I Was Supposed to Be Feeding the Pigeons, But Somehow I Ended Up Feeding a Beautiful Demon Lord Instead - 16

Chapter 16

It seems the world nearly came to an end on the morning. My thermometer showed 38.2°C.

When I woke up that morning, my body felt heavy as lead. My throat burned with pain, every joint creaked and ached, and my vision swayed unsteadily, the ceiling spinning above me. Classic cold symptoms.

“……Ugh…”

I tried to crawl out of bed, but gave up almost immediately and collapsed back down. No way. I couldn’t move.

(……I won’t be able to go to the park.)

The first thing that came to mind was the pigeons, and Bell-san, who was probably waiting for me on that bench.

The feeding routine I had never missed. Would she come today too? If I didn’t show up, would she just sit there alone on the bench the whole time?

I wished I had my phone. With no way to contact her, I gave up and stayed lying in bed.

◆

The next time I opened my eyes, I felt a strange kind of chill. Not the shivering of a fever—this was something else. A primal instinct, like an alarm bell ringing inside me, warning of an absolute predator.

“……Nn… uh…？”

I forced my heavy eyelids open. The room was dark. It should still be early afternoon, but the light leaking through the curtain gaps was completely blocked, and pitch-black darkness seemed to seep out from every corner of the room. And right there, standing beside my bed at the center of that darkness, “she” was.

“……Kazuya”

A low, trembling voice that sounded like it rose from the bottom of hell. The figure who emerged from the shadows was Bell. But this wasn’t the usual lazy, laid-back Bell. Her eyes flickered like purple flames, and crackling black lightning surged violently around her.

“B-Bell…san…? Why are you… here…”

“……I used Shadow Crossing. Something as crude as a front door felt far too troublesome for me in this state.”

She placed her cool hand on my forehead. That hand was trembling.

“……Hot. ……What is this heat?”

Anxiety and anger mixed in Bell’s voice.

“Over 38 degrees…! This isn’t a temperature a mere human should be able to withstand! Is this… the Curse of the Flame Dragon? Or the Vampire’s Fever!? Answer me, Kazuya! Who did this to you!?”

“N-no… it’s just… a cold…”

“A cold? Don’t lie to me! There is no way my contractor would collapse from something as trivial as a common cold! I placed an Absolute Defense on you, didn’t I!?”

Bell was in a complete panic. The microscopic enemy called a virus had simply slipped through the physically immune barrier, but her thought process wasn’t nearly that sophisticated.

“……Who was it? The cowardly scum who dared to attack while I was away… The Hero of the North? The cultists of the South…? Grrr, enough! In that case, I’ll just erase every suspicious country from the map right now—”

“W-wait… calm down…”

I desperately squeezed out my voice. If this continued, my simple cold might end up redrawing the world map.

“It really is just a cold! If I sleep one night, it’ll get better…”

“……Sleep and it’ll heal? Don’t mess with me!”

Bell shouted and grabbed my shoulders.

“I… I was scared, you know! The moment I realized you weren’t coming, more than the pigeons running out of food, I thought… what if your life’s flame was about to go out…!”

“……Bell-san”

“Quiet. I won’t allow any more of this nonsense about sleeping it off. …I will heal you myself.”

Bell dramatically flipped her mantle and headed toward the kitchen.

“Wait right there. I’m going to make you a special nourishing porridge that surpasses even the Elixir known in the demon world.”

……A very bad feeling came over me. Bell standing in the tiny kitchen of my apartment—this wasn’t cooking. This was the beginning of alchemy.

◆

CLANG! BASH! DOGOOOOO……!

Destructive noises kept coming from the kitchen.

“……Tch, human stoves lack firepower… Hell Flare!”

WHOOSH!! For a moment, I swear the room temperature jumped by about five degrees.

“……These are the ingredients. Top-grade Mandragora root… Shut up with that screaming. And Hydra regenerative meat… plus a pinch of Phoenix tail feather powder for flavor…”

Words I really shouldn’t be hearing were drifting over. Mandragora? Hydra? Was this hallucination caused by my fever? It had to be. Surely she was just speaking metaphorically about ginger and chicken or something.

“……Good. Simmer it. Melt it down completely—resentment and all—until no original form remains.”

Gurgle, gurgle. The sound of simmering was heavy. Not the sound of water boiling, but the thick, viscous sound of magma circulating. And the smell that filled the room—a chaotic blend of herbal freshness, beastly wildness, and for some reason, the burnt smell of sparklers.

(……Am I really going to eat that?)

My fever felt like it was about to spike from sheer terror when Bell finally came back. On the tray she carried was an earthenware pot. But the steam leaking from its lid glowed in rainbow colors.

“……It’s done, Kazuya.”

Bell sat beside the bed and lifted the lid of the pot.

PAAAAA……! Dazzling light poured out. The contents were purple. A violently poisonous purple sludge, with eyeball-like bubbles occasionally rising and popping.

“……This is…？”

“Special Underworld Stamina Porridge. …The appearance is a little… questionable, but I calculated the nutritional value. One bite and even a dying ogre could sprint at full speed.”

A dying ogre sprinting. That didn’t sound like “healed”—more like “forced into a state where running was the only option.”

“……Now, open your mouth.”

Bell scooped up some of the purple substance with a ladle and blew on it gently.

“Say ahhh.”

“N-no, I can eat by mys—”

“Your hands are shaking. Leave it to me. …Come on, ahhh.”

Bell’s face was very close. Her eyes held worry, the joy of being able to nurse me, and a silent pressure that clearly said “I won’t forgive you if you leave any behind.” There was no escape. I steeled myself.

I opened my mouth and accepted it.

Squelch. The moment it landed on my tongue, a shock ran through me.

“……!?”

It had no taste. Or rather—it felt like a flavor-transcending “energy” was being directly injected into my brain. Hot. The instant it went down my throat, an explosion seemed to happen in my stomach, and a scorching torrent rushed through my blood vessels. I could vividly imagine Mandragora’s life force, Hydra’s regeneration, and Phoenix’s revival power doping my pathetic immune cells, physically beating the virus to death.

“……Ngh…!”

“How is it? Good?”

Bell watched me anxiously. Even as my consciousness nearly blacked out, instinct made me answer.

“……W-warm… it’s warm…”

“Yes! Then eat more! Finish it all and get better!”

After that, it was a back-and-forth between hell and heaven. Spoonful after spoonful of purple porridge was brought to my mouth. Each bite raised my body temperature, made me sweat profusely, and caused my vision to flicker.

This wasn’t treatment. This was modification. Yet strangely, the heaviness in my body had vanished. The fatigue, the headache—everything was swept away by the overwhelming wave of energy, leaving only an intense feeling of “overflowing vitality.”

◆

Before I knew it, the pot was empty. I was drenched in sweat, breathing deeply.

“……Phew. You ate well.”

Bell nodded with satisfaction and gently wiped the sweat from my forehead with a towel. Her touch was surprisingly tender.

“……Your fever seems to have gone down too.”

“……Yeah. My body feels… really light. Like I have too much energy, actually…”

“Of course. That one bowl contains the caloric energy of an entire dragon.”

She said something terrifying so casually that I didn’t even have the strength to retort. A powerful wave of drowsiness was hitting me hard.

My body was demanding an emergency shutdown to digest the massive energy overload.

“……Thank you, Bell-san…”

“……No need for thanks.”

Bell stroked my head. The last time someone patted my head like this might have been when I was a child.

“……Kazuya. …Don’t make me worry like that again.”

“……Okay.”

“If you disappeared… who would I sit with on that bench?”

I thought I heard loneliness in her voice. I tried to say something, but my eyelids were too heavy to keep open.

“……Sleep. I’ll stay here until you wake up. …I won’t let anyone disturb you.”

That was my last memory. In my dreams, I felt the absolute sense of security that came from being wrapped in giant wings.

◆

The next morning, I woke up before my alarm clock. My condition… was perfect. No—too perfect.

My skin was glowing, my muscles felt slightly stronger, and I swear my eyesight had jumped to about 2.0.

When I glanced to the side, I saw Bell asleep, slumped over the bed from the chair she was sitting in. Her silver hair sparkled in the morning light. Her sleeping face looked like that of an innocent young girl.

(……She really stayed with me the whole time.)

A warmth spread through my chest. The kitchen was in apocalyptic condition (charred pot, mysterious purple stains), but right now I couldn’t bring myself to get angry.

“……Nn… uh… Kazuya…”

Bell stirred, slowly opened her eyes, rubbed her sleepy face, then suddenly snapped awake and peered at me intently.

“……Are you alive!?”

“Good morning, Bell-san. I’m perfectly fine.”

“……I see. …Good.”

She let out a truly relieved breath, then suddenly looked away, seeming embarrassed.

“……Don’t get the wrong idea. I was simply… observing the progress of my test subject, that’s all.”

“Sure, sure. It was the best experiment ever. Thanks to you, I’m completely recovered.”

When I smiled, Bell gave a small smile in return.

“Then tomorrow…”

“Yeah. I’ll go to the park. I’ll bring something delicious.”

“……Good. I look forward to it.”

Bell stood up and stretched widely.

“Then I’ll be going. I’m a little sleepy.”

“Take care. Thank you so much.”

She vanished through spatial transfer. All that remained was me—who had become far too healthy—and the devastated kitchen. I gave a wry smile and stood up to start washing the pot.

…………Wait. How did Bell even know where I live!?