He was someone who dared to openly defy both the Kingdom of Iolcus and King Pelias, as well as a devout follower of the esteemed Queen of Heaven, Hera.
He had also won the favor of the gods, enough that Hera herself had entered the fray to bestow upon him a great trial.
Athena stared intently at the spirited youth before her. It was hard to imagine that he was only sixteen this year.
He was enjoying the praise of the people of Iolcus, returning their greetings beneath their admiring gazes.
His soft, flowing black hair, clear and brilliant blue eyes, and poetic air... it had to be said that he looked vastly different from the burly heroes of this age.
His refined manners, humble yet noble character, and artistic bearing—no one would connect him to their conventional image of a hero. Wasn't he simply a poet?
"Hera was right. What an outstanding child!" Athena murmured. If Hera had not still been here, she would already have gone over and taken him away.
She committed the boy's appearance deeply to memory, but did not approach him immediately. Everything had to be done gradually.
Meanwhile, Hera, Thaumas, and Jason were eagerly led into the temple by the worshippers. After all, Hera was the deity they worshipped; it was difficult not to be excited upon suddenly seeing the object of their worship.
Along the way, the overwhelmed worshippers carefully showed them the way. Hera and the other two remained silent, but a smile had remained on the goddess's face ever since earlier.
Jason was utterly bewildered by everything that had happened today. It all felt so fantastical. Of course, he was curious why the Queen of Heaven had suddenly come to help him.
But being curious did not mean he would take the initiative to ask. After all, the more he knew, the greater the danger; the greater the danger, the easier it was to die; the easier it was to die, the less likely he was to know anything, so...
The more he knew, the less he knew?
Something seemed wrong there. Could Jason, this genius, really have made a mistake in his reasoning? Hmm~ no, impossible! He was Jason! He could not be wrong! It had to be like this!
He drove away those vexing thoughts. King Jason did not need them, because Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, had already agreed to help him. In that case, it did not matter even if he could not figure things out, right?
If anything happened, Thaumas would be the first to take the blow anyway. Thaumas had dared to question his uncle Pelias so loudly at the altar, without fearing the people below at all. What was there left that he would not dare to do?
Even the goddess Hera had stepped forward to speak for him. Thinking about it, Hera must have something to do with Thaumas.
Then it had nothing to do with him. From now on, he only needed to follow the Goddess of Wisdom's guidance and accept things with a clear conscience. Thaumas would handle everything anyway. What a reliable brother!
Thus, Jason smiled and followed the group, leaving only Thaumas with a worried expression.
Not everyone was as carefree as Jason, hey! Thaumas did not even dare speak, since the performance just now had relied heavily on his help.
Still, they had achieved their goal and successfully established the agreement over the Golden Fleece.
At the same time, they had prevented Pelias from breaking his promise, ensuring that Jason would not walk the path of killing his uncle and being reviled by others. Though that outcome would have been deeply unfair to Jason, at least this way offered hope for the future.
Because Thaumas had joined in, Hera had not successfully made contact with Jason. Fortunately, everything had been pulled back onto the right track.
As he thought this, he suddenly felt as though someone was peeping at him. Hera's Bracelet on his wrist faintly lit up.
He looked up and met Hera's gaze, instinctively turning his head away. After their eyes met, Hera hurriedly looked elsewhere. Was this what it meant to lift a stone only to drop it on one's own foot?
Trying to peep, only to be caught instead...
Thaumas felt somewhat awkward about it as well. Interacting with women really was still too difficult for him.
Oh, right, I am Hera's follower. Couldn't I just think of her as my mother? I really am a genius! Who could possibly stump me!
Eh? Thinking of it that way, he suddenly felt much better. He was not so embarrassed anymore. This trick was really useful—when in doubt, call Mom first!
This was Ancient Greece in the Age of Gods! If he built connections with the gods here, surely it would improve the quality of his Heroic Spirit somehow!
In such an era, in the legends of Ancient Greece, no hero could avoid these gods.
Good. Though the process had been somewhat winding, he had finally achieved his goal.
And he had not disrupted the story of the Golden Fleece either. He could even hitch a ride on the Argo.
Still, he would need to be more careful in the future, especially around these gods.
After all, not every god was easy to deal with. Moreover, when Greece's gods simulated personalities, they inherited the flaws of the Ancient Greeks,
so there were many lecherous deities, as well as some with particularly heavy tastes and others who swung both ways...
Take Poseidon, the god of the sea. He liked fooling around with all kinds of sea monsters, snakes, monsters, and the like.
Zeus, king of the gods, and Apollo, god of light, were typical examples of the latter...
Hades was better. Though he too had forcibly abducted a "common girl," at least he was faithful to marriage. He merely found someone to become the Queen of the Underworld and accompany him in the silent Underworld. Even when his own younger brother Zeus cuckolded him, he said nothing.
Thaumas was deeply terrified by the fine traditions of Ancient Greece. He really did not want to get fucked.
He was meant to become a Heroic Spirit. If he were summoned in the future, those willful gods might follow him down as well.
For example, Artemis, goddess of the moon and the hunt, had descended to the mortal world alongside the superhuman Orion.
She had even done so because the Spirit Origin of a Heroic Spirit could not bear a god.
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