For a moment, silence fell.
"...I am sorry to say this to Your Highness, but I do have goodwill toward you. However, that goodwill is not the kind of affection that leads to love between a man and a woman."
I agonized over how I should put it, but in the end I decided to be honest. There was nothing else I could say.
I did not know why she still liked me. The fact that there was no divine interference meant these were her own feelings.
"I already... know that."
Medea wore a bitter, heartache-stricken expression, but as if she had anticipated this, she forced a smile. Even so, I was truly flustered by the lingering desire to help in her eyes as she looked straight at me.
"At first, it was only curiosity. Those who questioned the circumstances of Prince Phrixus's death were all killed, so it must already have been famous. I wondered who was talking about it again."
Medea gathered herself, and while she tried to steady her trembling voice, she continued.
"I was horrified that information known only to my sister and me was spreading in secret, so I hurried to trace the source. And then..."
She said that a huge vessel had docked on this island a few days ago.
At that moment, I realized everything had begun to go wrong from then on.
"As I said before, I am a witch. If I use Magecraft for eavesdropping, linking, and insight, I can dig up almost any information. After that, well, I think you can guess the rest."
Was it my fault for overlooking the fact that Medea was a witch of the Age of Gods? The only saving grace was that she, too, was the enemy of my enemy. But that did not mean she was on my side. I, too, wanted her to escape her fate; I had no intention whatsoever of bringing her over to my side.
Had all of this been a miscalculation?
"To be honest, we had practically given up on uncovering it and were forcing ourselves to bury it in the back of our memories."
Because even if we exposed it, it would only be dismissed as a lie.
The more she spoke, the more moisture crept into her voice, and a hoarse sound slipped out as though her throat were tightening. She suppressed all of that and bowed at the waist to thank me.
"That was the beginning. The fact that an outsider, Jason, knew something no one else had recognized, something everyone else had given up on, and on top of that was even devising a plan to deliver rightful punishment."
As a result of watching and following everything Jason did, before she knew it, she had fallen for him.
I could not say a single thing. So this was the butterfly effect.
"Above all, you even said you could settle Prince Phrixus's grudge and relieve my sister's resentment. There is no reason for me not to help Jason. No, rather, I want Jason to accept my help, please."
So that was it. Her ultimate goal in helping me was to lend strength to my plan.
"You do not need to worry about my feelings. I only wanted to tell you how I feel before this is over, before you leave, Jason. But please do not ignore my help. Will you accept it?"
From inside her cloak, she took out, one by one, a [pill formed by diluting and compressing the extracted fluids from mashed herbs that attract beasts], [a bracelet that prevents your body heat from being stolen even in the cold of the deep sea], [a pill made from seaweed and fish that sea lions like], and [an amulet that mimics and compresses the power of the goddess Hecate so that it can withstand the heat of the sun], then handed them to me. She pulled her cloak low to hide her face and concealed the tears flowing from her eyes.
I carefully accepted the pills, the elixir, the bracelet, and the amulet from Medea and looked down at her for a long while. This was probably her own feeling, pure and untouched by any interference.
A new path altered by my actions.
That was why I had never expected this at all.
Lowering my eyes, I stared at the things in my hands and fell deep into thought.
These were not things I should be receiving, nor things I should use for myself. At least, that was what I believed.
But the right to receive a gift is always decided not by the one receiving it, but by the one giving it. Medea, the giver, wanted me to accept these things and wanted me to use them, so it would be best to make full use of them for her sake.
After gently wrapping the items and tucking them into my arms, I looked ahead again and saw Medea still standing there with her head bowed.
"...Understood. If Your Highness wants me to use these, then I will use them as much as I can. I will never ignore Your Highness's help."
When I smiled faintly and carefully took her clasped hands, which she could not keep still, she widened her eyes and suddenly lifted her head to look at me.
Seeing Medea's tear-streaked face made my chest ache. It hurt that the feelings she had come to feel had originated from me, and I worried that if that were the reason, I might fail to save her from fate.
She was the woman who, in connection with Jason, would face the most tragic fate of all.
She was the one I had wanted to save more than anyone after I had possessed Jason's body.
But if she intended to remain by my side of her own will, then there was no reason to push her away even if it meant carving deeper scars into her heart.
"I want to repay Your Highness's help immediately, but I am sorry that I cannot."
Instead, I will never ignore this. Your help, your heart, your feelings, your revenge, your existence. I will face and accept all of it.
Medea showed a bright smile that looked as though tears might spill out at any moment, then returned to the royal castle.
If these were truly her own feelings, free of divine interference, I had no intention of denying her existence. Though, even without divine interference, her liking me was truly an event I could never have imagined.
Was this the butterfly effect of my changing Jason's path?
Tsk. How unfortunate, and how sorry I am.
I could only stare endlessly at her receding back before turning around myself and heading toward the Argo ship.
The items in my arms swayed with my steps, and I carefully took them out to inspect them. A pill that draws in beasts, a bracelet that resists the cold, and an amulet that keeps the body from burning even under the sun's heat.
The bracelet and the amulet only needed to be worn on the body, and as for the pill, once you entered the beasts' range, you were to cut off the top and fling it in one direction...
The pill might be a bit superfluous, but if the beasts had lost their reason...
It would be more than enough help.
"Thank you. And I am sorry."
After taking heavy steps and arriving at the Argo ship, I coldly swept my emotionless gaze over the lot of them, who had been watching my meeting with her with great interest, gathered everyone, and ordered the sailor who had been traveling with Theseus to report on the day's findings, which he had not been able to hear because of the scolding from his companions caused by my actions.
"Still going smoothly... or rather, it's going so smoothly that it's worrying."
In Theseus's place, who had gone to the palace with me, Lecalisio, the sharpest-minded among the sailors who had assisted Theseus, reported with a grim expression.
They had worried that it was too unguarded and wondered if it might be a trap, but that was surely the result of Medea's efforts. So I could smile calmly and tell them not to worry.
"Do not worry. I recently confirmed that there is someone among the people of the royal palace who is helping us. That person must have hidden the information."
Uncharacteristically for me, who normally did not trust outside help, I showed firm confidence, and they looked at me suspiciously. Meeting those eyes as they stared at me with strong suspicion, I added, "I understand why you doubt me. It is only natural to be suspicious when I, who never accepted, used, or trusted outside help, went out and came back saying there is a believer in the royal palace."
"But I am sane."
With a slight lift of one corner of my mouth, I took the magical tools she had given me out of my arms one by one.
"Boreads, Dioscuri, Heracles. If it were you, you would know that these things are mixed with divine power."
"...Indeed, there is at least a trace of the power of Lady Hecate, the goddess of Magecraft, night, and the waning moon."
"Where on earth did you get something like this?"
"...Hah, even I would have trouble making magical tools of this level."
As children of the gods, they reached the conclusion immediately and were impressed.
"These are the things that ally gave us. What do you think? If that ally were trying to deceive us, would they go so far as to help us like this while aiming to stab us in the back?"
They slowly shook their heads. The sailors, too, must have sensed the high-grade aura in these items, because their suspicion toward me faded in an instant.
Some even looked a little disappointed. They were the ones who had been watching my meeting with her with great interest, probably hoping that with the pink atmosphere, the chance to tease me had finally arrived... Not a chance, no sir, no way! Absolutely no way!!!
I took the items back from them and put them away in my arms, then returned to the main point.
"Next... I will report on the information we gathered."
If the earlier report was about the state of the diversion and the signal transmissions, this one was about the country's circumstances and every rumor and story they had uncovered about the prince.
"By my judgment, King Aeetes may be a tyrant, but he does not seem to be a fool. That much is certain if you look at how distorted the accounts about the prince are, to the point of absurdity."
Enough to call him someone who is deceiving the entire country.
"Then why is he still called a tyrant?"
Pulling me out of my thoughts, Castor asked the question in my place.
"I judge it is because repeated trade failures and losses in commerce left him unable to fill the treasury. Before King Aeetes, the one who handled trade and commerce, filled the treasury, and even invigorated the people beyond that, was Prince Phrixus."
Good grief, he really was giving off a rotten smell so openly, wasn't he?
I stopped thinking once I realized I had found another opening. If I inflated these matters properly, the plan might become a little easier, so I shared the thoughts that immediately came to mind with the sailors.
Then,
"...What a terrifying bastard."
Castor was disgusted, and
"At this point, it's hard to even be surprised..."
Pollux shook her head, while
"What on earth is the source of your talent for scheming?"
Caeneus looked down at me as if I were a member of some third species.
"As expected of Jason."
Heracles nodded firmly, and
"How does that little brain of yours work so well? Did you oil it?"
Theseus picked a fight for no reason, while
"I am truly glad that fellow is my friend and on the same side..."
Peleus let out a breath of relief.
Watching all the sailors react with astonishment, shock, and disgust, I gazed at the moonlight streaming through the window and smiled with a sinister, wicked expression.
Now then, King Aeetes.
Try to stop me, try to interfere, try to ruin me.
The more you do, the more you will fall deeper into my plan.
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