James Nicoll Reviews

2023’s Delicious in Dungeon, Volume 14 is the fourteenth tankōbon in Ryoko Kui’s secondary-world comedy-fantasy manga series. Originally published as Danjon Meshi, Delicious in Dungeon appeared in Enterbrain’s Harta. Volume 14 was translated into English in 2024 by Taylor Engel.

Laios and his dungeon-delving companions (half-elf mage Marcille, halfling security expert Chilchuck, dwarf fighter Senshi, and cat-beastkin ninja Izutsumi) set out to save Laios’ dead sister Falin. They found themselves in a struggle to save the world from a ravenous extradimensional being, the Winged Lion.

Laios outwitted the Winged Lion. The story isn’t quite over just yet. There are still consequences to be dealt with.

The most immediate consequence is that with the Winged Lion vanquished, the magic that sustained the Dungeon in its familiar state is gone. Cue calamity as the labyrinth collapses. Luckily, if there is one skill successful adventurers possess in abundance, it is running for their lives.

Having survived, the adventurers assess their situation. It is somewhat alarming. The orcs, for example, were forced out to the surface, where they are now uncomfortably rubbing shoulders with the races that have traditionally sought to annihilate them. Marcille now faces the legal consequences for wielding dark magic. Despite the alarming transformation he enjoyed in the previous volume, Laios is seemingly human again… but who knows what effect the experience had on him? Most importantly, Falin, the inspiration for the whole adventure, is still dead.

If the above were not alarming enough, the collapse of the dungeon was only the first side-effect of the Winged Lion’s vanquishment. A thousand years earlier, an entire continent was submerged by magic. Now, it is slowly rising again.

First things first. Before Falin can be resurrected, that part of her body that was monstrously transformed has to be dealt with. This calls for a massive meal in which all will share… no matter how off-putting the prospect. Once the banquet is finished, then the adventurers can try to resurrect her.

Then, all that remains is for Laios and company to determine the fate of nations for centuries to come.

~oOo~

A running theme in the series is unintended consequences. For example, the fact that the Winged Lion has a personality and desires was an accident. The apocalypse that nearly depopulated the planet before recorded history happened — that was because the Winged Lion was in the habit of granting every wish without considering the possible results.

With that in mind, it’s fortunate that the Winged Lion wasn’t present for a conversation about desire. The Winged Lion eats desires, which it treats as a non-renewable resource for each victim. Of course, that’s not true. People acquire new desires all the time. Had the Winged Lion understood that, it might have invented something like agriculture, with desires as the crop. More importantly, it could have found a workaround for the trick Laios played on it. There would have been no getting rid of it.

Curiously for a work about the fate of the world, this manga is short on overtly malevolent characters¹. Some characters do terrible things, the Winged Lion and his pawn, the Lunatic Mage, in particular. The elves are authoritarian. But everyone else has a sensible — OK, sensible might be overplaying it — a comprehensible reason for doing the things they do. They’re not in it for the lols of watching other people’s pain.

I am a little sad that the story is over. I enjoyed the art and the characters, not to mention the author’s enthusiastic exploration of magical ecologies. On the other hand, how delightful that a fantasy author could envision a vast work like this and bring it to a satisfactory end! I look forward to Ryoko Kui’s next work, whatever that might be.

Delicious in Dungeon, Volume 14 is available here (Amazon US), here (Amazon Canada), here (Amazon UK), here (Apple Books), here (Barnes & Noble), here (Chapters-Indigo), here (Words Worth Books).

1: One notable exception: the general agreement that exterminating orcs is A‑OK is entirely malicious.