My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 182

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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
Episode 182
“Wow, the scenery here is absolutely gorgeous. Once we clear out the demon beasts, this place would make a perfect tourist spot.”
“…….”
Whether Oscar remained dazed or not, Enoch leisurely surveyed the surroundings, marveling at the view.
A landscape utterly unlike the notorious reputation of a place from which no one ever returned alive.
“But where are the demon beasts?”
Oscar, who had barely gathered his wits, furrowed his brow.
“Surviving doesn’t seem difficult at all. Doesn’t match the rumors — maybe there was nothing to begin with? And you just pretended to conduct a subjugation for show?”
“Ha! Maybe so?”
Enoch laughed playfully, drew his sword, and pointed it toward the ridge where the sun hung halfway below the horizon.
“Once the sun sets completely, they’ll emerge. Unlike demon beasts with keen night vision, ability users fight at an absolute disadvantage in darkness. That’s why no one ever makes it out alive.”
“Ah, so that’s why no survivors.”
“Probably. But are you sure you’ll be fine, Tower Master? This is hardly a safe ground — what if something goes wrong?”
“Me? Well, me.”
“Have you ever seen what a demon beast looks like?”
“…Are you mocking me right now?”
“No, no — you’ve lived your whole life in Jedo. When would you ever see a monster? I was just worried you’d be startled.”
“I have seen them, I have!”
“Really? When? Where?”
…In books. The types and appearances of demon beasts.
Of course, Oscar couldn’t say that, so he changed the subject.
“I can handle protecting myself without issue, so don’t worry. Just make sure you stay alive back there. I’ll provide cover from behind, yes?”
“Perfect.”
Enoch grinned and gave a thumbs-up.
* * *
“Oh, that’s right!”
After meeting with the Emperor and returning, I sat alone for a while, grinning to myself.
“I need to tell Uncle about this!”
I hurried toward Axion’s chamber.
Before I could even enter, the door swung open from inside.
“Good heavens! Cheshire?”
For some reason, it was Cheshire who emerged from Axion’s room, and his expression was urgent.
“Is the Duke at home?”
“Dad suddenly? Dad isn’t home right now. He left about an hour ago.”
“Ah… this is troublesome.”
Cheshire looked troubled, brushing his hair back. In his hand was a single letter.
“What’s the matter?”
“…….”
Cheshire silently handed me the letter.
[I intend to prepare for an expedition outside.
We’ll speak when I return.]
Just two lines.
In Axion’s handwriting.
“What?”
I understood at once.
Axion planned to stay hidden until the expedition. He meant to keep both the destination and the date secret.
“Lilis, this is just my thought, but I don’t think Father’s expedition order is to the Northern Territory this time.”
“…….”
“It’s strange that he’s suddenly preparing separately. And leaving the house without a single word like this.”
Cheshire spoke anxiously.
“I need to find Father quickly. If it’s somewhere dangerous, I should go with him.”
“Ah! So that’s why you were asking if Dad was here — you were looking for Uncle!”
He couldn’t leave me alone, after all.
“But Cheshire, first — calm down and listen to me.”
I saw Cheshire’s face, pale with worry about Axion.
A beautiful bond between father and son….
My nose grew tight anew.
“You’re right — Uncle isn’t going to the Northern Territory this time. I’m sure of it.”
Since meeting with the Emperor, I knew for certain.
‘If I go to the Magic Tower, am I supposed to retire Axion for him? Would the Emperor really do something so foolish?’
Axion’s expedition was plainly a suicide mission.
He was going to die anyway.
And so the Emperor had handed me—a meaningless blank check, worthless as shredded paper if Axion failed to return alive—as though it were nothing.
“I’m guessing it’s not the Northern Territory. Probably an island nation to the east.”
“An island nation? Where is that…?”
Cheshire’s eyes narrowed as he paused to think, and then his mouth slowly fell open.
The Moarte Archipelago.
From his expression, it was clear that Cheshire knew well enough the dark reputation of that place.
“Then… then I’ll have to go there….”
Even as he spoke, Cheshire wrestled with the thought.
If the expedition destination was Moarte, there was no guaranteeing life or death. Even Cheshire would have to steel himself for the possibility of death, so his hesitation was only natural.
“Don’t worry. Father’s already gone.”
“What?”
“He’s there now hunting monsters. He said he’ll clear them all out beforehand so there won’t be any danger when you go later.”
Cheshire’s face relaxed with relief, only to cloud over again almost immediately.
“But even for someone as accomplished as Father, it’s dangerous there. He didn’t go alone, did he?”
“He went alone. But Father will be fine. Because before the Regression, he went there by himself, cleared out all the monsters, and came back.”
……
Cheshire was taken aback—rare for him. His eyes widened, blinking several times before settling into complete ease.
“He really is… extraordinary.”
“From your reaction, that place must actually be dangerous, huh?”
“That’s why Father kept it secret.”
Cheshire added this while gripping Axion’s letter tightly.
“If he’d revealed the destination, both I and Father would have wanted to go with him. But neither Father nor I know if we’d survive in such a place. We simply don’t know.”
So the Emperor had ordered the expedition without worry.
Axion had a father to help him and had Cheshire beside him, yet even they both couldn’t muster the resolve to readily take up arms—
Because Moarte was that dangerous a place.
“Princess, will you pray that Father comes back safe?”
His voice carried an uncharacteristic note of concern.
The image of Father’s face came to mind—how he’d said he was afraid of dying alone and leaving me behind.
‘Even Cheshire hesitates this much, and here I am….’
I know the Original Story, so it’s fine~
The protagonist is strong, so it’s fine~
He doesn’t die, so~
And so this daughter worried about everyone else while worrying less about her father.
‘…a filial piety of flames, truly.’
On the battlefield, psychological factors likely weighed just as heavily on victory and defeat.
Unlike the Original Story protagonist who steeled himself for death, I was troubled by the thought of Father drawing his sword with an uncertain heart.
‘I’m sorry, Father.’
‘Father won’t die’—trusting only in my certainty, James Brown set off toward certain death with no one to cover his back—
‘I should have at least asked Master if he could help Father.’
I let out a long sigh.
* * *
At that very moment, in the Moarte Archipelago.
Waiting for the Demon Beasts that would emerge once the moon rose, Enoch and Oscar sat with a campfire burning between them.
“But, Tower Master—if the Princess goes to the Magic Tower, you’ll be indebted to the Emperor, won’t you? He’ll use that as leverage to demand something from you.”
“Obvious enough. He’ll demand Magic Formulas.”
“Offensive Magic Formulas?”
“Yes. Powerful ones capable of mass destruction.”
Enoch’s face darkened.
If such magic fell into the Emperor’s hands….
“You’re not planning to hand them over without resistance?”
“Does that worry you?”
“Of course it does. Give something like that to the wrong person and everyone dies.”
Once the Emperor possessed Offensive Magic Formulas, he would recruit Ability Users as he saw fit and order an invasion on a whim.
“I’ll have to give him something, but I’ll only hand over something appropriate—stronger than what’s currently public, but not powerful enough for the Emperor to use carelessly.”
“Ah, I see….”
“Don’t be afraid. I never created such a devastatingly powerful Offensive Magic Formula in the first place. I have no intention of making one.”
“Then that’s a relief. If the Tower Master had been on the Emperor’s side, it would’ve been truly terrible.”
Enoch chuckled softly, then rose with eyes suddenly sharp as flint.
Darkness had swallowed the sun without warning.
“We should start keeping watch. No telling what might crawl out from where….”
Then it came.
A strange vibration, felt through the earth beneath their feet.
‘Damn it. Ambush-type demon beasts, of all things.’
Enoch’s keen senses caught it instantly. He shouted a warning.
“Master! Listen carefully! They’re coming up from the ground—”
“Ahhhhh!”
Oscar’s feet gave out beneath him as he stumbled, and then—
grotesquely long limbs erupted from the soil. The creature resembled nothing so much as a spider.
A type that delivered physical blows with its long, powerful limbs. Not a magic-casting demon beast, so less dangerous in theory—but the numbers….
‘There are too many.’
Enoch felt a spike of alarm.
From every inch of visible ground, hundreds—no, thousands—of them were clawing their way up.
A screech tore through the air—!
Enoch hurled a Sword Aura at a cluster of the creatures and called out.
“Master! Don’t panic—put up a shield and you’ll be safe! Stay behind me! I’ll cut through as we move inward!”
“Damn it! Disgusting! They’re absolutely revolting, you hear me?!”
“Sir, they won’t kill you—please, just get ahold of yourself—!”
That was when it happened.
Oscar, recoiling in horror from the demon beasts’ grotesque forms, slammed his palm flat against the ground.
And at that same instant, a tremor began to ripple outward—
“Shrieeeeeek!”
“Screeeeee—!”
—a surge of raw mana swept across the earth.
It was instantaneous.
Mana radiating outward from Oscar’s feet in widening circles.
Boom, boom, boom, boom—!
The demon beasts, their movement seized, petrified like statues, and those closest began to shatter one by one in shrieks of agony.
‘…What? What in the world is happening?’
Enoch’s mouth fell open in a daze.
Enoch Rubinstein: the greatest ability user, boasting hundreds of military expeditions to his name.
Though he wielded the blade primarily, he had marched across countless battlefields alongside magic-gifted companions without rest.
Yet even he had never witnessed magic of this caliber.
Not just the immediate vicinity.
The entire island visible to his eye had been brought under unified control, and the spawned demon beasts had been stripped of their Life Force before they could so much as attempt resistance.
It was, without question, a devastating offensive spell.
‘With that kind of power….’
He could level an entire small nation without breaking a sweat.
“Huff… huff… huff….”
“…….”
“I, wait. Did I—did I just—? You never said they looked that disgusting!”
Oscar, oblivious to what he had just impulsively unleashed, pressed a hand to his chest and grimaced.
“…….”
Enoch studied the remains of the instantly dead demon beasts in silence, then slowly turned to face Oscar.
“You said you never even created such a powerful Offensive Magic Formula—one capable of leveling an entire nation. That you never intended to.”
Oscar’s lie—spoken without hesitation, without so much as a moment’s pause—echoed mockingly through Enoch’s mind.
“Never even created it,” he murmured.
“Never created….”
“Never….”
Bewilderment painted Enoch’s face.
Oscar, catching that look, slowly realized what he’d done.
‘Oh. Right.’
His lie had been exposed in less than a minute.
“This is… completely….”
“…….”
“…ridiculous.”
Oscar, at a loss for words, quietly averted his gaze from Enoch’s stare.

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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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