“Good Evening, Miss West,” I said. Putting on my best professional smile as I arrived at the door of the customer.

“Um…H-, hi, Mister Holst. How are you doing today?” said young Alexandra “Alex” West. Giving me a strange, small, little wave.

“I’m doing quite well, thank you. Here is the paperwork you requested,” I said. Handing Alex a large paper envelope with a receipt affixed to the top via paperclip.

“Thank you,” said Alex. Receiving the paper envelope in her white-gloved hands.

Part of the services that young Miss West has subscribed from our store included proxy guardianship and paperwork handling. Miss West elected to enlist our store’s aid in these matters to A) dissuade any predatory strangers that might show up to try and take the girl's assets into "trust" for her “own good”, and B) to have a means of handling small legal minutiae that she was still technically too young to handle herself.

The local government didn’t completely lack the concept of emancipated minors, but the way that status operated here had enough gaps, and inconveniences, attached that our Dear Customer decided to simply proceed with a sham adoption via the shop, and was thus technically speaking, a minor in the custody of the Holst Corporation.

Personally, I felt that was a bit too much trust for her to place in us. For our part, it was a flattering sentiment as well as a pressuring one, since the customer herself seemed to have no problem with the situation, all I could do was endeavor to meet that trust with full earnestness. Which was why, either Joe, Brandy, or I, personally handled Miss West’s affairs, instead of simply letting some of my figments handle the matter.

“Will there be anything else for today, Miss West?” I said. Smiling lightly, subduing my aura, and just generally doing my best not to look impatient, because it was important to me that our store’s younger customers felt able to approach us and request the things they needed without reserve.

“No that’s o-...Oh, wait. There’s um, one more thing,” said Alex.

“Yes?” I said.

“There’s this thing that the school wants our parents to attend. Some kind of parent-teacher consultation thing. I know you’re not my real Uncle, Mister… But well…it’d really help me out if you could show up,” said Alex. Rubbing her arm awkwardly.

“Not a problem,” I said. Nodding. Quickly agreeing because this wasn’t the first time Alex had made this kind of request. The school she was attending was a prestigious one, but the teachers were almost obnoxiously officious and involved.

“Thanks…Um, have a good day, I guess,” said Alex. Retreating into her dorm room, and slowly closing the door.

“You as well, Miss West,” I said. Teleporting away once the door had been closed and I’d confirmed that there was no danger present or latent approaching my client.

Jo and I had been playing the role of Miss West’s legal guardians for a few years now and honestly watching her grow up, had me thinking about me and Jo having kids of our own someday. I wasn’t quite sure if we were ready yet, but it felt like we’d be there sooner rather than later.

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After I left Miss West’s place, I’d intended to return to the store but got a message from one of my Secretarial-Thinkers informing me that Demayan Kulikov of Mirsada and Lucinda Jane Lavender of the Violet Empire had both scheduled a meeting with meet. I couldn’t help sighing. I’d thought I was done for the day with Miss West’s business but it seemed that I’d conveniently forgotten about the two pet nations that also needed my attention. Mirsada and the Violet Empire had quickly learned to behave themselves after falling under my control, but in exchange, the nation and their leaders had become quite needy for whatever reason. Constantly seeking me out for seemingly every little thing.

It was a bit tiring really. It felt like I’d adopted two canine countries. Both the Kingdom and the Empire, constantly required "walkings", "feedings", and a balanced mixture of strict discipline and positive reinforcement to keep them operating smoothly. Next time I’d see about adopting a country that was more cat-like, or turtle-like, where I could do a certain bare amount and they’d leave me the hell alone. Though, then again, did I really want to expand the store’s “political holdings” like that? Probably not. Since I’d escaped being a villain, it wasn’t really my intention to go around “acquiring” countries and groups like I’d done with Mirsada and Violet.

I would have been content quietly building a subtle level of influence in those nations had things not come to a head as they had. Now, though, now that I was on this path again, I couldn’t help feeling some mixed feelings about the whole matter. On the one hand, my two pet nations played the part of work-dogs and guard-dogs quite nicely.

Having them push their weight around on the store’s behalf, without openly saying so, had moved the timeline for many of my plans forward, in a good way. On the other hand, I was pretty sure I didn’t want another one, I didn’t like the idea of a total return to being the kind of person that I’d been before my return to my homeworld and my original life.

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Alex opened the door of her room and peeked outside shortly after the pink-haired man had gone. She chewed the inside of her cheek as she closed the door again. Then after double-checking that she’d locked the door, she went back into her spacious dormitory suite and flopped onto her bed. Sighing with a sense of relief and just a touch of ennui.

Ellis always made Alex more than a little nervous. She generally preferred dealing with Jo because Jo even if Jo was big and imposing, she was also silly and free, feeling more like a big sis than a distant, if good-natured, Uncle. Ellis was nice enough, and she could tell that he genuinely was going out of his way to be as helpful as possible, but there was something about the guy that made it feel like Alex needed to hold her breath and see what the guy was actually going to do next.

Ellis pretended to be normal, but with Alex’s background, it wasn’t hard for her to see through him. You didn’t survive long on the streets if you didn’t pick up the knack of reading people and situations. What’s more, Ellis wasn’t all that good at pretending to be normal, he was like an ink-beast pretending to be a housecat, even if he had all those powers that let him change his look and vibe, his real nature would occasionally slip through. And in Zabyvat-Pomni, where pretty much everything was alive and possessed a measure of sentience, if not sapience, even a little slip would be noticeable.

In the earlier days, it wouldn’t be too much to say that Ellis had scared her a fair bit. Then again, Alex had been “wary” of her own shadow back then, because that was just the life. Still, it was hard not to feel a little bit intimidated when someone made the sun, clouds, trees, and buildings tremble in terror and adulation. Alex eventually got used to him, and saw that Ellis was an okay person, but she still wasn’t entirely sure of how to deal with the guy.

Even with Ellis’ facade of normalcy, each time she saw him, he felt increasingly larger than life. As a result, despite his persistent, almost pathological, politeness, most of Ellis’ teachers and the school staff seemed to operate off the assumption that he was either someone big, or he was working for someone even bigger, which led to Alex getting some strange looks as well.

After a few years of knowing each other, and interacting, Alex no longer felt “as” nervous when it came to interacting with Ellis. She’d realized that in the end, he was an alright guy. Even if he wasn’t always the warmest or the most friendly, but the guy seemed to care more than other adults she’d had to deal with. She was able to get that he didn’t just mean her no ill, he genuinely wanted the best for her.

All the same, sometimes, she still felt a bit nervous around the guy. Then again, that was also why he was a handy guy to know, whenever one of her more troublesome teachers got on her case for something. The school’s staff and administrators seemed to be even more afraid of wasting Ellis’ time than Alex used to be.