Chapter 5

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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Angel
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Unable to close my mouth, I slowly looked around at the knights outside, but I was the only one who seemed surprised.

…Am I really the only one? Why does everyone look so calm?

“I told you to put up a shield. Why are you just standing there gawking?”

Dad, who had returned as if he'd just been on a light stroll, rolled his shoulders and barked at Axion.

“That was Enoch Rubinstein holding a sword. It was bound to be over in a few seconds anyway. It would've been a waste of mana.”

“This little punk.”

Dad scowled and grabbed Axion, who was still on his horse, by the collar.

“Hah.”

With a sharp sigh, Dad shoved the sword back into Axion's scabbard and climbed into the carriage.

“D-D-Dad…”

“A princess shouldn't see such things.”

As the carriage started moving again, I almost saw the rows of monster wolf carcasses outside the window, but thankfully, Dad covered my eyes and drew the curtain.

I gulped and slowly pulled his hand away.

*‘Wh-what did I just see? He's even more amazing than I thought. The James Brown who hid his power...’*

Dad had taken down thirty monsters in a single stroke, yet he wore an expression as nonchalant as if he'd just swatted a gnat.

*‘I see. So this is what it means to be the protagonist.’*

Reading about the power of the strongest person in the world in text and seeing it in person… the difference was immense.

Only after witnessing Dad's feat with my own two eyes did it truly sink in.

A born noble from a prestigious family that had produced only the highest-ranking ability users.

The empire's only swordmaster.

The Silver Wolf of the battlefield, an undefeated soldier…

The true power of the protagonist, described at least five thousand times as an ‘existence beyond measure’!

“Princess, my daughter, what's with that expression? Were you very scared?”

“N-no. I was just a wittle supwised…”

“It's okay. Daddy's here. Come here.”

In Dad's arms, as he held me preciously like a treasure and patted my back, I gulped again.

*‘Isn't this a bit of a steep rise in status?’*

My heart pounded after witnessing Dad's hidden power for real.

Overnight, I had become the daughter of the strongest person in the world…

* * *

A rise in status overnight!

“Whoa. It's so soft.”

The feel of the finest clothes I'd ever worn!

This was the warp gate room in the southern Elpasha Temple.

As soon as we arrived, I was changed into a pure white acolyte's robe with a cape, the kind worn by child priests.

*‘We can't go to the capital dressed as commoners, after all.’*

As I've said before, this world is terrible; they're called commoners, but in reality, they're treated no better than slaves.

Since there are many nobles in the capital, the priests at the temple had hastily provided me with an acolyte's robe before our departure.

“Hey, kiddo.”

“Yesh!”

The orange-haired paladin, Philip, called out to me.

“How old are you?”

“What kind of stupid question is that? It's been seven years since Sir Enoch deserted, so she's seven.”

“I'm asking because she's too small to be seven.”

Philip and Ben bickered.

While waiting for Dad in the gate room, I'd gotten quite close to these two.

“I am seven.”

“Did Sir Enoch starve you?”

“No.”

I shook my head.

“Then have you ever been scolded? Your dad's scary, right?”

“What's he like when he's angry? Have you ever been hit?”

The two were very interested in me, and their questions were all strangely similar.

Weren't you scared of your dad, had you ever been hit, had you ever been scolded…

“When I was scolded by Dad?”

I wracked my brain for a memory of being scolded that just wouldn't come, then finally spoke.

“When I hid my bwoccoli under my eggy, and when I got caught eating chocowate secwetly after bwushing my teeth…”

“Wow, she's just a kid, isn't that normal? He's raising her strictly, as expected.”

“Of course. You really think *that* Enoch Rubinstein would coddle his own child?”

“…He just says, 'You shouldn't do that.'”

Philip and Ben blinked at my added words.

“That's it?”

“He doesn't hit you?”

“Nope. My daddy isn't scawy. I've never been hit or scolded.”

The two of them looked at me in disbelief.

“But, misters, is my daddy weally that scawy?”

At my question, Philip and Ben seemed to recall the Dad from seven years ago and shuddered.

“You see, Sir Enoch…”

Philip crouched down, swallowed hard, and whispered in my ear.

“…tears bears apart with his bare hands.”

“Whaaat?”

“Have you ever seen a bear?”

I shook my head.

Seeing me shake my head, my face pale, Ben looked puzzled.

“Not even once? Zenon is a good place to hide out, but… it's quite dangerous. So many mountains mean lots of wild animals, whew. It's been famous for that for ages.”

“Huh? No, it's not. My village isn't dangerous at all. It's a gweat place to live…”

As I spoke, I suddenly recalled something Joe had once said in passing.

“Haha! James and his daughter are a real blessing, a blessing! You have no idea how much better life has gotten since they came here! The bears used to be a headache in the winter, but after James arrived, they just vanished, as if their line had dried up right on cue…”

D-don't tell me Dad tore them all up beforehand?

I swallowed hard, entertaining a rather reasonable suspicion.

“Anyway, your dad is seriously scary. He tears up bears and beats down magical beasts with his bare hands.”

“That's right. They say magical beasts can recognize your dad from five thousand paces away and run for their lives. He's not called the Silver Wolf of the battlefield for nothing.”

Listening to Philip and Ben's eager exchange, I tried to imagine what Dad was like on the battlefield.

I'd read about it dozens of times in the text, but seeing it in person would surely be far more terrifying…

“And he was so incredibly blunt. A tough superior to get close to.”

“But wasn't he somewhat close with the Captain?”

The two of them glanced back as they spoke.

A short distance away, Axion could be seen inspecting the warp gate.

“Sir Enoch was trying to kill the Captain earlier, right?”

“Yeah. If things had gone slightly wrong, there would've been a murder for sure.”

The two continued to whisper.

“Still, there's such a thing as camaraderie. Wasn't that too much?”

“Hey, what do you expect him to see in that situation? They were threatening him with his daughter.”

“That's the part that really surprises me.”

Ben said with a gulp, staring at me.

“Even if it's his daughter, does it make sense for *'that'* Enoch Rubinstein to lose his reason and go wild like that?”

“I know, right? Honestly, with our strength, even if we found out where Sir Enoch was, we never expected to be able to bring him back. So!”

Philip grabbed my hand tightly.

“We're really grateful to you. We would've been in big trouble if we had returned empty-handed.”

“That's right. It was either die there at Sir Enoch's hands or return with nothing and be killed by His Majesty the Emperor.”

“Ahem. It was nothing.”

For some reason, I felt my shoulders puff up with pride.

Ben patted my head as if he found me cute.

“If you had seen the Sir Enoch of the past, you'd understand why we're acting like this.”

“Right, right. A time when no woman dared to give orders to *that* Enoch Rubinstein…”

Just as the men were about to launch into another recollection.

There was the sound of the gate room door opening.

It seemed Dad had arrived.

Philip and Ben, who had been crouching in front of me, looked back, flinched, and quickly stood up.

And I, about to run to Dad in delight—

*‘Whoa.’*

was stunned.

Seeing my changed father—no, seeing the ‘protagonist,’ Enoch Rubinstein, at last.

“Woah, ahh.”

Sacred silver armor encasing a powerful body.

The symbol of a knight, a blue cape, draped over one shoulder.

A perfect match for his true silver hair and blue eyes…

*‘L-look at that aura!’*

He was the very picture of a holy knight!

The force emanating from his sharp gaze and firmly set lips was so immense that I even heard an auditory hallucination.

It felt like a grand BGM, a perfect mix of the tension of the battlefield and the sanctity of a holy knight, was playing automatically in my ears…

*‘Even if I hadn't read the novel, I'd know he was the protagonist.’*

Maybe I wasn't deceived for seven years; maybe I was just that oblivious.

“Lilis.”

“Y-yeah.”

I felt awkward as Dad approached, so I gulped and took a step back.

For some reason, Dad couldn't take his eyes off me, staring down intently before…

He soon slipped his hands under my arms, lifted me dangling into the air, and said.

“…An… angel?”

“Huh?”

“It can't be. Unbelievable. She was an angel… My princess's true identity was an angel.”

“Ah.”

I looked down at my acolyte's robe and immediately realized.

That Dad's gushing was about to begin.

“Ah, Dad. Wait a second.”

*Please don't!*

Before I could stop him, Dad sat me on his arm and made a fuss, checking my back.

“My baby angel, where are your wings? Huh? Where did you hide them?”

“Ah…”

“Oh, my goodness. Lilis, my princess. My treasure. My angel.”

Dad seemed to get choked up, his eyes drooping at the corners as he pouted and muttered.

“My daughter is this pretty, and Daddy always dressed you in rags… Daddy's sorry. I was wrong.”

“No, they weren't exactly rags…”

Dad pressed his forehead against my cheek and nuzzled me.

At that moment, all eyes were on us.

*‘Ah crap, I'm doomed.’*

Everyone wore expressions of horrified disbelief.

Their mouths hung open, speechless, and their pupils trembled uncontrollably.

*‘There goes the image of the scary, taciturn, and cold Silver Wolf of the battlefield, crumbling to pieces...’*

Trapped by Dad, who was kissing my cheeks as if he wanted to devour them, I couldn't even resist and went limp.

“S-stop…”

In the distance, I could see that even the usually expressionless Axion's mouth was hanging wide open.

He shook his head from side to side, then averted his gaze as if he'd seen something he shouldn't have, and muttered.

“That's a bit much…”