Chapter 174 There is no delicious food in hell

Facts have proved that Luo Yan shouldn't have had any expectations for the "delicacies" in the underground world.

Even in a place like Magic City, the amount of food he could accept could be counted on one hand.

No matter what kind of food culture the elves living in their isolated utopia have, for the night elves of the Grey Wind Tribe, that was a thing of more than a thousand years ago.

The banquet was held in a huge tree house, where all the furniture seemed to grow out of the tree trunk, from tables and chairs to lamps wrapped with vines.

Elemental spirits that flickered like fireflies flew in from the window with flapping wings. Accompanied by melodious music, they brought plates of strange-shaped foods to the uneven long table.

Looking at the "delicacies" that were competing with each other in beauty and blooming on the plate, Luo Yan didn't know where to start for a moment. He could only look to Tyrael who was sitting next to him for help.

The latter seemed to notice the Demon King's embarrassment and immediately reached out to pick up a thumb-sized green worm that was still doing sit-ups, dipped it in an unknown sauce and stuffed it into his mouth. After chewing it exaggeratedly for a while, he showed a satisfied expression.

For a moment, Luo Yan suddenly felt that he had eaten tomorrow's and the day after tomorrow's dinner in advance, and was so full that he couldn't be any fuller.

Seeing Tyrael looking at him expectantly, he could only reach out, pick up a berry and put it into his mouth.

His intuition told him that if he didn't eat something, the other party might demonstrate the same action to him again.

So sour!

After biting through the fruit flesh, Luo Yan felt a lemon-like sour taste instantly overshadowing his taste buds, causing him to saliva wildly and almost drop the berry in his mouth.

But before long, the lemon-like sour taste turned into a mellow sweet aftertaste.

An expression of surprise appeared on Luo Yan's face.

Perhaps because he had lowered his expectations, he found that the berries tasted unexpectedly good.

"What's this?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Shirley, who was sitting on the side of the long table, waved her hand and answered in a boastful manner.

"This is a new variety I cultivated by grafting Thundershire grapes onto the Hidden Vine! It doesn't have a name yet! Lord Demon, could you please give it a name?"

Luo Yan looked at Shirley in surprise. He didn't expect that this little girl had such ability.

"It's actually a modified variety of grape... I thought it was hawthorn."

"Huh, you never expected that, did you?" Shirley was so proud that she wanted to lift her nose to the sky. She continued in a clear and pleasant voice, "Not only can it whet your appetite, but the wine it brews is also very delicious!"

As she spoke, she looked at Luo Yan expectantly, encouraging him with her eyes to taste the wine in the silver pot beside him.

Luo Yan took a bite as she wished.

The sweet and mellow flavor of the fruit wine really caught his eye and made him want to take a second sip.

"good."

Luo Yan put down his wine glass and praised, then thought for a long time and spoke.

"The first time I tasted it, it reminded me of my hometown. The second time I took a sip reminded me of moonlight... It just so happens that the Misty Forest has regained its light, so let's call it Moonlight Brew. As for the berry, how about calling it Moonlight Fruit?"

He was not very good at coming up with names, and he did not think that the names he came up with were more literary than those of the night elves present.

However, after hearing the name he thought of, Shirley's face showed a happy expression, and her rosy face was full of happiness.

Unlike her sister, Helen had a confused expression on her face.

"Does the devil have moonlight?"

Luo Yan coughed lightly.

"There is a purple crystal dome there... It is more exaggerated than the one here. It is said that it was stolen from the dwarves."

Helen nodded in realization.

"I see……"

If you think about it carefully, the dome on the fourth floor of the maze seems to be modeled after the dome of the Demon City. In order to repair the dome, the Demon King even made a special trip to the Demon City.

She had almost forgotten about it.

…

As delicious dishes were served on the table one after another, the melodious music brought the banquet atmosphere to its climax.

Looking at the wide variety of food, Luo Yan was completely enlightened.

Even he, the master of the maze, had never expected that there would be so many edible things in his own maze.

What he didn't expect was that these strange-shaped ingredients had so many magical combinations.

For example, there is a famous dish called Moonlight Salad, the main ingredients of which are silverleaf grass and leaf oil, petals and fluorescent mushrooms.

It's nothing.

However, the caviar-like particles that dot the plate like stars are actually the eggs of the shadow fireflies.

Another example is the Starlight Stew, where the dark blue soup mixed with a fluorescent-like suspension reminded him of Van Gogh's paintings. If he hadn't been proficient in potion science, he wouldn't have recognized it. It was made by grinding together the pollen of the night-blooming spider plant and the shell of a grouper snail.

Luo Yan admitted that the food was indeed beautiful and creative.

If it is not eaten, but simply regarded as a work of art, he might be willing to spend a lot of money to buy it.

Of course, the prerequisite is to use ghost money.

Luo Yan tried a bite of the most harmless-looking jelly, and the smooth texture and sweet taste were surprisingly good, a bit like iced mango.

Thinking it was some kind of jam, he asked curiously.

"This thing tastes pretty good, what is it made of?"

Shirley, who was sitting not far away, saw what he had in his hand, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she spoke excitedly.

"Oh! Lord Demon King has a good eye! That is the shellac extracted from the secretions of the purple moonworm. After one kilogram of purple moonworm cubs are purified, only the amount for one bite can be obtained!"

She was about to say something else, but Helen, who was sitting next to her, pulled her sleeve and stopped her with her eyes.

Shirley looked at her sister in confusion, not understanding why she wouldn't let her continue.

However, it was too late.

If Helen had stopped her earlier, Luo Yan might have pretended to know nothing and finished the food in his hand.

But now, he could only put down the bowl silently.

“…”

Tyrael, who was sitting next to him, was even more embarrassed than Luo Yan. He quickly ordered the kitchen to prepare a plate of grilled ribs and bring it up.

The Grey Wind Tribe actually has ingredients such as pork, mutton and beef, which are mainly purchased from the nearby Misty Town, and the prices are not very expensive.

However, Tyrael always felt that it was too insincere to entertain the Demon King with those cheap things. Besides, the chefs in the tribe had just come into contact with those ingredients and had not yet fully mastered the cooking skills. No one was sure that they could cook those things in a unique way.

However, judging by the Demon King's reaction, they seemed to have overdosed their efforts...

…

The banquet finally came to an end.

Except for the Demon King, everyone ate very well.

Faced with Tyrael's enthusiastic invitation to stay overnight, Luo Yan thought it over again and again and finally declined politely. He left this quiet town deep in the jungle with the farewell of a group of hospitable night elves.

Although Luo Yan said that he could go back alone, Helen and Shirley insisted on sending him to the palace on the first floor of the maze on the grounds of their identities as guards.

On the way back, Luo Yan recalled what happened at the banquet and couldn't help but sigh.

"In the days before I came here...I wronged you."

He said this from the perspective of the Magic City.

However, Shirley tilted her head, not understanding why the Demon King said that.

Helen understood the subtext of the Demon King's words, and a hint of embarrassment appeared on her face.

"…I'm really sorry. It's all our fault for not knowing your taste in advance and arranging those things on our own."

Luo Yan originally just meant to express his concern in a joking tone, but he didn't expect Helen to take it seriously, so he quickly changed to a comforting tone and spoke.

"Please don't say that. It's not your fault. It's just that my taste is more picky."

In fact, in hell, insects are the source of protein for most demons and low-level devils. After all, only a few people can eat Minotaur beef every meal.

These night elves have already taken out what they consider to be the most precious delicacies. It would be stingy if I were too fussy.

And apart from foods that are high in insect content, fruits and barbecue are actually quite good.

And the fruit wine they brewed themselves was also very mellow, to the extent that it could be considered a specialty of the cemetery.

He asked Tyrael for some and put them in his storage ring.

When he returns to Shanghai next time, he can share it with his friends there.

"But..." Helen still felt a little guilty. She wanted to make amends but didn't know how.

Unlike her sister who has a heavy idol burden, Shirley does not have so much psychological burden. Instead, she stands on Luo Yan's side and serves as the latter's mouthpiece.

"In fact, I also think the food in the tribe is not delicious. It's sticky and tasteless. Barbecued meat is more fragrant! Lamb chops roasted with spices are simply amazing! And, it's not just barbeque! I've seen a kind of food that looks like snow in Misty Town before. It tastes sweet and fragrant!"

As she spoke, she even started counting on her fingers, recounting the delicious foods she had seen in the cemetery.

Looking at Shirley who was talking nonstop, Luo Yan coughed lightly and stopped her from talking with a stern tone.

"Okay, stop talking about this. Some things are a matter of taste. They have nothing to do with whether they taste good or not."

Although it was a bit against his conscience, he still tried to help the Grey Wind Tribe's cuisine regain some face.

After all, someone really cares about this matter.

If this guy continued to talk without restraint, he felt that Helen would find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Shirley was talking excitedly when she was suddenly interrupted and pouted in grievance.

She didn't dare to disobey the Demon King, but she couldn't help but complain in a low voice.

"I'm telling the truth! There's nothing in our tribe..."

Luo Yan said in a tone that did not allow for any explanation.

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"Don't tell me even if it's the truth."

As he continued talking, he felt that Helen was crying...

…

After returning from the Grey Wind Tribe, Luo Yan asked Missy, who was stationed in the cemetery, to deliver a few bottles of fine wine he had obtained from Tyrael to Sissi, the Queen of Nightmare Land. Then he took the time to deal with the accumulated official business.

For example, the battle reports sent from the outpost fortress on the planet Kao.

The frontline commander Sano Blackhand mentioned in the battle report that the Chaos Legion has intensified its siege of the outpost fortress in recent days, and even three consecutive battles broke out in just one day yesterday.

Although all three battles ended with victory for the Great Cemetery, the latter also suffered considerable casualties.

Those troops composed of Kao people had no fear of death at all, and even morbidly regarded death as a kind of honor. In every battle, they charged towards the barrage of magic crystal cannons in an almost suicidal posture, not caring about casualties at all.

Fortunately, the players in the Great Cemetery were the same. They also displayed a fearless spirit in round after round of attacks, and thus blocked the Chaos army.

Sano specifically mentioned in the report that thanks to the heroic performance of these players, his mercenaries were inspired.

Otherwise, facing the endless Chaos Army, their morale would probably collapse before their defenses.

Another fortunate thing is that the outpost fortress is located in a dangerous terrain and is far away from the khal settlement.

In the previous attacks, most of the Cao warriors who appeared were light infantry. Not only did they lack combat experience, but their equipment was also cobbled together.

As for the chosen ones and elite troops, they have not appeared so far.

Sano was worried that the Chaos were planning a large attack, such as using cannon fodder troops to lull them into complacency and then concentrating all their forces to overwhelm them.

Of course, it is not ruled out that the Kao people themselves are not unified, but fight each other in tribes.

But no matter what, they have to prepare for the worst so that they can be prepared when the disaster really strikes.

"...We need more building materials to strengthen our defenses, and more magic crystal cannons!"

"In addition, the soldiers asked for rotation, and in my opinion, they really need it. No one can persist in that environment forever. I am worried that even if they are not contaminated by Chaos, they will be crushed by the mental pressure after a long time."

Luo Yan read the report to the end, thought for a long time, and waved the wand in his hand.

A feather pen flew out of the pen holder lightly and wrote on the paper as he recited.

"…Your demands will be met. A new batch of supplies is ready and will be sent to the front along with the reinforcements the day after tomorrow at the latest."

"Also, I have given serious thought to the rotation issue. I will arrange for my vassals to provide soldiers to your mercenary group. Next time you come back from the front, you can hire orcs or demon soldiers from the Blood Blade Clan and Desperate City. As for the rotation cycle, you can arrange it yourself according to the specific situation on the front line. Just let me know when you have made your decision."

The orc warriors of the Blood Blade Clan and the demon crossbowmen of Despair City are the most suitable for the environment of the planet Kao, and there are enough of them, so there is no need to worry about the depletion of manpower.

After writing the reply to Sano Blackhand, Luo Yan immediately wrote a letter to his subordinates, "Blood Blade Demon General" Grak and "Thor Demon General" Blancia, respectively, explaining the matter of the mercenaries and saying that he would visit next month.

After finally finishing the mountain of work, Luo Yan stretched, got up and went to the kitchen to make himself a bowl of instant noodles.

It is worth mentioning that this is something that players have just come up with recently.

Ever since Beifeng City got on the right track, professional life players have replicated the pressing process on Earth to this other world, and produced a series of vegetable oils such as pumpkin seed oil, linseed oil, soybean oil, etc.

Before this, the edible oil in Leiming County was mainly olive oil and animal oil, and the oil from the cemetery was basically imported from Leiming City through Yinsong Town.

As for now, the cemetery no longer needs to import cooking oil, and can directly import cheap raw materials such as soybeans and flax seeds.

As the price of cooking oil was brought down, the most direct impact on the cemetery was that fried foods, which were almost non-existent before, suddenly became popular.

That’s not all.

In order to provide food to the working NPCs more conveniently and reduce their commuting time to centralized dining locations, some players simply started thinking about pre-prepared foods, and thus came up with instant noodles.

The production process of this thing is simple, and there is a mature production process to refer to. It is also extremely convenient to cook, saving trouble and not taking up space. The only drawback is that it has little nutritional value and can only provide calories and carbohydrates.

However, for this world with a relatively backward level of civilization, that only shortcoming is not a shortcoming at all, but can be regarded as an advantage.

Especially for the poor who have little fat in their stomachs, this fried pancake is much more delicious than sweet potatoes.

So much so that the players who made the instant noodles did not expect that the thing they made to save trouble would actually become a delicious delicacy in the eyes of the residents of Beifeng City, greatly igniting their work enthusiasm.

In order to eat a bowl of steaming hot instant noodles, those NPCs are willing to work hard on the construction site for a whole day!

Not only the ordinary NPCs in Beifeng City, but even their BOSS, the Demon King, praised this "invention" highly and purchased a batch of it as a reserve for the lord's kitchen.

Smelling the fragrant aroma, Luo Yan couldn't help but recall his life when he was in school on Earth.

Thinking about it, I miss it a lot.

If it weren't for the necklace left by the time traveler, if it weren't for this group of happy little players, he would have almost forgotten what life was like over there.

After filling his stomach that was not full at the banquet, Luo Yan put on a cloak on a whim and went for a tour outside the Beifeng Mine.

Compared with a month ago, the scale of Beifeng City seems to have expanded a lot. The rows of houses stand in the white snow, like winter bamboo shoots buried in the snow.

Some houses were even built outside the fence, and the land enclosed by the wall, which was empty until a month ago, has become crowded without anyone noticing.

Luo Yan walked through the snow-covered path to the temple in Beifeng City and found the acolyte working there.

According to the acolyte from the Palace Gecko clan, there has been a continuous influx of refugees during this period, and the registered population has approached the one thousand mark.

Watching the Demon King flipping through the statistics booklet, the acolyte in a long robe reported in a hoarse voice.

"...I heard from those praying believers that the human lords nearby seemed to be intentionally driving them here. At first, only one village did this, and then it developed into all the villages in the barony doing this, and even the neighboring baronies were doing the same."

Luo Yan turned a page of the booklet in his hand and replied casually.

"I know about this."

Not to mention knowing it, the first person to do this was his servant.

Later, he specifically instructed Sheriff Adlai to provide necessary assistance to the refugee groups in need, and if conditions permit, to send them to the vicinity of the northern mines as much as possible to prevent them from getting lost along the way.

Although not everyone eventually joined Beifeng City, and many devout believers stubbornly turned back into the wind and snow, the vast majority of people stayed for the safety of themselves and their families.

Under the repeated baptism of the acolytes of the cemetery and the "teaching by words and deeds" of the villagers of Holy Oak Village, most of these new refugees became his believers.

However, unlike Luo Yan, a look of sadness appeared on the face of the guard monk.

"I'm worried that if this trend continues, we may not be able to accommodate so many people..."

Luo Yan replied.

"Don't worry about that. We can expand our settlement in the direction of the Wanren Mountains. If we really can't accommodate them, we can transfer some of them to the maze. Misty Town can also use them."

"But what about food?" the acolyte whispered, "They are consuming more and more food... Even if they can do some simple work, they can't conjure food out of thin air."

Because of Reggie Dragun, most monsters in the maze have a deep fear of hunger.

Simply put, I'm just afraid of being hungry.

Luo Yan could understand the concerns of his subordinates, although he had a completely different opinion.

"The work they do is not simple. Among them are blacksmiths, carpenters, skilled stonemasons, and craftsmen who are good at various handicrafts... Normally, we would have to spend a lot of money or a lot of time to own them, but now we only need to pay a tiny price to buy their loyalty. There is no more cost-effective investment in the world. We can even say that this is an opportunity given to us by the Demon God."

After returning the booklet to the acolyte's hands, Luo Yan spoke in a gentle yet dignified tone.

"As for food... we have the night elves and fertilizers. We can also import food from next door when necessary. That is actually the thing we don't need to worry about the most."

"And since I said I won't let you suffer from hunger anymore, I won't let you go hungry. There are only two things you need to do. One is to believe every word I say, and the other is to do as I tell you."

The acolyte lowered his head in fear and said with a hint of remorse in his voice.

"Yes, Demon Lord."

Hearing this answer, Luo Yan nodded approvingly.

"Back off."

(End of this chapter)