Gluttony Demon King with the Swampman ~A Man with No Magic Power Who Dreamed of Magic, Wielding Knowledge from His Past Life Through Steady Research and Hard Work to Become the Most Vicious Final Boss~ - Chapter 58: The Duke's Daughters Want to Tuck Me In

Chapter 58: The Duke’s Daughters Want to Tuck Me In

Lately, our nights have ended early.

We finish dinner around evening.

After the meal, we enjoy some light dessert or tea while chatting for a while, then take a bath once the sun has fully set.

Of course, they never let me do it alone.

Usually it’s Noiche or Zaria, and on busier days, even Egiy or Oz wants to help.

“You’re still not hesitant at all…”

I stare in amazement at Zaria and the others stripping naked right in front of me.

Today’s helpers are Zaria, Noiche, and Egiy—three in total.

Each has a slim body with thick chest armor hanging exposed, and the sisters tilt their heads.

“…Haro never gets used to it, huh.”

“No matter how much time passes, his eyes are always glued to our boobs.”

“No, um… I actually feel pretty embarrassed, you know?”

The only saving grace for me is Egiy, whose face flushes red as she forces a wry smile.

No, even she does what she does.

As for me, I never get used to it, of course. I quickly look away, turning my face from the heat rising in my skin.

But I know that my reaction only fans their playful teasing even more.

“Okay, okay, then let’s strip Haro too~”

Once it reaches this point, there’s no escape. I get stripped.

Then I’m dragged into the bathroom and washed all over. This is the usual flow up to here.

“Ah, Haro. Don’t thrash around too much… See, the water level drops.”

“Your toes are all stretched out straight. Does it feel good when we stick close?”

Noiche and Egiy press in from front and back.

Their tight skin contact is truly dangerous. Even a slight movement turns into a slippery rub of flesh.

Today, Zaria seems in the mood to look down at me like this, without hiding her naked body at all. Instead, she thrusts out her full chest as if showing it off, stirring something deep in my heart.

“Sigh, too cute. Let’s get married soon.”

I can’t even tell if it’s a joke anymore.

Even after the bath ends, I’m rarely let go.

Most of the time, by the point we’ve cleaned our bodies, I’m the one who’s gone all limp. So I get carried out of the bath.

My body gets wiped with a cloth, and then I’m taken straight to the bedroom. They even want to handle the post-bath care.

I get laid down, surrounded, pampered, and finally slathered with thick lotion.

My whole body is covered in tattoos, so my skin is damaged and rough. At least keep it moisturized and cared for properly—that’s Zaria and the others’ claim, though it feels like they just want to touch me.

The lotions they use depend on the Levi sisters’ moods.

After all, they are duke’s daughters and spare no expense on beauty products. So they buy all sorts of herbs and soak me in them.

“…Like that restaurant with too many demands.”

“Restaurant? Haro, what are you talking about?”

It’s nothing. Anyway, lately my body smells like a girl’s.

Especially the ones Zaria picks—they all spread a sickly sweet fragrance around the room. It even feels like an aphrodisiac.

Carefully, carefully.

I get tended to like a doll and tucked in—that’s how most nights have been lately.

“Master, I’ll turn off the lights soon.”

Oz walks leisurely around the room, extinguishing the lamps one by one.

Meanwhile, I’m sandwiched between Noiche and Zaria on both sides, our bodies tangled under the blanket.

“Haro, think you can sleep tonight~?”

“Yeah, I’m starting to feel properly sleepy.”

I answer Zaria like that.

My body and mind relax from their overly attentive service, and a hazy drowsiness comes over me. Yes, all their devotion up to now is mainly to help me fall asleep like this.

“…If you can’t sleep, I can cast a spell, but it’s better not to rely on it.”

“It wouldn’t be good to get addicted to sleeping only with our magic.”

Yeah, that’s right.

I nod.

I have a slight—really just slight—tendency toward insomnia.

Medically, it’s called “sleep onset disorder.”

It’s hard to fall asleep. Once I do, I sleep long, and I nap a lot during the day too, but anyway, it means I can’t sleep at regular times.

This isn’t something new.

It’s been like this since I was little, and I guess it’s probably because too much knowledge, experience, and thinking got crammed into a child’s body, making me overthink things—that’s my own guess.

But lately, it’s gotten a bit worse.

What’s the cause? Maybe the friction with local groups like the medical guild.

Whether to charge money for medical treatment or not.

I fought them over my own morals, but that doesn’t mean there was no inner conflict. When I weighed the two guilts, I just chose the one easier on my mental health.

Even so—

Truth is, I’m not that thick-skinned. I just have things I’m passionate about; my heart isn’t strong.

Zaria and the others worry about me like that.

In the end, they’re overprotective.

They’ve always been that way. Ever since we met, always.

“Good night, Haro.”

Noiche’s whisper in that truly affectionate, sweet voice is the last thing I hear, and luckily, I sink smoothly into sleep that day.

—And yet.

Unfortunately, I get roughly woken up a few hours later.

It’s deep in the night. What wakes me is the sound of bells ringing from all over town.

First, the Levi sisters both sit up at the same time, and I get helped up by them too.

“…The alarm for monster intrusion?”

“Seems like it. Haro, can you wake up? Sorry, we’re waking you!”

Zaria claps her hands sharply—pan!—and flashes red light for a moment. It’s magic using one property of dawn mana: “awakening” to rouse someone from sleep.

Thanks to that, my foggy head clears quickly, and I grasp the situation.

“Thanks. Yeah… this is the monster signal, for sure.”

The town’s bells have preset patterns for different meanings, and this time, it’s probably just what Noiche said.

If I listen carefully, I hear people’s voices too.

Shouts, screams, calls to evacuate from all directions.

“W-what’s going on?”

“Well, I can guess. If it’s like I thought, Oz should contact us soon… Ah, there.”

As I look at the front wall, right then, the bat doll hanging on it flaps its wings pat-pat.

Suddenly, the wooden bat flies toward us.

It hooks its feet on the bed canopy and hangs upside down, then starts speaking in Oz’s voice from its megaphone-like head.

“Master, are you awake?”

“Yeah, just now. I heard the bells too.”

“I see. Then straight to the point. It seems a Demon King has likely infiltrated. The outer wall guards reported a swarm of thorns.”

Yeah, figures.

I’ve heard Demon Kings have high intelligence. I didn’t think they’d be soft enough to leave a failed hero alone.

That’s why lately I’ve had Oz on night watch.

This doll is a bat-type monster that handles sound magic, turned into a puppet and heavily modified—basically a “radio.”

It only works in specific areas connected by Oz’s mana threads, but it’s useful for communication over decent distances like this.

“…Still so convenient.”

“I think this bat is the most dangerous of Haro’s inventions.”

“I agree.”

Well, in this world, the tech level means radios haven’t appeared yet.

Research on “how to fly letters faster” is active, but the idea of magic to “send voices directly far away” is still underexplored. Especially for something this secure.

Considering military value, it might be the most useful card.

“Anyway, shall we get moving?”

Time to go slay a Demon King.