The Supermarket System

Chapter 80: 80. Knightley city

"I found some tiny pearls over there, young master!" said Nathan, showing the pearls that had once been the tears of a sea siren.

The pearls were pure white, very small—about 3 to 5 millimeters in diameter. Their shapes varied; they weren’t uniform or perfectly round, but resembled water droplets.

"They’re so beautiful—they could be made into jewelry. I can make something out of them if you’d like, Nathan," replied Jeny.

It was early that morning, around five o’clock.

They had all gotten ready to leave.

Meanwhile, Peoni and Jo were making warm shrimp soup for their breakfast. Before continuing their journey—which was only two kilometers away—they had to make sure their stomachs were full enough.

"Those are the tears of a sea siren. I think she came last night, but she couldn’t penetrate my protective barrier," said Kai, who was sipping a warm latte because it was quite cold that morning.

Hearing that they were the tears of a sea siren, they were all abuzz with excitement.

"No way! I’m holding the most valuable item—one that’s incredibly hard to come by, even for the greatest adventurers in this country!" said Nathan, holding a sea siren’s tear pearl high in the air.

Kai just smiled, recalling his conversation with the sea siren the night before.

Those tears were certainly worthless to the sea sirens. To them, they were just tears.

However, other creatures sold them for a high price simply because they were hard to come by.

Well, even humans on Earth consider pearls from oysters valuable, depending on where they’re sourced and how large they are.

"Why don’t you try selling it, Nathan? Who knows, you might become rich," Jessica chimed in.

Nathan laughed at that, but then he suddenly fell silent. After a moment, he said, "I don’t know—I feel like I don’t deserve this pearl. I’ll just give it to young Master Kaileon."

Kai chuckled, feeling quite surprised, since he’d deliberately left those pearls behind the night before.

"Here’s what we’ll do: let’s turn those pearls into a beautiful necklace or bracelet, then sell it to someone for a high price. I’ll split the proceeds among all of us," said Kai.

They all agreed.

That morning, a hearty breakfast of savory shrimp soup—with tender, warm shrimp—left them feeling energized to continue their journey.

Since the roads were now in good condition and smooth, Kai took his bike out of storage and tried riding it all the way to their destination.

Inside the carriage, Jessica and Angeline were trying to contain their frustration because Kaileon still wouldn’t let them try the bike. Kaileon’s reason was that the bike was still in the testing phase. In reality, the real reason was simply that it was very difficult to teach someone. Even Keith had only managed to learn after a few days of practice.

Kai would teach them if he had plenty of free time.

Cycling was certainly faster than a horse walking cautiously. As a result, Kai was already far ahead, making it difficult for Jo to keep an eye on him. Fortunately, as a half-monster, Jo had sharper vision than ordinary humans.

Kai smiled as the cool breeze swept across his face and through his hair. For a moment, he felt so free, riding his bike like that in another world.

It was as if he were biking through the village he used to live in on Earth. Though the atmosphere was clearly very different.

In Ardhez, everything felt full of wonder; even the wind seemed to glow—no, wait.

Kai squeezed his bike’s brakes to stop, wanting to make sure what he was seeing was real.

His eyes widened as he saw two little fairies in white dresses with dragonfly-like wings giggling, as if laughing at Kai’s funny expression of surprise.

"You guys..."

Before Kai could finish speaking, the two fairies flew away again, leaving a trail of sparkling dust in their wake. That was the light Kai had seen earlier, which he’d mistaken for the wind.

"What just happened?" Kai muttered, confused.

[Aery will answer you, master!]

[Since you possess the fairy king’s ring, it seems that allows you to see spirit fairies with the naked eye]

[Those fairies will also naturally take a liking to you, the owner of the fairy king’s ring]

[I hope my explanation is helpful to you, and you don’t need to worry about it, because they won’t be able to harm you, even if they don’t have a contract with you]

Kai nodded in understanding. It turned out that the two fairies were indeed naturally drawn to him, and besides, Kai could see spirit fairies, which generally cannot be seen by other creatures—except under certain conditions.

When fairies are in their small forms with their tiny wings, they usually remain invisible to other beings, unless they choose to reveal themselves.

But when they transform into solid forms, anyone can see them.

"What’s wrong, young master?" shouted Jo, who was riding behind Kai.

Kai turned around and shook his head slowly. "No, I just feel like I’m too far behind you guys. From here on, I’ll ride with you—we’re almost at the city."

Kai put his bike away before any strangers could see it.

Kai climbed onto the back of Jo’s horse, and the journey continued.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kai could still see the spirit fairies.

It was no surprise, because from where Kai was, using his detection magic, he could sense many magical creatures he had never encountered before in Arslan.

They finally arrived in the city of Knightley, which was ruled by wealthy merchants and served as a gathering place for traders from other cities.

This city was largely free of the nobility; however, for the wealthy merchants to open shops there, they had to pay a substantial tax to the Knightley family.

Still, the high tax wasn’t a problem for them, as Knightley was well-known as a shopping and tourist hub.

The city itself was built around a large river, with a small lake and mountains not far away.

Since the city was built on a mountain, many of the surrounding streets were uphill. The Knightley Castle itself was also perched on a mountain, standing out prominently as soon as they arrived at the gate.

Before heading to the castle, Kai first took a look around the market and shops in the city center.

It turned out that small merchants were also there. In fact, it was very easy for ordinary people to open a shop, as long as they had money.

The wealthy merchants there usually sourced their goods from other cities or villages. They would then store them and resell them in Knightley at prices that didn’t differ much.

This ensures that shoppers aren’t burdened with high prices, which is truly ideal for customers.

To maximize their profits, merchants cut costs in other areas.

The primary target, of course, is labor.

That’s why this city has so many slaves. There are even merchants who sell slaves at varying prices.

Usually, these slaves are obtained from abandoned children, parents who sell their children because they cannot afford to raise them, and so on.

It is not uncommon for parents to deliberately have children so they can be sold into slavery and earn a lot of money.

This creates yet another problem, as there are many depraved individuals who deliberately buy young child slaves.

Even though the slave trade is strictly regulated by the kingdom, these depraved individuals still find various ways to obtain the slaves they desire.

Unfortunately, slavery is quite common in Nagreize—it’s legal, though not every city trades in slaves as openly as Knightley does.

Even in a city like Arslan, where owning slaves is uncommon, there are still nobles who own slaves from Knightley.

"Young master over there, aren’t you interested in acquiring our best slaves?" a slave trader, noticing Kaileon walking casually with Jo and Ricky, offered slaves to Kaileon.

Hearing this, Kai smiled and stopped walking.

"Slaves?" Kai asked to confirm.

As a former human from Earth, Kai found the situation strange at that moment. Slavery existed on Earth too, but that was in ancient times, long before Kai was born in the modern era.

"That’s right. I’m a slave trader who deals in high-quality slaves, because I take good care of all of them. Seeing that unique ring on your finger, I’d like to offer you one of the slaves I have."

Of course, Kai was shocked to hear this.

How could this slave trader know about the fairy king’s ring Kai was wearing on his finger?

Sensing that something was strange and out of the ordinary, Kai agreed to the man’s request to come inside and look around.

He knew this man was no ordinary person.

When he entered the shop—which looked very secluded from the outside—Kai was taken aback.

The interior of the shop was very nice—it looked comfortable and cool. It was just like any ordinary shop, not at all like a shop that sold slaves.

"Come with me downstairs—what I have to offer is down there," said the man.

Ricky, who had only just discovered the outside world, said nothing and simply followed Kai, as he was also very curious. But Jo felt something was very strange, so he tugged at Kai’s arm.

"Young master..." Jo whispered, worried.

Kai just smiled, as if to say that everything was fine.

In reality, Kai himself didn’t know anything either.

After descending the stairs to the basement, they were once again taken aback by the sight of the place.

There was nothing scary there—just a cozy, warm place, full of bright colors, flowers, and beautiful little girls. Oh no, there were little boys there, too.

Basically, they were all just little kids.

"Wait a minute, what is this?" Kai asked, confused.

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