On the way to the new house, I kept apologizing to the four of them. The sudden situation earlier and the heavy atmosphere had clearly frightened them.
"Karen, I just finished eating. I almost threw up."
"Sorry."
"Mr. Karen, it looked like you were about to argue with the Queen."
"Sorry."
"Bro Ren, endure."
"Sorry."
"Mr. Karen, why didn't you want such a huge piece of land?"
"I'm sor—"
I almost apologized out of reflex again. Alice always caught me off guard.
"Well, taxes are one thing, but I'm not planning to stay here long-term anyway. I don't need that much space."
"I see."
Soon after, we found our new home. Even from outside the gate, we could see the blue-and-white house. It looked fairly large. I took out the key, unlocked the front door, and went inside alone.
There was no furniture inside, but there was no point buying any either. I was going to tear the place down and rebuild it eventually anyway.
What I needed to do now was expand the interior space using techniques that wouldn't destroy the entire house, so there'd be enough room to place the travel house inside.
As for why I didn't just put it out in the open? Because I couldn't let the General discover the existence of the travel house. I even suspected he might secretly have people monitoring my movements. That was why I planned to seal every window in this new house with stone walls.
This was part of the operation too.
Time to get to work.
I drew my sword and sliced through the walls and ceiling piece by piece as easily as cutting tofu. Then I created stone golems and ordered them to carry the rubble into an unused room that wouldn't be affected.
Finally, I placed the travel house inside.
Done.
After that, I opened the door to call the others in, but nobody was there. I looked left and right, yet couldn't spot a single person. They'd probably gotten bored waiting and gone to look around the property.
So I went to find them.
Grace was practicing her swordsmanship. Meanwhile, Jacob, Ethefelis, and Alice were standing under a tree, each staring at a different spot above them.
The moment I got close enough, I understood what was going on.
Those three were bad people. I couldn't compete with them.
I decided to just call them inside.
"Hey. We're going in."
Afterward, we entered the house. I briefly explained a few things, then let everyone do whatever they wanted.
Over the next two days, Jacob, Ethefelis, and Alice went outside to buy huge amounts of food, while Grace happily spent her abundant free time practicing swordsmanship.
As for me, I locked myself inside the house and never went out. Between breakfast and dinner, I didn't meet the four of them at all.
By February 18th, around 4:30 in the morning, I was speeding northwest through the wastelands outside the capital on my heavy motorcycle.
Meanwhile, Jacob and the others were riding electric motorcycles toward the southeastern port closest to the capital. They would board a ship to Asrangari without waiting for me.
My plan was simple: fight the General.
If the four of them stayed with me, they would only interfere with my performance. For someone like me, who had already killed before, holding back and leaving an opponent alive was difficult enough as it was.
And the General was a two-thousand-and-nineteen-year-old dragon. I didn't have the spare energy to protect anyone else during that kind of battle.
To completely ensure their safe escape, I had Alice use optical camouflage. Besides, everyone would still be asleep at this hour, so they probably wouldn't be discovered easily.
I also wasn't wearing any equipment.
Against the General, armor might as well have been paper. Wearing it would only add unnecessary weight.
By 6:00 in the morning, I arrived at a completely deserted wasteland. As far as the eye could see, there wasn't even a single tree.
"This is the place."
I decided to fight the General here. Even if the terrain got completely destroyed, no innocent people would be caught in the aftermath.
I stepped on the brake and stopped.
After the motorcycle came to a complete halt, I got off and opened my storage hole, putting the bike away first. Then I removed my helmet and stored it as well before taking out a silver metal staff taller than myself.
This was the weapon I had spent half a day forging while staying inside my room.
A blade forged with the power of the Brave was far too sharp. With a staff, I wouldn't need to worry about accidentally severing limbs.
I had also embedded the magic core from my sword into one end of the staff, allowing it to function as a magic staff.
Normally, when a magic core was embedded into bladed weapons like swords, spears, or axes, they couldn't cast magic directly. Instead, depending on the user's magical affinity, the attribute could be materialized and infused onto the blade itself.
But apparently that technique was extremely difficult. Neither Lina nor I had ever met anyone capable of using elemental infusion, so naturally, we couldn't use it either.
Besides, I could've simply shown the General the terrifying power of ancient magic and made him beg for mercy out of fear.
But if I didn't beat him up first, my anger wouldn't settle.
Afterward, I sat on the ground eating breakfast while waiting for the General to arrive. Once I finished eating and rested for a bit, I practiced my staff techniques.
At 8:00 in the morning, I spotted a gigantic red dragon in the distant sky, approaching at a speed faster than lightning.
That was probably the General.
But the moment that thought crossed my mind, the General instantly flew over my head.
How fast was he flying exactly?
I could clearly hear the roar of his flight—the violent sound of air being ripped apart.
I turned around to look behind me. The General had already begun slowing down, smoothly circling back before descending like an airplane and landing about ten meters in front of me.
The flapping of his wings kicked up a cloud of dust that nearly choked me.
Still, the General's dragon form looked remarkably similar to Lani's father, Dokamir.
Though I didn't really have time to think about that.
The General transformed into his human form, took a guarded stance, and angrily shouted at me.
"Karen, have you abandoned the fate of Aimebisalon?!"
After absorbing enough magic power, I mocked him.
"The "speed" at which your subordinates woke up sure was slow. But do you really think you can threaten me just by relying on the "strength" of age? You don't actually believe Aimebisalon lacks the ability to "defend" itself, do you? How arrogant."
Within those specific words, I had secretly activated enhancement magic.
The number of years I used was seventeen—equal to my physical age. If I exceeded the number of years matching my body's age, the backlash after canceling it would hurt so badly that I'd pass out.
Right now, I was alone. Nobody could heal or protect me.
So no matter how difficult the General was to deal with, I had to endure it.
As for how the General had found me—
It was because there had been someone hidden in the tree Jacob and the others were staring at on the first day.
I intentionally didn't chase him away.
Before leaving, I had Ethefelis knock him unconscious and place a note on him that read:
"I'm heading north. —Karen"
Then the General sneered at me.
"You think I don't know you only managed to hunt down Samidoride because he underestimated you? Yet you're still basking in your own glory. Foolish brat. He never fought seriously. You're the arrogant one."
In response, I shrugged and sneered back.
"Of course I know. You dragons call yourselves the race with the highest intelligence, but from where I'm standing, dragons just become more senile the older they get."
"So you've truly decided to reject my proposal."
"What proposal? That was a threat. Besides, I'm busy. I don't have time to play your personal chef game."
"Then you can leave your knowledge behind."
I didn't understand what the General meant by that, but judging from his expression, he was finally ready to fight.