The Supermarket System

Chapter 55: 55. Choose a leader

The reason Kai accepted people who meant him harm was simply to catch them red-handed—and, if possible, to find out who was pulling the strings behind it all.

Kai didn’t tell them a specific time to come to the pavilion, but those who had no ill intentions arrived in the morning.

There were only five people without ill intentions, a number even Kai himself hadn’t expected. He had hoped to get more than that.

However, it didn’t matter.

Of those five, three were from the nobility: Fano, the son of a concubine; Kevin, the fifth son who was overlooked; and Chanelle, the daughter the family had not wanted. They all shared the same goal: to prove themselves and to escape their families.

The other two were commoners, but they had still had the opportunity to learn to read and write. You could say these two came from wealthy families.

Their names were Mini and Yona, both girls like Chanelle.

It was indeed very difficult for commoners to get a proper education. Even Keith only began learning after he was hired to work for the Duke’s family. Keith didn’t immediately get the job as the Duke’s assistant; he used to be an ordinary servant. But because the Duke saw great potential in Keith—and in the other servants as well—Keith, Nathan, and several other servants of the Duke were given an education.

The five of them didn’t immediately receive orders or training; instead, Kai invited them to cook with him. Of course, they were surprised to hear this, since cooking wasn’t their area of expertise.

Since they all came from wealthy families, they naturally had chefs in their own homes.

"We’re going to cook something very simple, and this is closely related to what we’ll be doing in the future—you could say this is our goal. You know, many people in Arslan own wheat fields, but they sell all their unprocessed wheat at very, very low prices to the nobles. The nobles themselves process it all into wheat flour and whole wheat flour, then resell it at a higher price to make bread that’s anything but cheap. They keep the methods for processing the wheat hidden from the poor; the poor also don’t know how to turn flour into bread. So they can’t make their own bread. Do you think that’s fair to the wheat farmers?" Kai asked.

They all shook their heads slowly, beginning to understand what Kaileon wanted at that moment.

Kai continued, "That’s why, let’s make something out of flour! Let’s make anything other than bread—something special called pizza and also noodles. These foods come from a country far, far away, from another continent. Are you ready?" Kai asked enthusiastically.

They all shared Kai’s enthusiasm, curious about these foods called pizza and noodles.

They made the pizza dough, waited for it to rise while preparing the noodle dough, and then began shaping the pizza dough into pans once it was ready.

Since each of them was making one pizza, Kai instructed them to add toppings according to their own tastes. Some added smoked beef, while others added mushrooms because they didn’t like meat. Kai also introduced them to cheese—there was cheddar and mozzarella. After all the cheese was grated, they sprinkled it on top, and the pizzas were ready to be baked in the oven.

"We’ll bake them at around 180–200 degrees Celsius for about 15–20 minutes. Here’s how to set up this oven... oh right, this is an electric oven, so that’s why we need this tool. This is a power outlet; it’s powered by an electric magic stone. You can get one at the Magic Tower—it’s sold for a bargain price, just one large bronze coin. As for an oven like this, you can only buy it from me. Well, while we wait, let’s make noodles using this more convenient noodle press."

Then, suddenly, Fano raised his hand.

"Yes, Fano?" asked Kai.

"Only the five of us are here—what about the other five who haven’t shown up yet?" asked Fano.

Kai laughed at that, then replied with a faint smile, "Why should we worry about people who aren’t serious about their work? Anyone who’s late deserves to be punished, and if they don’t show up, why keep them around? I only need people who are serious, competent, and punctual. I know I didn’t specify a time, but if they arrive later than noon, that means they can’t think straight and are taking things too lightly—well, let’s make some noodles!"

An hour had passed; the pizza, noodle soup, and fried noodles were all ready.

They ate together, sharing the food with maid and everyone as well. Kai also gave some to Angeline, who was studying in her room with Jenny.

They ate in front of the pavilion, where Kai had set up a special table and chairs for the day. While eating, they chatted casually and got to know each other.

That was when two of the five people with bad intentions arrived.

Kai asked them why they were late, and just as Kai had suspected, their reason was that he hadn’t specified an exact time for them to arrive.

Kai didn’t scold them; he simply gave them a punishment right away. The punishment was a light one: running around the lake in front of the pavilion for two laps.

Then the other three arrived, and Kai immediately told them to run around the lake three laps. They protested, since the others had only been given a two-lap punishment.

Because they refused to accept it, only one of them was willing to carry out the punishment, while the others simply walked away cursing Kaileon.

However, instead of being upset, Kaileon was actually pleased. Because now there were only three people left who harbored ill will toward him.

Those three were the children of nobles.

Frederick, the son of a baron; Silviana, the daughter of a count; and Vivienne, the daughter of Marquis Maustrine.

Vivienne was the daughter of Marquis Maustrine’s concubine. This concubine was a close friend of Duchess Nathalia. The Duchess was closer to her brother’s concubine than to his lawful wife. In fact, from what Kai had heard, the Duchess had forced her younger brother to take her friend as his concubine.

Because of this, the Duchess’s relationship with the Marchioness of Maustrine was very strained.

Even so, Kai would try not to bring up anything about it. Time would tell whether Vivienne had really been sent by the Duchess or not.

After the three of them finished their punishment, Kai began to explain his purpose for hiring them: to boost Arslan’s economy by turning wheat into flour. Kai also said that after wheat flour, he would start producing other types of flour, such as tapioca flour, rice flour, and cornstarch.

They started making a commotion after learning there were other types of flour as well.

They asked what tapioca flour, rice flour, and cornstarch were.

Kai smiled broadly and replied with an answer that some of them didn’t like.

"I’ll answer that later, after we’re done with the wheat flour. Oh, by the way, you’ll be one team now, and I’ll let you know your assignments later. But before that, I’m going to appoint one person to be the leader. Is there anyone among you who wants to be the leader?" asked Kaileon.

Vivienne immediately volunteered without hesitation, but after realizing that Vivienne had volunteered, Fano also volunteered.

So they had to hold a leadership election right then and there.

Kaileon was quite surprised by the result. The four who had arrived early all voted for Fano without hesitation. The rest voted for Vivienne.

The girl protested afterward, saying it wasn’t fair because she had volunteered first.

Kai replied, "Vivienne, a leader is someone who leads, and their followers must trust their leader. Therefore, whoever receives the most votes has the right to lead. If that leader turns out to be bad or unsuitable, we’ll hold another election for chairperson," said Kai.

Vivienne still couldn’t accept it.

"This is still unfair! Besides, my family is of higher rank than theirs! How could I lose to the son of a Viscount!"

Kai started laughing at Vivienne’s words, making the girl even more offended but also embarrassed, especially after hearing Kaileon’s response.

"Oh, Vivienne, there’s no social standing or anything like that here. People work according to their abilities. Even if an ordinary person without noble blood turns out to be capable of leading... then they’ll be your leader. If you don’t accept that, prove that you work well and are very useful—that way, others can see you as a good leader. Isn’t that right, everyone?"

Everyone agreed with what Kaileon had just said, so Vivienne finally sat back down and tried the smoked beef pizza that Kaileon had made.

She was surprised by the taste, even though she’d initially refused the food after learning it was made by them—not a professional chef.

After that, Vivienne stared at Kaileon in disbelief.

There were many things about Kaileon that didn’t meet her expectations.

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