Extra: Untouchable

When the Argo had just returned-

Thessaly rang from top to bottom with festive music. People hung torches high, bathing the entire city in a cheerful atmosphere.

"Celebrate! The great Jason and his crew have overcome countless obstacles and retrieved the Golden Fleece from Colchis!"

"Praise the heroes! Praise Athena!"

The people celebrated with King Pelias's permission. This achievement was simply too great. Everyone knew Athena and Ares were on bad terms. Offering Ares's sacrificial treasure, the Golden Fleece, to Athena was an incomparably glorious victory.

The great goddess Athena had defeated Ares once again.

Thus, however much Pelias hated that damned Jason, he still had to keep up appearances. Otherwise, he would not merely be slighting Jason, but Athena herself.

"Damn it, why did those heroes with nothing better to do have to help that damned Jason? Do I really have to hand over the throne?

"No, absolutely not. I have plenty of ways to stall. Jason, my dear nephew, I may not be your equal in adventuring, but when it comes to political maneuvering... heh, you're still young."

Watching the lively streets below, the king felt a chill rise within him. He gave a self-mocking smile. At this moment, his was probably the only place in all Thessaly without the slightest joy.

"I don't feel any joy, Medea."

After arriving here, Jason flung Medea aside, looking at her as though she were a deadbeat who had owed him five million for ten years.

"Why? This is a great, triumphant return."

"I don't know, Medea. If you really love me, please find a way to bring me some joy. I hear clever wives all do that.

"Also, you should visit Athena's temple and pray properly, so she'll accept your coming here from Colchis."

Jason went on and on, laying out a whole pile of demands. He even wanted her to grant eternal youth to his decrepit relatives. Medea and the other heroes of the Argo could only listen in bewilderment.

Then Medea reluctantly left with that long scroll of wishes. She said nothing about Jason treating her like a wish-granting turtle in a wishing pool.

Under the magic of love, even this one-sided taking was love to her!

Otherwise, why would he come to her instead of anyone else?

Jason let out a deep breath of relief. Pollux, one of the twin heroes, glanced at him and said:

"I thought you'd be in a desperate hurry to carry that beauty into your room, bragging about your achievements while enjoying her."

"Heh, heh." Jason sneered twice and waved helplessly.

"If you think she's beautiful, how about giving her to your brother? Castor, do you like that sort?"

"Jason, that joke was in rather poor taste."

"Really? I didn't realize you respected women so much."

"No, you're insulting me, Jason. Seeing a woman like that is like seeing a venomous snake. I'd give her a very wide berth."

Laughter rang out aboard the Argo at those words, but only briefly. Their expedition had ended in victory, yet some of them could not feel happy at all, especially those who had gotten along well with Bai Mo.

"All right, I apologize, Castor. Stop looking so miserable. Go enjoy the victory feast. Without it, I think I'd be at the end of my rope."

Heracles sighed as he watched everyone leave. He was preparing to depart. He had achieved victory, but Hera's trials still awaited him.

He looked at his hands, finding them strangely unfamiliar. Would completing his younger brother's tasks make him free? Not necessarily, but perhaps he was better off than Medea. At least he could still remain himself.

Atalanta did not want to stay here any longer either, but she had some hunting plans here. She would return to the forest and clear her head.

Lingering at the feast, Jason immersed himself in a sea of fine wine and food. He drew two dancing girls into his arms, enjoying their softness and warmth.

"Lord Jason, why haven't we seen that princess of Colchis who loves you on this visit?"

At that title, a flicker of displeasure crossed Jason's eyes, but he quickly buried it.

"Oh, sorry, my darlings. You're so beautiful, I thought you were the princesses. Hahaha!"

His flirtatious words left both women blushing. The girl beside him covered her face and laughed. "Did you use these sweet words to wrap that princess around your finger?"

"Sweet words? Hahaha! I don't have to say anything to her for her to dance to my tune."

Jason threw his head back and laughed. Without anyone noticing, something warm seemed to fall onto the girl's cheek. Perhaps it was wine? Ancient Greek banquets often grew very "heated" in their latter half. Though thoroughly drunk, Jason still sought someone out.

The man was a wizard. Thessaly produced many wizards; its land abounded in medicinal herbs, attracting quite a few wizards to settle there. Legend had it that the great witch Circe was nearby too, but no one knew which island she lived on.

Jason did not expect to find anyone on Circe's level, but those who could attend this gathering generally would not be too bad.

Soon, the two were getting along splendidly. Then Jason pulled him into a deserted corner and raised his question.

"What? You want me to make poison?"

The wizard was clearly surprised, while Jason gestured for him to hush.

"Not poison. If I really needed poison, why wouldn't I go to Heracles? Everyone knows there's no cure for the Hydra venom he has.

"I just need a drug that puts people to sleep. Preferably the kind they never wake up from."

"Isn't that just poison...?" the wizard muttered, but he agreed anyway. Before him stood the Argo's captain at the height of his fame, and the future king of Thessaly. Getting on his good side could hardly be a bad thing.

As the wizard left, Jason smiled helplessly. Looking up at the moon in the sky, he heaved a deep sigh.

"Captain, you seem very tired."

A hero walked over and looked at Jason.

"Ah, Lynceus. Did you see all that? Your eyesight has always been good. I wonder how your hearing compares."

"Only slightly worse, Captain. I wanted to ask, why are you looking for a poison that puts someone to sleep forever? Do you have a man-eating lion at home that you have to knock unconscious?"

"Hahaha! Something even more dangerous."

Jason smiled helplessly, and Lynceus gave him a sympathetic smile. After chatting for a while, they supported each other back to the feast. Once the merrymaking was over, Jason walked into his bedroom with the two girls in his arms.

"Oh, my lord, we mustn't. At the banquet, with so many people, no one would know. But if we spend the night with you, won't Lady Medea be jealous?"

"Why worry about her? I don't even intend to touch her. Don't think you're any less beautiful than she is. Medea is a man-eating beast. I'd rather sleep with a diseased corpse carried out of a brothel than share a pillow with her."

The girls took Jason's words as a joke, but they certainly made them feel exalted, and they went into his room with him.

But was it really a joke?

Jason recalled the complaints he had poured out to Asclepius not long before, just after Medea left.

"Asclepius, do you have a poison that can make someone sleep forever? I really need it."

"What, planning to try something different with Medea? Take my advice, sleeping women aren't any fun."

"Stop mocking me. I'm not an idiot. I just want to get rid of this damned problem. Gods, I can't even imagine how much trouble that bomb, Medea, will cause me while carrying out my goals."

Jason meant every word, and Asclepius beside him gave him a somewhat sympathetic look.

None of the Argo's heroes liked witches, much less such a thoroughly venomous woman. Though she had been struck by the god of love's arrow, her behavior still disgusted them.

A woman who could abandon or even kill her own younger brother and casually betray her country was not someone who interested them. They only wanted to keep their distance.

Women like that were generally called lunatics.

"Heh, forget it. How about I prescribe something to strengthen your body?"

"Then you'd better provide me with a warrior who can fight Poseidon too. Do you think this Golden Fleece will make Athena protect me?"

Jason had absolutely no desire to touch Medea. He was lustful, but he would not let his little head control him. At least not when it came to a choice between life and death.

First of all, she was a witch, and witches were intensely jealous.

Jason did not want to be tied to her for life. Are you kidding? I'm a future king, and I can only have one woman my entire life? Wouldn't that leave me worse off than a noble?

Wouldn't I have fetched the Golden Fleece for nothing?

Jason knew very well that, for a woman with such intense feelings, all her love would turn to hatred the instant she was betrayed. And witches had terrifying methods. Those lunatics really could use their own children as tools of revenge against a betrayer.

He had no desire to gamble the entire latter half of his life on that arrow of love.

His ideal woman was a sweet, innocent, naive princess who would be utterly besotted with him after a little coaxing and a few sweet words, and would even let him keep a huge harem.

Pure love? Sorry, I've always taken Lord Zeus as my role model.

As for Medea? In a sense, thanks to Bai Mo's efforts, she had not done anything like turn her blade on her own flesh and blood. If she returned, apologized to her father, and accepted some punishment, she could indeed remain the princess of Colchis.

Honestly, if not for the possibility of being hacked to pieces once the magic of love was dispelled, he would truly have wanted it dispelled. He really did not want to deal with this damned problem anymore.

But most of that was unlikely to happen now.

And the deadliest part was that this woman had clearly made some sort of deal with Poseidon, getting the sea god to give them a push and send them straight back to Thessaly.

That was simply lethal.

Jason was no fool. Poseidon was a chief god, and a fellow who would even do it with monsters and had committed all sorts of beastly acts. What could he possibly want from a witch like Medea?

Oh, what a mystery~

Caenis had been a fellow hero on their adventure too. She had more than enough standing to speak about just what sort of creature Poseidon was.

If Jason slept with Medea tonight, Poseidon could use him as a condom someday. The partner might even be Medea. And because Medea had some unknown deal with Poseidon, he could not kill her either.

He never wanted to offend another god again. It was too frightening.

So Jason only wanted to find something that would put someone to sleep forever and let Medea sleep her life away.

Please stop tormenting me. I only want to reclaim the throne that rightfully belongs to me. Medea, I'm not the one who ruined you. The gods of Greece did.

But in the end, Asclepius had not prescribed such a drug. Anesthetics, he had, but the kind that would put someone to sleep forever? Sorry, no.

Thus, Jason could only resort to this inferior plan.

With two young, beautiful girls in his arms, Jason sank into deep sleep amid their tender embrace. The next day, a shiver woke him. He pulled the covers tighter and prepared to go back to sleep, but the smell of blood reached his nose.

*?*

He hurriedly sat up. The two girls lay on the floor, covered in blood and breathing faintly. In the doorway stood a witch in black robes, slowly wiping a dagger.

Medea looked at him coldly, then glanced at the women on the floor and gave Jason a smile as though wishing him good morning.

Jason would rather have had a fire-breathing dragon standing before him.

"My love, would you explain this to me? I had only just returned when I saw these two women in the place that should have been mine. Are they your old lovers?"

"No, I don't know them."

That was true. Jason had never even asked their names.

"Oh, then they're shameless sluts."

She slowly raised her hand. Iron brambles sprouted and tightened around their necks.

"Just watch me throw your ugly selves into the street so everyone here can see your disgrace."

Seeing that Medea was about to kill them, Jason hurriedly shouted:

"No! They're... innocent. As the future king, I'm bound to encounter women like this. We were celebrating last night, and you weren't beside me. I drank too much and mistook them for you!

"And how could they dare refuse my orders?"

"They?"

Medea asked in confusion.

"My love is so beautiful. How could an ordinary woman compare to you? Only two beauties together could barely approach your peerless beauty!"

Jason cursed inwardly. What the hell am I saying? Yet Medea's cheeks flushed slightly.

"I see. So that's how you see me."

Phew. Thank you, Prometheus, for giving women emotional minds when you created them.

"All right. In that case, I'll forgive these two women."

Jason breathed a sigh of relief. Then Medea waved her hand, and the iron brambles turned into two sharp blades that pierced straight through the girls' lower abdomens.

"Medea! What are you doing?!"

"Ah, nothing. Just a little punishment. Even I haven't yet... and these two women actually beat me to it. How irritating."

Jason wanted to grab his sword and cut through the blades moving up and down, but after a storm of thought, he stopped himself.

If he showed even the slightest concern for these two girls now, they would be doomed, and their deaths would be very, very horrible.

"M-Medea, what about the things I asked you to help me with?"

"They're mostly done. The rest will require your family to come over. All right, let's go."

Jason hurriedly changed the subject. Medea had now become like a little girl hoping for praise again, but as Jason looked at him, he felt nothing but cold inside.

On the way, he happened to encounter Asclepius, who was still in Thessaly, and hurriedly gave him a look. After so long together, they could communicate without words.

Asclepius looked at Jason, then at the bloodstained Medea, and strode toward Jason's room with a somewhat grave expression.

Medea merely glanced at him and said nothing. Turning to Jason, she said:

"Oh, my love, something interesting happened to me today."

"Ah, what was it?"

Jason was a little slow to respond. Then Medea smiled and took out a small bottle containing a magic potion.

"I foresaw that someone seemed to want to harm me. Then I found a wizard who didn't know his own limits. Hehe, I could make this sort of eternal sleep potion when I was still a child.

"Tell me, wasn't he ridiculous? Trying to use a witch's methods against me, a priestess of Hecate."

Looking at the little bottle, Jason's smile froze completely. Then, before his very eyes, Medea casually smashed the bottle and trod it underfoot.

Jason could already see it. He had fallen into a swamp. If he struggled, he would sink faster. If he offered no resistance, he could last a little longer.

But if no one gave him a hand, the outcome would be the same. He was now like someone trapped in a swamp, able only to hold on a little longer until someone came to pull him out.

She would fulfill his every request, but he absolutely could not touch her. Otherwise, even if he reached the shore, he would still find no escape from death in the sea's wind and waves.