"But I am not ready to rent out the store. This is the only asset that I possess." The old man stated. Although he believed what they had said, he was not willing to give away the business that he had been running for several years now.
"Don't be too fast to make a decision. Why don't you listen to our proposition first?" Denali stated when she realized that the old man did not seem to have any intention of renting the shop.
Currently, they had already gone to several shops, but, they had not found any that was qualified. It was not just a qualification in terms of the money that they were willing to spend, but, also the location of the store.
Denali wanted to get a store that was at a location that was good for business. So, that was why she had targeted this store. She was not willing to give up just after arriving. Additionally, this was a task that have been given to them, and she wanted to complete it.
The old man wanted to refuse, but looking at the sincere expression that was on Denali's face, he could not help but give in for a moment.
"Okay. You can follow me in so that we can discuss this. But still, you have to know that I have not yet changed my mind about this matter." The old man stated with a sigh as he led the way into the store.
Martin on the other hand looked at the two ladies entering the store, obviously not happy about it. He had actually been intending to test them away since they were not customers, but, since his father had already made the decision to invite them in, then, there was nothing but he could do.
Martin was having the intention to follow the old man and the two ladies to where they were going to discuss the matter, but the old man glared at him.
"Where are you going? If you follow me, who is going to sell the products here if a customer comes?" The old man asked with creased brows.
Martin was of course aware of that. But, he was not willing to let his father be together with this group of strangers. What if they wanted to do something bad to his father? They might even kill him while he was not there.
If the old man had already known what Martin was thinking about, he shook his head and said, "What are you going to do even if they want to kill me? It is not as if you are any stronger than I am. So, there's nothing that you can do if they have any ill intentions."
Immediately after saying that, the old man led the way to the back of the shop, leaving behind Martin who had his teeth gritted, and his fists clenched.
He knew that what his father had said was true. Currently, he was not capable of joining any organization in the Stronghold because they said that he had a low potential for development.
That was something that frustrated him the most. It was just not, no matter how angry he was, there was nothing that he could do about it. He had been previously dreaming about joining an organization, before being able to change his father's life.
But in the end, he only ended up as a burden to his father. He could not join any organization, so, he had to depend on his father to be able to train to reach the level that he was currently in. He was a two-star ordinary human.
Although it might be true that there were many two-start ordinary humans present inside several organizations inside the stronghold, but, all of them had potential of going further.
He on the other hand could not grow any stronger than he currently was. So, it was going to be considered a waste of resources if these organizations decided to take care of him, trying to train him to grow stronger.
…
After they reached the back of the shop, Denali and Samantha realized that it was actually a room. There was a curtain that divided the place, with one side being the bedroom, and another one being the living room and kitchen.
Denali and Samantha found that this was a strange. After all, according to how things looked, even if the income from the store was low, the old man and his son were supposed to be living a life that was way better than they were currently living.
But surprisingly, they were living inside of the same shop. Inside this small room, they had all the necessities that were required for them to be able to live.
The old man had already guessed what Denali and Samantha were thinking when they were looking around. But, he did not say anything to explain the reason why things were as they were currently.
There was a single couch inside this room, and it could only accommodate two people. Other than that, there was also a stool that was usually used as the table.
"Please have a seat." The old man stated as he pointed towards the couch. The couch was currently worn out, with some areas already patched, while others had the covers of the couch torn.
Samantha and Denali were not polite at all. They went ahead and sat on the couch, while the old man took the stool, and sat on it. Then, he waited for Denali and Samantha to speak out the proposition that they had.
"Just like we told you before, we want to take this store. We are going to rent it, and for the period of time that we are going to take it, we have not yet determined it. But still, it is going to be at least a month." Denali stated.
The old man did not respond, and waited for Denali to continue.
"We are going to give you a good offer. According to the market right now, this store of yours should be performing quite well. The location is good and so on. But, the market value of renting this store with everything inside them should be about 150,000 star coins." Denali continued.
The old man did not retort to what Denali had said. After all, even he himself knew that the current market value of the store that he was owning was at 130,000 star coins. So, by Denali offering 150,000 star coins, it was obvious that she was offering 20,000 more.
But still, the old man was not convinced. It was not like he wanted to give away the store. He was having his own reasons, the ones that he was not going to reveal.
"Currently, they offer that we can give you is at 160,000 star coins. That should be more than 10,000 star coins higher than the market price." Denali continued.
Of course, the high price was not for the store, rather, it was for the items inside the store. According to Samantha, after she had looked inside here, the items inside were not valued that high.
Still, Denali was able to make some estimations about the value of the products. It was just that, she had estimated the price higher, then the value of the items that was present. Even the old man knew about that, but still, he did not say anything.
If the situation was normal, then, he would have already latched onto this chance. But, he did not actually have any other choice. Currently, he could not allow any other person to continue running this store, no matter what.
"What do you think of our proposition? The price is enough for a single month, right?" Denali asked.
The old man sighed. Of course, he was tempted by the offer, but with something preventing him, there was no any other choice than to forget about the offer that had been given to him.
"I'm sorry. But I cannot change my mind at all. I have already told you that I don't have any intention of renting out this store of mine. So, it is not a matter of the price, but, it is my own decision not to rent out this store." The old man shook his head and said, regret in his voice, although not easily detectable.
It was a pity that the two ladies in front of him were not normal people. So, they were able to detect the regret that was inside the old man's voice.
Denali also understood that the situation was not that simple. After all, she had been observing the old man all this time. From his eyes, she could tell that he really was tempted by the offer, but, he was just preventing himself from going ahead and agreeing to it.
"I can see that there's something else other than the reason that you have given us. But still, why don't you trust us and give us the opportunity of taking this shop from you? I'm going to increase the offer to 170,000 star coins." Denali stated.
When she increased the offer, she surprised even Samantha. After all, she had not expected that Denali was going to do something like that. She had been together with Denali for several months now, so, she knew that Denali was not an impulsive person.
Excitement appeared inside the old man's eyes, but it was just a glint that disappeared in the next moment. Still, he went ahead and shook his head in response. It was clear that he was not willing.
"Okay then. We are not going to force you to do that. In case you change your mind, you can always look for us." Denali stated as she got to her feet. Since the other party did not seem to be willing to rent the store to them, then, there was nothing else that they could do.
Although this place was actually good, that did not imply that she was going to agree to spend all the money that they currently possessed. So, she decided that they were going to look for another place.
The old man looked as Denali and Samantha left. He felt that it was a pity that he had lost the chance, but, there was nothing that he could do. He could only wave goodbye to a chance of improving his standard of living.
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