words, his lips moving soundlessly.
“Anyway, let’s hurry this up and go home. I don’t have time to listen to every complaint these old men want to air.”
“That ‘old men’ talk again—!”
“You wanted to know the reason I helped Theo Antrace, yes?”
Oscar spoke casually, gesturing with his chin toward the standing Enoch.
“Everyone here knows I’m desperate to recruit that household’s daughter to the Magic Tower, so there’s no need to explain further, is there?”
Oscar rose as he continued speaking.
“Since the nation’s fortunes have declined and people’s intelligence has deteriorated, the Magic Tower is suffering from a manpower shortage—you all know that. That’s why I’ve staked everything on recruiting Rubinstein’s daughter.”
With each word Oscar spoke, Enoch’s vision began to fade white.
How could it be…?
How could such trivial remarks become so offensive with each carefully chosen word?
He was a devil incarnate!
“Listen, Tower Head! I know this is off-topic, but since we’re on the subject—”
Jillian interjected.
“If the manpower shortage is that severe, why not lower the recruitment standards for researchers? What exactly does one need to be brilliant enough to enter the Magic Tower?”
“Hah.”
Oscar burst into laughter, rubbing his forehead.
“Surely you don’t still resent me for not accepting your third son?”
“What, what?”
That’s it!
That was exactly it.
The real reason Jillian despised Oscar so thoroughly.
His youngest son—the apple of his eye—he’d wanted to arrange a comfortable position as a Magic Tower researcher, so he’d submitted an entrance exam application.
He’d used his own standing to demand that the Magic Tower Master personally administer the test, and sent gifts upon gifts along with his son’s application. And then what did the boy receive in return?
[Your son is a fool. Since I cannot tell this to the boy’s face, I am conveying it to you through this letter instead.
I hear you also have a younger daughter.
I felt compelled to add this note, lest you harbor the foolish notion of sending her my way and wasting more of my precious time.
Intelligence runs through blood, and children’s minds follow their parents’. The Valenziano line shows no promise whatsoever. Do not send your children here again.]
A letter devoid of even the most basic courtesy—a damned thing that made his blood boil—and the boy had been sent back without so much as an apology.
From that day forward, Jillian had been sharpening his blade against Oscar.
“So what am I supposed to do about your son being a simpleton? You expect me to hire him as a researcher when he hasn’t got the competence for it? That would be a grave breach of duty—grounds for my own execution.”
Oscar shrugged and smirked, leaving Jillian speechless, his mouth gaping uselessly.
“A superintendent of discipline who doesn’t understand how to treat people—I’ve no idea who taught you that.”
Step. Step.
Oscar rose from the conference table, walked around it, and pressed Jillian down into his chair with his own hand.
“What parent wants to send their child to a battlefield? Your children aren’t the only ones in the world, are they?”
Then, bending close to Jillian’s ear—speaking loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear—he whispered with deliberate cruelty.
“Your son’s lack of intelligence—what do you expect me to do about that, hmm? If he’s a fool, what recourse is there? He should pick up a sword. You burden him with a brain that won’t function, send him to war, and yet you don’t apologize for it. Instead, you come to me with improper requests….”
“No, no, wait. Please. An im, improper request? Why would you call it that?”
“You knew full well what your son was capable of, and yet you sent me mountains of money and gold as inducements. If that’s not an improper request, what is?”
A shocking revelation.
Silence fell over the conference chamber.
“Among everyone here who has children,”
Oscar pointed to Enoch and Aleksei as he spoke.
“only those two have never made an improper request of me.”
Then he leaned toward Jillian’s ear again, speaking like a devil incarnate.
“Isn’t this exactly the sort of thing His Imperial Majesty would have your head over? Hmm? You thought that because I left it alone, I’d keep quiet about it until we were both in our graves?”
“…….”
Jillian’s face drained of all color.
Of course, the expressions of several others who felt the sting of Oscar’s revelation were equally worth seeing.
“Now then, I trust you all understand? Even an old, calcified mind like yours can manage a little thought….”
Oscar smiled brightly, spreading his arms wide.
“So spend some time thinking very carefully about who holds the blade here. Shall we resume the negotiations?”

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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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