LIGHTNOVELSTORY My Daddy Hides His Power
Chapter 234
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“Don’t you raise your arms straight?!” Wizard Tower, Oscar’s office. “Are you slowly coming down?” I was kneeling on the floor with both arms raised. Bad Mr. James Brown… No way, it can’t be. Despite my doubts, he went ahead and spilled the whole truth to Oscar. That was why I had to come in on my day off from the Wizard Tower and was punished. “You guys who don’t even have experience are so fearless about staying out overnight?” Oscar, standing in front of me with his arms crossed, gritted his teeth. I timidly protested. “I told you I didn’t mean to stay out overnight… Who knew the gate would be discharged at that moment…?” “You didn’t discharge it?” “No!” “Put your arms straight!” “Whoo…” “What are you boasting about with that big mouth of yours?” I put my mouth back in right away. “The gate doesn’t work, what can I do…?” I was muttering to myself because I was feeling unfair, but Oscar sat down in front of me with his knees spread open like a thug trying to steal money. “If it wasn’t for the gate, isn’t there any other way to get to the Capital?” “Everyone knows we were stuck there. So, should we just use teleportation? When the gate is recharged, I could just wait and come back. No need to risk my life for this, right?” “Who told you to waste your life? What’s the point of having teleportation magic if you’re not going to use it? Even that guy, Cheshire, can use it.” “….” “To avoid being noticed by others? I’ve set up a room for you at the Wizard Tower, right? If you just mark the coordinates and come in there, who would notice? Shouldn’t you come and tell me?” “….” “That Cheshire b*stard didn’t send you because he had impure intentions, right?” I swallowed hard in embarrassment. “No, that… The Gate suddenly discharged, so we panicked… Neither of us even thought about it…” “Maybe it’s not that you couldn’t think of it, but that you didn’t want to do it?” “….” Oscar let out a small, mocking laugh as he saw me at a loss for words. “With two heads between you and that guy, and neither of you thought of something like this? Does that even make sense? You probably just thought, ‘Since the gate’s down, let’s make a kid while we’re at it.'” “M, M, Master? What are you saying? No! We didn’t do anything!” “You were stuck!!! in the room!!! together all day!!!” “Ugh.” My eardrums were about to burst. I covered my ears. “How do I know!! what you did?!!!” Oscar stood up and declared, his voice cracking. “I’ll kill him.” “Master…?” “I can’t let this go. I can see through his dark intentions.” Oscar said firmly and pushed away the sofa in the center of the office. “P, please just kill me instead! Cheshire hasn’t done anything wrong! I’ll take the punishment, so please give it to me!” “Hahaha.” Oscar laughed as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. I held out my arm with a solemn expression. “Just don’t touch Cheshire, and go ahead and cut off my arm instead. I admit I didn’t put much effort into finding a way to get home.” “….” “You can cut off both of my arms.” “You cunning little girl.” Oscar mumbled to himself as he tried to push the table this time. Unlike the sofa, the table was heavier and didn’t move as easily. “Rather kill me, huh? You’ve got some nerve, don’t you? Acting like that because you know full well I won’t touch you. Cunning girl.” Ahem. I looked at Oscar, feeling embarrassed. “But why would I punish you for anyone’s benefit? Starting today, I’m applying collective punishment. Every mistake you make, he’ll pay for it instead.” “Yes?” “It’s not just a sleepover.” Oscar raised his chin and spoke like a devil. “Even if you cause trouble on your own, he’ll be the one to take the hit. If you sneak off and mess up somewhere, it’ll be his arm that gets cut off. Your punishment is to watch him suffer for your mistakes.” “No, what are you?” What kind of absurdity is this? I gaped. “There’s no room for leniency regarding your meticulously planned overnight stay. I will cut off all of his limbs and make him crawl on his belly, so remember that.” H, how cruel! Oscar pulled out a piece of white chalk from his pocket. It looked like he was about to draw a magic circle to go to Argonia immediately. “Wait a minute! Wait a minute, Master!” I got up in a hurry and grabbed Oscar’s waist and hung on. “Don’t do this. Please calm down.” “Get out of the way.” “P, please consider this calmly. I’m not doing this because I’m worried about Cheshire.” I realized something: Trying to protect Cheshire would only provoke Oscar’s anger further. “Punish Cheshire, yes, but do it later. If you make him crawl around on his stomach now, what will happen to the business!” “….” “Master, please… We were supposed to finish the business safely and then go on a trip together… We even planned a picnic with Hans and the kids. We were looking forward to it… Please?” “….” Oscar, who was looking down at me with eyes that had no mercy as I cried, threw down the chalk he was holding. ‘Ah!’ I cheered inwardly, and quickly clung to Oscar as he trudged over to the sofa that had been pushed far away. “Ugh.” “Ugh, you like it, huh.” “Master, you’re the best…” “I can’t just spare you with empty words. There are conditions.” “Yes?” “In exchange for saving him, make a promise with me.” “Yes! I won’t go out overnight again! Even if there are unavoidable circumstances like yesterday, I’ll make sure to contact you somehow instead of pretending everything’s fine!” “Oh, as expected. I guess you thought it was a good thing since the gate was discharged.” “….” …This blabbermouth. Oscar chuckled as he watched my lips tremble after making a slip of the tongue. “Of course you shouldn’t stay out overnight. Other than that, something else.” “Huh? Something else?” Oscar, who had his arms draped over the back of the sofa, stared at me blankly. “Do me a favor.” “A favor?” “Yeah.” “….” I stared into his eyes. And after thinking for a while, “Just go to Argonia.” I shook my head. “Even if Cheshire doesn’t have arms or legs, you can probably catch His Majesty the Emperor.” “W, what? Are you serious?” “Yes.” Oscar said with a bewildered expression, then remained silent. “…Are you refusing without even hearing what the request is?” As expected, his voice was flustered. I nodded. “Yes. What could a Master who can do anything ask of me? No matter what, it would be hard for me to grant it.” “No? It’s so easy?” “It doesn’t seem easy, though?” “It’s easy, though? You don’t have to lift a finger. If you promise to agree, I’ll tell you the request.” “I said no. And I think I know what it is, so you don’t have to tell me.” “What!” I swallowed my breath and said. “If the Master suddenly disappears one day, you’re telling me not to look for you?” “….” Oscar stared blankly at me. Then, scratching his forehead, he turned his head to the other side, remaining silent for a while, and started to tremble his legs—. “Did you read my mind?” ―That’s what he asked. “No.” I turned my head and answered. “Reading minds isn’t cost-effective.” “No, then how did you know?” “I’m not a thoughtless kid. Right now, the thing I’m most seriously thinking about, even more than the business, is the Master’s situation.” “Why are you making such a fuss over someone else’s problem?” “To Master, am I just someone else? If I could solve your problem with my abilities, I wouldn’t mind becoming a hunchbacked old woman right now.” “…What on earth.” “….” “Hey, I want to live, you know? You looking for me is pretty much the same as killing me. Got it?” “I told you, didn’t I? I won’t forget Master. If I forgot you and then remembered you again… well, that would mean you’d be dead. But if I never forget Master from the start, it doesn’t matter.” “Wow, you really don’t get it, do you? Are you a god or something? Everyone else won’t be able to recognize me, but how do you plan on avoiding that?” “I really won’t forget you, Master, and will continue to recognize you. Please believe me.” Oscar burst into laughter. “Okay, let’s say you can recognize me. Then what about everyone else?” “….” “The capital is a minefield to me.” A minefield… That’s right. Oscar might be trying to leave this place, that’s why I guessed it. “Yes, I know.” “Yes, I know~? If you know, you shouldn’t do this to me. Are you telling me to live with the people who knew me in the Capital and then step on a landmine and get killed?” The day he paid the price for using ‘disuse magic’ that challenged the power of God. Oscar will disappear without a trace. However, he will definitely live, even if people don’t recognize his existence. “Living in the Capital..” If someone recognizes his identity, he will die. Oscar had to live carefully, as if he didn’t exist. “…It’ll be hard.” However, even if Oscar didn’t announce himself as the Lord of the Wizard Tower, there are many ways for people to recognize him. The way he speaks, his habits, his actions… Even the slightest suspicion could trigger the ban and cause instant death. Oscar’s grandfather, who had used regression magic, lived his entire life hiding in a place where no one knew him precisely for that reason—because there were many people in the Empire who knew him. “Honestly, I can’t promise to prevent others from forgetting you… I don’t have that kind of ability. I’ll keep trying, but I might never find a way for the rest of my life.” “Trying? Don’t. Unless you’re a God, there’s no way to solve it even if you rack your brain for a hundred days.” Oscar, deeply sunk into the sofa, added in an annoyed voice. “Just leave me alone. I thought I was done for, but since I’ve got this second chance at life, I might as well go somewhere no one knows me and live a new life.” “Yes, let’s do that. Come with me.” “What did you say?” Oscar frowned and pulled up the body he was leaning on. “I won’t forget Master, so it doesn’t matter if we live together. Let’s go to a place where no one who might recognize you is around. We can live there together.” “No…” Oscar was dumbfounded. I held back tears and said shamelessly. “I understand that you want to live a new life, Master, but you can’t abandon me.” “What?” “If you raised me once, please raise me until the end.” “Wow, this….” Oscar, with his mouth wide open, let out a hollow laugh and ran his fingers through his hair. “Aren’t you crazy…?” * * * After Lilith left. “Haa, I’m going crazy.” Oscar just kept laughing in vain. “…You can’t abandon me.” “If you raised me once, please raise me until the end.” He knew it wouldn’t be easy. But, even if he leaves, it’s still in the palm of Primera Lilith’s hand. He tried to stop her from wasting her life trying to find him by comforting her. “Let’s go to a place where no one who might recognize you is around. We can live there together.” He expected her to keep nagging him, saying, ‘Don’t go…’. He never thought she’d say something crazy like abandoning everything and following him… He really, never dreamed of it. ‘Crazy. Really crazy.’ It would be a lie to say he wasn’t moved by Lilith’s words, even though he was both astonished and frustrated by her intense reaction. At the words of a child who still couldn’t judge the situation threw out so cheerfully… He almost responded with a similarly crazy answer, pretending to be indifferent, “Fine. Then let’s live together for the rest of our lives.” “You’re crazy.” You really are crazy. In the first place, Lilith couldn’t escape this cruel law. ‘I won’t forget Master’ was just a child’s wish. “I’m sorry. I had a bad thought for a moment.”Oscar apologized, feeling sorry as he thought about Enoch, realizing he had almost made the mistake of kidnapping his daughter.Drrrk.Then, he opened the drawer and took out a piece of paper deep inside.There was a complicated magic formula drawn on it.‘If you run, this Master will fly.’ There was a way to ignore Lilith from the beginning. He just wanted to say something because he thought it would hurt if he left without saying anything.“Let’s just stay still…” What should I do now? Oscar, who was worried, picked up his pen. Thinking about it, even though they had spent quite a lot of time together, he had never written a single letter. The child, who was good at saying embarrassing things and was so bright that she had no hesitation in expressing her feelings, would write letters even on days that weren’t special… “Ha. My fingers are curled.” It was a little sad that the first letter he wrote would be his last greeting. After fiddling with his pen for a very long time, he finally wrote the last line. Goodbye, take care. My ‘My… what is it?’ What should he say? It was always difficult to define his relationship with Lilith. Daughter? No. Not family, not friends, not lovers. Master and student? My student―is that okay? ‘That’s a little bit uncool.’ After much thought, Oscar found a very good word. Among the many emotions he felt toward his child, the one that was the biggest and most consistent… . Among the words that exist in this world, the one that is closest to my feelings toward you… That word. Goodbye, take care, my love.
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