My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 98

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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 hides his strength
Chapter 98
What? I rubbed my eyes and looked again—
10 sec
—it really was ten seconds.
I stared blankly at the bracelet, unable to look away.
‘Why? Why is this all it shows?’
As I stood there bewildered, Father spoke.
“I came by to pray with my daughter anyway, but I had no idea the Temple Administrator was in such poor health. I apologize for troubling you with a visit.”
“Cough, cough. Oh, no, no at all. Thank you for coming. But the Prayer Room is rather shabby….”
“It’s fine. One can pray anywhere. And I’d like to make a donation.”
“A donation?!”
Zadkiel’s eyes, who had been listening, went wide. He burst in without hesitation, his face one of disbelief.
“Truly, sir?”
“Zadkiel! Cough, cough….”
The Temple Administrator immediately shot Zadkiel a warning look, his eyes suddenly bright, and stopped him.
But those angelic eyes gleaming at the word “donation” were not driven by greed.
They were the eyes of someone thrilled that he could serve the sick even a bowl of gruel, could cover them with clean blankets.
Father, knowing this, smiled and nodded.
“If you have a Donation Certificate….”
“Yes! I do! I’ll fetch it right away! Just a moment!”
Zadkiel hurried off and soon returned with a slip of paper no larger than a palm and a pen, which he handed to Father.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
Then, bowing deeply, he thanked Father repeatedly.
Father, finding nowhere convenient to write, crossed his legs and laid the certificate on his thigh.
He began to write with the pen.
One zero, two zeros, three zeros….
Watching this absently, I stopped counting somewhere around ten million.
James Brown’s wealth was….
“Here.”
“Thank you so very much!”
Zadkiel thanked Father again as he received the Donation Certificate, now bearing a magnificent signature.
“Um, wait…?”
But then, upon confirming the donation amount, his eyes began to blink rapidly.
“Sir, I believe… you’ve written the amount incorrectly!”
“No. It’s correct.”
Finding Zadkiel’s shocked, rabbit-like eyes endearing, Father laughed.
“Pardon? Really, sir?”
“Yes.”
Zadkiel’s mouth slowly fell open. Soon, his large eyes glistened with tears.
“This… this is….”
“From outside, I noticed the temple building needs some repairs. And.”
Father added, gazing sadly at the hem of Zadkiel’s priestly robes, threadbare and patched.
“The priests should have new robes. I’ll drop by regularly to donate, so don’t hold back on the priests’ behalf. Use it freely.”
“I….”
Zadkiel’s clamped lips trembled. He quickly wiped away the tears with his sleeve and bowed.
“Thank you! Truly, thank you so much! Sir! Really, really thank you!”
* * *
The Prayer Room of Seraph Temple.
In a cramped space barely five pyo wide, Father sat with his eyes closed, praying.
I watched him for a long while from beside him, then turned my gaze forward.
A small statue came into view.
The goddess Primelra, in female form.
‘No, I’m not praying.’
There is no god.
Or if there was, she’s fled by now.
Looking at this mad country, all I can do is sigh.
‘I’d have fled too. I understand, Primelra.’
Before fleeing, perhaps the last salvation she left behind was the protagonist himself, Enoch Rubinstein.
In any case, god is—
‘He’s definitely already left the room.’
Otherwise, the Divine Revelation that supposedly existed in the old days would still be happening.
Well, a few hundred years ago, the gods appeared in the priests’ dreams and told them about the great and small affairs of the nation, or so they say.
Things like: a great drought will come, so prepare yourselves—
Or: monsters will appear in such-and-such a place, so make ready to stop them—
A priest who received Divine Revelation was naturally revered and appointed as the High Priest, the foremost of all priests representing the Empire.
But that was already centuries ago.
Now there are no more Divine Revelations, and the position of High Priest is filled only with rotting degenerates.
“You’re not going to pray?”
Father asked once the prayer had ended.
“No, I’m not.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t believe in gods. Gods don’t exist. And if they do, they’re bad gods.”
“Whoa, whoa now.”
Father glanced around in alarm at such thoroughly irreverent speech for the Prayer Room of a temple, then laughed and pressed his index finger to his lips.
“I think we should keep our voices down a bit, don’t you?”
“Okay, I understand.”
“Haha. Our princess—why do you think that way?”
“Well… if gods really existed, then when bad nobles go around hitting commoners and all that, wouldn’t they punish them? But they don’t.”
“Oh, I see your point.”
“So they don’t exist. And if they do exist, they’re just watching without doing anything, which makes them bad gods.”
Father stared at me for a moment, then burst into quiet laughter.
“…You’re right. You’ve got a point there.”
“Father!”
“Yes?”
“Should we help our priest a little before we go?”
“Hmm?”
“The priest is pitiful. I saw him earlier changing towels on people’s heads and rubbing their legs and everything. He’s doing it all alone and it looks so hard. Since we’re here anyway, shouldn’t we help him a bit?”
Father gazed at me again, then laughed.
And then he rubbed his forehead against mine affectionately.
“Our princess really is an angel, I tell you.”
* * *
The amount of Life Force consumed varies drastically depending on the type of magic.
Attack Magic consumes the most Life Force, while Healing Magic uses relatively little.
You can tell just from that fact.
Primelra’s power is selfless.
Though it may seem at odds, Primelra must have been a good god.
That she would grant such a wonderful ability to the garbage villains in the imperial family is incomprehensible.
“It won’t hurt anymore.”
“Oh, thank you so much….”
3 seconds
“Are you thirsty? Let me get you some water!”
1 second
“Get well soon….”
4 seconds
I followed Zadkiel around the Relief Shelter, tending to people while occasionally checking the bracelet on my wrist.
It was to see how much Life Force it cost to heal them.
‘Wow, that’s surprising.’
That anyone took more than ten seconds—
Not a single one.
‘I’m starting to get a rough idea.’
Incurable diseases that can’t be treated at all naturally consume more Life Force.
Because you’re saving someone who was destined to die.
But the sick here aren’t like that.
This is a world where medicine hasn’t developed.
They’re not suffering from visible wounds but internal ailments—they simply haven’t received proper examination.
‘They’re the kind of illnesses you could completely cure by going to a twenty-first-century hospital and seeing a doctor.’
Probably, that’s why.
Why so little Life Force is consumed.
“Oh! Please keep lying down! Let me wipe that for you!”
I rushed to the elderly woman and dampened a towel to wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth.
“Such noble people doing this kind of hard labor…. You must be exhausted….”
The woman glanced nervously toward my father, who was hammering in the distance.
He’d rolled up his sleeves and was personally repairing various parts of the temple that he could reach immediately.
Right now he was laying the foundation for a new structure beside the hastily erected Relief Shelter to relocate it.
“Not at all. It’s not hard at all. The priest must be far more exhausted than Father and me, surely?”
I watched Zadkiel, who had no time to rest, constantly attending to the people.
When the poor without means fell ill, they came to the Seraph Temple.
Because Zadkiel, overflowing with Life Force, cast Healing Magic for them without asking for a single coin.
Internal injury patients who didn’t respond to magic were being kept and cared for in the shelter like this.
‘I think he said he was only fourteen. How does someone like that even exist…?’
According to the original story, from this point forward, the Old Sect receives the protagonist’s support and slowly begins to grow, barely clinging to survival.
These days, if someone donates to the Old Sect—which preaches doctrines opposite to the Emperor’s will—they’d certainly draw glares….
‘As my father’s “business” expands, believers here will grow soon enough.’
As Enoch Rubinstein gradually sets this nation right, fewer people hesitate to be seen with us.
The Old Sect’s followers increase one by one….
And eventually, on the eve of revolution, Zadkiel ascends to the position of High Priest.
How long? A decade, perhaps?
In a nation where half the people believe the Emperor is as a god, overturning the temple’s power takes quite some time.
But.
‘Let’s overturn it all at once. Quickly.’
I slowly toured the shelter, checking my bracelet.
15 min
My Life Force needed to heal every patient in the Seraph Temple—exactly fifteen minutes.
Cheap, far too cheap a price for performing a miracle.
‘There is no god, but….’
I can pretend there is.
A Divine Revelation, long since vanished.
What if that revelation were to descend upon the Old Sect temple, forsaken by all?
“My lady!”
Just then, Zadkiel rushed toward me, his face glistening with sweat.
He dabbed my forehead with a clean, damp cloth.
“Oh no, are you all right? You must be struggling. You’re sweating so much.”
“I’ve always been sensitive to heat anyway! I’m fine!”
“Still. Really, I can manage alone, so please rest. And have some water too.”
I brought the water cup that Zadkiel handed me to my lips and drank it down in long gulps.
He must have been busy with the patients, yet he came to check on me every ten minutes without fail.
Even though I’d only drunk water, Zadkiel’s eyes were full of tenderness, the way one looks at a dear younger sibling.
“But, priest….”
“Yes?”
I feigned a hesitant expression, fidgeting with my fingers.
Zadkiel tilted his head, puzzled.
“What’s wrong?”
“Um…. Well. Could I ask you something in private for a moment?”
“Of course!”
Zadkiel bent down and offered me his ear.
I whispered very quietly.
“About this—it’s really, really a secret, but I….”
Zadkiel’s eyes widened gradually.
“…What?”
Soon he staggered back in shock, staring at me with a look of disbelief.

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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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