Garment of the Hawk

Aeaea Island-

Circe was hard at work on something she had been trying to do for a long time.

"Ugh, aaah..."

She was trying to push open Bai Mo's bedroom door. Bai Mo's final security measure was his blade blank. He had simply propped the thing, weighing several hundred jin, against the door. No matter how hard Circe tried, the door would not budge.

Refusing to give up, Circe tried to slip inside with magecraft. But for some reason, when her magical energy seeped into the room and touched the blade blank, it instantly released a strange power, as though some switch had been pressed.

With only a wall between them, Circe could feel the eerie sensation beneath that power. It was as though she stood in a Titan's palm, and a mere twitch of its fingers would crush her to death.

Any magecraft formula that penetrated the room was crushed in an instant. Circe had never seen anything like it. Normally, formulas could not be affected by force, but that was precisely what was happening now. No magecraft formula could penetrate this room.

"Why on earth is this happening?!"

Circe felt utterly powerless. Finally, she exhausted the last of her strength and collapsed outside the door. She was too tired. She had only meant to rest for a while, but her eyelids sank shut beyond her control.

Circe had a dream. She was flying through the clouds, sunlight spilling across her face. Her wings carried her between the clouds as she flew toward the sun, wanting to embrace that warm thing.

But in the next moment, dark clouds gathered and thunder boomed. A streak of golden light flashed past, piercing straight through Circe. Like a bird with broken wings, she fell and smashed into a mangled mess. She watched herself lying in a pool of blood, unable to move at all. By then, she knew it was a dream, yet she could do nothing.

It hurts. It hurts so much. Why haven't I died?

Even death, that final resting place, had been taken away. Who would do something so cruel?

"Circe..."

Is someone calling me?

"Circe!"

"Ah!"

Circe opened her eyes and discovered that she was lying on the bed in Bai Mo's room. The blade blank that had blocked the door was back on Bai Mo's back. He set a bowl of porridge down beside her bed.

"Did you make this for me?"

Circe rubbed her eyes, looking half-asleep, then lay back down and murmured, "Ah, how could that be? I must still be dreaming."

With that, she actually prepared to go back to sleep.

"I really wonder what kind of person you think I am. All right, hurry up and get up. I honestly don't know how you managed to fall asleep outside the door."

Bai Mo rubbed his forehead helplessly, while Circe opened her eyes again. She pinched her cheek to confirm that this was not a dream.

"Huh, huh, huh?!"

"What's with the surprise? I've packed up and am ready to leave. I'm short a few hands, so sorry for the trouble, but I need you to turn those pigs in the pen back."

Bai Mo spoke calmly and turned to leave, but Circe grabbed the hem of his clothes.

"Wait a moment! Don't rush."

"Medea really has it rough with an aunt like you."

"That's not true! Anyway, go outside and wait for me first."

Bai Mo had no interest in watching Circe get out of bed. He returned to the living room alone, then cleaned the kitchen where he had just cooked.

Meanwhile, after watching Bai Mo close the door, Circe took a deep breath. Then, with a blissful expression, she hugged the pillow and made strange noises, a little like a baby animal.

"Ah, right, breakfast too. Hehe, looks like all that effort wasn't for nothing."

Just as she was about to eat the porridge, Bai Mo opened the door and entered again. Every time he came through this doorway, he had to stoop, or the blade blank would hit the frame. Circe silently thought, This doorframe really does seem a little low. I'll make it taller next time.

Bai Mo sat in a guest chair nearby and quietly waited for Circe to finish breakfast.

"It's pretty average. It doesn't have any of the sweetness mine does."

"I'm not a cook."

"Not even being able to cook porridge properly has nothing to do with whether you're a cook. But I really like it. This is the first time anyone's made breakfast for me. No matter how bad it tastes, I'll finish it."

Bai Mo pressed the area over his trigeminal nerve and replied somewhat helplessly, "Then why not hire a few maids? With your status, that shouldn't be difficult, right?"

Circe took small sips of porridge and mumbled, "I did have maids, but managing a whole bunch of people was too much trouble, so I sent them all back. A house really only needs a pair of lovers, don't you think?"

"Mm. Good luck with that, then."

Circe puffed out her lips in a rather cute pout to express her dissatisfaction, then finished the porridge more quickly.

"Whew, I'm full. Having food served right to your mouth really is wonderful."

Bai Mo looked out the window and repeated his request. "Since there's nothing else, I'll be leaving. And about those people you cursed in your pigpen... sigh, I don't want to pursue whether what you said earlier was true anymore. Sorry for the trouble, but please release them. I need sailors for the voyage."

Circe rose from the bed and straightened her slightly disheveled hair. The morning sunlight streamed through the window and shone on her golden tresses. She gave a gentle smile, lifting her hair with one hand to reveal her elfin ear.

With her other hand, she lightly tapped the tip of Bai Mo's pen and smiled. "You don't have to pretend in front of me. You swam underwater all the way here from the fleet of Colchis while injured, and I know you have the sea god's blessing. You can walk on the sea as though it were level ground."

Bai Mo could not help clicking his tongue. Circe's smile grew even brighter as she said, "Don't worry. I promise I'll lift their curses. I can swear to Hecate on that."

"You're agreeing that readily?"

"Ah, I just hope I won't leave a bad impression on the person I like."

Bai Mo fell silent. Faced with this sudden confession, he merely let out a somewhat heavy sigh before speaking. "Did the god of love scheme against you too?"

"Scheme, my ass! Do you know how much effort I put into guarding against that nasty little god of love?!"

All that effort might as well have been wasted. Apart from poor Scylla being turned into a sea monster out of your jealousy, all your love life amounted to was making a cuckold of Odysseus's wife, then living on Aeaea Island with Odysseus's child.

Faced with Circe's sudden confession, Bai Mo could only try to change the subject. Circe, however, seemed determined to get an answer no matter what, blocking the doorway with her hands on her hips.

Bai Mo sighed and said, "Circe, my situation is completely different from what you think. I don't even have any guarantee of a future right now. From a certain perspective, we could even be called enemies. I can't guarantee your happiness, so I won't accept your love."

During this time, Bai Mo had met all kinds of women, but from beginning to end, he had never considered becoming involved with any woman here.

Just as on Lemnos, where Bai Mo had already explained the reason to Atalanta, pursuing a moment's pleasure was irresponsible desire. He would leave this era in the end, and if he became involved with Circe, he would be ruining her life.

Odysseus could not be with her because he was already married when he met Circe. Doing so would betray his beloved. Was Bai Mo any different? Beneath the gods' gaze, he was still thinking about how to leave this world. Responding to Circe's love now would be utterly irresponsible toward her.

So he absolutely could not. No matter how wonderful or tempting love might be, when the outcome was destined to be tragedy, Bai Mo would stop himself from plucking that forbidden fruit.

Do great things. Bai Mo, you have great things to do! You can't let these romantic entanglements hold you back!

Bai Mo kept spurring himself on inwardly with the "great" philosophy of a certain world-shaking entrepreneur.

Who can say what the future holds? My dad won't object! You haven't even tried, so how do you know whether we'll be happy?! Circe had a whole heap of things like that she wanted to say to Bai Mo, but now she knew those words were nothing more than childish willfulness.

"Then, once everything you need to do is over, could you... come back for me?"

Bai Mo sighed inwardly. Once everything is over, I won't even be in this era anymore. But looking at her blocking the doorway like a mother bird spreading her wings, he could only give a slight nod.

"Yay! Then hurry and come with me. Come on, come on!"

Circe half-forced Bai Mo into a room piled with herbs, bottles, and jars. Ignoring the dust, she pulled a box out from the very bottom, then solemnly handed it to him.

"What is this?"

"Uh, you'll know once you put it on. Hurry, hurry."

Inside the box was a garment, black all over, but with a pair of golden wing patterns on its back that shimmered with a faint glow. In this dark room, any ordinary person would know at a glance that this was the most precious treasure kept here.

"I won't accept it."

"Really? But there are plenty of dangers along the way. No matter how strong you are, you're still alone, aren't you? If you exhaust yourself, you might not be lucky enough next time to meet someone as nice as me."

Bai Mo could not refute her. What Circe said was indeed a problem he was about to face. If he traveled by ship, he would have to deal with troublesome opponents such as the sea monster Kusla, the Sirens, and the bronze giant.

Bai Mo did not want to waste too much time now. Delay invited trouble. The original plot had already begun to twist because of him. If he spent several months returning to Thessaly only to find that Medea had already maxed out her achievements, that would be no laughing matter.

Seeing that Bai Mo had nothing to say, Circe stroked the garment as she introduced it to him. "This outfit is the fruit of all my hard work, you know. Back when Medea was young..."

Some time later, evening approached. The setting sun dyed the sea a fiery red, intoxicating as wine. Circe sat on the roof, gazing at the beautiful sight. For her, this magnificent view counted as one reason she had remained on Aeaea Island to this day.

"May your journey be free of obstacles..."

The girl prayed silently, hoping he would remain safe this time.

Up in the air, amid the clouds and mist, a storm petrel flew through the beautiful sky. Suddenly, a figure shot past, giving it a fright.

"What a magnificent view." As Bai Mo flew through the air, he lost himself in the beautiful evening clouds. Normally, an ordinary person in this era could not possibly fly into the sky, but in this Age of Gods, it was not impossible.

Bai Mo could also briefly experience flight through a charged leap, but compared with this, the difference was simply that between electric current push and five hundred thousand horsepower of magnetic field power!

Seeing that it was getting late, Bai Mo opened his map and chose a safe island, planning to land there and rest for a while.

The Garment of the Hawk-in the terminology of the magecraft world thousands of years later, this was a Mystic Code. The Wings of the Hawk used by Circe, the Witch of the Hawk, were clothing, but also a part of the body that Magic Circuits could reach.

After successfully developing the Wings of the Hawk, Circe could hardly bear to part with them. But after using them for a long time, she also felt that having a pair of wings on her back was terribly inconvenient. She subsequently made a second generation of the Wings of the Hawk: the Garment of the Hawk that Bai Mo now wore.

When activated, a pair of hawk's wings would manifest behind the wearer, allowing extremely swift flight.

After completing it, however, Circe switched back to the original Wings of the Hawk, giving reasons such as having grown used to them, suddenly feeling that something was missing from her life, and having developed some attachment after using them for so long.

Thus, this Garment of the Hawk was put away in storage.

"It's fine. If I meet someone I like in the future, I'll give it to them as a token of love." With that thought, she modified it. Considering that this future person might have no affinity with True Magic, the Garment of the Hawk was improved a second time. When used, it would fly toward the place the wearer longed for in their heart. It was practically autopilot and extremely easy to use.

It could also absorb magical energy from the air and store it. Half an hour of charging provided a full day of use.

According to Circe herself, Medea's cloak of invisibility had also been influenced by her idea of giving it to someone she liked as a token of love. Medea, however, vehemently objected and completely denied this claim.

Back in the present, Bai Mo could not help looking in the direction he had come from.

"I owe her quite a bit. If possible, I hope I can do something to make it up to her."

Bai Mo murmured. In the quiet surroundings, with that chattering hawk suddenly gone, he actually found himself a little unaccustomed to it. Fortunately, he quickly calmed his mind, then entered meditation to begin recovering. Only the crackling of the campfire remained.