Eagle! Zeus!!

[T/N: 1.5xChapter.]

'What should I do now?'

In the afternoon, after leaving the temple of Hephaestus.

While riding on a white Pegasus with silver reins and hooves, Jason thought like this.

Then, immediately, from the silver bag tied around his waist, he took out a compass given to him by Athena that can determine the direction of whatever he is thinking of in his heart.

But just as Jason was hesitating while thinking: 'Should I directly go to God of Light Apollo?'

'Or should I first go and meet the God of Foresight Prometheus, who I have been planning to meet for a long while?'

Suddenly, due to the sound of an eagle screeching, Jason subconsciously raised his head, and he saw an eagle flying toward him that looks like it had been clearly waiting for him for a long time.

Then immediately, it landed swiftly on Jason's arm, who had subconsciously stretched out his hand to stop the eagle from coming any closer.

But, before Jason could take the next action of throwing away this eagle, he suddenly thought of something.

'Eagle? ...Wait a moment, Eagle?!'

'Eagle?!!!'

Jason, who was stunned for a moment, looked at the eagle, who is also looking at him with his golden eyes, then Jason's body immediately stiffened.

Because he remembered something.

'In this era of Greece, the current God-King, the supreme ruler of all things, the head of the twelve main gods of Olympus, Zeus...'

'Has eagle as one of its symbols!'

And now, Jason has obviously discovered that this eagle is looking at him with a very humane look...

'Just my luck, is this what it feels like upon encountering the final boss immediately after leaving the novice village?!'

'Here, I was just worrying about meeting Apollo, but now I don't need to, because what I've encountered is definitely something even more terrifying!'

'What should I do, what should I do now, should I pretend that I have not understood anything, or should I make an expression that I have recognized him and greet him?!'

Just when Jason, while feeling apprehensive, was frantically running his brain, he once again heard this eagle screeching.

Then, after flapping his wings, the eagle flew up from Jason's arm and it turned around before flying away slightly towards the right from Jason's current direction.

But after flying for a short distance, the eagle looked back at Jason and screeched at him, obviously telling Jason to follow.

Seeing this, Pegasus turned his head to look at Jason to ask something, that Jason obviously understood, even if Pegasus was silent.

'What to do?'

Jason looked back at Pegasus in exasperation, after all, Jason also know that there is nothing else he could do.

Therefore, while feeling helpless, knowing that he has no other choice, Jason lightly patted Pegasus and said: "Follow him... it seems like he has something he wants to tell us."

By this moment, Jason has obviously concluded in his heart: 'Even if this eagle is not personally Zeus in disguise, most probably, it is sent by Zeus!'

Therefore, Pegasus obediently followed the eagle.

So after flying over quite a few mountains and rivers, finally, the eagle took Pegasus and Jason to a forest around the kingdom of Libya and landed on a tree.

At this moment, it is almost the time of dusk, and Jason, who has been looking around for clues to understand what Zeus wants from him, naturally discovered the small group of villagers not far from him and traveling through the forest.

So, after Jason got down from the Pegasus, he looked at the eagle, who is now sitting on the branch while ignoring Jason and arranging his feathers, and at the same time Jason vaguely heard the conversations of the group of villagers in the distance.

Therefore, after thinking for a moment, Jason tentatively asked the eagle: "May I ask, are they going to encounter some kind of trouble? Have you brought me here because you want me to help them?"

The eagle just glanced at Jason once, before he once again ignored Jason and continued to arrange his feathers.

Seeing this, Jason hesitated for a few moments, then he tidied up his clothes, and after telling Pegasus to wait here for a while, he walked over.

The sudden appearance of Jason naturally aroused the vigilance of the team.

But still, when they noticed that Jason is gorgeously dressed, well-mannered, handsome, and carrying an extraordinary-looking sword, obviously concluding that Jason is not an ordinary person, they took care to not be disrespectful towards Jason.

Moreover, after Jason interacted with them using his communication skill while carrying an approachable smile, in return for a few gold coins, Jason quickly got the information he wanted.

The information is about the legend: 'In the Kingdom of Libya, there used to be a noble queen with extraordinary beauty, and it was even rumored that her beauty was not inferior to the noble goddess on the Olympus!'

'And the name of this Queen is Lamia.'

'It is even said that because of her excessively beautiful appearance, she had even attracted the attention of a great god in the sky, and the god granted her a 'gracious gift'.'

'But these good times didn't last long, probably because the Queen's beauty aroused the envy of the traveling witches. One day, people in the kingdom suddenly discovered that their beautiful Queen had suddenly turned into a monster whose upper body is still that of a beautiful woman but the lower body is that of a snake!'

'Moreover, Lamia, who has become a monster, lost her gentleness from when she was a queen and turned extremely cruel, then she even killed her own child with her own hands!'

'And, after escaping the encirclement of the warriors of the kingdom, she has been hiding in the ancient forest.'

'But every night, after the moon appears in the sky, she leaves the ancient forest and searches for crying children everywhere, before killing and devouring the children!'

'And this group of people is from the village which is quite close to the ancient forest where Queen Lamia is rumored to be residing.

'Therefore, because most of the children in their village have been swallowed by Lamia and many young people of the village have met a tragic death at the hands of Queen Lamia, who has turned into a half-human and half-snake monster...'

'Knowing that there is no other way, they had to leave their hometown and start migrating to the Lycian kingdom.'

*****

At night, Jason, who had understood the situation, returned to Pegasus's side.

But after returning, just after glancing once at the eagle, Jason immediately turned his eyes away, because he doesn't think that he would surely be able to control his eyes and expression...

After all, although those villagers only talked about the rumors they have heard, Jason had already guessed the real situation in his heart.

Because Jason believes: 'There is no way God-King Zeus had brought me here just because he is so kind that he wants me to save this group of villagers.'

'Moreover, Lamia was a queen whose beauty was rumored to be no less than that of the goddesses.'

'And now Zeus has brought me here, near to a group of villagers who are migrating because of Lamia...'

'Therefore, isn't it obvious that the so-called 'gracious gift' is mostly related to Zeus, and it can't be anything more than one of his so-called romantic affairs?'

'As for why Lamia has suddenly turned into a half-human and half-snake monster, it is very likely that because Hera found out about Zeus's relationship with Lamia, she cursed Lamia in rage.'

'Now, the matter on princess Io's side has not been solved yet, and there is already another Queen Lamia here... What should I say... as expected of you, God King Zeus?'

At this moment, Jason's expression is very calm, due to which, not many can easily guess what he is thinking now, and the only ones who could probably guess a little are Chiron, Medea, and Hecate, who have interacted with Jason for more than three years, and Hephaestus, who knows how to read gods and humans alike.

Actually, Jason is feeling a little angry now, even a little disdain and dismissive towards the God-King Zeus.

Originally, because during Persephone's incident, Jason had found out that God-King Zeus helped him, so Jason had a relatively neutral impression of him, mostly because Jason is unaware of the fact that the whole of Persephone's incident was planned by Zeus, to seize a part of rights from Hades.

But now, Jason's impression of God-King Zeus has obviously become negative.

After all, at the end of the day, even if Jason claims to be a very selfish person, he just isn't someone who will bring harm to others just for enjoyment, and neither he is a coward or someone so irresponsible who will run away from the mess he has created.

After all, although Hestia herself is very kind, there is a reason why Hestia evaluates Jason as someone with pure and beautiful eyes.

Similarly, there is also a reason why Athena, who is known as the Goddess of Heroic Endeavor, even after knowing that Jason doesn't want to become a hero, wants to make him into the most dazzling hero.

[T/N: Since I have taken a leave yesterday, I will try to compensate for it on Saturday or Sunday, but still, no promises.]