My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 22

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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
22
“Pickled herring? Is that even good?”
Leon asked, his brow furrowed.
“Hmm, doesn’t sound appetizing to me. Do you really have to eat that, Lilis?”
“Yes, I came here specifically to eat it.”
I answered Theo’s protests with what I hoped looked like a pout.
It was an ordinary conversation between noble children, yet the woman caught every word, her ears pricked.
She’d likely figured it out from this exchange.
That the twins didn’t know this information guild’s true nature, and that the one with business here was the young girl.
The woman, having quickly assessed the situation, offered an apologetic smile.
“We don’t usually carry such items, but if you’d like, I can prepare it for you.”
“Really? Could you make it for me?”
“Lilis, I’ve told you not to speak so formally.”
“Leave me alone, dummy.”
Between the chattering twins, the woman and I exchanged glances.
“Is there a particular preparation method you prefer, miss?”
“Yes. Would it be all right if I showed you while you work?”
“If it’s no trouble at all.”
I slipped down from my chair.
“Brothers, wait for me just a moment. I’m going to the kitchen for a bit.”
“Her tastes really are peculiar, from start to finish.”
“Lilis, want me to come with you?”
As Theo moved to follow, I pinched my nose.
“Ugh, the herring smell is really strong. Are you sure you’ll be okay with it?”
“Ah….”
True to form, the born-and-bred noble hesitated.
“Hehe, it’s right over there in the kitchen, so no worries. I’ll just go with this lady and be right back. Wait a minute for me.”
“Okay, I understand.”
I left Theo at the table without suspicion, then followed where the woman led.
She guided me straight to the semi-basement connected to the kitchen. The sight was entirely different from the restaurant above.
“Liko, we have a guest.”
There was only one door, standing alone.
After a few moments of silence, a low voice came from within.
“…Let her through.”
The woman opened the door for me.
A couple of candles lit the dim interior, and the guild master, Liko, sat in their midst.
Click.
The woman closed the door behind me and disappeared.
‘Ugh, this atmosphere is creepy.’
I approached Liko slowly.
Just as described in the original work, Liko wore a grotesque black pierrot mask.
Master of the information guild Red Sparrow—Liko, who despised Ability Users, nobles, and the imperial family with trembling intensity.
There was nothing about Jehdo’s affairs that Liko didn’t know.
He was a man who risked his life collecting information that could become the nobles’ vulnerabilities.
‘And he’ll become father’s loyal accomplice. Though that’s still years away.’
Once father begins preparing for his rebellion, he learns of this information guild’s existence and seeks out Liko.
I was able to demand this trade because I followed the method father used to find this place in the original work.
“Please, sit.”
“Yes, thank you.”
After greeting him, I pressed my hands onto the rather high sofa and struggled up onto it.
Then I took a deep breath.
“Phew. Just a moment. I’m a bit nervous.”
……
Liko was studying me. His gaze was searching, probing.
“How did you learn of this place?”
“Huh? You’re curious about that?”
I scratched my cheek.
“I can tell you, but…”
Laws of Trade, Rule Number One.
To purchase information, you must pay a price.
Not in money, but in information that corresponds to what you’re seeking.
“If you’re curious, you’ll have to give me some useful information in return, won’t you?”
Those Laws of Trade applied to himself as well, didn’t they.
He couldn’t simply ask for free.
“Ah.”
Liko let out a small exclamation. Beneath the mask, I could sense a flicker of surprise.
Soon he spoke in a voice tinged with amusement.
“Now that you mention it, that’s true. Never mind then. I don’t care enough to pay the price for it. Let’s move on to business.”
Liko crossed his legs neatly and folded his hands atop them.
“I require an Advance Payment. If there’s information you need, give me the transaction fee first.”
In other words, he wanted me to produce something worth trading.
I cleared my throat with a small hum and spoke.
“Hmm, what would be good…. Oh! I heard that Duke Enoch Rubinstein, who disappeared seven years ago, has returned to Jehdo! Did you know?”
“I did.”
“Oh, you know. Then something else! I’m his daughter. Seven years old, name’s Lilis Rubinstein!”
“I know that too.”
“Oh wow, you know that as well.”
“Did you come here to joke around?”
“No, no.”
I waved my hand dismissively.
“Actually, I didn’t come to buy information. I came to ask for a favor! As for information, I already know pretty much everything worth knowing. Like, for example….”
…….
“…that Marquis Onyx has a hidden son?”
……!
“Ha! You’re completely shocked, aren’t you! This should be pretty premium information, right~?”
I fired both index fingers like pistols and grinned, and Liko let out a dry laugh.
“Yes, I’m quite shocked. How does a seven-year-old daughter of Duke Rubinstein—who’s lived her whole life in Jenon not even knowing her own status, and only arrived in Jehdo four days ago—know such a thing? And what brings her to seek me out? I’m very curious indeed.”
“Gulp.”
“I’ve heard the Tower Master of the Magic Tower personally visited to assess her talents, since she’s a Prodigy and all.”
“Wow, geez.”
My goodness….
Liko truly knew everything. Fresh shivers ran down my spine at his intelligence-gathering ability.
“Liko, Liko!”
“…Yes.”
“I want to save that child!”
…….
At my words, Liko fell silent for a moment.
With just that single statement about wanting to save someone, he would have figured it out.
The existence of the Marquis’s secretly hidden illegitimate child, and the fact that this child was being abused….
That I knew all of it.
“About that secret regarding the Marquis I just mentioned—please pass it along anonymously to someone who can help rescue his son!”
“Ah, so you need a messenger. Who do you want me to inform?”
“My father.”
“Your father, you mean Duke Enoch Rubinstein?”
“Yes. Right now Father only knows what the child looks like, so it’ll take time to find him. Father just returned to Jehdo after all these years, and he still doesn’t know much about how things work here.”
I ticked off on my fingers as I continued.
“Plus he’s busy with family matters, and he’ll have to rejoin the knights soon…. He’s a very occupied man.”
“Hmm, that’s odd. I can’t quite understand it. I assumed a seven-year-old child wouldn’t come to me alone—naturally, it would be at the Duke’s instruction.”
Liko tilted his head in puzzlement.
“No. I came alone. Father doesn’t know anything.”
“Well, that makes sense then. He doesn’t know, so you asked me to pass the information along anonymously.”
“Yes.”
“Why not just tell him directly?”
“Because then I’d have to explain to Father how I know about this.”
I sighed and added,
“I’ll have a lot more things to secretly tell Father like this going forward.”
“I see…. So you have secrets, do you? Things you can’t speak of openly, things you want to hide from your father.”
“Bingo!”
“Well then, I understand why you sought me out. You want to use me as a messenger to relay information to the Duke that you wish to share—is that it?”
“Yes! If I said it directly….”
“It would look suspicious.”
Liko fell silent at my words.
Or rather—his eyes, hidden behind the mask, were surely studying me.
Knowing about the existence of the Information Guild and how to conduct business with it wasn’t enough….
It had to seem remarkable that a seven-year-old child knew secrets about Marquis Onyx that he absolutely shouldn’t have been able to know.
“You seem to have quite a few questions, don’t you….”
“Yes. There are mountains of things I’d like to ask, but because of the rules I’ve set for myself, I can’t ask them aloud.”
“That’s right!”
Liko chuckled and reclined leisurely against the sofa before continuing.
“Marquis Onyx had an affair with a housemaid of the family twelve years ago. When the maid discovered she was pregnant, she fled. Because.”
Liko paused for a moment.
He seemed to be choosing words less shocking for a seven-year-old to hear.
“…nobles prefer not to father illegitimate children.”
Which meant she’d fled before she died.
“In any case, she bore the marquis’s illegitimate son alone out in the world and raised him by herself, but six months ago she sent only the boy to the marquis’s estate. His name is Cheshire.”
I was astonished at how smoothly the information flowed from Liko’s lips.
Truly, a capable guild master….
“To avoid damaging the family’s reputation, he’s being kept locked away and raised in secret, and he’s being abused by his half-siblings. That’s as far as I’ll go.”
“Wow.”
Clap, clap, clap….
I applauded with genuine admiration.
“Should I have this delivered to Duke Enoch Rubinstein?”
“Yes! That’ll be perfect!”
“Well then.”
Liko straightened up and leaned his upper body closer to me.
“In exchange for conveying this to the duke, I’d like to know about you. What exactly is your true identity? You’re not merely at a prodigy’s level, are you?”
“Mm-mm.”
I shook my head firmly.
“The math really doesn’t add up, does it? You’re asking me to reveal my secrets in exchange for passing along one anonymous piece of information? You must not think very highly of me.”
“…I beg your pardon?”
“It’s wrong to try to pull the wool over a child when you’re someone in the know. You haven’t been in business just a day or two.”
“…ha, hahahaha…!”
Liko, who had been stunned silent, suddenly burst into hearty laughter.
“My secrets come at a steep price. So I’d appreciate it if you didn’t pry. But instead! I came with a gift, as a sign that we should keep doing business together going forward.”
As I spoke, I rummaged through the Rabbit Bag.
“I’m sorry, but I deal in information alone. I know you’re a young lady from a wealthy family, but my circumstances aren’t so dire that I’d be swayed by a handful of gold coins.”
“It’s not money. I told you—I know everything. I already know you’ve made plenty of coin, Liko.”
The truth was… my purpose in coming here today wasn’t merely to inform Father about Cheshire’s situation.
“What is it?”
Liko.
The Information Guild master who despises nobility.
His mother passed when he was young, and his sister is afflicted with terrible Addiction Magic.
All of it due to the tyranny of an Ability User noble.
“A gift!”
I set a cloth bundle on the table with a thud and smiled with the cunning of a drug dealer.
“Come now, sir. Why don’t you open it? I think you’ll be pleased.”

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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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