"I hear drums..."
Medea's voice turned cold.
As she said, amid the gentle wash of the waves, an unpleasant rhythm of drums rolled across the sea.
[Heh, that king's resolve is impressive. He's lost both his daughter and the treasure of his kingdom. He must be beside himself.]
From within the shadows, Lady Hecate murmured lazily.
As the goddess said, the pursuit was far swifter than I had expected.
The ships of Colchis were lighter than the [Argo] and carried more rowers; before dawn, they looked ready to close within range.
One by one, the heroes who had been sleeping soundly on deck rose and took up their weapons.
Jason also came to my side with a pale face and stared out at the horizon.
"Astellon. There are too many of them. At this rate, we'll be surrounded out on the sea. What are you going to do?"
At Jason's words, I said nothing for a moment.
I only watched the lights growing larger beyond the horizon.
The Colchian fleet cutting across the black sea as it came on.
There was no way to escape that pursuit by fleeing alone.
"..."
I slowly turned my gaze and looked at the heroes on deck.
Then I seized the silver mirror pendant at my chest, the one I had received while learning magecraft from Lady Hecate.
[Disciple, I look forward to seeing the enemies' end reflected in that mirror.]
Watching me, Lady Hecate spoke from within the shadows with a languid laugh.
I flung the pendant into the air.
The three mirrors expanded massively, tracing the path of an equilateral triangle, and all the light of the night sea seemed to be drawn into them and condensed.
Against the backdrop of erupting magical energy, I lowered my voice and intoned the True Name that shattered the silence of night.
"O ruler of the night of the abyss, look down upon the souls wandering at the end of the threefold road."
A crescent moon, a full moon, and a new moon rose in the sky at once, blanketing the sea in silver-white magical energy.
Dozens of fire arrows loosed from the Colchian fleet rained down like a storm, but Medea unfolded her magecraft and held them back.
"Order dwells in stillness, and chaos shall perish within the labyrinth of the crossroads."
Even in that situation, I continued speaking.
"Here, where the goddess's three faces shine, the path of the living is severed. [Hecate's Trivium]—the three moons at the crossroads!"
Kuuuuung—!!
As I spoke the True Name, an endlessly regenerating storm of magical energy swept over the enemy.
"Aaaagh! The moon... There are three moons!"
"There are three [Argo]s! Which one are we supposed to attack?!"
The pursuing fleet was transformed in an instant into a hellscape of utter chaos.
The [Argo] before them had become three ships in a single moment, and they mistook one another for enemies, thrusting spears at each other, while the ships that lost control were dragged into the whirlpool.
The Colchian ships that had followed us were left utterly unable to recover their senses.
And when the three moons slowly faded and the original night returned, only shattered wreckage and screams remained beyond the horizon.
I hung the mirror pendant, now merged back into one, around my chest again.
The heroes on deck looked at me without even cheering, stunned by the majesty of the magecraft they had just witnessed.
Medea stood beside me, gazing at me with eyes full of awe as she recalled the sight that had ruled the night only moments before.
"You really are a king favored by the goddess..."
I looked at her, then turned my back on the receding shores of Colchis and proclaimed, "The pursuit is over. Our destination is Greece now. Turn the helm. We return!"
And so, we safely escaped the danger of Colchis.