As the exchange between the Argonauts and King Aeetes of Colchis concluded, the banquet resumed.
But at this point, the originally lively atmosphere of the banquet had vanished.
Though Aeetes had proactively proposed deciding the ownership of the Golden Fleece through a "trial," easing the tension that had arisen between the two sides over the fleece, it was merely a temporary relief.
In the eyes of the Colchian nobles, the Argonauts' arrival in Colchis was not the friendly visit they had imagined, but one filled with ulterior motives.
Under such circumstances, even those nobles and officials who had initially admired the Argonauts, actively engaging them to build connections.
Or even harboring thoughts of selecting a few as sons-in-law, no longer dared to interact with them, fearing they'd be seen as traitors to Colchis.
In this strained atmosphere, the banquet's vibe turned extraordinarily eerie.
The once harmonious scene of both sides mingling and exchanging lively conversations had completely disappeared. The attendees spontaneously divided into three groups.
The Colchian nobles on one side, the Argonauts keeping to themselves on another.
As for the third group, it was those figures draped in robes, staff in hand, the mages from Mystra Academy.
They had always been out of place among ordinary folk; worldly power meant nothing to them. If not for the fact that the Kingdom of Colchis belonged to King Aeetes, who maintained good relations with Mystra Academy, they wouldn't even have shown up here.
From the start of the banquet, these mages had secluded themselves in their own corner, and the Colchian nobles took it in stride, seemingly accustomed to their ways.
Thus, in the current banquet, only Alaric and Medea, the two belonging to opposing sides, remained boldly together, unperturbed.
On the other side, the Argonauts were also engaged in private discussions.
Though Jason had readily agreed to King Aeetes' trial earlier, that didn't mean he had confidence in completing it.
Therefore, he needed to consult with his companions on how exactly to accomplish the trial.
The heroes' opinions on Aeetes' trial varied widely.
If the king's trial had been to arm themselves fully and slay the two divine bulls with weapons, the Argonauts might have had some confidence in defeating them.
Though they hadn't seen the divine bulls with their own eyes, they figured that no matter how strong they were, they were comparable to the monsters they usually vanquished.
But subduing the two divine bulls bare-handed was an entirely different matter.
Aeetes had mentioned that the bulls could spew flames.
Enduring the scorching of those flames unprotected, even the ones among them most skilled in hand-to-hand combat, Zeus's illegitimate sons and future Gemini gods Castor and Pollux, lacked the courage for that.
Not to mention that after subduing the bulls, they still had to sow the dragon teeth and battle the dragon-tooth warriors.
No one among the heroes knew what dragon-tooth warriors were, but they all understood that anything related to dragons was never simple.
Dragons, after all, stood at the pinnacle of phantasmal species, with the mightiest among them capable of rivaling gods.
Even if the Colchian dragon hadn't reached that level, it was still a dragon, a being whose power far surpassed these heroes.
The warriors summoned from this dragon's teeth were undoubtedly no pushovers.
Yet, even so, the two trials still seemed like conditions the Argonauts could somehow manage to fulfill.
No matter how formidable the so-called divine bulls were, they were ultimately just bulls used for plowing.
Their strength remained within the realm of magical beasts, not exceeding what mortals could handle.
As long as they could perfectly evade the flames' might, with the heroes' power, subduing them wasn't impossible.
The dreaded dragon-tooth soldiers, terrifying as they might be, were merely soldiers summoned from teeth, not true dragons.
They could be treated as elite warriors, and since they weren't actual living beings, they couldn't think like humans. Perhaps that weakness could be exploited to defeat them.
As the heroes discussed, Jason's confidence grew stronger.
That's right, my brothers are all unparalleled experts from across Greece. How could mere magical beasts or puppets stand against them?
However, Orpheus's sudden words shattered his burgeoning assurance, pulling him back to reality.
"Actually, none of you have seen the true trial set by King Aeetes."
"The true trial?"
"What true trial?"
Everyone turned their gaze to Orpheus.
He calmly strummed the strings of his lyre in his arms and leisurely countered with a question.
"Don't you remember the very last words His Majesty Aeetes said about the trial?"
"The last words?" Aethalides pondered for a moment and replied, " 'If you fail to complete the task, then I trust you will harbor no further thoughts about the Golden Fleece', that one?"
He was the son of Hermes, the god of merchants and thieves, the divine messenger. From his father, he inherited an extraordinary memory, unaffected even by death, retaining all recollections through reincarnation.
Orpheus shook his head.
"No, the one before that."
"Then it must be 'If you can accomplish this, I will allow you to go to the sacred grove and take the Golden Fleece.'" Aethalides reacted immediately.
"Exactly, that's the one." Orpheus plucked his strings again, looking at the still puzzled crowd, and asked in a melodic, chanting voice, "Don't you find anything strange in that?"
As the heroes stared blankly, Meleager provided the answer.
"It's allowing me to go to the sacred grove and take the Golden Fleece, rather than him personally handing it over to us, that's the trap, right?"
"Precisely, that's what I mean." With his point understood, Orpheus's lyre chimed with joyful notes.
With Meleager's explicit hint, even Jason grasped the key.
"You mean... even if we complete all the trials, in the end, we'll still have to personally defeat the Colchian dragon in the sacred grove to obtain the Golden Fleece."
As he spoke, Jason's voice trembled, and the others fell into heavy silence upon hearing it.
Because compared to the other two trials, this final one was utterly terrifying.
This was a dragon, a pinnacle of phantasmal species. Any adult dragon, even the weakest, possessed legendary might.
And the Colchian dragon was no weakling among its kind.
This was a danger that surpassed the previous two trials by several magnitudes.