Did the Demon King file his taxes today? chapter 9: Pigs Eat Better than Me (1)

This day was excessively eventful, and by the time Lin Lin returned to the Demon King’s castle, it was already night.

The night in the Demon King’s castle was even more in line with people’s stereotypical image of a villain’s lair.

Lin Lin looked at the bats hanging upside down from the trees, with a kindly expression as if she were watching birds returning to their nests.

The interior of the castle was slightly warmer. Lin Lin untied the satin ribbon she used to tie up her hair, letting her hair, which had been soaked by the rain in the human territory, fall loosely over her shoulders.

A wind-element slime brushed past her hair, blowing away the excess moisture.

The dark elves were quick to steal sweet potatoes, and the witch was soaked by the rain.

It was hard to say which of the two was more embarrassing, Lin Lin thought somewhat out of place.

Lin Lin glanced at the dark elf following behind her, and he sensed her gaze and looked up, not knowing why she suddenly turned around.

Lin Lin shrugged, then, leaning on the cold railing, descended into the castle’s underground.

The castle was already quite dim, especially underground.

It was too cold on the way back, and it was a night without sunlight. Lin Lin draped herself in the cloak belonging to the dark elves. Because of the difference in height, the cloak’s end was elegantly tied by the elf.

Lin Lin instructed the dark elf to place today’s loot in the underground warehouse. Wrapped in her cloak, she stood at the entrance, looking at the miscellaneous items piled up inside the warehouse.

It was a semi-open space where each monster could put their things, mostly things that were useless from a human perspective.

Twigs of various thicknesses, pebbles of various shapes and sizes. Lin Lin picked up a half-wilted flower.

After Felix finished moving the things to the ground, he saw Lin Lin holding up the flower and looking at it under the warm lamp.

The light passed through the delicate petals, revealing the intricate patterns inside.

She looked at this half-wilted flower very seriously, and the dark elves didn’t know what she was thinking about.

“I’m thinking,” Lin Lin turned her head to look at Felix, “that I seem to be getting more and more integrated here. Today, being called a witch by the villagers didn’t even make me sad.”

Felix remembered that today was probably the first time Lin Lin had seen humans in this world.

“It’s just being away from your own kind,” Felix said, “it won’t kill you.”

Like humans, dark elves are also social animals.

Lin Lin nodded, but compared to this, she was more curious about another thing.

On the wall opposite the warehouse door, another large iron door was open.

It was the first time Lin Lin had seen this door open.

“What is this room for?” Lin Lin pointed to the iron door.

“Oh,” without the cloak covering him, the light shone directly on the dark elf’s face, and the silver-haired elf looked a little wilted. After tidying up his things, he casually replied, “It’s for raising pigs.”

Lin Lin remembered Auntie Eli, who raised abyss wild boars, and the toxic pork that would make you vomit if you ate it. “Raising pigs underground? Don’t those pigs need to see the light?”

The dark elf’s cold demeanor returned. “Why do you think they’re called abyss wild boars?”

“Okay,” Lin Lin agreed. She grabbed the arm of the cheap bodyguard to keep him from running away and knocked on the so-called “pig-raising” iron door before pushing it open.

The existing saliva felt extremely guilty: “It really smells good.”

The dark elf acted as if he hadn’t heard this sentence.

Arriving at the end of the tunnel, a large cloud of white steam emerged from the room inside. Lin Lin entered, and Auntie Eli, who had greeted her in the morning, was quite enthusiastic: “Why did you come over?”

Auntie Eli, as always, ignored Felix.

Lin Lin, on the other hand, stared blankly at the large pile of fresh bamboo shoots that Auntie Eli was cutting so neatly.

Next to Auntie Eli, there was a huge black pot cooking freshly chopped Chinese cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and corn, with a fragrant and delicious soup bubbling up.

This was a pot of nutritionally balanced, colorful stew. Lin Lin swallowed, her eyes fixed on Auntie Eli as she added mushrooms and fungus after the bamboo shoots.

Mushroom and corn soup! Lin Lin was so hungry that tears welled up in her eyes.

Pigs eat better than me.

Put me in the pen!

“Why would you put in the Chinese cabbage first? It cooks too quickly and will end up too soft, affecting the texture. Bamboo shoots and corn should go in first!” Lin Lin offered a constructive suggestion.

Auntie Eli thought Lin Lin’s constructive suggestion was not helpful: “No one cares about that. In fact, wild boars don’t care about texture at all.”

“I care,” Lin Lin said. “Give me a bowl!”

Auntie Eli, who was skillfully cutting vegetables, stopped and thought she had misheard. She then looked at the dark elf behind Lin Lin, hoping to get some explanation from him.

The dark elf slowly looked away, not getting involved in the discussion.

Lin Lin got a bowl of delicious mushroom and corn soup, so delicious that it made her cry.

Auntie Eli comforted her while hesitating to speak: “It’s okay, eat more bowls. It’s fine if the pig gets skinny, just don’t starve yourself.”

Lin Lin cried even more.

I wasted the whole day today. Forget it, it’s more reassuring to eat the sweet potatoes I stole myself.

She wiped away her tears. “Can you cook a pot just for me in the future?”

She didn’t really want to eat from the same pot as the pig. She always felt like she would end up in the pig pen the next second.

Lin Lin left satisfied with Auntie Eli’s promise that if there was enough for a pig to eat, there would be enough for her.

Lin Lin and the dark elf left the underground corridor of the castle.

When they reached the door to Lin Lin’s room, the walls on both sides emitted a faint rust-red color, and Lin Lin stopped.

She remembered that the cloak she was wearing belonged to the dark elf, and she reached up to untie the strap around her neck.

The dark elf stood behind her. As long as he sent her back to her room, Felix’s task for the day would be complete.

It wasn’t intentional, but when Lin Lin turned her head to untie the strap, she gently smelled the scent on it.

There was no scent, very clean.

Or rather, precisely because there was no scent, Lin Lin became curious.

Most of the monsters here had their own scents, like how a fire slime would smell of ashes, or a rock slime would have the scent of earth.

Higher-ranking dragons had a cold, marble-like scent, while the Demon King himself had a sweet, pastry-like aroma.

The dark elf had no scent at all, as if it had been deliberately erased.

Amidst the surroundings, there was the crisp sound of chopping vegetables, the simmering of cooking rice, and the humming of a person chopping vegetables to a tune.

In front of Lin Lin appeared a dim tunnel, seemingly in line with the gloomy atmosphere of a demon king’s castle.

The tunnel wasn’t long, and the light inside became increasingly apparent.

Lin Lin suddenly stopped in her tracks.

She sniffed the air, saying, “Felix, I think I’m hallucinating from hunger.”

The dark elf, with arms crossed, raised an eyebrow, gesturing for her to continue.

Lin Lin said, “I smell food.”