Wait, Why Is This #2
What is the single most essential item for a massage?
To that question, Adonis answered without hesitation: a massage table.
A proper bed with a face cradle cut into it, he argued, was the only way the whole thing would look legitimate—and feel right for someone lying face-down.
Semiramis, listening quietly, did not understand the reasoning in the slightest. But Adonis had said so, and so she accepted it without a single word of criticism.
In other words, she was being completely unthinking about it.
"Looks like the preparations are all finished, then."
Semiramis murmured as she surveyed the room they had set up in a corner of the first floor.
A long, slender partition stood across the middle of the space like a dividing wall, with beds and low display shelves arranged in neat symmetry on either side. Against one wall they had even installed a door that led straight into a bathroom.
"We're done. Once Eric starts spreading the word, customers should start trickling in every now and then, don't you think?"
"If that merchant brat spreads the word properly, it will be fine. You already know how well it worked when we worked over those merchant and mercenary types, don't you? Don't worry about it."
Semiramis answered while recalling the slack, utterly undone faces of those men, and Adonis nodded as if arriving at the same realization.
"That's true. It kind of turned into an experiment by accident, but… the results were solid."
"Which means other humans will react the same way."
And yet.
Semiramis crossed her arms, tilted her head, and turned her gaze toward the door leading into the bathroom.
"Was there a particular reason you put so much effort into the bathroom? For something meant only to wash dirty bodies, it turned out absurdly luxurious."
She had already heard why a bathroom was necessary, but the extravagance still puzzled her. Even considering the people who would come here, it felt excessive. They had even used magic to recreate the bathtub from the lair—all for the sake of humans whose faces they did not yet know.
"Huh? I just thought if it looked nice, there was no reason not to. And I kind of missed the bathtub we used back at the lair."
Realizing the reason was that simple, Semiramis let out a sigh. It was so trivial she had nothing left to say.
Then the word "missed" settled warmly in her chest, and the corner of her mouth curved up just a little.
In any case, after several days spent buying the house and furnishing it, the day to open finally arrived.
A small white sign hanging from the front doorknob announced the opening, and the very first customer was—of course—Eric.
They had spoken the night before, so there was no chance of missing him.
He had not come alone. He brought another man with him—a solidly built fellow whose sword at his hip made it clear he was no ordinary citizen.
Had Adonis still been bound by concerns of status, he might have tensed. Instead, only a resigned sigh slipped from his lips.
The sword-bearing man seemed to misread that sigh as nervousness. He clapped Adonis on the shoulder and spoke.
"It's only natural to be nervous, but I am not the sort to cause trouble lightly, so put your mind at ease. I swear it on my honor."
"Ah…! My apologies for the discourtesy."
Adonis hurriedly bowed his head, and the swordsman laughed as he continued. His temperament matched his impression—broad and easygoing.
"No discourtesy at all. I only came because I heard you have a fine hand for loosening a stiff body. I leave myself in your care."
"I will do my utmost."
Adonis bowed once more to show every courtesy, then laid Eric and the swordsman each on a bed.
Semiramis took Eric. Adonis took the man with the sword.
"Ah. I was late with introductions. My name is James. I serve, however inadequately, as a knight of this count's domain."
The swordsman—James—shed his uniform as he finally gave his name, and Adonis bowed again in greeting.
The uniform had already suggested high status, but a knight… Adonis pressed strength into his eyes as if startled, then folded James's discarded uniform neatly and set it on the display shelf. The sword went there as well.
"Hmm. Lying down like this after taking off my clothes feels rather strange."
James slipped into the thin shorts Adonis offered and blinked with open curiosity. With his upper body bare, his powerful musculature was fully on display, and the short length of the pants left his log-thick thighs almost completely exposed.
"For the best effect, it's better to work directly on bare skin. It will feel awkward and uncomfortable, so please bear with us."
"Uncomfortable? Not in the least, so don't give it another thought. The head of the trading company recommended this place until his mouth was worn out, so your skill is surely genuine—and the room is cozy enough. Anyway, shall I simply lie down here?"
James's eyes sparkled as he looked at the table with the face hole. Adonis nodded and stepped to the bedside.
"Yes. Lie face-down and rest your face in this opening."
"Let's see… Ohhh! At first I wondered why there was a hole like this, but it's far more comfortable than I expected. So that's why they cut it!"
James was delighted the moment he obeyed and settled into position. Breathing was freer than simply lying face-down, and his neck rested easy. He liked it so much that he already resolved, once the massage was finished, to ask for an introduction to the craftsman who had made the table.
"I'll begin."
Adonis spoke briefly, then set both hands on James's shoulders.
Closing his eyes and focusing through his fingertips, he felt the flow of blood and mana with perfect clarity. Even ordinary people who could not wield mana carried it in their bodies, but as a knight, James's current ran thicker and clearer still. Those who constantly tempered flesh and mana were, as expected, extremely healthy.
Healthy—yet the sheer volume of activity left traces of fatigue scattered here and there. For now he was simply enduring on the mana and strength he carried inside him.
Adonis swept his gaze down James's body, then began pressing firmly into the muscles of the lower back just above the hips. That was where the knots were worst.
"Oh… ohhh…!"
When Adonis quietly pressed with mana-laden fingers, James let out an involuntary sound of admiration. The moment those fingers sank into the muscles flanking the spine, heat rose through his lower back and a lightness followed as if by magic—miracle was not too strong a word.
At least, James sincerely believed so.
Higher. Then higher still.
As Adonis's fingers climbed after releasing the fatigue in the waist, James kept voicing low, continuous moans. Pain mixed into the sound, but the rapture of tension dissolving outweighed it. Wherever those fingers passed, the body felt instantly lighter.
Eric, surrendered to Semiramis, was much the same—though the moans he produced were markedly lower and less frequent than James's. Several sessions had already made him accustomed to it, and unlike James he received regular massages to maintain his body.
"…Sir James. Sir James. Would you turn onto your back for me?"
"Ah—mmh…! Forgive me. I must have dozed off."
James jerked awake and flipped over; Adonis answered with a bland expression that it was fine. He had seen people drift off during massages often enough that it no longer surprised him.
His gaze lingered for a moment on the faintly bulging front of James's shorts, then shifted to the man's chest.
Semiramis had noticed a similar sight on her side, but she remained completely unmoved. Whether some male who was not Adonis grew erect or not was of little concern to her. Even so, she had quietly worked a brief measure to keep it from rising, in case the clients grew embarrassed. Fortunately, the effect would lift the moment the massage ended.
"Mmm… this is truly fine work."
Chest. Legs. All the way to the feet.
When he heard that every part had been released, James sat up with a thoroughly refreshed expression. If anything, the body that fatigue had crushed now felt light as a feather, and his mood soared with it.
"I'm glad it pleased you."
"Yes. Truly excellent. If you have no appointments, I would like to come again as early as tomorrow… would that be all right?"
He was so satisfied he tried to book again before even putting his clothes back on. Adonis suppressed the smile that threatened to curve his lips and answered.
"Of course. We only opened today, so there are no reservations yet. Please come whenever is convenient for you."
"Good. Then I shall visit tomorrow before sunset."
"Understood. I will have everything ready and waiting."
When Adonis nodded readily, James's mouth drew a pleased arc. The thought of returning tomorrow to loosen his body again left him visibly joyful—like a child who had found a new toy.
"We have prepared a bathroom as well. If you wish to wash before you leave, please feel free to use it."
"Oh? A bathroom as well…? This is a remarkable establishment indeed! But I did not sweat much today, so I will simply accept the kindness of the offer."
Only then did James seem to remember himself and hurriedly change. He met Eric just as the merchant was finishing dressing, exchanged a brief farewell, and departed.
A solid success from the very first day.
Adonis watched the two men recede with deep satisfaction and let himself relax—only to realize soon enough that things going too well could also be a problem.
Several weeks into business.
Eric had brought James through his connections, and James in turn had brought his own wife. From then on, people with spare coin in their pockets—or their wives—began visiting more and more, until at last it culminated in the countess herself setting foot through the door.
Count Clenger was a knight capable of refining mana into aura and releasing it, and his wife, influenced by him, had come to enjoy exercise as well. Training together to maintain firm physiques had left them on excellent terms. The smooth, utterly lean body of a woman just past forty was proof enough of that.
When Semiramis's fingers kneaded the countess's tightly toned stomach with almost teasing pressure, the breathless cry that spilled from the woman's lips was only natural. Beside her, the count receiving his own massage was stimulated enough that his lower half had begun to swell. Even in his mid-forties he still overflowed with the vigor of a young man.
"Ah… nn… Good. Wonderfuuul…♥"
When another's fingers work the flesh, awareness naturally gathers there, and sensation grows sharper by the moment. In other words, the body becomes sensitive—and that was why cases like the countess, who dissolved into heated cries, were hardly rare.
Men could usually endure with moderate moans, but women tended to go further. Exactly as far as this: unable to keep the cries from spilling free.
Adonis and Semiramis had only realized this belatedly, yet neither thought it particularly bad. If anything, it was a benefit.
Most of the men and women who came for massages were already intimate, and when such couples grew heated together, it only helped deepen their bond. As a result, some of them made use of the bathroom afterward to relieve their urges.
Just like today.
"Mmm… thoroughly refreshing. I'll be back again."
The count, looking drained, offered his thanks, while the countess beamed with a strangely lively glow. Adonis watched their carriage pull away and firmly decided he needed to clean the bathtub first.
He flipped the sign on the doorknob from open to closed, stepped back inside, and headed for the bathroom—where he found Semiramis's back as she cast a cleaning spell.
Ever since the rumors had spread so rapidly, the place had begun to be called a hall for improving relationships… or else a brothel without the people. He felt that truth anew.
"Sorry. Already finished?"
When Adonis wrapped his strong arms around her waist from behind, Semiramis grinned and swayed her hips. Pressing and rubbing herself against his crotch, she could feel the heavy length of him growing steadily harder.
"There is nothing for you to apologize for, so pay it no mind. Simply holding me like this is more than enough."
"Want to do it now?"
"What a foolish question."
Of course they should. Of course.
Even as Adonis thought about freeing the blood-heavy cock straining for release, he turned his steps toward the display shelf instead. Today a desire to enjoy something a little different was winning out over pure instinct.
"Is that not the oil you use for massages?"
Semiramis tilted her head at the white bottle in Adonis's hand. It was a recent creation, made once they had a little more leeway—oil that further enhanced the effects of a massage. Its one drawback was that, being oil, it left the skin slippery, so a bath was mandatory afterward.
"That's right. Massage oil."
"Then why have you brought it here?"
"There's something I really want to do with you, Semiramis. First, strip everything off and lie down over there for me?"
He pointed to the massage table sitting alone beside the bathtub. A peculiar light entered Semiramis's eyes—curiosity, interest, and a faint thread of anticipation all tangled together.
If my child wants it, then of course I will.
Thinking exactly that, Semiramis laughed and shed her clothes without the slightest hesitation.