The Supermarket System

Chapter 72: 72. Creepy baron

Finally, Kai set off for the empire. He took only Angeline with him, and of course, Jeny and Peoni came along as well. Jeny was there to help Angeline, while Peoni was in charge of cooking for the group whenever they stopped to rest.

Jessica herself brought one maid with her, and for some reason, Kai had a bad feeling about this particular maid.

By the way, Kai also brought his servant, Jo, along to help Nathan control their horse-drawn carriage.

The group was indeed very small. There was only one horse-drawn carriage, carrying Angeline, Jessica, Peoni, and Jessica’s maid. In addition, there were two horses carrying Kai and Jo. Jeny sat next to Nathan to keep him company as he guided the horses on his own.

Kai had already learned to control a horse—it was the one he’d received as a gift from the Duke. Out of the blue, just before Kai left, the horse had already been there; it was white and looked majestic.

No wonder Keith had previously taught Kai how to control a horse until he became proficient. Of course, it wasn’t easy, even though Kai had once learned to ride horses on Earth for his job.

The reason the group had such a small escort—even though they were traveling with two noble princesses—was to avoid drawing too much attention and being attacked by bandits.

Well, even if bandits did show up, Jo was there to wipe them all out. Jo had become incredibly strong, especially since he was now half-monster. You could say he was a werewolf—one even stronger than the werewolf race itself.

The term "wolf prince" alone was extremely rare, according to Jean—there hadn’t been one in hundreds of years. Even if there were, there might only be one or two.

It was indeed so rare that there weren’t many records about the title of "wolf prince" that Jo now held.

That was also the reason Kai ultimately invited Jo along—so he could keep an eye on him. Besides, with Jo around, the number of bodyguards could be minimized, which was a good thing for Kaileon.

Although Kaileon himself had to endure a lengthy lecture from the Duchess for letting her beloved daughter leave with so few bodyguards.

Thanks to the Duchess’s nagging, early in the morning—exactly two hours before departure—Jo had to face off against the Duke’s military commander first.

Of course, Jo won decisively.

In fact, Jo was using only a fraction of Kai’s power. This surprised Kai, leaving him bewildered because he didn’t feel like he looked that strong.

The most obvious difference was their physical appearance; Kai was soundly defeated, even though he was supposed to be much stronger than Jo.

Just how strong would Kai have to be to have a tall, muscular build with abs like Jo’s? Kai had no idea.

Even Aery said that Kai didn’t need to worry about it because it was a trivial matter.

Kai was annoyed with his intelligence assistant—how could such an important issue be called trivial?

After all, because his body and face were too "cute" Kai was always looked down upon.

That afternoon, they had to stay overnight in a village that was actually still within Arslan’s territory. The village was ruled by a baron.

Upon learning that the group was just a bunch of young nobles, the baron didn’t seem pleased.

Even so, he still accommodated them by providing an empty house that had been cleaned beforehand.

The baron was only kind to Jessica and Angeline; he didn’t even glance at Kaileon.

Kai didn’t really care about that—for him, the most important thing was a comfortable place to sleep. After all, sleeping under a solid roof was far safer than staying in even the best tent.

Even at dinner, the baron’s maid served only a small amount of food.

"Is Baron Viero having financial difficulties?" Kai asked the maid.

The maid blushed when Kai asked her, then shook her head. "No, our baron is just kind to beautiful women. Even the servants here are chosen solely for their beauty. If I didn’t need the money, I might have gone to the capital of Arslan to look for work there. Are you the princess’s bodyguard? But you look very young. By the way, my name is Ana," the maid asked.

Kai smiled; he wasn’t upset at being mistaken for the princess’s bodyguard—in fact, it gave him a great idea.

"That’s right, I’m Kai, the bodyguard for Princess Angeline and Lady Jessica. Since we weren’t given any food, we’re going to cook for ourselves. Would you like to help us cook? This is Peoni, Arslan’s head chef," said Kai.

Before she could even recover from the shock of Kai identifying himself as a bodyguard, Peoni was taken aback again when Kai referred to her as Arslan’s head chef.

"You’re surprised, sir—oh, I mean... Kai." Peoni felt terribly guilty at that moment, until Nathan suddenly walked over and casually put his arm around Kai.

"I’ll be eagerly awaiting your cooking, bodyguard Kai," said Nathan.

Kai laughed because Nathan was playing along with him.

Ana, who didn’t understand, assumed it was just because they were very close.

"I’ll help, but do you have any ingredients? I happen to have some eggplants my mom gave me—she’s a farmer who loves growing vegetables," said Ana.

Hearing the word "eggplant," Kai perked up. "Eggplant? Can I have some?" asked Kai.

Ana nodded happily, "Of course! Besides, those eggplants aren’t very tasty—I don’t know how to cook them."

"Don’t worry—those eggplants will turn into a delicious dish on your plate."

That afternoon, even though Baron Viero hadn’t provided food for everyone—only for Jessica and Angeline—Kai managed to get everyone to eat together. The meal was far more delicious than what Baron Viero had eaten.

After dinner, Ana asked Kai to meet her out back because she wanted to tell him something.

Kai complied, so he went to the back of the house to find Ana waiting for him nervously.

It was starting to get dark, so Kai brought a lightstone lamp, whose glow was somewhat dim. Still, it was enough for Kai to see his surroundings.

"Ana?" Kai called out.

The maid was sitting on a large rock, facing the view of the mountains and the night sky studded with stars.

"You’re here, Kai? I want to talk to you—am I bothering you?" Ana asked.

Kai shook his head. "No, I don’t mind. Just go ahead," he said, after sitting down next to Ana on the same rock.

Ana let out a heavy sigh, then crossed her legs, hugged them, and began to speak.

"Thank you so much for accepting the eggplant from me. Usually, the other maids here look at me strangely if I bring any vegetables my mom gives me. Especially eggplant—and I even used to think eggplant didn’t taste good. But it turns out you turned that unappetizing eggplant into a delicious dish. What seasonings did you use?" Ana asked.

Kai smiled and replied, "I just used simple seasonings like salt, sugar, finely chopped garlic and shallots, a few slices of chili for spicy, then chicken bouillon powder and sweet soy sauce. I know some of the ingredients I mentioned might sound unfamiliar to you, but I’ll try to make sure you can buy them anywhere as long as it’s still around Nagreize. But that’ll take a while."

Confused, Ana finally turned to Kai, who was still smiling sweetly.

"You mean you’re going to be a traveling merchant, Kai? You don’t want to be a noble princess’s bodyguard anymore?" Ana asked, making Kai burst out laughing.

"Well, sort of... for now, spices like that are only available in the capital of Arslan."

Ana let out a long, heavy sigh, then looked back at Lunez, which was shining brightly tonight.

"If I go to the capital, I want to be a maid at the Duke’s residence... I’m curious about those two Dukes son who are said to be handsome. Are they more handsome than you, Kai?"

Kai felt awkward; he rubbed the back of his neck while chuckling softly.

"Well... we’re on par, I’m the handsomest one there too. I’m pretty famous."

Ana laughed at that; she turned back to look at Kai, but this time from quite a close distance.

"I can see it—you’re as handsome as a prince, Kai."

"Haha, you’re flattering me too much, Ana. Oh, by the way, is life as a maid here enjoyable?" Kai asked.

Ana’s face, which had been smiling so beautifully, began to show a look of sadness.

"Uh, of course not, Kai... just like you heard earlier. My master here only likes beautiful women. I’m only able to work here for that reason, and that’s all I can do. If I refuse, he could kill me and my family. Every day, we have to serve that man, let him touch our bodies, and no one can stop him. He became a baron because he’s so powerful, right? Uh, suddenly I’m worried about those two young ladies—they’re so beautiful. What if my master decides to attack the two princess later on—well, I hope that doesn’t happen, though..."

Right after that, they heard a commotion coming from the front of the house.

"What’s that, Kai?" Ana asked, frightened.

"Stay behind me—let’s see what’s going on, okay?" Kai said.

Ana nodded and stayed close behind Kai.

In fact, Kai already knew what was happening.

It was exactly as Ana had said earlier.

Baron Viero had come looking for trouble.

"Kai! Don’t go—we should stay here. I don’t want anything to happen to you; you’re so small... if you die, I might have to stay a virgin forever."

Kai chuckled at what Ana had just said.

"You’re overreacting, Ana. Do you really think it makes sense for those two beautiful noble princesses to have a bodyguard as small as me? Do you really think I’m that weak?"

Ana just stood there dumbfounded, her mind consumed by panic.

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