The Belt of the God of War!

[T/N: 2.5 x Chapter, I have been busy, so the update was late.]

The Golden Apples are actually one of the most famous and rarest treasures in the Greek Pantheon.

So much so, that at the wedding of God-King Zeus and Queen of Gods Hera, a tree of Golden Apple was gifted by the Goddess of Earth Gaia to the couple, because Gaia found it to be worthy enough to be gifted in the wedding of the new King and Queen of Gods.

And, in the whole of the Greek Pantheon, this is the only golden apple tree that exists, and it has been planted in the Garden of Hesperides, where it is looked after by the Nymphs Hesperides, daughters of Nyx, and is guarded by the hundred-headed dragon Ladon.

Simultaneously, in the records of Greek Myths, golden apples have been the key objects in many epic stories.

And the most famous one among them is that the real cause behind the famous Trojan War revolves around a Golden Apple that was supposed to be offered to the most beautiful and the Goddesses competed for it but were dissatisfied with the final result.

Then there is the tragic end of Atalanta, who although is a devoted believer of Goddess of Moon and V*rg*nity Artemis, in a footrace for hand in marriage was unable to resist the charm of Golden Apples and was distracted long enough to lose the footrace against Melanion, who forgot to offer a tribute as thanks for Aphrodite's help, due to which both were turned into lions.

Even one of the twelve Labors of Heracles had revolved around Golden Apples because the eleventh labor given to Heracles was in itself stealing golden apples from the Garden of Hesperides.

However, even the mightiest hero Hercules had avoided confronting the guardian of the tree of Golden Apple, Ladon, in a head-on battle.

Rather, Heracles had slain the hundred-headed dragon using the arrows painted with the poison of Lernaean Hydra, but even the poison of Lernaean Hydra had taken a long while to kill Ladon

However, now, Jason will be going to the Garden of Hesperides even before Hercules, but not with the goal of stealing the Golden Apples; rather with the goal of having a head-on battle against the hundred-headed dragon that even Heracles had decided to avoid - Ladon.

*****

"Hundred-headed dragon Ladon..."

Ares slightly frowned, then he looked at Athena with silver hair and golden eyes in suspicion and asked: "You will tell that kid to fight against the hundred-headed dragon Ladon?"

"Yes." Athena nodded lightly, then looked at Ares with a smile, and said: "This kind of battle should be enough to meet the requirements of your tribute, right?"

Actually, let alone Goddess of Wisdom Athena, even other Gods, and quite a few mortals are also familiar with the character of Ares, son of Zeus and Hera, one of the twelve Olympians, God of War.

Therefore, Athena is obviously aware that although Ares also owns the divinity of War, he is mainly responsible for the part that involves mutiny, killing, and rioting.

After all, this is such a widely spread fact that even Ares's believers describe him as 'the bloodthirsty murderer', 'the slayer', and 'the conqueror of fortified castles'.

And Ares is obviously aware of this, but rather than feeling offended, he takes pride in earning such titles.

Because let alone other gods and humans, even Ares himself believes that he is the embodiment of a divine battle-frenzy butcher.

After all, war and slaughter are both the most common and most pleasurable things for Ares.

That's why, wherever Ares senses a war going on, he immediately rushes there to appreciate it, which he does mostly by participating in it and indiscriminately slaughtering on all sides.

And it is for all these reasons that Athena, who is responsible for the strategic and disciplined side of war and also owns the divinity of wisdom, dislikes Ares and believes him to be a brainless war maniac.

Therefore, Athena believes that Jason also will be able to guess easily that the most-fitting tribute to Ares is a battle, a hot-blooded and carefree battle without any strategy or reason because all those things are superfluous for Ares, the god of war.

"...If he does not rely on the power given by Artemis, Apollo, and Underworld Domain, and defeats Ladon only by himself, then it is indeed a tribute worthy of being offered to me."

Then Ares looked at Athena and said: "But are you really confident in that kid being able to accomplish it? The fellow who guards the tree of Golden Apple is not so easy to deal with!"

"You don't need to worry about it." Athena said lightly: "Anyway, the stronger the opponent is, the better it is for you, isn't it?"

Upon hearing this, Ares also agreed that this indeed is the case, but then he heard Athena saying: "But on the other hand, in case, if he does successfully offer this tribute to you, then you should also be prepared to give a corresponding gift."

"Naturally." Ares replied without thinking even for a moment: "I am the God of War Ares, not a stingy god!"

"Wonderful!" Athena's lips rose slightly as she said: "Then, let me think about it... Since the gift given by Artemis is her natal artifact, the silver arrow of Moon Goddess, then you will be giving him your belt of God of War."

"Sure...wait, what did you say I will be giving him?!" Ares, who was originally full of enthusiasm to show that he is not a stingy God, couldn't help but feel stunned after his brain registered what exactly Athena had told him to give.

"What?" Athena replied to Ares with a mocking question: "Artemis had given him the silver arrow, and Apollo is going to give him the golden bow, so do you still want to gift him with something worse than them?"

"Could it be that... as the brainless god of war, you have finally recognized your inferiority?"

"By the way, I am going to give him my shield, Aegis! "

After Athena finished speaking, Ares opened his mouth but was unable to say anything for a short while, due to feeling speechless.

After all, Ares obviously would never admit that he is inferior to Artemis and Apollo, not to mention Athena had already mentioned to him that she will be gifting her shield, which is actually stronger than most of the divine artifacts and is actually comparable to Zeus's divine thunderbolt.

Therefore, finally, although Ares felt really unwilling to bet on completely giving his natal artifact, he still agreed to make such a bet.

Then soon after both agreed to the terms of the bet and Ares left...

"The silver arrow of Artemis, the golden bow of Apollo, and even the belt of Ares, these three together...Athena, you haven't fallen in love with little Jason, have you?"

Rhea suddenly appeared beside Athena and looked at Athena with a strange expression on her face.

After all, unlike Ares, who Athena believes even despises the word wisdom, Rhea, being the previous Queen of Gods, immediately understood the meaning of giving these three natal artifacts to Jason, a mortal.

Because Rhea obviously knows when the silver arrow of the Moon Goddess and golden bow of the God of Light are combined together, they form one of the most powerful divine artifacts in the whole of the Greek Pantheon and are not inferior to Zeus's Thunderbolt, Poseidon's Trident, and Hades's Helmet.

Obviously, Athena is also aware of this fact and this is why she hopes that Jason can also get the golden bow of Apollo, but when she saw Jason firing that silver arrow at Geryon, she immediately discovered a problem.

That Jason is still a mortal, not even a demigod.

So even after his body and soul had been tempered by the water of the Styx and unquenchable flames, unlike the Golden Sword still owned by Apollo, due to completely owning the silver arrow, Jason can barely use the strength of Artemis's silver arrow, which is still very far from the true strength of the silver arrow of Moon Goddess.

Therefore, Athena immediately understood that if Jason tries to use both Artemis's silver arrow and Apollo's golden bow together, due to both being completely owned by him and using Jason's energy and strength, without a God's help, he will barely be able to use them together, and even then he will feel extremely tired after using them.

But then, when Athena noticed Ares also watching Jason shooting the silver arrow, she immediately found a solution to this.

Which is actually the natal artifact of Ares, the belt of God of War.

Because with this belt, although Jason still won't be able to use the silver arrow and golden bow together at their full strength due to limited energy in him, at least Jason's strength will not be inferior to that of any of the demigods at their prime and he won't feel tired after using silver arrow and golden bow together.

Therefore, before Jason can solve the problem of the small amount of energy in him, with the belt of God of War, he will naturally be able to compensate for limited energy with shear strength.

"Goddess Rhea, what are you talking about?" Athena turned around and spoke to Rhea in a very friendly tone.

After all, Athena and Rhea actually have a very friendly relationship, and a proof of this is that, unlike the dress that Athena had made for Hera due to her being the Queen of Gods, Athena had made this elegant-looking purple dress for Rhea on her own accord as a gift to Rhea.

"Haven't you already guessed what I am talking about?" While touching Athena's head, Rhea said with a smile: "Although I know that usually you really care about those children, compared to what you are doing for little Jason, it's a completely different thing!"

"And I've even heard that you have already tried many times to make Jason your believer, and for this, you have even secretly tried discussing this with Hecate, who despite showing such an external attitude toward Jason, didn't even give a response to you."

"Because Jason is really good, don't you also like him very much now, Rhea?"

"Well...it's actually true." Rhea didn't deny rather she nodded, then she continued with a smile: "After meeting him this time, even after not meeting many humans, I have somewhat understood why you have suddenly started treating him as a special one among all the children you are looking after."

"Yeah... It's a pity that I was forestalled by Hecate, otherwise!" After speaking this with a sullen tone, Athena glared in the direction Ares had left.

Obviously, it is because Athena remembered Ares making fun of her, due to Jason not being her believer.

Because Athena's honest thoughts at that time were: 'What do mean by Jason doesn't belong to me... if not for the fact that this heroic trial designed by Jason might get destroyed in the aftermath, I would have made you accept the truth in your language!'

"How could Hecate have forestalled you... If I remember correctly, even if Hecate hadn't robbed him, he would have been Hera's believer."

After Rhea finished speaking in a helpless tone, looking at Athena, who is now looking at her with discontented written in her eyes, Rhea couldn't help chuckling while saying: "Alright, you all can compete among yourselves, anyway it is a good thing, so I won't talk about it, but... Can little Jason really defeat the hundred-headed dragon guarding the tree of Golden Apples?"

Facing Rhea's curious inquiry, Athena shook her head and said: "I don't know, because in normal terms...it's almost impossible."

After finishing speaking, under Rhea's slightly surprised eyes, Athena continued: "Although Jason has grown a lot in the last three years, against the hundred-headed dragon Ladon... without using those powers, the odds of him winning are almost zero!"

"Oh...then how are you going to help him?"

"I won't help him this time."

To Rhea's surprise, Athena shook her head.

"What, you won't give any help even in secret?" Rhea asked to confirm with a surprised expression on her face.

"Yes, I won't help even in secret... and it is not just me who won't be helping this time, no one will be giving any help this time."

Upon hearing this, Rhea asked while frowning: "Even if this is the only way to make a satisfactory tribute to Ares, I don't think you are not capable of hiding it from him, then why?"

When Athena heard Rhea asking this with such an expression, after a slight pause, Athena said to Rhea: "Rhea, do you know about the first interaction between me and Jason?"

"From the start, I have found him to be really interesting due to cleverly dealing with many of my designed games, but if he was just this much, I wouldn't have become so attached to him... Rather, it is because that scene had been imprinted in my eyes."

"Do you know, at that time, I had never even considered the possibility of Jason not having killed a single person?"

Athena said softly to Rhea: "So when I forcefully turned the situation to become a foregone conclusion, even if he had the absolute chance of escaping, he still had the decisiveness and courage to stain his hands with blood for the first time due to being clever enough to immediately guess that escaping won't solve the problem and a mindset stable enough to not escape or show weakness before completely following through it..."

"And, although I have been helping him and I know that Jason isn't someone like that, I don't want him to become dependent."

Athena continued in a slightly earnest tone with a somewhat proud expression on her face: "Because to become the most dazzling one among all of them, Jason must show that he is capable of facing his problems on his own and even if he fails, he will show that he is capable of accepting and rising up from a failure."

"Moreover, Rhea, after having experienced it this time, don't you also think so... Jason is really capable of giving us different surprises."

Then Athena smiled and said to Rhea: "So we just need to watch and even if he is defeated in this challenge, I don't think he will disappoint us, rather, I am pretty sure that he will impress us in a new way."

Obviously, Athena is full of confidence in Jason's capabilities and Rhea had naturally sensed it, especially when Athena isn't even trying to hide it.

However, if Jason had seen this, he would have probably shown a smile uglier than crying while saying: 'For having so much trust in me, I give you my sincerest gratitude, Athena!'

*****

The next day, under Jason's almost visibly disgusted gaze, Hermes, Messenger of Gods, gave a new oracle to Jason.

So Jason also learned that he needs to go to the Garden of Hesperides within a week and get the golden apple by personally defeating the Hundred-Headed Dragon Ladon, without using the golden sword of Apollo, the silver arrow of Artemis, and the help of the Underworld Gods.

Which will become the tribute to Ares, God of war, one of the twelve Olympians.