The banquet had ended, and the night had grown deep.
Yet, sleep eluded me, so I stepped out into the midnight air to wander the streets.
Truthfully, the proposal I had heard during the banquet didn't feel particularly dangerous.
Even if I had to face a fire-breathing bull, I could handle it easily enough by utilizing the magecraft I had learned from Lady Hecate.
As for subduing the warriors, I had full confidence in my own strength.
My only concern was whether the king would actually honor the agreement once the task was done.
Lost in these thoughts, I walked beneath the soft, silver glow of the moonlight.
The night air of Colchis was still, yet beneath the silence, magical energy rippled like the oppressive tension before a storm.
The palace gardens were meticulously manicured, but the artificial order of the place created a strange, suffocating pressure. I gazed past the castle walls toward the plains that would serve as tomorrow's battlefield and sank deeper into thought.
"...He doesn't seem like the type of man to hand over the Golden Fleece so readily. Even if I pass the trial, the chaos he has planned for afterward will be the real headache."
***
Meanwhile, on Olympus, Hera, the Queen of the Gods, watched a certain human who had recently captured her interest.
A human king who had earned the recognition of a forsaken divine beast, carved his own path, and brought unprecedented prosperity to his nation.
Moreover, upon ascending the throne, he had offered sacrifices to all the gods of Olympus, demonstrating a rare and genuine reverence for the divine.
"Jason... that boy remains as precarious as ever. But this silver-haired king is different. He knows how to establish order, and he truly understands how to awe the power of the gods."
Her gaze was fixed upon Colchis—specifically, upon the silver-haired man walking through the city streets: Astellon.
Her discovery of Astellon had been purely accidental.
She had stumbled upon him while searching for that irritating Heracles, and since then, he had become the most intriguing human in existence to her.
In many ways, Astellon was an anomaly in Greece.
He defied the conventional wisdom of the age, crafting new laws to solidify his rule, yet unlike other arrogant heroes or kings, he possessed the grace to respect and consider others. It was this duality that had earned Hera's favor.
Recently, she had learned that Astellon had entered into a master-disciple relationship with Hecate, the goddess of magecraft.
Seated upon her throne on Olympus, Hera's eyes narrowed as she observed the world below.
The moment she realized Astellon had formed a bond with Hecate, she felt a flicker of strange jealousy, accompanied by a profound sense of certainty.
"Hecate... to think that exacting and aloof goddess of the night actually took a disciple. Indeed, an ordinary human would have been crushed by her. But you, Astellon... you would have incorporated even her nature into your own convictions."
As she watched, another figure entered Hera's line of sight.
"That one... is interesting as well."
A small, knowing smile played on Hera's lips as she spoke.
"Bring me Eros."
***
At the same time, Medea, the princess of Colchis, stood atop the castle walls. Feeling the bite of the cold night wind, she recalled the words her father, the King of Colchis, had told her.
"Heroes from Greece... and a king, huh..."
The news had piqued her curiosity, and she had longed to meet them, but her father's strict opposition had kept her confined within the castle walls.
"Oh?"
Medea's eyes caught sight of a man walking along the forest path below.
He possessed a visage that looked as though it had been meticulously sculpted by the gods themselves, his silver hair shimmering brilliantly under the moonlight. Medea found herself completely captivated by him.
In that moment, a golden arrow, strikingly bright, flew from out of nowhere and pierced Medea straight through the heart.
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