Chapter 73: Is a danger, but also an opportunity!
[T/N: 1.5 x chapter.]
'Splash--!'
At a slowly flowing creek in the forest, Jason is looking at his reflection in the calm looking clear water.
And after a short silence, Pegasus heard a crisp sound of water splashing, as Jason had suddenly splashed his face with the water while thinking: 'What are you doing, Jason? Don't you already have a decision in your heart?'
At this moment, nearly ten minutes have passed since he had shot the silver arrow that easily shattered the whole mountain.
And Jason, after fleeing from the ancient forest where the Calydonian boar hunt was taking place, has arrived here and is now sitting in front of this stream, thinking about the changes he will be making in his plans and the path he will be walking on from this moment onwards.
After all, although it might not look like this to others, Jason doesn't believe himself to be a reckless existence.
On the contrary, Jason believes in planning and always being very cautious and careful in whatever he is doing.
Therefore, after calming down, Jason immediately reached a decision in his heart: 'Unless Artemis asks for it, this silver arrow of Moon Goddess won't be returned back... No, I will not even mention anything about returning this silver arrow on my own... at least for now!'
'Not only this, from today onwards, I must use my best efforts to prepare the remaining eleven tributes to the gods!'
After all, the conclusion reached by Hecate, Athena, and Hermes, has also been easily guessed by Jason; moreover, Hecate had even indirectly mentioned that as long as his remaining tributes are up to the mark, he will be able to get more gifts comparable to the silver arrow of Artemis.
"It's okay, Brother Pegasus... I'm alright."
After taking a deep breath, Jason smiled at Pegasus, who is questioningly looking at him with a concerned gaze: "But, Brother Pegasus, can you leave for a while? I want to take a bath."
"After all, I can't really go to see Goddess Hephaestus in this dirty state due to the shockwave of the last explosion, right? "
Hearing Jason saying this, Pegasus looked at him with clear eyes, then after hesitating for a few moments, Pegasus turned around to leave from here.
And after Pegasus left, Jason took off his white clothes and entered the mountain stream, beside which he was sitting.
'It's really cold...but, this is just what I need.'
While thinking this, after taking a deep breath, Jason suddenly immersed himself fully into the stream.
Then, Jason closed his eyes and began to think seriously about his current situation.
'Actually, irrespective of whether I want to do it or not, this silver arrow really cannot be returned...at least not for now, because this is a gift given to me by Goddess Artemis in the presence of many other Gods, so returning this will definitely offend Artemis, no matter what reason I might have for returning it.'
'And... although it is obviously going to become more troublesome from now on, this is clearly also an opportunity for me!'
'Because, in a way, this silver arrow means absolute power!'
'After all, although I still don't know which one between Apollo's golden sword and Artemis's silver arrow is stronger, now I can at least understand that, unlike the Golden sword which has only been lent to me, Artemis has... actually given me her silver arrow...'
After thinking this, Jason, who had now completely calmed down, opened his eyes while still being inside the water.
By this moment, Jason has obviously realized what kind of trouble he has caused.
'After all, no matter how much I might try to be cautious and careful, my life can't always be smooth sailing.'
'At the end of the day, I have not exactly grown up in this era, so my visions, standards, and values are quite different from those in the current era,'
'And even if I was already aware of this fact, I have obviously underestimated it, that to just what extent this fact holds true, which had led to this result.'
Moreover, at the end of the day, although Jason dislikes trouble, he is far from being someone who lacks the courage to deal with the trouble he has caused, rather, Jason is someone who won't mind using the trouble he has caused to his advantage, as long as the advantage is big enough.
And holding such a strong and terrifying power in his hands, Jason had obviously realized that although this matter is indeed very troublesome, the gains surely outweigh the trouble he will be dealing with.
'After all, this terrifying power is not exactly a temporary one like the golden sword of Apollo, and is completely under my control!'
'But how exactly should I control such a powerful strength while minimizing the risk... in other words, minimize the gods' attention on me, or at least not let them interfere too much with my life...'
After thinking this, Jason quickly found the answer.
'It's the time to further update... the Law of Survival.'
In the past, Jason had undoubtedly tried to adopt the strategy of avoiding the gods as much as possible, and upon discovering that in case he could not avoid them, he had prepared another set of strategy for it.
But now, Jason has decided to start taking the initiative in meeting the gods.
'I need to start working hard to become an existence that the gods like... obviously, only on the surface and temporarily because I still don't think that Gods continuously paying attention to me for a long time is a good thing.'
'After all, I really do believe in if I can't beat them, then join them.'
Because, by now, Jason has clearly recognized the fact that by disguising himself as a well-behaved child in the eyes of gods, he can achieve exponential and possibly unlimited growth.
Actually, soon after Jason had begun studying under Hecate, she had evaluated Jason like this: 'Even though you are just a mortal, you still have the desire to control everything in your hands'
And obviously, this assessment is as true as it can be.
So, after clarifying his plans, Jason rose up from the surface of the water and walked out of the stream.
And after putting on his clothes, while facing the moonlight, he solemnly saluted at the full moon in the sky and expressed his gratitude to Artemis for the gift she has bestowed on him.
"Brother Pegasus, it's time to leave."
After solemnly expressing his gratitude to the Goddess of Moon Artemis, with his short hair still wet, Jason called for Pegasus to return.
And after Pegasus arrived here, he again questioningly looked at Jason.
"I'm alright now." Jason said with a smile, then he suddenly thought of something: '... Oh, right, I still have Atalanta's bow with me.'
As Jason thought of this, he took out the bow with a black handle and inlaid with golden lines, Tauropolos, then he looked back in the direction of Calydon and after pondering for a few moments, he decided: 'Forget it, I'll give this back to her when I meet her next time, anyway, it just so happens that I don't have a handy bow to use the silver arrows.'
After all, normal bows are just incapable of shooting the silver arrow of Artemis.
After thinking this and shaking his head, while feeling satisfied with the bow Tauropolos, Jason put it back in the silver pouch, then he sat on Pegasus and again embarked on his journey.
And this time, Jason's goal has become much clearer.
'In the remaining tribute, I must use unremitting efforts to please the gods, so that I can obtain the absolute power in return!'
'And... thinking of this, I don't know whether to thank Athena or...'
Then Jason shook his head and whispered in his heart: 'And, I don't think that Athena would have expected things to turn out like this, otherwise she wouldn't have sent Hermes again so soon to give me the information about goddess Hephaestus.'
'But even then, after I deal with the Goddess Hephaestus, I still need to meet the God of Foresight Prometheus first before continuing on my journey.'
So, Jason rode Pegasus, then took out the compass given to him by Athena, and flew all night towards Hephaestus, the Goddess of Smithing, to make sure that he will be there before the night falls again tomorrow.
*****
At this moment, on the side of the hunt organized and initiated by Meleager.
After a brief panic due to the bright light, loud boom, and a mountain suddenly disappearing in front of the heroes, almost everyone knelt down to express their gratitude to Artemis.
Quite obviously, the arrow that had directly destroyed a whole mountain just now has been regarded by heroes as a miracle performed by the Goddess of Moon Artemis to help them.
Even Heracles and Meleager also believe that this is indeed the case.
Except for one, Atalanta, whose bow has been taken away by Jason.
And at this moment, while still feeling shocked by the arrow just shot by Jason, Atalanta is waiting for Jason and at the same time naturally thinking with puzzlement: 'Why Jason hasn't come back yet...'
Obviously, Atalanta hasn't expected at all that Jason had actually run away while still holding her bow...
*****
"It looks like, that child will be arriving soon, Hephaestus."
Inside the temple of Hephaestus, Athena, who is wearing a pure white dress, smiled and said to the burly-looking big man in front of her.
"Well, I see."
Sitting in a wheelchair made by Hephaestus, who is looking like a muscular big man, replied lightly to Athena.
"Hmm... by the way, are you going to see that child while looking like this?"
Hephaestus didn't answer, just silently looked at Athena.
"It's useless for you to look at me like this, and it was not my mouth that has leaked this detail, for this, you should look for Hermes."
Hephaestus easily detected that Athena is speaking an indirect lie, but shifted the topic: "...I haven't yet agreed that I will definitely forge weapons or artifacts for him."
"But you should have a good impression of that child, am I right, Hephaestus?" Athena added with a smile: "Because that child has... after all, rejected Hera!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
GlaiveIris
GlaiveIris Well, I have found that the original author of this book has written one more book in a somewhat similar setting, and although even after nearly knowing about it for a week I still haven't managed to make time to start reading it, from what I have looked, that story includes more than one mythologies, Norse, Celtic, Olympian, and maybe more...
So, what I am trying to say is that, after reading it, if I find it interesting enough, I might start translating that book after finishing this one, along with other planned ones.
And if I really, really liked that book, I might also translate it with this one.
Obviously, there is a big clause in it, I will translate that only if there are readers who found that book to be worth reading.
So, if you want, I will translate a few chapters at the start along with giving a good synopsis, just like I had done in the case of this book...
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