Gathering Frazer’s family and waking up the slime girl, Regalia stood beside Raven as it came time to question them. Dandy and Aria were present inside the tent as well, but that’s all the people that were present; everyone else had been forced out to not overwhelm the civilian women.
"B-before you torture me or anything..." Her eyes downcast, Josare’s body kept shivering as she sat on her seat beside Frazer’s family. "I-I sent you that letter warning about the traitors. I didn’t want any part of that woman’s group. We were being forced to do as she told us to."
"Forced? How?" Raven asked, tilting his head with a curious gleam.
"She’s obviously lying, this monster!" Hurled, Frazer’s mother, her eyes tearing up. "These monster women are responsible for corrupting my son; they must’ve filled his head with lies, I know they did!"
"It wasn’t me!" Turning towards Holly, Josare clasped her hands and begged. "Believe me, please! It was that dryad; she has her way with words and poisons, and when she came to my clan with Frazer, they threatened to kill us all unless I helped them! We were afraid because there was chosen of a god with her, and he killed so many of our men, all because she told him to!"
"There’s no way my brother will kill someone for no reason," Jess muttered, not entirely sure if she even believed that sentence herself anymore.
"Believe me, please...I know she’s brainwashing him," even so, Josare kept on pleading.
"What about the other girls? Are they brainwashed as well or victims like you?" Cutting into the quarrel, Raven drew the monster girl’s attention back towards him. Slowly turning her head, Josare gave him a nod and spoke the entire truth, which had puzzled the hero ever since running into Frazer at the gates.
"As far as I know, they were threatened, yes–but I think they were promised a place to rule inside the kingdom’s walls once they’ve helped Muena get rid of your army. Somehow, she knew it from the start that you were coming, and that’s why she was looking for more people like me and the rest of the girls to add to Frazer’s party. We were supposed to poison your army, and once you’d been weakened, the forest has a swamp, and that dryad promised that once you were in there, she could kill you guys easily."
’She knew?’ Glancing up at Regalia, who’d been standing quietly beside him, Raven wanted to know her thoughts on the matter, but she seemed lost in her own head to notice him looking at her. ’Later then.’
"Once the army was weakened in the fight against the demon general, she wanted us to kill your tired group, and with that, Frazer would once again become the only hero around these parts–giving him free reign inside of Eclanor after dealing with the giants and one elf too but I’m not sure who that is, she never told us about him."
"Elowen?" Mumbling that name, Aria met Raven’s gaze. "Maybe that man does know more than he’s letting on. First, the rifle that he just so randomly found, and now this. What if he has shaken hands with her already?"
"Hmm..." With no way of knowing concretely, Raven decided to rest that speculation for now and instead turned to Frazer’s family. "Now, why don’t you tell me more about yourself and your family? Maybe we can talk some sense into him after all. Get him out of that woman’s charm, if he’s still alive after that attack, that is."
The attack that had sent Josare running had already been discussed, and although the woman insisted that her party members, including Muena, were dead, nobody present inside the tent considered that to be the truth just yet.
"Uhmm..." Hanging her head low, Holly shook her head, trying to drive away the very possibility of him being dead. Then, with a deep breath and a sigh, she began telling Raven everything that there was to tell. "I had it before I got married to Jess’s father. It was..."
Casting a quickly shameful glance at her daughter, the woman couldn’t hide her shame and was forced to look away.
"A man who sweet-talked me into his bed. I never saw him again, both of my kids know that, and I think that pricked at Frazer’s often. But he never acted before."
"I know, he was never such an asshole," Jess interjected.
"Jess!" Her mother scolded, but the young girl kept on talking.
"Before he left the city, he worked as an adventurer for quite a bit. But he needed equipment, so we sold everything we had to give it to him. He promised to repay us, but he hasn’t, and now we have to live with Dandy, one of his friends."
Facing Dandy for just a few seconds, both mother and daughter relayed their thanks with a nod. Waving her hands in a dismissive way, the elf tried not to take credit, as it was the only thing that she could’ve done to help them out of a bad situation.
"What about his personality? What was he like?" Raven inquired further, his razor-sharp eyes still focused on the women.
"He was...Kind, I guess that’s the best way to describe it," Holly responded while matching the general’s gaze.
"Yeah, we didn’t recognize him when he first came back to the house. It was like he was a different person." Her daughter added further.
"Sounds like he was brainwashed, after all," Aria concluded, and Raven reached the same conclusion as well.
Even so, the mage needed more information. To know the man in and out, he had to get every bit of information out as possible. Thus, rising from his seat, Raven slowly approached his family with both of his hands stretched towards them.
"Let me hold your hands for a few moments," he said.
Not aware of his ability to mind-read, both Holly and Jess were slightly taken aback by that request. Looking at each other with confusion and a light blush, the women didn’t know what to say until Raven got on his knees to better hold their hands while they were still seated in their chairs.
"Go on, I’ll be quick," and while the two hesitantly gave him their hands, he looked at the slime girl and said. "You’re next. I need to verify everything that you’ve told me."
"What? T-then why did you ask when you could verify everything yourself?" She asked, instead of Raven, however, it was Aria that responded to her question.
"To decide whether to kill you or not. If you’ve lied, you’re gonna die, and if you told the truth, you live to see another day, woman."
Struck by those words, the slime girl remained frozen on the spot. All the while, Raven peered deep into the family’s consciousness to reveal the secrets that they’d left out of their talk. In it, he saw everything that they’d told him, and leaving the rest for a while later, he decided to check on Josare, and thankfully for her, she hadn’t lied to him at all.
’We need to move in quickly. One more night and the demon general, and this doesn’t need to exist.’ Having learned everything that he wanted, it was finally time to put the strength of his army to the test–just one more night, a night of torching a forest and a night to know more about what’s happening from Frazer’s family and Josare.