The Supermarket System

Chapter 68: 68. Healing potion

"Come in."

Kai entered Jessica’s room after she invited him in. At that moment, Jessica was relaxing; she clearly couldn’t sleep that night. So she was reading a novel she’d gotten from Kaileon.

Kai himself had brought novels from Earth to the library in the pavilion; he’d chosen fantasy novels that seemed to fit the setting of Ardhez. But it turned out that one large bookshelf was already filled with those novels. Angeline, Laura, Jessica, and even the maids who could read kept coming to borrow them. Even men like Keith, Nathan, Jean, and Jo... they’d all started to enjoy reading novels.

Of course, the novels that appealed to women and men were different, but almost every genre was represented on that one full bookshelf. Kai even planned to add another shelf for fantasy novels more suitable for children.

"Are you still reading that novel, Jess?" Kai asked, sitting in a chair facing Jessica, who was sitting by the large window in her room. From that window, the beautiful night sky was clearly visible, with the light of Lunez and stars scattered beautifully across it.

"This novel is a trilogy; I’m just on the second book and the story is getting more interesting. It’s about a maid who’s actually the daughter of a count; she works at the residence of the cruel and cold Northern Duke—oh, you wouldn’t understand this; I’ll just talk about the novel with Angeline." Jessica marked her place, closed the novel, and turned her attention to Kaileon.

"I want to talk about what happened earlier," Kai said.

Jessica snorted. "I knew you’d bring that up, Kai... and don’t worry, I’ll help you. I love mysteries like this. Besides, you’re going to help me open a shop in the capital of the Whiteblood Empire, aren’t you? "So, do you have any idea what I should do?" Jessica asked. Contrary to Kai’s expectations, his older sister seemed very enthusiastic.

Jessica had changed so much from the Jessica Kaileon remembered before. He didn’t know what had caused the Jessica who used to be so snarky, cold, and hate being bothered... to suddenly become more mature, calm, and always smiling.

Kai got goosebumps thinking about how different Jessica was back then compared to now. But this was a good change.

"I just want to know what your mother’s connection is to that demon prince... do you know anything about him—like, why your mother is close to him? Try to get close to your mother, Jess; pretend you want to help her. If you succeed—"

"Give me more novels like this, especially to pass the time on our boring journey to the empire." Jessica cut Kai off, but Kai responded with a thumbs-up, meaning he agreed one hundred percent.

"That’s easy, Jess... I have plenty of romantic fantasy novels like that. Is there anything else you want?" Kai asked.

Jessica seemed to think for a moment, "Hmm, what, I wonder... I don’t know. Later, if there’s anything I want, I’ll tell you right away."

Kai nodded, "Okay, in that case, I’ll head back to the pavilion first. I’ll get my work ready for tomorrow."

"Ugh, you work way too much, Kaileon! You can’t even become father... isn’t all this work a waste? Or, are you actually trying to take the title of Duke away from Justine?"

Kai laughed at that, which annoyed Jessica. She thought he was laughing because her suspicion was correct, but she was actually taken aback by Kaileon’s response after.

"Jess, I’m not doing this for anyone. Besides, Justine is my younger brother—why would I hold a grudge against him? And no, I’m doing all this for the common people of Arslan. I’d be happy if their lives improved, and at the same time, I want to make a lot of money to ensure my own financial security in my old age. A title like that isn’t right for me—in fact, I actually want to leave this place. But if I leave, who will help my father and my younger brother? Who will help the poor, starving people here? I don’t expect you to help me, but I hope you understand what I’m trying to do here and support me. My father fully supports me, and so does Justine... it’s just that Justine has to prepare to become the Duke someday; he has a lot to learn," said Kai.

Jessica fell silent upon hearing Kaileon’s words; she let him leave her room afterward.

The door closed behind him, and Kaileon had walked away.

Jessica let out a long, heavy sigh, then looked up at the beautiful night sky.

"Kaileon is too kind... I don’t get it. Why isn’t he greedy with all the talents he has? If it were anyone else, they’d already be the king of a country, right?" Jessica muttered, then she chuckled, feeling silly about Kaileon’s kindness, which made no sense to her.

Because in that world, it was unusual for someone to have a heart that pure.

"Thank goodness you didn’t end up dying, Kaileon, so my sacrifice to get that super-expensive healing potion was worth it," Jessica muttered again.

It was true; Kaileon had been on the verge of death earlier. The Duchess had been overjoyed at the time, thinking her fears would finally come to an end. However, Jessica and Justine didn’t see it that way.

Jessica even had to dig deep into her pockets to buy the healing potion at the magic tower. Although Kaileon didn’t know about Jessica’s sacrifice—after all, it was Justine who had given him the potion. All this time, Jessica had only been pretending to be mean to Kaileon, pretending not to care, because she thought that way the Duchess wouldn’t torment him anymore. But she was wrong—Kaileon was actually on the verge of death.

Still, Jessica was happy, because now Kaileon was doing better—much better than before.

"Thank you for still being alive, little brother... forgive your useless older sister. Even now, you’re willing to fight alone so that no one goes hungry in Arslan. Oh, why are you so kind, Kaileon?" murmured Jessica, who had unconsciously shed a tear.

In her mind, she still clearly remembered how much Kaileon had suffered in the past.

***

"Oh, purified dragon blood and dragon tears? That’s right, they can indeed be used that way—do you want some too? I can trade that for a hundred packs of balado cassava chips," said Nagisha.

Kai slapped his forehead, not expecting this dragon to be so casual about the ancient artifact belonging to the Queen of the Kingdom of Valora—the very one the Duchess was after.

"You can’t talk like that when dragon blood and dragon tears are so valuable they’re considered artifacts here!" protested Kai, as he continued cooking something special this morning—something he would share with the children at the orphanage. Peoni and Jo were helping him cook. More specifically, they were making peach cake rolls, cinnamon cake rolls, chocolate cake rolls, and Shine Muscat grape cake rolls.

"Hahaha, well, I’m a dragon, so to me that’s ridiculous. Imagine if your blood and tears were hunted down for human greed..." said Nagisha.

Hearing that, Jo stopped what he was doing. He understood what Nagisha meant.

"In the past, we were hunted to be eaten," said Jo.

"I get that—we dragons are hunted for that reason, too. Some say that dragon meat can make anyone who eats it immortal and grant them great power..." said Nagisha.

Kai now understood how Nagisha and Jo felt. But at the same time, he was also very curious.

"Is that true?" asked Kai.

Casually, Nagisha nodded, "It’s true! But dragons are enormous. Humans couldn’t possibly eat the whole thing, and they don’t have anything like a freezer here. And even if they did, it would be very expensive, wouldn’t it? Meanwhile, if the dragon’s meat rots—whether it’s eaten or not—it will still have a harmful effect on the surrounding environment. It causes strange diseases and plagues to spread. The plague causes humans or other creatures nearby to turn very pale, almost gray; they become so weak, their energy is completely drained until their bodies are nothing but skin and bones. Curing them requires healing potions of at least intermediate to advanced potency. Those are expensive, aren’t they? Oh, I heard there’s an outbreak in the kingdom on the nearby islands as well. Someone deliberately brought that rotten dragon meat there, and they didn’t realize it because the smell was masked. I feel so sorry for them, but what can they do—healing potions are incredibly expensive. Especially those wizards with healing powers—they’re incredibly stingy and charge exorbitant fees. Not to mention the healing wizard in the Kingdom of Nagreize—he’s extremely arrogant, haughty, and stingy. I’m sure he’ll demand dragon blood or dragon tears as payment."

Kai’s jaw dropped upon hearing this; he stared at Nagisha with an expression somewhere between delight and confusion.

Meanwhile, Nagisha raised her glass, but before taking a sip, she winked at Kaileon.

Kai knew that Nagisha had said that to help him.

"We’re all set, young master. Let me decorate them—the children will surely be delighted," said Peoni.

Kai allowed Peoni to decorate the rolled cakes so the children would enjoy them even more.

"Young master, Prince Alex has come to see you," said one of the pavilion maids.

Kai nodded, "I’ll go see him right away. Please have him sit by the lake; I’ll prepare breakfast for him while I’m at it."

The maid was surprised to hear this and immediately came to help.

"No, let me do it, young master. You don’t need to."

Kai shook his head. "It’s okay. Just make some hot tea—you’re the best at making tea."

The maid blushed at his words. He always knew and remembered everyone’s talents, which made everyone happy to hear it.

"I’ll go make the tea."

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