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"woah, something smells good."

a smile blooms on marcille's lips as she strides inside her home, rushing to the kitchen with her broom.

"hey mom, i'm home!"

the elf girl makes her way behind her mother, trying to peek over her.

"what are you making, mom?"

the older elf chuckled as she turns around, holding a hot pot.

"it's your birthday, remember? i made all the recipes you love."

"ehh? really?!"

"yes, of course. i whipped up all of your favourites."

marcille stood on the tip of her toes as she leans forward on the table, gazing at the food in front of her when her expression suddenly morphed into pure horror.

"straight from the bowels of the dungeon!"

"ahhhh!!!"

she screams and suddenly, she was woken out of the nightmare.

"ahh... it was just a dream... eugh..."

the elf girl rubbed her face as she released a breath, trying to calm her nerves.

"marcille? are you alright?"

at this, marcille froze and slowly looks up with a sense of familiarity on her face and sure enough, [name] was right there— sitting in front of her with a curious look.

'oh... that's right. maybe everything was just a bad dream. haha, yeah... maybe i was just being paranoid.'

she chuckled to herself, shaking her head at how ridiculous everything was. eating a scorpion, slime and monster plants? psh, as if! you tell that to anyone and they'd think you're high on weed or something.

"y-yeah! i'm fine, just got startled by a bug..."

marcille chuckled, picking up the cup of coffee in front of her.

"oh, alright."

[name] hums with a small grin, reaching for her own cup.

"so i was thinking... since falin was recently wedded, i might want to get married soon enough—"

tea splattered out as marcille literally spits everything out and coughed violently, and [name] almost jumped out of her seat from shock.

"marcille?!"

"cough— wh-what?! falin... ehEGH— IS MARRIED?!"

"uh, yes...? falin and shuro got married just a month ago..."

that sentence made marcille spiral into insanity as she blanked out, a look of pure shock and horror on her face.

'no— ain't no WAY'

"you look shocked. you were literally there with us..."

"u-uh, i— uhhhh... y-yeah... i remember..."

"ehem, as i was saying..."

[name] brushed off her strange behaviour and dabs her now tea-soaked shirt with a towel, a soft smile on her lips.

"i'm planning to get married as soon as possible too. laios had already proposed to me—"

"WHAAAAATTTT????"

marcille shrieked, holding her head as she stood up abruptly and began screaming her head off.

•

•

•

•

"AHHH!!"

the three men almost jump out of their skins when a previously asleep marcille suddenly screams and sits upright in her bedroll, panting and sweating like crazy.

"uh... good morning. are you okay, marcille?"

laios was the first to speak, sitting in front of senshi as they peeled a few fruits on the floor.

"you gave us quite a scare there, for crying out loud..."

chilchuck huffed with a raised brow, holding a dagger and a dirty rag.

"i had a nightmare..."

'a REALLY bad double nightmare...'

marcille thought to herself, rubbing her eyes.

ah yes, a nightmare about some nasty looking foods and your girlfriends getting married to men. every homosexual has had that before.

she suddenly sniffs the air, gasping.

"that's what i smelled in my nightmare! do you guys smell that too?"

"yeah, the party across from us is making breakfast."

chilchuck points to another hollow of the tree right across from them where another group had started grilling some meat and bread.

"they're having salted pork... and buns. it's not fair!"

she cried out, using a small telescope to spy on them.

"it's horrible. breaks my heart to see it."

senshi says, catching everyone's attention as once again, he pulled a giant chart out of nowhere and began explaining some typical senshi thoughts.

"these days, the diet of young adventurers is a travesty, they only eat bread, dried meat and wine! look, i get it. exploring dungeons take stamina which you build by eating fatty meats! but fat ain't enough."

senshi rambles, as marcille listens to him with a blank face.

"malnutrition is the real monster here. and now that i've said my piece, i feel like a hypocrite because we have yet to have a balanced meal."

the dwarf then turns to her with a look of certainty.

"elf girl, you know why you were drooling over that salted pork yonder? it's because your body is craving fat, that's why."

"nah uh! it's because i don't wanna eat monsters!!"

marcille argues, but was as always, ignored as the guys got ready to start their journey once again.

"today, we'll hunt monsters that are rich in fat. honestly, it'd be nice if we could find one that can lay eggs too. eggs are nutritious, perfect for a balanced meal. if you spot one, make sure to grab 'em."

laios suddenly perks up and leans down to senshi's height to whisper something to him.

"you thinking what i'm thinking?"

"mhm."

"just say it, you two..."

a serious expression crossed laios' face as he holds his arms out as if he's receiving glory from the gods themselves.

"the body of a chicken, a snake for its tail, with spurs as sharp as knives and loaded with venom... basilisk, the king of snakes!"

marcille lets out an exasperated noise, and chilchuck sweatdrops.

"ugh, of course it's a basilisk of all things...

"well, isn't it great marcille? you'll get to eat chicken."

marcille then began shaking the poor half foot by his shoulders like a madman.

"is it really a chicken though?! is it a chicken if it's only HALF chicken?!"

"man, what a cool concept. i've always loved monsters that are a mix of one or more species. something about mashing two completely different creatures together elevates the appeal of each one. the basilisk makes you appreciate things about a plain old chicken that makes it special. a simple combo but it really makes you think."

laios sighs in bliss as he thought of his ideal monster.

"by the way, here's a fact about the cockatrice and basilisk, same family, different species. it's been my dream to do a taste test between the two."

chilchuck and marcille glanced at each other and shrugged as laios went on and on about his love for the said monsters.

"you got some weird dreams."

after walking for awhile, the party had made a stop in an old tower they found.

"there should be a basilisk nest over here."

and sure enough, they spotted a nest with multiple eggs in it inside.

"there's some eggs here. looks freshly laid, too. let's bag them up before their momma comes back."

senshi instructed, taking a few eggs.

"but are they supposed to be that long?

marcille asked, grimacing when laios hands her one.

"here, marcille."

"and are they supposed to be THIS squishy??"

a sudden roar made the group stop, and laios warns them in panic.

"that's the cry of a basilisk! quick, hide."

"hope you wrapped your eggs with something soft like i did."

laios, senshi and chilchuck ran to hide behind a bush while marcille stood frozen and confused, still holding one of the eggs in her hand.

"eh?"

then, the shrill cry of a basilisk got closer until it suddenly appeared with its wings out, chasing after two familiar faces.

"ahhh!"

"wait, that's the party with the grill."

chilchuck whispered, grimacing when the man was clawed by the basilisk, falling on the ground while the elf girl with him clung against the giant root next to them.

the basilisk suddenly stops, tilting its head as it spotted marcille. it blinked, looking at her then to the egg she's holding, then back at her.

marcille stares at the basilisk dumbfounded, not really registering what the hell is happening.

it suddenly roars in anger while charging at her, and marcille screams while running away with the egg still in hand, swinging her staff around to try and hit the basilisk.

"ahh!! dumb chicken, get away! i'll fry you!"

"yep, bad escape technique. she's just asking to be kicked on the butt."

laios nodded to himself, watching as marcille got pecked on the ass by the chicken's beak, still chasing her while she stumbled around.

"will you just save her already?!"

after a few more seconds of running around, marcille accidentally trips on an overgrown vine and laios finally jumps out to save the day, but not in a way that everyone is expecting.

he began yelling loudly while waving his arms around and making crazy gestures, absolutely looking like a mad-man as he did so.

'spread your arms and legs out wide to look as huge as possible, and do a crazy yell to sound threatening! it'll freak the thing out and keep it back.'

the basilisk panicked, flapping its wings around as laios copied its movements. lowkey, i'd be scared too.😰

"...how about we pretend we don't know him?"

"hm."

marcille and chilchuck nodded simultaneously, watching as laios scared the monster just by going ape-shit. now that's some crazy alpha charisma right there.

senshi snuck behind the basilisk and was noticed by the snake behind it, and laios took this as an opportunity to pull his sword out.

'this is it! a basilisk has two heads, one behind it and one in front, so it'll seem like it has no blind spots but... it's still one body.'

laios grunted as he swung his sword up, the same time as senshi who raised his axe to bring it down on the snake head of the basilisk.

'so if you attack it at both sides at the same time... it'll split its attention to two directions... confusing the whole body!'

and with that, the sliced heads of the basilisk drops to the ground with a splat along with its lifeless body.

after making sure that the basilisk was dead, laios made his way to the injured adventurer from the other party.

"how is he? was he poisoned?"

"y-yes..."

the female elf answered, tears prickling the corner of her eyes.

"laios! senshi said he has an antidote."

marcille called after him, pointing to the said dwarf who was looking at them with a blank face.

"oh? let's have it then."

"actually, i was planning to use it for today's lunch."

"huh?!"

they all collectively gasped, and the unknown elf girl looked like she was gonna pass out from shock.

"it's always better to take this antidote if it's cooked into something."

senshi followed up, easing everyone's shock just a little bit.

"then hurry up and make something!"

senshi immediately started working on the food, grabbing his knife to chop up the raw basilisk.

"first, you gotta chop off the tail and feet. parboil it for a sec and then pluck the feathers."

they immediately got into plucking, tearing the feathers out so quick you'd think they're in some kind of game show where they'd win a million dollars if they finished before the time limit.

"woah, it actually looks like a chicken."

chilchuck gasped as he looked down at the giant raw basilisk that was being marinated by senshi.

"next, you pull out the guts and rub the seasonings in. chop some vegetables up and cram 'em in with your medical herbs, then tie up the cut."

the boys then lifted it up and skewered it with senshi's axe, spinning it over the fire.

"last, jam a stick through the sucker and give it a good, slow roasting."

and after a few minutes of roasting, the basilisk is finally ready to be served.

"hurry and feed him already!"

marcille panicked as she urged laios to feed the unknown adventurer immediately, but kept missing his mouth so marcille just took it upon herself to do the job.

"give me that!"

"sorry, still dizzy after asserting dominance over that basilisk."

marcille lifts a spoonful of the chicken to the man's lips and fed him.

"it's... so juicy and delicious."

he grunted, and his female elf companion began crying tears of joy.

"yeah, sorry for the wait..."

approaching the girl with a chicken leg, senshi lifts it up to her face as if tempting her.

"here, have some too."

"i can't! i should cast a healing spell to..."

marcille stops herself as she looks at the chicken leg, her thoughts fading out.

a few seconds later, there she was munching on the chicken leg with the rest of the group while gushing over it.

"oh my gosh, it's really good! it's like something the dining hall would serve."

chilchuck agrees as he took a bite of his own along with laios.

"it tastes exactly like chicken meat."

"i heard that snakes taste like chicken too when cooked..."

the young man hums as he enjoys his own fill, and marcille snaps out of her dreamy thoughts and rushed back to the poor injured adventurer she was helping earlier.

"ah! sorry, i'll cast the healing spell now— oops, wrong thing. hehe..."

she laughed sheepishly, hiding the chicken behind her as she lifted her staff with her other hand.

after everything was out of the way, the group enjoyed the rest of the meal until all that was left were the bones of the basilisk they ate.

"that was so good. it's the first decent meal i've had before in this dungeon."

the unknown adventurer said, and the elf girl next to him nodded her head in agreement.

they then looked at each other, as if silently communicating their next words.

"uhm, she and i..."

he started, grabbing everyone's attention.

"we've been trying for three months to get past this part of the dungeon, but the same monsters wipe us out every single time. so we thought... since you eat monsters, you can tell us how to get stronger, so we can too!"

there was a moment of silence as laios and chilchuck glanced at each other with hesitancy on their faces.

"oh, sure uhm—"

"first, you must improve your eating habits! second, get enough sleep! third, exercise! follow these three rules, and you'll get strong enough to conquer this dungeon!"

senshi suddenly butts in with a determined face, literally glowing as he listed off his dungeon training session 101 to the two adventurers who looked at him with both admiration and confusion.

soon came the time to part ways and the touden party packed up their things and waved goodbye to the two adventurers who are currently with their passed out members, bidding them goodbye.

"what an amazing group of adventurers... i wanna be like them."

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"hmm, i think we can't make it to the third floor today."

"well, duh. we spent too much time cooking that monster."

laios sighed at chilchuck's words and he puts his map away.

"they say that red dragons wake up once a month to do their hunting. the one we encountered had probably just woken up, so it should be asleep by now since its belly is full. i'd like to find it before it can digest my sister."

laios then looks up at a struggling marcille who held onto the rope desperately, looking like she's about to burst into tears any second now.

"hey, marcille? can you please pick up the pace a little bit?"

instead of smoothly sliding down like they expected, marcille accidentally lets go of the rope and fell on her ass on the ground.

"oww..."

she groaned, holding her hip like an old lady who just broke her hip bone or something.

"yep, my sister is doomed."

laios muttered, catching marcille's attention as she panicked and immediately stood up, ignoring the ache on her behind.

"i'm not slowing us down! see? nothing's broken. i can walk!"

she grins nervously, her legs shaking a bit.

"but you're hurt. we should take a break."

"no, i can't hold us back!"

marcille's argument was put to a stop as chilchuck sighed, shaking his head in disapproval.

"oh, please. acting tough isn't helping one bit. you'll just end up hurting yourself, and being a burden to the party."

she dramatically gasped, deeply offended by the half foot's comment as she then chose to just sit down while grumbling, listening to the rest of the group discuss about their plan.

"we can just use the path outside, but then we'll have to deal with big bats."

marcille once again perks up from laios' words, and a look of determination crossed her face.

"i can take care of the big bats with my magic!"

"no, it's fine."

she faltered after being shut down by laios, but perked up once again when chilchuck spoke.

"we can take the secret path instead. there's lots of traps, but less monsters around."

"m-me! i can disarm the traps with my magic!"

"ah, don't bother. it's faster to let chilchuck handle them."

after getting shut down once again, marcille sulks, feeling as if she's not needed.

"if we're gonna take the path with lots of monsters in it, we're gonna need plenty of food for energy. we have some left overs here."

senshi asked, and laios scratched the back of his head in deep thought.

"that's mostly just eggs and meat... we need some vegetables to balance out a meal. i know of a spot where mandrakes grow." (hope they don't diddle kids— *slapped*)

marcille for the third time today, grins in excitement and raised her hand up proudly.

"oh, oh! me! i know all about harvesting mandrakes! leave it to me!"

reluctantly, the group agreed and decided to follow along marcille's plan, finding a patch of ground where mandrakes are located at.

"mandrakes are basic ingredients for magical potions— something that [name] specialise in, so we'd often harvest some for her projects."

marcille says as she points to herself in confidence.

"but i'm the only magic user here currently, so you must all follow my lead and do as i say!"

the guys glanced at each other, shrugging in silence.

"you can't just pull a mandrake out because it will scream. if you hear it, it'll make you