I’ve been having a lot of Dungeon Meshi ideas lately, too many to be able to execute at once, so I’m going to share them. I really, really want to turn this specific idea into a full comic.
I was thinking about how Laios’ ending to the manga is his own personal hell, and how he’s basically just grinning and bearing it through his kingly duties. He has advisors and friends to help carry the burden, but he can’t even take a break from ruling for a while to engage in some dungeon crawling. Not to mention the fact that monsters inherently flee from his presence.
It’s certainly noticeable by those closest to him, namely Marcille and Kabru. (Yaad is aware of the stress Laios is under but isn’t emotionally close enough to him to be able to meaningfully assist.) After some time, the two of them surprise Laios with something that will delight him: his own private garden filled with monster plants. “Falin brought the seeds from one of her adventures.” “Since they’re plants, they can’t run away from you like the monsters will.” “We walled this area so nobody will come in by mistake, but each of us have a copy of the key.”
This of course delights Laios. I just want him to feel loved by his friends and have them engage in his special interests for once. And it brings everything full circle from when Marcille burned Laios’ monster plant seeds at the beginning of the story.
Possible consequences could occur when the Lion’s curse manifests in the monster plants dying, rather than fleeing like the animals do.
I also like the idea of Laios and Marcille collaborating on researching/dissecting Izutsumi’s kills together, and the two of them writing books about dungeon monsters and the monsters’ ecosystems. Marcille also gets to continue researching on making domestic dungeons. While the infinite universe of mana is no longer accessible, there is still mana in the world. And the dungeoniums from the beginning of the manga show that it can make its own enclosed, self-sustaining ecosystem.
Also, Laios collaborating with Senshi on making a monster cookbook that’s much more accurate than the one he’d gotten as a kid.
