Surrounded by a handful of other women like Rose, Brenna, Aerin and the rest, both Holly and Jess felt slightly more comfortable about talking to the general than before. The women had been consoling them for the few hours that Raven was away and dealing with the rest of the problems arising everywhere. From horrors finally coming out of the burning brambles to deserters and conflicts between the new soldiers, the old and even the holy order, every ounce of responsibility for them fell on him and dealing with it turned out to be quite a headache.
But now, deep into the night as he stepped back into his tent, his eyes turned to Holly, Jess and eventually to Josare–the slime girl–sitting in a corner with Mino, Maine, as well as the djinn sisters keeping a close eye on her. Although Raven trusted that she wouldn’t try anything, given the fact that he’d seen through her memories, the monster girls knew better than to give her a chance, as for the djinns, they were simply pissed that they were defeated by her group’s leader.
Entering the tent, he stood quietly by the entrance as Regalia entered right behind him. The woman had been following Raven throughout the day, perhaps due to a guilty conscience or to simply keep an eye on things. Her skills–of course–could be better used by the marching army, but as it was night already, the soldiers had begun resting.
With a deep breath and sight, Raven began walking closer to Frazer’s family. Being offered a chair by Moxy, he quickly sat down and leaned forward in the chair. Intertwining his fingers and twiddling his thumbs, he looked up into the women’s eyes and asked.
"Do you wanna go back home? It will take me less than a second to drop you off." To nobody’s surprise, however, they dismissively shook their heads.
After coming so far and with the brambles finally cleared, the two saw no reason to head back now, especially since the only man in their family was possibly still deep in the forest and under threat by monsters and that dryad.
"Alright then..." Lowering his head, Raven looked to the monster holding jewel. "Arche, clear the rest of my forest by morning. I want to end this war quickly."
Taking the bracelet off, he turned his attention to Mino for a moment and tossed it at her. Catching it with visible surprise on her face, she raised an eyebrow, wondering what Raven had planned.
"Have the workers create a giant torch. Big as a tower, and let Arche burn the forest. With her help, I’m sure it won’t take more than a few hours."
"But...what if she burns the people that we’re looking for?" Mino asked, and upon hearing her concern, both Holly and Jess let out a gasp.
"Not likely, she can sense monsters from a mile away. So if she does run into that dryad or the other girl with Frazer, it would be quite easy to avoid them. Isn’t that right, Arche?"
A brief yawn escaped the jewel, and after a moment’s silence, the queen of spiders hummed in agreement to Raven’s question. And with that done, Mino left the tent, and the general shifted his attention to Josare instead. Tall, curvaceous and with a near-transparent body adorned by clothes that hugged her curves as if she were wearing a leather suit. Studying her form, Raven’s eyes especially linger on her slime-made horns with numerous bright yellow bubbles inside.
They produced the energy that was required to sustain her, not to mention her heart, her lungs, her breasts, even her groin, and every other joint had the same, yellow bulbs of different sizes, burning a gentle firefly-like glow. Unlike most slime monsters, she–much like any other true monster–was unique in this way, but given the nature of slime monsters, her scaredy nature persisted.
"Why did you send that letter knowing that you would die and so would your clan if that dryad found out?" Raven asked, his eyes lingering on the woman’s shaken form.
Lifting her head, Josare gathered some courage and spoke up in a whisper-like hum.
"I don’t know." Her answer, however, was unbecoming of a true monster. They cared for themselves above all. Then why was this woman vulnerable to her own emotions? "I guess I just placed myself in your shoes and saw your army as my people. If that happened to me, if someone was poisoning me and my people..."
With a heavy gulp, Josare lifted her head with tears streaming down her face.
"Then I would want someone to warn me, too." Not an ounce of deception was reflected through her eyes, but was it a strength or a weakness, who could tell but another true monster, the last and only one of which that they had in the army, had just left the tent.
’I’m not too sure what to do with her.’ Staring at her still, Raven pondered what route to take with the slime girl. ’She doesn’t seem like a fighter; her vitals are glowing even through her clothes. Our enemies can kill her easily if we let her, but at the same time, she seems like a burden to keep around if something as light as this is enough to make her shiver.’
Too many questions arose in the hero’s head. Keeping Josare around was the obvious choice, but with her fear, she could easily get someone killed. And looking at Holly and Jess, Raven knew that if the trio were kept together throughout this war, there was a pretty good chance that at least one of them would die when things got tough. Unless...
"I’ll ask you three this question one last time," looking through their faces, Raven rose from the chair with all eyes turned at him. "Do you want to go back home? I have a handful of other women still waiting at the Inn; you can keep them company, and they will help you with whatever you need. But if you stay here, there’s a good chance that people will die, and there’s an even greater chance that it is one of you three."
Upon hearing the harsh truth, the girls stared at Raven’s face with hesitation and doubts. The mother and daughter duo couldn’t leave because their family was still in danger whether they left or not. As for Josare, she was too ashamed and uncertain about leaving since she was part of this whole mess.
After a minute of silence with them just staring at him, Raven took no as their answer and extended his hand with rings of teleportation in his hands.
"Stay then, but there’s going to be something we need to clear first..." And so, with a ring that was often a show of his affection or alliance, Raven made them an offer, an offer that could potentially save their lives.