My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 163

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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 Power
Chapter 163
* * *
The Sacred Pilgrimage had begun.
The final destination of the pilgrimage route was Molek.
From Jedo to the sacred site of Molek, heading north on foot, it would take a week—
‘—a week, my foot!’
I screamed internally.
Whose standard was a week, anyway?
Walk for an hour and a half, rest for fifteen minutes, and meals—three a day—each lasting only thirty minutes.
Bathing was possible only at villages we’d pass through along the way, and there were supposedly just three of them.
That meant washing once every two days or so.
‘This is insane!’
Curses came naturally, but I had no one to blame. It was my own fault for taking this pilgrimage on faith in the Original Story alone.
How was I supposed to know? The text only said, “Set out on a Sacred Pilgrimage to Molek!”
If I’d known it would mean sleeping rough, urinating by the wayside, and having to use the provided Defecation Bags for… other business…!
‘God, I miss Dad.’
Less than two hours into the journey, and I was already homesick.
‘I’m definitely an idiot.’
To be honest, when I thought “Sacred Pilgrimage,” I pictured those kids from church traveling across Europe like it was a vacation….
“Huff, huff.”
A vacation? Dream on.
This was pure, solitary endurance.
No one encouraged you to rest, no one waited if you fell behind.
‘I, I can’t even see Cheshire anymore….’
The pilgrim procession stretched across the forest path near the village, marching steadily onward.
At the start, when I still had my full strength, I’d managed to keep pace with Cheshire at the front of the line….
But now, from a column of over fifty people, I’d fallen to the very back.
“The air is wonderful! I feel ten years younger!”
“God, what am I even doing….”
And then… these two suspicious old priests!
Enoch and Scar!
From our first meeting, something felt off about them, so I’d tried to avoid them as much as possible!
‘But now it looks like I’m stuck walking with them the whole way!’
Among all the pilgrims, the three weakest in stamina were likely me and these two old men.
And so, unintentionally, I found myself walking at the very back with them.
“Lilis, are you doing all right?”
Enoch asked, concern evident in his voice as he watched me gasping for breath.
“Oh, no, I’m… huff… fine.”
“Shall Grandfather carry you?”
“No!”
“What about just holding you?”
“That’s even worse!”
“Why not? You’re struggling.”
“I’m really okay!”
What was wrong with this insane old man, anyway?
That was the third time he’d offered to carry me!
Never mind that we’d only just met today—what was he thinking, offering to carry anyone with that scrawny, fragile-looking frame of his?
“Leave her be. She needs to suffer a little. She set out on this pilgrimage without fear or understanding—good for her.”
Scar had maintained that attitude toward me from the very beginning.
Still, compared to this demented old grandfather who kept pushing himself on me, Scar was the lesser evil.
“Lilis.”
Why was he calling me again?
…….
“You need to relieve yourself, don’t you?”
I froze mid-step, pretending not to hear.
How in the world did he know I’d been holding it in?
Had he been watching my hesitant pace this whole time…?
“Go on and take care of it. Holding it in makes you sick. Grandfather will go with you.”
“…E-excuse me?!”
At Enoch’s words, several people nearby and two escort knights from the rear stiffened, glancing at us sideways.
It was odd enough to warrant a second look.
An old man asking an eleven-year-old noblewoman to go relieve herself together!
“Oh, it’s fine. I don’t need to go.”
I was beginning to feel afraid.
* * *
Two old priests who had crossed from caution into outright suspicion of Lilis—Enoch and Scar.
Their true identities were none other than Enoch and Oscar!
Of course, there were reasons why Lilis could never in a thousand years have seen through their disguise.
Four hours before the incident.
Enoch’s room.
“You’re saying you can really change height and facial features? Make someone look like a completely different person? That’s actually possible?”
Enoch, who had asked without much hope, was genuinely startled.
If it really were possible, it would certainly be practical—though there’d undoubtedly be plenty of room for abuse….
But in any case, it would prove quite useful for Enoch today.
‘I won’t have to hide in front of the princess!’
Magic never before heard of, never before seen—magic that did not exist.
Lilis would never in her wildest imagination suspect something so far outside the bounds of sense!
If the girl’s legs grew sore, he could carry her. At night, he could press close beside her and keep watch over her!
“Teach me. You’re not saying I’d have to create it from scratch right now, are you?”
“What? I didn’t leave the Training Institute?”
“…? Yes, I left. I’ve memorized all the Magic Formulas included in the standard curriculum.”
“Then why don’t you know?”
“Because there was no such magic?”
Practical magic was already limited in variety, and among Transformation Magic techniques that were known, there were only ones that changed appearance or eye color.
“I know about Transformation Magic, but….”
“……?”
Oscar tilted his head.
“Right, that one. Just add the coordinates for eyes, nose, mouth, and body type to that Transformation Magic Formula and apply it—it’ll work out fine.”
Oscar looked at him with an expression that said: Why don’t you understand that one plus one equals two?
Enoch stared at him blankly for a moment, then let out a sigh.
I’m not a fool myself.
But talking with this man makes me feel like one.
“Tower Master, let me be clear about this. It’s not because I’m stupid—ordinary people simply don’t think the way you do.”
“What did you say?”
“‘Just apply it, and it’ll work’—that’s not how application works. And changing facial features, body shape, and all the rest? If you could do all that in one go, that’s not application. That’s creation. Pure creation.”
“Are you dim?”
“No, Tower Master. Just because other people don’t measure up to your level doesn’t mean you should treat them like… like that. Am I really going to have to give a full-grown adult a lesson in basic decency?”
Enoch gripped Oscar’s shoulder firmly and spoke.
“Think of it this way. You can solve problems using a mathematical formula that already exists. But how many people do you think are capable of creating an entirely new formula from scratch? Hmm?”
“Fine, fine. You don’t know—so why do you have to explain that you’re an idiot at such length?”
Good grief, this one’s got no sense. Enoch closed his eyes tightly and sealed his lips.
Oscar rummaged through pen and paper on Enoch’s table as though it were his own room. “Transformation Magic is a sustained type, so it’s useless if you can’t keep it running in your head. But if I draw it out for you, you’ll be able to memorize it, right?”

“I’m good at memorizing. Just leave it to me.”
Enoch answered eagerly.
So what if his personality had some rough edges?
He was the savior who could make it possible for him to legally accompany his daughter on her first journey—the very journey he’d been planning to shadow her through awkwardly!
* * *
And so the two men, in addition to mastering the Transformation Magic, completed thorough preparations in their short time.
And then they attached themselves to Lilis’s first journey….
* * *
Lunch hour.
The pilgrimage party stopped and distributed bread and juice.
A mat? Nothing like that.
They simply sat on the roadside and choked down dry bread for thirty minutes before setting out again.
“Cheshire!”
“Lilis.”
Every time we rested, I rushed forward and Cheshire came running back, and we’d meet about halfway….
“This is hard.”
“I’m going to die…”
Every time I looked at Cheshire’s face, I felt tears welling up.
Cheshire, who had brought my lunch, swept away the stones scattered across the ground and spread out a handkerchief for me to sit on.
“Sit and eat.”
“Mm.”
…I need to urinate.
Having missed my chance to mention it, I knelt down thinking I’d eat first.
When I lifted my head without thinking, I saw Enoch sitting nearby.
He grinned and waved at me.
‘No, really? Why is he like this?’
I pretended not to see him and averted my gaze.
He’d been at the back of the group—when did he move up to the front?
Enoch and Scar never disappeared from my line of sight for a moment.
By now I was starting to suspect they were plotting something.
“Lilis.”
“Mm?”
Two old men who made me anxious.
Tasteless bread.
A bladder ready to burst.
With a grimace at my terrible condition, I looked at Cheshire, and he took my hand and pulled me to my feet.
“Why?”
“Come with me.”
What’s this about? I set down the bread and juice I’d been holding on the handkerchief and followed Cheshire.
Cheshire pushed into the forest beside the road.
Once we were deep enough in, he drew a short blade from his pocket, roughly cleared away the tangled weeds around us, and handed me some toilet paper.
“Go ahead.”
Wow.
How did he know? He must be supernatural.
Though embarrassed, I couldn’t hold it any longer, so I timidly accepted the toilet paper.
Cheshire turned his back to me and faced away.
‘Ah, my dignity…’
Real hardship wasn’t something else—it was this.
Fighting back the urge to cry, I spoke to Cheshire.
“Listen, Cheshire…”
“Mm.”
“C-could you go a bit farther where you can’t hear…?”
……
Cheshire hesitated, then moved several paces further away, and I crouched down miserably and lifted the hem of my pilgrim robes slightly.
Really now…
‘I miss Dad.’
* * *
The pilgrimage group’s bedtime was eleven at night, and wake-up was five in the morning.
Everyone received a portable tent to set up and sleep in.
Nobles who had come as families or people from the same temple set up large tents and shared sleeping quarters.
I had intended to set up my single-person tent next to Cheshire’s, but…
“Won’t you be scared sleeping alone? Should we sleep together, Grandfather?”
“Eek!”
As I watched Cheshire set up the tent, Enoch suddenly spoke from behind me.
Sleep together? That was completely crossing the line.
“No! I’m fine!”
I hurried over and hid behind Cheshire.
Cheshire, who was setting up the tent, must have heard Enoch’s outrageous suggestion—he positioned himself between us and eyed him warily.
“Ah, sorry.”
Just then, Scar approached with a distributed tent tucked under his arm, grabbed Enoch’s arm, and dragged him away as he spoke.
“Our High Priest’s lost his mind, so let’s be understanding.”
Soon after, Enoch was dragged away by Scar with a disappointed expression, and they began setting up their tent at a distance.
Though “distance” was only a stone’s throw away from me…
“Lilis.”
As I watched the two suspiciously, Cheshire asked me a question.
“Are they people you’ve grown close to?”
“It’s not that… I mean, I’ve probably talked more than anyone else here. That old priest keeps wanting to chat with me. I think he’s trying to get close to me.”
“…….”
“He said he has only one daughter. But he can’t be the right age to have such a young daughter, can he? Did he mean a granddaughter instead?”
I was theorizing seriously when Cheshire spoke up to reassure me.
“Don’t worry. Everyone from the Temple has their identity verified. And I’m right beside you anyway. The guards rotate the night watch.”
“Oh, right! I’m not worried or anything.”
The people gathered today would be exactly the pilgrims from the Original Story, and there had been no problems in that version.
Yes, that’s what I told myself.
* * *
Deep in the night.
“I need to pee….”
I’d woken up in the middle of the night because I needed to urinate.
Everything outside was still quiet.
Beyond the thin tent, the glow of the campfire flickered.
It would be a while before dawn….
‘Ugh, I really do need to go.’
I’d gotten used to wayside urination within a day, but having to venture deep into the forest at this hour was a different story.
In a night where you can’t see a hand in front of your face, who knows what might jump out?
I could end up having a snake bite my backside while I’m squatting.
‘I’ll just hold it and go in the morning.’
I squeezed my eyes shut.
And they opened again after three seconds.
I couldn’t possibly hold it.
‘Should I ask Cheshire to go with me since I’m scared to go alone?’
But Cheshire had night watch tomorrow, so I should let him sleep properly tonight….
‘Sigh, let me just go.’
I grabbed some toilet paper and slightly lifted the tent flap.
And then I froze.
I could see Enoch and Scar sitting in front of the campfire in the distance.
“……ma….”
“…is…….”
They had their heads close together, whispering to each other.
Since they were speaking deliberately quietly, naturally I couldn’t hear a word of the conversation.
‘What are they doing out here in the middle of the night without sleeping?’
I’d noticed it since earlier, but their stamina was remarkable.
These suspicious old men were doing questionable things in the dead of night, and I felt inexplicably uneasy.
It seemed like they were plotting something.
‘Plotting?’
At the thought that suddenly crossed my mind, I swallowed hard.
I didn’t want to suspect these pious priests….
The way they’d climbed this arduous pilgrimage path at their age, the way they kept trying to talk to me and stick by my side—it all seemed too suspicious.
A gut feeling, you might say.
Rather than trying to befriend me….
‘It felt like I was being watched.’
In the end, I looked at my bracelet.
‘I’m sorry, priests. If it’s private, I’ll listen and forget immediately. Let me clear up this misunderstanding. I’m truly sorry.’
It was an ability I’d never used in this way before….
‘Let me just amplify that conversation to my ears alone.’
1 sec / 1 min
One minute of eavesdropping consumed one second of Life Force.
Best value for money.
Soon, their conversation became clear to my ears.
“Damn it. I should’ve gone as a woman.”
The moment I heard Enoch’s first words, I startled.
Gone as a woman? What in the world did that mean?
And….
‘Damn it?’
It didn’t match the tone of the endlessly gentle and cheerful Enoch at all.
He seemed like a grandfather who wouldn’t know a curse if he heard one….
“You prefer women? Ha, I’ll take anyone as long as they’re not old!”
Scar cut him off bluntly.
I stared at the two of them, dumbfounded—they sounded like human traffickers plotting a deal.
“The child’s on high alert. We can’t keep this up.”
“But why do we even need to go all the way to Molek? Why don’t we just take the girl and bolt now?”
What?
“I’m busy, and you’ve got your own things to handle. Surely you’re not planning to drag this out for two whole weeks? Once we reach the village tomorrow, I’ll take the child with me. You figure out the cleanup yourself.”
“Are you insane? No. The Rubinstein Princess is right there on the pilgrimage roster. If she suddenly vanishes, all hell breaks loose.”
The moment those words left his mouth.
‘This… this can’t be real.’
I clapped a hand over my own mouth to stifle a gasp.

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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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