I Was Supposed to Be Feeding the Pigeons, But Somehow I Ended Up Feeding a Beautiful Demon Lord Instead - 09

Chapter 9

The air in the royal capital felt more tense than ever before.

With both the northern land routes and the sea routes completely cut off, the kingdom had finally switched to a full siege defense stance.

The ancient “Absolute Defense Barrier” that covered the entire capital.

The first layer was a physical wall, the second a magical barrier, and the third a layer of sacred protection.

As long as these three walls stood, people said the capital was invincible.

“Extra! Extra! The capital is immortal!! All three barrier layers completely nullify the Demon King’s army attacks!!”

“They can’t even touch us! Our victory is guaranteed!!”

The boys shouting the news sounded full of energy, but the faces of the ordinary citizens were clearly exhausted.

A siege means you can’t go outside.

Supplies keep decreasing. Anxiety keeps growing.

While clutching my head over the skyrocketing price of meat, I somehow managed to secure some ground beef and was walking through a back alley.

My biggest worry wasn’t the strength of the barrier.

It was Bel — the total workaholic.

She had handled one crisis after another on land, sea, and air, yet in the end the capital still ended up completely surrounded.

The pressure on her for what to do next must be enormous.

Bel was sitting on our usual bench.

For once she looked unusually grumpy, flicking the little pile of pebbles she had stacked up with her finger.

Click. Click.

Each time a pebble flew off, the wrinkle between her eyebrows grew deeper.

“…Bel-san. Hello.”

When I called out to her, she glared sharply in my direction…
but the moment she realized it was me, her face instantly changed to something that looked like she was about to cry.

“…Kazuya… …it’s hard.”

“What is? Your shoulders stiff again?”

“No… …the ‘skin’.”

Bel pointed at the pebble she had just flicked away and spat the words out in clear frustration.

“The capital’s… no, the ‘wall’ at the site. I peel off one layer, and another one immediately appears underneath. If I try to break through physically, the magic repels it. If I try magic, the sacred power gets in the way… It’s like an onion wearing layer after layer of clothes.”

“Ahh, classic bureaucracy. The endless passing-the-buck system.”

I nodded deeply.

Getting a single document approved meant the section chief’s stamp, the department head’s stamp, the bureau director’s stamp…

The vertical administrative structure at its worst.

Countless layers of approval walls.

For someone like Bel who believed in getting things done on the front line, that was probably the ultimate source of stress.

“It’s unbelievably annoying. If I carefully peel off each layer one by one, the sun will set before I finish.”

“Right? In an emergency like this, doing it little by little just lets everything cool down.”

“Cool down?”

“Yeah. If you don’t eat it while it’s hot, it won’t taste good.”

I opened the basket.

A soft wave of fragrant grilled meat and toasted bread drifted out.

What I pulled out was a gigantic mass almost the size of my face.

“…What is this? A tower… of bread?”

“It’s a hamburger.”

Between the buns were stacked — almost excessively — a juicy beef patty, tomato, lettuce, cheese, bacon, and a fried egg.

Because it was so tall, a long bamboo skewer had been stabbed straight through the center to keep it from collapsing.

“…It’s so tall. How am I supposed to eat this? Do I really have to dismantle it layer by layer from the top…?”

“Wrong answer! If you do that the flavors will all separate!”

When Bel tried to lift the top bun, I hurriedly stopped her.

“The whole point of a hamburger is to taste everything at once. The rich flavor of the meat, the crisp texture of the vegetables, the sweetness of the bread… They all mix together in your mouth — that’s when it’s finally complete.”

“…But my mouth is not big enough to fit something this thick.”

“That’s why we do this.”

I grabbed the top and bottom of the burger with both hands.

“Press it hard between your palms to compress it. Don’t worry even if the shape gets a little messy. And then…”

“And then?”

“Keep the skewer in, and bite straight into the center while it’s still pierced through. As long as the skewer stays, nothing will slip out or shift around.”

I squashed it a bit until it looked more manageable, then placed the burger into both of Bel’s hands.

Her hands were small, making the burger look even bigger.

It seemed like she might drop it, so I gently wrapped my hands around hers to support it.

“Come on, open wide.”

“…Nn, nnh…”

“Say ‘ahhh’.”

Still having her hands held by me, Bel opened her mouth as wide as she could and took a huge bite.

Chomp.

A burst of hot meat juices spilled out.

“…Nngh, mmph…!”

Her eyes opened wide in shock.
The thick sauce and meaty flavor tangled together with the crisp vegetables.

All the layers — three, four deep — exploded into one massive flavor bomb inside her mouth.

“…Delicious!!”

With sauce smeared at the corner of her mouth, Bel let out a joyful shout.

“What is this destructive power?! All the separate tastes come together and attack at once…! The meat, the vegetables, the egg — everything breaks through every defense layer in a single strike!!”

“See? Instead of carefully peeling things apart, the right way is to pierce straight through in one go.”

“Pierce… straight through in one go…”

While chewing, Bel stared intently at the bamboo skewer still stuck through the center of the burger.

“No matter how many layers are stacked… if you drive a single skewer straight from top to bottom, none of it matters anymore, does it…?”

“Exactly. Once it’s skewered through, nothing can escape.”

A sharp gleam flashed in Bel’s eyes.

She squeezed my hand back and looked up at me with a heated gaze.

“…I see. There was no need to peel anything off. If I just skewer the whole thing from heaven to earth in one thrust…”

“Right, right. Skip all the annoying procedures — top-down, one decisive strike.”

When I said that, Bel gave a delighted smile, took another huge bite, and got sauce all over her mouth again.

I gave a wry smile and wiped her lips with a handkerchief.

“You’re such a messy eater. Sauce everywhere.”

“…Mm. Kazuya, keep supporting it for me. It’s so heavy I might drop it.”

“Okay, okay.”

I moved behind her and wrapped my arms around her from behind, helping her hands hold the burger steady.

It looked almost like feeding a child, but Bel leaned her back comfortably against me and happily enjoyed her meal.

I could feel the steady thump-thump of her heartbeat through her back.

“…Kazuya’s body warmth and the heat of the meat feel so good.”

“Eat up and recharge. You’ll need a lot of strength to break through those walls.”

“Mm. …Like this skewer — sharp, heavy, and unstoppable. I will pierce right through.”

When she finished eating, Bel pulled the bamboo skewer out with a satisfied expression and raised it toward the sky.

“I see it now. The way to open a hole in this ridiculously thick wall.”

“That’s great. You found a solution.”

“Yes.”

She stood up, threw herself against my chest, and hugged me tightly.

“Thank you, my beloved accomplice. Tonight, a hole will be opened in the royal capital.”

“In the capital…? Hope it gets better ventilation then.”

With blushing cheeks, Bel gave a soft smile, clenched the bamboo skewer tightly, and vanished.
I nibbled on the leftover fries while looking up at the sky.

Government walls really are thick, huh.

I hope her “one decisive word” actually gets through.

Little did I know that very night, a gigantic “stake” would suddenly appear in the sky above the capital through teleportation.

And that stake — riding the full force of gravitational acceleration — would pierce the first, second, and third absolute defense barriers like they were paper, and slam straight into the front courtyard of the royal castle, creating an enormous crater.

◇

“The b-barrier…!? All three layers broke at the same time!?”

“A spear fell from the sky!? What the hell is that size!?”

“Hiiiie! The capital’s protection got skewered in one hit!!!”

The royal capital had gone beyond panic and fallen into dead silence.

A single enormous stake had torn through the night sky and crashed down.

Castle walls, magical barriers, sacred protection — everything had been rendered equally meaningless as it was pierced clean through and driven deep into the earth.

The shockwave alone shattered every window in the capital.

Yet, by some miracle, there were no casualties.

It had struck with perfect precision, targeting only the central plaza.

A clear warning from the Demon King.

From the top of a hill overlooking the capital, a figure watched the scene.

It was Demon King Bel.

While savoring the lingering taste of sauce on her lips, she gazed at the embedded stake with an expression of pure ecstasy.

“…Hmph. Just like Kazuya said. When you pierce everything at once, the despair really soaks in deep.”

The demon staff officer kneeling beside her trembled violently as he prostrated himself.

“T-terrifying… To break through an absolute barrier with thousands of years of history… using nothing but the kinetic energy of pure mass… Does that ‘shadowless strategist’ treat even the laws of physics as a weapon!?”

“It’s not a weapon.”

Bel licked her own finger and murmured in rapture.

“It’s a skewer. Kazuya taught me. To keep your beloved ingredients (humans) from escaping, you pierce straight through the center and hold them firmly in place.”

“Hiiie…! What incredible possessiveness…!”

In the staff officer’s mind appeared an apocalyptic vision:
a giant named Kazuya skewering the entire hamburger that was the royal capital, preparing to devour it whole.