August 15th, 1348 of the Fifth Epoch
The very first thing Max did when he got ready after waking up was quickly heading to Mr Eckhart's residency, which looked eerily similar to Detective Isengard's home, both doubling as their workspaces.
After discussing with the aged lawyer, Max brought along the cross-dressing Brenda with him, under the strong recommendation of the aged lawyer that she was just as good as any lawyer he would get his hands on for this deal. Of course, he would naturally have to pay a good amount of fees for her services, but it was not too much.
Immediately after getting Brenda on board, Max took a carriage with her in tow, directly to the Dunant's Department Store in the West Borough. Here, Brenda and himself had a small breakfast since neither of the two had had anything to eat this early in the morning.
Then, they waited. Branda waited in the waiting room of the store, which was equivalent to the VIP meeting rooms of the other stores that were in less 'affluent' areas. Meanwhile, Max decided to go around and ensure that the shop was working properly. He had not spent too much time inspecting each of his shops since he was busy trying to get invited to the various parties of nobility without coming under the radar of the various Beyonder organisations who had their interests lying with the nobility of Backlund.
…
After a few hours, someone finally came to the shop who did not belong. It was the duo of an incredibly well-dressed aged butler and a sharp-looking middle-aged man who was holding a briefcase. Almost immediately Max had the feeling that this person was a lawyer, and he was not wrong.
"Excuse me. Have the two of you gentlemen been sent by someone?" Max asked, pushing aside the young girl who was initially heading over to take them to one of the rooms like all the other customers.
"Ah, you must be Mister Verstappen. We have been sent by Mrs. Hall to meet with you."
"I see. Please follow me." Max said as he took the two of them to one of the rooms, where Brenda was seated, getting increasingly bored.
As soon as Max entered, he was stumped to find Brenda performing what he could only assume were Yoga poses on the ground, something incredibly 'unladylike' as they say in this era. Though there were countless women in the novel who utterly destroyed this notion, including a certain goddess. Still, considering that the two men who just entered only saw a young man stretching on the ground, they just stood still for a moment before quickly recovering themselves.
Max had them sit opposite to himself and Brenda, whose face was now almost as red as a tomato.
"Alright. Gentlemen, before we begin, I would like to ask if you are able to sign any deals on behalf of Mrs. Hall?"
It was the bearded butler who spoke first, clearing his throat before doing so.
"No. Actually, we have been instructed by Lady Hall to sign the deal on behalf of the Young Lady Hall."
"Ms. Audrey Hall?" Max asked tentatively, as many things gradually fell into place. Such a shop, was one of the riskier businesses since it might be shut down at any moment. However, compared to low-interest rates from banks or appreciation from land, the Dunant's Department Store was the perfect 'risky diversification' for a portfolio that has been stuffed to the brim with low-risk and low-growth rate investments like the ones that were likely to have been invested in for Audrey's 'future' by her parents.
Of course, Mrs. Hall would not need to invest in Max's business that desperately to the point she had come to personally visit him at the party. Instead, she had come over to secure a potentially rapidly growing business investment for her daughter's future. Most likely, the investments she had already thrown money in were too low risk and thus grew in value too slowly to actually be of much use in the future.
Thus, the current meeting was occurring.
The butler nodded, and Max smiled.
"Alright then. I will not beat around the bush. I would like to ask a few questions and hope for answers. Till then, Mr. Lawyer, I have prepared three sets of contracts for the three different objectives of Ms. Hall. The first one is in case she wishes to purchase all my shares and remove me from the business, taking 51% of it for herself. I have not allowed any of the original owner; Ms. Dunant's shares to be sold since I hope that she remains as an owner of the business to be sufficiently motivated to operate most of it."
"Might I add, she is incredible at recruiting and training people?"
"The second is in case Ms. Hall wants to just invest money in the form of a loan at a 10% interest rate, higher than the current bank rates by quite a bit I might add. The value is up for discussion."
"The last contract is a split. We split the company. I have already spoken to Ms. Dunant, and she would not mind reducing her stake as long as mine is also reduced, but still allowing us to maintain the majority if we both were of the same mind. As such, It will include Ms. Hall holding 35%, Ms. Dunant holding 30%, and myself holding 35%. The amount for this transaction would need to be discussed, though I have also left the percentages in this account blank. My lawyer here will be up for any discussions regarding clauses of contracts you may have." Max said as he gestured for Brenda and the middle-aged lawyer to head to the side-seating arrangement to discuss the contracts, while he began to ask questions to the old butler, who seemed slightly impressed at the professionalism.
"Well, as I had said earlier, I do have some questions. That will also rule out some of the contracts. Does Ms. Hall wish to remove me from the company? I do not mind, since I had come here specifically as an investment, so it would be beneficial for me as well." Max said, with a nonchalant smile. However, he did not want this outcome since the Dunant's Department store was one of the few rather innovative ideas.
"Well, if Mr Verstappen wishes to leave the company, there is nothing the Young Lady can do…"
"Alright. Mr. Butler, I have been straightforward with you, and I hope to receive the same outcome. After all, we do not want to keep Mrs. Hall waiting now, do we? Does she want me out?"
"… No." the butler was only momentarily stumped at my sudden shift of tone and mood but recovered just as quickly.
"Good. So, the first contract is useless." Max said slightly louder so the due of lawyers could hear and let go of discussions regarding the first contract.
"And what about a plain financial investment?"
"No"
"So no to the second contract as well." He said, again raising his voice slightly, inwardly also rejoicing at the outcome. Now came the final discussion, but he would rather not waste a lot of time discussing over 1% of the stake with an old butler. He had a rough approximation of their lowest acceptable limit for a given value, so he directly went to it and told that it was Ms. Dunant's last value and nothing more could be accepted.
The butler was once again at a loss for words, as Max had come incredibly close to the lowest amount of stake Lady Hall had given to him to take on before breaking the deal for anything smaller, and also considerably close to the highest amount of investment for that particular amount of capital.
But ultimately he nodded, and Max finally smiled. He agreed, he was not the smartest out there, nor the strongest in terms of physical or Beyonder powers. However, one thing he did know was how to adapt to situations, especially in business, and make things flow in the direction he wanted. In a sense, he had a natural flair for business, despite not actually being too smart or quick at it.
Anyways, Max ended up diluting his own stake and Ms. Dunant's stake in the Dunant's Department Store, resulting in her having only 27%, while he had only 33%. Meanwhile, Ms. Audrey Hall would end up with 40% of the company, all while investing 3000 pounds directly into the company.
However, one condition within the contract was that Mrs. Hall would help them find a CEO for the company. Ms. Dunant also knew her lacking ability to handle a growing multi-location company like this one and knew she would need someone to help her. Max had already talked with her about a possible investor and asked them to help bring in someone to handle the overall working of the company, as well as someone who could handle the finances of the company such that they would have to pay the least taxes to the government, without getting into trouble.
As such, many of his problems would be solved, other than the fact that he would have to wait for a considerable amount of time before being able to invest such a large sum all at once again. For now, Max's bank account only held around 1000 pounds, including the amounts he had spent since he arrived at Backlund and the amount he earned from the Dunant's Department Store earnings.
'Well, I still should try and find something to invest at least 500 pounds into, keeping 10 to 20 pounds in cash for safety, and throwing the rest into a savings account.' Max thought as he smiled at the two cards left behind by the departing butler. It was the private contact information of Mrs. Hall, as well as an invitation to an upcoming party in a few days.