The next morning.
Two sets of footsteps, one slightly ahead of the other, quietly approached Shiro's room.
Then—
Click—
The instant the door opened, Shiro snapped awake.
No normal person would sleep completely defenseless in a stranger's home.
He immediately rolled out of bed and stared warily toward the doorway.
Only to be greeted by an unexpected sight.
"Sister, Sister, the guest is awake."
"Rem, Rem, the guest is awake."
The blue-haired and pink-haired twin maids he had met yesterday stood outside his room, holding hands and staring straight at him.
"Do maids these days even have to wake their guests up...?"
Realizing they had merely come to wake him, Shiro asked irritably.
If he had sensed even the slightest killing intent when the door opened, he would already have attacked.
"This is a necessary measure to prevent the guest from oversleeping and missing breakfast."
"This is a necessary measure to prevent the guest from sleeping like a dead pig, missing breakfast, and then blaming Ram for failing her duties as a maid."
The twins spoke one after the other like a comedy duo.
From their words, Shiro could tell that despite being twins, their personalities were subtly different.
Ram, the older sister, was much more blunt.
She said whatever came to mind without restraint.
Unfortunately, most of those thoughts tended to be unflattering, making her come across as extremely sharp-tongued.
Rem, the younger sister, phrased things much more tactfully.
However—
Judging from the worshipful look she gave Ram and the way she repeatedly nodded along whenever her sister spoke, she clearly agreed more with Ram's harsh wording than her own polite version.
"Whatever... What time is it?"
Suppressing the urge to complain, Shiro scratched his messy white hair and looked at the two of them.
"It is the sixth hour of the Sun, Guest."
"It is the sixth hour of the Sun, Guest."
The "sixth hour of the Sun" was this world's way of describing time.
It was roughly equivalent to six in the morning.
Which meant—
"The sun only just came up!"
Shiro finally lost his composure.
Other than miserable asian high school students, who the hell woke people up at this hour?!
He had finally escaped the days of Ikki and Stella dragging him out of bed at four in the morning for training.
Why couldn't he enjoy sleeping in even after coming here?!
Sure enough—
All that nonsense about "Once you get to university, life will become easy" was a complete lie.
Only actual university students understood that university was nothing like those television dramas where people slept in every day, skipped classes, and occasionally went shopping with friends.
The true face of university was a threefold hell formed from assignments given by professors, coursework, and credits!
Their so-called "freedom" merely meant you were free to choose how late you wanted to stay up finishing your work.
And even if you somehow survived until graduation, you still had an endless graduation project, thesis defense, and anxiety over finding employment waiting for you.
Of course, if you were lucky enough to actually find a job you liked—Then there were still idiotic bosses making your life miserable and endless overtime waiting afterward.
And now—Even after coming to another world, he was still being forced to wake up early?!
"Humanity really should just go extinct."
Shiro's face turned gray as he reached that conclusion.
"Oh no, Sister. The guest seems angry. Sister is going to be violated by the angry guest right here."
"Oh no, Rem. The guest seems angry. Rem is going to be ravaged by the angry guest right here."
Sensing the almost tangible resentment radiating from Shiro, Ram and Rem changed from merely holding hands to interlocking their fingers.
They pressed their cheeks together and spoke in perfect unison.
Unfortunately, their expressions were far too calm for either of them to look remotely frightened.
Shiro silently withdrew his earlier assessment of Rem.
She was not simply more tactful than Ram.
These sisters were equally awful.
"Whatever... The dining room is the one Rem showed me last night, right?"
"I'll head there by myself later."
"Yes, Guest. Please arrive at the dining room before the eighth hour of the Sun. Do not keep Sister waiting."
"Exactly, Guest. Please arrive before the eighth hour of the Sun. Do not keep Rem waiting."
"Wait."
Shiro suddenly caught the flaw in their words.
"Before the eighth hour?"
"Then why did you wake me up at the sixth?!"
His expression darkened as he stared at them, waiting to hear what excuse they would come up with.
Instead—
"Please spare me, Guest. This was all Sister's idea. Let Rem go and violate Sister alone."
"Please stop, Guest. This was all Rem's idea. Let Ram escape and ravage Rem alone."
The sisters who had been affectionately holding hands moments earlier immediately began begging for mercy while throwing each other under the carriage.
Perhaps this was simply their unusual way of maintaining their sisterly bond.
Shiro narrowed his eyes and stared at them for a long moment.
Finally—
"Forget it. Go do whatever you need to do..."
He sighed and let them off.
They were not his maids, after all.
Their terrible personalities could remain the mansion owner's problem.
"Understood, Guest. Sister expresses her gratitude for your magnanimity from the bottom of her heart."
"Understood, Guest. Rem sincerely thanks you for sparing her."
Ram and Rem closed their eyes together, bowed, and withdrew.
Judging from the direction they went, they were probably heading to wake Subaru next door.
After closing the door, Shiro took a fresh set of casual clothes from his Gift Card and changed.
He planned to use the time before breakfast to find Emilia and ask whether there were any suitable residences near the royal capital.
However—The moment he stepped outside his room—
"Hmm?"
"The mana flow changed?"
Shiro looked down at the floor in surprise.
In truth, Roswaal Mansion functioned much like one enormous magical formation.
It constantly absorbed the mana naturally dispersed throughout the surrounding air, then concentrated it all toward a certain location.
At first, Shiro had assumed it was some kind of defensive system Roswaal had constructed to protect the mansion.
And since it only absorbed mana that people unconsciously released anyway, he had paid it little attention.
But just now—The direction of the mana flow had suddenly changed.
If this were truly a defensive spell, there should be no reason for its mana collection point to shift around at random.
Curiosity getting the better of him, Shiro followed the surrounding mana toward wherever it was gathering.
After walking for a short while, he stopped in front of a wooden door.
"This is... the bathhouse?"
Shiro stared at the door in thought.
When Rem guided him to his room last night, she had introduced this place.
Beyond the door was the entrance to Roswaal Mansion's communal bathhouse.
Shiro closed his eyes and carefully sensed the surrounding flow of mana.
Even if Rem disliked having them here, there was no reason for her to lie about something like this.
Yet—
The mana really was converging behind this door.
"Whatever."
"I'll know once I open it."
With that, Shiro directly pushed open the bathhouse door.
…