Elisabeth swiftly opened the door and stepped inside. Stanley followed soon after, slightly curious as to what an immortal abode would look like.

It didn’t take him long to find the answer.

The room certainly lacked the grim and dreary atmosphere of the pathway to it. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a good thing.

The room was overwhelmingly messy. There was absolutely no comparison to the cleanly swept corridors and rooms in the rest of the mansion.

In fact, the entire room seemed more akin to a NEET’s bedroom than an immortal’s abode.

Every couch was covered in old clothes or empty food containers, there were gaming posters lining the walls, and various games were scattered throughout the floor.

Looking at this horrifying mess, a tiny piece of Stanley died inside and any excitement or expectations that he had about meeting a real-life immortal died along with it.

He had been expecting an immortal to be… well, not this.

Although Stanley knew it was unlikely that fiction was anything close to real-life, he’d assumed the immortal would at least have a similar temperament to Elisabeth.

After all, the entire mansion he’d seen before this had been impeccable. Thus, Stanley had stepped into the room with expectations of fancy furniture and a slight mental preparation to be dazzled by wonders he might have never seen before.

Either that, or he had been expecting it to be relatively plain and devoid of personality.

Glancing toward a group of trophies of varying quality and rank that were proudly displayed upon the only clean table in the room, Stanley sighed and understood that television and anime had completely deceived him.

In a way, the mess that was contained with this room was certainly astonishing to behold.

However, it certainly wasn’t impressive.

Looking around the room in disappointment, Stanley readjusted his expectations of the upcoming encounter.

Although Stanley was disappointed, Elisabeth didn’t even blink at the utter catastrophe of a room before her. Instead, she began expertly weaved through the cluttered mess toward the far end of the room.

Stepping up to a mound of clothes, Elisabeth leaned down toward it and calmly said, “Get up, Uncle. We have guests.”

The clothing mound showed slight movement, before stopping. A groaning voice sounded out and mumbled, “Leave me alone. Tell them I’m not in.”

“I said-” Elisabeth voice portrayed her annoyance, and she kicked the mound of clothes, “-get up!”

The kick by Elisabeth had enough force to knock the man out of the clothing pile and slam him into the nearby wall.

Stanley stared at Elisabeth’s Uncle with surprise, he didn’t seem older than thirty. Then again, considering they had the technology to become immortal, they probably could easily reduce or eliminate the effects of aging.

“The hell was that for?!” He yelled, while he rubbed his head as several of his gaming posters fell atop him.

Elisabeth rolled her eyes before asking, “What do you think it’s for?”

“How would I-“ He yelled back as he stood up, before his gaze turned toward Stanley who was staring at him. Realizing Stanley was standing there, he coughed awkwardly, “Oh… Hello.”

Stanley glanced toward Elisabeth and sent her a questioning look, “This is your Uncle?”

Elisabeth didn’t speak and instead turned her head away in embarrassment.

Annoyed at being ignored, the man chastised Stanley. “Oi, don’t be disrespectful. Who are you anyway?”

“I’m Stanley.” Stanley replied before turning toward Elisabeth and questioning her, “Is he really in charge of intelligence? Are you sure that he isn’t just incompetent?”

Elisabeth quickly defended against the accusation, “He might seem that way, but Uncle Carlos is actually one of the best diviners in the universe. Anything intelligence related gets relayed through him.”

“Hey-“ Her Uncle interrupted, stepping over a pile of empty snack containers, “ -I’m right here. Did you come here to ask me something, or are you here to insult me?”

Huffing in annoyance, Elisabeth replied, “I’ve been attacked twice, and nearly died both times. You put a gag order on information related to the attacks.”

“Huh- No! I’ve been busy beating noobs in a tournament.“ He denied, before asking questions of her own, “You were attacked? When? Why wasn’t I informed?”

“There wasn’t a reason to inform you. You could hear the explosion from here. How could you possibly miss it?”

“Oh… That-“ Her Uncle Carlos scratched his head, “Well, nobody came to inform me there was a problem and I was busy… so, I thought it was fine.”

Elisabeth stared at him with an unconvinced expression, “It would’ve taken you two second to check out the situation. You couldn’t have possibly been that busy.”

Uncle Carlos turned embarrassed and he stopped looking Elisabeth in the eye, “Well, I might’ve… completely forgotten about it after I finished the tournament.”

“I’ve changed my mind. If you weren’t attempting active sabotage, you truly are incompetent.” Elisabeth stated, before turning around and beginning to cleaning a portion of the couch to sit on, “Regardless, I’m here ask you about the gag order. Not my near death experiences.”

Uncle Carlos straightened his back and looking Elisabeth in the eye, before stating. “There’s no gag order that exists related to your assassins.”

“But there is an outstanding gag order?” She countered, sitting down on the couch and patting the seat beside her in a gesture for Stanley to sit beside her.

Stanley elected to avoid sitting directly next to Elisabeth. Instead he cleared off another portion of the couch and sat there.

“…” Uncle Carlos merely stared at the two of them in silence.

Although he hadn’t responded, his silence provided the only answer Elisabeth needed.

Elisabeth glanced toward Stanley, before turning back toward her Uncle and asking though gritted teeth, “Why did you hide the fact that the majority of people were from other universes?”

“You didn’t need to know.”

“Not knowing almost caused me to almost die… twice. They’re acting like babies that finally got their hands on a knife.” Elisabeth said with resentment in her eyes, “They don’t have the slightest clue what they’re doing.”

“Their place of origin has nothing to do with your assassins.”

Elisabeth refuted, “It has everything to do with my assassins, they don’t know the consequences of killing me or they wouldn’t dare to.“

Uncle Carlos spoke in a soft voice, “His reputation won’t protect you forever.”

“When he comes back, it won’t be his reputation protecting me.” Elisabeth huffed in response to his statement.

“He isn’t-" He began saying, before glancing toward Stanley and instead tried to change the topic, “Enough, this isn’t the time for this conversation.”

“I completely agree. This isn’t the time for that discussion.” Elisabeth stated calmly and leaned forward, “Instead, why don’t you tell me who is inciting people to kill me.”

“I’m retired… you know I’m not supposed to get involved anymore.” Uncle Carlos sighed before beginning to pace through the room.

“Yet, you involved yourself enough to apply a gag order.” Elisabeth countered in an attempt to convince him.

Uncle Carlos continued his pacing as though he hadn’t heard her. Clearly, he hadn’t been convinced.

Ultimately, though, Elisabeth knew which buttons to push to motivate him. “Your gag order is effectively betrayal.”

“Don’t go throwing that word around.” He snapped, turning toward Elisabeth in anger, “This place wouldn’t even exist without my help.”

“Regardless, whether it was purposeful or accidentally you’ve already interfered.” Elisabeth calmly stated, “Helping me would only be correcting your mistake.”

Rather than answer, Uncle Carlos stared toward Stanley and redirected the conversation, “Who is he anyway? Why is he here?”

Elisabeth slid over on the couch and affectionately hugged Stanley’s arm, “This would be the person who saved my life. Twice.”

Uncle Carlos frowned at Elisabeth’s actions. “Is that why you’ve shifted into a cat-kin? To impress him? You haven’t slept with him have you?”

“Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, he’s been a perfect gentleman.” Elisabeth pouted and pressing herself against him further. “However, I’m confident I’ll prevail with time.”

Stanley attempted to escape her embrace, but she’d already grabbed on tightly and he couldn’t do anything without making a scene. So he sat there quietly, uncomfortable with sudden attention from both parties.

Honestly, Stanley’s expectations for this conversation had been utterly shattered. At this point, he just wanted to leave. This entire conversation was turning out to be way more awkward than he thought it was going to be.

“We’ve gone over this already. You cannot go around seducing random people.” Uncle Carlos reprimanded Elisabeth and glared toward Stanley with open hostility.

“Stanley isn’t a random person.” Elisabeth purred resting her head on Stanley’s shoulder, and rubbing her hand along his back, “He’s my savior.”

Finally uncomfortable enough to speak up, Stanley awkward leaned away from her and politely requested, “Umm… can you please let me go?”

“No way~” Elisabeth refused, grasping his arm tighter.

Uncle Carlos turned his gaze away from Stanley and instead sends a quizzical look toward Elisabeth, “Why did you even bring him here?”

“He insisted on coming.” Elisabeth shrugged indifferently.

Raising an eyebrow at that, Uncle Carlos glanced toward Stanley who was extremely tense in Elisabeth’s grip. “He doesn’t exactly seem like he insisted on being here.”

“He’s just shy.” Elisabeth explained helpfully while stroking Stanley’s arm affectionately. “Anyway… are you going to help me or not?”

“… Do we have to talk about this in front of outsiders?”

“No, we don’t.” Elisabeth relented and quickly brought up another topic, “How about we talk about marriage instead?”

Uncle Carlos sighed and sat down on a couch in the corner, “We’re not talking about marriage either.”

Elisabeth playfully explained, “He wouldn’t be an outsider if I married him.”

Stanley choked upon hearing Elisabeth’s words. He’d either underestimated her commitment to him or overestimated her ability to be truthful.

“You trust him that much? It is really necessary to do this now?” Uncle Carlos asked, clearly doubtful as to the reasoning behind her determination on this topic.

Elisabeth slowly repeated herself, “He has saved my life, twice.”

“Fine, welcome to the family… I guess.” Uncle Carlos said, looking toward Stanley with a reluctantly expression. Before he finally asked, “What was your name again?”

Stanley vaguely felt something was wrong. Instead of answering his question, Stanley interjected, “Hold on, I’m lost. What are you two talking about?”

Uncle Carlos snorted and sarcastically replied, “Congratulation on becoming a fiancé.”

“What? No, I haven’t agreed to anything of the sort.” Stanley denied, he remained quite confident that he never agreed to anything of that nature.

“Kid, when Elisabeth’s wants something badly enough, she’ll get it. One way or another.” Uncle Carlos snorted at his naïve statement, “It’ll be far easier on you if you just accept it now.”

Stanley turned toward Elisabeth with doubtful eyes, “He… he’s joking, right?”

“Don’t worry about it. There’s no need get caught up in the details.” Elisabeth answered with a smile.

Uncle Carlos snorted, before he took advantage of the momentary silence and spoke up, “Anyway… my investigation indicates Zorian’s responsible for the assassination attempts.”

“Hmph, so it was him... Thank you.” Elisabeth’s eyes flashed briefly before returning to normal, “I’ll deal with him.”

“By the way, you didn’t hear that from me.” Uncle Carlos stated in a serious voice.

Elisabeth nodded along, “Yes, yes. Got it.”

“That goes for you as well…” Uncle Carlos turned toward Stanley and declared, “…whatever your name is.”

Honestly, Stanley felt cheated. He came here expecting some type of an immortal mastermind, and instead he got… whatever this was.

“My name is Stanley Cooper.” Stanley answered.

Uncle Carlos’ expression turned strange, “Hmm? Sorry, could… could you repeat that for me?”

Stanley glanced toward him and repeated, “Stanley Cooper.”

Uncle Carlos absentmindedly stared toward the ground and whispered to himself, “…it’s time, huh.”

After absentmindedly staring off into nothing for a period of time, Uncle Carlos stood up and walked toward a wardrobe. Uncle Carlos speaking slightly melancholy in his voice, “Actually, I have something for you. Give me a minute.”

Elisabeth and Stanley glanced toward each other in confusion, but waited quietly.

Uncle Carlos poked though the various draws, until he eventually pulled out a small package. The package was no bigger than the size of his hand.

“An old friend of mine entrusted this to me.” Uncle Carlos stated, looking down at the package, “It’s been so long that I’d almost forgotten it existed.”

Stanley stared at the package in confusion, “What is it?”

“I didn’t ask.” He replied, before walking over and holding the package out toward Stanley. “Here, it’s yours now.”

Looking at the package with a doubtful expression, Stanley didn’t take it and instead choose to ask for more information. “Who gave it to you?”

Uncle Carlos shook his head, “He wished to remain anonymous.”

[Stanley took the package. He would be needing its contents in the upcoming days.]

Hearing the Narrator’s words, Stanley dubiously took the package from him.

Glance between the package and Uncle Carlos, Stanley inquired, “Why give it to me, though?”

Uncle Carlos responded “…because it’s yours. It was to be handed over to a Mister Stanley Cooper.”

“Huh, okay?” Stanley looked down at the package in confusion.

If anything, Stanley was more confused because of his response.

Was this somehow part of the Narrator’s influence? Was this package actually supposed to be for him or was that a lie? Could the Narrator have influenced the past to a degree?