Pegasus soared through the blue sky.
Jason, having just parted from Prometheus and Heracles, sat astride Pegasus lost in thought.
"Brother Horse, what do you think... what should I offer her?"
Did Prometheus truly not know?
Probably, he genuinely did not.
After all, the goddess Hestia was unique among the Olympian gods. Compared to the others, she seemed utterly without desire or ambition.
Yet that did not mean Prometheus, the wise Titan, could not point Jason in a direction.
Still, Prometheus chose not to.
Just as Athena had withheld an oracle on this matter.
Why?
Because "anything" is the most difficult choice of all. It could be anything, yet it could also be nothing.
Thus, the true challenge in offering a tribute to Hestia lay in this:
What gift could possibly move her and honor the long wait she had endured?
Understanding this was not hard for Jason.
He had always lived under Athena's influence, and due to his own nature as well as everything that had happened along the way, her presence had not made him abandon thought or blindly follow the path of wisdom. Instead, it had made him even more inclined to reflect deeply.
To Jason's question, Pegasus gave no answer beyond a soft whinny.
After all, if even the wise Titan had not answered, how could it know?
Yet...
"Master, it seems Goddess Hestia is nearby."
What a coincidence!
Jason could not help but freeze for a moment.
"Could it be... Athena?"
He could not be blamed for thinking so. He had just been worrying about Hestia, and now Hestia had reached out to him.
Only the Goddess of Wisdom, Athena, could be so considerate.
"Goddess Hestia is calling me... Shall we go, Master?"
Pegasus, of course, could not know if it was Athena's doing. It simply reported truthfully.
After brief consideration, Jason nodded.
"Yes. Whether this is coincidence or Athena's arrangement, it can only help and cannot harm."
Hearing this, Pegasus prepared to fly toward her.
But then its form suddenly halted in place.
Under Jason's puzzled gaze, Pegasus turned its head a moment later and said, "Master, Goddess Hestia is not asking us to come to her. She asked me to deliver an oracle to you."
"An oracle?"
"Yes, Master. Goddess Hestia seems to have a task for you... She has already sent a messenger!"
As it spoke, a beautiful little bird shot out from a grove on the ground below at incredible speed.
In its beak it carried a sweet fruit.
The lovely bird flew up to Pegasus and Jason, circled Jason twice, then landed on his shoulder and placed the fruit into his waiting hand.
"Lord Jason, can you hear me?"
Once the fruit was in his hand, Jason heard the bird's pleasant voice from his shoulder and gently nodded.
"Lord Jason, I am the messenger of Goddess Hestia. The great Goddess Hestia wishes you to hurry to a certain strait and rescue a girl who has suffered a shipwreck.
This fruit is the divine item that will awaken her."
Hearing the bird's words, Jason felt some surprise, but remembering it was Hestia, he nodded lightly.
Hestia was an extremely benevolent goddess. When Demeter's grief had threatened to wither the earth and bring suffering to all living things, Hestia had stepped forward out of compassion.
She often answered the prayers of mortals.
Thus Jason occasionally received oracles from Hestia, such as the time with the chimera that had blighted the land, and other matters besides.
Jason held no complaints about this.
Hestia had always treated him kindly.
"Oh, right. Goddess Hestia also said that if you feel thirsty on the way, you may eat the fruit. As for the girl, when the time comes, you need only kiss her and she will still awaken."
The bird's additional words made Jason nod, but he quickly tucked the fruit away.
Why... did he suddenly feel uneasy?
As the thought passed through his mind, the bird pointed out the direction.
Jason took the reins, and under the bird's guidance, Pegasus became a shooting star at dusk, streaking toward the place the bird indicated.
On the ground, gazing at the shooting star that was Pegasus.
Hestia, clad in finely embroidered robes, her brown hair reaching her waist, could not help but smile.
Standing beside her was another god: Hermes, messenger of the gods, wearing his winged green cap.
"Goddess Hestia, I think in a few days Thetis, Medea, and the others might hold a little grudge against you."
Hermes watched Jason depart into the distance, then spoke with a touch of emotion to the goddess beside him.
Hestia tilted her head, blinked, and replied with slight playfulness, "Hermes, child, what are you talking about? I don't understand. Besides... weren't you the one who came to me for help?
Don't you want Jason to go rescue Helen?"
Jason's instincts were sometimes remarkably accurate.
Especially after he had become a demigod.
In the oracle Hestia gave him, she had not mentioned the girl's name... Yes, that girl's name was Helen!
The name alone might cause mild confusion.
But a single detail would be enough to reveal how extraordinary she was.
Helen, daughter of Zeus, king of the gods, and Leda, queen of Sparta.
Her birth itself was miraculous.
Queen Leda of Sparta was a woman of great beauty. One day Zeus caught sight of her and, captivated by her appearance, approached her in the form of a swan while she bathed in a river.
Later Leda laid two eggs, from which hatched four angelic children. One of them was Helen.
In ancient times there was a woman named Daji, a peerless beauty said to have brought about the fall of the Shang dynasty because of her allure.
In the Zhou dynasty there was Baosi, the incomparable beauty for whose smile beacons were lit in jest.
In the Tang dynasty there was Yang Guifei, whose name as imperial consort still echoes today, counted among China's four great beauties of antiquity.
All of them, without exception, were women blamed for ruining nations. Because of their extraordinary beauty, many attributed the downfall of their dynasties to them.
Whether they directly or indirectly caused those kingdoms to fall is unknown.
But this woman named Helen was, in Greek myth, a figure who could stand beside them.
She was acknowledged in the world of Greek mythology as the most beautiful woman on earth.
And it was because she eloped with Paris, prince of Troy, that the ten-year Trojan War began.
One could say the Trojan War erupted for the sake of possessing the most beautiful woman in the world: Helen!
"Don't talk nonsense. I never had such an idea!"
Hermes immediately denied it, refusing to acknowledge Hestia's words.
If the future Jason ever learned of this, it would be disastrous!
Then Hermes rolled his eyes, hesitated a moment, and added, "Still, Goddess Hestia, I must tell you something. Jason may not like this..."
"Hm, I know."
Hermes froze, then looked up at Hestia in surprise. "You know?"
"Of course I've heard the sayings... 'beauty is a curse,' 'beautiful women bring trouble.'" Hestia smiled lightly. "Ever since he was little, he's avoided them like the plague. It's really..."
She shook her head with a laugh.
"You knew and still sent him to rescue Helen?"
Hermes's eyes widened.
"If not him, then who? You, or someone else?"
Hestia glanced sideways at Hermes. "If I sent any of you, it wouldn't be rescue. In Jason's words... it would be 'lamb to the tiger's mouth'!"
Ah...
Hermes instantly understood.
And he found he could not argue.
After all, he did take after his father Zeus in that regard. He was quite the pervert.
Given the chance, Hermes would not hesitate!
"If Jason meets Helen, even Zeus will restrain himself a little. After all, Hera swore to grant Jason the most perfect marriage. And...
Don't you think Jason and Helen would make a good match?"
"I remember you said the same thing about Thetis."
Hestia smiled at that. "Not just Thetis. Medea, Atalanta, Thetis... even Hephaestus and Hecate. I think all of them suit Jason very well."
Hermes clicked his tongue. "You know all this and still push Jason into the fire?"
"How is this pushing? My Jason is so outstanding. What's wrong with giving him a few more choices!" Hestia glared at Hermes, clearly displeased. "Jason is so adorable and so faithful. He never acts recklessly.
Doesn't he deserve the love of so many women and goddesses?!"
If Demeter, goddess of agriculture, were here, she would probably give Hestia a thumbs-up.
By now Hermes understood completely.
For anyone else, Hestia might hesitate, but precisely because it was Jason, she wanted to offer him every exceptional woman, even goddesses, and let him choose.
Gods truly are troublesome beings.
Whether out of kindness or malice, their actions often bring futures to mortals that are difficult to imagine.
Hestia's actions clearly came from kindness, yet she could not see what kind of future her kindness would bring Jason.
After all, there was one thing Hestia did not know.
The phrase "beauty is a curse" does not apply only to women.
It can apply to men as well.
...
Soon after, Jason, holding Pegasus's reins and guided by the little bird on his shoulder, rode the shooting star across the night sky and landed on a quiet stretch of sea.
When Pegasus halted on the water's surface, Jason looked down in the moonlight and immediately spotted scattered wreckage of ships.
As his brow furrowed and his gaze swept the surroundings, Pegasus spoke.
"Master, there! Look there!"
Jason looked up in the direction Pegasus indicated and saw a small girl, perhaps only ten years old, drifting on the sea.
He paused for a moment, then Pegasus walked across the water, bringing him to the girl's side.
Only when he reached her did Jason understand why she floated.
Beneath the girl, a school of fish glowing faintly held her up, keeping her from sinking.
Moonlight fell upon the closed-eyed girl, letting Jason see her face clearly.
The instant he saw her, even Jason stilled.
Because she had been unconscious in the water so long, her thin white dress had become nearly transparent, leaving her body almost entirely visible to him.
Her beautiful golden hair spread out across the water.
Like a painting.
"This girl... she looks really dangerous."
At Jason's words, the little bird, who had also been staring at the girl in a daze, jerked its head toward Jason.
It wondered if its ears were malfunctioning.
Dangerous? In what way?
Shouldn't it be beautiful or adorable?!
Just as the bird thought this, Jason, coming back to himself, leaned down and lifted the girl from the water.
The seawater had rendered her thin clothing virtually nonexistent. When Jason took her into his arms, it was nearly skin against skin.
Yet Jason felt nothing.
Because... the most beautiful woman in the world was, at this moment, only ten years old!
After lifting her, Jason looked at her pure, exquisite face, like a painting, and at the beauty mark beneath her eye that seemed placed by Aphrodite herself, adding a touch of allure to her innocence. He shook his head.
"Whoever this woman is, when she grows up she'll definitely be the type to ruin nations... Whatever. I'll wake her first.
By the way, did Goddess Hestia give any other instructions besides telling me to rescue her?"
Jason looked at the bird on his shoulder, Hestia's messenger.
The bird thought for a moment and replied, "No... But Goddess Hestia seemed to say that once you wake her, you'll know what to do.
Because Goddess Hestia said you should already know something about her..."