A Type-Moon Start, but an A Certain Magical Index Magician

For example, Lynceus, known as Sharp-Sighted Lynceus, was one of the fifty sons of Aegyptus, King of Egypt, and later became King of Argos.

Then there was Meleager, another famous hero of Greek mythology. Unfortunately, he too was a tragic figure in the end.

There were also brothers like Telamon and Peleus, grandsons of Zeus. Every one of them had to be exceptional.

Even Neleus, Pelias's brother, had joined this adventure. Who knew whether this fellow wanted to help his nephew or simply disgust his twin brother Pelias, the king who had driven him out and now occupied the throne.

"Heracles, you finally came!" The moment Jason spotted someone he knew, he strode over. The blond-haired man completely ignored the others following Heracles. Even the presence of two beauties failed to interest him.

"We agreed on this, didn't we? When you're with me, you're not a monster. You're the great hero protecting this future king!"

Jason still remembered that old promise—or perhaps it had merely been a joke. Heracles smiled and let him pat his body. After a while, Jason finally noticed the people behind Heracles and asked curiously, "Who are these people? Your new friends?"

It was difficult for Heracles to make true friends. Many people only wanted to use him, privately treating him as a monster. Jason knew that well, so he was curious about these three. Were they deceiving Heracles, or were they truly different from everyone else and regarded him as a friend?

"Nice to meet you, future king. My name is Mephistopheles." Mephistopheles introduced himself with a smile, then introduced the other two.

"They are my lovers. This is Diana, and this is Medea."

As long as Medea's identity as a princess was not revealed, no one would find anything strange about her name, so Mephistopheles had not asked her to change it.

Jason's Introduction

Jason looked at Medea and Artemis in surprise. He only felt that both girls were extraordinarily charming. One was petite and adorable, while the other was sexy and passionate. Each was a treasure of the mortal world.

And this man, whom Jason did not know but who seemed to have a good relationship with Heracles, actually had both of them at once!

Jason was immensely envious, but he did not reveal any jealousy. Instead, he smiled and said, "With two such beautiful ladies by your side, you are a fortunate man, Mephistopheles."

"I believe you will have a happy future as well, and I believe it will arrive very soon," Mephistopheles said with a grin.

"Very soon?" Jason froze. He did not quite understand Mephistopheles's answer, but as an ancient Greek from the Age of Gods, he immediately came up with his own guess. "Are you a priest of the Sun God? Do you possess the power of prophecy?!"

"Something like that... but I am not Apollo's priest."

"Not a priest of the Sun God?" Jason was somewhat puzzled. Apollo was the most famous god with prophetic powers, though other gods could also grant their followers revelations.

Jason only thought about it briefly before putting it aside. Instead, he excitedly asked, "Then look at my future. Will I become a great king?!"

He was actually quite unlike the Jason Mephistopheles knew from mythology. If he had been the Jason familiar to Mephistopheles, his agreement to retrieve the Golden Fleece would partly have come from "the greed for the Golden Fleece possessed by someone named Jason."

But the man before him truly gathered countless desires within himself. Yet upon closer inspection, all those desires could be seen as nothing more than a collection of different desires saying, "I want to become king."

If Jason became Gilgamesh, he would probably be very happy.

However, Jason's path was destined for failure. He would stop at nothing to achieve his goals. Such extreme desire, such refusal to restrain his own desires, would ultimately bring about his destruction.

"He's a pretty good person, aside from the fact that all he thinks about is becoming king," Heracles said to Mephistopheles and the others with a smile. "Don't mind it. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. He has a good temper."

"Heracles, I really want to know what kind of king I'll be in the future!" Jason immediately retorted to his friend, but then shook his head. "Forget it. I'll definitely become a great king anyway. That is simply destined!"

Jason was practically possessed when it came to becoming king. Or perhaps he had been cursed. He had not the slightest doubt about it.

But then Jason asked again, "You said my happy future would come very soon. Did you mean becoming king?"

The question had returned to the starting point.

Mephistopheles said, "Two things. First, you will meet a beautiful woman. That counts as one kind of happiness."

"Love? Hmm, that certainly is happiness, but the throne is still the most important thing!"

"You will also encounter an opportunity to become king. Whether you choose to become that king is up to you." Mephistopheles smiled. "It has nothing to do with the Golden Fleece, but it is indeed an opportunity to become king. The choice is in your hands. Even the gods have no right to interfere."

Jason burst out laughing at Mephistopheles's final words, but Heracles and the others could not help looking at Mephistopheles.

Perhaps the most important part of those words had been the last sentence. Yet Jason clearly had not taken it to heart.

"Come on, come with me. I'll introduce everyone here to you. They're all descendants of various gods. There are no ordinary people here, and almost all of them were my old classmates who studied under Master Chiron!"

As Jason spoke, he led them forward with boundless enthusiasm.

"This is Theseus. He's a relative of Heracles, you know. He's a brave and kind man, and also the son of Aegeus, King of Athens!"

Jason pointed to a young man with light golden hair. He looked somewhat shy, but his body was covered in muscle.

The young man Jason called Theseus immediately greeted Mephistopheles politely. Mephistopheles knew that this man would one day kill the famous Minotaur.

Strictly speaking, Theseus should not have participated in the Argo's adventure. However, Greek mythology had many later adaptations, and the Type-Moon World probably followed the version of Pseudo-Apollodorus's Library that recorded his participation.

With information about Theseus flashing through his mind, Mephistopheles politely returned the greeting.

"These two are the twin gods, children of Zeus. Together, they are called the Dioscuri!" Jason continued introducing his crew, and Mephistopheles raised his brow upon hearing that name.

"The older brother is Castor, and the younger sister is Pollux. They're very fine gods!"

In response to Jason's introduction, the tall and frail young man immediately revealed a mocking smile. "A mere nobody thinks he can participate in an adventure like this? Hahahaha! Aren't you afraid of getting yourself killed?!"

"Brother, be more polite!" the petite girl said, and the young man who was her brother immediately shut his mouth.

The corner of Mephistopheles's eye visibly twitched. He took a deep breath and put on a professional smile, one he had needed to wear whenever facing certain situations in the A Certain Magical Index world.

"Hello, Castor, Pollux, esteemed children of Zeus."

At the same time, his mind had already descended into frantic internal commentary.

What the hell is this? Gemini became a man and a woman?! Can this get any more ridiculous? And these two obviously have romantic feelings for each other! What kind of Yosuga no Sora development is this?!

Ahem, calm down. Calm down. This is the Type-Moon universe, after all. There can even be countless Takeuchi-faces here. This is perfectly normal. I need to remain as calm as possible. Mephistopheles desperately suppressed the urge to rant from the depths of his heart.

Still, as someone who loved the old anime Saint Seiya, seeing Gemini like this was truly difficult for him to accept.

It made him want to find somewhere and unleash a Galactic Explosion to vent his frustration.

He even began considering how to construct a magecraft formula called Galactic Explosion.

But after discovering that it would be rather difficult, he ultimately decided to give up for the time being.

However, Mephistopheles noticed another issue. Castor, the older brother, seemed to have something wrong with his body. He possessed no divinity. Pollux, the younger sister, clearly possessed divinity, yet the two were bound by fate and could not be separated.

Just as Mephistopheles was wondering what was going on, the twins' expressions suddenly changed to shock. Following their gazes, he saw them staring at the graceful figure that had appeared not far behind him.

Artemis!

As children of Zeus and gods themselves, they had seen Artemis before. The moment they saw the Moon Goddess, they fell into a brief daze.

Before they could react, Artemis had already greeted them first. "Hello, I'm Diana. Nice to meet you!"

She emphasized "nice to meet you," and the twin gods immediately understood what was happening.

The Moon Goddess, famous in the divine realm for loving to play around, had clearly come down to the mortal world for fun.

Feeling the threat of You're finished if you tell anyone, the siblings immediately chose the path of self-preservation and pretended that this was their first meeting as well.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Diana."

"Hello, Miss Diana!"

Jason looked at Castor, the older brother, in confusion. Wasn't this guy usually the one with the foulest mouth? Why had he suddenly become so polite?

Jason did not dwell on it and continued leading everyone around as he introduced his crew.

Artemis happily hooked her arm around Mephistopheles's, walking forward with Medea on the other side.

The Dioscuri stared at that scene as though they had witnessed something unbelievable. Even after the group had disappeared from sight, they were unable to recover for a long time.

"Come, come. Do you smell the scent of medicinal herbs all over this place? The master here is extremely impressive, and one of the most important people on our journey. That is Asclepius!"

Following Jason's introduction, a man appeared, his entire body covered by a black robe. A white snake was coiled around his arm, and the hair visible beneath his hood revealed that he had long silver-gray hair.

"The great son of Apollo! If we encounter diseases or anything similar along the way, we'll need him to treat us!"

Jason continued his sing-song introduction. Asclepius merely glanced at Jason, then at Mephistopheles and the others. After looking at Medea twice more, he quietly said, "Hello."

It was an exceedingly simple greeting, delivered in a somewhat cold tone.

Jason said without caring, "He's a little strange, so don't mind him. Just remember that he's a good doctor. People who work as doctors have good hearts. At least, he does. I, Jason, can guarantee that!"

Clearly, Jason trusted this fellow student of his greatly.

At that moment, a woman carrying a bow and arrows approached from afar. She was also carrying a wild boar in one hand, clearly having just returned from hunting.

The moment Jason saw the green-haired girl, he immediately waved. "Hey! Atalanta, come over here! Let me introduce you to the newcomers!"

Atalanta looked thoroughly annoyed, but she still set down her prey and walked over.

"See that? This cat-like woman is Atalanta. I heard she swore never to marry in her life because she wants to devote her entire life to the Moon Goddess. Still, she likes children a lot. Too bad her expression is too fierce, so children don't like her."

Jason babbled on as he waited for Atalanta to approach. Then he saw that Atalanta, having heard those words, had already raised her bow and aimed it at him. Jason immediately assumed a surrendering posture.

"Don't, don't aim a bow at me! I was joking! Really, it was a joke! You're very cute, okay? Children will definitely like you!"

As the girl approached, everyone realized that only the tips and certain parts of her hair were green. Most of it was actually golden. If they had to compare it to something, it was like a grassland where the front lay in spring and summer while the back lay in autumn.

Upon seeing the girl, Mephistopheles looked at Artemis. Artemis, meanwhile, remained completely calm, as if she did not know Atalanta at all. Mephistopheles could only say that Artemis truly was Artemis. She really had a talent for acting.

Atalanta, daughter of Iasus, was technically a princess. Unfortunately, Iasus had wanted a son rather than a daughter, so he abandoned infant Atalanta in the forest. Artemis had a mother bear raise Atalanta, allowing her to become a powerful wild child.

Later, a group of people found Atalanta and took her back to teach her the knowledge needed to live as a human. From then on, she became a powerful huntress.

The deity Atalanta worshipped was Artemis. However, Artemis's statues still differed somewhat from her actual appearance, and with her current attire, Atalanta only looked at Artemis a few more times in confusion without noticing anything wrong.

After all, no one would imagine that the god they worshipped had come to participate in a mortal adventure.

Thus, she ignored Jason and greeted Mephistopheles and the others.

"Hello. If you have any questions, you can ask me. If you ask him, you probably won't get any useful answers."

After saying that, she glanced at Jason once more and left directly.

Having suffered a critical blow, Jason immediately shouted, "I have the ability to bring out your strengths! I can let each of you fulfill your proper role and use your own abilities. That's my talent! That's the talent of a king, okay?!

"Explaining things is someone else's responsibility, so this isn't my problem!"

But halfway through, Jason saw Atalanta looking back at him, her gaze filled with threat. He immediately surrendered again. "Sorry, I won't say anything else. Then I'll leave the explanations to you, Atalanta!"

Seeing this, Mephistopheles secretly shook his head. Jason was not wrong in some respects. He truly possessed the ability to make others bring out their own strengths. As long as he stood there, everyone else would go and do what they were supposed to do.

As for him, he only needed to stand there. He did not need to think about too many things.

It had to be said that this truly was the most suitable talent for becoming king.

The Simplest Method

Argos was a person's name, a famous craftsman in Greece. As an architect, he received an oracle from Athena and began constructing an enormous ship with the heroes' help.

The ship was made from special timber. It would not rot, and it was very light. Most importantly, despite that, the material was extraordinarily sturdy. It could practically be called a miraculous plant of the Age of Gods.

The most special part was the ship's planks. They were made from a tree that had stood before a temple and could be used for divination. They were a gift from the goddess Athena.

For everyone participating in this adventure, it was an adventure blessed by the gods!

As for the ship, it was naturally named after its builder. It was the Argo, which would become immensely famous in later ages.

In truth, by the time Mephistopheles and the others arrived, the ship was nearly complete. They did not need to wait for it to be finished. They only needed to board it.

"You two keep looking around. I'll go check the other side." Artemis spoke to Mephistopheles and Medea as she looked toward where the Dioscuri were standing in the distance.

Medea and Mephistopheles both understood what Artemis meant. Although Artemis had already introduced herself as Diana to remind the two young gods that she was concealing her identity, she still needed to carefully remind them again, just in case.

Thus, Artemis temporarily met with the twin Dioscuri in an area where there was no one else besides the three of them.

"Esteemed Moon Goddess Artemis... why have you come here?" Castor, the older brother, asked quietly. Even though there was no one else nearby, he remained extremely cautious, afraid someone might overhear him.

Artemis smiled. "We merely came here for a leisurely visit, participating in this adventure as ordinary humans. Just do as you normally would. There is no need to concern yourselves with us."

Upon hearing Artemis's words, the siblings could not help looking at each other.

"As ordinary humans?"

Artemis had clearly come here to have fun, simply joining in for the excitement. Yet the two of them did not dare say no to the goddess's decision and could only agree.

At that moment, Pollux, the younger sister, asked, "Moon Goddess, is the man who came with you, Mephistopheles, also an ordinary human?"

They could both sense that Mephistopheles was definitely an ordinary human. Medea possessed powerful magical energy carrying Hecate's power, but Mephistopheles was completely ordinary, with nothing special about him.

A person who would vanish into the crowd was an especially conspicuous presence aboard this ship. To gods looking upon a vessel where everyone was so extraordinary, the most ordinary person instead became the most eye-catching.

But Artemis shook her head at the question and smiled. "Ordinary? Why do you think he is an ordinary human?"

"I truly cannot see anything special about him. He has not even revealed the slightest bit of power. He is an ordinary human." As Castor spoke, he suddenly realized something. A human with no power was instead the strangest thing about him.

Though the man was young and handsome, there were plenty of handsome people in this world. If mere good looks were enough, Artemis, the Moon Goddess, would not be so intimate with him.

After all, Artemis, the Moon Goddess, was a virgin goddess!