The butler led me to my room, and I immediately went to take a shower, washing away the exhaustion from the day while thinking up a solution. Afterward, I stepped out of the bathroom, closed the curtains, and sat down on the sofa to rest.
Then I heard knocking, followed by a voice.
"Karen, I'm here."
I got up and opened the door. It was Jacob. A moment later, Grace, Ethefelis, and Alice entered my room as well.
Earlier, while the butler had been guiding us to our rooms, I'd told them to come to my room after showering. I'd also asked Grace to bring Ethefelis and Alice along.
"Karen, what did you call us here for?"
I took out paper and a pen, answering Jacob while writing.
"We'll communicate through writing."
After finishing, I showed the paper to the four of them, while also reminding Alice not to read it out loud, since she always unconsciously did that whenever she read something.
Karen: The general told me earlier that I have to become his personal chef for the rest of my life to satisfy his craving for food. If I refuse, he'll destroy Aimebisalon. I asked him for three days to think about it.
The moment they read it, panic spread across their faces. Grace, who was especially emotional whenever the country was involved, immediately looked up at me, wanting to speak.
"Th—!"
Before she could make a sound, Jacob, who was sitting beside her, quickly covered her mouth.
Nicely done.
Grace's eyes trembled in shock at Jacob's sudden action, so I called her name.
"Grace."
She looked at me, and I raised a finger to my lips, signaling for silence. Grace understood and nodded, and Jacob removed his hand.
And honestly, covering someone else's mouth was rude—especially when it was a girl's. Jacob immediately blushed and apologized to Grace.
"Sorry, Grace. Karen said we had to communicate through writing, so I figured we shouldn't talk."
Grace's face turned even redder. Being covered by the person she liked seemed to bring her more surprise and embarrassment than anger or disgust. She stammered out a reply.
"...No, I was the one who got too worked up."
Normally I'd enjoy watching this kind of scene, but right now all I could think was, Can you two read the room?
Then Alice, who had taken the pen from me earlier, scribbled something onto the paper and showed it to Jacob and Grace.
The two of them immediately looked guilty.
What did Alice write?
I took the paper to read it myself.
Alice: Your faces are as red as apples. You both look happy and scared. What are you scared of?
What kind of ability did Alice even have? Was she some kind of micro-expression expert? How did she always notice emotions nobody else could see? I hadn't noticed any fear on Jacob or Grace's faces at all.
Still, this wasn't the time to think about that. We needed to get back to the main issue.
I knocked twice on the table and spoke seriously.
"Focus. We don't have much time."
Other than the well-behaved Ethefelis, the other three nodded in response.
We spent the next hour communicating through writing—explaining things, asking questions, discussing possibilities—before finally disbanding.
The next day, February 16th, at 8:30 in the morning, the five of us were having breakfast in the dining hall with the general and the Ainasse Queen. Once the queen finished her twenty-four-person breakfast, I asked about my wish.
"Your Majesty, what about my wish? Did you find a suitable location?"
"It's not far from the royal castle, and the land area is approximately one hundred thousand square meters."
"...Huh?"
The size made me blurt out in disbelief.
There were only three of us living together. What was I supposed to do with that much space? Build a mini amusement park?
Jacob, Grace, and Ethefelis looked equally shocked.
Only Alice, who had no sense of scale, tilted her head and asked:
"How big is one hundred thousand square meters?"
"It's close to the size of a count's estate."
Jacob, seated across from her, answered.
The Ainasse Queen interlocked her fingers and rested her chin on them, looking completely unconcerned as she asked:
"Karen, are you dissatisfied?"
Of course dissatisfied. Sure, I'd said at least ten thousand square meters, but since the land was coming from the kingdom, shouldn't they just give me slightly more than that instead of multiplying it by ten?
More importantly—
"How much tax would I have to pay?"
My family paid land taxes too. Living on someone else's land naturally meant paying taxes. Even though it was a permanent deed, the king still had the right to reclaim it.
And since the deed never said taxes were exempt, I paid them properly. I didn't want special treatment anyway.
"2 gold coins."
2 gold coins a month. Twenty-four a year. Two hundred forty in ten years. Twelve hundred in fifty years...
Just thinking about it gave me a headache.
In Aimebisalon, the national land tax rate was 1 copper coin per ten square meters. My home there was forty thousand square meters, so the tax was 40 silver coins.
In Dilibrash, one hundred thousand square meters cost 2 gold coins in taxes. That meant ten thousand square meters cost 20 silver coins, or 2 copper coins per ten square meters.
Good grief. The tax rate here was literally double.
I immediately spoke to the Ainasse Queen in a firm tone.
"...I want to change it. I want a house between ten thousand and twenty thousand square meters."
It wasn't that I couldn't afford it. I had a considerable amount of wealth—maybe even enough to compare to a viscount's fortune.
But not every house I owned would be gifted by a country. I would still have to buy plenty of them myself, and all of those properties would come with taxes too.
Besides, I didn't have a stable source of income. I wasn't the kind of person who spent recklessly. I was the type who would agonize over the price even if I really liked something.
I only spent large amounts when absolutely necessary. A giant house was simply unnecessary to me.
The general dismissed it casually.
"Then make it tax-free."
"Lord Arakeya, you can't do that. It would be unfair to everyone else who pays taxes."
The Ainasse Queen was right. It would be unfair to the people working hard to pay taxes. I hated special treatment too.
Then the general generously said:
"I'll pay the taxes for him."
"I refuse. I don't need someone else paying my taxes for me. That would just give them an excuse to come and go from my house whenever they pleased."
I glared sideways at the general. He would definitely use that as leverage to push further.
And fundamentally, I hated using other people's money. It made me feel indebted, like I couldn't even argue back properly if I was treated unfairly.
The Ainasse Queen suddenly slammed her hands onto the table and snapped at me.
"What do you mean, someone else? Show Lord Arakeya more respect!"
She didn't know anything, so I chose not to take my anger out on her. Crossing my arms, I stated my conclusion.
"In short, I want land in a residential district between ten thousand and twenty thousand square meters. I refuse anything outside that range."
The general clicked his tongue and spoke again.
"Karen, just accept it. You'll be spending the rest of your life here eventually anyway."
That ordinary smile on his face disgusted me. He already believed victory was guaranteed.
I really wanted to punch him.
But I endured it.
In two days, I'd be able to punch him. Besides, I was stubborn too.
"Even if that were true, I still don't need land that large."
"Tch. Stubborn brat. Fine. Sebastian."
"Yes, sir."
At the general's command, the butler left to search for land matching my conditions. Thinking about it, it made sense that the butler obeyed him so naturally. The general was older than the butler himself—he might've literally watched him grow from childhood into old age.
A while later, in the middle of a deathly silent atmosphere, the butler returned carrying a stack of papers and approached the Ainasse Queen.
"Your Majesty."
"Show them to Karen."
"Yes. Mr. Karen, there are twenty-three houses and nine empty lots that meet your requirements."
I accepted the stack and carefully checked them one by one.
Eventually, I found one listing a house in the southeastern high-class residential district. The land area was fourteen thousand four hundred square meters, and it was currently awaiting sale.
Most importantly, it was close to the dungeon and relatively far from the royal castle.
The previous property had definitely been arranged by the general.
I handed the paper back to the butler.
"I'll take this one."
"Understood. Please wait a moment."
The butler collected all the papers and left the dining hall again.
The general looked at me curiously.
"Karen, which place did you choose?"
"You'll find out soon enough."
I answered casually.
The Ainasse Queen immediately looked irritated again at my disrespect toward the general, but I ignored her entirely, staring at the door while waiting for the butler to return.
Eventually, the butler finally came back.
I carefully checked the contents of the deed. No problems.
The land tax was 28 silver coins 18 copper coins.
Perfect.
I signed it—
and then immediately left the royal castle.