The Descended Mountain Villager Is The Supreme Commander

Chapter 4: The Amulets of Zeus

Darius opened his mouth to explain that he was not bragging about Villa No. 1, but Joseph cut in before he could get a word out.

"Alright, alright, enough! All of you, stop it!" Joseph stood up from his chair and spread his arms wide like a referee breaking up a fight. "The boy just walked through the door and you are already picking him apart. Can we please sit down and eat dinner like a normal family? Please?"

Lisa rolled her eyes so hard they nearly disappeared into her skull. She picked up her tea again and sipped it without saying a word. A normal family. With a stray dog sitting at our table. Sure, Joseph.

Mira pushed her chair back with a loud scrape and stood up.

"I am full." She tossed her napkin onto her plate and turned toward the hallway. "I need to get ready. I am going shopping with my friends tonight."

"Mira, sit back down. Your brother just got here." Joseph's voice was strained, caught between anger and embarrassment.

"He is not my brother." Mira did not even turn around when she said it. Her footsteps disappeared up the stairs.

Lisa stood up next, smoothing the front of her dress like she was brushing off invisible dirt.

"I have a beauty appointment in an hour. I need to get ready as well." She glanced at Darius with the kind of look people give to furniture they are thinking about throwing away. Then she walked out of the room without another word.

Joseph stood there, his arms still half raised, his face red with humiliation. He turned to Darius with eyes full of apology.

"Darius, I am so sorry. They are not usually like this. They just need time to..."

"Joseph." Darius smiled and put a hand on the older man's shoulder. "It is actually perfect this way. I wanted to have a meal with you and catch up. Just the two of us. Like the old days."

Joseph's face softened. The tension drained out of his body and he sat back down heavily, letting out a long breath.

"You always were the easy one, Darius. Even as a kid, you never complained about anything. Not the cold house, not the bad food, not the hand me down clothes." Joseph shook his head slowly. "I always felt guilty about not being able to give you more."

"You gave me everything that mattered." Darius sat across from him and picked up his chopsticks. You gave me a home when nobody else wanted me. That is more than most people ever get.

They ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes. Then Darius reached into his jacket and pulled out a small cloth pouch.

Inside were three amulets, each about the size of a coin, carved from a metal that seemed to glow faintly even in the warm dining room light.

Strange symbols were etched into their surfaces, symbols that looked like they belonged to an alphabet that had not been spoken in a thousand years.

"Joseph, I want to give you something."

He placed the three amulets on the table between them. Joseph picked one up and turned it over in his fingers, squinting at the markings.

"What are these?"

"Amulets. One of my masters gave them to me before he left. He told me that each one can save a person's life in a moment of real danger. I want you and your family to have them." Darius's voice was steady, but his eyes were serious.

Master once summoned lightning from a clear sky with a wave of his hand. He split a boulder in half with a single word. Whatever power lives inside these amulets, it is not small.

Joseph had no way of knowing that the master Darius was talking about was Zeus, the King of the Gods on Mount Olympus.

That these three small coins in his palm had been forged in divine fire and blessed by a being who commanded the storms themselves. If he had known, Joseph would have collapsed on the spot.

Instead, he just smiled and tucked them into his shirt pocket, patting them gently.

"Thank you, son. I will keep them safe. You always did bring the strangest gifts." He laughed and shook his head. "Remember that time you brought me a jar of some kind of glowing moss from the mountain? Lisa nearly threw it out the window."

Darius chuckled. "I remember."

They talked for almost an hour. Joseph told him about the pharmaceutical business, about the contracts he had landed, about the new factory he was building on the south side of the city.

Darius listened and nodded, but his mind kept drifting back to the mountain, to the empty house, to the masters who had told him they were leaving and might never return.

They said they had to go. They said they would be announced dead to the outside world. But none of them told me the real reason.

The sound of heels clicking on marble broke the moment. Mira appeared at the bottom of the staircase, and Darius barely recognized her.

She had traded her casual clothes for a fitted dress that looked like it cost more than a used car.

Her hair was curled and pinned up, her makeup flawless, her shoes sharp enough to puncture steel. She looked like she was walking into a magazine shoot, not a shopping trip.

Darius glanced up. She has grown up a lot since I last saw her. She was just a little girl back then, always following me around, pulling on my sleeve. Now she looks like a completely different person.

Mira felt his eyes on her and stopped mid step. Her face twisted with disgust, her upper lip curling like she had just stepped in something foul.

"What are you staring at? Take a picture, it will last longer." She crossed her arms and tilted her chin up, looking down at him even though she was barely taller in her heels.