The Impact of the Argonaut Expedition

The Argonauts returned in failure, and the news caused a massive uproar throughout Greece.

No one could believe that so many of Greece's greatest heroes had set out together, only for barely more than a dozen to return. All the others had died overseas.

Were foreign lands really that dangerous?

Was Colchis truly so terrifying that so many heroes had died without bringing back the Golden Fleece?

For a time, all of Greece turned pale at the very mention of Colchis.

Only the mages found this perfectly normal. A place capable of producing so many mages naturally would not be somewhere those heroes could handle.

The only person who found comfort in this was Pelias, king of Thessaly.

If Jason had successfully brought back the Golden Fleece, Pelias would have had to rack his brains over how to refuse to surrender the throne. After all, there had been a divine prophecy behind it.

But now, he no longer needed to worry about losing his throne.

As for the Argonauts, the first thing they had to deal with was not their plummeting reputation, but the gods' revenge.

While they were at sea, the mages and the Argo protected them, so the gods might not have been able to do much to them. But once they returned to Greece, things would be different.

If nothing unexpected happened, those targeted by the gods would spend the coming years living like the protagonists of Final Destination, running themselves ragged trying to survive an endless stream of fatal accidents.

Just then, something happened that delighted them.

Athena finally made her move.

With great fanfare, she declared that the Argonauts were under her protection.

That declaration put an end to any thoughts the other gods might have had of harming them—unless they wanted to fall out