The Supermarket System

As the owner of the fairy king’s ring, Kai knew that there were many very unique spirit fairies. Some of them were spirit fairies who could make dresses, shoes, and bags. These kinds of fairies were indeed very rare to find, but Kai could find them easily just by summoning them.

Spirit fairies are mostly creatures that can easily traverse various worlds; they are special beings. They are also creatures that are very easily curious about things. Take the garden spirit fairies, for example, who claimed to have observed how gardeners on Earth work and learned a great deal from them. Likewise, these fashion spirits also learn about fashion from Earth, from Ardhez, and from other worlds as well.

Making a dress like the one Jessica wanted was very easy, but getting Jessica to understand how to make clothes—that couldn’t be called easy.

"I can make a contract with you, then teach your older sister how to make dresses; I can also share all the information about fashion with her. But is she truly reliable? I mean... I want to know how worthy she is of receiving this information, and how loyal she is to you. If she has bad intentions toward you and only wants to take advantage of you, then I won’t be able to do it," said the fashion fairy, whom Kai happened to be able to summon easily that afternoon.

Kai and his group remained under the large apple tree and didn’t set off again until the next day.

Kai used that opportunity to seek out the fashion fairy and ask for her opinion on the idea he had.

The fairy who arrived was a beautiful dark-skinned fairy with enchanting, wavy golden hair. She looked fashionable in a stunning dress shaped like a rose petal.

"So, you want to see first if Jessica meets your criteria? All right, you can keep an eye on her and observe her. Once you arrive at the empire, then you can decide. I don’t want to force you either. Besides, I could just give her a sewing machine and tell her to learn on her own. But I see sincerity in Jessica... I don’t know, I don’t really understand why I care so much about her," Kai replied.

The fairy chuckled at that, then flew closer until she was right next to Kai’s face.

"All right, I’ll start keeping a quiet eye on her and see if she’s good enough. I could easily make her a fashion goddess in this world, you know?"

Kai chuckled too and nodded, "All right, go ahead and keep an eye on Jessica... if you want anything—like food or whatever—you can come find me."

The fairy nodded, then kissed Kaileon’s cheek with her tiny lips, and flew away.

Kai couldn’t stop smiling after the fairy left. He was overjoyed just to have found such a rare fairy.

The fact that the fairy was willing to consider Kaileon’s wishes also made Kai very happy. In any case, even if the fairy didn’t want to cooperate, everything would be fine.

"Young master, what are you doing up there?" Jo had suddenly jumped onto a tree branch and was sitting next to Kai.

Indeed, at that moment Kai was climbing an apple tree, sitting on a large, sturdy branch, and enjoying the view below.

"Jo, I’m just enjoying the view from up here."

"Actually, you could enjoy an even better view from the top of the hill, young master... Ricky and the others are relaxing there, waiting for the sunset. Ricky’s going to paint there, too."

Kai shook his head. "It’s okay, I still want to stay here, Jo. You can keep me company if you want."

"In that case, I’ll stay here, young master."

After that, neither of them spoke. They just sat in silence, gazing at the view before them.

Until suddenly a thought crossed Kai’s mind, so he asked.

"Jo, how did you end up with Jean? I mean, what about your parents? What happened to them?" Kai asked, turning to Jo, who suddenly gave a faint smile upon hearing his young master’s question.

Jo replied, "That’s a good question, young master. To be honest, I don’t remember much either. Ever since I was a child, I’ve been with Jean. I saw that other wolf cubs were also entrusted to Jean, so I wasn’t the only one—that’s why I didn’t think much of it. But as I grew older, I realized that I didn’t have a family like the others. Whenever I asked Jean about it, he would always change the subject. The other adult wolves didn’t seem to know much about me either, young master. But when I was about to set out on this journey with you, he finally admitted that he found me deep in the forest while he was hunting and had gotten lost. He said that when he found me, I was unconscious and alone, and my clothes were partially burned—oh, Jean also said that when he found me, I was in my human form. So, at first, he thought I was a human child. But that’s all Jean knew. He’d also tried to find my parents, but to no avail. That’s why he raised me. And the reason he hesitated to tell me my origins was simply because he didn’t want me to be disappointed. But I’m grateful he told me once I was an adult, because if he’d told me earlier, I might have felt very sad and disappointed."

Jo turned to Kai after he finished his story. At that moment, Kai realized that the color of Jo’s eyes had turned golden. However, the golden hue disappeared after he blinked, and his eyes returned to black.

"Do you know why the color of your eyes changes, Jo? Just now your eyes were golden, and now they’re black again," Kai asked.

Jo chuckled at that. "It’s not really important, but as far as I know, the change in eye color is just due to emotional shifts. Don’t worry about it too much, young master. Oh—look, the sun is setting!"

Kai looked ahead again, his eyes widening at the beautiful scenery before him.

For a few moments, they just sat in silence, gazing at the view. Without realizing it, the sky began to darken.

Jo invited Kai to come down, and they began their evening with grilled chicken and chicken skewers.

That night, Kai went to bed early because he felt his body needed plenty of rest.

***

Kai woke up from his sleep, but he wasn’t inside the tent with Jo. As far as he could remember, he was supposed to be with Jo in their tent.

But where was he?

"Hi!"

Kai immediately turned toward the source of the voice; he saw a young man sitting next to his bed, watching him with his dark eyes.

From his appearance, this young man looked exactly like the demon prince who was supposed to be stalking him.

"Am I being kidnapped by a demon?" Kai asked.

The young man burst out laughing at Kai’s words, then shook his head.

"No, but do you know anything about illusions? I have a kind of illusion magic... actually, I’m entering your dream world right now. Oh, right—you don’t know who I am, do you?"

Kai fell silent, observing the young man with two black horns emerging from his jet-black hair. This young man had pale white skin and red lips. His body looked thin, but his arms were quite muscular.

Who knows—the young man might be the same age as Kai, or younger, like Justine.

"You’re not the demon prince connected to Duchess Arslan, are you?"

The young demon burst out laughing again at Kaileon’s words, then shook his head.

"Of course not, but he is my father... that demon prince is my father. Even so, I’m not a prince, because my mother was a fairy—she’s already dead, just like your mother. And yes, you’re right that my father has a connection to your stepmother. Though I don’t know the reason either."

Kai furrowed his brow at the little demon’s words.

"Your father looks very young..."

The little demon laughed at that, then quickly replied, "That’s because demons age very slowly. Actually, my father is the same age as yours, Kaileon—oh right, you don’t know my name yet, do you? My name is Keano, and I’m still only twelve years old."

Kaileon felt annoyed to hear that the little demon was still only twelve years old, since the little demon was clearly just as tall as he was.

"So, what’s the point of you coming into my dream? Let me sleep in peace!"

"Hey, calm down... I’m just curious—how did you get that fairy king’s ring? And, as fellow descendants of the fairies, I want to be friends with you!"

Kai wrinkled his nose, clearly very annoyed by Keano’s words.

"You seem reluctant to grant my request, Kaileon."

Kai snorted, "Of course I’m reluctant—why should I be friends with the son of someone who’s always spying me for no reason and wants me dead?"

Keano’s smile widened even more upon hearing Kaileon’s words.

"Do you want to know why my father did all that? I’ll tell you—as long as you give me ten—no, twenty bars of chocolate! I love chocolate!"

"How am I supposed to give you chocolate if we’re just in a dream?"

Keano burst out laughing, then replied, "That’s the amazing thing about my power! I can transfer those chocolate bars to where I am even through a dream... Never mind, just give me twenty chocolate bars, and I’ll give you the information."

Out of curiosity, Kai bought twenty bars of chocolate from the supermarket, then gave them to Keano.

At that moment, Kai was surprised because he could feel Keano’s hand directly. Kai tried to reach out and touch the little devil’s face, then pinched him.

"Ouch!"

"Are you sure this is a dream? How come I can touch you?"

Keano brushed Kai’s hand away from his cheek and said, "My father did all that purely to please that Duchess! Also, my father did all that because he held a grudge against your father... My father initially approached that woman to take revenge on your father, but he ended up falling in love with her instead... That’s all I know. Now wake up, Kaileon!"

This time, Kai truly woke up from his sleep; he sat up inside the tent, with Jo’s worried face right in front of him.

"Young master, are you all right?"