Jason.
One of the heroes of the late age in Greece, king of Iolcus. And, when viewed across all of Greek mythology, the protagonist of the Argo ship story, the tale with the second-greatest scale overall, and the greatest if limited to the early period.
A worthless fool who gave birth to Medea, the witch of betrayal; a trash of a man who betrayed the once-pure Medea; a man who ruined another country with his own hands.
...So why am I saying this?
Because I think I’ve possessed that Jason. More specifically, the Jason from Type-Moon’s Fate world.
...Am I going to die?
※
The myths of Greco-Roman mythology, the stories of the Twelve Olympian Gods.
For Koreans, it’s one of those famous stories you probably encountered at least once through a comic book. Along with Norse mythology and the Bible, it’s one of the three great mythologies that come to mind when people think of Western myth.
Among them, Greco-Roman mythology is the most disastrous of the lot, the one where humans get tossed around the most. A mythology so chaotic it’s even called the late age of Greece, a chain of endless ruin.
And within that Greco-Roman mythology, the story of the Argonaut expedition is the greatest in scale if you limit it to the early period. Jason, the protagonist of that story.
He is also the hero who, right from the start, was stripped of his throne and royal authority by his uncle, driven out of the palace, sent to study under Chiron, and through that came to know many heroes, eventually gathering the Argonauts.
He also fell in love with Medea and seemed to live happily with her, only to discover all the crimes she had committed for his sake and then cast her aside without hesitation.
Well, in the Moon Cell version, it’s even worse than that. He is portrayed as a complete idiot who never once loved Medea and only ever intended to use her.
At any rate.
The cause that led Medea to abandon her lingering attachment to her child and, in revenge against him, kill her own children.
The man who, in the end, was left alone and died miserably beneath the Argo.
That man is me.
“Hah, damn it... Of all things, why did I have to possess the Fate version of Jason...?”
To explain my current situation simply: my father, Aeson, had his throne stolen by his younger brother, and my mother and I, Jason, were driven out of the palace and are now resting in an empty house in the woods.
At least I was fortunate that all of Jason’s memories up to this point had been received in the form of “records.”
“What do I do... In Fate, depending on my actions, there’s a high chance this could turn into a Singularity or a Lostbelt or something.”
That said, I don’t want to die the same way as the original.
For me to survive in this world, my uncle is an obstacle. The problem is how he should be handled.
In the original myth, he gets killed by his cousins after being deceived by Medea. Because of that, Jason completely loses his heart to Medea.
Honestly, if I gave up the throne, that would solve everything, but then the whole Argo story would disappear, so I’ll have to think about it a bit.
I still have plenty of time. In the end, my uncle, who incurred the wrath of the goddess Hera, is destined to be judged no matter what. The problem is that he’ll be judged with me as the pretext.
“...For now, I should let my parents send me to Chiron and think it over slowly after that.”
Once I get there, I can meet the other heroes and decide what to do, or not do, from there.
“This poor child truly is pitiable. Even Lord Zeus is so indifferent...”
A little later, “my mother,” who had called me into the living room of the empty house, hugged me tightly and began voicing her worries about the future. In response, “my father” let out a deep sigh, rested his chin on his interlaced fingers, and in a gloomy voice predicted an even bleaker future.
“My dear, there is a bigger problem than that.”
“Pardon? A bigger problem? What do you mean!?”
Of course. The problem was that my uncle would surely try to kill me so he wouldn’t have to hand the throne over to me. Even so, a usurping uncle blinded by royal power handing the throne over to me obediently would be even stranger.
“No! To think he would try to kill this child, this lovely child!”
As soon as my father said the expected words, my mother hugged me even tighter and refused to let go, while my father calmly continued.
“So, my dear, let us send the child to Master Chiron.”
Chiron. Among the centaurs, the half-man, half-horse race famous for their warlike temperaments, he was the gentle and wise one who raised many Greek heroes. He had been educated by the siblings Apollo and Artemis, and possessed deep knowledge in many fields.
Perhaps to spread that knowledge far and wide, Chiron had set up something like an academy in a cave on Mount Pelion and trained many heroes there.
My mother, too, agreed with my father’s suggestion, saying it was a good idea for my safety and education. She met my eyes as I looked up at her, and gave me a smile filled with a very bitter feeling.
“Jason, my child, my little one, I’m sorry that your mother and father are so weak. I’m sorry we couldn’t pass the throne to you intact. And please, under Chiron, learn much and grow into a fine king.”
Ah, could this be why? Is it because of my mother’s words that the original Jason became so obsessed with the throne?
“...Yes, Mother.”
And, I’m sorry, Mother. I apologize in place of the original Jason.
For failing to become a fine king, for abandoning Medea after she must have looked at Jason’s child with feelings just like yours, for only ever thinking of using her, for not seeking you out even after becoming king.
For all of it.
And once again, I swear it. With my soul, my fate, and every future I will build.
I will make sure you are respected. I will tear away the vast curtain called destiny. I will break the world called destiny.
This shall be my “dream,” my “wish.”
※
“Then, Lord Chiron. Please take good care of this child.”
“Do not worry. I shall teach him with all my strength.”
...Oh, so this is Chiron. I can feel an air of noble dignity...
“You said your name was Jason, yes? What would you like to learn?”
As I watched my father walk away after leaving me in Chiron’s care, he asked me in a deep voice. What would I like to learn, huh... If this were the previous Jason, it would without hesitation be everything needed to become king. But as for me now...
“I do not know. What I want. What I desire. And whether the path I wish to take is truly the right one.”
I had moved only my lips for the last sentence, so Chiron did not hear it. Even so, perhaps realizing that I was different from the other students, his attitude toward me was unlike the way he treated the others once classes began in earnest.
“I see. Then first, let us go into my house, and I shall introduce you to the other students one by one.”
I followed Chiron as he led the way, listening to him explain the academy and his pupils. What surprised me was that Heracles had not arrived here yet.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Castor. This is my younger sister, Pollux.”
“Hello. Please take good care of our older brother, in many ways.”
Among the many children here who were still underage, a pair of siblings who seemed especially close came up to me, greeted me, and introduced themselves. The moment I heard their names, I was startled as the original myth came to mind.
The Dioscuri, the twin gods of Gemini.
Even Zeus himself praised their brotherly love and regarded it very highly. When the elder Castor died first, Pollux begged Zeus to give half of his remaining fate to his brother, and as a result, half of that fate was spent in the underworld and the other half on Olympus. That was how deep their bond was.
Well, in Type-Moon, Pollux has been gender-swapped into a girl, so the two of them are standing before me like this as siblings.
“Y-yeah. Nice to meet you, I’m Jason.”
I was briefly flustered, but recalling the Moon Cell version, I quickly suppressed my surprise. Fortunately, perhaps because they were still young, they did not notice and were simply delighted to have made a friend their own age.
“Of course, it’s not that the people here are bad or anything, but there are a lot of times when we just can’t understand each other! And more than anything, it’s boring!”
“That’s right. Even if we’re siblings and rely on each other, there’s still something oddly dull about it, no matter what we do.”
“Before becoming gods, while they’re still not fully grown, the Dioscuri’s personalities are like little rascals, huh.”
And behind this pair of siblings came a young man who looked to be around the same age, Asclepius, letting out a deep sigh. Perhaps because his focus had been on the siblings, he only noticed me after reaching right behind them, and then greeted me.
“Hello, you must be the new child. I’m Asclepius.”
“...? Could he be that Asclepius, the one called the god of medicine?”
“You two, you didn’t do anything rude to this child, did you?”
“No!? Agh! That hurts!”
“Why are you only suspicious of us!?”
As he gave the siblings a suspicious side-eye and pressed his hands against their heads to apply pressure, they protested as if hurt and wronged, but the words he added afterward left them speechless.
“Have you forgotten all the things you’ve done under the guise of ‘just playing around’? How badly you and the people you played those pranks on got hurt? Because of that, my medical skills can’t help but improve, you troublemakers.”
“Th-that’s...”
“Ugh...”
“Pffft. Puhahaha...”
Ah, I couldn’t hold it in. The moment I burst out laughing, the siblings, still struggling in Asclepius’s grip, pouted and shot me a look asking why I was laughing.
“Ahem, sorry. No, just how many accidents have you caused...? Anyway, you said your name was Asclepius, right? Nice to meet you. I’m Jason.”
On the third day after I began studying under Chiron, I happened to witness a blond man around Asclepius’s age coming to receive treatment, and I was startled once again.
“What, I came looking because he wasn’t in the treatment room, and it was because of this guy?”
“Ah, Theseus.”
Theseus! That one, famous as Heracles’s friend.
Perhaps because this was before any friction with the Dioscuri had developed, they simply passed each other by with the sort of bland indifference you’d show a cow or a chicken.
Hmm, unexpected. I didn’t think that mischievous pair, the Dioscuri siblings, would just ignore Theseus and walk on by...
When I casually brought up the reason, Castor only frowned and held his tongue, but Pollux answered in a sly tone.
“It’s just... I don’t really like that person. For reasons completely opposite to yours, I don’t feel like playing any pranks on him.”
So that was it. They had already sensed something was off.
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