At the dining table inside Daniel's mansion, everyone was gathered for dinner while Ron and Art moved around serving dishes to the table.
The atmosphere was surprisingly normal considering the people sitting there.
Evelyn, however, wasn't paying attention to the food. Her eyes stayed fixed on Daniel sitting at the head of the table with a black cat resting in his lap.
The cat kept trying to scratch him every few seconds while Daniel casually held it in place.
"I didn't know you were a cat person," Evelyn said while watching the scene.
"I am," Daniel replied calmly. "I like little thieving cats. They do unexpected things."
He lifted the black cat slightly afterward.
The cat immediately hissed and scratched across his cheek angrily.
Daniel looked mildly offended by the betrayal.
"But that one doesn't seem to like you very much," Elizabeth commented from nearby.
"Yeah," Tamara said while eating calmly, "animals can usually see through people better than humans."
Her eyes shifted toward Daniel.
"Behind that handsome face is a dark, sadistic scumbag."
Daniel looked genuinely touched. "You noticed my personality."
"I mean," Sylvia added while trying not to smile, "you clearly love that sadistic scumbag."
Tamara didn't even deny it.
"Doesn't change what he is," she replied like it was an objective fact.
Diana, who had been quietly eating until now, finally looked around the table before speaking.
"Honestly," she said calmly, "if he wasn't a scumbag, can anyone explain why there are this many women living in his mansion?"
Silence immediately followed.
In the end, everyone at the table silently agreed on one thing.
Daniel was absolutely a terrible person in several ways.
Unfortunately, they were also far too attached to him to seriously consider leaving anymore, even after fully understanding what kind of man he actually was.
Daniel continued rubbing the black cat resting in his lap while ignoring the fact the animal clearly wanted to murder him.
The reason for that was simple.
The "cat" was actually Selina.
Which explained why it kept trying to claw his hands and escape every few seconds.
"So," Daniel asked while absentmindedly scratching behind the cat's ear, "how is everyone liking this new world so far?"
"We are greatly enjoying it, boss," Art replied immediately while Ron nodded beside him.
Honestly, compared to the world they originally came from, this place felt unbelievably comfortable.
The internet alone already felt like a miracle. Humanity somehow created endless entertainment, movies, games, music, and information that could all be accessed instantly. Ron and Art had practically become addicted within a week.
The cars were better. The technology was convenient. Even mobile phones still fascinated them.
Daniel looked at them briefly.
"That's wonderful," he said calmly. "But I don't remember asking either of you."
Art and Ron immediately smiled awkwardly and returned to eating. They knew Daniel had been asking the women at the table.
Tamara rested her chin against one hand thoughtfully before answering. "I sort of like it here."
Her expression became slightly more complicated afterward.
"The food is better," she admitted. "But the oceans feel… dirtier compared to home."
Sylvia nodded slightly afterward. "I like how peaceful everything feels here."
Then Elizabeth suddenly spoke up.
"I want to start a business."
Daniel looked genuinely surprised by that answer.
"A business?" he repeated. "Why?"
Elizabeth sighed lightly while setting her fork down. "Because I'm bored."
Her eyes moved around the table afterward.
"You're always busy doing whatever strange things you do. Tamara disappears half the time. Sylvia has her own interests. Evelyn keeps studying this world."
She crossed her arms slightly.
"Meanwhile I'm the only one sitting around with nothing meaningful to do."
Daniel considered that for a moment before nodding once.
"Fair enough," he admitted. "If you're bored, I don't mind helping."
"So what kind of business?" he asked afterward.
Elizabeth immediately hesitated.
"...I actually didn't think that far ahead."
Evelyn suddenly looked up with interest.
"What about a museum?" she suggested.
Everyone looked toward her.
Evelyn continued more seriously now. "I can manage the historical artifacts and research side of things. Elizabeth can handle organization and business management."
Then a faint smile appeared on her face.
"And we would have reasons to travel together collecting items from different places."
Elizabeth's eyes lit up slightly at that.
Honestly, that sounded far more interesting than sitting inside the mansion all day.
"Yeah," she agreed after thinking about it for several seconds. "A museum actually sounds good."
Evelyn nodded immediately. "Then it's decided."
Both of them turned toward Daniel at the same time afterward.
They clearly expected funding.
Daniel stared at them for a moment before sighing in resignation.
"Fine," he said. "I'll arrange everything."
Then his expression sharpened slightly.
"But if you're traveling around the world collecting artifacts, you come back within a week. I'm serious about that."
"So what exactly would you even display in this museum?" Daniel asked.
The moment he said that, Evelyn and Elizabeth exchanged a quick look.
Then both women stood up and quietly walked behind his chair before resting their hands against his shoulders almost suspiciously gently.
Daniel immediately narrowed his eyes.
"...Why do I suddenly feel targeted?"
Evelyn ignored that completely.
"Dear," she said smoothly, "you do realize you casually collect strange artifacts from different worlds whenever something interests you, right?"
Daniel remained silent.
Because unfortunately that was true.
If he found something interesting during his travels, he usually threw it into his inventory without much thought afterward. Over time the collection became absurdly large.
"So?" Daniel asked cautiously.
Elizabeth leaned slightly closer from behind him. "Would you mind lending us some of those artifacts?"
Daniel's expression immediately became conflicted.
This was genuinely difficult for him.
He had spent years building that collection. Some items took entire wars, disasters, negotiations, or dimensional accidents to obtain.
And now these two women were calmly asking him to hand parts of it over for decoration.
Evelyn noticed the resistance immediately and delivered the finishing strike.
"It's our first project together," she said softly. "And authentic artifacts would make the museum genuinely famous."
Daniel closed his eyes for a moment in defeat.
"Fine," he sighed eventually. "But handle them carefully. Some of those items took me a very long time to collect."
The second he agreed, both Evelyn and Elizabeth smiled immediately.
Daniel stood up afterward and opened his inventory space.
Darkness spread briefly across the dining hall before objects slowly began appearing one after another.
A massive ancient trident materialized first, its surface glowing faintly with blue energy connected to the seas of another world.
Then came Egyptian relics covered in gold and gemstones, ancient walls carved with forgotten symbols, ceremonial weapons from lost civilizations, rifles and pistols from the sixteenth century, royal dresses embroidered with silver threads, crowns, ornaments, statues, and artifacts from worlds no human civilization on Earth had ever seen before.
The dining hall slowly started looking less like a mansion and more like a private national museum.
Even Diana looked visibly surprised watching the collection continue growing.
"You've been carrying all of this around casually?" she asked.
Daniel looked genuinely confused by the question.
"Where else would I keep it?"
Eventually the pile became so absurd that everyone at the table had stopped eating entirely just to stare at it.
Diana slowly stepped closer afterward, eyes moving across the artifacts with open interest.
"I would also like to join this museum project," she said calmly.
*****
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