I Was Supposed to Be Feeding the Pigeons, But Somehow I Ended Up Feeding a Beautiful Demon Lord Instead - 27

Chapter 27

Sometimes, lost souls who seem completely cut off from the rest of the world appear in the park. Children who’ve gotten separated from their parents and are crying, pet dogs that slipped their leashes, or adults who have lost their way in life.

And today, the one who appeared in front of our bench was exactly that kind of lost soul.

“…I found you.”

The girl was dressed entirely in white. A white dress with frills, a white cape. In her hand she held a golden staff almost as tall as she was. She looked to be in her mid-teens, maybe.

Her translucent golden hair and strong-willed emerald eyes stood out. But those eyes were bloodshot, her shoulders heaved with every breath, and she looked as if she might collapse any second.

“At last… at last I’ve found you…! Root of all evil…!”

She thrust the tip of her staff sharply toward us. More precisely, toward Bel, who sat beside me carelessly eating a cream bun.

“…Hm?”

Bel lifted her face, cream still clinging to the corner of her mouth. In that instant, the girl flinched backward.

“Hii…! W-what incredible miasma…! Just sitting there, you’re making all the grass and flowers around you wither away…!”

“What a rude little thing. Nothing is withering. This is just winter preparations.”

Bel snorted in annoyance. I quickly pieced the situation together. That distinctive outfit. The theatrical lines. No parent in sight.

She was almost certainly a participant in a nearby cosplay event. Either she got separated from her group, or she had sunk so deep into character that she couldn’t snap back to reality.

“Hey, little miss, what’s wrong? Are you lost?”

When I spoke to her, the girl immediately pointed her staff at me.

“Civilians, please step back! That woman… that woman is a monster wearing human skin!”

“Hey, hey, calm down. Where’s your mom? Do you know a phone number?”

“I am ‘Saintess’ Aria! I received a divine revelation and came to this land to purge the darkness that nests here!”

Saintess. Got it—so that’s the character setting.

“I’m Kazuya. Just ignore her. She’s probably some rival group’s plant anyway.”

Bel said it lazily, sounding bothered. Apparently children who go this hard into role-playing were the type she found hardest to deal with. But then I heard it—the sad, rumbling sound of the girl’s stomach going guuu〜…

“…Aren’t you hungry?”

The moment I pointed it out, Aria’s face turned bright red.

“Th-this is the trembling of a warrior! Hunger is… I mean, no, that’s not it!”

“Here, eat this. It’s the new ‘Angel Ring Donut.’”

I took a sugar-coated donut out of the paper bag. Aria’s eyes locked onto it. The hand gripping her staff trembled faintly.

“Wh-what if there’s poison in it…? Something offered by the witch’s minion…”

“There’s no poison. Look, Bel is eating one too.”

I glanced at Bel. She clicked her tongue—“Tch, babysitting now?”—but still tore off a piece of her cream bun and popped it into her mouth.

“…It’s good. If you won’t eat it, I’ll take it.”

“I-I’ll eat it!”

Aria threw her staff aside and snatched the donut from my hand. Then she stuffed her cheeks like a squirrel.

“Nnng…! So sweet…! So fluffy…!”

The instant she took a bite, the murderous glint vanished from her eyes and tears welled up instead.

“It’s delicious…! Completely different from the hard-baked bread at the church…!”

“Good. Don’t choke, okay?”

I poured tea from my thermos into a cup and handed it to her. She gulped it down in one go and let out a long breath.

“I feel alive again… O God, thank you for this donut…”

She offered a devout prayer. The character consistency was impressive.

“So, what now? Can you get home?”

When I asked, Aria snapped back to herself and glared at Bel again.

“I-I’m not going home! My mission is to purify this Demon Lord!”

“Demon Lord?”

“Yes! Can’t you see it!? This pitch-black aura! The malice trying to shroud the world in darkness!”

I looked beside me. There sat Bel, cream smeared around her mouth, playing with some pigeons. If anything, she looked more cream-colored than pitch-black.

“…Little miss, you shouldn’t judge people by appearances. This person here may not look like it, but she’s a respectable working adult who fights tough work every single day.”

“W-working… adult…?”

“That’s right. She thinks about big things like the future of the country and city development—things that give her stomachaches.”

When I patted Bel on the head, she puffed out her chest and said, “Indeed, I am quite impressive.”

Aria stared at the scene, speechless.

“Wh… why…?”

She muttered in a daze.

“Why is the Demon Lord… having her head patted by a human? And that scarf…”

Aria pointed at my neck. It was the purple hand-knitted scarf Bel gave me the other day. Since it was a bit chilly today, I had put it on.

“This? Bel knitted it for me.”

“Hii…! Th-that’s… the highest-level spell formula woven into it…!”

Aria’s face went pale as she stumbled backward.

“Impossible… The Demon Lord receiving… this heavy a love from a human…? Is this brainwashing? No—mutual dependence?”

“Hm? I don’t really get it, but it’s warm.”

I readjusted the scarf. Bel reached over naturally, fixed my collar, and on the way wiped the bit of sugar stuck to my cheek with her finger.

“Kazuya, you’re sloppy. Not in front of a child.”

“Ah, sorry.”

“…Hmph. Well, the parts where you need looking after aren’t so bad.”

Bel licked the sugar off her finger. In that moment—it felt like an invisible flash exploded.

“Gwaaaaaah!!”

Aria pressed both hands over her eyes and crumpled to the ground.

“So… blinding…! Holy light… no, this is the wave of wicked normie energy…!? My saintess protection is being pierced?!”

“Are you okay!?”

I rushed over, but Aria thrust her hand out. “Don’t come closer!”

“It’s impossible…! For a pure and upright holy servant like me… that thick, syrupy-sweet, heavy space is too poisonous…!”

She staggered to her feet and started walking away unsteadily.

“Remember this! I’ll let it go for today… but someday I will definitely cut into that twisted relationship… ugh, heartburn…”

Leaving behind those parting words, Aria stumbled off. Her retreating figure looked far more exhausted than when she first arrived.

“…Is she going to be okay?”

I watched her go, worried.

“Leave her be. They say you should experience hardship while you’re young, even if you have to pay for it.”

Bel acted completely unbothered and tossed the last cream bun into her mouth.

“More importantly, Kazuya. I’m still hungry. You’re taking responsibility for the donut you gave that girl, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. How about we stop by your favorite cake shop on the way home?”

“…Very well. I forgive you.”

Bel clung tightly to my arm. Feeling her body warmth, I suddenly thought to myself—kids these days sure come with some complicated backstories when they get lost.