The next morning.
When Hayashi Maki woke up, he could feel someone staring at him.
He opened his eyes and saw a pair of fair-skinned, beautiful twin maids in matching uniforms, standing side by side, cheeks pressed together, looking at him curiously.
"Yo. Good morning, you two maid ladies."
Hayashi Maki curled his lips into a friendly smile, sat up, and gave them a little wave.
The two girls immediately stepped back toward the door.
"Rem Rem, Ram has been ogled by a lecherous guest!"
"Ram Ram, the guest is looking Rem up and down with a filthy gaze!"
They spoke in unison, spitting out slander while retreating in perfect sync, pretending to be scared.
The corner of Hayashi Maki's mouth twitched. "Is this how you treat an honored guest? That's pretty rude. Where's Emilia?"
At that, the two girls let go of each other's hands. The pink-haired maid bent at the waist and bowed, then spoke in a cold tone:
"Emilia-sama has already risen and is doing her morning devotions. Only the lazy guest is still sound asleep."
"And my companion?"
Hayashi Maki asked with interest.
Getting the "main character wake-up" treatment—opening his eyes to twin maids teasing him—actually put him in a good mood.
Of course, he wasn't the early-arc, arrogant, brainless Subaru Natsuki, so he knew full well this was the maids' way of probing and gauging him.
In response to his question, the blue-haired younger sister answered politely, "If you mean the blue-haired one, she's still sleeping."
"Oh, I see. So you came just to wake me up?"
Hayashi Maki smiled as he looked the two sisters over, already determined to make them his.
"Yes. The lecherous guest should be getting up. Roswaal-sama has returned as well."
Rem and Ram answered in unison, then bowed to him again.
The etiquette was flawless. The way they kept calling him a "lecherous guest," though, was definitely a problem.
Still, Hayashi Maki was generous enough not to argue with two sharp-tongued maids. He stretched lazily, got out of bed, and shrugged off his pajamas, revealing a lean, muscular body.
Then he started getting dressed.
The two maids stared without blinking, seemingly not embarrassed at all, though the way their pupils dilated said his physique had rattled them more than a little.
Naturally: Hayashi Maki was absurdly strong; his body was superhuman. And early in the morning… things were especially "impressive."
Watching him casually roll his shoulders and stretch, Rem silently clicked her tongue.
Sure enough, a filthy guest.
Ram outwardly remained calm, even letting out a bored yawn—but the faint redness at her ears betrayed her.
Hayashi Maki spread his arms and grinned at them.
"Isn't this when you're supposed to help dress me? For an honored guest, enjoying his maids' service is basic common sense, right?"
A flash of disgust passed through their eyes, but they still stepped forward, picked up the clothes beside the bed, and began respectfully dressing him.
Breathing in their soft fragrance, Hayashi Maki found himself both envious of Roswaal's day-to-day comforts and even more determined to claim Ram and Rem for himself.
"Come to think of it, I don't actually know your names yet," he said lightly. "I heard Emilia-sama call the blue-haired one Rem. So the pink-haired one must be Ram?"
"That's right, lecherous guest. I am Rem. She is Ram," Rem replied calmly, small hands carefully straightening his lapels.
"And who's the elder sister, who's the younger?"
"Rem is the younger."
"Got it."
Once they'd finished dressing him, Ram and Rem stepped back in perfect sync, then bowed once more.
"Please follow us. Roswaal-sama is already waiting."
"Mm. Lead the way."
Hayashi Maki walked out of the room at an easy pace, following the two maids down a long corridor lined with red carpet until they reached the dining hall.
Felt and Old Man Rom were already seated, and Aqua was sitting properly at the table as well, waiting for breakfast.
Felt looked uncomfortable. As a girl who'd grown up in the slums, this was her first time sitting in such a fancy dining room chair.
When she saw Hayashi Maki, though, her shoulders relaxed a bit in relief.
He walked over, smiled, and ruffled her hair. "Morning, Felt. And you too, Rom-grandpa. Sleep well?"
"Mm… yeah," Felt muttered, nodding with a flushed face.
His casual affection filled her with warmth and eased her nerves.
Old Man Rom nodded as well, clearly ill at ease and not daring to say much.
After all, this was the mansion of the Mathers Roswaal. For a small fry like him to sit here as a guest was entirely thanks to Hayashi Maki.
And Hayashi Maki, in turn, was only here thanks to Emilia's invitation.
The funny part, of course, was that Emilia herself was, in a sense, just a guest here too.
Roswaal was Emilia's patron.
Naturally, Roswaal wasn't some simple noble either. He was an old monster who'd lived for centuries by constantly seizing the bodies of his own descendants to survive.
His support of Emilia in the royal selection had its own hidden motives.
And that assassin, Elsa the "Bowel Hunter," had been hired by him as well to stir up trouble for Emilia.
Roswaal possessed a gospel left behind by the Witch of Greed, Echidna, a book of prophecy that allowed him to glimpse fragments of the future.
He'd deliberately set killers on Emilia just to fish out the one who could disrupt fate and help him fulfill his goal of resurrecting Echidna.
That "chosen one" was supposed to be Subaru Natsuki—but Subaru had already been erased by Hayashi Maki.
Thanks to Hayashi Maki's anomalous presence, everything had shifted off course. Roswaal's precious book of prophecy was now basically useless.
"…Morning, Aqua. How'd you sleep?" Hayashi Maki asked with a grin, dragging himself out of his own thoughts.
"I'm great!" Aqua beamed, all carefree sunshine. She was the type who could sleep anywhere, anytime.
Elsa's slash yesterday hadn't even broken her skin—no wound, no scar, nothing left behind. For a goddess with a ridiculous defense stat, that much was nothing.
Hayashi Maki had thought about "training" with her last night, but decided that fooling around in someone else's mansion might not be the best way to make a good impression on Emilia and the others.
So he'd let the goddess sleep alone—for now.