The Supermarket System

Kai smiled with satisfaction at the teleportation spell he had acquired.

To be able to sneak around easily at night, Kai had to acquire that teleportation spell. However, before he even realized he actually needed the teleportation spell, Kai had already asked his team of chefs to put on a cooking demonstration in front of his supermarket. Of course, they were cooking something made primarily from flour.

This was because the requirement for obtaining the teleportation spell was to sell pastries, cake or snacks made from flour and make a profit of at least 500 large gold coins.

So, for today, Kai asked them to demonstrate how to make donuts and churros. Kai also made sure to ask them to sell one of the most popular snacks from the country where he used to live on Earth: fried bananas—bananas that aren’t too sweet, coated in a batter made with flour, water, and sugar, then fried in hot oil.

Only one chef and Daisy were performing the demonstration; the other two chefs were cooking in the supermarket’s kitchen, assisted by maids from the pavilion who were eager to help and earn some extra money.

Even so, at first Kai didn’t believe they’d turn a profit so quickly.

Kai thought he’d head straight to the supermarket to help as soon as lunch was over.

However, when he arrived, the system had already announced that his mission had been successfully completed with assistance.

[You have successfully completed the mission to obtain the teleportation spell!]

[Since you didn’t get directly involved in selling the bananas and you guided those people well, you’ve earned an intermediate-level teleportation spell. Congratulations!]

[With intermediate-level teleportation magic, you can travel to places you’ve visited before without feeling nauseous, and you can bring one person with you]

[If you bring someone with you while teleporting, be sure to hold their hand or hug them tightly; you must not let go, or the teleportation will fail]

Kai hurried over to his workers to thank them for helping make this a success.

It turned out that Justine, Laura, and Luka had helped promote the food being sold.

Thanks to these three noble children—especially since Justine is Kaileon’s younger brother—the people were overjoyed.

Since Kaileon was a hero to the community—and because he was currently striving to boost Arslan’s economy—they fully supported everything he did.

It wasn’t just the poor; even the wealthy, and even wealthy merchants from outside Arslan, came to support Kaileon’s shop.

"Since you’ve all been working so hard, I’m going to give you a bonus and any gift you want. So, Rose, please write down what everyone wants... send the list to me, and I’ll hand them out to all of you tomorrow at the pavilion. Don’t forget to come to the pavilion in the morning before you start work," said Kai.

As Kai turned to sit down for a moment, he saw Justine, Laura, and Luka standing in front of him, looking at him hopefully.

Kai laughed and gently patted his younger brother on the head.

"Of course I’ll give you guys gifts too—what do you want?" Kai asked.

"I want a cheesecake like the one in Mom’s room! Mom’s so stingy when it comes to cheesecake—I want one in my room too... but I promise I’ll eat it little by little so my stomach doesn’t hurt," said Justine.

Laura chimed in as soon as Justine finished speaking, "Me! I want all kinds of ice cream cakes like the ones Angeline gave me yesterday—I really love them! I also love that soft cream cake—please... send some to the Marquis Maustrine’s residence."

"Send us some cheesecake too, Kaileon! I also want you to teach my family’s chef how to make cakes! Oh, and also that ice cream maker... like the one in the pavilion!" Luka’s requests seemed to be quite a lot, didn’t they... but Kai laughed upon hearing them. He patted the boy on the head—even though the boy was actually bigger than him. But well... Luka and Justine were clearly still children; their behavior was childish too, and Kai loved them dearly.

"Of course, you already know how to use the ice cream machine, right? It’s very easy, so I’ll send the bill to Marquis Maustrine later. Since I can only give you cakes... oh, and for now, I can’t teach the chef at your house. But after I return from the empire, I’ll consider it."

They were all very happy to hear that, especially Laura and Luka.

"Kaileon, I want to add my wish, too!" said Justine.

Kai turned to his younger brother and nodded slowly. "Sure, go ahead."

"Well... I—I want to go to the empire with you. Please convince Mom to let me come, because I want to spend more time with you—you’ve been so busy lately."

Justine’s words left Kai speechless. He had indeed been too busy and hadn’t been paying attention to Justine anymore. But he also wasn’t sure the Duchess would change her mind just because Kai asked her to.

"I’ll try, Justine... but I can’t promise I’ll be able to change the Duchess’s mind."

Justine looked sad at that moment, but he gave a small smile so Kai wouldn’t worry about him.

***

"Are you sure, young master?" asked Jo, who had already transformed into a diamond-horned wolf.

Jo’s wolf form still looked like that of a wolf cub, even though his half-human body was much taller than Kaileon’s.

Jo’s fur was a unique shade—a mix of white and gray—and he had beautiful, bright blue eyes.

This made Kai think Jo was incredibly cute in his monster form.

Even in his monster form, Jo could still speak like a human, which was one of his unique traits, since other diamond-horned wolves might not be able to. In fact, Jo couldn’t even be classified as edible in his monster form.

Jo really is quite unique.

Since Jo’s body is small, Kai really enjoys carrying him around like a puppy. It reminds Kai of the cute dog he used to see back on Earth—it was truly adorable.

"Yeah! I can teleport, so be quiet. I need to focus so we can get to the forest quickly. Quick, close your eyes," Kai whispered.

Kai then reached for the super-bright flashlight he’d bought specifically for that night’s hunt.

No one could know—in fact, everyone thought Kai was already asleep.

After closing his eyes, Kai focused on teleporting. He just needed to visualize a place he’d visited before.

When he was done, he opened his eyes and was surprised to find himself at the edge of the forest.

"We’re here, Jo!" Kai said.

Jo climbed down from Kai’s hands and transformed back into his half-human form.

"You don’t need a light that bright, young master. I can see in the dark—come with me!"

Before Kai could answer, Jo had already grabbed his arm and was running at full speed.

Kai was lucky that Keith had trained his body to the point where he could keep up with Jo’s incredibly fast pace. Even after they stopped, Kai was gasping for breath. He took deep breaths to catch his breath.

"Look at that, young master! We’re almost in the middle of the forest, and there are lots of magical plants here."

Kai, who hadn’t even turned on his flashlight yet, was surprised to see how bright the area was.

The magical plants were emitting light, and fireflies were flitting about.

"Don’t turn that thing on, young master. Stay close to me so your scent is masked by mine. Under normal circumstances—when not affected by the demon’s necklace—monsters won’t attack other monsters. Unless they’re hungry. At night, there are almost no hungry monsters. But we still have to be careful," whispered Jo, pulling Kai closer to him.

At that moment, Kai could sense another scent at such close range to Jo—the scent of a monster that Jo was deliberately emitting to ward off other monsters.

"I’m going to pick some magical plants, Jo... just five types."

"Only five?" Jo asked.

Kai nodded, "Yeah, five is enough—different kinds."

Jo nodded, then pointed out different magical plants until exactly five types had been gathered.

"All done, young master?" Jo asked.

Kai nodded, "Yup! But I also need three high-level monsters to hunt, Jo..."

Jo furrowed his brow, "Am I one of them?"

Kai chuckled, "Silly, why would I hunt you? You’re my friend—you’re important to me, Jo—no, I even consider you family."

Jo smiled at Kaileon’s words, because he’d briefly suspected that Kai wanted to hunt him, which was why Kai didn’t want anyone else with them.

Jo’s thoughts were unfounded, stemming from his bleak childhood and the betrayal by his own family—the very people he trusted.

Suddenly, a heavy downpour began. Jo thought quickly, even before Kai had a chance to react. He lifted Kaileon onto his back, then ran while carrying him.

Kai was momentarily confused and felt dizzy because Jo was running so very fast.

By the time Kai came to his senses, he found himself in a treehouse, wrapped in a thick blanket.

"I’m sorry, young master, you got soaked in the rain. I thought the rain was still a few minutes away, so I—"

"Wait, can you predict the weather?"

Jo looked at Kai in confusion. "Yeah... usually high-level monsters like me can do that. How about we stay here until it clears up, and then we’ll look for other high-level monsters?"

Kai nodded, then reactivated his detection magic, which had been briefly interrupted.

Kai’s eyes widened when he saw several monsters surrounding them.

"Jo, we’re surrounded."

"How do you know that, young master Kai? They’re still far away—about five hundred meters from here."