My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 243

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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 243
* * *
[Imperial Calendar 1786, May 18th.
Nicholas, the last Emperor of The Empire, seized the opportunity of a kingdom invasion war to command the massacre of non-ability users in Jedo and the surrounding territories.
Among the commanding officers of Jedo’s Defense Force who carried out this order were Defense Commander Willow Chambermarquis and Selena Luden Dorf, the marquise who had served as a researcher at the Ability User Training Institute……
Compiled in Imperial Calendar 1796,
]
* * *
The Defense Force of Jedo, having received the imperial command, set out.
Selena Luden Dorf was stationed with Defense Squad 1, assigned to occupy the territories near Jedo.
‘Pull yourself together.’
Right now, she had no strength left to maintain her composure.
A husband vanished overnight.
And two sons.
Her husband had despised taking part in the Emperor’s massacre of commoners.
His parting words—that he would not set eyes on her again.
She had not realized that those words meant he would orchestrate their son Kyle’s desertion himself.
‘It’s all right. Compose yourself. The Emperor still doesn’t know.’
Selena forced her mind into order.
She had to fulfill her duty, no matter what. Only then could she later beg the Emperor for clemency regarding her son’s absence.
“Your expression seems rather troubled, if I may say so.”
Selena glanced to her side.
Lector Somerset, the ruler of the Northern Territory.
He had come down to Jedo in obedience to the Emperor’s command and assumed the position of commander of Defense Squad 1 as an ability user.
‘I didn’t expect even Somerset to come….’
Selena’s mind momentarily summoned Enoch’s face.
There was no hope for him now.
Jedo was empty, the Emperor’s army was formidable, and the non-ability users Enoch struggled to protect would only become his burden.
“Once we arrive, we’ll occupy the territory and wait. The moment Duke Rubinstein comes, the residents…….”
Mid-sentence, her vision flashed sharply.
The surroundings fell silent.
Selena halted her words and slowly lowered her eyes.
A blade pressed to her throat.
The owner of the blade was Lector Somerset.
“…What are you doing?”
The count’s soldiers beside him immediately moved to restrain Selena.
“What am I doing, you asked?”
“Well… don’t you understand?”
Lector Somerset sneered, keeping the blade pressed forward in threat.
“I am―”
He gestured toward the Imperial Palace as he continued.
“―not some snake coiled up inside that palace, but rather the man holding the leash of the Duke of Rubinstein we’re about to hunt right now.”
“……!”
Selena’s eyes widened.
“To put it more plainly—from now on, the fire I’m about to kindle won’t be on the corpses of innocent non-ability users, but in the snake’s nest behind you.”
“…….”
“Re, bellion.”
Selena’s breathing turned rough. At that response, Lector burst into hearty, delighted laughter.
“Ahahaha…! Rebellion, you say! What an exhilarating word to stir a man’s blood!”
Lector then withdrew his blade. Still, Selena could mount no counterattack.
The entire fighting force of Defense Squad 1 consisted of Lector Somerset’s soldiers.
“Listen. Let’s not live with sin on our hands. Should all those non-ability users die without understanding why, by your hand?”
“…….”
“Stay obedient, and you’ll thank me later for it.”
Observing Selena, who seemed to have no choice but to yield, Lector chuckled softly.
“After all, I’m reducing your list of sins for when you go to hell.”
* * *
Jedo, commoner residential district.
Bruce Chamberascommander of Defense Squad 3, had received orders to massacre the non-ability users within Jedo.
Bruce, leading fifty-some Ability Users from the vanguard of the security force, felt his shoulders rise to their full height.
‘The balance of power is about to shift.’
A mission entrusted directly by the Emperor—the one who would rule absolutely after completing Continental Unification, wielding supreme imperial authority.
For an Ability User of Quarto rank like himself, slaughtering defenceless non-ability users was almost trivially easy. A single snap of his fingers and they would fall.
Were all humans truly the same?
Non-ability users without any power and himself—they were different creatures, living in entirely different worlds.
“Run! All of you, get out of here!”
Bruce shouted toward the commoners in the street, his voice dripping with mockery.
An armed military force had descended without warning.
Half fled in terror, while the other half lingered in confusion, tilting their heads in bewilderment.
“How unfortunate.”
As Bruce scanned the surroundings, his gaze caught on a father and son just emerging from a dilapidated building.
The small boy cradled in his father’s arms watched the armed Ability Users with a bewildered expression.
“Seems you haven’t grasped the situation yet.”
Bruce smirked, rolling his shoulders as he flexed his right arm—the one clad in a Power Gauntlet—and closed the distance.
“Child, don’t blame me too much. Whether sooner or later, you’re all going to die today anyway.”
Bruce’s eyes flashed, and from his Power Gauntlet erupted a burst of blue Wind Pressure.
“No!”
A scream, and then—
In an instant, a pair of terrified eyes.
Crash—!
‘What?’
Bruce faltered.
A blue Shield unfurled above the father shielding the child.
The sharp Wind Pressure left cracks across that Shield before dispersing without a trace.
“Good heavens! Are you all right? Goodness, you almost met disaster the moment you left treatment.”
“H-healer… I… I….”
A lean man came bolting from the building.
The man called the healer quickly ushered the trembling father and child back inside.
“Tch, Bruce! You’re still living like scum, aren’t you?”
Bruce stood frozen, staring blankly at the scene before him.
‘Did that bastard just speak to me?’
Only then did Bruce examine the man’s face carefully.
Glasses that covered half of his pallid face, and a vacant expression.
It was not unfamiliar.
The face was definitely in his memory.
“You… Don’t tell me—Rom?”
“What, you forgot what I look like?”
“Huh?”
Yes, Rom.
A commoner from the Training Institute who’d shared a room with him in those days.
Someone who barked when told to bark, who crawled at his feet when told to crawl like a worm.
“Well, well, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? That stammering Vermin could barely speak, but look at you now—your face has cleared right up. But tell me, was it really you who just stopped me?”
“Ha, I’ve changed a lot, haven’t I? You’re just the same as always—pathetic. I could smell the stench of you from ten meters away. That’s how I knew it was you right off.”
The mocking smile vanished from Bruce’s face in an instant, hardening into stone.
“…What the hell?”
Bruce advanced toward Rom with menacing strides.
At that moment.
A sharp whistle cut through the air—!
A razor-edged Wind Pressure grazed past his nose. Bruce froze in shock.
“Well, well! What brings our illustrious Lord Bruce to this humble place?”
He turned his stiff neck, and a familiar face appeared at the head of the armed mercenaries.
Jemyan Traha.
“Ha, and who the hell are you?”
Finding that he had indeed drawn blood, Bruce wiped his nose, and crimson stained his fingers.
Bruce, who had been smiling at Jem, suddenly let his grin fall away, his anger laid bare without filter.
“You want to die?”
“Who’s dying—me or you?”
……
At Jem’s mocking tone, Bruce fell silent for a moment.
As if waiting for the moment, Gem brought his mercenary company forward, his bearing suggesting he would not shy from a clash with the Imperial Guard operating under the Emperor’s orders.
Gem had made his choice.
To openly resist the Emperor’s army.
It was treason.
“Wow, you absolute idiot….”
Bruce began to laugh, gasping as though his breath had been torn from him.
“Is that a head on your shoulders or a stone? You took years to graduate from the Training Institute—and you don’t understand the first thing? You think bringing a hundred, a thousand low-grade Vermin changes anything? I’ll crush you alone.”
Among Ability Users themselves, the gulf in power was starkly, undeniably real.
Diez of the sixth rank were creatures who, without the Vermin beneath them, would rot at the very bottom of this hierarchical world.
“Maybe. Guess we’ll find out when we try it, won’t we?”
Gem grinned as he added his thought.
“Strip away your ability and you’re just a spineless noble brat who doesn’t measure up to my fist. Watching you strut around on nothing but rank has been so boring I could scream.”
“You crazy bastard—”
Bruce’s eyes flipped, and without hesitation he hurled an attack at Gem.
But then—thump!
Again. It was blocked by a Shield again.
“How much longer are we going to settle this with words? We’re not Training Institute kids anymore!”
Rom approached Gem with an exasperated sigh.
‘What is that bastard, anyway?’
Bruce was certain—Rom had blocked both his first attack and this one.
But it made no sense.
To stop his assault, one would need to manifest a Shield of at least C-Class strength.
‘Wasn’t that guy a Diez?’
Rom was surely a Diez—someone who would struggle to even cast the most basic Defensive Magic.
‘What in the name of—what is happening?’
Noticing Bruce’s confusion, Gem covered his mouth and burst into laughter.
“Ha.”
* * *
Magic Tower, Gifted Students’ Hall.
Unlike the ominous atmosphere outside, this place burned with unwavering scholarly fervor.
And Hans was there.
The creator of a revolutionary Magic Formula that reconstructs every spell in existence using far less Mana than before.
He had erased the gap between Ability Users and made equal combat possible across ranks….
He had prevented the horrific massacre that nearly happened in spring of 1786….
He was the hidden architect.
* * *
“Stop yapping like a child and give me a real fight!”
Gem took a long stride forward toward Bruce.
“I’m sick of it. Aren’t you?”
Bruce flinched and stepped back.
Gem’s mercenary company outnumbered his guards two to one.
Of course, even a few hundred Diez would be meaningless because of the power gap, but….
‘No, wait. Is it meaningless? Why is this bastard so confident, and how did Rom block me like that?’
Things were going sideways.
“Today. Let’s settle this tiresome grudge for good.”
“Shut your mouth, you fool! Do you understand who you’re defying right now?!”
“Oh, I understand perfectly! I plan to crush your face, and then I’m going to—”
Gem pointed toward the distant Imperial Palace.
“—pay a visit to that Emperor lounging around with his feet up, scratching his belly!”
“Y-you’re insane….”
As Bruce recoiled in shock, someone behind him stepped forward boldly, leading more than a dozen Ability Users.
It was Alfredo, of the Septima Holy Knight Order.
“Ah, Alfredo! Perfect! Give that bastard what he deserves!”
As Bruce watched Alfredo advance without a trace of fear, his triumphant sneer began to—
“What move did he pull to be so confident….”
—freeze entirely.
Gem draped an arm over Alfredo’s shoulder as the man approached, and chuckled openly for Bruce’s benefit.
“What? Thought he was on your side?”
“Y-you… Alfredo Verbin… you’ve lost your mind, haven’t you? You dare raise your hand against the Imperial Household? Siding with those insects?”
“Quiet. We’ll find out soon enough who the real insects are. Don’t expect to walk away clean from this, Bruce Champer.”
Gem smiled with a chilling edge to his voice.
“One of us walks away from here today, and the other doesn’t walk away at all. There’s no third option.”
At his signal, Gem’s mercenary unit surged forward.
It was the opening move of the Imperial Revolutionary Army—a moment that history would later record as the beginning of a great struggle.

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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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