My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 85

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Father Hides His Strength
Chapter 85
Seeing my shock, Aunt laughed and said, “What do we do.”
“What, what is it? Father didn’t come?”
“No, for some reason he hasn’t returned home. I was worried it would get too late, so we decided to leave first.”
“He hasn’t come home? Where did Father go?”
Aunt hesitated and glanced at Uncle.
“You didn’t tell her?”
“Your brother-in-law asked me not to say anything.”
What on earth? I looked back and forth between Uncle, who wore an awkward smile, and Aunt, when Grandfather spoke.
“Your father has been busy these days. After you entered the Academy, he’s been attending to work he’d left behind.”
“What work?”
“Your uncle went out on Beast Subjugation duty,” Leon said, miming sword strokes.
Leon made the motion of swinging a blade as he spoke.
“He’s been coming home once every two days, sleeping only, then heading out again the next morning,” Theo added.
Theo added to that.
“Ah, I see.”
When I think about it, the busiest person in this country right now ought to be my father.
Beasts spawn endlessly across this vast empire, so periodic subjugation is essential.
And the military force most efficient at Beast Subjugation is the Paladin Order.
It was strange that my father, the current Commander of the Paladin Order, had been staying home at all.
‘Before I entered the Academy, he must have been avoiding subjugations to spend more time together.’
I shook off the disappointment rising in my chest.
But wait.
“But why didn’t Father come home? He would’ve made sure to arrive on time.”
“That’s what troubles me too. When he left on his last subjugation, he promised he’d return early this morning.”
At Aunt’s puzzlement, fear suddenly gripped me.
“D-did something happen to Father? What if he was injured while fighting the monsters, or—”
My body trembled of its own accord. I turned pale and shook, but the room fell silent.
I glanced around, confused, only to find everyone staring at me with blank, blinking eyes.
“…?”
None of them seemed to share my concern.
“Child, Lilis. Don’t worry. The most pointless thing in the world is worrying about that man,” Grandfather said.
“Lilis doesn’t know Enoch well yet, Father,” my brother replied.
My brother hadn’t contacted us and hadn’t come home, yet Aunt only laughed.
Were they really siblings?
“S-still…”
“I understand your heart, but truly, there’s no need to worry. You should be worried about the Beasts, not my brother-in-law,” Aunt said.
“Ha ha! Father, now that’s a bit much?” Leon chuckled.
Leon laughed with amusement.
“No, really, we ought to worry. If the Beasts go extinct, then my brother-in-law will be out of a job.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Watching Uncle and Leon exchange their teasing banter, I felt all the strength drain from my body.
Really, only I was taking this seriously.
“Up we go.”
Uncle scooped me up and lifted me into the carriage.
“Don’t trouble yourself over nothing. Let’s head home and wait there.”
“All right.”
“The rest of you, get in quickly!”
The children who had been waiting climbed into the carriage after me.
Cheshire, sitting beside me, spoke.
“Don’t worry. I don’t think anything will happen to your father either. Maybe he’s just running late because he’s out buying your gift.”
Of course. Cheshire was the only one taking my concerns seriously.
I nodded with a downcast expression and gazed out the carriage window.
From the Central Region to Jedo…
‘It shouldn’t take even half a day, and with such an expensive carriage.’
A Noble Carriage has Magical Devices attached to its wheels. It should arrive four times faster than an ordinary one.
‘Then Father should be home by now?’
I knew full well that the most pointless worry in existence was worrying about the world’s strongest protagonist.
A sigh escaped me.
Still, I couldn’t shake the unease—Father set aside everything else to come see me, yet his absence felt wrong.
‘Hm?’
That’s when.
I spotted a familiar face through the window and yelped, rubbing my eyes in surprise.
‘Isn’t that Mr. Joseph?’
Joseph Lütman.
A key figure in the original story—someone Father and I had gone all the way to the Gambling House to recruit over poker.
Enoch Rubinstein’s strategist.
‘What on earth is he doing here?’
I quickly scanned the area around Joseph.
He was chatting with a portly nobleman, the two of them laughing together.
The nobleman was a first meeting for me, but he was likely the parent of one of the Ability Users leaving the academy today.
‘Who is that?’
I found Bruce soon enough.
‘Wow. No way.’
If Bruce’s father—that would be Marquis Chamber.
And for some reason, Joseph had sought out Marquis Chamber instead of my father.
My mind went blank.
* * *
At that moment, Enoch was…….
“Huff. Haah.”
Out of sheer frustration, he was just tearing at his hair.
“Urrgh. This… why won’t it… work…?”
“Just a bit more… urrgh. Put in more… strength….”
Two elderly priests with white hair were crouched in front of the Warp Gate, groaning and straining.
Where had things gone wrong?
Enoch, Axion, and Philip—three elite Paladins—had completed the Beast Subjugation in Southern Argonia the previous night.
The subjugation, which they’d expected to finish only by dawn, had concluded far more quickly.
Today was the princess’s departure day.
Father Enoch, thinking only of rushing to collect her, had torn through the estate like a madman.
Having wiped out Beasts that had no intention of emerging, the subjugation naturally finished in a flash.
But….
“Priests, how much longer?”
“Uh, u-huh? What’s that? I’m getting old, my ears aren’t what they used to be….”
“How much longer?!”
“Uh? How much farther you say? Still a ways, then….”
“Arrrgh!”
Enoch tore at his hair and roared.
Yes, the problem had surfaced here at the temple where the Warp Gate was located.
Southern Argonia, a rural backwater.
An outpost that hardly anyone visited.
So the staff of the Argonia Temple consisted of just two elderly priests.
“You said, you definitely said that by this morning it would be fully charged…. Didn’t you….”
“Uh? What’s th-that…?”
“No, no! Keep going!”
The Warp Gate was a charging-type device.
The priests were supposed to charge it with Holy Power and keep it ready for operation at all times.
But in this remote temple no one visited,
the elderly priests had left the Warp Gate neglected for quite some time, and when they tried to use it, it was completely drained.
“Heh-heh. Oh no. Our commander’s really in for it now.”
Philip, who’d been eating his lunch during the interim, watched the frantic Enoch with amusement.
“You’re making such a fuss—just sit down and wait. Does rushing make the charging go faster?”
Axion, also eating, clicked his tongue in disapproval.
“No, that’s exactly why! If I just—I could do it!”
Frustrated, Enoch thumped his own chest and turned to the priests.
“Priests, let me help you. I can charge it right away.”
“Humph!”
The High Priest barked.
“This is our duty! This Warp Gate here—it’s a gift from the Almighty….”
“Please, just. I’m begging you.”
“Anyway! Outsiders shouldn’t just go around touching things willy-nilly…. It brings defilement….”
He’d been oblivious to everything else, but now his ears perked up at just the right moment.
Enoch felt like he was losing his mind.
A Warp Gate left abandoned. Negligence of duty was one thing, but why did these priests have to be so impossibly stubborn?
Any Holy Power—strong enough to do the job—should work fine if you just poured it in.
Yet they insisted on following protocol, telling him to wait.
He’d finished the Beast Subjugation quickly enough, and they’d assured him the gate would be fully charged by dawn, so he’d waited patiently all this time.
“Ahhh. Being old is a sin itself…. Back in my day, you know. Hm? How was I back then?”
“Our High Priest…. Your mana flowed abundantly….”
“Hehehehe. That’s right, that’s right….”
“Arrrrgh!”
Enoch dragged his hands down his face as if he meant to tear it clean off, his cry silent but desperate.
Axion and Philip were too busy laughing at the sight of him.
“Oh!”
The High Priest suddenly looked up with a start.
“I’m getting hungry—maybe we should grab some food first.”
“Mm-hmm. Should we…?”
“Good grief.”
Enoch’s eyes spun like tops.
Should he just push past them and dump his own Holy Power into the gate instead?
There was such a thing as respect for your elders, but he’d reached his limit.
When the two priests actually rose to their feet, their spindly legs trembling as they headed for the door, Enoch rushed forward and cut them off.
“I’ll do it.”
“Tsk!”
“If you go eat now, when am I supposed to get home?”
“Well, you have to eat something so your mana replenishes, young man….”
“My apologies. Our High Priest, when he was young…. His mana was inexhaustible, you see? But when you age, both mana and Holy Power dry up…. All the Ability Users eventually retire, isn’t that right….”
“Yes, yes. So please, let me do this. I want to. Really, I do.”
“Tsk!”
“High Priest!”
This time Enoch held his ground and pushed back.
“I have a daughter who means more to me than my own eyes….”
“Hm? A…daughter?”
“Yes. Today is her graduation day from the Academy. I promised I’d pick her up, but I’m stuck here. She’ll be crying, looking for me….”
“What? Well, why didn’t you say so!”
The High Priest pointed at the Warp Gate.
“Go ahead and charge it then.”
“Pardon?”
Was it really that simple? One mention of his daughter and that was it?
Enoch felt cheated, but there was no time to waste. He moved quickly.
In his urgency, he poured Holy Power into the gate’s charging port in one massive surge.
Crackle-crackle—!
With an ominous sound, the Warp Gate blazed brilliant blue.
“What in blazes! Why did you pump that much into it!”
“Oof. This young man’s got quite the strength…. Reminds me of myself back then….”
“Is it broken?! This thing’s expensive!”
The High Priest grabbed Enoch by the collar and shook him like a rag doll, suddenly bursting with energy from somewhere.
But the Warp Gate activated nonetheless.
“My sincerest apologies. If anything goes wrong,”
Enoch pointed back at Axion, his leg jittering with anxiety.
“contact Axion Libre, Vice Commander of the Paladin Order.”
“Why should I deal with your mess,”
Axion protested, jumping to his feet.
“High Priest, don’t mind him—just send him through. He needs to see his daughter….”
The Sub Priest chuckled softly and slowly examined the gate’s display screen.
He needed to input the destination….
“My eyes are so tired…. Haven’t used this thing in ages, can’t make anything out….”
“I’ll do it!”
Enoch quickly squeezed past him and tapped Pavil Temple on the map displayed on the screen.
“Farewell!”
Without looking back, he stepped through the Warp Gate.
‘Our princess must have arrived home already. I need to get there fast. Once I—’
Mid-crossing, as Enoch’s thoughts raced, he suddenly went rigid.
Jedo, Pavil Temple.
Though many people filled the space, he saw none of them.
“Papa!”
Only one.
His beloved daughter alone filled his sight.
“…Lilis.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————