Seduction☆Strategy
Translator: Kagura
Editor: Millinia
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 22
I opened the unlocked door and entered the room. (I didn’t feel the need to lock it since the building itself is very secure. That, and I didn’t have anything of value to worry about being stolen.)
The room was already lit in anticipation of my approximate return time.
The bath was also ready to be used. It was the Japanese bath, where the spring water was available 24/7.
I pulled at the minstrel’s hand and took him directly to the bathroom in the adjacent room.
I took out the drying towel, innerwear, and soap—which had already been prepared on a shelf near the wall.
“The bath is a Japanese bath, do you know how to use it?”
“Ah, yes probably.”
“Then that’s good. The soap dissolves when soaked in hot water, so put it away in this wooden box when you are done using it. You can wash your hair with the bottled shampoo there. It is difficult if you are not used to it, so call me if you need help. As for the outerwear, the closet is in the other room, so I’ll prepare it.”
I thought, “Come to think of it, I don’t know your name, minstrel-san…” but I decided it was okay and closed the bathroom door.
A meeting by chance is preordained.1
It was probably fate that we met… even though I hated the idea.
I pulled the string and called my capable servant, Hans.
“Keigo-sama. Gilliam-sama has arrived.”
Gilliam came into the room, guided by one of the servants of the guest room building.
I was at the table and raised my hand to say “Hi” to him when he appeared.
“Thank you for having me here today.”
“No, no. Thank you for coming, too. As you can see, the food isn’t quite ready yet, so please wait a while.”
I took him to a table with the folded outerwear on it and offered him a seat in the front of it.
“There’s no need to hurry,” Gilliam nodded in an easygoing manner as he sat down on the chair.
“Umm… Keigo-sama,” Hans came out of the adjacent room and called my name in a somewhat firm voice.
“Is there a problem?”
When the boy opened the door wide, the minstrel appeared, brimming with the afterglow of a fresh bath.
He bewitchingly smiled as he looked at me and Gilliam.
“Lord, are you two going to play together…?”
“…Pardon?”
Smoothly… he slipped the thin innerwear off his shoulders.
Naked.
He was completely naked.
…I prepared briefs for you, right?
Why did you strip? Why weren’t you wearing them?
Whatever, but why didn’t he have hair!?… Wait, no, that wasn’t it.
“Where is the need for you to be naked?!”
The beautiful young man smiled coquettishly at me as I jumped out of the chair I was sitting in and backed away.
“Why don’t you play with me, from now on?”
“I’m not playing! I have no intention of playing at all!”
“… But you let me use your bathroom.”
“Why do I have to play with you after you take a bath?! Normally, you’d at least offer a bath! Isn’t that something you should offer?!”
Gilliam, who was still in his chair, turned to me—who’d fled—with a troubled look on his face (which thankfully did not include contempt).
“… Keigo. I don’t know how it is in Japan, but in this world, offering a bath is considered as an act with ulterior motives.”
“!!!!!!!”
“… Ah! I understand now… You, sorry, but he didn’t have that in mind. Put on your clothes. I’m sure this is your outerwear. I’ll have that servant take you to the castle gate.”
“But—!”
Gilliam interjected, “I will pay you.”
The minstrel youth bit his lip.
As he began to put on the clothes he had slipped off at his feet, Hans came over to get his outerwear from the table.
Gilliam handed the youth a small pouch he had pulled out of his own pocket.
The minstrel, currently dressed, turned to me.
“Thank you… for letting me use your bath.”
“――――――”
“That reminds me, my lord, you originally said that you had no intention of playing with me. I apologize.”
He slightly smiled and Hans led him out of the room.
At the sound of the door closing, I slumped… and sat down on the floor straight away.
“… H-how did this happen …”
“Keigo.”
Gilliam, who was standing up, helped me get my overturned chair up.
Taking advantage of the hand offered to me, I stood up in a daze.
“People like that never miss a chance to get their hands on money. That was a disaster.”
After I got him to pull me up, I staggered back to my seat.
I sat down and flattened myself against the table.
I couldn’t raise my red face, so I asked him while keeping my head down.
“… So, a bath is an invitation phrase in this world …?”
“Yes, it sort of equates to, ‘I want to hold you when you are cleaner,’ or ‘Hold me when I am cleaner.’ The public baths are not subject to that condition more or less, but the private baths are.”
“… In Japan, it is an expression of friendship, ‘It’s a good bath, so go ahead and soak in it.'”
“… Think of it as a learning experience.”
“It’s not only that!!”
I suddenly raised my face and I turned my tear-stained eyes to my reliable colleague.
“I’d also invited Hans…! Rather, we have already been in there together. And he washed my hair and such.”
“… Ah, you mean the servant serving you? I believe he would be well aware that you are an otherworlder.
Or did you just want to caress him?”
Gilliam’s question laced with laughter made me shake my head.
I didn’t, but I felt like I was washing together with my nephew.
Eh, was it possible that this behavior was okay in Japan, but a crime in other countries?
Was Japan alone strange?
“…Thank you, Gilliam.”
I looked up at him again, as I was laying flat against the table; he, the handsome man, gently smiled back at me.
His hand patted my head with a pop.
“… Does Gilliam like to take baths, in the normal sense?”
“Ah. It makes me refreshed.”
“In that case, why don’t you come to my room and take a bath sometime? It feels good, the bath of the guestroom building in the castle. It feels super good so…”
When I invited him with a laugh, he smiled as he looked at me.
The hand that was still touching me patted my head as it was.
The fingers that were patting my head caressed down my cheek, reached my mouth, and they softly touched my lips.
“…I’m hungry. I wonder when Hans will be back,” I muttered, and Gilliam averted his gaze.
“It’s about time,” he said, withdrawing his fingers.
Excuse me. I’m not eating your fingers, okay?
T/N: Levin: Strip
Me: You are one of my favourites from now.
Levin is the minstrel’s name. He will appear again. Don’t worry. Also, Gilliam is one step into Keigo’s harem. This is really a fun chapter. I enjoyed translating this.
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“Eh, was it possible that this behavior was okay in Japan, but a crime in other countries?
Was Japan alone strange?”
Too strange
Thank you!!!
Interesting thing about the baths. The harem only grows… Thank you for the chapter!