I Was Supposed to Be Feeding the Pigeons, But Somehow I Ended Up Feeding a Beautiful Demon Lord Instead - 03

Chapter 3

The weekend park felt completely different from last week.

It was wrapped in a calm atmosphere.

The kingdom’s army had suffered a major defeat on the northern front.

But the Demon Lord’s army had temporarily halted their pursuit.

The front lines had reached a stalemate.

A peaceful quiet like the calm before the storm had come to the capital.

“Extra—anyone want an extra?

The Holy Knights wiped out by poison mist!

Who is the mysterious ‘Invisible Strategist’ of the Demon Lord’s army!?”

I tuned out the boys’ alarming sales pitches as I walked the usual back alley.

Lately, rumors were spreading about this “Invisible Strategist.”

Apparently, someone who used cold, ruthless plans to poison the entire forest along with the Holy Knights.

Scary stuff.

I wanted nothing to do with it.

(…The real problem is the price of frying oil.)

My worries were much more down-to-earth.

With the northern trade routes cut off, the price of vegetable oil had skyrocketed.

But today, I absolutely had to make something.

After seeing how dramatically Bel-san—that mysterious female official I met in the park—recovered from drinking coffee, I realized something.

What she needed was not just healing from sugar.

She needed “stimulation” to blow away her pent-up frustration and hot “stamina.”

Deep in the park.

The usual bench.

Bel was there again today.

But she did not look half-dead like last week.

She sat on the bench with both hands clenched tightly in her lap.

Deep wrinkles creased her brow.

Her mouth bent downward in a pout.

Her cheeks puffed out a little.

She was sulking.

She looked like a grumpy cat.

“…Bel-san.

Hello.”

When I spoke, she jumped and looked up.

Her eyes behind the round glasses caught mine and grew slightly misty.

“…You’re late, Kazuya.”

“Sorry.

I got carried away perfecting the frying.”

“…I was waiting.

The whole time.”

She scooted over to make space for me on the bench.

When I sat next to her, I noticed how close her shoulder was—almost touching mine.

Last week there had been space for another person between us.

Today the distance was much smaller.

A faint sweet scent like perfume drifted from her.

My heart skipped a beat.

“Did something happen?

You have such deep wrinkles between your brows.”

“…Hmph.

It’s about the ‘nest’ up north.”

Bel leaned toward me and started complaining.

“The ones in the forest are taken care of.

But their main base—this ‘giant anthill’—is a real problem.

It just won’t fall.”

“An anthill, huh.”

So the termites chased out of the forest had fled into the nest where their boss was.

The palace sanitation department had it rough.

Dealing with nature made complete eradication a pain.

“That hill is ridiculously hard.

It’s reinforced with stone, and a strange barrier covers it that repels our attacks.”

“Wow, modern termite nests are sturdy.”

“And even if we chip away at it a little, white ones swarm out from inside and repair the walls right away.

…Argh!

Just thinking about it makes me mad!”

Bel growled “Grr” and ruffled her own head with both hands.

Her neat silver hair got a little messy.

It was an unguarded side of her I could never have imagined from her usual cool self.

“There, there.

Calm down.

Anger ruins a beautiful face.”

“…Hmph.

You say nice things so casually.”

She pouted her lips as she took bread crumbs from me and started feeding the pigeons.

“It’s true.

…Here, I brought something hot today.”

I opened the paper bag and took out an oval bread fried to a golden brown.

Bread crumbs coated the surface.

It was still steaming.

A spicy aroma rose.

Bel’s nose twitched.

“…What is this.

Fried pastry?

It smells good.”

“It’s called curry bread.

The inside is very hot, so be careful.”

When I handed it to her, she took it with both hands.

She wiggled her fingertips in surprise at the heat and blew on it—fuu, fuu.

Her pursed lips looked adorable, like a small animal.

“…I’ll eat it.”

Bel opened her small mouth and took a big bite.

Crunch.

The next moment, her eyes went round.

“Ngu…!?

Ow, hot…!?”

“I told you.”

“Haf, haf!

Ngu, mgu…”

The curry filling inside was hotter than expected.

She fanned her mouth with her hand and desperately huffed.

Her teary eyes looked at me in a way that was somehow incredibly cute.

“Spicy…!

But delicious…!”

“It’s packed with spices.”

“Mm… haf.

My body is getting hot…”

Bel ate eagerly.

The crispy dough and gooey curry seemed to melt away her stress.

I noticed a bit of curry sauce on the corner of her lips.

“Ah, Bel-san.

You’ve got some on you.”

“Hm?

Where?”

“Here.”

Without thinking, I reached out and gently wiped the corner of her lips with my thumb.

Soft.

Bel froze completely.

Her purple eyes stared at me from very close.

Starting from where my finger touched, her pale cheeks flushed bright red—as if I could almost hear the whoosh.

“Ah, sorry.

I did it like I would to my little sister.”

“…N-No…

It’s fine…”

Bel looked down and covered her mouth with her hand.

Even the ears visible under her hood turned bright red.

“It’s fine…

But it’s disrespectful toward me.

Touching suddenly like that.”

True.

Regardless of status or position, touching out of nowhere was bad.

“Sorry.

Did you hate it?”

“N-No, I didn’t hate it!

…It just… makes my heart race…”

She mumbled excuses in a tiny voice.

What was this atmosphere?

It felt sweet and sour, like a long-married couple or a new dating pair.

Even the pigeons seemed to read the mood and watched us from a distance.

Bel took a deep breath to calm herself, then carefully finished the rest of the curry bread.

She looked at me with cheeks still faintly pink.

“…Phew.

It was delicious.

Kazuya, your cooking always feels like magic.”

“I’m glad you liked it.

About that termite extermination…”

“Y-Yes…

Right.”

Bel cleared her throat once and turned serious again.

“The outside is hard, and they repair the inside quickly, right?”

“Yes.

The outer wall is the problem.”

“Then it’s the same as this curry bread.”

“…The bread?”

She tilted her head curiously.

“Instead of attacking from outside, heat it from the inside.”

“From the inside… heat it?”

“Yeah.

Pour boiling water—no, something even hotter and gooey—into the nest entrances.

That way the air inside expands from the heat, and the ones deep inside have nowhere to run and get cooked.”

As I explained with gestures, Bel suddenly placed a hand on her own stomach.

“…I see.

Ignore the outer shell and inject scorching heat as a liquid through the vents…

Exactly like the filling in this bread.”

“Something like that.

It’s called ‘boiling water disinfection.'”

“Boiling water disinfection…

Melt them gooey from the inside.”

The sweet embarrassment in Bel’s eyes vanished.

In its place, a different “heat” appeared.

It felt far more dangerous and vicious than romantic passion.

“…I understand, Kazuya.

I accept your suggestion.”

“It’s nothing big…

But good luck.”

Bel stood, turned her back to me, and flicked her robe.

Her back looked somehow excited and bouncy.

“Thank you, my dear strategist.

…Tonight will be a ‘hot night.'”

“Eh, night shift?

Don’t overdo it.”

She waved without turning around and vanished in the blink of an eye.

I brushed the bread crumbs off my fingers and smiled wryly at the pigeons.

She seemed really fired up.

Blushing that much just from wiping her mouth—she must have no immunity to romance because of all the work.

She’s really pure.

◆

“Eek! Hot! It’s hoooot!!”

“The walls are melting!?

The barrier isn’t working!

This isn’t physical attack—it’s terrain change!”

“Retreat!

Retreat—…Ah, the exits are blocked!?”

The northern fortress.

The place once proud of its iron walls had turned into a scene straight from hell.

Scorching magma poured like a waterfall from the sky into vents and windows.

The holy knights and temple soldiers barricaded inside ran around in panic, literally boiled like termites under hot water disinfection.

A shadow watched the scene from the back of a flying dragon high above.

It was Demon Lord Verzaria.

She gazed down at the hell below with an ecstatic expression while remembering the feel of Kazuya’s finger on her lips.

“…Hmph.

Just as Kazuya said.

Burn from the inside, and it’s fragile.”

The orc general on the neighboring dragon clacked his fangs and trembled.

“T-Terrifying…

Filling the fortress with magma to melt it…

Just how cruel is the ‘Invisible Strategist’?”

“It’s not cruelty.”

Bel touched her own lips with a finger and murmured dreamily.

“This is ‘love.’

He taught me.

To break a hard shell, just forcefully pour in hot feelings.”

“Hii…!

What overwhelmingly heavy love…!”

In the orc general’s mind flashed a grotesque vision of an imaginary giant forcing boiling magma down the throat of a fortress-shaped lover.

Thus, the infamous reputation of the Invisible Strategist—Kazuya—in the Demon Lord’s army climbed yet another step on the ladder of legend.