My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 76

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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
Chapter 76
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Two days until the Monthly Evaluation.
It felt like warm spring had only just arrived, yet here we were at the end of June already.
The bright sunshine was rather muggy.
Beneath the shade of the campus trees with their fresh green leaves unfurled,
I lay on my back with a book held up to the sky, growing a bit drowsy from the post-lunch heaviness.
“Oops.”
“Yikes! You scared me!”
My half-closing eyes snapped open.
When I came to my senses, my uncle had caught the book that nearly fell onto my face.
“You need to be more careful.”
He smiled down at me.
“Your lap is just so comfortable, I can’t help getting sleepy….”
“Then forget the book and take a nap. I’ll wake you when class starts.”
“No, no, I can’t. I have my exam the day after tomorrow.”
I bolted upright and slapped both cheeks to chase away the sleep, then opened the book again.
Although I didn’t need Magic Formulas, I still had to memorize as many varieties as possible.
Using Magic that was too advanced could raise suspicions about my identity.
So I was preparing excuses in advance—”Oh, that was just a Magic Formula I already knew!”—in case such a situation arose.
“By the way, don’t you want to see your sons? You’ve only just returned to Jedo and you’re already here. You haven’t even been home, and you’re still staying in the official quarters….”
I felt a little sorry for my uncle, who’d been serving as an instructor at the Sword Arts Department building for over a month just to see me.
Whether it was to thoroughly accomplish his purpose for coming here, or simply because he visited me like this every day after lunch—
“No, I’ve been going home often since I can take leave. And there isn’t much of my temporary assignment left anyway. I’ll see the twins soon, so it’s fine. It’s you I’m worried about.”
“Me?”
“Whether you can manage on your own.”
“But I’m taking my exam in two days and then I’ll be leaving anyway?”
At my words, my uncle blinked blankly.
“You’re going to graduate in just one Monthly Evaluation?”
“Yes!”
“Ha ha ha!”
He pinched my cheek.
“You’re full of confidence. The twins took three months.”
“I can do it in one go!”
“That’s impressive.”
Looking at my uncle’s smiling face, he clearly found me commendable, but—
His eyes suggested he didn’t quite believe my bold claim to graduate in a single Monthly Evaluation.
“I really can do it, though?!”
“Sure, sure.”
“Ugh. How long did it take you to graduate?”
“Well, that was ages ago at the Training Institute…. But I remember. It took me a month.”
“What? You took a month too, and you’re saying that?!”
“Right. You could graduate in a month. But you’re in a group of four, aren’t you? You’re popular, so I bet your boyfriends are handling all the tough parts for you.”
“That’s not…!”
I remembered Cheshire saying he’d handle everything, and I felt a twinge of guilt, but I shook my head.
“I can do it on my own!”
“Ha ha, sure, sure. Though they really do handle things for you. Back in my day….”
My uncle narrowed his eyes as if lost in memory.
“There was a popular way of confessing at the Training Institute. You’d go up to someone you liked and say, ‘Don’t lift a finger. I’ll handle everything for you.'”
“Ha ha ha! That’s funny. Really?”
“Yeah. Your mother fell for that line from me too.”
“Really?”
I was shocked.
“You met Mother at the Training Institute?”
“You didn’t know?”
A love marriage?!
Among high nobility, nine out of ten marriages were alliances between families.
In the original world’s setting, where romance was practically nonexistent, this was quite an interesting story.
“Tell me more, please!”
“Well, when I entered, Ordia was on a two-year leave of absence.”
“Huh? Why was Aunt like that?”
For the record, my aunt’s rank was also Dos.
Magic major, Defense Specialty.
“I noticed she always took the evaluations alongside the 6-rank students. She kept saying she had to help them because graduation was difficult for them.”
“Wow.”
Rubinstein through and through, all the way to the bone.
Without question, she was the heroine of the family….
“Since Ordia wasn’t even in the Attack Specialty and kept sharing her scores with her friends, her graduation got delayed.”
“I see.”
“I didn’t understand why she’d go that far, but well. When I think about it now, that’s exactly what I fell for.”
Remembering my aunt, my uncle let out a soft laugh.
“Then one day I saw her crying. Missing her father, she said.”
“Oh, oh dear….”
“She wanted to help her friends, but her graduation kept getting pushed back, and she missed her father.”
“Poor Aunt.”
“So I went straight to her and told her: come on, take the exam with me.”
My uncle added this with a solemn expression.
“I won’t let a single drop of blood touch your hands.”
“Gasp.”
I clapped my hand over my mouth.
“That’s… that’s amazing.”
In a place where blood flew three hundred and sixty-five days a day, twenty-four hours a day, it was truly the most perfect confession imaginable….
“U-Uncle, you’re the best…. Totally….”
“Impressive, right?”
My uncle puffed up with pride.
“So what did Aunt say then?”
“She cried and glared at me. And then.”
“And then?”
“She said, ‘Call me sister.'”
“…….”
“That’s what she said.”
“Really? Aha ha!”
I burst out laughing, imagining the two of them as youngsters.
“And then we went to take the test together, and I caught an A-rank Magical Beast for her.”
“Wait, A-rank? There are A-ranks? I thought C-rank was the highest?”
“Ah, there are two A-ranks in the field. If you catch an A-rank, you graduate outright. A thousand points.”
“Wow, wow! Really?”
“Of course, they’re not meant to be caught. Not everyone can. It’s difficult.”
“But Uncle caught one, didn’t he?”
“That I did. I caught it, and right then I handed her that beast’s core and confessed.”
My uncle spoke again with that same solemn expression.
“Sister, will you go out with me once we leave here?”
“Uh-ha, uh-ha-ha-ha!”
“Ha ha ha!”
A confession with a Beast Core.
Truly, romance blooming in such a brutal world was something special.
* * *
Monthly Evaluation, Day Zero.
The long-awaited day had arrived.
“Yay! Beautiful weather!”
“Oh, oh no. I’m… I’m so nervous….”
“…….”
The Monthly Evaluation field was the Valkyrie Mountain Range behind the Training Institute building.
Our group gathered at the field entrance, waiting for the test to begin.
“Lilis. What’s with all that stuff you brought?”
Gerard asked, watching me arrive with my Bear-shaped Backpack stuffed full and dragging a large cloth bundle in my hand.
“Mmm. I need all of it….”
“Goodness. I’ll carry it.”
Gerard took the large cloth bundle from my hand. It came up easily in one smooth motion.
“Huh? What? It’s light.”
“Wow. So you really do have superhuman strength….”
“Aha-ha!”
The field entrance was crowded with children.
It felt just like a training camp excursion, and I found myself a little giddy.
“Oh! The instructor called me! I gotta go!”
Group leader—Lilis Rubinstein!
I fastened the Mana Tool Bracelet that the researchers handed out at the entrance around my left wrist. It was a kind of scoreboard.
When I came back, Cheshire and Gem were checking their weapons.
I watched Cheshire swishing a Wooden Sword back and forth.
‘Should I give it to him now?’
For some reason, I felt embarrassed.
“Cheshire!”
“Yeah?”
“But how are you supposed to catch a Magical Beast with a Wooden Sword? You need to cut and tear things….”
“…? You can’t on its own. You catch them by channeling Mana through it.”
“But you can’t just waste Mana. We don’t know what might happen, so we need to use it sparingly.”
“…….”
Sensing that I was rambling unnecessarily, Cheshire stared at me blankly.
“Look, look over there. Even Gerard has something nice.”
Gerard was standing right where I’d pointed.
The Swordcraft Division kids usually all carried Wooden Swords, but there were some spoiled kids who brought Real Swords when they enrolled.
‘And of course Gerard made a greedy team.’
Gerard had two 2-rank red badges on either side of him.
I was looking at Cheshire checking his Wooden Sword again when I took something out of my bundle that Gem had been holding.
A stick-like thing wrapped in cloth. This was….
‘My gift!’
A present I’d secretly prepared when we enrolled.
“What’s this.”
“Open it.”
When I handed it to him, the puzzled Cheshire unwrapped the cloth with a whoosh.
“…….”
“Um, um? Th-th-the H-h-hero Luie’s M-m-magical Sword….”
Gem, who had been watching, recognized it and his eyes went wide.
That’s right! Hero Luie’s Magical Sword!
Who is Hero Luie, you ask.
He’s the male protagonist from the mega-hit fairy tale <Princess Lara’s Adventure>.
Cheshire probably wouldn’t care, but most boys would want to have it—it’s a popular toy, they say.
“This….”
“Pretty sturdy and nice, right? It rings louder than a Wooden Sword.”
Even as a toy, it would be more useful than a Wooden Sword. I’d increased the hardness of the blade.
‘I followed what the Emperor did when he upgraded my magic staff.’
I stood there shy and curious about his reaction, but Cheshire said nothing.
“D-don’t you like it?”
“No. I like it.”
Cheshire immediately threw down the Wooden Sword and swung the magical blade.
It fit perfectly in his hand.
“Thank you.”
“Hee-hee. Yeah….”
“Hey, Cheshire. Is that all you’ve got to say?”
Gem butted in.
“What?”
“I like it. Thank you.”
Gem mimicked Cheshire’s blunt tone and then grumbled.
“That’s it? Lilis went through all the trouble of carrying something heavy and even gave you a gift!”
“No, no! Gem, Cheshire’s always like that. I’m satisfied with a thank-you.”
“Ugh, what a boring guy. You talk like that, you won’t be popular with girls!”
“…….”
Cheshire stared straight at me.
“Oh, we’re heading in now! Let’s hurry up!”
“…Lilis.”
As I turned to enter the field, Cheshire called me back.
“Hm?”
I turned to look at Cheshire, hesitating for some reason. Jem and Rom did the same.
“……”
“What is it?”
“…Don’t lift a finger.”
“…?”
“I’ll handle it all.”
My mouth fell open.
Wait. Isn’t this that ‘Training Institute confession technique’ Uncle talked about?
“Ooooh~!”
Jem nudged my shoulder with a grin while I stood frozen. Rom burst out laughing beside her.
“H-hey, um.”
Embarrassed, I could only fidget with my hands as Cheshire brushed past me and spoke.
“I won’t let a single drop of blood stain your hands.”
…What?

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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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