Day 51: Celebration

"There you are!" Audrey called when she saw him approach, clearly relieved.

He was early and he wondered how long she'd been waiting already.

"You said to meet at the 14th bell, right?" Lucas said.

"Yeah, I know. It's just..."

"Nervous?" Lucas replied with a half grin. "Yeah, me too."

That was an understatement. They were about to finally sign the contract for the Fearless Hog. He'd been up half the night, too anxious to fall asleep, and spent the rest of the day in a weird half-sleeping half-waking state, like on the eve of a battle.

"Well, you ready?" He asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Audrey said, indicating a four-story building made out of red bricks. "That's the place."

It looked like an ordinary upper-class residence to him, lacking the large windows that stores usually had. Then again, a notary hardly had anything to put on display anyway, so maybe he shouldn't be surprised, but there was no sign, either, nothing to indicate this wasn't a house like any other. It was like someone had tried as hard as possible to create as forgettable a building as they could.

They made their way over and Lucas knocked politely on the simple and unadorned front door. When it opened a moment later, they were met by a tall, well-dressed woman. Her lips smiled, but her eyes remained flat.

"Good afternoon. May I help you?"

"We have an appointment? Um, I'm Audrey and that's Lucas."

"Ah. I... see. Please, come in."

The pause of distaste was almost imperceptible. Lucas gritted his teeth. If his experiences with Reinhold and his other students had made him forget the arrogance of the upper classes, this woman brought it all back. He breathed out slowly. He didn't have to like her, or anyone else in the building, for that matter. It was just business. All he had to do was sign the damn contract and get out.

The woman stepped aside to let them pass by, then led them up a large central staircase. The interior of the building was a little more upscale than the outside, but it was still pretty subdued. The furniture was well-made but sober, nor were there the kind of gaudy marble statues, golden chandeliers, or exquisitely framed paintings he might've expected from an upper class notary's office. On the surface, it looked like the owner was only barely getting by, but something felt off about it. He suspected the modesty displayed here was a carefully crafted image, designed to give the impression of frugality, giving potential customers the feeling their money would not be wasted here.

They went up another staircase, and then the woman knocked on what looked to Lucas like a random door. She didn't wait for a response and swung open the door, stepping aside again as she waved them in.

As the two of them entered, Audrey in the lead, Lucas a step behind, the door closed behind them. The woman didn't follow them in. They found themselves in an office, not too big, with a Human man sitting behind a massive desk made of dark wood. It looked like it weighed a ton.

"Welcome! You must be Audrey and Lucas. My name is Odebrandt, I'm pleased to make your acquaintance." The man exclaimed, smiling at them warmly. He got to his feet and shook each of their hands in turn.

He was in his late sixties, short enough that Lucas could see the bald spot on top of his head, with gray hair on the sides, and laugh lines on his face. As aloof as the woman who greeted them had been, so warm was this kindly-looking man. Lucas instantly found himself put at ease.

"Please, sit, sit." Odebrandt said, indicating two easy chairs facing the desk. "I understand you are here to sign an ownership contract, is that correct?"

"Yeah." Lucas said.

He opened a cabinet and began shuffling through the files. His tone changed, becoming suddenly formal and exact. "First of all, let me state I am not beholden to Heor, and even if I were, the code of my profession would not allow me to misrepresent the truth or otherwise deceive you."

He emerged from the cabinet holding a slim, brown folder that could not have held more than a few sheets of paper. He placed them on the desk in front of them before taking a seat in his own leather-backed chair.

"What you are about to sign is the transfer of 60% of the property from the previous owner to the two of you, with the remaining 40% to be held by the Holm bank under mortgage. You will have ten cycles to pay off that mortgage, but I've looked over the financial report you submitted and I do not believe that will pose any problem.

"In my professional opinion, there are no hidden clauses or other loopholes that might harm your interests. If both of you wish to share ownership of this bar, you could scarcely do better than this contract. That said, you should of course read it yourselves before you sign."

"Shouldn't Heor be here to sign as well?" Lucas asked.

"He has already signed the documents separately. I don't think he will mind if I tell you he was eager to sell and retire."

He leaned back, eyeing Audrey and Lucas in turn. "Would you like some time to read the contract?"

"Uh, yes, please," Lucas replied.

"As you wish. I'll attend to some other business for... let's say a quarter of a bell?"

Audrey reached for the contract and began reading. Lucas did the same and for a time, the room was silent. There wasn't a lot of text to go through: two sheets, three sides of which were filled with the impressively neat writing of—he assumed—some lowly employee of Odebrandt. However, what little there was was dense with jargon and Lucas had a lot of trouble understanding it all. When he finally finished, he turned to Audrey, who had a distant look in her eye.

"So," he said, "any thoughts?"

"What? Oh, sorry. I guess it's finally beginning to sink in that I'm about to have my very own bar. Anyway, I don't pretend to understand all the legal language in here, but as far as I can tell, Odebrandt is right, there's no tricks or traps in here."

Lucas was even more out of his depth than Audrey was, so if she was in, that was good enough for him.