Mysterious Journey
Chapter 515: A Pleasant Collaboration
In Kyiv, Ukraine, the Presidential Office.
The owner of this residence, Kravchuk, sat behind his desk, exchanged an almost imperceptible glance with his newly appointed Minister of Finance, Grigory Pyatarenko, took a deep breath, and looked at the old gentleman sitting on the sofa with a grave expression.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Apocalyps. Regarding the procurement of steel for the Ulyanovsk aircraft carrier, we are already in negotiations with a company from the United States, and your company's quotation is not in line with our expectations."
The newly appointed President exuded a strange sense of confusion, looking as if he hadn't rested well. His slightly chubby face had a hint of drowsiness in the center, making his speech somewhat slow.
However, even so, his answer was very clear and didn't leave much room for discussion.
Faced with the Ukrainian President's refusal, the old gentleman in a tailored handmade suit didn't show the slightest frustration. He casually played with a small wooden stick in his hand, shaking his head and sighing.
"It's a pity, I thought you would find a mixed contract with potato import quotas more sincere than simple monetary payment, especially since we all know that this year's grain situation is quite severe, who knew..."
"Ukraine is the most fertile agricultural country in Europe. Compared to a single year's grain imports, we generally believe that the U.S. dollar has a stronger trade value and payment capacity in the current international situation. Moreover, Ukraine is a reputable government. Even if the other party is just a private enterprise, we will not easily break our contract."
Finance Minister Pyatarenko smiled slightly, opened the folder in his hand, and handed it forward.
"Perhaps we can talk about the sale of another Varyag aircraft carrier or other military steel... If you urgently need special steel, Ukraine is not limited to warships. We still have a lot of equipment from the former Soviet Union."
"No, the Destiny Group is only interested in the Ulyanovsk aircraft carrier for the time being."
At this moment, the silver-haired little girl sitting next to the old gentleman, as obedient as a granddaughter, suddenly spoke.
"It's disheartening and regrettable... Alas, I understand how to communicate with you now."
The girl stood up, strode to Kravchuk's desk, grabbed the procurement letter of intent previously submitted to him directly from the man's hand, flipped through it roughly, and pointed at it casually.
"Here, delete the mixed payment with grain imports and change it to pure U.S. dollar settlement... In addition to the contract deposit, pay 20% of the total amount directly the month after signing the contract... Would that be okay?"
Kravchuk frowned, looked at the little girl who looked like a little adult in front of him, and shook his head with a wry smile.
"Of course, if your grandfather had proposed this plan from the beginning, we might have really been tempted—but business negotiations between adults are not that simple, and this requires a new contract."
"Oh, sorry, I wasn't talking to you."
Eileen raised her head, glanced at the white-haired old man in front of her, her lake-blue eyes filled with contempt.
"Grandpa, please, could you help me modify the points I just mentioned?"
"Understood."
Grindelwald shook his head helplessly, looked at the contract handed to him by the girl, and lightly tapped it with his wand. The words on the contract twisted and began to reformat and write. In a few seconds, a brand new version was formed.
If he remembered correctly, this contract had expanded from the original two pages to a dozen pages.
Then, the old man sighed, looked at the two Muggle politicians in the office who were rubbing their eyes, and a contemptuous sneer identical to Eileen's appeared on his face. He nodded elegantly.
"I'm sorry, we were not very well prepared before and disturbed you. Goodbye!"
"Obliviate!"
Suddenly, Kravchuk and Pyatarenko's eyes became distracted, their brows relaxed, and their faces showed a look of absent-mindedness and indifference to everything—this was a little side effect after the Obliviation Charm was cast.
Grindelwald smiled and put the revised contract back next to the Ukrainian president, smiling politely.
"Hello, let me introduce myself, I am Otto Apocalyps, the president of Destiny Group..."
...
Half an hour later...
"Happy cooperation, beautiful and hospitable Ukraine will always welcome everyone from Destiny!"
"Then...regarding the personnel stationed at the dismantling site, and the bank loan..."
"Please rest assured, Mr. Apocalyps! This aspect will be properly arranged within this week! Destiny Group will soon find that the enthusiasm and efficiency of the Ukrainian people are definitely the most trustworthy in all of Europe."
"That's good, thank you President and Minister for your hospitality, then I won't disturb you any further."
Grindelwald nodded, put on his bowler hat, took Eileen's hand and walked out the door.
If it wasn't because Eileen was worried about leaving future troubles, according to his character, he would have used the Imperius Curse long ago, and wouldn't have wasted so much time on these stupid and greedy Muggles.
But fortunately, in the constant resetting of memories and modifying negotiations, they finally achieved the result they wanted.
After leaving the Presidential Office, Eileen looked at the signed letter of intent in her hand, curled her lips disapprovingly, folded it a few times and put it in her arms, turned her head and looked at Grindelwald and asked softly.
"Are you sure you won't leave any magical traces, right?"
"Of course, unlike memory modification, the Obliviation Charm is one of the most difficult spells to detect—especially when it is used to erase events that have just happened. After a few more days, no one will be able to discover that they have been subjected to magic."
"What about these few days? And that wizard guarding them, will there be any problems?"
Eileen frowned and asked with some worry.
"He's just a mediocre second-rate wizard. He won't be around those two Muggle politicians for the next few days. By the time he returns to his post, all traces will have disappeared. Even Albus won't be able to find any clues. After all, this was all decided under their subjective consciousness, without any coercion or tampering."
Grindelwald grinned and answered confidently.
"And during these few days, we will also have two people watching the Ukrainian Presidential Office to protect those two idiots from encountering wizards from other countries—Dumbledore will also be paying attention to foreign wizards applying for entry, which is not very many at the moment."
"It seems the situation is more optimistic than I thought, so I don't need to consider facing the Magical Congress of the United States head-on for the time being..."
Eileen gently "Hmm" sound, and could not help but sighed in relief.
"So now we only need to ensure that we try not to show any traces of magical involvement, and make everything look like it's limited to the distribution of interests in the non-magical world. The International Statute of Secrecy is really an interesting double-edged sword."
"Interesting saying, if I had thought of this back then, it would have been great."
Grindelwald chuckled and glanced meaningfully at the white-haired ball beside him.
"So, my dear little Theresa, do you want to go back to school to rest now, or go see your big ship first?"