Seduction☆Strategy
Translator: Kagura
Editor: Millinia
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 21
I was in a pretty good mood that day.
Because I invited Gilliam to dinner.
It was partly because he was a target that I had set my sights on him (except I was the one who was gonna get eaten!), but I was genuinely happy to be able to share a meal with someone.
I had usually eaten my meals alone in my room.
I was told that I could eat in the dining hall, but the dining hall in the guest room building was actually for groups. And it seemed that, most of the time, people had their meals brought to their rooms.
I once requested to eat in the dining hall and I was mortified by the thought of eating alone at a long table.
It was a unique form of torture.
There were more than 20 servants in charge of serving.
There were at least a thousand candle flames lighting up the large room.
It was so over the top that I had no idea what any of the food I had eaten tasted like.
From a cost-effectiveness standpoint, it wasn’t good—my civilian spirit couldn’t take it.
From then on, I meekly let them bring my meals to my room.
It would just be a one cart round trip.
I was lonely, so I had invited Hans to dinner, but he had declined.
I heard that in his position as a servant, he would be scolded later by his supervisor even if he was given permission. What a pity.
That was why I invited Gilliam.
The meals you would have together with somebody else were delicious, weren’t they? I knew this because I ate lunch in the barracks or in the officials’ canteen.
Would I be able to go back to my world like this and return to my lonely one-man meals?
Should I raise a bird, or a fish? Timewise, I didn’t think I could take care of a cat or a dog…
… I guess that was why I’ve been a virgin for 35 years—I wasn’t even thinking about getting a girlfriend or anything. (Tears)
Since Gilliam had to go back to his parents’ house on weekends, we scheduled the dinner meeting on a weekday.
That day was fine for me, since I worked in an office, but it seemed that he was coming after finishing his training with the Knights and washing off the sweat.
In this world that relied on candles and oil for light, they tended to eat dinner early. So, when I finished work on time and returned to my room, the light coming through the window in the hallway told me that the summer sun had not yet set.
Kii… There was a sound of the door opening.
My feet slowly stopped moving as I noticed a figure coming out from one of the guest rooms.
This was the first time I had met someone who wasn’t a servant or an assistant since my schedule didn’t seem to coincide with the guests staying in this building.
The other person, who closed the door gently to avoid making a sound, noticed me and looked at me.
“…My Lord. Nice to meet you.”
He bowed his head gracefully, letting the veil that hung over his head fall to his shoulders as if to hide his long golden hair.
I could tell that he was not an aristocrat by the clothes that he wore.
In this world, one wore a style of clothing with longer hems and more layering as one’s age and status increased.
The basic rule was to wear a heavily draped undergarment with a few layers over it to hide it, and then finally wrapping a belt around one’s waist.
For a middle-class adult male, the hem was usually around the knees, but the clothes he wore showed his thighs like a child.
He only wore one outer garment. Instead of additional cloth layers, his arms, chest, and the area from his waist to his feet were adorned with ornaments.
His waistband was also decorated with a chain of glittering copper coins, and he held a small stringed instrument in his hand.
I thought, “Could he be…”
Here it comes, here it comes, the cliche of the fantasy world!!
“… A minstrel?”
“Yes,” the purple-eyed young man affirmed, as he beamed; I noticed a sexy beauty spot around his mouth.
“…This is my first time meeting one…”
“It’s not that unusual. I usually sing and stroll around the castle here. It’s just that earlier in the day, I was invited by the lord of this room, who noticed me while he was passing by in his carriage.”
“You were singing here? Wow, I would have loved to have heard you. I wonder if it could have been heard all the way down the hall?”
“You may have heard it. Since he was fond of some rather intense play.”
“…Eh?”
“It was my bedroom voice. The higher it is, the more people will be pleased…”
I thought for a while and realized what he was trying to say.
My whole face suddenly became hot.
“Oh my!” The minstrel laughed happily. “You really didn’t know about us, did you? It’s not just songs that we sell. Everything about me is for sale.”
The real expert is here—!!!
I’d heard there was a brothel. All men, though.
I also knew that men in this world were sexually unrestrained. With men, though.
I see, so a minstrel’s side job also included that kind of work?
He sure was a piece of work, this guest in this room whose face I didn’t even know!
A one-night stand with a handsome young man you fancy! In the middle of the day!
“…Umm, are you interested in me…?”
His voice was beautiful, which seemed fitting as his main occupation was that of a singer.
Before I even realized it, the sweet scent of perfume drifted from the young man who was approaching my side.
Raising his eyes from his cast down gaze, he gave me a look of desire that was probably intentional.
“Now that you’re here, why don’t you verify what kind of person a minstrel is… right now…?”
….If he had been a woman, it might have been bad.
But whether he was a woman or a man, I couldn’t ‘t get physical with him anyway1.
I curbed my fantasies together in the depths of my throat with tears.
“No…” I turned down his invitation.”Would you be interested in just singing? I’ll pass on the other part.”
“Are you not interested in having fun?”
“… I’m not saying I’m not interested …”
I looked down, attempting to tear my gaze away from the purple eyes that were peering into mine, when I noticed a stream running down his white thighs, peeking out from the hem of his short clothes.
“Your legs are…”
“Ahh,” he noticed the condition of his lower body and frowned in a troubled manner. “I’m sorry to show you something so unsightly. The lord said he hates clean up after sex, so I did as I was ordered.”
“What about the bath? There’s one, right?”
“There is no lord who would let a strolling minstrel use his bath.”
I grabbed his hand.
“There’s also a bath in my room. Come on in.”
It must’ve been tough, having to leave it like that.
At least, it was tough for me.
It was a mess, it stuck to me from my feet to my clothes, and every time I took a step to get home quickly, someone else’s semen would leak out from inside…!
I pulled at the hand of the minstrel I had just met and returned to my room at the far end of the guest room building.
T/N: Another handsome man. Golden hair with purple eyes. Rare combo.
Want faster releases for Seduction Strategy and Hardcore Gamer? Support Kagura on Kofi!