“Hiring you as a maid...?”

That had come completely out of left field.

“Mm. Call me milady.”

That’s why, Chiyu, you should really stop making hard-to-read jokes.

“Yes, Lady Chiyu.”

And why was Roa playing right along with it?

“Um, Houzuki? W-why a maid?”

Shion asked, sounding bewildered.

Judging by her expression, Roa hadn’t been lying when she said she wanted to work as a maid.

Apparently, that was exactly why this was such a headache.

I knew Roa had worked at a maid café, but that didn’t mean that naturally led to becoming a maid here.

“It is obvious, looking at all of you, that there is a bond between you. Some among you may naturally worry about an outsider like myself entering that circle. However, you still chose to save me. In order to repay that kindness, I thought that perhaps I might first serve you as a maid...!”

Roa pleaded her case with conviction.

She clearly understood how difficult it was to join a group that was already established.

So rather than trying to force her way in as an equal, she had drawn a clear line and proposed coming along first as someone in service.

And since she was framing it as repaying a debt, if we decided at some point that debt had been repaid, we could set her free then—less kindly put, cut ties with her.

So this wasn’t just about her maid café work experience. It seemed like a proposal she had arrived at after thinking it through calmly.

Honestly, I found it likable—that toughness of hers, trying to sell herself as labor rather than begging for mercy in a situation like this.

“A-And to be perfectly honest... ever since being transferred here, I have had no one to serve, and all sorts of things have been building up inside me... I can hardly stand it. I want desperately to be useful to someone.”

Roa swept a fervent gaze across all of us.

—W-well, having no hidden side to her was a good thing too.

At that point, the girls all turned to look at me.

They probably wanted to hear what I thought as the leader.

“To be honest, if you asked whether we could suddenly accept someone as a companion, we’d been struggling with that ourselves. But at the same time, after getting involved with someone like this once, it feels wrong to drive her away. So I think Roa’s proposal is a pretty good compromise.”

At my words, the girls all visibly relaxed.

If possible, none of them had wanted to throw out a classmate either.

Especially since Shion had already confirmed that Roa was telling the truth. After watching classmates lie to our faces during the event, it was easy to see how valuable someone like Roa was.

“Then does that mean she’s hired? Nice to have you with us, Roa!”

“Hehe. You’re a maid and all, but you’re still our classmate, so just act normal with us, okay?”

“That’s right. Don’t overdo it.”

“I want you to call me milady.”

“Understood. Lady Shouko, Lady Shion, Lady Minori, and Lady Chiyu.”

Roa brought her hands together in front of her waist and bowed gracefully.

Then she looked at me and smiled.

“I’ll be in your care from now on—Master.”

When a beautiful girl says something like that to you, it’s hard not to get flustered.

“Y-Yeah. Glad to have you.”

“All right! Then, Roa, let me introduce our fluffy friends too!”

“Fluffy... friends?”

“Come on out! Mashiro! Micron!”

The two of them emerged from the Fenrir hut.

“My...! Wh-what in the world...”

“They’re companions I summoned. Mashiro the Fenrir, and Micron the dragon.”

“And for the record, Mashiro was the one who found you and carried you here.”

“...! I see. Then he was my savior. No, my savior Fenrir. Thank you very much, Lord Mashiro. And a pleasure to meet you, Lady Micron.”

Roa was startled at first, but she quickly composed herself.

Since she had acquired an “ability” herself, she probably already had a foundation for accepting strange powers in others.

“And we also have ten chickens.”

Come to think of it, the chickens were still in their baskets.

Leaving them there felt bad, so Chiyu and I hurried them over to the chicken coop.

Watching that, Roa nodded.

“So those are the ‘chicken eggs’ added on Day 3. I found some myself once, but the thought of eating them raw was terrifying...”

“Yeah. From now on, we get them every day.”

“There are more people now, so we’ll get more chickens too.”

Since they were placed somewhere on the island, we’d probably find more if we searched.

“If you would allow it, I would be happy to take charge of caring for the livestock as well.”

“Mm. I’ll do it too, but help me.”

“Gladly.”

“Then maybe we should show her around the house next.”

I nodded at Shion’s suggestion, then added to it.

“Yeah. But let’s still split into two groups like we planned. One exploration team and one stay-behind team.”

The exploration team would look for fruit and... rubber trees.

If we had extra time, we’d search for anything else that looked useful and Itemize it one after another.

And then there was the chicken capture idea that had just come up.

“Oh, right. In that case, ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) I probably won’t be much help with exploration, so I should stay behind.”

“I’m staying too. There are things I need to teach the maid.”

I really hoped Chiyu wouldn’t fill her head with anything unnecessary.

“Well, me and Mashiro are a given, so what about you, Minorin?”

“Could I come with the exploration team?”

Minori hadn’t said it outright in front of Roa, but her magic would be a huge help with things like cutting down trees.

That made it three and three.

Micron, who had been listening to us talk, started rolling around on the ground in displeasure.

She had probably figured out that for exploration, Mashiro would be chosen because of his superior sense of smell, which meant she’d be left behind to guard the stay-behind group.

“Give me a ride this afternoon.”

The moment I said that, Micron floated smoothly up into the air.

“My, my. Master, even dragons adore you.”

Roa sounded genuinely impressed.

“All the creatures Shouko summons are good kids. More importantly, Roa—”

“Please, call me Roa.”

“R-Right. Roa, before we show you the house, you should take a bath.”

Her uniform was filthy, and even if she’d washed off in water here and there, she probably wanted to properly clean herself too.

“...I apologize for presenting such a disgraceful appearance.”

“No, it’s not that. I figured you’d want to freshen up too.”

Come to think of it, what was she supposed to change into?

Ah. Right.

“By the way, what kind of maid outfit did you wear at your job?”

“You’re interested in maids!?”

Roa’s eyes lit up with delight.

“No, I mean—maid outfits come in all kinds, right? Cheap cosplay ones, flashy anime-style ones, more authentic ones...”

“I see. The one I wore was a long-dress type, with very little exposed skin.”

“Mm-hm.”

I pictured it in my head.

At the moment, the only cloth materials I had were linen and wool, but if all I needed to do was shape it, I could probably manage.

First, dye the fabric black with ink and make a black long dress.

Then a white apron.

And after that... the little white headpiece thing. A maid headband.

I made the band itself out of wood, then covered it neatly with cloth. I made sure to add frilled trim too.

“Okay.”

I placed the maid outfit in my hands and held it out to Roa.

“T-That’s...!”

“If you want it, use it. Of course, if you don’t, I can make you some other clothes instead.”

“May I... truly have this?”

“Yeah.”

Very hesitantly, Roa accepted the maid outfit.

“D-Did you make this with your Crafting Ability too?”

“Yeah. Once we gather a few more materials, I think I can probably make socks and shoes to match too. So, well, look forward to that later.”

I had only meant it lightly, but to my surprise, tears started spilling down Roa’s face.

“Wh-what’s wrong...? You don’t like it?”

“N-No... It’s just... I never thought the day would come when I could wear a maid outfit again...”

That made sense. After spending five days alone on a deserted island, it was only natural that her attachment to life back on Earth—and the despair of not being able to return—would keep growing stronger.

For her, a maid outfit must have been something tied to her happy part-time job back on Earth.

Roa clutched the maid outfit tightly to her chest.

“I shall treasure it. And wearing this, I will serve you with all my heart and soul...!”

“R-Right. I’m counting on you.”

Well, then.

I moved a little ways off and placed hot water into the bath over the stone wall.

I was just about to head out riding Mashiro when—

I noticed the girls all staring at me.

A beat later, I realized what they were thinking. To them, I had basically just given the new girl a custom outfit of her very own.

“Ah—right. Of course, Chiyu, Shouko, Shion, Minori, if there’s any kind of clothes you want, just say so. Right now I only have linen and wool, but I’ll do my best to make whatever you want.”

Once I confirmed the pressure coming off the four of them had abruptly vanished, I let out a quiet breath of relief.

Though if we were being technical, I had given Shouko that makeshift swimsuit before... but whatever.

“Then bath first, Roa. Our bath is amazing. Thanks to Sousuke, we even have shampoo and soap.”

“My, as expected of Master.”

“She’s gone from ‘as expected of Sousuke’ to ‘as expected of Master.’”

At Chiyu’s comment, I gave a wry smile.

The situation was definitely unusual, but with Roa joining us as an aspiring maid, I had to admit it did feel even more like one of those other-world stories now.

“All right, let’s go, Sousuke, Minorin.”

Shouko climbed onto Mashiro first, then me, then Minori.

“Take care.”

After seeing us off, Roa seemed ready to head for the bath.

“Yeah. We’ll be back.”

A lot had happened, but today was another day for exploration.