29 Dunant's Department Store

Having his soul become a Frankenstein of two perfectly fused souls, and another much weaker and smaller soul just haphazardly stitched to the previously perfect fusion was not very comfortable. Now, the imbalance in his soul caused the control over his body and facial expressions to weaken every now and then, at random.

Though Max understood that the bite-sized soul of Unity would gradually merge with his own, just like Samuel's had, at the moment, it did hinder his movements randomly. It was not consistently making him lose control over his body, but rather similar to a pulse of uncontrollable body movement or jerking motion before everything returned back to normal.

Max first took his carriage towards Mr Eckhart's home-office, and collected the two sets of contracts he had had the experienced lawyer make for him, leaving the names and some details blank for Max to fill in based on the situation and result of negotiations.

Then, he took a carriage and headed towards Dunant's Department Store. He had the two contracts in hand, based on how the current owners of the store wanted to interact with him, as a financial investor only, or a partner equal to them.

On the way, Max had indeed noticed that the fog of Backlund was indeed slowly becoming thicker and thicker, most likely due to the actions of a certain someone who wanted human slaves.

Max was also now making a conscious effort not to take or even think of the names of all-powerful beings who were above Sequence 6, just to be safe.

The single-horse carriage that could only fit two individuals soon arrived at the location he had wanted to go, and after paying the driver, Max alighted the carriage and entered the store.

"Is the owner here?" Max said with a polite smile, his face twitching halfway through before returning to normal and completing the action. He was once again wearing his double-breasted grey suit to give off the vibes of a rich person

"Hmm? How may I help you mister?" A middle-aged woman wearing considerably normal clothes under her slightly worn-out white apron came through the curtain which separated the area behind the counter from a backroom of some sort. 

This middle-aged lady had blonde hair which had been tied in a bun, and a considerable amount of dirt layered over it. Only some slits between the hair strands revealed the true blonde colour of her hair. She had a thin and frail body, with an innocent face but a fire behind her eyes.

The young lady who was handling the cashier nodded slightly to the newly arrived lady before heading away.

"Hello, Madam. I am Max Verstappen; I was looking to invest in your shop. Do you have somewhere we can go to discuss the details… somewhere more private?" Max said with his most businessman-like smile.

"Oh! Of course. Please follow me." She said, snapping out of her shock incredibly quickly and opening the counter for Max to follow her to the backroom of the store. Along the way, his steps halted, but only for an instant before returning to normal and allowing Max to follow here through.

Max followed her and passed through the curtain that separated the two locations, realising it was a simple white-cotton curtain which had been slowly blemished with dirt and other things until it reached its current greyish-brown colour.

Inside, Max found an odd scene. There were around 5 others, all young and filled with vitality for the day to come, quickly eating their breakfast. Clearly, they were either the owner's children who worked here or workers hired by her to manage the store., since Max recalled one of them being the salesman who had helped him with the items he wanted to purchase the first time he had come here.

After the owner lady shooed away all of them from the room to go and eat somewhere else, Max and the lady sat down to discuss business, with the hint of freshly baked bread still lingering in the air of the windowless room.

"So, Madam…"

"Oh my, where are my manners? My name is Victoria Dunant, you can just call me Ms Dunant."

"Ms. Dunant, before we begin anything, were those young men and women your children or were they workers you hired?"

"Oh, well they are all workers I had initially hired for the shop, but ended up adopting them since they had nowhere else to go."

"I see. But in theory, would you be able to handle expanding the business? Like more shops similar to this one, and many, many more workers? Would you be able to handle it?"

"… Perhaps. I have not actually done it yet, so I do not have a clue. But I can try!" She said, with an eager expression. Max nodded to her answer, thankful she was not someone who would try to lie to others for her own gain, no matter how short-term that may be.

"Another question. I am sorry if I come off as rude, but I would need the answers to my questions before making the decision to invest. And after everything, you also have the option to refuse the investment, with no bad blood between us. What about your husband? And what about your blood family?"

"… How is this related to investing in the store?"

"Again, I am sorry if these questions have made you uncomfortable, but your mental health is important to an investor. And a major part of this is your relationships including spouse and family."

"I- I see. Well, my husband left this world a few years ago, leaving behind nothing but this single store. As for my family, they are actually doing very well. Thanks to this store, they are all living comfortable lives right here in Backlund."

"Thank you. Another question I have, is how much of the store's earnings are being sent to this family of yours?" this was an important question, since the condition of the shop may be fine, but the clothes worn by everyone here meant that they were either not getting enough money to keep their clothes clean or buy new ones, or that they were cost cutting to an extreme. But considering the absolute luxury this so-called 'relative' of the owner of this shop he had met on the train was living, the former was very likely.

"Well, I send everything except for what is needed to purchase the items sold or new items, and to keep me and my children fed."

"… I see. How much of the Department Story do you actually own, Ms. Dunant?"

"Huh?"

"Well, on paper, how much of the business do you actually own? And does the business own this store or is it owned by someone? Also, what about supply? Where do you get your items from, and how?"

"…" Ms. Dunant stopped for a moment. She then stood up and went to a drawer, pulling out a piece of paper which had the Leon Kingdom's symbol on it, signifying it was an official document. 

"Sign here pls." She said while pointing to a blank space on the document. Max picked up the paper and began reading it, stealing glances at Ms. Dunant throughout, seeing her fidgety and increasingly anxious expression. While reading, his body also trembled for an instant, but it quickly returned to normal and allowed him to continue reading.

However, the document itself was a very simple item. It was a non-disclosure document, preventing him from telling anyone about this discussion, or someone using this discussion as proof of anything in any court or higher authority. Well, all that only worked officially on the surface, since MI9 would not mind torturing anyone and everyone to get what they wanted.

After having read through the entire paper, Max took out a fine pen which had cost him a grand total of 1 Pound, and signed the paper. Only then did Ms Dunant sigh in relief.

"Not that I do not trust you, Mr. Verstappen, but my husband told me to get anyone who asks about the ownership of anything related to us, or the business to sign this before I talk. Hmm… He did teach me a lot of things over the years we were together, most of which has allowed this shop to actually become so successful!" Ms Dunant said with a hidden joy in her expression.

"He taught well. Ms. Dunant. It appears I won't have to worry about someone swindling you of your money or worse, the business anytime soon."

"Yes, thank you. Anyways, the land is owned by me. My husband had made the company and rented it from me. As for the company, my husband and I owned half and half of it, but it was all transferred to me after his passing. As for supply, well my little children here go and explore the city every day and buy anything new that is cheap enough, or bring back information about expensive items. Then based on whether someone might want it, I purchase it and bring it here."

"I see…" Max nodded, his feeling about this business was growing more and more. But then, he told her something.

"Ms Dunant, I would like to ask why you send all the money earned to your family. What about your husband's family? And why even send all the money? Shouldn't you keep some for yourself?"

"What will I do with keeping money for myself? And the money I give it to my husband's family only. Not to my own family. They are already gone from this world." She said, a deep sadness replacing the joy that had appeared on her face only for a few brief moments.

All of a sudden, one of the young men barged into the room and said with overflowing confidence.

"Nonsense Mother! We need money! We need it for better food! We need it for better clothes! We need it for- for-"

"Toys!"

"And other things!"

One by one, the other young men and women walked in and added to each other's sentences, completing it with a triumphant stance as though they were Power Rangers posing in front of the villain for no reason as explosions occur behind them for even less reason.

Max held back his laugh at the comical sigh, turned back to Ms. Dunant and smiled, "As you can see, money is very important for survival. If not for yourself, at least for your children."