Quite a sudden turn to start in the volume to get when Laios met Marcille. Well, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Marcille would try to get Falin to come back to school. Still, it was that one time the siblings took her in the dungeon that changed things. Marcille is more of a researcher than a student. For her, studying ancient magic is what her eyes are set on. It’s interesting to learn that the Touden siblings also want to venture and discover the unknown in the dungeon. We know Laios’s fascination with monsters, so this is the truth. I could only imagine Falin just wanted to stay at her brother’s side.
It is quite interesting that the encounter with the Succubus gave us a good insight into Izutsumi’s character. Succubi are characters that seduce and drain life from those dwelling in the dungeon. As the rest of the party is down, it is left to Izutsumi to deal with the various amounts of succubi. Interesting to learn that we know, like Falin, Izutsumi has two souls inside of him.
Interestingly enough, he can take down what seems to be his human soul’s mother. Rather than not having a heart, instead she has two hearts. The beastkin heart and the human one. While it seems clear there is only one brain with Izutsumi given that her personality is more consistent, for Falin her personalities completely switched. With this we know that Falin’s soul and heart remain in that Chimera. Which could give a clue, and maybe it is possible to retrieve her heart.
Funny enough, it has been seen that Izutsumi needs the party because she would have issues getting back to normal. At the same time, though, it is clear that the party needs Izutsumi too. Having two souls makes Izutsumi unique, and against these succubi, she was a much-needed ally. Funny enough, the succubi aren’t the demon type but rather more like mosquito monsters, which was a surprise. Them feeding their babies makes them feel more monster than demon. Though it is quite scary how well they can transform. Interestingly enough, for Laios it transformed into Marcille, so clearly he holds deep feelings for Marcille.
Interestingly enough, after Laios was attacked by the succubus, he was able to talk to the Winged Lion. He gave Laios a vision about what if he became king. It truly feels like the dream Laios would want. That being a place where humans and monsters were not at odds with each other. Though this adds a wrinkle, this volume adds a twist to it.
We see that after their fall, Kabru and Mithrun are traveling together. Despite how powerful Mithrun is, he is quite frail. It feels clear that he needs someone to aid him at all times. Interestingly enough, Canary members have a 2:1 ratio of criminals to nobles. More than likely the criminals acts are quite noble, which is why Kabru mentioned that Marcille if convicted, would join them. For Mithrun, he doesn’t hold many desires, and Kabru has to force Mithrun to eat and sleep. He feels like a patient who says that he can’t do something or doesn’t need to when the opposite is true. Though it all lines up that he was once a lord of a dungeon.
It all came to an expedition where Mithrun wasn’t a captain at the time. The magic mirror played with his heart, looking at his brother and his lover. Essentially the dungeon preyed on his desires. Sadly, he gave in because he truly didn’t want to be part of a company but wanted to come back home. He got the life that he wanted, but everything has a price. As the demons ate his desires until he was the shell of the man he was.
The whole concept of demons is quite terrifying. This is the start of the truth of black magic, or ancient magic, as Marcille calls it. It was the ancients that were able to summon these demons from another dimension. Essentially this cursed magic is a ritual to summon demons. So when they revived Falin, it preyed on the desire for them to revive their companion. Does that mean Falin can only exist in the dungeon at this point? The scariest part is what happens if they consume enough desires to escape their dungeon. One can look at the dungeon as a seal for these demons. The demon’s goal is to lure adventurers so they can feed on their desires. This is the big secret the elves have been keeping from everyone.
Now it begs the question: is this Winged Lion a demon? At this point he is tempting Laios with his dream of coexistence of monsters. Laios is a man with a rich personality, which would be enticing to the Winged Lion. This makes things very complicated in a good way. The goal of Laios’s group is to defeat Sissel and save Falin and eliminate her dragon soul. Though this could be playing into the hands of the Winged Lion at this point. The problem is Laios wants nothing more than to save his sister. In fact, this development of coexistence with monsters is something new for him.
I guess at this point the key is as long as his desire to save his sister doesn’t lose to that dream. The other thing to wonder is how does one conquer the dungeon? Becoming the Lord of the Dungeon is what it was seen as before. But now we also have the threat of the demon, which the dungeon is created to seal off from the outside world. Kabru’s next conversation with Laios will be most interesting.