"Remember this well, Jason. Among all the gods to whom you will offer tribute, Artemis is the one who is both the easiest and the hardest to please!"
Let us pull time back just a little.
These were the exact words Hermes, Messenger of the Gods, spoke to Jason on the day Jason agreed to Io's request.
Artemis is the daughter of God-King Zeus and the Titan goddess Leto, the elder sister of Apollo, God of Light, and one of the Twelve Olympians.
Artemis is free and independent. She loves the wilderness and rejects marriage between men and women. What she favors are unmarried maidens and youths who scorn Aphrodite… From this, one can see that her relationship with the Goddess of Beauty is not particularly good.
At the same time, Artemis and Athena are the two daughters whom God-King Zeus values and dotes upon the most. To be more precise, Zeus undoubtedly values Athena, while his treatment of Artemis is practically unconditional spoiling.
God-King Zeus almost never refuses any of Artemis's requests. She is also one of the deities most frequently worshipped by the ancient Greeks.
And for a goddess like this…
"No matter what kind of tribute you offer her, she will never be fully satisfied, because she actually lacks for nothing. She can easily obtain anything she wants. As long as she desires it, all the gods of Olympus will help her."
Jason recalled what Hermes had told him at that time.
"Therefore, when offering tribute to Artemis, Jason, you must absolutely never look for something 'valuable,' because Artemis truly lacks nothing.
Of course, this does not mean she does not need tribute. She simply does not need material objects. What she needs to see is your sincerity!
So remember this well, Jason. When offering tribute to Artemis, you must never be careless.
As long as the tribute you present to her contains your heartfelt sincerity, even if it is only a single flower, she will be extremely happy!"
Jason had never doubted Hermes's words. One only needed to look at Calydon to know the answer.
This also explained why, when Calydon offered sacrifices to the gods but omitted Artemis alone, she grew angry and sent down the boar.
Yet afterward, when Prince Meleager of Calydon, Jason's senior brother, sincerely prayed to Artemis and begged her to bless his hunt with success, Artemis quickly agreed.
Thus, when it came to offerings, she was undoubtedly both the easiest and the hardest god to deal with.
Most other gods had things they desired.
But Artemis did not.
To explain it in terms Jason understood, it was actually quite simple.
Artemis was clearly a super-rich girl whose material possessions far exceeded her needs. Naturally, she had no interest in material things and sought fulfillment on a spiritual level.
This also explained very well why Artemis was so invested in the matter between Atalanta and Jason.
…
…
Now, returning to the present.
"A tribute?"
Atalanta looked at Jason in puzzlement. After thinking briefly, she nodded and said, "Mm, you really should offer a tribute to Lady Artemis… So you want my help to kill the Calydonian Boar?"
"Why?" Jason asked Atalanta, confused.
"Why?" Atalanta replied, equally confused. "Aside from the Calydonian Boar, do you have any other hunting target?"
Battle = tribute to the gods = ravaging.
Even though Atalanta deeply disdained such barbaric practices, this was still common sense in this world.
"No, but I'm not planning to offer Lady Artemis a hunted beast." Jason shook his head.
"Not offering a hunted beast?" Atalanta frowned and asked doubtfully, "Then what are you going to offer?"
"Romance." Jason answered simply with these two words.
This was what Jason, after serious consideration, believed would be the tribute most likely to satisfy Artemis.
"Romance?" Atalanta blinked. "What is romance? Is it some kind of terrifying monster?"
"Um… That's actually hard to explain, but it's not a monster. Didn't I say I'm not going hunting? Just tell me whether you're willing to help or not."
"…If it concerns a tribute to Lady Artemis, of course I will help you." Although Atalanta was very puzzled, she ultimately agreed.
"Thanks, Atalanta!"
Relieved by Atalanta's answer, Jason let out a breath.
After all, the tribute he planned to offer required some time to prepare, and during that time he could not let Artemis come and interfere or discover it, or the effect would be diminished.
Soon afterward, Jason and Atalanta returned to the palace. As for Pegasus, Jason told it to go play somewhere outside. It attracted too much attention.
"Jason, you're back…"
Meleager spoke, then froze when he saw Jason and Atalanta following behind him.
"Junior brother Jason, we plan to organize the hunt for the Calydonian Boar tomorrow at midnight. What do you think?"
Heracles, seeing Meleager staring fixedly at Atalanta, stepped forward and spoke to Jason.
"Tomorrow at midnight? Got it."
Jason nodded, then said apologetically to the two, "Senior brother Meleager, Heracles, I came here to apologize to both of you… I had planned to have a good gathering with you today, but can it be postponed one more day?"
"That's fine… But do you have something to do?"
"He is going to offer a tribute to Lady Artemis," Atalanta calmly explained to the puzzled Heracles.
She also shot Jason a strange glance.
Only now did Atalanta learn that Jason was actually a famous disciple of the centaur sage Chiron.
Wasn't he supposed to be a student of the Goddess of Crossroads, Hecate?
"Offering a tribute to the noble Moon Goddess Artemis? …Junior brother Jason, are you planning to hunt the boar alone?" Meleager could not help asking.
"No." Jason shook his head. "It's not that boar… Anyway, I'm sorry, Meleager and senior brother Heracles. Once this is over, I will personally apologize to you both!"
With that, Jason turned, grabbed Atalanta's hand without thinking, and led her away while she was still slightly stunned.
"Wait, junior brother Jason!"
Seeing Jason leave while pulling Atalanta along, Meleager, eyes wide, instinctively called out to him.
Then, under Jason's puzzled gaze, Meleager hesitated for a while before saying, "Can I come too?"
"That probably won't work," Heracles answered before Jason could. "You still need to receive all the warriors who answered your call, right?"
"You're right."
Meleager gave a wry smile.
Thus, Jason left with Atalanta.
After they departed and some time passed in silence, Meleager suddenly said quietly to Heracles, "Don't you think junior brother Jason and Atalanta… look pretty well-matched?"
A man as handsome as Apollo, God of the Sun, and a woman as beautiful as Artemis, Goddess of the Moon.
Heracles looked at Meleager, hesitated for a moment, then carefully said, "They… do seem pretty well-matched."
"…As I thought." Meleager shook his head with a smile. "That's what I think too. They really do look good together."
"Then you…"
"I surrender." Meleager raised his hands in defeat. "If it were anyone else, I might actually feel unwilling, but… if it's junior brother Jason, then never mind."
Jason took Atalanta out of the palace and found Pegasus again. Letting go of Atalanta's hand, he said, "Atalanta, wait here for me a bit… If you get bored, you can have Pegasus take you for a ride in the sky, but don't go too far."
Tweet tweet—!
Pegasus pawed the ground and neighed.
"Stop complaining. What's wrong with taking someone else for a ride? I'll give you a few extra cakes later, alright?"
Hearing this, Pegasus finally became satisfied.
"Where are you going? I'm coming too," Atalanta said with a frown.
"I'm going to the Underworld… Are you sure you want to follow?"
Jason looked at Atalanta while holding his staff.
At those words, Atalanta's body stiffened slightly, and she silently took a step back.
Seeing this, Jason found it amusing but did not continue teasing her. He soon found a dark corner nearby, lightly tapped the ground with his staff, and under the swirling protection of the Underworld, descended once more to that realm.
Soon, he arrived at the Path of the Underworld, at the gate guarded by the three-headed hellhound Cerberus.
"Why did you suddenly come back?"
Cerberus looked at Jason in puzzlement. "Didn't you say you had set off on your journey and wouldn't return for a while?"
"I came back because I need Teacher's help with something… Oh, and Lord Cerberus, please, whatever you do, don't tell Teacher I'm here! Otherwise she'll definitely lock the door and pretend she's not home!"
Jason, who was very familiar with Cerberus, said this.
Of course he was familiar with Cerberus. For the past three years, Jason had passed by Cerberus every single night.
And although Cerberus guarded the gates of the Underworld for Hades, Lord of the Underworld, its true master was none other than Jason's teacher, Hecate!
This was precisely why, among all the gods residing in the Underworld, Hecate came and went so freely.
After briefly chatting with Cerberus, Jason soon arrived at the River Styx and stood before Charon, the ferryman.
"Why did you suddenly come back, child?" Charon asked curiously. "Did you encounter some trouble you can't handle? …If I remember correctly, didn't you just slay the Chimera a couple of days ago?"
"Ah, thank you so much for your help the other day, Grandpa Charon."
Jason hopped onto the boat and said to the skeletal ferryman whose skull burned with ghostly flames, "I didn't run into any trouble, but I do need Teacher's help with something."
"Mm." Charon nodded lightly, then suddenly paused.
He then said to Jason, "Child, you'll have to wait a little when we reach the shore."
"What's wrong?" Jason asked Charon, puzzled.
"Lord Hades already knows you're here. Lady Persephone is currently hurrying over to you."
"Big Sis Persephone? …Perfect, I actually needed to see her too."
Jason nodded to show he understood.
This was also why Atalanta had not followed. Otherwise, seeing this scene, she probably would not even know what expression to make.
Is this really the Underworld?
That sunless, terrifying Underworld forbidden to the living?
Are you sure this isn't just Jason's second home?!
But to be honest, after acknowledging Persephone as his Underworld big sister, with a teacher who was the Goddess of Crossroads Hecate, and even having done favors for Hades, it really wasn't impossible for Jason to treat the Underworld as his second home.
The most important thing was that Jason did not particularly dislike the gods of the Underworld.
Up until now, the Underworld gods had hardly ever caused him trouble. Instead, he was the one constantly troubling them.
Jason had even considered that, after achieving immortality with Athena's help, he might come to the Underworld to seek a position.
Ideally one where he could be neighbors with Teacher Hecate.
While Jason was thinking about these things…
"Child, come to me."
"Child, I know you can hear my voice. Come to me. I will not harm you."
A faint, ethereal voice suddenly rang in Jason's mind.
Jason was slightly stunned by this, but his expression did not show too much surprise, because this voice… he had heard it a very long time ago.
"Child, I sense destruction upon you… Come to me, child. I will help you."
Jason listened silently to this call.
He turned his head slightly and cast his gaze toward Tartarus, the abyss of the Underworld.
"…I'm sorry, great Typhon, son of the primordial god Tartarus, but I will not go to you."
Jason softly said in his heart.
"No, child."
Typhon's ethereal voice sounded beside Jason's ear. "I know that one day you will come to me… I will wait for you, child."
Jason slowly let out a breath.
"Is something wrong, child?"
Charon looked doubtfully at Jason, whose expression had suddenly grown heavy.
"No… it's nothing."
Jason slowly shook his head and smiled again at Charon.
Typhon, Ancestor of All Demons, is the child of Tartarus, God of the Hellish Abyss, and Gaia, Goddess of the Earth—one of the five primordial gods at the world's birth.
His very birth signified destruction.
One could even say that his existence itself represented destruction!
Therefore, what other gods could not sense, he… had already sensed long ago.
And this summoning had begun a very, very long time ago.