Summary
The mysterious dungeon in theDelicious in Dungeonuniverse has attracted many explorers from the surface to venture through it. Each person has their own motivations for exploring the dungeon, but Senshi the Dwarf of Izganda has been living in it for quite some time now. The main trio (Laios,Marcilleand Chilchuk) come across him in the dungeon and end up exploring alongside him. While Senshi has no emotional attachment to the mission, which is to rescue Falin (a fallen member of the gang), hismain role is preparing delicious mealsfrom the monsters they encounter. Senshi reveals in the tail-end of the anime his reasons for ending up in the dungeon, and they are quite chilling.
All That Glitters Is Not Gold
Young Senshi walks into something he shouldn’t
As a youngdwarf, Senshi used to belong to a small mining group. Unlike most mining groups, Senshi’s weren’t looking for ore, but rather ruins from before the war which are worth far more. The group’s unwavering efforts eventually paid off, for they found an ancient castle that was glistening with gold in the same dungeon Laios and his gang are exploring now.
The castle is from an ancient kingdom that many passed off as a folktale. Upon inspection, thegoldin the castle is very real, which excited the dwarves greatly. However, young Senshi timidly said that they should rather go back up to the surface to prepare for the exploration properly.
He was met with confusion from his group and his suggestion was dismissed, for he didn’t have enough “iron running through his veins”.
The group leader, Gillan, was the only one who was gentle on Senshi. He reassured him that he did not have to push himself if he did not want to, and he could wait while everyone else stripped thecastleof its gold. Out of fear of solitude and perhaps embarrassment, Senshi lied and said he wanted the gold too, so he ran inside the castle to join the rest of his group.
Senshi’s gut was firing on all cylinders about the castle. He did not like it at all, but his colleagues were blinded by ambition and wealth, so much so that they became a little too ambitious. As they explored deeper into the castle, their eyes began to glow in the dark. Senshi described it as if they were hypnotized, drawn in by something lurking inside. It turns out, he was not wrong.
The Nightmare Begins
Priorities For Senshi
The group found one of their dwarves dead and bleeding. Another member said that a giant bird-like creature came out of the shadows and killed him. He claims that the castle has morphed into a dungeon now. This scary factoid quickly brought the group out of their trance-like quest for gold. When they tried to escape, they could not find their way out.Dungeonsare always linked to the surface, so there had to be an escape route somewhere, so the group wandered to find it.
Young Senshi began to notice strange things about the dungeon. When they were thirstly, a spring would appear. If they were tired, there would be a room where they could rest. Another member claimed that he even saw a woman in the dungeon that would attempt to seduce them. Unfortunately, their time finding an escape was getting on in time and the food was becoming scarce. Gillan did not want anyone to die from starvation, so he said that findingfoodwas a priority, even if it meant killing for it. The adults in the group devised a plan to find food and defend and attack monsters, who they had been avoiding up till now. Senshi was tasked with staying behind and drawing detailed maps of the dungeon.
Unfortunately, the bird creature from before attacked again and another dwarf died. Senshi, scared and feeling like dead weight, offered to come with to search for food, but Gillan refused because he would “only get in the way”. It turns out that they had already found some food, which Senshi ate with guilt for not having found it. With time, the dwarves forgot that they needed to look for the way out of the dungeon and focused on solely finding food. The bird kept returning to attack the group and someone always perished. With dwindling numbers, fear and a desperate need for food, the group was even forced to eat theirhorseAnne.
The mysterious “bird”
Over a meal of horsemeat, the three remaining group members were hypothesizing over what the bird creature is. Gillan thinks it was a Griffin. Senshi can’t understand why the Griffin does not eat its victims, it only kills and leaves the bodies. Gillan thinks it is because the beast must simply enjoy killing, it does not matter that it is not hungry, just monster instincts.Next time the monster came around, Gillan promised that they would kill it and eat it.
Senshi tried to sleep that night, but was woken up to an argument from Gillan and the other remaining group member, Brigan. He was yelling at Gillan for giving most of their remaining rations of food to that “good-for-nothing kid”, obviously referring to Senshi. Gillan defended Senshi, saying that as the adults in the group, they have to ensure that their young ones are taken care of, otherwise what good are they if they cannot raise the next generation of dwarves.
Brigan angrily claimed that Senshi was hiding food one night, as he caught Senshi trying to eat rocks out of immense hunger. Gillan once again came to his defence and asked if this argument can be taken outside and away from the scared Senshi. Their argument escalated greatly and became more intense. Senshi listened from inside the resting room as Gillan defended him. He eventually heard sounds offighting, struggle, painful screaming and then piercing silence.
Gillan returned, looking battered and bruised, his head hanging low. He told Senshi that the Griffin attacked again, and while Gillan managed to kill it, Brigan was sadly killed. Senshi, however, noticed that Gillan’s helmet had a hole that was never there before, as if a weapon had struck him. Gillan told a horrified Senshi to stay inside as he went to retrieve the Griffin meat tocookit.
Gillan made a soup out of the meat by just boiling it in water. It tasted and smelled awful, but Senshi guzzled it down even though the meat was tough to chew. Gillan left to urinate but never returned. Now Senshi has been left completely alone. He became agoraphobic, being too scared to leave.
Senshi’s escape
Ultimately, he decided that he had to have a plan to escape. He rationed out the remaining meat, studied the maps he drew and figured out the codes on the dungeon walls. When he finally stepped out of the room, he found Gillan’s helmet and weapons, but no corpses.
In his effort to escape, he was captured and imprisoned by orcs. He did get to know them and like them. He taught them ancient Dwarvish, and they taught himwhich mushrooms to eat and how to fight against monsters. They let him go on pleasant terms, and he managed to find the surface on their teachings.
However, it was difficult for Senshi to return to his home given the traumatic experience he had in the dungeon. He ended up living close to the dungeon and inside its shallower levels. Eventually, the dungeon became connected to the town and saw many adventurers pass through it.
The Big Unanswered Question
Did Senshi actually eat him?
There is one thing that haunts Senshi till this day about his ordeal in the dungeon. Every time he ate something, he would be reminded of that awful and distinctive flavor of the Griffin soup Gillan prepared, or at least what he thought was Griffin soup.
No monster he has eaten has come close to tasting like it. He pieced it together in his mind, and given that he wasn’t able to go outside the resting room and the heavy argument between Brigan and Gillan, he was terrified that what he consumed was Brigan’s flesh. That is the reason that Senshi ran away from the Griffin that Laios and the gang encountered. He is afraid to learn the answer to the question that has plagued him all these years.
Laios proposed that they try to recreate the soup with the Griffin they just killed to settle Senshi’s mind. Unfortunately, the taste was completely different. Laios, however, is convinced that what attacked Senshi’s group back then was a Hippogriff and that is what he ate.
The creature was most likely after the horse, which is why it didn’t eat anyone, and Hippogriffs have horse hooves which most likely dented Gillan’s hemlet, unlike GriffinS, who have legs of lions. Using the Changeling mushrooms, they changed theGriffin meat to that of a Hippogriffs and cooked it. Fortunately, it proved Laios' theory and Senshi’s mind can be rested after all this time.
