Several decades had passed since Hecate's ascension and the great war between the Magic Pantheon and the Olympian gods.
Though the Olympians had long since recovered from that devastating conflict.
The memory of Hecate standing alone against countless deities, and of Alaric summoning the false Creator God through his Reality Marble, Sea of Chaos, nearly annihilating them all, remained fresh and bitter in their minds.
Back then, to save their own lives, they had been forced to cede "territory" and pay reparations.
Now, even after regaining their strength, the Olympians no longer had the courage to wage another war against the Magic Pantheon.
Yet, for them, suppressing the rise of mages and maintaining their dominion over humankind remained a core tenet of Olympus' grand design.
So, they devised a new plan.
If they could not win on the divine level, they would act through mortals, sending them to weaken Colchis and the Mystra Academy, while avoiding direct divine intervention.
If victory could not be secured through higher-tier combat power, they would clash through the lower tiers instead. That was the Olympians' strategy.
This plan played to their strengths. The gods had ruled Greece since time immemorial; they already possessed immense influence among mortals.
The Olympians spread their faith widely, mingled freely with humankind, and begot demi-god children, a sin, perhaps, but also a carefully placed network of pawns.
Many of the heroes aboard the Argo were divine offspring, the culmination of generations of mortal influence.
In their view, although the Magic Pantheon had risen swiftly, Olympus' mortal power base was far beyond what their rivals could achieve in such a short time.
Hence, by exploiting their strengths to strike at the enemy's weakness, they could best sap their opponent's power.
To this end, the gods went all in, gathering nearly all their strongest mortal forces under Jason's banner, using the quest for the Golden Fleece as a pretext to stir trouble for Colchis and Mystra Academy.
Otherwise, with Jason's personal abilities alone, though he had been taught by the centaur Chiron and enjoyed wide renown and friendship across Greece, there was no way he could have assembled such an extraordinary team.
In the gods' estimation, though Hecate had become a formidable goddess, she lacked their centuries of cunning.
Even if she learned of the Argo expedition, she would never discern its deeper meaning.
With careful planning, a ship full of heroes, and a powerful "undercover agent" within the Magic Pantheon, Aphrodite, Colchis and Mystra Academy would surely suffer a heavy blow.
But they never imagined that their so-called "spy," Aphrodite, was in fact a double agent, and that there were two spies among them, both serving the enemy.
The first was the moon goddess, Artemis, who, in her lovestruck devotion, had already leaked the entire plan to her mortal lover.
The second spy, however, came as a surprise even to Alaric himself.
After receiving Artemis's intelligence at Mystra Academy, Alaric was startled to find a letter delivered by owl, revealing even more details about the Olympians' plot, including deeper schemes that Artemis herself had been unaware of.
For, compared to the shrewd and manipulative Zeus, Artemis was merely a young maiden goddess smitten with love, how could she possibly grasp such intricate machinations?
To her, the intelligence about the Argo expedition had been little more than divine gossip shared with Alaric.
So who was it that had sent Alaric this second message?
He knew well that in ancient Greece, the owl was the symbol of wisdom, the sacred bird of Athena, goddess of wisdom.
Thus, the sender's identity was beyond doubt: it was Athena herself, goddess of war and wisdom.
Though she had once wronged the Gorgon sisters out of jealousy, Athena was, at her core, a deity who stood on the side of humankind.
Moreover, unlike Artemis, Athena was clever enough to discern Zeus's true intentions.
To Athena, magic symbolized humanity's rise, and she deeply respected the mages' thirst for knowledge.
Coupled with her long-standing conflict with Zeus, it was only natural that she would seize an opportunity to undermine him.
As a result, Olympus' intelligence network had become riddled with leaks.
With information flowing like water through a sieve, how could they possibly hope to triumph over the Magic Pantheon?
On the other hand, the Greek heroes whom the gods so proudly relied upon were, in Alaric's eyes, of little consequence.
Though they were powerful, many being demigods, and among them even the mighty Heracles, none of that truly impressed him. The Magic Pantheon was no weaker force.
In truth, though the Olympians had begun to take magic more seriously after witnessing Alaric's terrifying power, they still vastly underestimated the mages.
This misjudgment stemmed from the structure of the Mystra Academy itself.
To the gods, Mystra Academy was merely an educational institution, students came from all across Greece to study magic and then returned home, like graduates from an ordinary high school or vocational school.
But in reality, Mystra Academy was far closer to a university, an institution that combined education with advanced research.
Unlike simple schools, universities gather scholars and push the boundaries of human understanding. Mystra Academy did the same.
The pursuit of truth is endless, and the most talented and inquisitive mages remained at Mystra, at the Heart of Spells, where they could draw nearer to truth itself and explore the most profound forms of magic.
The modern luxuries and comforts introduced by Alaric were merely added incentives.
The gods had judged the academy's strength by the average level of Greek mages, a grave mistake.
And so, with their plans exposed and their strength insufficient, the Olympians' scheme was doomed from the start.
But Alaric was not content to simply thwart them.
He intended to turn their scheme back on them, to strike from the shadows.
That was why he personally went undercover among the heroes.
Now, as he gazed upon the self-satisfied Olympians, smug in their supposed cleverness, then turned to look at the bright-eyed, ambitious heroes aboard the ship, Alaric could not help but feel a tinge of pity.
These men believed they had embarked on a glorious voyage, but in truth, they were merely pawns on the gods' chessboard, sacrifices in a conflict between two pantheons. Their futures were already sealed in tragedy.
Yet, in the coming struggle, Alaric would show no mercy.
If they must blame someone, let them blame the gods who placed them aboard this ship.