Fate is bound to come true if it is meant to happen. After all, prophecies in myth are always stories told in hindsight.
More and more you struggle to avoid a prophecy, the more you end up like an ant dragged into an anthill trap, or a person sinking into a swamp—only to head straight for the fate the prophecy foretold.
Before long, I arrived in Iolcus, my homeland.
“My, who is that man? I’ve never seen him before.”
“He’s handsome. I wish I could at least talk to a man like that...”
But most of the people living in this age did not know that. Or perhaps they had forgotten it, paralyzed by the fear that the oracle would “certainly” come true.
I had seen it in the original tale, but it was really embarrassing. No, then just how narcissistic was the original Jason, to hear all those compliments and still stroll off to the palace as if it were only natural!?
I forced my reddening face to calm down and swept my gaze across the shape of the country. As expected, or perhaps even more so than expected, the state of the nation was a disaster—just like you would expect from my uncle, who cared nothing for patriotism and only lusted after the power of the throne.
“...Amazing that a revolt hasn’t broken out. What, is it because he’s got the military locked down?”
The more I checked, the more I could only shake my head at the condition of the country, and a sigh escaped me.
“Excuse me, sir. May I ask you something?”
I stopped an old man passing by and carefully asked him for the way to the royal palace. The old man, worried about me, still gave me directions.
“But why are you going to the palace?”
“Someone I know is there.”
“...In that case, it can’t be helped. Still, be careful. The current king has gone mad with power. He’s ignoring the gods one by one, as if the whole world were beneath him.”
No. So among all those gods, he had chosen to disrespect the goddess Hera first? This was beyond ridiculous. I could not even find a millstone for how absurd it was.
After thanking the old man for his detailed directions, I arrived at the palace and had the guard at the gate inform the king that I had come to see him. The soldier who went inside came back out and led me before the king.
“...How foolish, Uncle.”
So foolish.
He had ignored the gods, ignored nature itself, and lived only for himself.
“Gah!”
This was the punishment he deserved.
“It’s been a long time, Uncle.”
I have come to reclaim the throne. And in this world, I will deliver proper punishment to the “king” who did not worship the gods, cared only for himself, and even betrayed the natural order.
※
“W-Who are you!”
Oh, this was too easy to read, wasn’t it, Uncle? The uncle’s face, upon seeing the foot I wore on only one side—filled with shock and fear. The soldiers and retainers beside him were only flustered by his expression.
Indeed. Was that oracle meant only for my uncle himself?
I turned my head and looked over his relatives one by one. The cousin sisters who, in the original tale, were deceived by Medea and killed my uncle, and Acastus, the cousin who would set out with me on the Argonaut expedition.
“The time has come to keep my promise! I have come to take back the throne, Uncle. Jason, son of the former king Aeson and the rightful heir, has come here now that he has become an adult, just as promised!”
I shouted loud enough for everyone in the palace to hear. Loud enough that even the people outside the palace, if they were nearby, could hear it too—so my uncle would have no chance to say anything else, and even if he did, the legitimacy would be on my side.
I drove the nail in deep.
Now then, Uncle Pelias.
“J-Jason!? Y-you truly are Jason!?”
Would you ignore this? Would you try to overturn it? If you did, I would be grateful, honestly. It would only give legitimacy to what I was about to do afterward.
“Y-Yes, it’s been a while. Jason, my nephew.”
My uncle stepped down from the throne and, forcing a smile, pretended to welcome me warmly. After that, well, it was no different from the original tale.
“F-First, now that you’re back, shouldn’t we hold a welcome feast?”
Tsk. I can hear the sound of gears turning all the way over here, Uncle.
When I said I had come to take back the throne as promised, my uncle looked dazed, as if he could hear nothing and his mind was focused entirely elsewhere. Only when he came up to me did he notice the retainers around us watching, and hurriedly shifted the attention and topic to a welcome feast.
Still, I had to bow my head for now. If I demanded it immediately, my uncle, who controlled the military, might denounce me as a traitor and kill me on the spot.
And besides, the Argo ship had to set sail in the first place.
My uncle gathered all the retainers working in the palace and the idle ones alike, and began a feast. He rose from his seat, lifted his cup high, and shouted loudly.
“Now then, today is a joyous day indeed! My nephew Jason has returned as a proper, strong, and splendid young man! This is truly a happy occasion for our country.”
“Congratulations!”
“Congratulations, Prince Jason!”
“Glory to our homeland!”
As the feast grew lively, my uncle seemed to remember something. His face brightened, and then he wore a sly smile. He must have thought of a way to dispose of me safely. That plan would be the Golden Fleece of Colchis.
Once the atmosphere of the feast had ripened, my uncle opened his mouth.
“But Jason, if you intend to become king, should you not prove your qualifications?”
Tsk. Still shameless as ever. I wish he would change at least a little.
“Qualifications, you say...”
For a moment, irritation surged so strongly that I nearly let out a murderous aura, but I barely suppressed it and looked at my uncle with a puzzled expression.
“Isn’t the one without such qualifications you as well?”
My uncle seemed not to notice anything strange in my expression. Still full of the idea of tricking me and killing me easily, he continued in a cheerful mood.
“Yes, the qualifications to become king. How about proving them clearly to the retainers and people of this land, so they may recognize you?”
What a man busily digging his own grave! This uncle!
“Then what method would be good for proving those qualifications?”
“How about bringing back the golden fleece in Colchis? There was an oracle that the country would prosper if we had that fleece. And since that fleece originally belonged to Prince Phrixus, our relative, it would be all the more right to retrieve it.”
Hah. How foolish. Had he not heard the story of Prince Phrixus?
King Athamas, a fool, fell for a neighboring princess and no longer found his original queen attractive, so he drove out his wife and brought the princess in as queen. But since the children of the original queen had higher priority in the succession, the new queen, fearing them, devised a scheme to kill them.
Using false oracles and false prophecies as her basis, she deceived and incited the people into trying to kill the children. But after hearing the desperate plea of the original queen, the god Zeus ordered the god Hermes to send a golden ram to rescue them. Among the children who were safely rescued, the princess sadly fell into the sea and died in terror, and only the prince reached Colchis.
And yet, what reason did we, who were only relatives and not even direct kin, have to claim ownership of that fleece?
As far as I was concerned now, none at all.
“Hmm, I have heard that story as well.”
I pretended to think for a moment, then pulled my mask down even deeper so that not a trace of my true feelings showed, and began my bright, innocent act.
“Very well! I shall prove my qualifications by bringing back the Golden Fleece.”
“O-Oh, ohhh, brave. Very brave indeed.”
My uncle, fooled by my words and by my unnecessarily dependable appearance, barely held back the corners of his mouth from rising.
Foolish, so foolish.
He had no idea who was being deceived. He had not noticed at all the things I had prepared the moment I arrived at the palace.
“Then please provide the people and timber needed to build a great ship.”
“Yes, yes, of course.”
After that, I went to a man named Argo and asked him to build a large ship, and I cleverly had the hiring funds drawn from my uncle’s private treasury. If I had not done it this way, knowing my uncle’s personality, he would have squeezed the money out of the people instead.
Before long, the great ship was completed.
At its prow was a wooden figurehead in the form of a woman, blessed by the goddess Hera and endowed with the wisdom of the goddess Athena.
As soon as I saw it, I offered thanks to the two goddesses with gifts. Gods are surprisingly petty and have terrible anger management, so if you do not show gratitude right away, they will hand down divine punishment without restraint.
Now then, it was time to gather the people.
The people who would board this Argo ship. The brave heroes who would set out with me on the adventure to obtain the Golden Fleece.
And my friends.
“All heroes of Greece!!!”
Come, gather! You brash youngsters full of a thirst for adventure! Come, gather now, true brave heroes!
“Please join the expedition to seek the golden fleece!!”
An adventure that will make your hearts swell has been prepared!!
※
“It’s been a while, Jason.”
“Oh! Heracles!”
While I was laying the groundwork for my legitimacy among the people, the first to arrive were my sworn comrade Heracles, along with his friend Hylas and his nephew Iolaus.
“...So, was the advice I gave you helpful?”
“For now.”
I had heard the rumors. Heracles had gone mad under Hera’s jealousy, but fortunately, whether because he had not forgotten my words or because he sensed something was wrong, he stopped the fist he had swung before it could reach his family. Then Theseus came to restrain him, and his mind returned to normal.
But because he had almost killed them, he was deeply shocked to see fear and the emotion of looking at a monstrous nonhuman creature in the eyes of his wife and children. So he decided to go with Theseus to the temple at Delphi and hear an oracle. Following the oracle he heard there, his Twelve Labors began.
From what I heard, he had already completed the second labor, and it seemed he had grown a great deal mentally. Was that because I had been the first to reach out to him, or because he had remembered my advice and not killed his family with his own hands?
Well, in any case, as long as the causality that must happen remains intact, the foundations that make up the stars would not be greatly restrained either... and since he did not actually seem to be trying to sever the world, I supposed this much was acceptable.
Watching the man named Hylas, who was joking around with Heracles beside him, I thought about it.
What should I do?
Heracles was clearly a cheat-level hero. If I took him to the very end, it would be convenient, but my growth and that of the other heroes would inevitably slow down.
Still. He had come aboard as a sailor. As the captain, I could not simply cast a sailor aside.
“Nice to meet you. Jason, Heracles. I’m Orpheus. Compared to you two, I’m just a musician who likes music, but if a ship is going to sail without any music at all, wouldn’t that be boring?”
Orpheus! Ah, at last we meet. The son of the goddess Calliope, and the tragic protagonist of the most heartbreaking and sorrowful love story in Greek mythology. And one of the men whose fate I wanted to change after coming here.
“Welcome, Orpheus. I was just wondering how to lift everyone’s spirits while sailing the ship.”
Next came the Boreads, Zetes and Calais. The winged demigod sons of Boreas, the god of the north wind.
““Can we join too?””
Of course. Even without you two, I already know the future, so it would not matter much—but I cannot exactly look at that record while at sea.
“Welcome. Boreads, sons of Boreas, the god of the north wind.”
Next was Nestor.
“It’s been a while.”
“Yeah, it has. Jason.”
Next was Asclepius.
“Thank you for coming, Asclepius.”
“It’s only natural if an old friend asks.”
Next was Caeneus.
“Yo, it’s been a while. Jason.”
Fortunately, my counseling had apparently worked in a good direction here, because he was still in female form. Of course, no one noticed except for me and Atalanta, another female warrior who had seen through the disguise.
“Yeah. It’s been a while.”
And then...
“...What the hell, you. How the hell did you get here!?”
Theseus had arrived.
And I had a total mental breakdown...☆
Pointing at him and looking him over from head to toe, Theseus silently clenched his fist and brought it down hard on my head. I barely suppressed the embarrassment pouring out of me at his complaint that what, he wasn’t supposed to come here?
“No, I thought you’d be busy. Weren’t you going to look for your father?”
“I was on my way when I heard you were recruiting for the expedition, so I came.”
...Haa, as expected, this was the Argo ship with the most awkward timeline in all of Greek mythology.
“Hey, Peleus.”
“Long time no see, Jason.”
After Theseus came Peleus.
Then even Meleager, who would later take part in the Calydonian Boar Hunt and become one of its central figures. Of course, there were also heroes whose names I did not know who came in between.
And then...
“It’s been a while, Jason.”
“You’re here, Atalanta. And the Dioscuri siblings.”
“Yeah, it’s been a while, Jason.”
“It’s been a while, Jason.”
Atalanta and the Dioscuri siblings had come as well.
But.
“Hah, you’re saying some mere ‘woman’ is going to follow this expedition?”
“If women are getting on this ship, I’ll get off.”
Foolish, so foolish. The famous male heroes said nothing at all, and were in fact welcoming them.
At those words, Pollux, Atalanta, and Caeneus twitched, but after I stopped them, I shouted at the men who had made the insulting remarks.
“Then you’re saying those ‘women’ are people you can easily beat, yes? Then shall we test that?”
Normally Heracles would have stepped in, but this was my role as captain. Heracles, there is no need for you to interfere.
“Is that all right?”
When I looked at them, they nodded. Seeing the fierce blaze in their eyes, I silently held a moment of mourning for the men who would be facing them.
‘Tsk tsk. Of all people, they had to provoke these women.’
Well, to put it simply...
Pollux and Atalanta utterly devastated the men. In a truly miserable fashion.
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