Chapter 2

**Tart** is the second chapter of the *Delicious in Dungeon* manga.

## Summary

Laios' party walks through the second level of the dungeon, which is filled with tall trees and interlinked with wooden bridges. After a few minor incidents involving the unsafe terrain, Laios suggests the party set up camp for the night. A comment from Laios about soup causes Marcille to drool in hunger. Senshi notices and offers her the leftover scorpion soup, which she vehemently declines.

Laios decides to hunt a monster for dinner. Noticing Marcille's unhappiness, he offers to try and make something she wants, but her frustration is due to the idea of eating monsters. She sighs, saying she will eat anything edible, but objects to all of Laios' suggestions of the monsters able to be found on the second level: she refuses to eat any monster that is unhygienic, a demi-human or just made of metal. Chilchuck remarks on the irony of her saying she is okay with anything yet rejecting all options, but Marcille believes her request for something normal like birds or fruit is reasonable. Laios responds that unfortunately what she wants must be hunted for. She apologizes, having seen his point.

Senshi remarks that at this time of year in the dungeon there are plants bursting with fruit, giving Marcille hope, but to her annoyance the plants are in fact Man-Eating Plants. Laios corrects Marcille, explaining that not all of said plants eat people by pointing out a species that only captures animals to use as fertilizer. Marcille points out that they could use people as fertilizer too, to which Laios responds that even the vegetables she eats are made up of dead bodies if traced back. Chilchuck reassures Marcille that people would notice if there were corpses around (as there is business in finding and reviving the dead) and would look first at the base of man-eating plants.

Senshi points out fruit on the nearby plants to Laios and they note that they will have to fight the plants to get to their fruit. Marcille steps forward and begins casting a spell to destroy them, but Senshi stops her. As she turns to respond to him, she is captured by a plant. Senshi then explains his rule on taking only what you can eat, which Marcille thinks is untimely advice. As Marcille is drawn upwards by the plant, she bumps into another plant that spits out a partially digested man. She angrily shouts at Laios for correcting her previous assumptions, but he responds that digestive capability is species dependent, and that the one that had captured Marcille was a parasitic type, which does not comfort her. Laios swiftly defeats the plant by slicing it at its root, freeing Marcille, to which she responds in thanks. He is curious about the plant's ability to hold without killing or letting its prey escape, asking Marcille how it felt, but his suggestion that it would feel good angers and disturbs her greatly.

The rest of the party pick some fruit off the plants and return to the hollow where they made camp. Senshi begins preparing the fruit, trimming out the seeds. Laios' attempt to pocket the seeds is noticed by Marcille, who disposes of them in the fire. Senshi cooks up both ripe and unripe fruit, slime and the leftover scorpion soup in the frying pan and makes a tart-like dish. Laios and Chilchuck dig in, but Marcille is suspicious. Having confirmed that nothing from the man-eating type plant was used, she takes a bite and finds that it tastes good. She muses that having such delicious fruit seems disadvantageous for the plant as other animals would want to eat it, but Laios explains that the carnivorous plants use the fruit as bait. He is happy at Marcille's burgeoning curiosity, but she is not.

As the party clean up after dinner, they think about what to do with the man they rescued from the man-eating plant. Marcille suggests she revive him but Laios thinks it will fail. They decide to place him where he will be easily seen, placing him in the middle of the pathway, but Laios doesn't think he stands out enough. The man is hoisted up using a rope. The image is unfortunately rather gallow-like, but they call it a day.

That night, Marcille has a nightmare...

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Chilchuck
* Marcille
* Senshi
* Laios Touden

## References

1. ↑ Harta Volume 12. Retrieved March 14, 2021.