My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 217

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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 hiding his strength
217
* * *
Countless Ability Users gathered on the battlefield.
I was there among them, hidden in a mask and robes, nestled within Gem’s mercenary unit, my face thoroughly concealed.
‘Come on then, you fate that’s supposed to kill my Leon! Let’s see what you’ve got!’
In the middle of a war zone, yet I felt no fear.
After months of preparation?
I’d run simulations a thousand times over—accounting for sixty-four anticipated scenarios and one hundred twenty-eight possible variables that might arise.
‘Let’s see what happens.’
This was supposed to be the core Subjugation zone, the Great Plain!
…Or rather, the Gorge region far below it.
The plains where Cheshire and Leon were stationed was a suicide mission, while this place was remarkably peaceful.
“Damn, Cheshire. Look at you—needlessly reinforcing this sector just because I’m here?”
Gem counted the Ability Users under his command and clicked his tongue in disbelief.
“Hey, Lilis….”
“Shh!”
“…Rather, Miss Rosalind. Honestly, there’s no real danger here—you won’t even get hurt—but just to be safe, stay right next to me.”
“Got it.”
My cover identity for today was Rosalind Versace, a member of the mercenary unit Lilis’s Stray Dogs.
I’d prepared detailed background details beyond just the name and identity, though I doubted I’d need to use them.
“Everyone, listen up!”
The Commander’s voice rang out then.
“I am Alfredo Burvin, Commander of the 5th Battle Zone and Master of the Septima Holy Swordmaster Order. I have several matters to brief you on.”
What? Who’s that?
‘Is that the person Gem’s been interested in?’
I was startled by the name Alfredo Burvin.
‘Wait—she’s a woman?’
Then I was startled again by their appearance.
Long reddish-brown hair elegantly swept over one shoulder, pure white skin, and large eyes with distinct double eyelids.
Beautiful. Extremely so.
Gem chuckled and nudged my confused shoulder.
“He’s male.”
“Really?”
I nodded back and forth between the two of them, as if they’d spent their entire lives being mistaken for the opposite sex.
This was actually quite a well-matched couple, I had to admit….
“Your role here is to eliminate any Demon Beast stragglers retreating from the front, and once the vanguard Battle Zone sends the signal for successful Subjugation, you’ll immediately proceed to eliminate the young—”
I was listening intently to Commander Burvin’s briefing when Gem pulled me down beside him.
“Never mind, Rosalind. No need to listen. No Demon Beasts are coming here.”
“What? They won’t come?”
“We’re just cleanup crew for any Demon Beasts that slip through the front. But there won’t be any escaping from there.”
“Why not?”
Gem chuckled and leaned in, whispering to me.
“Your boyfriend’s up there in the front. I’m betting he won’t let a single one escape alive. Especially now that you’re here.”
…….
“Just enjoy looking at Commander Burvin’s beautiful face.”
I suddenly felt uneasy.
Whether it was Gem’s words or the Ability Users around us yawning—
Nothing dangerous seemed likely to happen here.
‘No, this won’t do—there has to be room for danger to occur.’
Forgive me, but Leon had to end up in a state just barely short of death.
Only then, if I intervened at precisely the right moment and saved Leon, could I break the curse of his death.
But then why was I, the one who needed to save Leon, stationed here, far from him?
‘Because of Kyle.’
I looked toward where the Child Soldiers were gathered.
The distance made it hard to see clearly, but Kyle was almost certainly over there.
‘Could my prediction have been wrong?’
I was following Scenario A, the situation with the highest probability of occurring.
And Scenario A was this:
‘If Kyle gets into danger, Leon will try to rescue him and end up dying—the most textbook route possible.’
So I’d made the bold decision to position myself near Kyle instead of at Leon’s side, where he would surely fall….
‘Ugh, I’m still uneasy about this.’
Crack.
“Oh!”
At that moment, something shattered inside my robe.
I frantically rummaged through the fabric and pulled out the two Shell-shaped Mana Devices that Cheshire and I had split between us.
One was white, one was blue.
The blue one was shattered.
It was the signal—Leon’s withdrawal from the battlefield.
‘Perfect!’
I cheered silently.
Everything was unfolding as planned.
Leon would definitely be heading here.
* * *
At that same moment.
Leon, having abandoned the front line without the Supreme Commander’s permission, was driving his horse forward without pause.
His destination: the 5th Battle Zone.
Where Kyle was.
The sector where the Child Soldiers had been positioned.
He knew that Cheshire, as Supreme Commander, had placed them in the safest location possible.
And yet….
Why?
Leon couldn’t shake the nagging unease that clung to him.
It was undoubtedly excessive worry, and the probability that nothing would happen was high.
In that case, his disobedience to his superior’s orders and desertion of the battlefield without real cause would become a serious problem.
But now, in this moment.
Leon didn’t care about such repercussions.
It was a strange feeling.
* * *
‘I mean, what’ll happen if Leon gets here? How is this place even dangerous? I haven’t seen a single Demon Beast hair.’
I squatted on the ground, yawning while watching the Ability Users waiting about, and my anxiety only grew.
Gem was just as bored.
We’d already been making empty chatter for thirty minutes.
“You’re really amazing, you know. Following him to the war even though your boyfriend worries you.”
Gem thought I’d followed here because I was worried about Cheshire and insisted on tagging along.
“Of course! This Expedition is way more dangerous than usual, they say. I can’t hunt the monsters for you, but if Cheshire or you get hurt, I can use Healing Magic!”
“Haha. There’s nothing to get hurt from here, but thanks anyway… Oh!”
Gem screamed before she could finish her sentence.
“Jeez! What is it? Are you okay?”
Gem suddenly lifted the hand she’d been leaning back on. A lizard was biting her index finger.
“Dammit!”
Gem wrenched the thrashing lizard away and spoke.
“You bite me? Listen here, you little bastard—wait till both your parents are dead, because then you’re next!”
Watching Gem huff and puff at the lizard, I grew confused.
“What are you saying?”
“Huh? What do you mean? Oh—this is a Glapter!”
At Gem’s words as she waved the lizard around.
My brain stopped for a moment….
“WHAT?!”
I gasped in shock, recalling the words of Cheshire Libre, my elite battlefield instructor who’d taught me everything.
“You always hunt the adult Glapter first. Never touch the young ones before you’ve subjugated all the adults.”
Glapter.
The most troublesome Demon Beast in this Expedition, he’d said.
Since they weren’t scattered everywhere, I hadn’t seen or experienced one firsthand, but according to the sketch Cheshire had drawn for me, they looked exactly like….
‘Like a Tyrannosaurus.’
Their appearance was identical to a carnivorous dinosaur.
But….
“This, this is just a lizard! Is this really a baby Demon Beast?”
“Yeah, that’s right. A young Glapter.”
Gem nodded.
“Glapters have a strong obsession with their offspring and a fierce protective instinct. They rear their young in what they consider the safest possible location, separate from the main group.”
“If anything happens to the young one, the adults will charge toward it even while their own bodies are being torn apart. Since they practice communal child-rearing, if a single youngling is harmed, the entire pack mobilizes.”
“Jem, this… if we kill it now, won’t that cause a problem?”
“Exactly. The subjugation up front hasn’t finished yet, so we can’t touch it now. If we harm this one, the mother Glapter, the father Glapter, the aunt Glapter, the uncle Glapter—they’ll all come charging here.”
“There’s an empathetic bond between the adult and the young. The Glapter can sense if its offspring is in danger from anywhere.”
“Even if it means dying themselves, they’ll hunt down and kill whoever harmed their young. Their combat power becomes unrecognizable—superhuman. It’s like how humans draw supernatural strength when they fight resolved to die.”
“So that’s why you must never capture the young one before subjugating the adult.”
I recalled Cheshire’s explanation and swallowed hard.
“Then, what does the offspring look like?”
“It looks like a lizard.”
Excuse me, Teacher!
That doesn’t look like a lizard—it IS a lizard!
“This can’t be right! Even with my training, I almost made a mistake! How in the world am I supposed to tell a regular lizard apart from a Glapter young?”
Jem chuckled at my shock.
“Most people can’t tell them apart. They look nearly identical.”
“What happens if you kill it thinking it’s just a lizard?”
“Heh.”
Jem nudged my shoulder and gestured with his chin toward the Ability Users around us.
“Everyone here has rolled around battlefields long enough. There’s no fool among them who’d confuse a lizard with a Glapter young, so rest eas—”
Boom!
A tremendous explosion erupted.
“Ah!”
A powerful Offensive Magic so intense the ground itself shuddered.
It struck where the Child Soldiers were gathered.
‘What? Seriously? There’s an Ability User this strong in the rear?’
I was shocked and bewildered at once.
“What happened?”
Commander Alfredo Burvin hurried toward the spot. Jem followed, and I scrambled after them both.
“I-I’m sorry… I-I was startled and just…”
One of the Child Soldiers bowed his head apologetically to Alfredo.
‘Startled? Startled by what?’
Ah. The Child Soldier’s right hand bore bite marks—wounds that looked quite deep, blood trickling freely.
‘Wait. That child…’
Navy-blue hair and blue eyes.
As I studied that unfamiliar yet somehow familiar face, recognition dawned.
‘It’s Kyle!’
The last time I’d seen him, Kyle was five years old.
‘That makes sense. That magic just now was strong enough for a Dos-level caster.’
Kyle, now twelve, had changed considerably, yet the faint shadows of his younger self remained in his features.
“Who in the world used such powerful Offensive Magic recklessly in terrain like the Gorge!”
Alfredo’s face had flushed crimson with anger.
“In this kind of geography, only C-grade magic or below should be used because of secondary damage like landslides! Didn’t your unit teach you this?”
“Ah…”
Kyle trembled, his face pale with shock, and lowered his head.
He only repeated “I’m sorry…” in a timid voice, and his appearance struck me as pitiful.
‘Didn’t learn? He didn’t fail to learn—he never had the chance to learn! Where would he have found the time?’
I sighed.
I couldn’t fathom what that mad Emperor was thinking, sending an inexperienced child into a suicide mission like this.
“Um, Commander Alfredo. Ahem, cough. Please don’t be too angry. It doesn’t look like it’ll cause a landslide…”
Sand and dust from the blast hung thick in the air all around us.
Jem coughed, sweeping the dust before me aside with his arm, and asked Kyle a question.
“But, my friend? What on earth startled you so badly that you suddenly—”
Jem didn’t finish his sentence.
As the sand settled and our view cleared, what had been hidden was revealed.
We saw it.
At the base of the cliff, smashed and mangled—a lizard—
No.
The corpse of a Glapter young.
“Ah, shit…”
Jem muttered under his breath, his expression hollow.
“X has happened….”

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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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