My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 80

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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
Chapter 80
* * *
Academy Annex, Research Building.
The all-white atmosphere of the building was suffocating.
This was the final gateway to graduation from the Academy—the place where Ranks were measured.
‘There should be about twenty of them graduating this time.’
The children who had filled their graduation scores with this month’s final evaluation numbered roughly twenty.
[Mana Formal Room A]
[Mana Formal Room B]
[Mana Formal Room C]
Along the corridor in front of the measurement rooms, each marked with its own sign, students sat in a line according to their arrival order.
“Wow, I’m actually graduating. I still can’t believe it.”
Jemian Traha, sitting to my left, muttered in a daze.
“What are you going to do when you leave, Jemian?”
“Of course I’m joining a Mercenary Band! Diez is the fastest way to advance as an Ability User!”
I nodded with satisfaction.
Jemian Traha would soon seize control of an entire Mercenary Band and become famous.
“I’m going to work hard! Until I can form my own Mercenary Band!”
“That’s the spirit.”
“Have you already thought of a name?”
“Really?”
I asked as if curious, but I already knew.
Her Mercenary Band’s name was the Red Hounds.
Jemian’s Red Hounds Mercenary Band would prove stronger in skill than the Septima-ranked forces.
‘That’s why the Imperial Army always hires them when assembling extermination squads.’
Jemian would soon become rich, walk a path of flowers, gain renown….
She would seize it all and take every opportunity to go on hunts with Cheshire.
“Hehe. Jemian, I’m sure you can do it. What’s the name of the Mercenary Band you’ve been thinking of?”
“Hmm, it’s embarrassing.”
“Come on, just tell me.”
“Lilis’s Hounds!”
Wait.
I flinched.
“What… what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Ahahaha!”
Jemian wiped her nose sheepishly and spoke.
“I wouldn’t have graduated without you. Thank you for teaching me and taking the exams with me.”
“But you’re incredibly strong, Jemian! You would’ve graduated without me, wouldn’t you?”
“No, I really wouldn’t have made it without you. And I’ve never seen a noble as kind as you. I’m grateful you’d be friends with me even though I’m a commoner.”
“No, that’s not….”
“I’m really, truly thankful for everything. My Mercenary Band will absolutely be called Lilis’s Hounds.”
“No! Stop it!”
I panicked and covered Jemian’s head.
“Your hair is so pretty, you know. What about ‘Red Hounds’ based on the color?”
“What. That’s childish.”
Jemian wrinkled her nose in distaste.
“‘Lilis something-or-other’ is even more childish!”
“No, it’s not. Red Hounds is way more childish.”
“That’s not true! Cheshire, Cheshire!”
I quickly threw an S.O.S. to Cheshire, sitting to my right.
“Talk her out of it. She has completely bizarre naming sense.”
“Why? I like it.”
“What?”
“That’s right! It’s perfect!”
I let my shoulders slump between the two of them.
“I-I-I c-c-cast my v-vote for L-Lilis’s H-Hounds!”
“Kahahaha! You like it too, right? That makes it three to one, Lilis!”
Even Rom, sitting next to Jemian, had joined in.
I simply stopped thinking and nodded with a vacant expression.
‘Yeah… what’s a mercenary band name change, really…’
The Red Hounds—a mercenary band that had reeked of power from the name alone—was undergoing its historic forced rebrand as Lilis’s Hounds.
Just then.
“Whoa.”
“Wow, a Diez.”
The children who’d been waiting murmured in awe.
It turned out Gerard had just come out from the measurement room with his rank.
On his left wrist gleamed a brilliant golden bracelet, and on his chest sat a small gold badge.
The bracelet was a magical artifact called a Rank Slit—a kind of credential.
And the gold badge, that’s the ability user insignia.
“Man, the colors are sharp….”
Jemian breathed out in admiration.
Gerard’s badge and Rank Slit both bore the clear engraving of “Diez,” which signified the First Grade.
“……?”
I stood there staring blankly at Gerard, when for some reason he walked straight toward us.
‘What now. Is he going to start something now that he officially has his rank?’
There was a world of difference between an estimated First Grade and actually receiving it.
The rank system devoured even social standing.
In this country, rank existed above titles like duke and marquis.
And Gerard was the sole heir of Duke Schmidt’s House—with a First Grade rank.
No matter how bold Cheshire or Jemian were, they’d have to shrink back.
‘Ugh, just go away without causing trouble.’
That’s what I was thinking when—
“Thank you.”
“……?”
Words I never could have imagined came from Gerard’s mouth.
I stood there with my mouth hanging open in shock.
“I owe you all. I’ll repay it someday, I promise.”
He locked eyes with each of our team members one by one as he said it.
“And.”
Gerard looked down at Cheshire, who was sitting.
“…I’m sorry. Forget what I said before. I made a mistake.”
“…….”
What did he say before? What in the world was he talking about?
Of course—he’d definitely picked a fight with Cheshire without me knowing.
But Cheshire, whose heart was as vast as the sea, nodded readily.
“Sure.”
“Let’s talk again if we get the chance.”
“W-wait, Gerard!”
I caught Gerard before he left and gave him a thumbs up.
“You’re seriously amazing.”
Gerard smiled faintly.
“Thanks. See you later, Lilis.”
“Yeah, take care! Let’s see each other again when we leave the Academy!”
I kept waving at Gerard’s back as he disappeared down the long corridor.
Had he… actually reformed?
Honestly, after Cheshire threw himself in front of that flower monster to save him, Gerard couldn’t have helped but be moved.
‘I’ve already resolved one of the original plot’s awkward threads!’
My heart was pounding with excitement—but only for a moment.
“Lilis Rubinstein, proceed to Mana Formal Room A. Cheshire, proceed to Mana Formal Room B.”
The administrator called us.
* * *
The Mana Formal Room.
Ability Users had to pass through this place to have their rank measured.
Researcher Selena Ludendorf was checking the Mana Formal while waiting for the next subject.
A transparent glass tube large enough for one person to enter.
This magical artifact called the Mana Formal measured the quantity of Mana an Ability User possessed.
“Ah.”
The sound of the door opening.
Selena turned and froze in surprise.
‘Of all the times.’
The small child, equally startled, stared with wide blue eyes like a shocked rabbit.
Lilis.…
‘Why her, of all people.’
There were three measurement rooms to choose from, yet here they stood—god’s cruel joke, perhaps.
“Good day.”
“Ah, yes. Hello.”
Selena deliberately turned her gaze away from Lilis, who bowed respectfully in greeting.
“I didn’t expect you to come here just a month after arriving. That’s impressive.”
“Yes.”
At the soft patter of Lilis’s approaching footsteps, Selena ran her tongue across her dry lips.
“Wait a moment… Please.”
“Yes.”
Selena pretended to check the Mana Formal, deliberately avoiding eye contact as she spoke.
“You know how it works, yes? Go inside there and cast any Magic you’d like, once.”
“Yes.”
Lilis stepped into the open Mana Formal.
Their eyes met across the glass barrier between them.
“Um….”
…….
“…Mother.”
……!
Selena’s eyes widened.
“Oh! I, I won’t tell Kyle anything about this. It’s just… right now, here, there’s only the two of us.”
…….
“If you… if you don’t like it, I can just call you teacher instead….”
Lilis’s small frame trembled slightly as her gaze fell.
The child was anxious.
Afraid of rejection.
“…No. Call me as you wish.”
“Oh, yes.”
At this simple permission, the child’s small cheeks flushed crimson.
“Mother, um. Could I… could I ask you for one favor? Just to ask?”
“What is it?”
“Just… I’m just asking. I’m not asking you to grant it, just…”
Lilis stepped closer, pressing her small hand against the glass.
Her eyes had reddened.
“When my Rank comes out… could you perhaps hide it? Hide it?”
“What?”
“Make it a Rank that doesn’t require going to war. Grade Four, they call it…. For me, for my sake. Mother, could you… could you lie about it?”
…….
“Kyle… Kyle, you protected from going to the battlefield by telling His Majesty where father and I are… didn’t you do that to keep him safe….”
The child’s lips trembled.
There was a hint of reproach in her teary eyes.
But more than that—hope.
Selena understood what answer Lilis was seeking.
To falsify her Rank.
She knew it was impossible, even as she asked it—but she was asking anyway.
You’re worried too.
If I could, I would do it for you.
―Just like that.
“Lilis.”
“Yes….”
“I’m sorry.”
…….
The child’s body went limp.
Selena hurried to add more.
“But you… you’ll be all right.”
Your father—Enoch.
He’s an Ability User so powerful the Emperor has coveted him for years.
Unlike him—a man forced to sell his daughter to protect his son.
“Your father will protect you. You can live without any worries at all.”
“…How?”
Tears clung to the child’s wide eyes, ready to spill at any moment, as she asked.
“I don’t do anything, but Dad just… kills people from other countries and all. That’s how you protect me?”
Selena caught her breath.
The child knew more than she had realized.
“…I’m sorry. I was just asking.”
Lilis finally wiped away the tears that rolled down her small cheeks with her sleeve.
Then she conjured a single white flame at the tip of her finger.
…….
With a heavy heart, Selena stared at the rank gauge at the base of the Mana Formal, now alight.
Enoch Rubinstein’s daughter….
The rank measurement was meaningless. Without even checking, she knew the child was DOS.
White, Grade 6 Diez.
Black, Grade 5 Nubeno.
Green, Grade 4 Octava.
Selena watched the colors of the gauge intensify with mounting anxiety.
‘I’m truly sorry.’
Blue, Grade 3 Septima.
Red, Grade 2 Quarto.
Gold, Grade 1 DOS.
“Ah.”
Selena shut her eyes tight.
At that moment.
Beep-beep-beep—
An error alarm sounded, and the gauge screen went blank.
! Error !
No Mana Detected
Non-ability User
‘…What?’
Selena’s eyes narrowed.
A non-ability user with no mana.
Yet she had watched Lilis use Magic with her own eyes.
“Why is this happening.”
Selena, who had moved closer to examine the Mana Formal, froze.
Lilis, trapped inside the glass chamber, kept her lips sealed tight while her shoulders trembled and tears streamed down her face.
Her expression was strange.
As though she had anticipated the device’s malfunction.
“Ah.”
At that instant.
Selena understood like a bolt of lightning.
“Could it be…?”
The device was not faulty.
The child was. Lilis was.
“No… that can’t be….”
Selena’s eyes fell open so wide she staggered, one hand clamped over her mouth.
An Ability User with no mana.
“You… you… how… how…?”
The god of this world,
a rank permitted only to the Emperor.
Primera.
“This can’t—”
Just as she moved forward in shock.
The child’s lips formed the words “I’m sorry.”
That was all.
Her vision cut to black.

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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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